happy 55 dear Bud and Betty

55 years ago today, Bud and Betty were married. Thank you for making that choice and being wonderful parents to your three kids and grandparents to your 9 grandchildren! 

super blue moon

Tonight is the last super blue moon until 2037. My friend Alanna took some cool photos:

school is coming!

 

I’m starting to go into overload of prepping for the start of the school year. Stuart’s beautiful children are starting school and these beautiful flowers were gifted to our new principal Kai. 

Tomorrow is picture day for Osten and I…I need to head to bed! 

concert at MSF!

Yesterday Brad, Osten and I went to the Minnesota State Fair. The boys just walked around and got interesting foods. I went to the Chaka Khan and Boyz II Men concert with my sister in law Molly, her sister Laurie and her friend Kaci. The weather was perfect, the crowd responsive and the music brought back good memories and made us all dance. 

As the concert was wrapping up, we ran into Brad’s cousin Dionne as she was also at the concert! What a fun evening! 

happy 78th birthday dear Betty Jean!

 Our beautiful Mom/mother in law/grandmother is 78 years old today. Wishing you all the best today and in the year to come!

Here's Betty with Ibby, Brent, Brad and her Dad, Clarence in the Model A a few years ago

first swim meet of the season

The Wildcats had their first meet of the season! Katie sat out with an injured ankle, but will hopefully be back for their meet on September 7. 

I went to do some clothes shopping with Anders and bring a few odds and ends he left behind. Had dinner with Anders and his girlfriend Ally and got to meet Ally’s Mom, Janet who seemed nice. The view is from Ally’s floor (#9) on the river side. 

reserve champion senior barrow showman

Today I went to the MN State Fair and met up with my cousin Jennifer to watch her daughter Sydney show her heavyweight barrow in her section and then again for showmanship. She ended up midway in her class and was invited back to show for showmanship. 

She showed excellent skills and was name reserve champion senior showman! Way to go. 

Also got to see my brothers Kurt and Cory. Cory was there with Joan and Trenton. I also got to chat with Greg (Jennifer’s husband) and Sydney. It was a super fun day. 

I saw cousin Ryan’s dairy cow in the 4H barn and Ross’ bench and literally thousands of people. 

I ate a Swedish Meatball sundae and a Lutheran Latte (cup of egg coffee with a scoop of ice cream. I also saw a cool renovated camper by a 4-Her…very inspirational! 

hey, Hayes is 2!

Jenna and Cody’s handsome $ charming son is celebrating his second year today. Jenna sent a sweet little video of him mowing the lawn with a toy mower and hula hopping this morning. His sister Collins was right there to remind him to hydrate in this warm weather. Happy birthday and here’s to many more…

steamy weather

This morning I woke to steamed up windows. Is left the air conditioner run overnight and found the condensation when I woke. Went on a stroll with my friend Petra early this morning and it was very sticky. Brads currently visiting clients in Florida and beat the heat with a nice big beer with dinner🥳 the heat is supposed to subside soon. We’ll be dreaming of this weather in February. 

savoring summer

So far today Katie had practice, I spent an hour in the classroom, Osten is hosting his buddy Wil, Brad sent a photo in a Blackhawk Simulator (he’s in Florida for client meetings), Anders has been snapping photos at RA training. We had a great lunch of tortilla pizza. Katie’s working this afternoon, Osten will have his first football practice and I’ll go work out and make dinner. 

Just savoring these last days before school starts…wish I could hop down to see my Mom, but with Brad gone, don’t want to leave my Momma post. 

happy sweet 16 Trenton and Katie’s senior swimming photos

Our handsome, charming and hard working Godson Trenton Anders is 16 today…time to drive to River Falls for a college visit! 

Trenton in front with brothers Evan and Thomas. 

This afternoon Julie met us at the River Falls high school pool to capture some photos of Katie at the pool. Thanks to Julie, to Katie’s coach Caitlin and to Katie for being up for a photo shoot. 

Here’s a few I captured:

happy 15th birthday Henry and back to UWEC for Anders Cole

To our charismatic and athletic nephew Henry, we wish you abundant happiness in your 15th year. 

Today Brad flew to Florida and Anders and I drove to Eau Claire to get moved back into his room in Towers north floor 2. He worked on getting his bed to the right height, putting clothing away and gear away.

We made a list and headed to Walmart to buy gear for his 4th year. He converted his extra med to a little couch (we got a body pillow and a mattress pad), bought some Clorox wipes, shampoo, a water bottle, pop, toothbrush heads, plate, dish soap, scrubber, toothbrush heads, a clock and a shoe rack. The big item was a television…we used his senior class party tv as our upstairs family screen and the replacement as our downstairs screen. He was like a giddy kiddo when we wrapped up our shopping.

We had dinner at Jade Garden and then went back to his room to set up the new purchases and get them settled in while jamming to the Hamilton Soundtrack. I hit the road at about 8:30 and got home about 9:45. 

I hope Anders has a great time making dinosaur door decor and getting to know his new RA staff. Everyone I saw Anders interact with seemed genuinely happy to

see him. 

We will see him next week as Katie has a meet at Eau Claire Memorial.