Cloud

Check out the cloud that passed over on Tuesday. Brought on some crazy hail. That's the closest thing I've seen to a twister! Glad it moved on out.

Nancy Stewart

One of my best friends mom's died this weekend. I feel so sad for Amie. I have so many wonderful memories of sleeping on her tramp and her mom checking on us in the middle of the night. Or of Nancy making us pancakes, or Mac & Cheese. I remember borrowing her clothes (because she had really cool clothes) and visiting with her about boys. The phone call on Sunday broke my heart. I love you Amie. Take care.

Nancy C. Stewart 1955 ~ 2009 Nancy Stewart, 54, born March 22, 1955, beloved wife, mother, daughter, aunt and friend, passed away at her home June 20, 2009. Nancy was a genuine spirit with a warm, giving soul and will be greatly missed. In her life, Nancy touched the hearts of many and left an imprint that will last for an eternity. She will be greeted by the open arms of her mother, Joan M. Aston Humbach. At the family's request a private service will be held to celebrate the life of a truly incredible woman.

Softball Update

Last night was our second game night. There have been a few cancellation due to weather. I have to say, things are going a little better for me. I struck out once, but other than that, my batting has improved. And being in right field suits me. I get to daydream and rarely see any action. Anyway, lost game one, won game two. Not bad.

Happy Fathers Day

There are many fathers in my life. My husband. His dad. My step-dad. My brother. My grandfathers. Many uncles and friends. But the greatest dad in the whole wide world, is mine.
Oh yes. As far as dads go, Andrew, Skyler and I are the luckiest kids on Earth. My dad has taught me many things. Fishing and hunting. How to check the oil in my car. How to drive. How to drive snowmobiles, 3 and 4-wheelers, and motorcycles. How to plant flowers, and how to make french toast. So many things that there is no way to list them all.
But the greatest things my dad taught me are:
* Compassion. There is no one more compassionate than my dad. He has a way of thinking things through and showing compassion from every angle.
* Spirituality. My dad has taught me that you don't necessarily have to be religious, but being spiritual, and having a strong relationship with God will make life much more worthwhile.
* Love. Unconditional love. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that there is nothing I could ever do to make my dad stop loving me. Trust me, me and my brothers have pushed the envelope more than once, and never has his love for us wavered.
Happy Fathers Day Dad.
I Love you.

Fishing with Dad

Unfortunately, my head was so full of snot (hay fever attack) that it was all I could do to lift it off the chair I was lazing in and snap a picture every once in a while. Never-the-less, we had a great time. The girls love fishing. And when the fish aren't biting, they love playing in the water. Hmmmm, maybe that's why the fish don't bite!

11 Years

We've come so far. Grown so much. I remember the first time I met you...or rather, saw you. You didn't say anything. I don't think you could have gotten a word in if you'd wanted to because Mike and Jason were talking so much. But I kept looking at you, and I knew, immediately that I wanted you.
People think that I put up with a lot from you, but I have them fooled. The truth is, you put up with a lot from me! I won't go into that. Don't want to ruin my good image, but I do want to thank you for 11 years. I'm not going to lie and say that every day has been wonderful, because the truth is, marriage is hard. I do know that we are both better people for putting up with each other, and working hard to make our marriage and our family work. I love you. I loved you when I first met you, and love you more today. What more can we ask for?
1. Surviving that first year. That was tough, but so worth it!
2. Our two beautiful daughters. Can you imagine life without them?
3. The three homes we've shared together. Starting out in my dads basement, moving on to our first house and then moving to our house in Carrington. We have been very blessed.
4. Here's to 4-wheelers, boats, hunting and campfires. And all the stuff we love to do outdoors.
5. Five years in Carrington. A move that may have saved our family. As crazy as it seems, moving to this little town was one of the best things we ever did.
6. The 6 dogs we've owned. Yes 6. That's not including the 2 litters of puppies!
7. OK, I can't think of anything with a seven in it. But you know that "seven year itch" some people talk about in marriage? Well, I don't remember it. So it must not be so bad.
8. Brooklyn was 8 months old when I finally agreed to tie-the-knot.
9. I can think of at least 9 vehicle's we've owned since we were married. There are probably more, but I remember the white truck, the prism, the Beast, the van, the red truck and camper, the grey truck, your red truck you have now, the white Malibu, and my new Malibu.
10. 10 times 100 might come close the the number of fights we've survived and came out of better people, and hopefully a better couple.
11. Eleven years married. Against all odds.
Happy Anniversary (yesterday). May there be many, many, many more!

Foster County Fair 2009

Excitement was in the air Monday evening as the carnival rides rode into town. Much chatter about who dares to go on the zipper, and who might puke this year. The carnival at this year's fair was bigger than ever and the kids had a blast.
My kids love the petting zoo best.

But after awhile with the animals, it was off to the rides.
Later we met up with Tina and the boys so that Brooklyn and Rylee could take them on a couple of rides. Brooklyn babysits for Kanin and Korbyn and they LOVE her!


The kids had a great time. Kudos to the Fair Board for some awesome entertainment. Ryan and I also went to the street dance on Friday night for live music. No pictures, but we had a great time.

ALCO Party

Sunday was the big ALCO party. There was a company contest to see which store could sell the most "As Seen On TV" product, and Carrington won. They won a big chunk of money to throw a party. So, it started Saturday night with a BBQ at our house. Sunday we went bowling, BBQ at the park and then rented the pool for the evening. We finished up with a camp fire at Les and Joyce's house till after midnight. It was a weekend of no sleep, and we are still trying to recover! Here are some pics:
Rylee and her new best friend Justina rinding 4-wheeler before the party got under way.
Bowling

And we are best friends, forever more, more, 2 by 4!

The Grill master

The ALCO filled park.

And the pool. Yep, that's me, playing with the kids!

Happy Birthday Ryan

Happy 30th Ryan! Finally, you can quit calling me old. I love you!

BBQ

After I slept all day in recovery from Relay, we had some Alco people over for dinner. Ryan's store won a big party, which will take place today, but in order for the whole store to be able to go to the party, he had to bring in some people from other store's to run his. So Joey and his family came up to run our Carrington Alco, and we wanted to have them over for dinner. It is finally warm out, so we pulled out the grill and enjoyed the outdoors. It's also Ryan's birthday (today) so we had a cake and sang to him.
Rylee and Joey's youngest, Justina, hit it off immediately. Remember when you were a kid, and the kid in the room closest to your age was your best friend? Well, that's Rylee. The girls have a secret club, and they sat up telling scary stories all night. Justina spent the night and they have plans to swim all day today.

Relay For Life

Friday night was the Central Dakota Relay For Life. As manager (and sole employee) of Carrington Fitness Center, I was team captain for the Fitness Center Relay team. I gathered up my work-out buddies and their kids and we raised some $$$ for a wonderful cause. The night of relay is always so fun. The past few years have been cold and wet, but this year was beautiful, so we were able to camp out all night and walk 'till dawn. And I have a nice sized blister to prove it. Anyway, thank you to my team for all the hard work, and thanks to everyone who donated, or supported one of our fundraisers. Your money was well spent. I also need to thank Ryan for helping me all day,(and night). Bringing me things I forgot, moving the campsite, clean house while I slept all day yesterday. What an awesome guy!
Here's our team, well, all that we could gather up for a picture anyway. Our teams "Miss Relay" Wade. He dressed up for the "beauty contest" and won! Some of the Fitness Center kids getting ready to start the parade. The kids were great. They walked most of the night and finally passed out around the camp fire about 2:00 AM. Except for Amber. That kid never went to sleep, and never quit walking. She beat most of the moms!
You can't see the kids very well in the next picture, but they wanted a picture next to one of Grandma Melba's luminaries.

She's making me nervous!

Brooklyn has a knack for making me nervous (I know...i sound like Debbie). This is just one of the many ways. I do insist on being the "uncool" mom that makes her wear a helmut.

Kid Fit

One of the things keeping us busy this summer is Kid Fit. Carla and I are teaching Kid Fit on Tuesday and Thursday mornings. We meet at the track (weather permitting) and work out for 1/2 hour,
play an active game for 15 minutes and then it's snack and nutrition time. We pick a nutrition topic and discuss it while we are eating a healthy snack. So far, my favorite nutrition talk was on sugar in drinks. We had a can of pop, a bottle of Gatorade, a bottle of Powerade, some different juices and we scooped teaspoons of sugar into a jar so that we could see just how much sugar is in each drink. The kids were blown away by the sugar in their supposed "healthy" sports drinks. Then we figure out how much soda they drink a week and how much sugar that translates to and then how many pounds of sugar that ends up being in a year. They were very surprised. Anyway, it's a good time. If anyone has any quick and healthy snack recipe's, send them my way!

Rusty's Sleeping Spot

What's the word? Oh yeah, spoiled.

Another Softball Season

And it begins...again. If you have followed my blog for awhile now, you know that softball is not really my sport. To be quite frank, I suck. But year after year they call me and beg me to play. Well, maybe not beg, but they do ask, and who am I to disappoint them. Besides, without me on the team they wouldn't get much comic relief.
So, beings that June 1st was our first game, we decided to have a little practice...on May 31st! Yeah, not much time for practice. But we did throw the ball around and swing the bat a few times each, so we were feeling pretty good about ourselves. The next night we all had sore shoulders just in time for our first game.
Things started out OK, I refused to play catcher, and beings that I suck, that only leaves one other position for me. Right field baby! It's a rare occasion when a ball makes it all the way to right field, right? Yeah, not really my luck. First batter...pop fly to right field. I missed it of course, but I was feeling pretty good about how fast I picked it up off the ground. I ran a few steps, the ball in my right hand ready to be thrown, lifted the ball over my shoulder and threw as hard as I could to second base.
Problem? I dropped the ball behind my back. Yes, I'm serious. Not my proudest moment. Self esteem now in the gutter, I fumble on the ground behind me, find the ball and attempt to throw. This time it does leave my hand in the right direction, just several feet short of where I need it to go. Good thing the girls on my team are in this for fun and not for wins, because, I'm pretty sure I would have been benched after that performance.
Even with my embarrassing fumble, we managed to get 3 outs before they ran anyone home and then it was our turn to bat. I'm not sure what happened to my team over the summer, but we suddenly became professional hitters. Well, maybe not professional, but good enough to get on base and score a few runs. So first night out, we won one and lost one. Not bad I'd say. And I didn't fumble any more balls. Whew.
Next game was cancelled due to rain. I'll let you know about game 3 on Tuesday!

Fire Season

Not the kind you worry about. The good kind. The kind where we gather with friends, and food, and drinks, and kids and dogs and enjoy the summer (or not so summer as it happens to be here) evenings. I love having fires, roasting marshmallows, playing hide and seek in the dark! And so does Rylee. Check out her hiding place. Yes that's the roof. She was crouching under the eaves of Les and Joyce's roof. Crazy kid. It was pitch dark, but I have a good flash, so it doesn't look very dark. I looked for 1/2 and hour and finally figured it out with a lot of hints.

Happy Birthday Little Brother

Who knew after all those years of hating you that you'd rank near the top of the Top 5 Men I Most Admire. Funny how our perspective changes as we age! I love you! Have an awesome birthday.

Put a Ring on It

I know this is old, but it cracks me up. I watch it at least once a week!