I know this is a day early but:


HAPPY 45TH BIRTHDAY BABY SIS!!!

I forgot to mention that her name is Paisley and she is one and a half years old.

We're still kickin'!

Mike has been after me to get some blogging done. I think that he should do it but he says that he has nothing to say. Our life must be boring. I haven't blogged in a while so here is what we have been up to: Spent 4 days in Minneapolis July 12-15. Saw our favorite blue grass performer, Alison Krauss and Union Station, Mike got to spend all day Friday with Josh at his job, Jessica and I did a little shopping and then we went to Murphy's Landing, which is a lot like Living History Farms. It was there that we saw Ione's 2 oldest girls as they work there part time. It was a lot of fun. We also got in some antique shopping during Raspberry Days in Hopkins, MN. The Overmohle Campout in Lake View completed our month and then it was back to work for me. So, while Mike continued to work at all his extra jobs, I was getting everything organized so that by the time this last Monday rolled around, all the kids had a classroom to go to. In three weeks, I have already put in 160 hours so this last week is all for Uncle Sam. I had the pleasure of taking Chrissy baby crib shopping last Saturday. It won't be long! They have moved her due date up to Oct. 26th. Not many football trips for Jason this fall. This Saturday we will be helping at a fundraiser for Mike's uncle who has just returned from Arizona where he was receiving treatments. He will now be having surgery at Mayo on Sept. 13th. I will try to post a picture of Justin's newest aquisition. Talk about a cat that makes herself at home!!

Is Everyone Busy??

Well everyone must be pretty busy doing something; I can't believe no one has written a blog for a while! I assume everyone is ok......I was just thinking that I should call mom, I think it has been over 3 weeks since I talked to her (that's pretty bad)! Well anyway, we are doing just fine; just really busy.

Thought I should let you all know that the decision has been made to close the furniture store in Remsen. Last week we sent out letters to our customers explaining our decision. Our plan was to start the store closing sale this coming Thursday, but........we have to hold off. It is possible that we have a buyer for the store! Tony would really love to have this happen. Number 1 it means that the store will remain in Remsen (it has been around for 116 years!) and number 2 it means Tony would not have to spend the next 3 months at the store for long hours. He would of course but it would be alot easier to sell it lock, stock and barrel. Our broker says it is a 95% chance of being a done deal; but we have plenty experience of someone saying this and then it falls through! So I personally don't have my hopes up.......whatever happens, will happen!

Tony is anxious for his first weekend of Delto classes in September, he is worried already about getting his studying time in and he was quickly reminded already that he must remember to read through all the directions first before starting anything! (A good lesson for everyone to remember)

Well, hope to hear from some of you soon. Take care!

Harvest Becoming Plentiful

So we are now harvesting tons of zucchini, tomatoes and the cucumbers are fast approaching. If anyone wants anything you might think about venturing over. We'd love to have company! Our anniversary gift to each other was buying a new pressure canner and a water bath canner! So far we've just done pickled beets. The green beans are just beginning to appear and we have tons of tomatoes. I'm not sure what I will do with all of these. Anyone have a really good salsa recipe? We seem to like the chunky salsa like we eat in Mazatlan; I'm not sure that we can "can" that. I have plenty of frozen zucchini and have been experimenting with baking some bread and chocolate cake. Not bad.....The sweet corn will probably be ready by Monday or so. Tony has been watering it every night as we have not had any rain for about 4 weeks now! Steve how is your corn? Will you have enough for everyone to freeze? We should have more than enough if anyone is interested in freezing corn here. You just have to let us know! Oh, before I forget......I took a job with Aramark on the University of South Dakota campus in Vermillion. I start August 6th and will be their Office Manager. Aramark does the food service, catering and concessions for the college; about 4 million in revenue a year. So I am pretty excited about the opportunity and the flexibility of hours that they can give me down the road. The other exciting thing is that the college is building a new student center which will be completed in a year and a half. This means we will have new offices, kitchen, etc and I will get to help with purchasing of all that stuff!! Lot's of things to look forward to. Just need to get myself accustomed to waking up earlier in the morning; Tony says this will be a major undertaking!

Home Safely

Just wanted to let everyone know that I arrived home safely on Tuesday at 1pm. Left Tony and Jennifer's at 4:45am Monday, thanks to the both of them getting me up. My goal was to get to Billings, MT and 12 hours and 793 miles later I had made it. The day actually went pretty fast, but after a shower and a meal, I was asleep by 8, then hit the road again at 5:30am. My second day miles was an easy 553. I wanted also to tell everyone that I had a blast during camp week and it was so good to see everyone. What a great family we have. I love and miss you all. Dad was probably shaking his head a few times at our antics, but I know he was with us, as he always is.

He's a Winner!!

The Camp Okoboji Quilt Auction was held this past Saturday. Tony, Jennifer, Grandma and myself attended the event for the day. Just wanted you all to know that our little Weber brought in $210.00!!! You could have picked my chin up off the floor. While I was hoping that he would bring at least $100, I never imagined that it would bring that much. Grandma says we need to make Weber II for next year. Not a bad idea--at least we know how to do that one! If you don't remember what Weber looked like, just go to previous post titled "Cut, Stitch, Snip" and you will see him. Until next year. . . .