Going Home To Spooner For The Weekend...YES!!!!

Good Morning to all my blog friends. I am up bright and early with the birds today, I am getting ready to head to Spooner for the weekend. My plan is to spend time with my family and also attend the Musky Festival in Hayward, Wisconsin. My family loves the Musky Festival, it just wouldn't be summer without our yearly Musky Festival tradition. It is so cool, main street is full of crafters selling unique items, awesome food stands and there is a fair with rides going on at the other end of town. When my kids were little, they would hit their Grandpa Ray up to ride the rides and he always gave in....he was also a sucker for the go-cart track. Everytime we came to Hayward, Grandpa Ray brought them to the go-cart track and then it was off to Coops for the best pizza in town.....they LOVED IT......he was so good to them, he is such a softy when it comes to his grandkids.

But anyway, Poor Brent is not able to come home (to Spooner) with me this time or maybe not anytime this summer because he can't get anytime off from the cranberry marsh. It is going to be a LONG summer for him as he has 50 acres of new plantings to tend to and it pretty much has him by the neck right now, I will miss him!!!! I told him that he HAS to get at least one day off so he can come with me to the Spooner Rodeo....that's a MUST!!!!!!

I am hoping next week to post a tribute to my hard workin husband. I have been taking pictures from the start of his very large project....building from scratch a cranberry marsh. I have to organize them all and post them so you all can see from start of finish what a awesome project this has been for him. Last year at this time, it was just a corn field, but as of last week they finished planting the first 50 acres of cranberry vines. The plan is that the marsh will end up being 175 acres of cranberry beds, still a lot of work ahead but he is the man for the job....he is so talented and such a hard worker!!!!! I am so proud of him!!!!!!

This job is why we moved to Wisconsin Rapids. There have been a lot of changes in our lives this past year but we are making progress and that is all we can really ask for. Having a job is HUGE right now in this economy and we THANK GOD for it!!!! He has a plan for us and we judge our Lord and Savior FAITHFUL so we live everyday knowing that God is in control and we will trust HIM!!!!!!

Sorry I don't have any picture to post today...but I am sure my carmera will be very busy this weekend capturing all the fun.....so stay tuned, I will post new pics when I get home. Have a BLESSED weekend everyone....Rhonda

My Baby is 21

My Youngest child turned 21 last Tuesday, June 16th. It seems like yesterday she was playing with Barbie dolls, My Little Ponies, and Beanie Babies for hours, I miss those days so much. But she is now a college student and is working towards her spanish teaching degree. God has an awesome plan for her life and I thank God for blessing me have such an wonderful daughter!!!!!

Blowing out the candles.....go Liddy go!!!!

Let's eat!!! I had the cake made at Economart...it is suppose to be a Cross Country running trail....Alyssa LOVES to run!!!!!

She is trying to bite one of her candles here...she is such a nut. NEVER a dull moment when she is around :) Her sister Kara and Kara's husband Trav are in the back ground.

I took her out for dinner for her birthday. We went to a restaurant that she worked at last summer called The Country Inn. She LOVED working there, but this year she has her hands full working at Jo Mama's and What The Heck's. While we were there, she saw some of the old buddies she worked with and she got kinda sad cause she realized how much she missed them.....she is such a softy. Anyway, we went there pretty early so there was only one other couple in the dinning room. I looked over at them and realized that it was Judy, the gal who video taped Alyssa's birth. What are the chances of that, we all got to celebrate the birthday of my precious little girl.

Happy Birthday Alyssa Rhonda, I LOVE you with ALL my heart and am SOOOOO proud of you. You were the best surprise God ever gave me!!!!!!

God Bless....Rhonda

Sorry I have been Missing In Action.......

Sorry I have been really bad about updating my blog. It seems I have been on a dead run for weeks. It started with my nephew, Shane's, graduation and it has not slowed down since. Anyway, here is a little glimpse of my life the past few weeks.

I will start with my flowers. Because we are renting and could be moving again any time, I do not have any perennial gardens to add onto. But that didn't stop my from decking out the decks with gorgeous colorful flowers. I told Brent that I was not going to go hog wild because we are in transition.....well, I guess I just couldn't not help myself and he was NOT surprised.

I was at an adorable antique country store a couple weeks ago and found these old laundry tubs with stand and all, I was thrilled!!!!!! I have wanted one of these for years. It also has the hand wringer that goes in the middle of the tubs but I don't want to expose it to the weather and sun so I am waiting to display the tubs with the wringer until I have my new house with a covered porch someday. Which sounds like might happen soon :)

I picked up this primitive looking planter a couple weeks ago also and I LOVE it!!! I planted some thyme in it and it smells awesome!!!!!!

The deck here at the rental is a two tier deck which is nice so I have lots of room for flowers. This is a view of the bottom tier. I know the chairs are tacky....but again we are in transition but look out when we get into our house....I will be buying some awesome deck furniture and that is what my husband is afraid of :) But for now, these charis are a place to sit and relax.

I also picked up this unique planter. A lady makes them out of concrete and adds old rusty accents to them....I LOVE THEM!!!!

I bought this rusty wire plant stand last weekend and my red impatience pots look gorgeous in it....what a great addition to my collection

A view of the upper tier of the deck

Every time I went out the sliding glass door which leads onto my deck a bird would fly off out of no where. After several days of this I took the time to look real close and found she is starting a family in the crook of my twig heart wreath....cute!!!!! I can't wait to see the babies when they hatch.

Ok...now onto my latest creations. Here are my work in progress door doll crows.

And here is the finished crow....I LOVE it!!!!

I also made a watermelon table topper, here is it in mid-painting

Close up look

Here is is finished.....I LOVE the American Flag!!!!!

God Bless America

Watermelon ornies work in progress

Finished!!!!!

Last but not least....Brent and I went to visit our grandson, Noah Ross Kronlund, while he was camping with his great grandpa and grandma last Wednesday. He is so special and SMART and I LOVE him SO MUCH!!!!

He loved the campfire and also showed me his new swimming trunks, his swimming floatie, his bike and the fireworks grandpa was going to lite off later. He was so excited about camping.......how fun!!!!!

Here is a picture of my grandson, Carson Charles Kronlund. He is ALL boy and a very busy boy that's for sure. He is so precious and I LOVE him VERY MUCH!!!!! Thank you Jesus for my precious grandson's....I am truly a blessed woman!!!!!

Well, that'a about it for now. Hope you all are having a blessed summer so far.....God Bless...Rhonda

Busy Weekend

Wooooo.....that's all I can say about last weekend. It started with a 4 hour drive to my sister's house in Wyoming, Minnesota to attend my nephews graduation. I arrived at my sister's house at 5 pm and we had to be at the graduation at 6 pm. I did get a quick picture of my sister and Shane before we left.

My sister and her handsome graduating son Shane. This is the same spot that my sister has taken Shane's first day of school picture his whole 12 years of school, kinda sad that this is his last school picture in this spot, I hate when kids grow up. Oh, the dog butt in the pic is my sister's dog Melody...lovely huh.

My sister's beautiful family after the graduation ceremony. From left to right....Zack, Shane's brother...Kelly, Shane's Dad...Shane, the graduate...and Sheilda Shane's Mom aka....my sister :)

Kelly, Shane and Sheilda

Brother's Forever!!!!

Here I am with my Nephew....I remember the day he was born which does not seem that long ago....I can't believe he is graduating.

Shane has enlisted in the United State Marines and will proudly be defending our Country. He will be leaving for boot camp in August. I am so proud of him!!!!! He is a blessing to his parents and to all our whole family. Please pray for his safety and God's blessing on his life!!!!!! Thank you.

My daughter Alyssa and Shane....COUSINS FOREVER!!!! Shane used to come and spend a week with us in the summer. Alyssa and Shane have had many, many good memories together, I can't believe they are both grown up.....it makes me want to cry!!!!!

Then the next day, we went to Shane's baseball game. Here is Shane up to bat.

Now on to the half Marathon

Sunday morning, Alyssa and I got up at 4:30 am and had to be down town Minneapolis, Minnesota at 6 pm for Alyssa's first half Marathon which is a 13.1 mile run. We were pretty much clueless seeing we have never gone to one of these marathon before. In high school and college Alyssa ran in many track meets and cross country meets but never a marathon. So here we go.....time for a new journey.

Here is Alyssa just before she faded into the sea of runners. There were 4,000 people at the starting line-up.

Here is a small shot of this very very long line....my daughter is lined up in there somewhere.

After asking a few people, I did manage to find the finish line.....I was there with the camera waiting for her big finish :)

Here she is all smiles!!!! She is hooked on marathons now....she LOVED the run!!!!! She doesn't even look tired...what a woman!!!!!

We found her a quick sip of water and then it was off to celebrate

YES.....I finished

Here she is with her metal around her neck....I was sooooooooo proud of her.

After the race we headed to the mall and did some shopping and then drove home to Spooner, Wisconsin which is about 2 hours from the cities....we got there around 3 pm

I stay at my daughter Kara's house when I go home and I LOVE it, I get to spend time with her. We had a campfire that night and she also gave some hair cuts. Here she is giving her brother in-law a much needed home cut. I didn't know if the clippers were going to handle it...he had quit the bushy hair goin on there!!!!

We had a few laughs during the ordeal....Brent was a good sport

Then it was her husband Travis's turn. Kara does a great job...they all seem to like her cuts...they keep coming back for more :)

May I take your order please......Alyssa all smiles at her summer job at Jo Mama's Cafe

Before I left to come back to Wisconsin Rapids on Monday, I had breakfast at, Jo Mama's, the cafe where my daughter Alyssa's works. She has been working at Jo's since she was 10 grade and is a very good waitress. Jo keeps her position open for her so she has a job in the summer. I even worked at Jo's for a while and liked working there and LOVED working with my daughter. Jo is a special lady and we love her very much!!!!

Well, that's about it. Needless to say I was exhausted when I got back to Rapids on Monday...but enjoyed every busy minute of my weekend. Until next time....God Bless....Rhonda