Introducing.....

      It's been a busy couple of weeks for these lodge owners!  We became grandparents again!  Max & Sara & Will & Greyson welcomed Emerson Tate..."Tate"...to their family on 2/8.  We traveled down to the cities on 2/9 to meet this new member of our family and the pictures show the delight in this grandma's face!

      Then...my sister, Lisa, flew in from Mongolia and we picked her up at the airport when we went to visit Tate.  We brought my sister home with us for a few days and she got some much-needed R & R.  Her and I left last Friday to travel through the cities on our way to our Mom's house in Illinois.  We stopped and saw the boys and their families so Lisa could visit with them and meet the little ones born since she had last seen them.

      We drove to Illinois on Saturday and set about to do some "remodeling" for our Mom.  We got paint and supplies and started our project in the living room.  We stopped to visit with brothers, their wives and cousins who stopped by to say hi or help out.  My sis is staying in Illinois until 3/3, so she will get more of the "projects" done.  I left on Thursday 2/18 to travel home after being gone a week.  Mom appreciated us being there and giving her a freshly-painted living room to enjoy.  I couldn't resist the urge while I was there to re-organize her pantry and wish I had been able to find more time to help her organize the kitchen drawers...oh well, that can wait for the next trip!  Or...Lisa, Doug, Ben, Kim, Dave, John...feel free to dig in without me!

      The most important part of the trip was to sit and spend time with our Mom.  She's lonely since we lost Dad 8 years ago and it was fun to sit and share funny memories of Dad and Mom and growing up with 6 brothers and 1 sister.  I treasure the times spent with my family and hope we get a chance to spend many more years together.  Here's a picture of our finished project...