It's almost May....more new clothes...and a new toy!

The spring work has begun!  5 cabins cleaned and only 8 to go!  That's how I plan my journey to the new resort season each year.  Getting all the cabins cleaned is such a great feeling.  Steve's spring work consists of finishing up all the projects we voted to do last fall...and wow, we have alot to do!  We stress every year and we always get done...so on to our 25th season at Cedar Rapids Lodge!

We see the UPS guy alot in the spring.  He delivers most of our clothes and gift items for the lodge.  Here's a few new ones...

Looks blue but is really lavender/periwinkle...nylon 1/4 zip

This one is a bright pink.

There's also white!  And for the men....

A dark grey.  I think I should have ordered more than I did!

After many years...of contemplation...the Lodgemaster got a new tractor!  He's very excited and has been practicing his moves!  Here it is on arrival day...

Mr. Bobcat, Duane, is unloading it.

And here's the happy owner!  I really need to learn to drive this thing...looks like fun!

When our spring work is done, we look forward to welcoming all our guests...and watching them enjoy the summer...like this

And making friends...

And memories!

If you're looking for memories, try us!  You won't be disappointed.

Here's to warm weather and friends!

I miss you, Mom!

     I lost my Mom just a couple of weeks ago.  I've wanted to write this post for several days, but just kept finding reasons to wait...looking for pictures, writing the story in my head, just missing her so much that it hurt to write about it. 
     My Mom was a beautiful lady who was just a young girl when she met Dad and got married at 17!  She grew into an adult while raising 8, yes 8, children.  I was the oldest and only one of 2 girls...the rest were boys...and wow, was our household busy.  Here's one calm photo that I remember...

Can you just imagine her getting all these kids ready for a family picture?  I could start sweating thinking about getting ready and lining up the little ones to tie shoes, tuck in shirts, comb hair and wipe off dirty faces...for one of our only family pictures in my life!

We all have funny memories of going anywhere together when we were little....we drove a 9 passenger station wagon with 10 people...so someone was always touching someone or pushing or wrestling...no seatbelts back then!  Dad would come to a stoplight and look over at people staring into our car...so he would hold up all 10 fingers to save them trying to count!

When there's 8 kids in your family, you don't go out to eat very often....and when we did, the trip usually started out as a leisurely drive(with 8 kids mind you) and Dad always ended up at the Dairy Queen or McDonalds...he would let us know ahead of time if it was McDonalds so we could decide if we wanted a burger or fries...that's right, not both!  Burgers were 18 cents and fries were 12 cents, so we learned to negotiate with a sibling for half their burger and we would share half of our fries...and we were happy!

I know most of you raised in the 50s and 60s have the same kind of stories....and we probably didn't have much money, but I don't think we had a clue...those were just good times.

My Dad died 10 years ago and Mom has missed him everyday since then.  Now they are together and dancing in heaven...and someday I will see them again...now to share just a few memories of my Mom...

Here's my Mom as a Grandma at 39!  With my daughter, Jen, in 1974.

Me, my sister and Mom about 15 years ago at our resort.

Mom & Dad striking a pose at the resort in the "magazine eyes" glasses.

Dad and Mom...they did everything together...she lost her best friend when he was gone!

Mom and I a few years ago when we visited in Illinois.

This picture is a treasure, taken just 2 months ago.  It's four generations of my family...Mom, me, my daugher, Jen, and her daughter, Jillian....

I miss you Mom!  Save a place for me....we'll chat again one day.

March Musings...

This sits on the lake every winter...right in front of the beach area...and no, it's not ours!  It's the neighbor's plane, but it always sparks that question when someone comes to visit in the winter...Mike puts skis on the plane and parks it on the ice and flies on beautiful sunny days.  It's always fun to watch the plane take off and land on the lake. 

These are Nathan's dogs eating dinner with Wrigley...Nathan thinks he doesn't like Wrigley, but he sure wants his dogs around her!  So we got new dog dishes at Dollar Tree and the pups enjoyed a meal together.

Jillian turned 3 this month and her Mommy and I had a fun day making cakes and decorating them with her dolls...thanks Pinterest!

The Lodgemaster was finally able to get enough snow cover to burn the huge pile of lumber left from tearing down the barn last year!  Within days of this photo, the snow was gone...

I ordered some really fun soy candles for the lodge this year...and they smell as yummy as they look!

Here's a new "old" sweatshirt for the summer...this style was so popular I had to order it again...in pink and...

yellow...I needed a new one!!

Also got the same design on a red jacket...

and a pretty aqua color.  Waiting patiently for the other new clothes to arrive...stay tuned!

And to end this post...these kiddos were kind enough to pose on my new log bench...a door prize from a buying show...now I need my friend Jim to make a kid-size table to go with it...I can see this in the lodge with little ones sitting on it having their ice cream treats all summer long!

Happy spring!  The ice will be off the lake early this year...the earliest in our 25 years!  Bring on this warm weather!

Happy St. Pat's Day! ....and a "Wild Game Feed"!

      We really don't celebrate this holiday...but I went to St. Patrick's Grade School way back in the day...and it was a holiday...no school!  So I always liked March 17th when I was a kid! 
       It's a special day this year for our church...Blackduck Evangelical Free Church....we're having our first "Wild Game Feed" tonight...a community ministry with a speaker, meal and prizes!  Steve and I are going to help serve...and I'm sure we'll get to sample some of the foods offered.  Our church gave away 250+ tickets to this event!  The cost is a free will offering to fund this specific ministry and hopefully make it a yearly event.
       We've had a busy winter at our church...we built a huge addition that is now finished...and the project continues as we gutted the old part of the building and are re-building it!  This project should be finished in the next couple of months.  Here's a few pictures...

This is our wonderful new kitchen...so much space and beautiful!

2 new stoves and another oven in the center...if you cooked on our old stove, you would be so in love with these new stoves!

Commercial refrigerator with lots of room!

We never had a dishwasher...now we have a dishwashing room!

Pantry/storage closet off the kitchen...room for everything!

And this is the "mother of all coffeepots"...we should never run out!

Here's the guys in the old part...cutting the old copper into 3 foot lengths to get the best price when they recycled it.

So...that's our church progress so far.  We're off to pour coffee and clean tables for the evening! 

74 degrees in this northern MN town today!  Is it really only March??

Catchin Up for February!

     So...I'm a little behind in my postings...bear with me and see what we've been up to.

I made my own laundry detergent...trial & error and only about a penny a load!

Baby Olivia came to visit with her family...she's grown by leaps and bounds since this picture was taken in February!  Such a cutie, but we are biased in that opinion!

Jill trying on Nana's wedding veil...she felt like a Princess.  Her Mommy had her hair rolled with that headband around her forehead...see next photo...

The result was wavy curls all over...very cute...

We celebrated this little guy's birthday...

and his sister's too!

They had a "pirates & pixies" birthday party together...their Mommy is very creative!

Nana with Will, 9, Greyson, 5, and Miss Tate, 2.  Papa and I are going to Disney with their family very soon!  We can't wait to experience all that fun through their little eyes!

We went to our state capitol in St. Paul with 40+ other resort owners in February to lobby for issues important to our industry...here's the lodgemaster taking a break with a crossword while we waited to chat with another legislator. 

And...wrapping up February with this peek at Olivia's quilt in progress.  My cousin beat me with her finished blankie, so I know O is staying warm while I finish this one!

My New Bathroom!

So....the story goes that when you own a resort, you don't just have a home...you have 14 homes!  Well, at our resort anyway.  We have 13 cabins and our residence...now do you know what that means when you get out the "honey do" list?  Your livelihood depends on renting those cabins, so your first priority is to keep them updated and remodeled and furnished in such a way that your guests come each year to see "surprises" in their cabin!  Sometimes it's new mattresses, a new couch, Dish network, etc.  This year we added screened porches to 2 of the cabins...I can't wait for those guests to come and enjoy them!  Anyway, you get the picture...my home...the one I live in...is usually the last one to get something "new".

We've lived at our resort for 25 years, so my house is starting to look pretty darn good!  I got a brand new kitchen about 4 years ago...2 years ago I got a remodeled living/dining room...this winter I got a new bathroom and new sewing room.  The sewing room is not "organized" yet, so no photos.  The bathroom is done...and I'm excited.  It's hard to have the remodel project take place in your house as opposed to a cabin.  You don't have to live in the cabin while it's being remodeled...no one does...so it's not in your way every single day.  This bathroom project was brutal, but the finished room is awesome.  Thus...photos...

We put beadboard on the bottom of the walls and on the ceiling...painted both a gloss white.  I found an awesome 2" white blind for the window on clearance at Menard's.  Made the valance from scraps from Anderson Fabrics!  Bought cute brown baskets at TJMaxx...one of my very favorite stores!

Our trusty carpenter/friend Kurt built this linen cupboard to just fit the space...and he even put beadboard in the doors.  He's really good that way!  More TJMaxx baskets on the shelving.

The walls are a light blue, very subtle, so subtle that my husband says it's concrete block grey...I beg to differ!  It's blue...guys just don't have that color realm that women do...it's okay...that's why we pick out the paint colors!  I bought that cute towel hook medallion hanging on the wall at TJMaxx.  See the little box above the light switch?  Yep...floor heat!  It is awesome with these cold Minnesota winters!  Love it!

The vanity and top are from Menard's.  The vanity is taller than normal...I like it.  Some of the grandkids are too short, but we have a stool for that!  Tile floor...did I mention the floor heat?

Here's the last view...shower curtain and all.  Bought it at Walmart, along with towels to match. 

Bathrooms are tough rooms to have torn apart for very long...at least we had a second bathroom to use!

Still working on that sewing room, but pictures to come soon!

And the weatherman says winter storm warning this weekend...maybe we'll get time to get finish my room!

Christmas 2011/celebrated in 2012...

     Our family Christmas was celebrated in January this year...

This is what "Christmas" looks like in January with no tree...it sure didn't dampen the spirits of these little ones...

We were just thrilled that 10 little bodies were healthy at the same time...sure, runny noses abound sometimes, but we know as our family grows that there might come the day when somebody is sick for our Christmas!  These 10 little blessings are the product of the last 9 1/2 years...our kids are doing a wonderful job of filling our life with joy, don't you think? 

This is the youngest born on December 27th who delayed our Christmas...but did we care?  No!

Olivia Basil arrived healthy and loved by all!

Here's some of the chaos and joy of Christmas with 10 under 10...

Every year I think we're going to unwrap just one present at a time...yea, right...the excitement outshines organization...and that's just fine!

Here's Steve and Sara working on the brunch that day...it was wonderful!

Here's all the kids enjoying their meal...they always want Uncle John to sit with them...and he obliges!  He'll be a great Daddy someday!(with lots of practice with all his nieces & nephews!)

Papa built some fences for each family...thanks to Nana's suggestion(from pinterest)...

Tate & Lu tried them out first...

then Calvin & Will decided fencing was a great way to play a game without "interference"...

Jillian was excited to hold her new cousin....

and Nathan is such a baby lover!  He already seems to have his family planned with a little girl in his K-1 class...and he's asked his Mom if she'll babysit "Baby Stony"!  This kid has a great imagination!

And here's our newest granddaughter...

Olivia, O, Livy, is already 6 weeks old!  Where did the time go?

We treasure these times with our little ones...my own children were just babies, weren't they?  The days and years seem to fly by...I am thankful for this precious time with grandchildren!

Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family!  You can see that we sure did!