Happy Birthday to Me!!!

This last weekend I got lucky and my three days off fell on Saturday (my birthday), Sunday and Monday (Labor Day.)

Sunday and Monday were pretty mellow, Bryekin and I just hung out and played outside, but Saturday...

We had some friends over to grill out and then a group of us went out on the town. Thanks to Brett for grilling burger, corn, and potato's!

MN State Fair

Last Thursday, Brent, Bryekin, and I headed out to the Minnesota State Fair. It was the opening day and it ended up being quite a bit busier than I thought, but we still had a fun time.

We started our day with a tour through the birthing barn. We didn't actually see any animals being born, but a pig had just had her piglets and Bryekin was able to pet a baby chick and a baby miniature horse.




After that we tooled around in the area and checked out some of the vendor booths, grabbed a beer and some food. With soooo many food options, it was hard to choose a snack, but I of course decided on the deep fried pickles!! They are soooo AWESOME, I had to have then. Brent and Bryekin even tried them and liked them too!! Bryekin's meal consisted of some chicken strips and fries, and Brent decided on the footlong corndog!! Then we all shared some cookies.




We stopped and played with some lego, large lego!!! They were so cool and they were perfect for Bryekin. I have even emailed the company to see where I can get some! They didn't list them on their website for sale, but I WANT THEM!!!



Bryekin and Brent rode the whale ride and since Brent was with, Boo did okay.



Then Bryekin and I rode on the carousel and that went pretty well too.



Bryekin was going to ride the race cars, all by himself!! He LOVED sitting in the car and playing with the steering wheel!!!



But then..................... the ride started to move! NOT A FAN!!! Poor thing. I'm thinking he is still just a tad too small for riding alone!




Just before we left for the day, Brent played a couple of the games and won Bryekin a stuffed SpongeBob.



We had a wonderful day!!!

More SAMmy's Carnival Pics!!

Happy Anniversary to US!

Two years ago, Saturday September 1, 2007, Brent and I were married at the Tainter United Methodist Church. It seems WAY longer than two years ago, but that is a good thing, we have had soooo many things go on since we've been married and the very best of all of them was BRYEKIN!!!

It is crazy to think about how things were two years ago. There were family/friendships that have since unfortunately grown apart, but then there are those friendships that have been created and some that have grown stronger!! Those are the things to truly be thankful for. And of course, little Bryekin, the best thing that has happened to both of us, EVER!!

When Brent got home this morning, he brought in roses and a card! What a great start to the day! I Love You Bunny!!

Here are some pictures from that day:

SAMmy's Family Funtastic Event

Yesterday from 430-730 p.m., the SAMmy's Family Funtastic Event was held at Harvestime Church in Eau Claire. There were a bunch of carnival games for the kids, a couple of bounce houses, and The Splatter Sister's performed a concert. Bryekin also had some chocolate milk, an ear of corn on the cob and part of a hot dog for an early dinner.

Our kickoff brunch is on September 16 and I can't wait. There is child care provided also on site! Please give me a call if you are interested in joining us!!


Bryekin played the bean bag toss game. When he picked out his prize, he felt the need to throw that right into the hole also! The first prize he picked out of a whole bucket of prizes was a yellow happy face keychain. From there on out, each time he won a prize he picked the same ole' happy face keychain. By the end of the day, he was the owner of four different colored happy face coin keychains.


The Splatter Sisters started their concert with the name song, you know...Bryekin Bryekin Bo Breykin Banana Fannah, etc. Boo loved the music and had a good time dancing along. He was tooooo funny!


Grandma even joined in on the dancing fun!!!

Menomonie Homicides

As most of you know, a couple weeks ago, my partner Ryan and I were working an afternoon shift when at 10:23 p.m. calls starting coming in about a shooting which occurred at a Menomonie trailer park. In a nutshell we handled a massive amount of phone calls, handled all the radio traffic for several agencies, and made tons of phone calls to people who needed to be contacted in reference to the event. Although our shift ends at 11:00 p.m., we were so super busy that we couldn't just leave a mess for our relief, so by the time we were done sorting everything out, it was 11:45 p.m. What a day!!

Basically this event was one of a kind which has NEVER happened in Menomonie and something of this nature will probably not happen again for hopefully a long time. It was an event that as a dispatcher you don't exactly think you'll ever handle, especially in Menomonie. It was very nice of those of you who called, emailed, texted, etc, to ask about how I (and Ryan) were doing. It is nice to know that there are friends, family, firefighters, and officers who care enough and are concerned and wanted to let us know that we did a good job. Although the firefighters and officers are our co-workers in a different sort of way, it was really nice to hear from them since we never heard from our own (unless you misspell a word of course.) It definitely makes me aware of who is there for you as a co-worker and who is not.

Thank you to those who are awesome co-workers and to those who provide EMS and police services day to day. We work in a thank-less job and it is nice to know that most of us support each other!!

Bryekin's Weekend

What did Bryekin do while we were busy this weekend? Where to start...
On Saturday Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Dale picked him up and they went to Camp Brigadoon, a campground in Cumberland where the Roe's have a camper.

On Sunday, Bryekin got to go to Hillcrest Golf Club and go golfing with Grandma and Grandpa P. Grandma said that they did bring his clubs with, but he was more interested in rolling around in the sand traps!!












And...Bryekin is the proud owner of a brand new tricycle!!!!

MDA Kickball Tourney

On Saturday, the Menomonie Fire Department sponsored a kickball tournament to raise money and awareness for Muscular Dystrophy (MDA). Brent played on the Sheriff's Department team and after losing their first two games in a row, they were out due to the double elimination.

My friend Courtney was working a day shift at Stout and since "nothing goes on at Stout" especially on a Saturday, she came with me to watch the games for a bit. We cheered on the MPD team which also fell to the double elimination early, so then it was on to the Menomonie FD team.


Jon was the main man on the brat grill. Kelly R and I each had a brat and it was the first time in 5 days that I actually kept food down, so I'm chalking that up to the expert grilling skills!

We all hung out for the afternoon, well for the whole evening for that matter, and had a BLAST!!!!!!!!!



After hitting up the Pioneer, we headed to Pickle Fest in Boyceville! While the men (and Heidi) stayed in the beer tent, Jen, Lanny, myself and Kelly ventured out to find some deep fried pickles!! They were the BEST deep fried pickles I have EVER had!! The cute special worker was so excited to get his picture taken with us too!!



During the middle of the convertible car parade with over 180 cars, Heidi felt the need to get her picture taken with the Pickle, so she ran across the street (in front of the cars) and tracked down the Pickle.



"THE PURPLE COBRAS" Myself, Lanny and Kelly R decided earlier in the day while still at Wakanda Park that we needed a mascot. So we came up with "The Purple Cobras."
We got matching "tats" with the PC initials and what a hit that was throughout the night! It has been a few days now since the event and I still have some of the snake stained on my skin. I've scrubbed and scrubbed, but it's just washing off!



Above is Kelly H and I at Shoes. Kelly had left after the kickball games and went to a bachelorette party in Eau Claire and then was able to meet up with us again later in the night!

Below is Kelly H embarrassing her husband Sean as after midnight it was their 1st wedding anniversary!! The dj invited them up to give some advice to a newlywed couple that had just stopped in.