SAMmy's "Funtastic Family Event"

SAMmy's will be starting again in September and I can hardly wait!!

On August 30, 2009, SAMmy's Inc. is hosting a "Funtastic Family Event," with all the proceeds going to SAMmy's. The event is being held at the Harvestime Church, 3625 Southwind Drive, Eau Claire. This is behind Robbins School.

There will be carnival games, prizes, and food, and of course fun for EVERYONE!! From 4:30 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., there will be the carnival games, food, and silent auction. The silent auction will feature creative and unique baskets full of goodies! From 6:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m., The Splatter Sisters will be putting on a concert!! They are a group of gals that puts on a lively and interactive show for all ages!!

Cost: $.25 per ticket which can be used for carnival games and food. For the concert tickets, it is $2.00 per child and $3.00 per adult with children 2 and under being free.

Pass the word along and come and join the fun!!! Help support SAMmy's, an incredible organization for mom's!!!

Wednesdays: Farmer's Market Day

I try and get to the farmer's market every Wednesday!! The sidewalks are lined with vendors who have the freshest of fresh veggies and fruits. I usually have to limit myself to $20 or I would definitely be BROKE!!

This week I decided to get a bag of spinach. I'm not really sure what I'm going to do with it, but I bought it anyways. Maybe I'll make lasagna or manicotti and chop up some spinach to add in? I have never cooked with spinach so this may be interesting.



Radishes, carrots and zucchini are usually an every week item (while in season) and RASPBERRIES, oh my, they are the BEST!!!

Who has heard of fingerlings?? They are by far the best kind of potato there is. They aren't in season very long, so while they are available, I stock up. One would think that you would get sick of potato's, but not these!! I usually either throw them in foil with butter and garlic (an excessive amount of garlic I might add) and throw them on the grill. Or...now that Ziploc has those new steamer bags, I throw them in a bag with the butter and garlic, zap for 5 minutes, and voila, yummy fingerlings!!!



I usually stop on my way to work and if Bryekin goes to Meghan's, we stop before he goes there. The little ladies usually get a kick out of him and he LOVES checking out the crowd!! Til next Wednesday, Happy Gardening!

Country Jam 2009

This last week I went to Country Jam. It was a good time, pretty mellow compaired to years past, but still fun. It it always fun to people watch and to run into people you haven't seen in a while!! Although the line up wasn't all that impressive, the concerts were good and the atmosphere was lovely.

The above picture is not the best, but you get the jist.

While Amanda and I were at Jam, we ran into Lee and his wife Char. Lee is a co-worker of ours and he was certainly enjoying himself. He was able to convince their family friend to take a ride on the "Big Sling" with him. While he was waiting in line, the ride broke down. After his turn was done, the ride broke down again, this time for the rest of the weekend. Lee was hilarious and it looked like he enjoyed his ride!!

If you can't tell, this is Tim McGraw's profile, blk cowboy hat and all.

And, here is what Bryekin did this weekend!! He got to go to Irvine Park, play on the playset, go for a lawnmower ride, etc!!! Grandma and Grandpa P take him all over and he surely LOVES it!!! He did come home though and referred to everything as "baby." Blankie is now baby, book is now baby, yummy is now baby, etc, too funny!

Grandview Vacation!!!

We are back home and in the swing of things again after a wonderful week long vacation to Grandview!! The week was filled with golfing, boating, swimming, tubing, playing in the sand, grilling out, and turtle races!!

After picking up Molly, Ned, and Donnie at the airport Sunday night, we stayed at the Holiday Inn Waterpark in Elk River, MN (awesome place!!) The next morning we played at the waterpark before making the trek north, Molly and I in one car and the boys in the other.

Our cabin was wonderful...three bedrooms, three baths, a kitchen, large living room, and a large deck and picnic table!! Not to mention all with a view of Gull lake!!

We grilled out most of the week; fajitas, tenderloin, brats, etc along with all the trimmings. YUM!!

Here are some pics from the weeks events:

Bryekin went tubing for his first time!!!

Molly and I tubed together!!!

Group shot, minus the real boat captain. Bryekin would argue that HE is the real captain!!!

Group shot minus Grammy, the real captain came back!!!

The gang heading down to the boat for a day out on the water!!!

Bryekin thought this moose was awfully cool, which he was, but then he wouldn't touch him??

Bryekin and I at breakfast in the Grand Dining room our last morning.

Grandpy, Bryekin, and Ned building a castle in the sand before we took off in the boat. I do believe that this was the day before Grammy Sherry took a tumble off the dock and twisted her ankle!!

Bryekin's turtle Oscar won the heat race in the Tiny Tot division. He then placed 2nd overall out of about 70 kids under 5.

Grammy and Boo barely got beat out in the grandparent/grandchild race.

T minus 2

We are all packed and ready to head to Grandview for the whole week!! Normally we would go up for two separate long weekends, but this time we are going for the long haul!! Grandpa and Grandma Pogrant scored us an awesome 3 bedroom/3 bathroom cabin with a kitchen and all. Each of us mini family's are responsible for one night of dinner (for the Leach's, we are doing fajitas!!) Then I'm sure we will hit up Rafferty's, Nisswa's amazing pizza joint, and perhaps maybe Quarterdeck. Otherwise I am bringing with the "Pudgie Pie Maker." With Ned being from Texas, he hasn't experienced some "up north" things, so I thought that would be fun!! It was fun for me when Ned took us to the BBQ shack when were in Ft. Worth, so I'm giving him a taste of Wisco/Minn.



On Sunday we are going to head to Woodbury and stop at Kid's Hair to see if they have any openings for Bryekin's first haircut. I didn't make an appointment because I though if they had an opening then it was meant to be and if they don't have an opening then I shouldn't get it cut yet!!
Our reservations for Sunday night are at the Holiday Inn in Elk River, MN. We are picking up Molly, Ned and Donnie from the Minneapolis/St.Paul airport around 8pm, so we thought instead of driving back to Wisco we would get a hotel on the way to Nisswa!! They have an indoor water park, so Brent, Boo and I may head right over after Woodbury and play in the water for a bit. We thought we'd take the boys down to the water park on Monday morning before we head north too!! Since we are going to be right off from 494, I promised Brent Don Pablo's!!! Our favorite restaurant which we rarely get to go to since the one in Woodbury shut down.

I think we are all very ready for a week away without work or dumb drama!! I can't think of a better way to spend my vacation than with my family!!!

Grandview here we come... after a fun filled 4th of July of course!!!

2008 Grandview Lodge family pic:

Water and Wheels

Bryekin LOVES, LOVES, LOVES all things with wheels as well as anything water related. He is such a boy. This last weekend he had the pleasure of spending time at G & G P's. Bryekin originally got to go on a lawnmower ride and then Grandma came to play and Bryekin only wanted to ride on the mower, poor Grandma!! I'm sure they had plenty of other play time together. After the lawn was mowed, Grandma and Boo washed up the mower.








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