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.

Monkey Business

My three days off have been MISERABLE, aside from the company of Brent, Bryekin and my mom on Wednesday. I have been sick, no I'm not pregnant thank you very much, and I have not been able to eat "real" food for several days. My diet today has consisted of Sierra Mist. Blah... anyways...

Monkey Business, a local day care provider, had an open house on Thursday, so we went! We originally had planned to go downtown for the Menomonie Community Cookout, but that got cancelled due to the weather. We instead hit up Pizza Hut and then off to Monkey Business it was.

We toured the building, very nice, and then went outside and played!!

Bryekin loved the bounce house, but would only go in it if daddy went too! I wish I had video, his little giggle was too cute!!!



Ozseeker the Clown was pretty cool. She asked what Bryekin wanted and we told her to suprise us. She was making the other kids hats, monkeys, parrots, etc.

She ended up making Bryekin a fishing pole with a fish on the hook. The funny part was Bryekin held on to it all night and every so often he would go, "Bob." That is the name of his beta fish which makes his home in his tank which is in Boo's room!!

One trip down the big slide before we headed home for the night!

Hazeltine 2009

My lucky mom and dad were fortunate enough to be able to attend the final round of the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine!!!
Can you find them in this picture?? They are there!!!

Hint: Although it was a hot humid day, NO my dad isn't airing our his armpits, he is reacting to the missed putt!!




Click on this LINK for a little larger view

Hayward ATV Trip

Brent and I REALLY needed a get away, so we decided to go ATV-ing in Hayward. We usually go to Hayward each year around Labor Day weekend (our anniversary/my b-day), but since we both work this Labor day and my birthday doesn't fall til the next weeekend, we decided to go now!!
I took Bryekin to Meghan's around 1230pm and when I got back Brent was all ready to go. He had to work til 6 that morning so he grabbed a few zzzz's before we left!! We got to Barron and I realized I left my purse at home (DUH)!!! Brent was willing to turn around, but I thought since I had my handy dandy Blackberry (in case Boo needed me) and Brent was with me, what more did I need, so I told him I'd be fine and we should keep going. Boy was I wrong!!! Part of my life is in that dang purse; meds, money, drivers license, lip balm, etc. So Kelly brought it up for me the next day!! (Thanks again Kel!!)

Anyways, we arrived in Hayward and went tubing down the Namekagon River (like always.) It was about 85 degrees out and sunny, so it was perfect!! The river was quite low, but we made it through. We were coming up to the second bridge which is where you get out when we realized we were out of beer!! Thank goodness we only had a few hundred feet left of floating, lol!

We went and checked in at our hotel room at the LCO Casino and spiffied up for dinner. We went to Famous Daves and ate outside!!!



Later in the evening we hit up the casino and played our favorite slots. I won $20 but of course lost it the next day!!

Kelly and Sean arrived around noon, they were delayed with a flat tire in Rice Lake, but they made it!! We hit the trails and ended up riding 62 miles! It was an absolute BLAST!!!! I can't wait to go again!


Kelly and Sean at the head of the trail.


Kelly recreating her high school senior picture pose.


Brent playing in the only mud we found all day.


We "made" Kelly go through on her own!!


Sean was STUCK and then spilled his beer during the removal process!!


Brent and I in front of the marsh/lake, it was sooo pretty! Sean thought the picture would be better with the shot up one lane bridge sign in the background, lol.

Around 8 or so we headed out for pizza at Coops, then off to the Cruz-in for some evening cocktails and one CRAZY dj. I wish I would have gotten a picture of him, but he was bouncing around all over the place, I couldn't!!

We had such a good time with good friends and can't wait to do it again!!!

Kid's Hair!!

On the Sunday afternoon before our week at Grandview, Brent and I took Bryekin to Kids Hair in Woodbury for his FIRST haircut!! He thought he was rather cool sitting in the big chair all by himself with his cape on. The stylist have him a sucker too! He was quite a fan of having the water put in his hair too!!



BEFORE...



AFTER...

Eventful Week!!

This past week has been eventful to say the least!!

On Tuesday Bryekin went in for his first dentist appointment at Midwest Dental. They started a program for youngsters to come in and make sure that parents are properly cleaning their teeth and that the teeth are coming in fine. Bryekin was good to go. He has had teeth for quit some time now, so he has the toothbrushing down pat, then we go in behind him just in case. Bryekin thought the appointment was awfully cool as he got to put on sunglasses and the doctor shined the light on him!! He even got to sit in the chair by himself for a little bit.



On Tuesday afternoon I went over to RCMC to be with my friend Jen who was admitted to the hospital after her water broke that morning. She ended up in labor for about 9 hours with 1 hour or so of pushing and then Brody Haiden Kohnke was born at 441 am on 8/5/09. He was 6 lb 11oz and was 20 1/4 inches long!!!

Below is Brett "patiently" waiting in Jen's room. He was soooooo impatient (understandably so) but earlier that evening I took him to get food and we stopped for a couple beers. He was driving himself and everyone else nuts, lol!!







Pictures of baby Brody coming soon!!

Eau Claire County Junior Fair

Bryekin and I decided to spend the day in Eau Claire yesterday. I saw an advertisement in the paper for the "Eau Claire County Junior Fair," so I thought we would take a swing in and see what is was all about. Holy man was I impressed!!!

There were cows, pigs, lambs, goats, horses, miniature horses, a baby camel, a lama, roosters, rabbits, etc, all which are right up Bryekin's alley!! A teacher of mine from high school was there and she is in charge of the fair, so she got Bryekin up close and personal with a calf!! He was able to pet her and it even moo'd, a sound that Bryekin thinks every animal makes!! Also, for a nominal fee of $.25, we went into the petting zoo and petted goats, a llama, a rooster and a bunny!!





They had a mini kids carnival where Bryekin won some cool prizes like crayons, a coloring book, a capsule that you put in water and it turns into a spongy crab, stickers, and a sucker. Below is a pic of the ball toss game where Bryekin got all three balls in the hole, this is how he won his box of crayons!! I wonder if the distance Bryekin stood from the holes made any difference in his 3 for 3??!!



The gal made Bryekin a balloon dog which went all over the fair grounds with us and he LOVED it!! However, on the way home, it popped:( Bummer!



We rounded off the afternoon with a grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate milk that the 4H clubs were selling at the concession stand.

After the fair we hit up Kohls and Target. How can one be in Eau Claire and not stop there??

After we got home we hung out with dad for awhile and then got ready for Chase's wedding reception!! Donna looked AMAZING as the mother of the groom and Paul didn't look bad in his tux either. Little Miss Mya, Donna's granddaughter, was a hit out on the dance floor and during her break she even shared her marshmallows with Bryekin! Congrats Chase and Kelli!!