Sing, sing a song Sing out loud Sing out strong Sing of good things not bad Sing of happy not sad Sing, sing a song Make it simple to last Your whole life long Don't worry that it's not Good enough for anyone Else to hear Just sing, sing a song

 I am so far behind in my blog post! So I am going to write a very long post today of all that has been going on since March. 

First off we went to Virginia, MN for the MSAA State Archery tournament. We rented an Airbnb with Amy's family. It was an old Bar that closed and was made into an Airbnb. It looked like they shut the doors on the bar added some beds and called it good. We had so much fun staying there. 

 

What can I say.....

They made the old walk-in cooler into a bedroom. Josie said it was the perfect place to sleep. 

Ping Pong was the game of the weekend 

Rick and Liam shot in the tournament

We had to check out the local pizza place. 

Unto the next event...

We always try to have birthday brunch for our birthdays and Amy's birthday was May 2. Since all of us were going to be busy on that day we got together at the end of April. We were so happy that Diane, Linda, and Sarah were able to join us. 

        I was super excited when we moved into this house to discover they had a flag pole. I of course am not one to just put up an ordinary American flag. That would be boring. I am starting out with the new Minnesota State Flag. You will have to stay tuned to see what is up next. 

Dad is doing okay. His memory is going but he is usually pretty cheerful when I visit him. In the above picture, Dad was given a flower on May Day. 

Next up is our first camping trip of the year!!!!! 

Last year because of the year that it was we did very little camping and the last trip we took was in July. Needless to say, I was more than a little excited to get the camper home and take it on the road.

We took off Thursday at noon and went to Palisades State Park in South Dakota. It has been on my list of parks to go see for a few years so I was happy to finally get to it. 

It was so pretty there.

Morgan enjoyed swimming.

Our campsite was really nice. 

The poor puppies are getting too old for hiking. Morgan still thinks she is a puppy and not almost 14 years old. She gets so excited to go on hikes but her bad hips are not holding up and after two days of two-mile hikes, she was toast. And Otis who tore his ACL last summer was no better off. I feel bad for them because they used to do 5-10 mile hikes with us all the time but old age is slowing them down. Time to invest in doggie back packs so we can carry them with us. 

We also drove to Split Rock Creek State Park and hiked on the hiking club trail. 

It was such a fun trip. It was nice for Rick and I to have time away with just the two of us. 

We got home around noon on Sunday. It was such a beautiful day that after we unpacked the camper we spent the day outside enjoying the weather. 

I got most of my garden planted. I was sure I had made it just the right size but now I think I made it too small 😂 We will see once I have everything in it. 

We ended the day having our first fire at the new house. 

So good job making it to the end of this long blog. April was a good month and May is looking to be great too.

Happy Spring...

Sharon 

"Today you are you! That is truer than true! There is no one alive who is you-er than you! " - Dr. Seuss

I had a weekend filled with love, family, fun, and a little sadness. 

Saturday was my 62nd birthday. I never like to make a big deal out of my birthday. I don't want anyone to get me gifts, just a happy birthday greeting is all I need. This year I was a little sad. You see every year on my birthday  I get a phone call from my Mom and when I answer she would not say anything she just starts singing the Happy Birthday song to me. I would laugh and when she was done we would have a talk about my day. It was not a big deal but something I grew to expect. So Saturday, every time my phone would ring, I would get a little jolt of thinking,  Oh it's mom calling me, even though I knew it wasn't her

because she has been gone for 5 months now. It is funny how you think you are all okay and then the fact that she has died hits you all over again and you find yourself in tears....

But enough of the sadness, time for love, family, and fun!  

Sunday was Easter so I volunteered to host it for the Rugroden side. Since my children did not have anywhere else to go I invited them also. We had a house full. It was so fun to have everyone together, young and old! The above picture is of me and all of my grandkids. They are all growing up so fast! I love spending time with them. 

We had an Easter Egg hunt this year for the first time in a long time. Since 2020 we have not really had a big gathering for Easter so it was fun to have one again. Josie, Liam, and Carey took on the task of hiding the eggs for the younger kids to find. It was so fun watching the joy on the kid's faces as they found the eggs hidden all over the lawn. I think they all had a full-on sugar rush. 

We had so much great food that everyone brought! 

Cassie is missing from the group photo because she took it. We managed to almost everyone in the living room to eat. 

The little kids got to sit at the "big" table to eat. 

Rick made his world-famous chocolate cake. 

It was fun watching the younger four kids get to know each other and play so great together. It was also great that we could chase them down to the almost complete basement to play and be very loud. Who knew 4 kids could make so much noise. 

Sadly I did not have my Dad over. His memory/Alzheimer's is getting worse. It would have been way too overwhelming for him to be there. He has good days and bad days....The other day he asked me if I was his daughter, I fear that the day will come soon when he doesn't know who I am at all. But for now, with a little reminder, he remembers who most of us are. 

It was a good weekend...

Sharon 

 

“I thought renovating my home would be a piece of cake, but it turned out to be more like a multi-layered, never-ending dessert!”

Another house another remodel project 😀 

When we bought this house we knew the first thing that had to go was the dirty cream carpet from the 1990's. We also knew it had a wood floor underneath it. We pulled up parts of the carpet and looked at the wood floor and saw that at least in the parts we had pulled up it was in pretty rough shape. After much debate about it, we decided to order carpet. Once it was ordered we were committed. 

After a two-month wait, the carpet was in. So our work began. My biggest fear was we would pull all the carpet out and find out the floor was beautiful. Thankfully that was not true. The wood floor and several spots that were water-damaged and very scratched up. In the end, we were happy we decided to go with carpet. 

So many staples to be pulled out. 

Once we got all the staples out Rick scraped the ceiling and painted it. We also (well really just Rick) painted the walls a nice warm color. The room had been painted a very light gray. It really needed some color. 

The carpet is so nice!! It makes the room look so much better. I still need to paint the front door. The cream on it looks awful. I am waiting until it warms up and then I will take the door off to paint it. 

Here is the finished look. We are so happy with it. It feels so cozy now...

Next up the basement.....

Sharon