Welcome to Scheels

We went to Scheels Sports store today..It was awesome! This is a statue of my Dad...It welcomes us all into the 30,000 square foot store!

Daddy and Macen in front of the coolest fish tank I think I've see in a long time!

This is another fish tank..this one is salt water and we found Nemo!

A shooting Gallery

Macen and Daddy got to practice target shooting today!

Here's the mighty hunter!

An Indoor Ferris Wheel!

Seriously....how cool is this?

More sports stuff than I can handle!

Here's Grant and Macen showing the battle for the Alpha-male position...just like the Elk behind them!

Macen and Daddy in hiding!

Macen trying out his new bedroom~

More at Scheels

Here's my two boys posing in front of the Elk. Just for your information, Grant's elk was bigger..

Another part of the display!

Macen saw this plane from the window so he thought we were going to the airport...I can't blame him..the store is HUGE!

More at Scheels and one from Red Robin

This is another part of a display. Beautiful isn't it? I love wolves! I don't think I'd want to meet one in the wild, but they sure are awesome to look at!

Scheels has the US Presidents in areas all around the store. Here's Honest Abe..my favorite president of all time. He believed in equality so much that he lost half the country over it...

We went to Red Robin for lunch...as usual!

The Mighty Hunter Returns

My mighty hunter has returned home..as you can see, not empty handed! He got this cow elk on Wednesday! We're all very proud. I normally try not to post dead animals on my blog, but Grant out-did himself this year. We've got elk meat! I am proud of my hunting man!

The camp sight

Okay...so this is a cabin in Cuprum...if I HAD to go hunting, this is where I'd stay!

And here is the "real" camp sight. Linda is an amazing woman..even when she has to "rough' it she makes everything very home like....still, I like running water!

Grant's vacation begins

My mighty hunter drove up to Cuprum Idaho to begin his hunting adventure. Notice the sign...Population:12..and that's counting the elk..Ha ha ha! Actually it's a very pretty town..well I can't really call it a town now, but back in the day what a place it must have been!

This is one of the remaining buildings from Cuprums glory days.

And here's Mighty Hunter senior getting a little shut eye after a big hunt!

Happy Birthday Kiminy Cricket

My amazing sister Kim celebrated her birthday today....

This is a woman who loves her kids, education, and most of all....ME!!! Happy Happy Birthday Kiminy!

Hurricane Volunteer

My sister -in-law sent me this...I am a strong believer in helping those who help themselves..I think that we have allowed to many people "Free Rides" and I for one am tired of it..

From the other side that the news channels did not show.

Dear Editor,

I am a nurse who has just completed volunteer working approximately 120 hours as the clinic director in a Hurricane Gustav evacuation shelter in Shreveport, Louisiana over the last 7 days. I would love to see someone look at the evacuee situation from a new perspective. Local and national news channels have covered the evacuation and 'horrible' conditions the evacuees had to endure during Hurricane Gustav.
True - some things were not optimal for the evacuation and the shelters need some modification.
At any point, does anyone address the responsibility (or irresponsibility) of the evacuees?
Does it seem wrong that one would remember their cell phone, charger, cigarettes and lighter but forget their child's insulin?
Is something amiss when an evacuee gets off the bus, walks immediately to the medical area, and requests immediate free refills on all medicines for which they cannot provide a prescription or current bottle (most of which are narcotics)?
Isn't the system flawed when an evacuee says they cannot afford a $3 copay for a refill that will be delivered to them in the shelter yet they can take a city-provided bus to Wal-mart, buy 5 bottles of Vodka, and return to consume them secretly in the shelter?
Is it fair to stop performing luggage checks on incoming evacuees so as not to delay the registration process but endanger the volunteer staff and other persons with the very realistic truth of drugs, alcohol and weapons being brought into the shelter?
Am I less than compassionate when it frustrates me to scrub emesis from the floor near a nauseated child while his mother lies nearby, watching me work 26 hours straight, not even raising her head from the pillow to comfort her own son?
Why does it incense me to hear a man say 'I ain't goin' home 'til I get my FEMA check' when I would love to just go home and see my daughters who I have only seen 3 times this week?
Is the system flawed when the privately insured patient must find a way to get to the pharmacy, fill his prescription and pay his copay while the FEMA declaration allows the uninsured person to acquire free medications under the disaster rules?
Does it seem odd that the nurse volunteering at the shelter is paying for childcare while the evacuee sits on a cot during the day as the shelter provides a 'daycare'?
Have government entitlements created this mentality and am I facilitating it with my work?
Will I be a bad person, merciless nurse or poor Christian if I hesitate to work at the next shelter because I have worked for 7 days being called every curse word imaginable, feeling threatened and fearing for my personal safety in the shelter?

Exhausted and battered,
Sherri Hagerhjelm, RN

The Invisible Mother

THE INVISIBLE MOTHER

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack ofresponse, the way one of the kids will walk into the roomwhile I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store.

Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see I'm on the phone?'

Obviously not; no one can see if I'm onthe phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all.

I'm invisible. The invisible Mom. Some days I am only apair of hands, nothing more: Can you fix this? Can you tiethis? Can you open this? Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being.

I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?'

I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?'

I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history and the mind that graduated summa cum laude - but now they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again.

She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England .. Janice had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting there,looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself.

I was feeling pretty pathetic, when Janice turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and said, 'I brought you this.'

It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription:

'To Charlotte , with admiration for the greatness of what you are building when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book.

And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:

No one can say who built the great cathedrals we have no record of their names.

These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished. They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.

The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A legendary story in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof? No one will ever see it.' And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place.

It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me,'I see you, Charlotte. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.

No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, is too small for me to notice and smile over.

You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.'At times, my invisibility feels like an affliction But it is not a disease that is erasing my life.

It is the cure for the disease of my own self-centeredness. It is the antidote to my strong, stubborn pride.

I keep the right perspectivewhen I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.

The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my child to tell the friend he's bringing home from college forThanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a turkey for three hours and presses all the linens for the table.'

That would mean I'd built a shrine or a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, to add,'You're gonna love it there.'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible women.

Magic Mirror

Tell me..Where can I find this Mirror?

OK gals, now that you have had your laugh, remember... Breast Cancer Awareness... Go have those boobs checked out and stay healthy! Pass the message on to your mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, cousins, friends, and even your enemies.
Because the WORST enemy is Breast Cancer.