Peace Poster contest

Grandma must brag over this humble little one…

We have a budding artist in our family as it runs in the Hemmer genes! 

Our oldest granddaughter Audrey won an art contest in her middle school. 

Her drawing was chosen the winner, out of 40 other applicants! She was awarded a monetary prize and moved onto the district competition in which she was an “Honorable mention” winner. Again she scored a lovely certificate and monetary award. We are proud of this little one and love her unique style especially when creating people.

The theme of the project was “we are all connected”, she has drawn Flags from many different countries and children from different ethnicities situated inside a giant heart.

The contest was sponsored by the lions club.

Her proud parents and little brother.

She is quite the little writer as well, and is working on "writing a book", we know you can do anything you put your mind to Audrey. We cant wait to see where you go from here.

A winter-lover and grandparents joy!

As a lover of winter & snow, I was quite delighted in our total snowfall 

that came Saturday night into Sunday morning.

9 beautiful inches! 

Rick and I relaxed and enjoyed the view until about 10am. 

Our Church services were cancelled, 

so the plan was to wait for the plow and then blow the driveway. 

I decided to go for a little walk to enjoy the untouched beauty of the unplowed streets, 

so I bundled up and out I went.

 My favorite neighborhood barn

and the pretty flocked trees. 

Everything was so pretty.

First pass...

after our driveway he blew out the neighbors, and the end of another 

neighbors driveway that the plow plugged up! 

Back it up to Saturday....

We love watching our grandkids participate in their activities.

#44 Carson's first year playing basketball, this is such a cute age to watch.

  

On to the Rochester Sports Center for Audrey's gymnastic's meet.

Most of her meets are in the Twin Cities so it was a bonus to be home.

"Bars" is her favorite event

 she's a natural

 (her mama was a gymnast too)

 1st place finish on BARS (I'm just a little proud)

Now back up to the previous Weekend....

 We had little Lew (without sister).  

He slept in the toddler bed for the first time.... baseball hat and all  :)

Our two grand boys, 4 years apart but still little buddies  <3 p="">

This coming weekend we will have both grands from the Twin Cities, 

looking forward to more time with these littles. 

Being Grandparents is the best thing ever, we love every minute we get to be withour 4 sweeties.

Something for me.....

For my birthday this year I decided to be selfish and do something for me!!!

I planned for my Granddaughters and my daughter to attend a performance of

The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe on my Birthday, I got them all to myself. 

Scarlett's mamma would have loved to come this year but life happens and we will just plan for another time that we can do this again....It would be fun to have as a "Girls Tradition" 

Scarlett as Elsa..

She loves to play with grandma's nightgowns one is a dress the other a cape .... instant ELSA

We got to have Scarlett here for two nights

All dressed up and ready to go

These two are so sweet

1st stop, Noodles for dinner 

 I wish I could have bottled the excitement and the look on their faces when the curtain opened

I think I watched them as much as what was going on up on the stage.

 This little was soooooo excited

Bonus photo's from Scarletts visit

 Of course we have pancakes for breakfast..... 

today she picked Grandpa to help make pancakes

Heart shaped...of course  :)

Played about 45 minutes straight with Uncle Gavin

She decided after she caught him, she would tie him to a tree.

My birthday weekend was lovely, I got to spend time with my parents, 

my daughter & sons and all the grandkids

 I feel blessed to have a family who loves each other, good health, and memories to have forever.

Sometimes it's not all what it's cracked up to be....

Growing up in Minnesota, 

I know that not all weather forecasts prove to be what they are advertised to be.

Therefore I'm a bit more adventurous when it comes to travel.

Saturday evening in Blaine MN...

rain turned into snow as we headed back to our hotel from dinner.

This weekend was one of those adventures that turned out to be a whole lot less problematic than advertised. A Winter Storm WARNING was declared for the very place we need to travel..

 Heaviest snow was predicted smack dab in the area we were to be.

 8-12" forecasted turned into about 4"of snow.... 

I would consider this a "fail" in the predicted snowfall totals.

I must admit I was a little leery after our last snowstorm trip home from the twin cities 

which happened was true to the forecast.... 

We had never been in a more crazy scenario of wind and heavy snow, 

unable to see the road causing a single lane of slow moving traffic from Cannon falls to Rochester.

It made us appreciate the need to be prepared with extra food, water, a shovel and extra winter clothing if traveling during a predicted snow storm.

Our granddaughter's gymnastics team was to compete in Blaine Minnesota on Sunday morning and we had made big plans with my daughters family to head up this weekend. We had reservations 

to stay the night in a hotel and then attend the meet on Sunday morning.

After much contemplation, we decided that we could safely travel to the cities 

before the snow on Saturday,

 the question would be...

will we be able to get out of the parking lot Sunday morning if the forecasted 8-12" of snow really happened? I guess we would "cross that bridge" if it happened.

Sunday morning at the hotel, our gymnast snuggles in her daddy's lap, 

a little nervous for her big meet. 

We were happy to see that the hotel parking lot had been plowed and only about

 4" of the white stuff had fallen..... off to the meet we went.

Saturday night we we surprised at dinner by our son Brice and his family. 

He and my daughter Brianna schemed to make it happen so that we could all eat together. 

My son lives only about 10 minutes from the restaurant

Sunday morning, waiting for the meet to begin.

Little Audrey had a great meet

 Here she awaits the other gymnasts as they take their place on the awards podium 

5th place on bars  :)

Hanging on to the single digits.....

Happy Birthday to a very special girl

Because of her....

... at the young age of 48

 I received the title "GRANDMA"

... my "Jojo" as I so fondly call her.

9 looks good on you sweet girl!

This is one of my favorite photo's of Audrey. 

I took it last summer in the woods near our cabin.

This little one is growing up fast... too fast
I see a beautiful sweet soul, a little girl with a lot of energy. 

A mind that is thinking, and a heart that is loving.

What a blessing it has been to be so close to you, to be so involved in your life.

Love our special dates to Caribou.

I pray for you every morning!

God is watching over you sweet girl, I know because I asked Him to.

I look forward to watching you grow into the person God intends for you to be,

You are often in my thoughts, and always in my heart, 

I love you Jojo.  ~ Grandma

Be~Still~My~Heart

Youth sports can be about more than winning.

 Rick and I both love the game of basketball. 

We played from a young age through high school and beyond, so you can imagine the excitement we have watching our oldest granddaughter as she begins her 2nd year of youth basketball. We are even more pleased with the organization in which she is apart of... "Champion basketball" a well rounded organization that begins each game with a prayer, and then during half time a short devotion.  

I Love that!!!

"Champion Basketball" exists to meet physical, emotional, social, and spiritual needs in today's kids.

• Physical, because we get them off the couch and exercising;
• Emotional, because Champion is all about encouragement and building self-esteem;
• Social, because Champion Basketball is a place where kids can build meaningful relationships with other kids;
• and Spiritual, because Champion basketball teaches kids about God and encourages them to have a meaningful relationship with Him.
• But we also believe that kids need fun, and Champion Basketbball is a place where they will have a lot of it.
  Dave Hammond, Champion Director

We pray before they play!
I snuck this photo of sweet Carson with hands folded during the pre-game prayer.

(click on the  play arrow below to watch this short video)

Score.... Atta girl Audrey!

The skills from last year to this year have been quite noticeable.

Audrey's dad is her coach, he's a good coach, who also loves the game!

Watching the game in grandpa's lap.

We hope Carson takes an interest in basketball, but it's not for everyone...we will see :)

(click on the  play arrow below to watch this short video)

Dribbling skills with an assist.

Cant help but smile, they are all so cute out there. Audrey dribbles then passes the ball to her
team mate who then goes in for "2".

Looking forward to the years ahead of watching all or our grands in what ever
activities they choose to participate in. 

It's more than just a 3 day holiday...

It's more than just a 3 day weekend....

Memorial Day is more that the official start of summer!

It's a U.S. holiday with a lot of history and lasting significance.

 Originally known as Decoration Day "Memorial Day" was conceived after the Civil War 

as a way to honor the Union's war dead. By the early 20th century, 

the holiday had evolved to honor all military members who died in service. 

Memorial Day formally remembers those who gave their lives 

in the service and protection of America's freedom.

Today Rick and I along with our Son-in-law Chris and grandson Carson, 

attended the Memorial Day parade

and ceremony that followed at the Veterans Memorial in Rochester

Such an honor to stand before these brave men (and women) 

who fought for our freedom so many years ago

Oh, the stories they could tell.

Did I mention our Granddaughter Audrey marched in the parade, 

she is part of a Christian based organization called American Heritage Girls. 

Their mission, to build women of integrity through service to God, family, community and country

What a great experience for these little girls!

The mama's marched too, my daughter Brianna on the left.

Desert Storm

Koren war 

Vietnam 

 Many Veterans were in attendance. 

Saluting as the National Anthem was played by the Mayo High school's band .

I especially love this photo!

 Thank you for your service

The Memorial wall made of granite, etchings of war scenes stretch round the entire wall.

This photo compliments of "google images"

The "Wall of Remembrance" honors over 3.000 service men and women from SE Minnesota 

who gave their lives in service to their country. 

I was humble today and thankful for the freedom we have because of those who have served.

Home of the free....because of the brave!

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