The Full Circle of Life

Today was definitely about navigating the full circle of life. This morning, I attended a baby shower for my co-worker and friend Hannah, who also happens to be daughter of one of hubby's high school classmates. That's how things work these days!

I love seeing the excitement of new moms opening gifts they have no idea may be life-changing... well, at least make the parenting thing go a little more smoothly!

And of course I won a raffle basket because, well, I always win!

I then moved from the beginning of life to the end... When I got home, Jim and I went to the visitation for our friends' dad.

As I mentioned last week, we are so blessed to have the Smits family as a second family to us! They really belong to Jim and his sister, but I'm just along for the ride. 💙 

After getting back from the funeral home, I went to the next lifetime milestone – high school graduation. I was blessed to serve as Ainsley's confirmation mentor at church and take her senior pictures. Turned out to be a pleasant afternoon visiting with her family members and my pastor and her husband. 

Just a weird span of covering so many aspects of life in one day! 

What I liked was the hope associated with a new baby and new life at college. What I appreciated was the sense of peace of losing a father and knowing he is no longer in pain. Thankfully we have God and great friends to get us through all of these!

Ditto Day with Extra

While today's schedule was pretty similar to yesterday's, I had some extra fun – and sadness – at church today. Today was our last day of "work" for Dave, our choir director of 14+ years. And as a grand finale, we sang Handel's Messiah (aka The Hallelujah Chorus)!

Not to sound like a choir geek, but this has been one of my favorites to sing since I was a freshman in high school which (check history books) was long before some of you were even born! It was a staple in our high school choir Christmas concerts. Then fast forward 30-some years and I learned it was a "grand finale" as well in the Assumption Golden Mass right before Christmas break. I've never joined them on stage, but I know my soprano part to sing from the seats.

This is the You Tube link to the service. Fast forward to 01:24 in the service for our performance. I'm the short one far left in the front row. I was ready to cry by the last 4 notes. I love that song. And we'll all miss our director! We had a nice pot luck brunch after church. 

Then this afternoon we had two graduation parties this afternoon. One found us a Lake Arrowhead and the other was just a mile-plus away. I came home before hubby because I needed to search through 5 years of softball images for a few "particular photos" before playoffs on Tuesday. Found 'em!

Side note! It was summer-like today!! Still 74 degrees at 8 p.m. I'll take it. Tomorrow I'll have time to actually relax and enjoy. Gotta love 3-day weekends no matter the serious reason for them!

Hope you're taking time to relax and convince Mother Nature this is how we launch summer in Wisconsin!

Holiday Weekending Close to Home

We didn't have plans to leave town for the long weekend. And that was before the spike in gas prices over the past month or so. 

But in the end, that worked in our favor. 

We have just enough going on anyway to keep us busy and entertained – with time for naps.

This morning, we both ran our errands. Then early this afternoon we hopped over the Lake Wazeecha for a graduation party. Filled up on the taco bar and then came home to nap before heading to the next party at the Ridges in the late afternoon.

I'm kind of so full it's almost painful. And I haven't even had cake yet!

Tomorrow we'll repeat the same pattern. Only this time, I'll be starting with a brunch at church before the Assumption graduation parties. I better pace myself! Or none of those "new" smaller pants I bought at Goodwill will fit me come Tuesday when I return to work! 

For those camping or holiday-cationing somewhere where you're spending lots of time outdoors, I hope you stayed warm enough today. It was cloudy and cool here, but Mother Nature is turning up the thermostat tomorrow. YAY!

I mean the forecast for Memorial Day is 82 degrees, no graduation parties, and total dedication to Mr. Deck Chair 2.0. Bring it on!

Enjoy your weekend!

2026 Vibes

Every time I shoot graduation ceremony pictures at Assumption it hits me different for different reasons. A lot of times it's the kids. And sometimes it's the date.

Obviously, tonight my first concern was for the janitor who will have to get those streamers off the ceiling beams and fans! Crazy kids.

While I adore many of the graduates, just the words "class of 2026" are jolting for me.

That means our baby, who graduated from Assumption in 2016, will have a 10-year class reunion this year! Wow. That also means his mama, who graduated from Luck in 1986, will have 40-year class reunion this year. Ugh. Why did I start this conversation????

I think I'll go back to editing and uploading pictures. Part of me wanted to go down memory lane. The other part said... ewww. Just stop. LOL.

I hope to post the ceremony pictures tonight yet! Go Royals!

More than 100% Heat

It was so hot and humid around here today that even the "feels like" temperature after 6 p.m. was 104 degrees. Insane!

Needless to say there wasn't a ton of time outdoors. I did get to a graduation party on a lake -– so that breeze was nice. Then had a photo shoot outside. That was supposed to be a few hours but they decided to take activities indoors because it was just THAT hot!

I did pop down to the Shermalot Water Ski how after that because I had to pick up some raffle ticket winnings. Oh not for me. For Mr. Austin, who hasn't gone to a show yet. But he bought a ticket from one of the skiiers at a fish fry this spring. Lucky!

While I was there, I did take a couple hundred photos of course. 

But am grateful to be home in the A/C. And hoping I sleep like a baby after all that heat and wind today.

Again, stay hydrated and be smart. Sunday will be even worse!

Something in the Air

Between pollen "dust fairies" and the smoke sneaking down from Canadian wildfires, it's not a great time to spend lots of time outdoors. 

But well, that was pretty much our weekend! 

Saturday we went to a cancer benefit for our friend Jeanne, then went to a graduation party, and then I went down to Lake Arrowhead to watch the Shermalot Water Ski Show Team perform. Since they were short quite a few team members, they didn't do the show they plan to do this summer. But still there was plenty of jumping, twisting, and pyramid building!

I don't know how they do any of it. But it's fun to try to capture. I kept looking over my shoulder, too, because the sun was setting behind me and it was getting colorful. The top photo was taken at the end of the night.

This was earlier in the evening. I call it "Smoky Sunset at the Ski Show." Crazy, right?

I took so many pictures that I got to bed well after blogging hours. Sorry.

Today was another day outside. We both sang in our church choirs (indoors) but then we went to a potluck year-end choir gathering (my choir). It felt like summer. Thanks for finally showing up on June 1, nice weather!

This afternoon/evening we had couple's golf league. We have to use at least 3 drives from each player in our two-person couple scramble format. Thank goodness I had enough that worked. I felt like a good contributor. And even did a par dance when I sunk the par putt on the par 5! 

Fun afternoon but it took us nearly 3 hours to get done so we grabbed pizza at the clubhouse and got home after 8:30. I'm beat. So much fresh air (not quite fresh) so I should sleep well. 

I did hear there be Northern lights tonight but I don't know what the smoke will have to say about that. I'm sure I'll check it before my head hits the pillow. Just because I hate to miss out!

Have a good week and be careful out there!

Happy Holiday Weekend Sunday

I'll admit the 3rd day of a 4-day holiday weekend can be pretty boring when you're just doing normal life things. So today, being it Sunday and all, I went to church.

Also mid-morning Jim, Casey, Clay and a friend went golfing. By early afternoon we were all home and I headed to a graduation party while hubby relaxed on the couch and watched golf.

When I got home, I realized the temps were close enough to 70 so I could bond with Mr. Deck Chair for a bit. He was so happy! And it turned into a gathering of 3+ neighbors by our deck. (While I tried to hide my over-exposed body!)

Tonight, after I ran an errand in town, hubby had a backyard fire going.

He had some added color thanks to our many expired, etc., strings of holiday light strings. Always looks pretty. And it's nice before the mosquito season starts, too!

Enjoy the great outdoors however you want or however you can this holiday weekend! 

Memorial Day Weekend "Weeds"

My mission every Memorial Day Weekend is that I'll buy hanging flower baskets and try my darndest not to turn them into weeds by the end of the summer. Says me and my 2 black thumbs!

With so many people talking about their spring planting, I thought I was one of the few who actually wait until Memorial Day Weekend to purchase their flowers. I was so wrong. 

By mid-morning, the parking lot was pretty much full. And by the time I picked out just 5 hanging baskets that could handle full sun exposure to survive, I was 10th in line!

Then out of the blue, an angel appeared. A friend of ours I didn't know worked there in her post-retirement years. She whispered, "Robyn, there's no line at Customer Service." I'm sure that literally saved me a good half hour.

I weed-whacked around the front bricks when I got home then hung our fading Reds and Twins flags and our hanging flower baskets. We should be set for the summer. Except for a few other spots I think could use some color. 

After that, it was graduation party time and more.

While hubby went to church in Rudolph, I went to a grad party for the son of a co-worker who also spent a lot of time in the hockey "media" platform the last few years. From there, I met Jim and the 2 oldest boys and Becca for a pizza dinner at B's Tap.

Casey and our grand-dog Rey are in town for the weekend. I hope Rey lives to be 50 because she's the best pup ever!

After dinner, we went our separate ways and Jim and I headed to the Grand Rapids Lions Club where there was a combined graduation party for 6 of the Royals graduates. Quite the special group of girls. And of course we saw a bajillion people we know. Fun evening!

Now I just hope the weather dudes are correct in that it's just going to be in the low 40s – not some freezing temperatures. I want my flowers to survive.

But, of course, selfishly I won't no judgment I turned on my electric mattress pad. Again.

Out With A Bang

 

Was privileged to photograph Assumption's graduation ceremony tonight. After practice yesterday morning, I knew they were poised to throw their mortar board hats up in the air in the end. But they surprised us all with confetti shooters! 

The class of 2025 literally went out with a bang!

This was the smallest class we've seen in awhile. Only 23 kids. I mean ADULTS. They're graduates now! Between sports and music, I think I've taken pictures of just every one of them over the years. A very active and talented class. 

Of course this means we will have a few grad parties on the schedule in coming weekends. I hope for their sake, the weather cooperates. Frost warning tonight. Guess I'll hold off buying my hanging flower baskets 'til Sunday maybe. 

Enjoy your hopefully long, work-free holiday weekend!

And congrats, class of 2025! 

Jumpin' Around

Another weekend. Another jump around the state. Today's destination? We find ourselves back in Madison for the second time this week.

For an important reason. UW graduation at Camp Randall stadium! 

8,679 Badger graduates today and only ONE is our favorite! Carter's girlfriend Mamie. (Though we did know a few other special grads from Rapids.)

Dare I say there were more people there than on a Badger football game day?! Well if all the graduates were in the stands with the thousands of spectators, there certainly would be! And they kept it entertaining – for a few hours.

A couple fun surprises... The acapella group (and thousands of graduates) singing "Build Me Up, Buttercup" like they do during football games.

A good (and humorous) keynote speaker in Jason Gay, a '92 grad and current sportswriter for the Wall Street Journal.

And singing and dancing to "Jump Around" at about the 3/4 mark of the ceremony. It was warm, sunny, and we had plenty of reasons to sweat before we were jumpin'!

Oh and most entertaining... Mamie's "appetizer" of apparently super-sized nachos at the Vintage Brewing Co. in Cross Plains where we met up with her family after the ceremony. It was a good choice to meet a bit outside of Mad Town. Always a pleasure to see her parents and siblings.

Oh, and see our boy, too! 💖

Had a very nice visit with the family and one of their college friends – who manages to get a picture with Jimmy at this same brewery oh once every 5 years as it turns out. Yes, many of their college friends are like family. We're certainly blessed in so many ways. 

Especially to have sweet Mamie in our lives. Congrats, girl! 🎓

Class of 81 ... Degrees

This afternoon I was excited to tell hubby the Class of '81 finally hit their temperature this year and we all loved it.

SPOILER ALERT: But guess what? His Wordle start word was also today's answer! Whether my already-solved start word of STERN or his SUITE affect our strategy remains to be seen.

But in the meantime, my sun-seeking body is thrilled about above 65-degree temperatures for the foreseeable future. 

Please don't tell my literally broken and dirty Mr. Deck Chair that I found a Mr. Deck Chair 2.0 at Ace Hardware the other day. I promise to ease him through the transition!

And don't worry, the actual class of 81 in this house is celebrating his "schedule this same tee time until October" round of golf with friends.

He gets what he wants and I get one more night to finish the Netflix Ransom Creek season 1. If you know, you know! 🔥

Tis the Senior Season

After a rain delay last night, I officially kicked off the 2025 Senior Portrait Season this evening. 

While I love shooting sports, it's always fun to do these. I enjoy the challenge of making reluctant boys smile. And love when I can shine my favorite people in a bright light! 

It's always interesting when I don't know the future graduate at all. God bless word of mouth for that. The inaugural session tonight was just that. The family and I had mutual friends who I adore, so I'm glad they recommended me. Per usual, the mom insists her child probably won't cooperate. But I had the young man trained within 3 minutes and we whipped through 5 locations in about an hour!

And when I don't know them personally, I figure out a way to match their personality with a location. The result?

I know a secret graffiti wall in town to go perfectly with that Pink Floyd vibe! Fun!

Full disclosure: I am about to promote my own photo business... If you haven't scheduled your child's senior pictures yet, I do have a few openings. I promise, I am easy to work with and will make your soon-to-be-senior feel like a super model.

It's just my personality. It's just what I do. 😊📸

Sweet as Sugar

Grad party season is winding down. We had a combo party for two boys, er young men, from Assumption and then my favorite girl – our sweet Lydia.

I made some white diploma and Royal blue rose mints for her party. Although, I've made these before, this time I got to use Mom's mint molds – because they were just a bit bigger than mine. And I just wanted to feel connected to her. They turned out pretty delicious, if I do say so myself.

And yes, basically sugar! Cream cheese and 2 pounds of powdered sugar!

Speaking of sweet... I forgot how many of Lydia's senior pictures turned out so adorable. We had such a good time doing those last summer. It was great to see them displayed! She's so sweet.

I also made her a special gift but I don't know when she's getting around to opening those, so I won't share a picture.

Got home from the party and I whipped together a trifle for Father's Day tomorrow. Going to Jim's sister's house for lunch. Pretty sure I'll have leftovers. This is a chocolate-vanilla-caramel concoction. If I get good reviews, I'll share the recipe! 

Hope something SWEET happened to you today!

Cause for Celebration

We put on quite a few miles this weekend but there was much cause for celebration everywhere we went.

Saturday morning, Jim and I were on the road to St. Paul by 8 a.m. to visit my sister Rachel. Poor girl was ecstatic to move from surgical care to the rehab/transitional care unit but we were all with Mom and only a few of us could celebrate the milestone with her – and give her a hug of sympathy, too.

She was doing good. Gaining strength and able to do a few things on her own. Granted, she can't use her left arm and hand much or even put weight on her left leg until August. Still, the therapists are working with her to gain some independence.

Never ever will I take for granted again that I can wake up, hop out of bed, use the toilet, take a shower, and brush my teeth. All things she must navigate right now with her right arm, hand, leg and foot. She's in good spirits, but can definitely use continuous prayers for physical, emotional, and spiritual strength!

We made it back home in time yesterday to attend the dinner and dance for this sweet couple – Nathan and Abigail! Not my photo but all of us "locals" know that making "The Rock" is pretty cool. I think it's been painted over no less than 600 times. Good thing it resides on the property of the groom's dad!

Had a super time dancing the night away at the Grand Rapids Lions Club shelter. Yep, all 350+ of us fit in there! It was fun and not super late. But just late enough that after the 6+ hours of traveling before the wedding, I was too exhausted to blog.

Today was more cause for celebration. 

After church – which included a tear-jerk How Great Thou Art – we went to a graduation down the road and then another at Rooted in Red for 6 Assumption girls. Perfect sunny and 70-degree weather for these parties.

We did stop home and get separate cars to go to Couples Golf League meeting at TriCity. Then hubby headed to his dad's and I went to grad party for a kiddo from my church that I took senior pictures of last year. 

Home now. It is too early to go to bed at 7 p.m. after a long weekend? Probably! I can relax awhile since the sermon today was about rest on the Sabbath. But really, if there are lots of things going on and I'm NOT IN CHARGE, that's rest!

Hope you find moments to both rest and celebrate this week!

How Life Measures Up

We are not campers or regular "celebrating on Memorial Day Weekend" people. But it does seem that more often than not, it rains. A lot. Today proved that. And it just kept inching up or measuring up by centimeters at least.

Jim went to early church in Rudolph to hear the Assumption Band play for Memorial Day afterwards. It was inside. I had to read today in my church – but that was inside, too, so it didn't matter.

Walking our temporary pet in the rain was a bit challenging, but Carter and Mamie worked wonders with him when he "had to go" later in the afternoon.

We attended a 90th birthday party for one of Jim's high school classmate's mom. I loved that they had an open mic to tell stories about the "birthday girl." What a great idea to do that while she's living instead of at a funeral! Hearing a few, you could definitely see how her life has measured up – and why she's still a firecracker at 90. Loved it!

We also went to a graduation party for one of our friends' sons who we've watched grow up before our eyes. Not just playing baseball but acting as a true leader at school, too. You are too cool for words, Nolan!

This is a random picture from in town. Water is rising everywhere. I hope you could enjoy your holiday weekend or, if not, can find some source of fun Monday!

When We Say Goodbye

It's graduation weekend for Assumption. I had previously committed to shooting photos of the ceremony and I thought it would prove to be a good distraction.

The thing was, every time they sang a song about goodbyes, they were thinking of their classmates. Their parents were thinking of them leaving the nest. And I was thinking about my mom.

An emotional evening. But I was glad to get pictures of everyone. Today we had a few graduation parties and I had the honor of "hosting" a therapy dog (therapy for me anyway) for the next couple of days.

Buddy has already made himself at home and damn if he hasn't already trained me to pet him. Continuously. Little does he know, I just need to connect with something that loves my attention and isn't leaving me any time soon.

God bless all you parents about to experience an empty nest! It definitely takes awhile to adjust. But if you don't mind hair on your furniture, I have some great options in mind!

Congrats, class of 2024! Do good things! 

Working From Deck, er Home

Some days I feel pretty fortunate I have the ability to work from home on Mondays and Fridays. Today was definitely one of those days!

Not only did I get to hang out with my assistant, Mr. Deck Chair, this afternoon, but this morning I got to take my "lunch break" at breakfast time and shoot some pictures at the Wisconsin State Water Ski competition at nearby Lake Wazeecha.

Our friends Joe and Michelle's son Max was skiing for the Tomahawk team at 8 a.m. Got a few cool photos of him, then headed back home to work.

Jim was gone today working at the state Legion tournament this morning and golfing in the Assumption Royal Scramble this afternoon. I could've shut the A/C off since it was quite the mild day. But instead, headed outside to warm up – checking the mailbox every 90 minutes to soak in the sun and ultimately just taking my laptop out there to work.

That was super nice! 

After work, I went to our last grad party of the summer. Ran into plenty of people I know so from there, I went straight to the Legion game. Our 17U team is playing in the state tourney. I actually sat and WATCHED their game rather than take pictures. They were ahead by 10 by the 4th inning so I grabbed some cheese curds to go and headed home at a decent time. 

I have a big travel day tomorrow but I'll fill you in on that when I get back. 

Enjoy your weekend and be safe!

Hitting (and Watching) the Sticks

Pretty much the best way to start a summer Saturday is golfing. So hubby met his crew at 7 a.m.-ish and I met mine for an 8:50 tee time. Works for me. 

I maintained my typical golf round of one par dance and it wasn't until the 8th hole at Tri-City.

Still, I had a blast with friends Sean and Michelle. It was cloudy but no rain and just a bit humid. 

Got home before noon and showered so we could go to a grad party for Miss Emma. Had fun visiting with family and then heard what sounded like daytime fireworks but ended up being a big tree limb falling across the street! 

Our truck was 3 feet to the right on the other side of the street. Uff da. That was close. And still no reason why it fell.

When we got home by 3 p.m., the heavens finally opened up on our brown grass and we got rain!

At least 2.25 inches as of 8 p.m. and guess what? That fireworks-tree falling sound came in handy! I realized we were losing a limb in the back yard!

We've waited awhile for this one to give up and fall so it's not exactly a surprise. Just didn't have Sunday penciled in as a wood chopping or chainsawing day.

Hope y'all were safe today. Be careful out there!