'Tis the Season for... Trains! (...& Jewelry)

It's the Christmas season, and in our house that means the trains come out. We haven't put out the big set in a couple of years, so it was time to do it once again.


Luke is really into them this year, and is enjoying running them for his friends! The 16-foot table is not the easiest thing to store... especially with the heavy mountain attached. I guess that's just one of the reasons we moved into a big house.


Meanwhile, Laura is busy in her Jewelry shop again, producing really beautiful items - including some for herself for a change!

Veterans Day BBQ at Minnesota Wire

Our company put on a barbeque for Veterans Day, November 11th. It was a big gathering that included the employees at our Eau Claire facility, Veterans and currently serving Soldiers, politicians, and other members of the business community. We had at least 300 show up! It included a program to dedicate a plaque, speakers (I was the emcee) corporate exhibitors, free food and drink from our sponsors, antique cars and 6 military vehicles!

Here is one of the Wisconsin National Guard's "up-armored" Humvees...

Chip and Patria Lawton, the company's marketing coordinator...

Chip, Janis and our president, Eric Wagner, sampling from the Leinenkugel's truck!

My friend, Navy Commander Pat Dillon...

Worst Parents in the World!!!

Well, Jack was awarded Most Valuable Player on his 9th grade soccer team tonight... and his parents weren't even at the sports banquet to see him receive this surprise from his team! We had decided not to go to the banquet, because we thought it was more for the older high school kids... but the coach kept calling, saying he wanted Jack there; so we sent him on his own. Here we are re-creating the scene from the banquet! Worst parents in the world!!!! Congratulations, Jack!

Scary Halloween!!!

Happy Halloween! Cowboy Luke almost missed Halloween thanks to a splinter in his eye, but he toughed it out (OK, not really, he just needed candy). Libby was an iPod, and... Jack? Well, he just went to watch over the trick-or-treaters. I told him to ask for cash for the parents... we'll see what comes back...


We got numerous compliments on Laura's Halloween lighting... "Best-decorated house in the neighborhood," we heard several times...

Luke went with his friends Grayden and Jose. The three amigos are inseparable lately!

Halloween Gone Bad!

Pretty horrifying... the 2nd annual Stonemill Farms Halloween party took place on Saturday night. There were Goth figures, 3 Sarah Palins (big surprise), Michael Phelps, sumo-baby, biker chicks, you name it. Jello shots and grog were just the beginning of the refreshments. This is suburbia gone bad. Be very afraid. The scariest part of the evening? I said to Jack, "I look pretty horrifying, don't I?" He said, "Dad, what's horrifying is that you think you can pull this stuff off at your age." Wow. Go to your room, young man!

Remembering Kenzie

With great sadness, we learned this week that Curt's step daughter Kenzie died in a car accident in Montana. We only knew her briefly, but we were all so impressed with this 10-year old's maturity, earnestness and good nature. One could see how much Curt's character had rubbed off on her, and how much she was loved by everyone - especially Curt and Arvid. She hit it off with our kids at the Threshing Bee this summer - especially with Libby. Here she is driving the 4-wheeler that Curt brought out to Arvid in August. Kenzie will be missed so very much.

Army 10-Miler - Year 4

Oops, I did it again... even though for 3 years, I've consistently said "never again," right after finishing the Army 10-Miler in Washington, D.C. This year I took another 10 minutes off my time, running it in 1:28:44 (an average of 8:52 per mile). It helped that it was 20 degrees cooler than 2007, when it was 90 degrees and someone died at the 9-mile mark. This year there were 28,000 runners registered! It was a nice trip home to visit with Mom and Dad, and to join the huge Association of the U.S. Army (AUSA) conference.