Back In the Saddle

Hi everyone, it's Carrie back on the keyboard again. Sorry for my long absence, I'm not sure I can pinpoint an exact reason. For awhile, I just didn't want to blog. Then for a few weeks, every time I'd sit down to write, I couldn't decide where to start. I felt a lot of pressure (mostly from myself) to write something profound and eloquent about Dad's death. And while the experience has certainly been profound and heart-wrenching and heart-stretching, there is no good place to start explaining it. No neat and tidy turn of words to sum things up. As we were fond of saying while at home in MN, "this is really the shits." Sorry, but it's the truth. There's no sugar-coating it. :) So I'll leave it at that.

And I'll say that we are doing okay, as well as you can be when something like this happens. I don't think anyone ever thinks about their dad not being around, and wrapping your brain around that is a tough thing. Some days are pretty good, and others are really hard. We miss him. So, so much. Always will. But we continue to plug away at this "new normal" and count ourselves so very blessed to have had him. I couldn't have asked for a better Dad and Papa for my kids.

I know Chris posted links to the obituary and procession into town when Dad's body was brought back to Brainerd, but I wanted to include this photo of the day of the funeral. Firefighers from area departments covered the shifts at the Brainerd station so all of the department could attend the funeral. The street bordering the church was packed with fire trucks. These two ladder trucks were parked at the entrance to the church parking lot, and the flag strung between them was 30 ft by 50 ft -- when the service was over, the firefighters (and other law enforcement officers there) and the family lined the driveway as the hearse drove past. It was an amazing sight. Words cannot convey how proud I was to be his daughter that day. To see all those officers and firefighters honoring him made all of us so proud of the man he was and the way he was respected in the Brainerd community.

One good thing about a situation like this is the time you have to spend with family. All of us kids were able to be home (all in Mom & Dad's house) for almost two weeks together. That was the most time we'd ever spent together as a whole family! We were amazed at how well the kids adapted and everyone worked to make it work in close quarters. Dare I say, we even had fun?!? We were blown away by the acts of love from family, friends, church members, and even strangers during that time. We had more food than we knew what to do with. Our children had babysitters, toys appeared in the backyard for kids to play with, laundry soap and toilet paper never ran out -- we were blessed. If you are reading this, you are likely friend or family, so on behalf of the Eieslands, I say thank you. Whether you blessed us with food, time, prayers and thoughts, or your presence...thank you is not enough.

My Uncle Scott and Aunt Doreen made their home available to us (and the extended family) many times during our stay -- it was just what we needed -- a quiet place to step away from the ringing phone and doorbell, to just play in the lake and catch up with cousins. Here are my Grandpa and Grandma Eiesland with all 9 of their grandchildren.

The girls had so much fun and spent hours just digging in the sand. It was good medicine for all of us.

Here are all the grandkids and their spouses (minus AmySue -- she's the paper plate face in the upper left corner!).

Ben's daughter, Lorna, even caught her first fish!

Something else we were fortunate to be a part of was going to the bank with my mom to pay off their house. My parents had been planning to do it when my dad got home from his motorcycle trip, and wanted to go to the bank with balloons and cookies to write the final check. So we blew through that bank lobby with our hordes of children and made our mark on their offices. What a cool thing to be a part of! Way to go, Mom & Dad!

Anyone who knew my dad is well-aware of his love of guns. Well, my brothers and Chris took it upon themselves to take stock of his collection and head out to a family friend's house for some target practice.

Here's the before shot.....Charlie's Angels-style. I just want to know, which one of them is Farrah?

More to come on our time in MN....stay tuned!

A Greasy Week

Over the past week the Studer family has had its fair share of grease. Just downright, deep fried, fat laced, amazing grease-filled food. Last weekend we went to the Corn Palace Festival in Mitchell which is basically a county fair held on Main Street in front of, you guessed it, the Corn Palace. We had some BBQ pork sandwiches and french fries before we topped off the meal with cotton candy, a funnel cake, and chocolate dipped cheesecake on a stick. We found a nice little nook in the Corn Palace to have our dinner...And devoured it...Then we were serenaded by this guy singing the old hymn "Sweet By and By" from the stage. Classic. I just had to snap a pic of this guy... Then this Labor Day weekend the South Dakota State Fair started and it's held right here in Huron. So with Grammie in town, we headed out to the fair Friday afternoon. And of course we stuffed our faces again. With pizza...
Pork Loin...

Pop...

Potato Chips...
and Parmesan covered breadsticks.

Which left us all feeling like...

Pigs.So we petted some...
And watched others race. "Hamma Montana" and "Dale OinkHeart Jr." were just two of the unique names given these swine. At least they were burning some calories...unlike us. We just ate more cheese curds...

And Cotton Candy...
Before Ellie and I got on the dragon roller coaster. Where the dragon tried to eat my head...
Grammie and Ellie got their tickets to ride the carousel... And made funny faces the whole time...

And even though it took some convincing, Ellie finally agreed to ride the ferris wheel with Grammie and Carrie. A few days ago Ellie said they should ride the ferris wheel so they could wave to Papa in heaven. So when they were at the top, they gave him a big old wave!

It was a great time. And I think we've had our fill of grease for the rest of the year. Unless we decide to go back tomorrow. You never do know. That pork loin was pretty tasty.