flowers
My nephew, Wesley “Wes” Burr, who is my niece, Cassie Franklin’s partner, is a very compassionate man, kind and loving. He is also a giver who would give the shirt off his back or open his home to anyone. He reminds me a lot of my grandparents in that way. He is an all-around good guy. Wes came along at a time when Cassie really needed a kind soul in her life. She had gone through an ugly divorce; the loss of her mom, Rachel Schulenberg; and her grandmother, Janice Franklin. She needed some happiness in her life, and since Wes came into her life, I have never seen her happier. They work together toward their common goals, and they are doing very well.
Wes loves learning, pretty much all learning, but his favorite things include history and war information. I have 
to agree with his types of learning, as I am a history and war buff too, especially World War II. He is also well educated on the subject of mushrooms and gardening. Seriously, I wonder if he is related to my grandparents. They knew lots about foraging for different wild herbs, mushrooms, and berries too. It’s a great way to feed your family, and he loves helping Cassie find flowers and greenery for the crafts she makes. It’s also a great way to get the family outside and teach them about God’s garden.
Wes is also an aspiring small business owner! Two years ago, he started a cleaning company with Cassie, and it is going well. He is very capable in a number of varying tasks, one of which is changing the fluids in the cars, which as we all know saves people money. Recently he traded some work for an off roading Jeep! they live in an area with lots of places to take a Jeep off road for some family fun. Not everyone can trade work for a 
vehicle, but it is one of the perks of being self-employed. Wes loves the “nerdy” things, like Xbox and Star Trek, and he is always game for some fun with those.
This past year has been a very special one for Wes. In addition to his two bonus kids, Lucas and Zoey, he and Cassie were blessed with his first child…a daughter named Alicen!! Wes is totally smitten with his baby girl, but still makes sure that Lucas and Zoey feel loved too. Recently, Zoey even started calling him Dad, and colored him a “dad” picture. It’s quite obvious that Wes loves kids, and I know he is and will always be a great dad. Today is Wes’ birthday. Happy birthday Wes!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My grandniece, Katie Balcerzak has been a part of this family for a very long time. When she was dating my grandnephew, Keifer Balcerzak, I remember thinking a couple of things. The first was that she was a beautiful girl, and the second was that she and Keifer seemed so young. You don’t often see high school sweethearts who get married, and then stay married, but these kids did, and they are very happy. Their marriage has been blessed with two beautiful children, Reese and Asa, who share their sweet mommy’s smile. These beautiful babies are the everything to their parents, and the four of them are happy as can be.
Katie is such a loving mom, and her babies are everything to her…and Keifer too, of course. He is Katie’s best friend. They are totally compatible and are always going in the same direction in life. They are best friends, and I think they 
were best friends long before they married, but then that’s pretty common in “best friend” marriages. Now their friendship has grown and includes their children. Katie is teaching her kids to love life. They play. They laugh. They smile…and those smiles light up every one of those faces. In fact, their whole face smiles.
This has been a very full summer for the whole Balcerzak family. Everyone has been to or participated in sporting events. Katie is a “sports mom” who goes to almost everything her kids participate in. And the stuff 
her husband participates in. Reece has tried a number of sports, from t-ball to horseback riding, and Katie has supported her in each new endeavor. That’s the thing about Katie. She is one of the greatest support persons out there. If you look at Katie’s Facebook page, you will find very few pictures of her, because it’s all about her family. She is so supportive of anything they like. This summer, Reece is into gardening, so the pictures show Reece and her flowers. Asa is into just about anything his big sister in into, although the flowers aren’t his big interest…the sprinkler is, hahaha!! It doesn’t matter. Katie is just enjoying the whole process of watching her kids grow up. Today is Katie’s birthday. Happy birthday Katie!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My younger daughter was born and raised in Casper, Wyoming, but these days she calls Ferndale, Washington home. Amy always hated the cold Wyoming winters, and while it does get somewhat cold in northern western Washington state, it’s nothing like the cold of Wyoming. Plus, my Wyoming born and raised, beach girl couldn’t resist the fact that she could be just eight miles from Birch Bay, and the beautiful beach there. The beach is definitely Amy’s happy place, and she loves Birch Bay.
In addition to her love of the beach, Amy is a garden girl, with a green thumb that shocks her brown thumbed mom. I think she must have gotten it from grandparents, because they were all blessed with a green thumb and beautiful gardens. Amy’s favorite flower is the Calla Lily, but it is followed closely be a number of other flowers, like orchids, bleeding hearts, roses, and any new species that catches her eye. Amy and her husband, Travis have turned their back yard into an oasis, and they love spending time out there. The put in a couple of ponds, and now they have little frogs that have moved it, plus, they have snails, of course. The snails have 
lived around there forever, so they are nothing new…except to me.
Amy is an insurance agent with Rice Insurance and has one of their biggest books of business. Since Covid, most of their agents began working from home, and Amy loves that. She loves her house so much, and now she gets to be there all the time. They even put a computer connection extension outside on their patio, so on nice days, she can actually take her computer outside, ads still get her work done. One of the nice things about the Ferndale area is that they don’t have a mosquito problem, so sitting outside for hours is not a problem. Working from home, keeps her at the house, and that doesn’t often allow for lunch out, but once in a will, she is able to take a long enough lunch to go out to eat. Then, she and Travis might drive that eight miles to have lunch at one of the restaurants at Birch Bay. That satisfies her beach girl sand and water needs quite nicely.
Amy and Travis love to entertain too, so their beautiful back yard is the perfect place. Recently, they had friends over for a Corn Hole tournament. I figured that since Amy and Travis were running the tournament, that they would win, but their friends must be really good at it too, because Amy and Travis were the first ones out. In 
the end, their son, Caalab and friend, Sam won it. Oh well, you can’t win them all, and I know Caalab is good. I’ve played against him, and well, I didn’t fare well either. Anyone who is blessed to be invited to the Royce T&Avern (as they call their rec room), always has a great time. Today is Amy’s birthday. Happy birthday Amy!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
My youngest daughter, Amy Royce has always loved plants and dreamed of having a beautiful garden. Unfortunately, the short growing season in Wyoming didn’t make that easy for her. Amy has always had a vision of what her brand of paradise would be like, and I’m certain that when she gets to Heaven, she will have a place that is a whole lot like the Butchart Gardens. As far as Amy is concerned, you can never have too many plants and flowers. Just going to the store for groceries can be a “dangerous” outing for Amy…financially that is. There are flowers everywhere this time of year. To make matters worse…Amy lives just one street away from a nursery with lots of exotic plants. Oh boy!! Fortunately, her husband, Travis is ok with all the flowers and plants…provided she does the watering and weeding…hahaha!! It’s a good thing that Amy likes playing in the dirt.
Amy is a Wyoming-born-and-raised…coastal girl!! Don’t ask me how that happened, but it did. All the years she was growing up, something was forming in the back of her mind…a calling to the coast. I have never seen her happier. There are side of her that are coming out that I never knew existed…the artsy side, for example. In addition to her “green thumb,” I have found that Amy has a talent for painting, and I’m not talking about rooms 
or houses. I find her paintings to be quite beautiful. Maybe she has been inspired by her chosen home in the rainforest of western Washington state. Or maybe it was a talent she has always had, but never did anything with until she found a place that inspired her.
Amy has always been a peace-loving girl. She likes things that are quiet and have an air of peace…like the country atmosphere of her current home. While she likes peace and quiet, she also doesn’t mind the loud music of a band…especially the one her husband, Travis Royce and son, Caalab Royce play in, and her daughter, Shai Royce sometimes sings with. Often the whole family has a family band night, and they have a lot of fun entertaining each other with their music. I enjoy that too. They all really have talent, and it is fun to listen to.
Amy is a seafood lover…another reason that being a coastal girl is nice. As anyone who has tasted 
fresh seafood, locally caught will tell you, the seafood that is trucked in frozen…just can’t compare to the real deal. Amy even loves sushi, which I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around, as well as escargot, which I seriously can’t wrap my head around. I love seafood with the best of them, but I have to draw the line somewhere…and escargot is definitely the line drawn!! I guess all that is part of what makes the West Coast area of Washington home for my Wyoming-born-and-raised coastal girl. Today is Amy’s birthday. Happy birthday Amy!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
In the midst of a time when so many people are offended, angry, and tired of so many restrictions, comes a day when we can all take our minds off of the negative stuff going on and focus on something good…love. Over the past two years, we have been bombarded with lock downs, riots, protests, and a general show of hate. It has been a trying time for all of us. We need more love in our lives. Love doesn’t just apply to romantic love, but anyone can be your valentine…friends, children, and parents too. In fact, I can’t think of a more important time in history to celebrate love.
While romantic love is traditionally the big reason for Valentine’s Day, and I love the special times and traditions with my husband, Bob, I think I find that the traditions that are the most fun are ones that surround the little kids. Little ones live to receive candy and gifts. They don’t care how much you sent or what they receive, they just love the show of love you are giving them. I’ve seen kids get a dollar box of candy or a chocolate rose, and they are totally happy. Younger kids even love getting something like chocolate pudding or applesauce. They don’t really care what it is…kids just like gifts, and for me it’s fun to watch their little faces light up.
However, Valentine’s Day is celebrated, the point of the holiday is to let your loved ones know that you love and appreciate them. Of course, every day is a great day to tell your loved ones how much you love them, but I think it’s nice to make a special effort once in a while, because it’s just as easy to take our loved ones for granted, and before we know it, they feel a little bit unloved. Of course, we should never let that happen. In fact, maybe every day should be Valentine’s Day, because after all, our loved ones are always our Valentines, aren’t they. Happy Valentine’s Day everyone!!
Whether you consider Valentine’s Day to be a highly commercialized day, geared toward getting the consumer to spend a bunch of money on silliness, or you see it as a day set aside to celebrate love, everyone who has loved ones in their life, has to deal with it in some way. Perhaps deal with it is a poor choice of words, but there are those who feel like that is exactly what the day is all about…and they have loved ones too. Of course, those same people feel like Christmas, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and all the others are the same commercialized money trap. I don’t really get that. Why not have a day here and there to celebrate the people who have blessed your life? After all, where would your life be without those wonderful people in it. Sometimes, I think people take their family so much for granted, that they forget how blessed they truly are.
I get that we are all busy. In fact, that is one reason why we should embrace these days. They remind us to take a moment out of our busy, hectic lives and remember the people who are always there for us…through thick and thin, and I don’t mean just our spouse. Our parents have given up many things to make a better life for their kids; our siblings basically guarantee that we always have friends; our kids, in whose eyes, we can do no wrong…at least when they are little. We have all of these people, who show us so much love, and then we complain about having to buy them a little box of candy or flowers!! What does that say about us?
There are also marriages and families that are a little bit more unconventional, who do things like dinner, or handmade gifts, and in reality it is not the gift that counts, but the thought…the sentiment…the love. And most of all, it’s about showing how much they are loved, because after all, it’s the love that matters. And since it is the love that matters, why not show it.
Every year, right before Valentine’s Day, men begin the sometimes stress filled process of making sure that the gift they get for their girl, be it wife or girlfriend, is the right thing. They don’t know if they should get chocolates, flowers, diamonds, stuffed toys, or something else. They just know that they want to make their girl happy. They want her to feel loved. In my almost 42 years of marriage to my husband, Bob Schulenberg, I have received all of the above gifts, and many others, along with a nice dinner out each year to celebrate our love, but I have to say, that while it’s nice to get those things and I love him for doing it, in all reality, it’s not about all those things. It’s about the love we have for each other. In fact, it’s all about the love. Without the love, there is no reason for all the rest of it anyway. Marriages don’t last 42 years just because the husband, wife, or both remembered the special days, although it does help…especially the anniversaries. Nevertheless, it is the love and respect that a couple shows each other in their day to day life that make the marriage great.
I like getting gifts as much as the next girl, but for me, a favorite thing is to go for long walks with Bob. We both enjoy walking and hiking, and just being together. We don’t have to talk a lot on our walks, we are just enjoying the time we spend together. We have always found ourselves going in the same direction, so to speak. Our interests are much the same, and we just enjoy each other’s company. We don’t have to have a crowd of people around us all the time to be happy, because after 42 years, we have found that we “sort of like each other” and that is all that matters.
Every marriage has it own special times. Whether you like camping, movies, dinners out with friends, or just a cozy evening at home, in the end it’s all about what makes you and your spouse happy. The main thing is 
being together, because lets face it, marriage is about companionship…growing old together. I want to be that little old couple walking hand in hand down the paths of life. Maybe we move a little slower than those people rushing by in a fast paced world, but the main thing is that we are on that road together. Maybe there will be storms along the way, but we can weather those, because we know the secret…it’s all about the love. Happy Valentine’s Day to the love of my life, Bob Schulenberg, and to all our friends and family.
There are all kinds of people in this world. There are the high stress movers and shakers, and then there are those people, like my niece, Cassie Iverson, who like living life at a slower pace. For many of those who love the simple life, like Cassie, that means loving all things nature. Living in northern Wyoming, with Powell’s wide open spaces, and yet the Big Horn Mountains not too far away, nature is simply all around Cassie. She loves taking photographs of flowers and wildlife, so the mix of nature around her is perfect for her hobby. Cassie has also branched out, and has taken a few family photos for friends, and of course, her family. Her work is very creative and amazing.
Being a nature girl, means that Cassie loves things like camping with her family, fishing, and horses. Cassie and her husband, Chris take their kids, Lucas and Zoey out to the river to go fishing often. Not only is fishing a great pastime, for those who like the chance to slow life down a little bit, but it is also a healthy way to feed your family without spending a lot of money. Cassie’s top priority is her family. She is a great mom and her children, while very different in their abilities, have flourished under her loving care.
As I look through Cassie’s pictures of horses, her love for them is very evident. I would not be surprised if, at some time in the future, Cassie and Chris buy a piece of land somewhere to raise their own horses. It isn’t an inexpensive venture, but I think that most people who raise horses…or even one horse, find it to be very rewarding. It is also a great hobby for the children when they are a little older, and a great way for the family 
to spend time together. I can see them taking the kids on a camping trip using horses as the way to get there.
I think that many of us allow our lives to get so caught up in activities, running here and there, and worrying about what everyone else thinks, that we forget to simply live…or maybe to live simply. Maybe we don’t understand just how freeing the simple life can be…but Cassie knows, because she is living that dream. Today is Cassie’s birthday. Happy birthday Cassie!! Have a great day!! We love you!!
For years now, part of our Mother’s Day gift to Mom was to clean up her yard, make necessary repairs, and plant flowers in anticipation of the coming Spring. Mom had decided that she really had everything she needed, and so asked that this be our gift to her, because these were things that she could no longer do. Mom and Dad had always loved their flower gardens, planning them out every year. They always had a beautiful yard, but with Dad in Heaven and Mom’s knees the way they were, she just couldn’t give them the care they needed anymore. And yet, her yard was very important to her, because it had been important to them. We were carrying on the tradition she and Dad had started, and she wanted to be out there with us, supervising and wishing she could get down there with us, because unlike me, she loved digging in the dirt to plant the flowers that would grace her yard. It is not my thing exactly, because while I love flowers, I don’t like digging in the dirt to plant them. Nevertheless, I understand why this was what she wanted, and that makes it important to me too.
Spring will come this year, as it always does, but my mom will miss spring and Mother’s Day this year. Her house will be my sister, Cheryl’s house now. It is my hope that the tradition of planting the flower garden in the planter that Dad prepared will continue in some way. I don’t know if it will be the sisters or Cheryl’s children, but I hope we at least plant the front gardens for Mom, Dad, and Cheryl, because like it or not, Spring will come this year, as it always does, the sun will shine and the flowers will bloom, and while Mom will spend this one with Dad in Heaven, enjoying God’s amazing gardens, she would not want their gardens to miss out on God’s glorious Spring gardening season.
It is so odd to think about taking the reigns on things like this, but as my cousin Elmer Johnson said, “Just remember they taught and trained us for this day, now it’s time for you guys to take your place at the head of the table.” They did train us well. They taught us things like never go to bed angry, keep on the sunny side, and that family is so very important. They taught us to help each other and stick together, no matter what the situations of life might bring. They 
taught us that love never fails. No matter what people do or say to you, react to it in love, because you don’t know what they have been going through. You might be the only bright spot in their day, but only if you walk in love. Yes, when I think about all of the life lessons they taught us, I can see that they did train us very well, and while we will never get over their home going, because we miss them so very much, we will get on with life, because that is what they would want for us. We will take our place at the head of the table. We will carry on with traditions designed to keep the family close. We will honor their wishes, hopes, and dreams for us, by always sticking together, and always putting God first in our lives. Spring will come, and with it, the flowers, the sunshine, and reasons to smile again.
Life is strange sometimes. It’s pathways intertwine with the lives of different people as the journey takes us to this place and that place along life’s road. I have been amazed at how many times my life has crossed paths with different people who would become a part of my family down the road. Such was the case with my Uncle Jack McDaniels. My mother-in-law, Joann Schulenberg had done a lot of sewing for Uncle Jack’s mother, and then my father-in-law worked with Uncle Jack at Casper Concrete. In the middle of all this, Uncle Jack married my Aunt Bonnie on February 14, 1959, and became my uncle. Then I married Bob and the circle completed. It was kind of cool to know that our lives were all intertwined that way, because of how much the different people in in that circle have meant to me.
Uncle Jack was most in his element when he was at his place out in the country, along the Platte River. He loved to tinker around in his shop, and then take walks down the lane to get the mail, or just to enjoy nature. I’m sure he spent time fishing down at the river, and watching all the different wildlife that wandered around in the area.
Nevertheless, as with most families, people get busy and we don’t get to see each other as often as we would like. After a while it comes down to a family picnic and a Christmas party…along with occasionally bumping into each other around town. It’s funny how it seems like as we get older, instead of meeting our friends and family at a bar, we meet up at Walmart. At least that is where Bob and I seem to see all of our family and friends. And, that is where we saw Aunt Bonnie and Uncle Jack. It was always a treat to run into them, and get to visit and laugh together. They were always so good together and so much fun. Their love for each other was so obvious. It makes me sad that Uncle Jack is gone from us now. Today would have been Uncle Jack’s 80th birthday. Happy birthday in Heaven Uncle Jack. We love and miss you very much.
