It was nice to see everyone at Christmas since I don't get to spend Christmas in Minnesota too often.
I want to wish everyone A very Happy New Year
And I hope I see you all again when I make the trip North next time.And for those that could not make it for Christmas,I hope you had a great Christmas and may you have a wonderful New Year. I love you all.
Deb

Hi Everyone,

I thought I would post since nobody else has. We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. The kids are doing great. Kelly and Josh are doing great in school I just received progress reports the other day. Kelly has only 1 B and all the rest are A's & A+'s and Josh is proficient in everything. Kelly's 10th birthday is coming up, and they are both anxious for Christmas. I already have the house decorated for Christmas. Anyway I'd better go, Ian's getting ready to go to work.

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!

Allie

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. Thought I would put up some pictures of the beautiful area in which I live. Enjoy and let me know if you want to come visit. I'll hook you up with a sweet deal in a beautiful condo!

The Liebls

No one has posted for a while. So I thought I would try to get the postings going again...especially with the holiday seasons coming...it would be nice to see photos of the families and get updates.
Not much new here. Mike shot a deer last weekend on opening hunting (if that is really what you call it). He has a nice heated deer stand, with a very comfy seat and he either sleeps or reads. I think he shots at the deer in between the sleeping and reading. He saw a slight coating of ice on the area lakes last week and immediately began excited for ice fishing.
Cassie is still enjoying college life and has settled in very well. She recently switched jobs to another hotel chain. She found after working at the last hotel, how unsanitary it was. Last time we went down to visit she refused to reserve us a room, as she said they do not clean their rooms very well. She is very happy with her new job. Her car was burglarized some time ago. She has her window fixed, but still must drive without a radio. Usually I would say not a big loss, but it is when she has to drive 4 1/2 hours to come home. Luckily she has friends in the Eagan and Lakeville area, who rideshare with her. We are excited as she is coming home this Friday for Thanksgiving break.
Not much new with Danielle either. She is still having her episodes (or seizure-like activity). She tries to attend school full days, but by the end of the week she is completely wiped out and usually home by noon. She uses her wheelchair in school for safety reasons, and she has even had to call the principle to come to her rescue when the elevator had technical difficulties. Not many kids have the head principle run to their beckon call, and not many students have the principles cell number on speed dial either.
Well...thats all folks.
Hope everyone enjoys a Happy Thanksgiving.

Hi it's Allie. I'm finally putting up pix. The first two kids are Josh age 5 and Kelly age 9. The last one is Katie's new baby Skylar.

Hi Everyone. It's Allie. Just so everyone is aware Katie gave birth to a little boy on 10/12/07. His was 19 in. long and 8 lb's. His name is Skylar Max. I'll try to upload some pix a little later.
Kelly is doing great in school. She has joined the chess club and is doing some cheerleading. Josh is doing just as well. He had a field trip last friday to the pumpkin pach out side of town.
Well that's about it. Congrat's Katie on the new addition!

Hello from the Emerald Coast

It is time to jump on the bandwagon and add my little slice of pie to this blog. This is Stacy-second oldest to Linda and Steve in Colorado. For those who haven't heard I have moved to sunny Destin, Florida on the Emerald Coast. It took a while for me to warm up to this place but now I call it home. It is absolutely beautiful here. I have stopped teaching for now and am currently employed as an Owner Relation Manager for ResortQuest. My company is a vacation rental company-we provide condos and houses for people to rent when they come here to vacation (like a hotel but with fully stocked condos instead). I am in charge of signing new condos and houses onto our program and making sure the owner maintains them to our standards. I also assist the owners with coordinating any repairs or upgrades they do to their homes. In addition, I work part time as a photo specialist for Walgreen's. Anything for a little extra money, you know.


I have a beautiful 3 bedroom home one block from the water and a roommate who is almost never there, so it is very peaceful. I am waiting to experience my first hurricane, but have been disappointed the last two seasons. Maybe next year.





I have really enjoyed reading about what everyone has been up to. This blog is a wonderful idea. I will have to take some pictures to post next time.



Stacy

Just Jody

HI!
Deb, Ihope you keep us all posted on your surgery and everything is going well. Try not to go too crazy sitting around. I just wanted to write to tell you guys that I faced a fear. HIGHTS!!! I went propelling!!!!!! One might ask [as Ang. already has ] where does one go propelling in Mn. Off the highest structure available. Which in this case was a 90 foot silo, Coreys of course. I would send you pics, but I don't have the equip. to do that. It was great fun, who knows sky diving may be next!!!! Sher, how is Danielle doing?

A few of you requested I post how I was doing when I get out of the hospital.
I am doing OK now. I still don't have my energy back yet and my temp keeps going up and down,but the pain isnt all that bad now.(drugs are great)I am hoping the Doctors will release me to go to work next week.I have never been off two weeks before and I am going nuts.
Thank you for the phone calls and flowers, they meant a lot to me...I will update you when I have to go back in come Nov..............Debbie

Some of you wanted to see a pic of Mitch. He is so busy with school, moving to a new apt.,his band and his girlfriend I guess he doesnt have time to post right now. So here is his pic with his wonderful girlfriend Rachael.

Deb

Groshens Update

Hi Everyone,
This is so nice to see everyone writing. Unfortunatly you will not hear from my boys. Corey is just to busy to sit down to his computer,Caleb doesn't own a computer and probably never will, [he just uses mine ],and Zach just won't take the time to write, especially now.IT'S HUNTING SEASON!!!!!!!!! And nothing is more inportant then that. So I will just have to keep you posted on there news. Corey is about 1-2 weeks from moving into his new barn.Thank god, because he is getting really tired of all the construction, and just plain tired! He has already filled his silo. After he gets his cows moved then it's time to get his crop out of the field, which will be some long nights for him. It will be about x-mas time before things get back to normal for him. I worry about him, he works way to hard. Caleb absolutly loves his new job at Lunda. He has found a new hobbie, Repelling, and sky diving. His first skydiving experience he decided to pull a fast one on MOM. He had me convinced that his first shute didn't open, I just found out 2 days ago that he was having fun with me. Real nice guy huh? Zach is busy hunting, we have about 15 geese in the freezer right now, and next weekend DUCK season opens YIPPEE!!!. After that Caleb and Zach head out to Colorado to go Elk hunting, which they are SOOOOO pumped about. They are going with Steve and Coty. Then it's deer season around here. Everything else is good. The bakery has slowed down again. It's just that time of year. We're out scouting some new accounts to help thru the winter months. So thats my update. everyone keep writing.

The Liebls

Well...it is only the second week of school and Danielle has already provided us with enough excitement to last for a very long time. For those of you who already know this is intended as an update. Danielle became very ill in school on the second day (last Wednesday), she was taken by ambulance from the school to the St. Cloud Hospital. Danielle stayed overnight due to "seizure-like" activity. As Mike and I already knew...it was not seizures and "seizures" were immediately ruled out as she was conscious and cognizant the entire time. She could hold entire conversations and she still had her sense of humor. (We do not want "seizures" attached to her as this will cause many problems down the road.) We call them tremors, instead. We went home on Thursday and Friday night we found ourself back in the emergency room. Danielle had a tremor that lasted for 1 1/2 hours ...that is the longest one we recorded. They averaged is 20 minutes. She was pooped!! Danielle was admitted to the hospital and on Sunday she was transferred to Gillette Children's in St. Paul...our home away from home for many years. Monday morning her room was filled with physicians, specialists, nurses, etc. She was monitored by an EEG video monitoring and by noon the neurologist figured it out!!! The official diagnosis is non-epileptic spells. Our verbiage is episodes. The neurologist taught her how to stop them and now she can stop them within a minute or two of them starting. The "episodes" are caused from stress. She will see a person to assist her with stress management and a neurologist will follow her as well. She is not able to return to school or be left alone (I am lucky to be able to work from home) until she has been tremor free for 24 hours. The school is sending out teachers for homebound school and her first session is today. She is not able to swim for a while either...which is just killing her. We did attend the home swim meet last night and she sat with the team. So that is our excitement for the year...I hope!!
Cassie is completing her fourth week of college life. She loves it!! We went to visit her over Labor Day weekend and she has adjusted very nicely. She loves the independence and college life. She was able to snag a job the 3rd day she was in Iowa. She has met a lot of new friends, most of whom come from Eagen, MN. She founds some boys, who else but boys to play basketball with...and she LOVES college football. She has learned the importance of the word FREE!! She has attended functions for the free food, she has gotten free football tickets (she has friends that clean the stadium after the game and in return they get 2 game tickets...Cassie has been lucky enough to be their friend and guest). She is happy to be an adult and not having to report to Mom and Dad whenever she wants to do something. She will be home this weekend to visit and see Danielle. It will be nice to have her home.
Not much else at this point. Hope all is well with everyone else. Would like to see more people posting...we know you are out there and reading them...so give us the heads up of what is going on in your lives.

Hi Everyone from Nebraska

In my first post I introduced our new addition, Toby.Well, I tend to spoil my boys and get so much from them. They have made a huge change in me, And I now enjoy being home alone. I cant wait to get home after work because I know they are waiting for me with all the love they have to give. And In return I give them a lot of love also. Some people say they are just dogs. But to me they are my best friends and they treat me better then any man I have every met:) Well, I lost Toby last week. He went into kidney failer. He Had a rough start at life, but at least he had a great home and a lot of love his last two months. The only reason I am writing this is for myself, because I miss him so much. But I do want to share something with all of you that I hope you will remember everyday. Enjoy !

If A Dog were your Teacher

you would learn stuff like.......

When loved ones come home,run to greet them.

Allow the experience of fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy

When its in your best interest-practice obedience

Take naps and stretch before rising

Thrive on attention and let others touch you

Run, Romp,and play daily

Avoid biting when a simple growl will do

When your happy, dance and wag your entire body

On hot days,lay down and rest

No matter how often you're scolded, don't buy into the guilt thing and pout...run right back

and make friends

Eat with enthusiasm. Stop when you have had enough

Be loyal

Never pretend to be something your not

When someone is having a bad day just jump in their arms and bring a happy smile.

The Eldest

.....

Hi Everyone,

It's Allie. Linda's oldest. She must have been writing in her sleep. Mom told me about this a couple day's ago, and has called me twice to ask if I've writen anything. So I figured I should write something before she calls again. Anyway Ian and I moved to Colorado Springs a couple of years ago. We needed a change. So far the change has been a good one. We just bought a house last May. Ian calls it my Birthday present. I'm a stay at home mom. The kids and Ian keep me very busy. Kelly just started 4th grade. She has always been very good at school. Josh just started Kindergarten this year. He loves school. I was looking forward to finally get a little time to myself. But when the first day of school came I didn't want to give him up. Ian works as a delivery driver at night for a milk company. Yes they still do that in certian citys. He actually delivers milk to the front door of your home. He's also studing for his CDL. He's not to sure when he wants to take the test. Anyway that's it for now.
Allie

Good Morning All,
It's taken me awhile, but I've finally had a few minutes to check out this blog. Great idea. It's nice to hear how well everyone is doing.
As with everyone else our lives are busy. I'm still working with military families and deployed servicemembers. It's been five years since I began providing support and financial assistance and unfortunately there is no end in sight. I travel the country educating community organizations, businesses, schools and civic organizations on the stress of deployment on military families and offer advice on providing support and assistance. I also give presentations on post traumatic stress disorder and am the state liaison for Colorado for families who have a service member killed in action. I work closely with those families to make sure they recieve the proper military services and provide a support system for them to help them through the grieving process. Last month I was asked to become a member of a national committee working with congress to provide better treatment to soldiers returning from war with PTSD. It's interesting work and since I've worked with congress in the past it's proving to be a positive experience. Two years ago I authored a proclamation that had flags in the state flown at half staff the day of the funeral of a servicemember and last year I was able to get our local sentaor to champion it and it became law this year. I also wrote a bill this past year that was presented to Congress in Wash. DC requesting government funds be available to non-profit organizations that provide financial assistance to military families that live at least 150 mi. from an active base. The bill passed by a resounding majority and $153 million was allocated for the first year. I'm now in the process of helping them put together the qualifications necessary to allocate the funds. When I'm not doing military stuff I babysit my grandchildren and still do a lot of quilting.
Steve is still shoeing horses. He focuses primarily on corrective work. He is the only certified shoer in the area the veternarians will work with so he is kept extremely busy. I never see him before dark in the summer. He also is writing a book on shoeing practices. He's bee working on it for the past year, but has at least another year to go on it. He has has a number of acticles published on the use of varies shoing techniques and is also trains guys interested in shoeing. One of his apprentices is Cody. He is turning out to be a really good shoer. As conscientious as his Dad.
We still have our horses and also raise Corriente cattle. Their mexican roping cattle leased out to rodeo's and ropers. Long horns and short bodies and even though their from Mexico, they crossed the border leagally!
Our kids are all well. I've passed on this sight to all of them so hopefully they'll take the time to write something. We have four grandchildren and a 5th on due in Oct. Four boys and one girl.
Allie and Ian live in Colorado Springs which is a 6 hour drive from us over several mountain passes so we don't see them very often. They have a girl (Kelly-10) and a boy (Joshua-5). Stacy is living in Florida and is enjoying the single life. Katie lives in Pagosa Springs which is an hour from us so we see her and her little one (Everrett-4) often. Katie is the one having baby #2) Cody and his wife Melissa live in Farmington, NM which is about 45 minutes from us and so we see them often as well. They are busy raising babies, but they're the four legged horse ones. Jessie is living on the second house on our property and attending college in Farmington. Her little boy Jason (1 year already) stays with me while she's in classes. He's a kick to have around, but he reminds me everyday that I'm not as young as I used to be!
Enough for now. I think this sounds like I'm writing a novel. Patty & Tim, what's your new phone number. Send me an e-mail with it and your mailing address. Thanks
Linda

so cal family

Hey everyone, it's good to hear what's going on in this HUGE family of ours! It's always so hard to keep up with it all, this is a great idea!

So... we are living in southern California, about half way between San Diego and LA. We just moved into a new house in October, and I think we're finally settled. Kaden is turning 4 next month, and he's just now learning that he's not the center of the universe. He still doesn't quite believe it yet, but we're working on it. He's been learning the piano (go figure...) from me, and he's actually pretty good at it. He learned how to swim this summer, and now we're deciding between T ball and soccer. He's a pretty energetic little boy who is very independent and strong willed. (i have no idea where he gets it from :) ) He LOVES his new little brother. Jonas is pretty laid back and is learning to roll with whatever Kaden decides to do with him for the day. He is the most smiley baby and he loves to laugh. He's 3 1/2 months old and he is almost 15 pounds!!! Big boy! Kurtis and I are learning to go to bed earlier so that we can have enough energy to keep up. It's great having 2 kids but HOW ON EARTH DO YOU HAVE 9 OF THEM????? I'm mostly at home, but still teaching about 10 hours a week. Not much, but enough to not quit altogether. Kurtis is still working with his dad and coming home and writing, waiting to be in the right place at the right time to break into the writing business. We're going to visit my parents the first week in October, so maybe we can see a few of you who are around. We are going to a wedding of one of my best friends in high school, and I have to fit into a satin bridesmaids dress that we had to buy while I was pregnant. I hope it fits!!
So, I guess we're pretty boring, but having kids and not doing all that much is pretty fun for us, so it's alright. Hope to hear from you all, and I hope everyone is well. If you're in the area, or just want a vacation, drop me a line!
Hannah

Greetings From East Tennessee

Dear Family,
Guess its about time you have heard from the hillbillies in the family. Yes we still have all our teeth that part of the culture has not wore off on us yet!! However we do love living in the Smokey Mountains and spend most of our time (when not working) outside chasing bears, climbing mountains, or looking for moonshine. As you probably know Tim and Patty (thats me) went to Florida for Tamaras wedding, we were blessed to spend many days with mom combing the beaches for shells and sand for our collections, we had some great seafood and a wonderful time. While we were there Mom wanted to see an alligator so we found her one and she has some great pictures of it in her album.. Thanks Gary for inviting us to share in that special day. Remember if your ever in the Great Smokey Mountains and want to see your hillbilly relatives drop us a line we'd love ya'll to come on down. Love to all Tim and Patty

none

hi every one it;s just me mom grama it's good to see some of you are blooging i hope you all keep it up i like seeing the pictures. it's been just one year that i have been given a second chance at life of which i thank god every day i am doining great working every day at the bakrey and enjoying it . but i have a good boss she dosen't give me to much heck when i screwup not much news for now love to all mom grama great grama

It's # 3

Hey everyone, it's steve. Sorry it took me so long to jump on board. I just spent the last three weeks working at the Great River National Wildlife Refuge in Missouri so I've been out of touch. I think this blog thing is great!!! My life is good! Linda and I spend most of our time gardening, fishing and traveling to southern california to see our grandsons. Yea I said grandSONS! We have two now. In case you don't know Hannah had Jonas in May. I am going to try to attach a pic of the two little buggers. Kaden will be four in september and loves to steal his moms cell phone and call grandpa and grandma. He calls me grandpa fish cause I like to fish and take him fishing and calls Linda grandma fufu cause when he was little Linda would sing little rabbit fufu to him. Hannah and Kurtis are doing good and just built a new house in Menifee CA. about twenty minutes from where they used to live. Emily and Nate live in St. Paul and are doing good. Emily is working for a place called the Frazier House. They deal with autistic toddlers. Nate is substitute teaching throughout the St. Paul school district. Laura and Nate (yea, for those of you who don't know I have two son-inlaws named Nate) moved from wisconsin to Minneapolis about four months ago. Laura works for a law firm and Nate just got a job with Best Buy on the Geek squad. Thats all for now folks.

steve

Hi Ang

It was so nice to hear from you. I just got back from vacation today,and had a nice time.went to the top of Pikes Peak finally. But it was a spur of the moment thing to do. We had 3 minutes before the cog rail left when we decided to go. Me in shorts and a tank top and we were on our way from 90 + degree sunny weather to the top of the peak. We couldnt see anything when we got up there because it was cloudy and SNOWING. I froze my ..... off. The next day in 90 + degree weather we decided to take the train to the bottom of the Royal Gorge. So of course I got sun burned. The rest of the trip was driving the mountains and relaxing. We stopped at North Platte NE so I could see my grand daughter Trezna. But was really happy to get home to my boys Jack and Toby.

You asked about the weather in the winters in Nebraska. Well, we might have to shovel 2 heavy snows a year. The rest falls and melts fairly fast, and we might get a good ice storm one time. We seldom have snow for Christmas. We can normally get by wearing sweaters until the middle of Dec.

Oh ! Yes we did camp. I love camping out.....Deb

I love this!

I love reading all of your postings. It makes me miss you all so much. I love the pictures of grandma and grandpa. I'm really glad to hear you are all doing well. Things are going great for the girls and I. We have added a boy to our family. His name is Bobby. I'm thinking about keeping him. We'll see. Jasmine is going into Junior High this year. I can't belive I have a teenager. Boy am I going to receive some payback having two girls. Chloe is going to start the 1st grade. She's a riot. She is the one that is going to give me a run for my money. She is just like me. Watch Out! Jasmine already has boys calling the house. This year is going to be fun! I'm so glad to hear everyone is doing well. I look forward to checking out more entries and seeing more great pictures. Until next time! Choa

The Groshens News

Ahhh! What a great idea! Well, I'm going to start off with what the boy's have been up to. Zach is still working construction, only now he has gone independent. Which means more money in his pocket. He's doing great! And still no signs of a girlfriend or marriage in the future. Caleb has quit his job at the implement and went to work for a company called rotochopper, but has since quit that also. He was traveling all over the U.S. doing shows, and delivering these chopper things. Unfortunatly, they had him gone EVERY week, which was more than he cared for. So he decided to work for Corey, until he found a new job. He has now started at a huge company called Lunda. They build bridges. Who knows, maybe they will be building the new 35W bridge that just collapsed.And still no girlfriend or marriage in the near future. Corey has started a new adventure. He is rebuilding a barn. The place he was at, well the guy that owned it suddenly died of a heart attack.It was very hard on Corey,because Corey is the one that found him outside, and did the CPR thing. He was very close to Don Witte. Unfortunatly, there was nothing Corey could have done to save him. Anyway, Corey is moving his cows to a new barn, which is still under construction at this time. He is very excited about it. And still no girlfriend or marriage in the near future. I am still working the 3:00am -5:00 pm shift. The bakery is keeping me very busy this summer. Last winter was the worst,I was ready to sell it. But then things turned around and it's doing well. We will see how this winter goes. Robert is fine doing the same old thing. He says he is going to retire in two years but I don't think thats going to happen. So thats the life and times so far of the Groshens family. Take care everyone, look forward to reading all the updates.

It is so nice to see people posting. It is so hard to stay in touch with everyone. I hope everyone continues to use it. Well it is me...#9 Warner child....aka Sherri, the baby of the family. I, like Gary am pretty good at bragging...I think this is a Warner trait and something in the genes.

As you can see from the picture, some of our excitement for the year has been Cassie's graduation from high school. She moves to Iowa on the 15th of August to begin college. She is excited and extremely nervous. She is ready to start the next phase of her life though. She is sad to have to leave her current job...she says she has the best employer in the world (she works at Jody's bakery). Some of our other family excitement is Danielle receiving her driving permit...this is more fear than excitement however. In actuality Danielle does pretty well. She is a good driver and hopefully she will not follow in her sister's footsteps by hitting cars or getting speeding tickets (yes...Cassie obtained her first speeding ticket this past week. In less than 3 blocks Cassie went from 30 to 72 miles an hour...there was also a stop light within that 3 blocks. Luckily the cop only ticketed her for 1-14 miles an hour over the speed limit. Cassie's new nickname is..."Speedy.") Danielle will begin 10th grade in September and cannot wait. She is extremely bored at home and her search for employment has been unsuccessful. This month, Mike will start his 14th year with Breitbach Construction Company (BCC). Mike is a project superintendent for the commercial construction company. I am starting my 9th year with CentraCare Health System. My position is a bit confusing and if you ask Mike and the kids what I do...they will honestly tell..."I don't know." Our life will change dramatically in the next 11 days after Cassie leaves for college. We are already discussing what will fill our nights when we no longer have basketball and softball games to attend. I think we may, once again, start sleeping through the night...instead of waiting for her to return home. Well...I think that is enough bragging for one post. Hope to see even more postings from everyone and read more from the grandchildren/nieces/nephews. Thanks everyone for the reading.

Someone posted a comment and no name. OK, who was it?
My house is in a little town called Ralston. It is a suburb of Omaha. I live in the old part of town where trees are in abundance, you can hear the train as it goes through town, and you can sit in your back yard and watch all of the different birds, raccoons, rabbits, and other wild life. Our Main street is small with one cafe, post office, bowling ally, and a few other small businesses. On Thursday nights a band plays On Main Street. Everyone brings a chair or blanket to sit on and comes down to listen. They sell hot dogs, pop, and slushies. The kids play in the street and some people get up and dance. Now that is small town.
We are just going to the Rocky Mountain National Forest for vacation. I kind of wanted to stay home with Jack and Toby. But Al thought I needed to get out of town so the hospital could'nt call me to come to work. He knows I can't say no to overtime.
Jack is very slowly getting used to the idea that Toby is not going anyplace. Jack still isnt happy, but he is getting better. The vet laughed at me when I told him how Jack was behaving around Toby. He said " That's what you get for spoiling Jack as bad as you did. I have seen spoiled dogs before, but not as bad as Jack. It may take him six months for him to come around."
Toby is getting spoiled too. He just hangs on me when I am home. He is a devil and gets into all kinds of trouble. But coming from a puppy mill he deservers to be spoiled. He has some health issues but I think we are getting them cleared up.....Deb

Well, well....I'm sure my Mom thought I would be one of the last people to post, but here I am. I guess the whole point of this blog is to keep in touch and informed with each others lives so...let me inform you.

Life is good, life is very good right now. I'm currently living in Seattle, but am constantly daydreaming of far away lands. My last adventure took me to Vietnam, Cambodia, and Thailand.....AMAZING!!!! And I'm working at a trendy resteraunt/club right now trying to save for S. Africa (hopefully in January.) Other than that, I'm pretty boring. I work a lot, I play a lot, I'm just livin' in up.

I hope this catches on with the rest of the family, it would be great to hear from all my long lost cousins.

Not on the Bridge

For those of you that are wondering, I'm still here...not even close to the bridge at 6:10 PM when it collapsed.

I think this Blog thing is a very good idea. For us less than expert computer people, it may take some time before we master the concept of blogs and how to enter data in information in them. I'm hopeful many of the Warner Clan will use this medium as a means to communicate. We seem to be scattered all over the country these days and we don't seem to communicate very well amongst ourselves. Maybe we can use this forum to find out what's going on in each others lives and tell each other what's going on in ours. Lord knows that when it comes to bragging, I'm the best there is and I plan to brag.

For example, the picture I've attached(assuming I can figure out how to attach it) is me with a 43" Red Drum I caught on Labor Day, 2006 off the shores of Amelia Island, FL. It is considered to be very large as Red Drum go. It weight somewhere around 45 lbs. I fought him for 45 minutes before I got him in the boat. Only fish I caught that day. I felt like the Old Man and the Sea that day. Check out the lips on that fish. I've never seen a fish with lips.

By the way, for those of you who don't know who this is, it's the number 1 of the Warner Clan...Gary. I have just celebrated my 30th year with Tonka Equipment Company. I am now part owner of the company and hold the title of Executive Vice President. I don't travel as much as I use to however I still go to go to Chicago, Milwaukee, San Diego, Washington, DC and other major cities occasionally. I was just in Toronto in June. How's that for Bragging.

I live in Eden Prairie, MN which is a suburb of Mpls. I have a place in Northern MN. that I go to as often as I can. Unfortunately not as often as I would like.

My daughter Tammy just got married to a nice young man in June. They are living in Atlanta, Ga. My son Shawn also lives in Atlanta. I've never figured out what the attraction to Atlanta is but they seem to like it. Gives me a warm place to go in the winter!

Now that I've reassured everyone that I'm still here, I would like to have my siblings and their children let the rest of us know what's happening.

Gary

Hey there everyone... It's Matt! Yep, I've won the lotto and retired to Florida where I spend my days laying on the white sandy beaches of paradise watching all the scantily-clad young ladies scamper around the shoreline and pretend they're the next "Baywatch" star.....

Ok, maybe not.

Sandy and I (going on 4 years together now) have been living in Orlando for the past year and a half... She works full-time for a local Toyota dealership, and part-time at Disneyworld (great perks like FREE TICKETS) while I'm currently managing a Perkins restaurant. We're getting along just fine, although coming home smelling like pancakes or having scars from 10-year olds clawing their way through the lone to see Mickey gets kinda old at times. :) We've just recently added two newm members to our dysfunctional little family :) Brutis (the white-with-brown-spots puppy pictured below, and Bugsy, his far more serious brother). We'll be taking them home on August 7th, and are hoping our antisocial, overprotective cat will be good about the change.
We're finally moving a step up and renting a house next month and are planning on buying within the next year or so (that whole, "rent with option to buy" deal). We'll be planning a trip in January or February to Minnesota/Nebraska, whenever time allows. I know we shouldn't post certain information on here, but I'm not too worried, so feel free to write me anytime at mjwalterson@yahoo.com .... I'd love to hear from you all :)

Hellooooooo From Florida!

Yep, that's right, I've won the lotto and retired to Florida... ok, maybe not. Matt here... Sandy and I (going on 4 years together now) are still in Orlando, and haven't really got any plans on leaving. I miss everyone like you wouldn't believe, but I've found that being away from "the old gang" (troublemaking friends, develish brothers, you know the deal) actually has helped me in trying to do something with myself. I'm currently managing a Perkins restaurant, and Sandy is working full time as a warranty clerk at a local Toyota dealership, as well as part-time at Disneyworld.. yep, you guessed it.... FREE TICKETS TO DISNEY!!!
We're currently in the process of expanding our little "family", no not kids.. not yet at least, but we still have Tora the cat, and are getting two new puppies in the coming week... the little whote and brown one is Brutis, and the 99% brown one is Bugsy...

No other news to speak of at the moment, just wanted to say hell to everyone out there! Oh, and ACWL, any chance I can get a copy of whatever family tree work you may have? (I'm having a devil of a time getting the warner side of mine done, the wal

This is a great idea. Like everyone else, I too have a hard time writing to everyone. Phone calls are my style.

So let me be one of the first to get this going.

Jack and I have a new addition to our family. He is a 4 month old Papillion rescued from a puppy mill. His name is Toby and he is just full of the devil.

Work on the house has come to a halt until fall. With the overtime I am working I just don't have time to start any projects right now.

I am going on vacation in 5 days. Just going to Co. No we will not be going south this year. Then Sept 10 - 12 I will be taking off to recoup from working a 21 day stretch. So If anybody wants to get away for a few days, I will be home and I have room for you. ; )

Yes, I had to show you all my house and my boys.

I like it!

What a great idea! In the days of snail mail it was torture for me to write a letter and now with email, I've become just as bad. I really hope everyone participates in this because it is a great way to stay informed.

The Warner Blog

The Warner family blog is a communication effort to see what is happening with the Warner family and the decendents of Donna and Jerry Warner as well Ben and Hattie Liestman. Please feel free to post information you want mom and your siblings, etc. to know about you and your family. It would be great to get updates from the Warner Grandchildren including pictures. The blog is meant to help the family stay in touch and get a feel of what is happening in the lives of their siblings, nieces and nephews, etc. Please forward this blog site to your children so they may read and post as well.

Absolutely....bragging is permitted. Please use this blog and enjoy what is happening in the lives of the family we grew up with.

P.S. This is on the internet...so please refrain from sending email addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information you do not want others to see. This is protected, but hackers can still get in.