Remember when you were a child, and you spent hours and hours building a fort in the backyard — so much so that when your mom called you in for dinner, you considered skipping dinner so you didn’t have to stop? Or, in my case, I spent hours and hours trying to emulate my inspiring...

“There’s nothing in the world more powerful than a good story.” — Tyrion Lannister, “Game of Thrones.” Stories are a universal part of the human experience. The exchange of stories has taken place since human beings first started communicating. Ancient ancestors passed down cultural histories through oral storytelling, and village elders taught children morals and...

1 Make a backyard staycation plan. Put together a schedule with a mixture of activities that your family will enjoy like dining, camping and games. Add a theme for the week, day or evening. A luau theme can be carried through with costumes, food and activities. A sports theme can have everyone in team jerseys...

Some keep a T-shirt for every occasion. Tania Jonjack has a T-shirt for every recommendation. In the past few months, the Galena resident embarked on a quest to share her entire T-shirt collection, which she estimates to be around 100. Each day, she posted a new shirt on her Facebook page. With the T-shirt came...

A local nonprofit organization made a life-changing surprise gift on Saturday when it presented Dubuque resident Jamie Koppes with a custom van. Koppes, 41, has spina bifida. A well-known fixture in the volunteer community, she donates her time to the American Red Cross and is on the board of Ark Advocates, an organization that assists...