Relay for Life.

So several months ago my father-in-law Larry kind of got roped into being a team captain for a Relay for Life team. He had never done one before, but thought it would be a great thing to do. He e-mailed me, asking me to be his co-captain and told me our team name was "Cowboy Up". He said we would do it in honor of my Mom, because "if anybody knew how to cowboy up, she did." The gesture was very sweet and of course made me cry. I was on board. Before we knew it, our team had snowballed into a neighborhood/friend team. When it was all said and done, we had over 40 members. Almost everyone was either a survivor of cancer, or had someone in their family who had died or battled cancer. It was incredible to see. Sometimes I feel a little picked on, like my family is the only one that has been devastated by cancer. At this event, everyone has.

I wasn't much of a team co-captain at all, I had no experience with these relays and not a lot of time to devote to it. Larry and Bonnie made up for any slack on anyone's part. They racked up the donations from friends and family wanting to help out the great cause. One weekend Randy and I went up to Logan and did a bake sale at Nibley's Heritage Days where all of the funds went to the American Cancer Society, we had quilts made and donated to our team, we had baskets filled with spa items from Randy's cousin Laura who owns a nice salon in Logan. We did a silent auction for those and ended up making a lot of money on them. One quilt sold for $300! I was overcome at the generosity of people. This is bigger than we are, and it was great to see everyone come together for one great cause. Our team ended up raising over $3,000 and together as a whole the Logan Relay for Life raised over $82,000! That is amazing. Our team came in 5th place for most money raised, the top 4 had corporate sponsors. I thought that was pretty neat.

I wasn't really sure what to expect of the relay itself, other than I knew I would probably cry the whole time. ; ) I decided since our team name was Cowboy Up, that I would wear my Mom's bright yellow cowboy hat. She was a rodeo queen and loved that thing. I remember when I was little, opening the box it was stored nicely in and just staring at it. It was the coolest thing ever. I wasn't sure I even wanted to take it out of the box because it means that much to me, and I was worried about what my Dad thought. When I asked him what he thought about me wearing it he got choked up and said, "I'd be right proud." Aww. That sealed the deal. I proudly wore it in honor of my beautiful rodeo queen mother while I walked laps. I got so many compliments on it and people wanting to know the story behind it. It was neat being able to talk about my Mom and share her story.

One thing you can do at Relay for Life is have luminaries made in honor of cancer patients. At night they have a luminary lighting ceremony and it is so reverent and emotional. The track was lined with these luminaries. So many people affected by cancer. I made some in honor of my mom and sister, Lori. Since my Dad is a survivor I wore his color of cancer bracelet on my wrist. Ironically, it says LIVESTRONG. :) The luminaries were my favorite part of the whole thing, it just makes it so real and so worth all of the time and effort.

These things go for 24 hours, so naturally there is entertainment. Larry sang some cowboy songs on Friday afternoon, one was one he wrote for this occasion called "Cowboy Up" and I totally bawl whenever he sings it. Bonnie and Larry have a singing group they belong to that sang and entertained Saturday morning. I didn't get any pictures of that because I was out walking laps, but it was good and appropriate! There was one band there Friday night that was heavy metal... I was like, really?

Anyway, it was definitely a memorable experience and now I'm going to bug my family to do one together! : ) I will never forget the feelings I had there, this is definitely my "cause".

 The Survivor's lap.  (Luckily my camera was hiding my ugly cry face.)

 Larry performing.

 Dancin' to Grandpa's songs.

 Mad he can't go up on stage with Papas.

 Another luminary I made for Randy's cousin Natalie, who is a brain tumor survivor.

 Larry's Dad, F.B. Slade. He had bone cancer.

Walkin' for my angels.

 I tried to get a good picture of the top of the hat...

 Awww. This was actually after like 20 shots of him pulling dumb faces. He can actually take a normal picture! I am still in shock.

 I know this is super blurry, but this is my mom's luminary after it was lit up.

 Lori's looked really cool and had a bright light, this picture turned out pretty good.

 Everyone decorates their camp site. Since our team name was Cowboy Up, we had a "boot hill" to remember the people we were doing this for. This is my section of the boot hill.

 At the end of the relay they have a balloon launch. Before they launched, one of the directors read a poem that he had written for this event. He had a hard time reading through it and teared up a lot, which made me feel better about bawling my eyes out. It was beautiful, I'm going to try and track him down to get a copy of it.

Kids say the darndest things.

We're on family vacation with the Slades right now, but I decided I needed to post some things that Macey and Collin have recently said before I forget. They are just too good. One of my greatest joys in life is laughing at what my silly kids say. I LOVE the funny things kids say. That's the best part of having a Primary calling. ;) My kids do not disappoint, I am sure. Macey, bless her heart, has a hard time. She hears a saying, and then she wants to incorporate it into what she says... except for she does it all wrong. (Think of "When in Rome" from the movie Anchorman.)

Like, here's my latest favorite: The other day we met some friends in SLC to get a sneak peek of the 24th of July parade floats. While we were there Macey got a balloon that was shaped like a flower. It popped about 10 minutes later. She got mad at me, cause she asked if the hotness in the car would pop it, I told her no. Well, she's convinced that's what happened. So after it popped she glared at me and yelled "well now what am I going to do, cry about it?!" 

She is such an analyzer, too. You just can't tell her something (which I am still trying to get used to, I wish I could say "because I said so" and she would stop talking), she has to figure out why. While we were on the drive up to meet friends on that same occasion I told her that I wanted her to be a good girl and didn't want to deal with any 'tude. After mulling this over she goes, "Oh, I get it. Because you don't want your friends to know that we're bad kids!" HAHA! 

The latest one that still has me smiling was when we got to Aspen Grove for our vacation, I was helping her up on the top bunk where she was SO excited she got to sleep! As I hoisted her up I said something like, here you go, your majesty... a couple of seconds later she sighed and wistfully said "That is so true of my life." 

Collin is a dang funny kid. This is one of my favorite ages, I think I've already said that. Well, probably all ages are so fun, but I love the stage he's in- talking wise. Here are a few of his:

He *has* to have his blanky to go to sleep, the other day we were looking for it and he said "Where da blanky go? Where IS it? Oh no, it's at Post Oppice!" I think we've been to the post office once, for the record. 

When he says guitar "beeTAR" he sways his body back and forth like he's rocking out. Lately he's been telling Randy's family "Beetar's a broken!" with a very serious and concerned look on his face. I guess his play guitar is one thing we should have packed. When they ask him where the beetar is he tells them it's at the post oppice. 

He is a sweetheart, too. I love it when he gets big puppy dog eyes, staring at me. He'll come over to me and saw "Awww, mama.... hawgs" and give me hugs and kisses. 

This is my favorite, though. Yesterday morning he woke up and crawled into bed with me, laid his head on the pillow so his face was right next to my face and ripped a big ole fart. He started laughing and said "try it". I started laughing really hard and then he goes "is so gross!" HAHA. I am SO glad Randy was there to hear that! What a kid! 

It's Independence Day.

Let Freedom Riiiiiing! Serious, does anyone celebrate the 4th of July without listening to Martina McBride's song? I don't even like country all that much anymore, but I love that song! Randy was joking to me that it's impossible to celebrate Independence Day without country songs as the ones that "bring it home", much to his disappointment. Another random side note, we were at Logan's Freedom Fire and were watching the fireworks and listening to the music they had choreographed with it, a Celine Deon song came on and it looked like it might be the finale. I was all, oh no you din't! You are NOT going to go out on a Celine Deon song!! Luckily, they didn't. (Sorry Celine lovers, I know there are plenty but I am not one of them.) I think the finale song was country. :)

Anyways... 4th of July. Some find it odd that we invite our English friends over to celebrate our Independence Day.... from them. I think it's awesome. This year Randy and Ben really outdid themselves. This year Utah made the aerial fireworks legal, so they both have been on the hunt. Randy even went and donated blood just so he could get some sweet firework coupons! Oh, and helping people out, you know. He's all about that. I asked him if it was worth it when he came home and thought he was going to pass out and laid in bed for like 2 hours. ;) When it was all said and done, our firework show went on for over an hour! It was craziness. Most of them were the little guys, but we had probably 10 big aerial ones. Our neighborhood was all ablaze, too. It was so fun watching everybody's "show".

This year Macey was really looking forward to the 4th of July so I thought I'd make it really fun for her, and the rest of us. Has anyone else noticed that cute (not corny) 4th of July decorations are hard to find?! We had fun with the "decoraysh" and had lots of fun making patriotic food! I made the wreath with yarn. Haha. I actually really liked how it turned out! The pictures were taken on a really overcast day, so they are really dark. But the decorations were really cheerful and fun!

Randy grilled burgers (aaaamazing, his secret sauce is worcestershire and it is the best!), I made a flag sheet cake (found from Pioneer Woman, I love her recipes) that was sooo good, s'mores with a popsicle stick inserted, then frozen, then dipped in almond bark and sprinkles. I found that idea from a blog, too. They were a hit and so fun to make! And then I topped off the patriotism with red and blue striped jello with whipped cream on top. Mmmm. We stuffed our faces all. night. long.

Ben hates creamy stuff, so that's why one jello is without the goodness.

All in all, a fabulous 4th of July. I *loved* being at home with my family and having a relaxing day. I'm proud to be an American and am so grateful for the people that put their lives on the line to ensure our freedoms!

Collin's first reaction to the fireworks. Sheer amazement.

 Beebee Abby. Could she BE any cuter?

 I asked Randy to go put some shoes on Collin. Behold.

 Classic!

 Boys being boys. It was pretty funny, they had it all planned out.

 I can't wait to send this picture to Sara and Ben's parents in England. :)

 She was talking to the fireworks, it was too cute! She loved them!

 Collin found a great spot to watch.

 Oh Ben.

 Our lamp by the street totally ruined this picture, but you can kind of see the lights. The horizon was totally lit up with aerial fireworks. It was SO COOL!

Memorial Day Weekend.

We went to Idaho Falls for Memorial Day this year. Of course, the weather was crappy, so what we could do was limited. We made the most of it, though. On Saturday afternoon nine (9!!!) of us piled into Dad's truck to go up to the cemetery to place our flowers and to wash the headstones, only to find out once we got there that nobody had brought any cleaning stuff! HAHA.

Sunday we had a family dinner and then a surprise party for my niece Kayla who was going to have a spinal fusion the next week to correct her scoliosis. All the older girls stayed the night at my Dad's. All of us staying there got zero sleep.... oh wait, except for my Dad to escaped to his TRAILER! Genius! It was hilarious to listen to the girls laugh their heads off and at one point, even sing the national anthem at the top of their lungs. Well, ok. Maybe not hilarious until the next day. ;) Everyone gave Kayla presents to help her with recovery and I made the decorations. It was a fun way to show Kayla we love her and support her! It was also Joel's birthday that day and I attempted to make him a surprise birthday cake until Randy TOTALLY blew the surprise. He felt so stupid. It was hilarious and oh so awkward.

Monday we all went to the cemetery for their ceremony at 10 AM. Can I just say that I think it is awesome that my whole family goes to the cemetery on Memorial Day? We were the biggest group there. My Mom made it important to us to go visit my sister's and grandpa's grave growing up, so now it is important to us to visit her and my other grandparents who have now passed.

After the cemetery we all went and got lunch and brought it to my brother's office and ate, then played nerf guns! It was awesome!! Something not many people know is 9 hours later... when we got home and I was unpacking at our house, I bent over to pick something up and heard a "OH...MY...GOSH" from Randy. I freaked out thinking I had a spider on me or something and then he told me to look in my boobs. HAHA. Can you believe that a dart from the nerf war made it undetected all the way back to Utah lodged in my cleavage. I was pretty embarrassed, but that didn't last long. It was too dang funny to be embarrassed over.

Here are the pics! (Not of my bosoms, perv... but of the weekend.)