Relay for Life!

We recently participated in the Relay for Life in Price, UT.  This is a fundraiser for Cancer Research.  Participants set up teams and work to earn funds.  Walkers are then set to walk to track from 6:30 pm until 7 am the next morning.  A member of each team needs to be walking the track at all times.  My sister, Jenny, organized a team in honor of my dad this year.  Last Ocotober he was disgnosed with Prostate Cancer.  After 4 very intense radiation treatments he was declared cancer free in January. We walked in his honor! 

At the walk survivors are honored and get to take the first lap around the track.  This year the survivors were lead by Riley(3) and Brailey (2), 2 little children in the community who are fighting cancer.  They also asked for those who had just found out this year that they had cancer to lead, so my dad, towering over the crowd, lead the Survivors Lap!  The purple shirts are worn by those who are fighting cancer and surviving!

Round and Round the track we went!  We ran, we walked, we tracked our laps with beads.  There was a dunk tank that wasn't being used, so we asked if we could try it out!  Domenic wanted to volunteer.  Sure said the committe member, and up he went!

 I tried knocking him in several times, even hit the target, but to no avail.  A little adjustment to the seat, a few teenage boys tossing the balls and "SPLASH" in went Domenic!  Hold up says a new committee member, they have to be 18!  Oh well, says our original worker.  Next lap around and the dunk tank was drained!  Our little trooper was the only one to get to use it!  Lucky!

At midnight they started a dancing competition that went on until nearly 2 am.  Skyler was going and going, and one of the youngest participants and few boys.  He bounced ping pong balls out of his kleenex box like a pro, then he showed how he could Gangham Style like the best of them!

The moon was almost at Super Moon phase (1 day away), but it was bright and beautiful.  My babies were troopers and stayed up so long, selling cupcakes, playing, dancing and enjoying the party feeling.  Domenic alone trudged around 6 miles worth!  Finally around 3 am they crashed, sleeping out under the canopy.

In the end I completed 17.5 miles.  I was exhausted by the end of the trek.  I really do not know how people can just run marathons in 6 hours or less and survive!  Amazing!  I trudged on for nearly 12 hours.  We had such a great time!  I went a total of 47, 804 steps!  I won a prize for it, yippee!!  It was such a fun night!  The kids loved walking, staying up late, and being a part of the teenage crowds!  What a great way to celebrate life!

Kaboom!

I decided to clean the bathroom this morning.  I know, that sounds like a crazy task, but I did!  So, as I clean I post in my mind.  I find that I blog in theory often, just not in actual print.  Sure, sometimes I post on Facebook what we are doing, put up pictures, but I find that more people ask about my blog than anything else.  I have been bad about it.  There are such great examples out there: Leisy Miller, Michelle Jensen you two rock!  Even my good friend Marci is better at it than I am!  So here we go again.  It will probably be years before people start reading me again, but oh well.  At least I will say what I needed to say!

Back to the bathroom!  I bought a new cleaner called Kaboom!  It is a mildew/mold remover.  I needed this, but have tried many cleaners that fail to get rid of the mold that seems to grow rampent in the shower.  This stuff is AMAZING!  I recommend it to everyone!  It cleaned better than anything else that I have bought in the last 10 years that we have lived in this house!  I wish I had taken before and after pics, but I had no idea it would clean this well! 

As I cleaned and contemplated, I am reminded of a long time ago when my friend posted that she had cleaned her house walls for the first time since they had moved into their house 6 years earlier.  Julia, I am jealous of you every time I clean my walls (which is at least twice a week)!  We are so dusty, and then the kids and their little fingers and now the puppy!  It's a never ending battle to keep them clean!

So there you go!  The first post of hopefully many to come!  It's time to clean house and share my life achievements with the world!

Exactly One Year Later

1st Day of School ~ 4th grade and 6th grade

It seems that I feel the blogger buzz around the same time each year!  I haven't posted for exactly one whole year!  That is crazy!  Of course, with my job I have have been extremely busy which keeps me away from the computer (for recreation purposes).

For today I will post about the days biggest event: the First Day of School!  Hard to believe that my baby girl is going to be in 6th grade and Domenic will be in 4th.  Only a week away and we will have not only a child in the oldest grade of elementary school, but our baby will be in Kindergarten!  He so badly wanted to start with his brother and sister this morning, but has to wait one more week (kindergarten assessment is the first week).  He goes for his assessment on Thursday and has been studying to get ready!


Domenic wasn't sure that he wanted to go to school.  He has been nervous and scared and worried that certain boys would be in his class room and would tease him.  Yesterday we discovered that his best friend is in the same class with him again this year (these 9 year old boys spent 2 hours on the phone together!).  This morning we also found that the boys he has been unsure about are in the same class as well.  Instead of problems though, they ran up excited to see him, gave him big hugs, high 5's, and spent the rest of the time in line chatting about all that they had done over the summer.  I think that my boy just doesn't realize how much everyone loves to be his friend.  I left happy and sure that he was going to have a great day!

Alexis squealed like only a sixth grader can and she and her friends created a "weirdo's" club, wearing their 1990's florescent outfits (I swear they looked exactly like I did when I was in 6th grade!) and were ready to rule the school.  Scary!

Now I am sitting at home with only Skyler again, listening to my Wicked CD and trying to start blogging again!  I also need to get to cleaning up after a summer of 3 kids at home, and get into an exercise routine as well.  Don't forget that work needs to fit in here as well.  *sigh* So much to do, where is the motivation to do it?  But the excitement of a new school year, getting back into routines, and learning is enough to get me going!  So here's a cheer to the 1st day of the 2012-2013 school year!

Alexis the 6th grader

Waiting for the bell with her friends in the same class!

My handsome boys!


Ready to walk to school!






Check out Brandon' Blog!

Brandon has decided to start a blog! Watch for his weekly writings on "Morbid Curiosity." He will be writing weekly posts about the musing and going-ons that happen at work! I know that you are all excited to know just what he does at work! This will be the perfect opportunity for you to find out!

Be sure to get on and read, comment and most of all, share his site with friends and other family members! His goal is to get out there and to start sharing his love of writing, and of course, the humor that can be found in the exciting day to day routine of the medical examiners!

Here is the link: www.brandcall.wordpress.com

A time to reflect

It seems that I have gone from great blogger to hit and miss. Considering the fact that I have only posted 8 posts this year, verses 61 from last year. I wish I had excuses (of that I have many), but I think it all boils down to priorities.

That said, I have been thinking a great deal about what matters most to me lately. I love my family! I have had to spend time away from them recently and it has made me realize how happy they make me. Sometimes I think it becomes easy to take our family for granted. We get in a daily routine and forget about spending time together. I love spending time with Brandon and the kids. It makes me happy. The more meetings that have come up, the more the time flits away, the more I come to appreciate the time that I have.

The season is upon us to be grateful. Be grateful for the life that we have been given. For the blessing that it is to be together, happy and important in someone's life. I would hate to wake up one morning and realize that it was all gone. I cherish every little blessing that has been sent my way!