Monday, April 28, 2008

Cruising For A Cure!

This weekend was the Relay for Life Cancer Walk. Because my mom's family has had a history with battling cancer, we have had a team for the last few years. Her mom died of lymphoma, a brother died of pancreatic cancer, and another brother is battling prostate cancer right now. It is always such a neat experience to participate in. The walk goes for about 18 hours and someone from your team has to be on the track the whole time. The relay starts with a survivor walk where anyone surviving cancer makes the first lap. At one point when it has gotten dark they turn off all of the lights. They have luminaries lit with pictures on the bags of loved ones lost to cancer. With the lights off all you can see are the luminaries arranged in the word HOPE. It is very emotional. Everyone has tents and little camp spots set up around the track for one purpose; to raise money for cancer research. My kids absolutely love going to the "walking party". They look forward to it all year long and love the matching shirts that we get. I am grateful for my family and the time that we get to spend together doing such a wonderful thing. I pray they can find a cure for cancer before any other family member becomes a victim.
This is my uncle who is going through treatments for prostate cancer walking in the survivors walk.
Jared and my brother were in charge of cooking dinner for everyone. They did an awesome job it was delic! We're getting ready for our time on the track. The kids didn't last the whole thirty minutes in the stroller.

Monday, April 14, 2008

Weekend in Salt Lake

This past weekend we went to Salt Lake to attend a baby blessing for one of Jared's nieces. It was really nice to get out of town for a couple of days. The kids have looked forward to swimming in the hotel pool for the past week, so as soon as we checked in that is where we headed. We haven't swam since last summer so we didn't know what to expect with the kids. Ashten was a little nervous about the water. Even with her little floaties on she still didn't want to leave the steps.
Treyson on the other hand caused us a little bit of stress. He didn't have a single fear of the water. He kept jumping in whether anyone was ready for him or not. He also didn't want anyone to hold on to him. He felt secure enough with his floaties that he wanted to just chill by himself. I was a nervous wreck, worrying about him drowning. The kids were complete opposites in the water.
The room we stayed in had two beds and we just planned on having the kids sleep together, but at the last minute we were afraid that Treyson would fall off or they would wake up too many times in the night. Instead, Jared and I each slept with one. I joked later saying that instead of doing the things that usually occurred when we stayed in a hotel, now we don't even sleep in the same bed. We had a fun weekend, but are always ready to come home.