Disinfectant/spider killer

I was in the kitchen tonight, taking some medicine, and I saw a HUGE, brown, gross spider. I'm terribly afraid of spiders...I get it from Tommy.

Of course, tonight is the night that LaVor is out with Jared. Normally I would have screamed for LaVor to come kill it but that wasn't an option this time.

My heart immediately started beating a mile a minute and thoughts ran through my head. Do I leave it? What if it gets in the cupboard and I grab something it's on? What if it crawls on the ground, finds a nice hiding place and then attacks when I least expect it?

I then remembered that I had bought some bug spray @ Target today to kill the ants that have decided they want to share our home with us. I started to spray and all it did was drop the spider from the ceiling to the counter! I had to think quick! Ah ha! Lysol kills anything! So I grabbed the Lysol from underneath the sink and sprayed that sucker! It ended up on its back, unable to crawl (thankfully) so I sprayed it a couple more times for good measure.

It's dead and under a glass until LaVor comes home and disposes of it.
*Note: Now I feel as if I have spiders crawling all over me. Gross.

A Sea of Pink

It's been a weekend of emotion, gratitude, trials, growth and inspiration for my mom, sister and I.

We completed the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer around 12:00 this afternoon. A total of 39.3 miles walked in 2 days in the beautiful Bay Area.

We began our weekend on Friday night at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco which is where we checked in for the walk. There were women and pink everywhere! After we got everything squared away, we went back to our hotel room to make our t-shirts for Saturday. I have to say, they turned out adorable!

We went to bed around 10:45 but hardly got any sleep due to a broken fire alarm in a building down the street. Kari was even able to hear it, despite wearing earplugs. Our alarms woke us up at an early 4:00 Saturday morning. We got ready and headed down the street to the Westin to catch the charter bus that would take us to Golden Gate Park. We assumed there would be a line of women waiting to board but we didn't expect the line to go all the way around the block. Eventually, we made it onto the bus and made the trek to the park. There, we enjoyed a quick breakfast and the opening ceremonies began and so did the crying. They had 2 breast cancer survivors speak, one of which was a 2 time survivor and her husband was a prostate cancer survivor. Their stories helped me to realize why I was doing this. Because 39 miles is a heck of a long way and I wouldn't consider doing it for "fun".

The walk officially started a little after 7:30. There were roughly 3,000 people participating which is the largest group the SF walk has ever had. Our trip was taking us across the Golden Gate bridge, which was absolutely beautiful. We then traveled down to Fort Baker where Pop, Alex and the kids met us with open arms. It was great to see them and feel their support. We then continued on through Sausalito (a very cute downtown, by the way) and stopped for a quick lunch. The route continued on through Mill Valley (also a very cute town) and then we turned around and made the trek back. We were all having a hard time after the halfway mark. Mom was feeling it the most in her knee and it became a challenge for her to walk comfortably. There was a large hill that we needed to climb in order to get back on the Golden Gate bridge and she thought it'd be best to hitch a ride from the "Sweep Crew" (they'll pick you up in their van if you're having a tough time) from the bottom of the hill to the top. That didn't happen. So Kari and I did what we could to make her walk up the hill as easy as possible. It was hard but she did a great job! We made our final trip across the bridge and down to Crissy Field where we'd be enjoying a hot meal. At the finish line was my sweet husband and Jared Hatch, rooting us on after we had completed 26 miles. I'm so grateful that they were able to come, especially since Jared lost his mom to cancer. I had Claudia on my mind all weekend. They ate dinner with us and drove us back to our hotel, where we enjoyed a much needed nights rest.

We were able to sleep in about an hour later this morning (hallelujah!) but it was still early. Mom decided that it would be best to not walk the 13 miles today. She woke up and her knee was still pretty sore as were her feet. She dropped us off at Crissy Field where again, we enjoyed a great breakfast (eggs, potatoes, fruit, oatmeal, muffins, hot chocolate). Kari and I started the walk with everyone else, promptly at 7:30. We were able to pass quite a few people and keep a pretty good pace. We walked all around the city and when I say all around, I mean all around. We faced many hills but we decided that we enjoy going up more than we do down. While we were going up a crazy hill, we were glad that Mom decided to take care of herself. We nearly killed ourselves on that one. We didn't stop for lunch today, just a quick potty break, icing of the knee and adding of moleskin. We agreed that if we saw a pizza by the slice restaurant, that would be our lunch. We never saw one.

After 13 miles, we arrived at the finish line. Kari and I linked arms and cried our way through the large group of supporters that cheered us on and thanked us profusely. We were so blessed to be able to be a part of this great event. We were sad our mom wasn't able to cross the finish line with us but she met up with us a bit later and we shared a special moment together. We also missed our other sister, Amy. She trained with us every week but was not able to get all of the donations she needed to participate.

I have so much to be thankful for that I'm not quite sure where to begin. I'm so grateful for the healthy friends and family that I have. Hearing the stories this weekend of people losing loved ones to this horrible disease made me appreciate all that I have. I am grateful to all of the volunteers that cheered us on and kept us motivated, even when we wanted to throw our towel in and give our bodies a break. They've spent months planning this event and it was amazing. I am truly thankful to all of those that have donated to this great cause. We passed a sign that said, "Because of your donations, we have been able to give 8,000 women a mammogram". The entire group participating in the SF walk raised about $7.5 million. What a blessing.

We're not 100% sure if we'll be participating next year but I will definitely treasure this time that I've spent with my sweet mom and sisters. We're sad to see it end but glad that it happened.

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Land That I Love

When I was 11, my family was able to take a trip back East and visit several historic sites. One of which was Fort McHenry, which is where the Battle of Baltimore was fought. Inspired by that particular battle, Francis Scott Key wrote "The Star Spangled Banner".

I was quite disappointed when we got to church last week and no patriotic songs were to be sung. Thankfully today (although I didn't understand why we were doing this AFTER the holiday), we were able to sing "America the Beautiful", which always reminds me of Pollyanna.

And for the closing hymn we sang "The Star Spangled Banner". I can't sing this song without crying, whether it be at church, at a baseball game or in my car.

In 1994, my dad held the annual WWII reunion in San Diego. He bought a cd of patriotic songs to play at the banquet dinner. I think my brother, Kenny, would agree with me when I say it's one of the best cd's I've ever listened to.

As mentioned before, I love music...especially patriotic music! When we were doing fireworks on the 4th, every time we'd light the sparklers we would sing a different patriotic song.

I'm also so grateful for the free nation in which we've been blessed to live in. I'm grateful for the honest men who built our country on a foundation of faith and believed in God and included him in their decisions. And again, I'm thankful for those who have sacrificed their time and lives to serve this country so we can continue to be free.

I am thankful for laughter, except when milk comes out of my nose. -Woody Allen

I'm not exactly sure what LaVor is watching on tv right now but he's laughing hysterically. It makes me laugh.

Holidays + dog = bad combination

A couple of years ago, on Christmas Eve, my Omi came to spend the Holiday with us.

That Winter happened to be one of the coldest I can remember so we had our dog, Indiana Jones, staying inside. Unfortunately, he has the tendency of biting people if they approach him. We had warned Omi just to ignore him and he'd ignore her. She didn't ignore him. On her way to bed that night, she knelt down to pet Indy and he bit her. On Christmas day, after opening presents, Omi went to the hospital and she had a broken pinky. Apparently when a dog bites someone, no matter who it is, the hospital has to report it to the police. Later that afternoon, a police officer came out to observe Indy. I was convinced this cop was going to take my dog away on Christmas...what a gift (sense the sarcasm?)! Thankfully, the police officer determined that the dog was a great family dog and no additional action needed to take place.

A couple years later, on the 4th of July, most of my family was out of town, visiting some family friends. My oldest sister was spending the evening with her boyfriend, enjoying the fireworks. When she came home that night, Indy was in the house. Note, when she left that night, he was outside. How in the heck did he get inside?! My brothers' always left their bedroom window open just a crack. We figured the fireworks scared Indy so bad, he managed to tear the window screen, completely open the window and make his way into the house.

This year for the 4th, my sisters family and LaVor & I got together at our parents house to shoot off some fireworks. We were going to meet for dinner and Kari called to tell me she'd stop by the house to feed the dog and then meet us at the restaurant. About 2 minutes later, I get another call that says, "Indy's not here!" He had managed to dig a hole on the side of the house and escape. We called animal control and animal shelters to see if anyone picked him up. Being a holiday, everything was closed. We decided to grab a bite to eat and then search for him. LaVor and I drove around for a bit and didn't see a thing. When we got back to my parents house, LaVor went to the backdoor and said, "He's right here!" He was muddy and wet so we think he did get out but somehow made it back home.

It was a coincidence that we chose Indiana Jones as his name. We figured he's about 12-13 years old now, doesn't move like he used to and is starting to lose his hearing. Despite these setbacks, he still manages to be the adventurous dog we've grown to love.

I'm beginning to love fondant

I had the wonderful opportunity of making LaVor's cousins wedding cake for today.

When she came over to show me the design, I was really excited. It was totally cute and fit their personalities perfectly. Of course, I had an image in my mind of how great it would turn out.

Welp, by 10:30 last night, I had broken down to tears because my image was far from what it really looked like. I had been up since 7:30 a.m. doing "cake" and I didn't feel like starting over. Thankfully, I got some sleep and LaVor was able to convince me to start over on the tier that was causing me problems. I'm so glad he did...it turned out great! But I couldn't have done it without his help. He's a fabulous assistant!

Everything was great! The sealing was beautiful, the sky over the reception wasn't smoky, Jessica, the bride/cousin, was stunning and you could tell she and Phil were so happy! I know I say this all the time but it made me want to get married all over again.

You're wonderful

I'm so excited to announce that I've reached my goal of $1800 for the breast cancer walk! Yippee! It's now official!

I appreciate the support and generosity of all that I've come in contact with. I couldn't have done it without you guys, so thanks!

I also have to thank my sweet husband for making the last donation. While we were at the store tonight, he asked me how much more money I needed. I told him only $150, since I had a bunch of donations just posted to my account. When we got home from the store, I checked my e-mail and saw one from Avon, telling me I reached my goal. The first thought that ran through my mind was "Who in the heck donated the rest of the money?!" When I checked the message that the person had left, it said, "You're wonderful". It was from LaVor. I'm so appreciative of his enthusiasm during these last few months. He's spent many Saturday mornings and afternoons alone while I was out walking with my mom and sisters. But he's been behind me all of the way and I love him for that.