Relay for Life 2012

On Friday June 15th, we participated in our first Relay for Life. My sister and I decided to do this in honor of our sister-in-law, Diane. She went in for her routine mammogram in March 2011 and had a biopsy for a suspicious mass. They determined cancer was present, so they decided to do surgery in April. After getting a deep cough with no flu/cold symptoms in November, they found out it had spread to the lungs. She just found out this month that the cancer has now spread to her brain and spinal cord.

On Friday afternoon, mom, my brother Jeff, Kaylie and I went over to Hawkeye Community College to get our camp set-up. It was very hot, but we got the tent up in about 45 minutes which was pretty good since I haven't ever put our tent up by myself. We then went back to get my sister and her and I went back to set-up the canopy tent for the night. Her and I went to back to get Zach and all the kids. We then made it out to the campsite around 5:30 p.m. and started decorating the campsite.

Opening ceremony was at 6:00 p.m. and they did a little announcement and then the survivors and caregivers took the track. We then did one lap as a team and then we started walking. Zach and I walked the first 45 minutes or so. Then my brother Tom & his family took over at 7:00 p.m and they walked until about 12:30 a.m. Then my sister Melissa, my brother Jeff, my brother-in-law Dennis, Zach and I took the track. Dad came out and walked an hour at about 3 a.m.

It was a very emotional night and I was glad that we kept Kaylie there with us. She did awesome...she feel asleep in her stroller at 10:30 p.m. after the fireworks and slept until 4:30 a.m. when she unfortunately fell over the air mattress. Our niece Katelyn also stayed over night with us. It was a great experience and the lack of sleep and pain we were feeling is nothing compared to what all of these people with cancer are going through. We hope that we helped with our fundraising total of $3,070...not too bad for starting in February.

The whole Relay was a huge success because they bet their goal by more than $15,500. Their goal was $196,000 but the final total was $211,500. This money goes toward cancer research, education and outreach programs. We are glad that we took part in such an amazing and hope that the FIGHT AGAINST CANCER continues until we find a CURE.

Thanks to everyone that help us achieve our goal.

To read more of Diane's story and to get updates please go to her Caring Bridge: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/dianeishmael

What we have been up to..

Well it has been a very long time since I wrote a post so I thought I would do one about what we have been up to. Since I have been too busy to blog it seems. 

--We have been planting and watering our flowers...Kaylie is a very big help as you can see. We have lots of bunnies under our shed so my rose bushes took a big hit. Zach and I are trying to save them. 

--We have been to the library more, Grandma Boe should be so proud. Kaylie is really starting to like to sit and read books. We now all crawl up into our bed at night and read one or two books. She usually sits pretty still, but some times she likes to run around on the bed. (Which of course gets her into trouble) I am sure we will continue to visit the library more frequently; we have to at least go once more since we owe fines. (I know Mom, I am not use to due dates!)

--We took a trip down to Williamsburg and went shopping at the Outlet Mall. We found some great clothes for Kaylie, but who wouldn't at my favorite store Carter's. Mommy and Daddy didn't find anything for themselves so we made another stop at the Coral Ridge Mall. This was where Kaylie got her first experience with Build-a-Bear. 

-- We had a party for my seniors at work. Kaylie was a hit and of course loved all the extra attention. She was a little helper when it was time to get ready and she was great entertainment for the night. 

--Daddy had the day off one day so we ran some errands and Kaylie got to have her own smoothie. She of course didn't eat it all, but at least she didn't take all of ours either. :)

--We went to Wisconsin for my Aunt's 60th Surprise Birthday party. It was fun to have Kaylie play with all my cousin's kids. She also got to ride in this little John Deere Gator with her cousin. I am sure we will be getting one soon enough. She is quite the daredevil. 

--We have been going on lots of bike rides lately. She sits great in her bike trailer, but we are pretty sure she would rather be on her own bike. Too bad her legs aren't long enough (Daddy says she will be biking before she is 2, we will see!). We took our puppy swimming at Prairie Lakes one day, Kaylie of course wanted to go swimming too. 

--We have a new found love for balls, she loves to play ball whenever she sees one. She now can even say ball even though it sounds more like "baa".

--We got a water table from Walmart for Kaylie and we have gotten it out a much as we can. She is quite the fish and she will play in the water for hours if we let her. It was a great buy and it works nicely on hot days.

--We helped our cousin Luke celebrate his 1st birthday. We went to a park and played; we even went down the slide head first. Of course we thought that was lots of fun! We then enjoyed the great food and cake!

--We have been working very hard to get ready for our first Relay for Life. We have baked and made crafts. We have 15 days left and we are ready to experience our 1st Relay for Life. More about that after the 15th. 

--We have started to help mommy clean...she is a lot of help. :) Kaylie now has her own vacuum so she can help me more and more. 

--We got our new room cleaned out and we have the toys setup. She now will sit and play all by herself. She still loves her Little People, and she has a lot of them!

--We took our first camping trip last weekend and Kaylie did pretty good. We got a little cranky on Sunday, but it was because she was over tired. We decided to leave a day early, but mommy liked that better because I got caught up on some things like dishes and laundry.

We have had a very busy last few months and can't wait for what the summer will bring...should be a good one!

50 Things...

I came across a cute blog that was 101 things in 1001 days, but Zach and I talked and I don't think I can come up with that many items yet. I am going to try to do 50 things in 500 days, let's see how good I do.

Start Date: Saturday April 21, 2012

End Date: Tuesday September 3rd, 2013

1. Experiment with sidewalk chalk paint

2. Lose 20 more pounds (0/20)

3. End every night in prayer (0/500)

4. Buy a cute new swimsuit

5. Go camping with Kaylie and Zach

6. Finish Kaylie's 1st Scrapbook

7. Complete Kaylie's New Room

8. Organize all the photos on my computer

9. Go on a spontaneous, unplanned weekend with Zach and Kaylie

10. Go to Chicago with Zach & Kaylie

11. Build a sand castle with Kaylie

12. Make a new mom friend

13. Bake cookies with Kaylie

14. Play in the rain with Zach and Kaylie

15. Get a pedicure

16. Have regular movie nights

17. Do a girls day

18. Read a book fully

19. Pick a pumpkin with Kaylie

20. Take Kaylie to a BIG zoo

21. Go Tubing with friends

22. Buy veggies from the farmer's market and make dinner with them

23. Take Kaylie to the Aquarium

24. Get a tattoo in honor of Kaylie

25. Make homemade Ice Cream

26. Go on a romantic weekend gateway with Zach

27. Plan a family reunion

28. Take a photography workshop

29. Work on more graphics projects

30 Do another 5K walk

31. Complete our first Relay for Life

32. Take a Quickbooks/Accounting Class

33. Take Kaylie to her first waterpark

34. Read with Kaylie more

35. Make a wishlist on Amazon

36.Get $1,000 in our savings

37. Payoff the Durango

38. Clean out my cookbooks

39. Have another child

40. Be a home-owner

41. Pay off our debt to my parents

42. Go to an apple orchard

43.Go look at Fall leaves

44. Finish the Irish Fest Program

45. Make our own Christmas Traditions

46. Make 3 things from Pinterest (0/3)

47. Do a craft with Kaylie once a week for three months (0/12)

48. Host a dinner party 

49. Stop biting my nails 

50. See a New Movie starting with each letter of the alphapet

A:

B:

C:

D:

E:

F:

G:

H:

I:

J:

K:

L:

M:

N:

O:

P:

Q:

R:

S:

T:

U:

V:

W:

X:

Y:

Z:

Kaylie's 1st Birthday Party

I know I said I would put up pictures from her birthday the week after, but things have gotten crazy around her. We now have a toddler who is walking around every where. No more putting her down by toys and her staying. 

Birthday Girl & her buddy Luke

Kaylie had her birthday party the Sunday after her birthday March 25th because we had a wedding on Saturday. It started at 11 a.m. and we had it at my parents' house...thank goodness for great parents! Love ya Mom and Dad. Zach grilled pork loins, and we had fruit, potato salad, veggie pizza, baked beans, veggies & dip and of course cake & ice cream.

Our guests included:  Grandpa & Grandma Boe, Aunt Melissa, Uncle Dennis, Katelyn, Elizabeth & Luke, 

Thank you Susie Woodley for the great cake.

Yummy Cake

Uncle Pat, Mahoganii & Kaelan, Uncle Tom, Aunt Joedy, Cassidy, Kyle, & Cydney, Great-Grandma & Great-Grandpa Everman, Grandma & Grandpa Everman, Aunt Ashley & Ben, Uncle Chris, Aunt Jo & Uncle Andrew

Our Own Birthday Cake!

My New Big Pink Ball

We got lots of great gifts from everyone. We are definitely set for camping in May with a new lawn chair, new plate, cups & silverware, a new swimsuit & towel. We also got lots of new toys for the house, such as the Princess Little People, SUV Little People, Violet & new bath toys. We will also be very fashionable this summer with all the cute new clothes we got.  One gift that we have used a lot the last few weeks in the new bike trailer. We have taken about 3 bike rides a week in the last two weeks. It is great and Kaylie loves it. We even went to a near by park the other day and had a picnic; it was so nice to be able to store the picnic stuff in the trailer and go. 

Thank you for everyone that helped us celebrate Kaylie's birthday at her party or not! We love you all and our little girl is so blessed to have so many great people love her. 

Always Climbing

P.S. Here is a video of Kaylie walking, she has been walking pretty good for the last two weeks and we finally got it on video. Enjoy!