Relay For Life 2015 Edition

Last Friday night was the 2015 Relay for Life.  It was a balmy 80 degrees out at the start, but with a little breeze it was manageable.

I just want to take a minute and thank EVERY person that donated towards my fundraising efforts this year.  Each year my goal is a measly $100, and I'm continually amazed at everyone that is willing to pitch in and try to help END cancer.  I blew my $100 goal out of the water, and upped my goal to $300, which thanks to you all, was also blown out of the water.  I believe my total raised this year was $320, which I plan to beat next year!

Some of my favorite peeps participated in the walk with me this year.  I love having these guys by my side all night.  It can get long, but I guess it's my little measly way of doing something that matters against this dumb disease.  I sure wish there was a dang cure already.

Also, a huge shout out to those who liked and commented on my Facebook posts.  (Sorry if I bombarded you with too many!)  To those that asked, I walked laps for you and those you love.

It was a good thing I got my new Brooks all ready to go before the big day.  I had some achy muscles after the 10 miles that I completed, but not a single blister!

Luminary bags were decorated for some of our favorite people that were bitten by the "C" bug.

True story.

This was my 5 mile progress update.  Lap beads that we purchase help keep track of our distance.

Sometimes we have to carry each other.  In the relay, and in life. 

Seeing the bags lit is very emotional.  I know mom would love them.

I also need to take a minute and talk about my sister Erin, who is the one who decided to get us involved in this annual fundraiser.

Erin began participating in the Relay a few years ago, starting a team at her church.  I didn't participate her first few years, but she eventually convinced me to join in the cause.  Every year the amount of money her team raises astonishes me.  This year was her best year yet, surpassing her goal of $10,000!  She puts in so much time and energy in raising money for this awesome event, from selling freezy pops in Canal Park on a busy weekend, to holding her own Color Run at the school she teaches at!  She's just awesome.  Her personal fundraising this year was $7889.  That's a lot of moo-lah.  I'm just glad I get to be a part of it.

Thanks Erin, for doing this.  I can't help but think we are making a difference!

XOXOX

NH

My Girl

I just can't not post these pictures.  That's all.

Evening light is my favorite.

Thanks for letting me play tonight, Morgsie Pie.

XOXOX,

NH

Thrifty Weekend in Mad-Town

This past weekend we road tripped it down to my sissy's house for the long Easter weekend.  Friday was a day that we had nothing scheduled except for an outing that included as many resale/thrift stores as we could fit in.

Call it what you'd like; Thrifting, Junking, Hunting...

I love hitting stores away from home.  I just feel like I'm not looking at the same old things.

You never know what you are going to find.  I'm always looking for a few specific things, and can't pass by the craft/yarn sections.  It makes me wonder when I come across something like this.  Obviously a project that someone didn't get to finish.  The needles were still in the work!  Maybe they got sick of it and just couldn't finish it.  (I've been there!)  Maybe it was found in someone's estate after they had passed?  Guess I'll never know.

A quick stop for lunch at a local brewery...  Good thing the girls loved their food, because the initial impression of the place wasn't great by them when all they could smell was the brewing ingredients.  Apparently 11 and 13 year old girls aren't fond of the smell of hops??

Sis and I had to come home with some of these pint glasses.  Not necessarily thrifty, but a good addition to the collection in my cupboard!

Off to a few more stores.  Madison has three of these St. Vincent de Paul stores, and we visited all of them.  I sure wish we had some of them here.  They just seem so much more reasonably priced than the ones we have in Duluth!

If you need some plates, this is the place to go.  I, however am good on plates right now.  I've always thought it would be fun to just buy some to throw against a brick wall though.  hehe.

We were close to the downtown area, so we did a little touristy drive through the city and went past the capital building...

A pretty old church...

and the stadium where the Badgers play football!

More thrifting after playing tourist a little led us to plenty of jeans and pink camo pants.  You never know, I guess.

Also, if you need any naked Barbies with horribly snarled hair, I know just the place for you.

Uggggh.  Now, some of you might find this cute, but I do not.  It did provide Morgan and I a good laugh, and had we been going to an Ugly Easter Sweatshirt party on Easter Sunday, I would have snatched this up.  But instead, I took a picture to share it here.

This was another funny find.  The real deal paper dolls.  This is what we did before iPhones, kids.  This book was actually in very good shape.  It didn't have the cheapy punch out paper dolls, it was honest to goodness get-your-scissors-out-and-cut-around-every-goll-darn-tab paper dolls.  I never did have a fondness for Nancy Reagan though, because when I was in elementary school and she was the First Lady, there were some kids at school that would call me Nancy Reagan.  It's not even really that mean of a thing to call another kid, because man, it sure could have been worse, but I know I HATED it.  Maybe because she was SO OLD.  Haha!

We had a great day together and shared some good laughs!  SO much fun!  We didn't find any jackpots to share, but bought a few things nobody needed, and made some memories.

I just wish Mad-Town wasn't 5 hours away. :(

XOXOX

NH

Why Not Try Another Sport?

Are you one of those people that can't say no to their kids, like I am?  Andy decided to try track this year, and I guess that's fine and all, except for the part that I have to go pick him up at school after practice Every Single Day.  This is our first experience with track, so I really wasn't sure what to expect at his first meet of the year on Saturday when we showed up to UWS to watch.

The information that I had beforehand was that he was going to be running a relay race where they handoff the baton, but I didn't know for sure what distance, and I knew his event would happen sometime between 9:15 AM and 1:00 PM.

So I packed my breakfast shake and my knitting and we headed over the bridge to see what we were in for.

We found quite a bit of chaos, and one last window spot with a view of the track and settled in.  The other events were pretty interesting to watch, especially the pole vault (maybe because it was directly below our window, so we had the best view?) and surprisingly I didn't even touch my knitting!  There was so much to look at, and you really had to pay attention if you wanted to remotely understand what was going on, but it was pretty fun!

Then, 11:20 came and went.

Here he comes!

Don't blink!

Here he is!

There he goes!

And he's gone!



Haha!  He took the baton from the guy ahead of him, ran one lap, and gave the baton to the next guy.  He didn't fall, didn't drop the baton, and went the right way.  All positives, right?

They won their heat and took 7th (or was it 8th?) (I'm terrible) overall.

A little different than the sports I'm used to watching and cheering on, but who am I to say no??

XOXOX

NH

Sweetheart!

 Ugggggh.  When I posted a few of these pictures to Facebook on Saturday night, one of my friends asked me, "How did you get here???"

To be honest, I wish I knew.  It totally feels like I should go pick him up at daycare after work every day.  How did we get here?

I realize there is nothing I can do about him growing up.  Not a thing.

It's so funny how everyone tells you when you have babies to enjoy it while it lasts, because you will blink and they will be teenagers.  Well, I'm here to tell you that IT REALLY HAPPENS THAT WAY, PEOPLE!  Of course I don't want him to grow up, and I want him to stay right under my wing, but every stage that he hits, and every first that he experiences are SO cool!  I love watching him experience them!

Unfortunately the weekend hockey games didn't go very well, and that means the end of the season, but it also means that he was able to participate in the whole evening with this gorgeous girl.

Formal dances.  High school.  GIRLS!  Independence.  Coming home and hugging mom.

So it turns out everyone else in the group except one girl plays basketball.  Not these two.  They bolted from the basketball themed picture.

SWAGGA!

Hooray for cute teenagers getting all dressed up and having a fun night together!

I didn't forget to pick up the corsage!  Woot!  (again, WINNING!)  He didn't give it to her until pictures were over, because it was a little awkward since he was the only boy in the group to get his date a corsage.  He also said all the other girls were jealous though, so SCORE!  Haha!

I guess I have to stop pretending that he's just a hair taller than me, huh?

XOXOX

NH