Two good causes in one day...

And a lotta fun!

Last Saturday (October 9) I was able to participate in two great activities to benefit cancer.

The first was "The Night of the Running Dead" 5K Race at This Is The Place Heritage Park.

The race was actually in the afternoon, not the night, but it was so much fun. I ran it with my friends Stu and Sarah Reeder.

Each runner signed up as either "Infected" or "Survivor". The "Survivors" started the race one minute early and it was as if the "Infected" were chasing them down. Everyone who was "Infected" was encouraged to dress up as Zombies and the like. As you probably guessed, when encouraged to dress, that is ALWAYS the way I go.

It was so fun to see the costumes people came up with and the "volunteers" along the route who help with the Zombie-rific atmosphere were hilarious.

The hills at This Is The Place kicked my butt, and I literally felt like the living dead as I attempted to run, but Sarah kept motivating me...because that's what Zombie friends do!

Thanks Sar and Stu for sharing such a fun race with me!

After the race I washed off all my Zombie and headed up to Sugarhouse Park with Brandon and the kids for the Light the Night Walk for Leukemia and Lymphoma, and celebrated the 10 year Anniversary that my beautiful friend Erin Farrer has been Cancer-free.

As a Senior in High School she was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma and, at what should've been the time of her life, she was fighting for her life. But she is one of the strongest people I know and she beat the cancer, and ten years later we are all celebrating with her. She is my hero.

It was definitely a day filled with fun and for good causes. Not many of my Saturdays are spent that way, so it makes me feel good!

My Fun-Filled Birthday Weekend

And what a fun weekend it was.

I started out my celebrating on Friday by seeing Disney's The Lion King at the Capitol Theater with my Grandma Phyllis and Natalie. It was A-Mazing! I loved it. The costumes were so cool and the way they put the story together was awesome!

That night Brandon took Natalie to the Desert Star playhouse to see-yes another-play, while I stayed closer to home and spent some time at our friends Brad and Kymberly's house visiting with them and our other friends Chris & Jen Slaugh and Sarah Reeder.

On Saturday Brandon and I took Samuel to Lagoon for an hour or two, then we headed down and dropped him off at my parents (where Natalie had spent the night). We left them and headed to the Macaroni Grill for dinner with Sarah and Stu Reeder. It was a Pre-Utah game dinner. After dinner we all rode up to Rice-Eccles Stadium for the Utah/San Jose State game. It was an AWESOME game. Utah won 56 to 3. Oh yeah!

My parents told us that they would take our kids home, so after the game we headed home and upon arriving I walked into my kitchen only to be met with a brand new Kitchen Table and Chairs. A DINER table with awesome red vinyl chairs. I've been eye-balling one of those for a while now, but it was a COMPLETE surprise to walk in to find one in MY kitchen!

After deciding NOT to sleep on my brand new table we finally went to bed.

I woke up Sunday morning to 3 faces staring at me to wish me Happy Birthday. Natalie handed me a smal box that had an adorable ring in it she'd gotten at the Oktoberfest last week, and Brandon and the kids got me Guitar lessons with the Jef Neilson Guitar Studio (I don't know if they are good-but I've been wanting to take Guitar lessons for years). After that we headed to church and the entire Primary sang to me for my Birthday...Okay not really, it was our Ward's Primary Program and it was so cute!

After Church we met my parents, Dominic, Sam & the baby and my Oma at Bucca Di Beppo (yes that place again) for Dinner. We had a good time and yummy food and Dominic and Sam gave me and arm load of bracelets (gypsy bracelets I'm calling them).

All in all it was a fun-filled Birthday weekend, and I enjoyed every minute of it! It just goes to show, that you don't have to have a Big Bash to have a good time...which is good, since I'm not sure last years party can be topped!

My New Niece!

Scarlett Maisen McQuade-Mattena
Born on August 19, 2010
Ummm yeah, she's pretty stinkin' adorable!

Davis County 5K Walk/Run

Aug. 21, 2010

Me and McKenzie decided we wanted to participate in a 5K, and I found out that one was going on right in my neighborhood (starting at the Davis County Fairgrounds) so we signed up...that's half the battle right there!
Today was the fateful day. We were up bright and early and ran/walked our little (hmmm) legs off. We ran it in about 40 minutes. Not too bad I guess. We had a great time, and even saw an old friend from High School, Tom Tu. He ran a lot faster than we did...maybe because he actually RAN! hee hee.
We have plans for more 5K's, maybe a 10K and we'd love to work our way up to do a Triathlon, wouldn't that be so cool?

August 16, 2010

I'm glad I'm in "The Right Place."

July 25, 2010

In remembrance of Pioneer Day, I'm posting some pics I took of our fun little outing to This Is The Place Park. (Yes it's another collage, I'm sorry). We went there a week and half ago and it was so much fun. I have never actually been there (from what I can recall) which is a little sad, since I have an ancestor who has a small cabin up there. Yeah, I'm a really good great-granddaughter of a Utah Pioneer!
Anyway, I took the kiddos up there with my friend McKenzie and her three kids, and there was quite a lot of excitement going on in the Old Town. The kids rode the train, made craft bags, panned for gold, had pony rides and even got penny candy treats from the Z.C.M.I. It was neat to take a step back in time, life seems so much simpler back then.
I have so much love and respect for our Pioneer Ancestors who left everything they had, and traveled thousands of miles, just for the chance to believe what they wanted. As I was driving the five minutes it takes us to get to church this morning, I was grateful for the sacrifice the Saints made so that WE can worship freely. What a blessing it is in my life to know that someone did that for me!
I hope everyone had a fun Holiday Weekend!

Okay...I have picked my jaw up, off of the floor, after finally coming to terms with the fact that MY oldest child is Baptized!
Her very special day was Saturday July 3rd (amongst all of the fun Independence Day festivities) and it was a beautiful day!
She played the piano and sang "I want to be Baptized", two of her Great-Grandpa's spoke on Baptism and The Holy Ghost, and her Dad Baptized and Confirmed her!
And now, as she has informed her friends, she cannot lie anymore. I don't really think she lied anyway, but NOW it's a big NO NO! And her friends cannot lie to her, because she is Baptized! I love how their innocent minds work.
It was such a nice Baptism and we had family and friends there to show their love and support for Natalie. My favorite moment was one that nobody saw. It was when she and I were alone right before she went into the baptismal font. I hugged and kissed her and told her how proud I was of her, and that I loved her. And then I watched her go into the water and take her first real step toward her eternal salvation.
It was a big day for her, but I think Brandon and I felt like it was a big day for us too. Both of us have tried to live our lives the way our Heavenly Father wants us too. I have always wanted my children to be Baptized by their father, and Brandon has always wanted to remain worthy to be able to Baptize his children. That has happened for us and we mark it as another step in the right direction toward Eternity.