MS Walk

This is the Team - Team Help Momma - the team that we walked with and fundraised for. Can you see Cadence? Or Me? Well me neither but we are there. This was for a girl in our Girl Scout Troop - whose Grandma is inflicted with this devastating disease. Cadence was a great fundraiser - she really threw herself into this and raised a little over 300 dollars! She donated $50 of her own. We were pretty proud of her. The walk started at the Gateway mall - and we were off with great spirits!

This is Cadence's back, and I will save you the suspense - the walk started to get pretty painful for everyone all around. Painful for the kids since 3.5 miles is pretty long, and it was pretty sunny and hot - and painful for the adults since we had to stop and take many breaks and there were more then a few whines and complaints. Long story short, this 5K walk took us 2 hours. yep. However, this was really rewarding and Cadence exclaimed after how proud she was of herself.

The girls were allowed the chance to volunteer some of there time, putting together the goodie bags with snacks and water, and also blowing up the helium balloons that people were given to release. The girls were great and really liked getting into the spirit of everything, and they were also working on their disability patch.

Even Sushi got into the mix and ended up walking for the cure!

Now I have been asked why we have decided to get behind this cause, and on this walk I really had some time to think about my motivation, partly because at the beginning they handed us note cards for us to fill out that prompted you to finish the statement "I walk because..." and I wanted to really think about what I would write. Like I said above this walk was rewarding and emotional, there were plenty of people that you could tell were obviously affected by this disease. There were many people using canes and walkers and leg braces, but they were still walking! I could see many families rallying around an individual, cheering them on and supporting them. I could see the pain in their faces, at the physical toll it was taking on their bodies, but they kept going, they wanted to walk because they still could. They were going to push their bodies for as long as they still could. At one point in front of us, one man was crossing a pretty big intersection, and his legs went out from underneath him and he went down hard. Many people rushed to help him, and he shooed them away claiming "he could do it". He got himself up and kept on going, obviously in pain. I really was so touched, and I knew that I would fill out my card, "I walk because I never want to take for granted the strength and ability that God has given me." I don't always take care of my body like I should, I drink way too much diet soda, and don't exercise regularly, and I love (love) food. This was a touching reminder of how much I do take for granted, that my legs are going to work when I get up in the morning, that I can run and dance, if I would just will it. I keep all this in mind, and all that I have been given, and I don't have to think very hard as to why I fundraise for MS.

Two Weeks Off Track

Super negligent I know! we have been so busy the last few weeks that I think I forgot to breath... anywho Cadence was off track for two weeks, always a source of aggravation for me, but we did some pretty fun things in that two weeks. First up we met up with the Dahls, our old neighbors from South Salt Lake, whom we miss dearly living next door to them. Cute Ezra is still in preschool and so he has more free time then most friends, so we took a tour of the Sweet Candy Factory together. We had to wear hair nets and stay in the yellow lines, but there were plenty of free samples! Yea why haven't I been here before?

On another day we went with our girl scout troop on a tour of the Hale theater. The Hale theater has been a tradition in my family since before I was born I think (it's called the Glendale Theater in LA, and then Hale family retired to Utah and opened another one!), so we were pretty excited for this field trip. Unfortunately my excitement outstripped the actual event, but it was still fairly interesting. The tour guide talked on (forever!) but she did have the girls do some fun improv activities which Cadence really got into, especially when she was singled out for her wonderful catwalk and got to demonstrate it for everyone. We also got to go down in the stage area, where they were practicing the stage (the Hale theater stage goes up and down and turns in circles) and then some actors came out and practiced their sword fighting for the play that was currently showing, which was none other then "The Three Musketeers"!

I still have pictures of Cadence's MS walk, going to Vegas and the Hollywood Connection Sleepover, but I think those all merit separate posts.

Moving On

After two years of working for I-Crossing (aka the devil) Pete is moving on to another company called Myriad Genetics. This has been a long time coming, he has been hoping for a new job for about a year now, ever since his company has started their mass lay offs. Pete was assured that he would always have a job with them, but how much fun is it when everyone in the office is laid off but you and your boss? Last year Pete accrued 3 months of comp time, meaning for the year he worked so much overtime that it would equal 3 months of regular hours. Did they pay him out this? no. They did consent to a small raise just last month, so he is taking a pay cut, however their (Myriad's) insurance is Awesome! The cut won't be too deep for the cost of insurance will compensate.
Also this company does cancer research, so in a way we like to say that Pete is moving on to a company that will cure cancer, as opposed to a company that creates programs for giant corporations to better target their suckers (aka consumers). We can't help but feel morally clean making this transition. So hopefully good things are in store for us; Better healthier family relations, as I have told my husband if he is unhappy again at this job, I will just leave him. (joke)

Fundraising for MS

Without really meaning to, we have made MS the Ford family cause. Seems a little weird, we sort of keep falling into it and fundraising for it. It started with Pete's bike race every year. He just likes to ride his bike, and happens to really like this bike race. It is the MS 150 in Logan Utah. He rides 150 miles in two days and it is a 300 entrance fee. Usually we campaign for this and raise anywhere from 500-1000$. It is a really good cause and I love working for charitable causes. This year Cadence's girl scout troop decided to participate in the MS walk (5K). One little girl in our troop has a grandmother that is suffering from MS and her family walks every year. Cadence so generously decided to donate all the money in her piggy bank, about 40 dollars. I felt that was really admirable of her, so I offered to help her put on a lemonade stand/ bake sale for the cause. She didn't even pause or question why she couldn't make money for herself.

So we set to work baking cookies and brownies, and borrowed a few things from work, and made about 30 fliers advertising the bake sale. Grammy took cadence around the neighborhood to deliver the fliers and I think that really helped to spread the word. Annette, a cousin came down to help sell as well and we made a little over 100$! A lot of people donated more for the cause - like 5 dollars for one cookie. It was a great experience for the girls to work hard for a cause and also for us adults to see first hand people's generosity. Really restores our faith in humanity. I'm sure I will put up pictures later of our actual walk - wish us luck!

Religious Headbands?

I got so excited today when I stumbled across this seller on Etsy http://www.etsy.com/shop/GarlandsOfGrace They seem like the most feminine, sweet headbands. Don't they just seem so delicate and sweet? (I know I used sweet twice - my internal thesaurus is not working).

I was struck by the simplicity and sophistication in their headbands and instantly put them on my favorites list, but then I noticed in one of the pictures that this one (above) the headband actually stretches out flat and wider to be more of a head cover. Hmm that's kind of odd, not as cute as it ruched up. So I looked at more pics and their store intro, and yea they are a religious head covering site.

Doesn't make this sweet rosette clip (above) any less cute, but there were quite a few of these (below) "snoods" yea I have never heard of that word - hmm, there are a few scripture quotes on their site and they attribute their modest head coverings for their love of the lord. I am a little confused by this, since most of them seem really fashionable and modern, but the religious over tone kind of throws me. I still want one of those lace stretchy ones (first picture) and the prices are great - like $15, I just seem to get thrown off when some one is blatantly religious in a selling format. I'm sure there is a skit about that somewhere, how even religious people are uncomfortable with religion in public. I guess more power to them cause I still want one.

argh cookies!

Dear Emily,

If it wasn't for the fact that I promised to give you my very last box of Samoas chilling in my freezer, I would have eaten them last night. So maybe thanks, or maybe not.
Laura


The story on those stupid cookies? Being the Cookie manager this year for our troop, has led me to gain 10 pounds, yep 10. Why would the position of cookie manager be the cause? Oh because having a mountain of boxes in my front room just proved too tempting for me. Last year I ordered like 15 boxes of cookies, and sure enough, when I delivered the boxes, people would say oh I need two more or what ever, and I just gave them from my stash. This year however, when people said this I had over 400 boxes in my living room for cookie booths, and so the extra ones came from there, not me, leaving me with all the cookies to eat that I wanted, (and could pay for!) so yea, now I find myself with 10 pounds to battle. (wouldn't be so bad, if I didn't already have the 15 to start with) eek!
So another thank you to Emily who told me her family was doing a biggest loser challenge, where everyone put into the pot and the winner takes all. So my husband and I decided to do this, just with each other, for three months and we each put in a $100 - it has to be big enough that I want it badly. Since I barely make money this is huge for me and a big motivator, of course beating the pants of my husband won't be bad either. He has already put in his two cents that he wont win, but I told him he will still win, even if he looses 100 bucks. First of all he will have a healthier sexier wife, and also I will be better about cooking healthier and turning down fast food, so that will help him wither he wants to or not. So wish me luck, I won't likely talk about it again, until I win - since I am a typical girl who doesn't like to talk about my weight. But I guess there is a big shout out to Emily for influencing me when she didn't even know it.

Easter

Would you want to sit on this guys lap? Or would this bunny give you nightmares? It seems like a costume out of a bad horror film, but oh well, I guess I am the only one who would think so. This is the Legacy Retirement Building's annual Easter Egg Hunt (at Grandma Lucy's). I tried to tell Cadence she was a tad to old for this, this year, but no she really wanted to go. So I consented, but then when we were waiting in line to get her picture taken, she turns to me and says "aren't I too old to get my picture with the Easter bunny?" Um No! I told her seriously if you are too old then you are too old for egg hunts, that shut her up in a hurry.

This was after the hunt, that lasted about 30 seconds, Cadence's face seems to say "that's it, there's no more?"

She still had Sunday's egg hunt to look forward to and as I told my husband, he seems to be distorting the meaning of Easter more and more each year. This year in lieu of candy Pete put little slips of paper in the eggs representing dollar values. (he put the slips in cuz he didn't want to risk loosing an egg in the house with a 10$ bill in it or something. He then gave Cadence 2 hours to search. He originally gave her 3 but then quickly cut it down when she was really giving him a run for his money. She was pulling everything out of the cupboards, dragging a chair around to look in all the high shelves and drawers and the floor lamps, she even pulled out the vent in the ceiling, (which rewarded her with an egg). End of the story...$35 dollars later, I am impressed, Pete is a little bit disappointed since he thought it was harder. Really are you supposed to be disappointed about this? Then he says "Next year I think I will put a $100 bill in one single egg and make it the hardest ever!" hmm seems to me he is coming away from the "Easter spirit" a bit here, I asked him if maybe there was something wrong with his Easter hunt if it was charged with animosity. Something for him to think about over the year.

Later we went to Grammy's house for Easter dinner (Yum!). And this cute picture seems to capture it all. April Dover in Grammy's backyard. Good thing I snapped the picture before she chucked the eggs on the ground!

Of course there was plenty of chicken chasing!

Then Cadence had to catch one so that April could pet the chickens. Very cute!