Monday, September 13, 2010

Why I Relay:

Relay For Life is incredibly important to me and I'm not even sure I can explain why. I've never been a caregiver or a survivor and I pray I never will. My uncle was diagnosed with terminal cancer when I was 18. About three months after his diagnosis he lost his battle. Other members of mine and Nick's family have suffered with cancer and I guess it's my way of celebrating them through Relay for Life.

The American Cancer Society has become the official sponsor of birthdays. By being part of relay for life I can help celebrate with those who were given a chance to have another birthday. There may not be a cure for cancer yet, but I'm helping FUND a cure, and that's pretty cool! In breast cancer alone there are 11 different types of cancer styles. And with each person there are different aspects to the disease. With that it means there can't only be one cure for cancer. Each person needs their own cure which means lots of money and research.

The first time I was touched by the importance of relay for life was in an assembly in my high school. We were all told to stand and as three questions were asked if we were able to answer yes to any of them to take a seat.

1. Do you know anyone who has died from cancer?
2. Has anyone in your family suffered from cancer?
3. Do you know anyone who has had cancer?

Out of 2,400 students, not a single one remained standing. Cancer literally effects everybody in some way and that's when I decided to fight for the cause.

I relay so when someone hears the words "you have cancer" it doesn't mean it's a death sentence.
I relay so my family won't be afraid of fighting cancer.
I relay so one day cancer can be as easy as getting rid of the stomach flu.
I relay so if the time comes for me or someone I'm close with to fight cancer, there will be a cure.

At 211 degrees water is hot. 212 degrees water boils. With boiling water comes steam. And steam can power a locomotive. One extra degree makes all the difference. Belief fuels enthusiasm, and enthusiasm explodes into passion. It fires our soul and lifts our spirit. I believe that there will one day be a cure for cancer. I don't want the water to just be hot; so close to finding a cure, but short by one degree. I want to be part of the degree that makes the water boil; the degree that changes HOPE to CURE.

Vegas Trip!!!

I had a seminar/training meeting/retreat in Las Vegas this past weekend for Relay For Life. I was gone friday through sunday and had to leave Nick and Wedge behind, so before I went I left Nick a little surprise.

Each sticky note had a different reason why I love him written on it. Let me tell you, it took a REALLY LONG TIME to do this! Writing the reasons took maybe an hour, but trying to put them on the wall took FOREVER!!! I thought the sticky notes would just stick to the wall, but they didn't so I had to roll individual pieces of tape for each one which wasn't a quick process. And then trying to get the shape of the heart with square pieces of paper wasn't easy. And trying to make all of it look proportioned was kind of hard. All in all I think it turned out pretty well. By the time I got to filling the heart in with post-its I was pretty much done dealing with this project so I just started slapping them up there! Patterns and organization no longer mattered at that point.

Here's a picture of the whole room to kind of see how big it is. The picture really doesn't do it justice. I lost count inside the heart, but there's close to 200 post-it notes.

As for the trip to Vegas it was really good. I took another girl from my committee with me whom I had never met before so I was a little nervous about that, but my fears of how our 8 hour drive would end up turned out to be really silly. We hit it off right from the beginning and I'm pretty sure we never stopped talking the entire way there!!! And it turned out that we were roommates for our two night stay which worked out nicely because we were both a little nervous who we'd be roomed with.

We were in meetings all day saturday. Our day started at 8:00am and was non-stop until 5:00pm. We learned SO much about how to make our Relay For Life event successful and the overall goal of holding relays. There were several different schools there including USU, UofU, Reno, and UNLV. It was really helpful to learn what other schools have done with their relays.

This is my third year being on the committee for Relay For Life at USU and my fifth year overall. The past two years at USU I was the Sponsorship Committee chair, but this year I really wanted to try something new. I might be in over my head, but this year I am the Team Development Chair which is going to be a lot of work, but I'm really excited. The girl that carpooled with me (I don't want to mention her name because I haven't asked for her permission to be on my public blog) is the co-chair with me. I think we're going to make an awesome team working together and I'm confident we're going to have a successful Relay this year. I'm definitely not saying the last two years haven't been successful because the absolutely have, but this year is going to ROCK!!!!

Happy Birthday Wedge!

Wedge's first birthday was September 7th (the same day as my niece, Camryn who turned 12)! We had a birthday party for him on Labor Day with all of Nick's family. They get together every Labor Day for a picnic so we just threw in a birthday party too. I realize that it sounds a little silly to have a birthday party for a puppy, but if we didn't then I wouldn't have anything to blog about so I'm glad we did! Plus, nobody will ever really understand how much Nick and I love our puppy. His little personality is so perfect for us and we want to share him with everyone!

I made a confetti cake for the occasion, but it was hard to get a decent picture of it.

He got lots of fun presents for his birthday. Thank you to everyone that gave him a gift. I didn't expect him to get anything other than what Nick and I got him so we really appreciated it. And I don't think Wedge coul have been happier to get so many treats. He LOVES them and thinks he should be able to eat as many as he wants!



The party hat was my favorite part! He definitely didn't like it and as soon as we put it on he would get it off.


But eventually he gave up and at least let us get some cute pictures with him wearing it! Isn't he just the cutest thing you've ever seen?!?!

Happy Birthday sweet little Wedgie! I must say, I'm sure glad you're finally one and hopefully that stage of being a terror is finally behind you!!! :)

Red Jumpsuit Apparatus

Nick and I went to a free Red Jumpsuit Apparatus street concert last weekend. Niether one of us are huge fans of the band, but I really wanted to go since I didn't get to go to the Dashboard Confessional concert a few months back. I guess it was my way of making up for missing out on a band that I love!

We both felt a little out of place being there because it was packed with high school kids and single college students looking for an excuse to drink and party. I definitely hate moments that make me feel old! The band played song after song that Nick and I niether one knew or even recognized. It wasn't until the 4th to the last song that they sang "Your Guardian Angel" and following that song they played "Face Down" which completely satisfied my hunger to be there! After those two songs Nick and I left in an attempt to beat the crowd out of there, but apparently everyone else had the same idea. I felt kind of bad that so many people were leaving before the show was actually over, but not bad enough to stay until the end!

Here are some pictures from the night. I took a LOT of pictures in hopes to get some good ones, but it was pretty much impossible, so I'll just post a few of the semi good ones! The first one is us waiting for the show to start. We were there WAY too early!



He wore sunglasses for most of the show which I thought was silly since it was outside and at night, but whatever!