Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2010 - Part 2

We begin the Relay For Life of Hillsboro at 10:00am with an Opening Ceremony, raising of the Flag and the National Anthem.


Then the teams are announced in order. Here are Tami's CUREageous Sprites & Youth Sprites walking their first laps.


The Survivor Lap begins at noon.


We gather our Survivors for a group photo.


And then they begin their Lap - being led by a bag piper again this year.

Grandma Neena & Carol

Then there is a Survivor Luncheon for our Survivors. This year they were also given Birthday cake - The American Cancer Society is now the Official Sponsor of Birthdays!


The campsite of Tami's CUREageous Sprites was always full. The Youth team sold the track-your-lap necklaces again as well as held a book sale. Those two fundraisers earned them over $200 for their team!

I finally did it - joined the $1000 Club!

And everyone took their turn walking laps.

TeaLee, Makena, Logan, Kylah & Hailee

Dawn, Dylona & Kallie

Momma & Lee

Lee, Rudy & Mom

Rudy made sure to get his track-your-lap beads!

Jamie playing Whack-a-PEEP

That little blue thing is a PEEP and you see how

far you can hit it with a golf club.

Jamie took the kids to see the fire truck.

Living Luminaria

the sweetest thing - ever.

We were able to put our Luminaria by our campsite again this year.

Momma made this for Tami - so beautiful

The Luminaria Ceremony begins at 10pm.

The Closing Ceremony begins around 9am. Most of us have stayed up all night walking or doing activities. There are a few that sleep or try to catch naps throughout the night.

By midnight of our event, we had raised $121,335.47 in the fight against cancer! This is the most that the Hillsboro Relay has raised by the event so far. A lot of hard work and determination!

And a very tired Committee...

Then the teams walk their final laps of the year.

Most of us still have our campsites to break down and the event space to clean up.

And other of us are trying to sneak in more naps. Poor Makena had allergies so bad that she was just miserable. And Hailee stayed up all night without her.

You can read about the Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2009 and the Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2008.

Thanks again everyone - see you next year!

Happy 4th Birthday Ivie Rose

Miss Ivie had her 4th Birthday party at Out of This World Pizza. The kids ran all over the place and had a great time. The adults tried to just stay out of their way.

How old are you going to be Ivie?

Happy 4th Birthday Ivie Rose - we love you!

The last 7th Grade Social

The last day of school for Beaverton, was on Thursday, June 17. I was asked to take pictures of the last 7th Grade Social of the year.

As usual, Makena spent most of the time trying to hide from me.

I continue to remind her that I'm her Mother, and I will always find her.


Have a great summer break Pook!

Why Blogger, why?

If you haven't noticed the change of template on our Blog, there is one.

Blogger has decided to make yet another change.

I don't do well with change.

Needless to say, our Blog will be changing a bit the next couple of days.

PS - Don't tell Blogger.com, but I think I'll try Wordpress.com next time.

What I do besides cleaning the house

While I was cleaning the house the other day, I took a short break...

Still editing photos from the past two weeks. Coming soon!

Relay For Life of Hillsboro 2010

I started this post yesterday. I was either too emotional or too tired from the day because it just didn't get published.

Another wonderful Relay has come and gone. It seems strange to spend 11 (sometimes long) months preparing for 24 hours. But Relay is a 24 hour event that needs all of that planning! And, it is an event that is planned/organized by several wonderful people – myself included!

There are always the “goods” and “bads” to everything we do in life. Relay is no exception.

The actual event usually seems to pass by quickly. I always end up missing some of the activities, games or bands. I have yet (in my 6 years) to see the Drummers that everyone raves about. I get outbid on an auction item that I was hoping to get. I’m usually busy during a 2pm walking shift and end up with a 3am one instead. And there are so many Luminaria for me to read and take pictures of that the hour long quiet time just isn’t quite enough.

There are the “long” parts of Relay too. The Survivor Ceremony seems like it takes forever to get through – it’s either raining on our poor Survivors or they are baking in the sunshine. I was told, more than once this year, that they’d rather be getting the extra vitamin D tho! Counting (and re-counting) donations and entering them into the system always feels like that 6+ hours that it takes me to do. And even when the Closing Ceremony is only 10 minutes long, it feels like 40. I’ve usually been awake for more than 30 hours by this time and am exhausted and sore when I get up on the stage to help my Committee. But that’s when I say to myself – “I don’t have cancer.”

I don’t have cancer. I’m a healthy 35 yr old Mother, Daughter, Sister, Girlfriend and Friend.

I meet new people – from the Committee to Team Captains to participants and all of their families and friends. I see Survivors return each year to be honored and smile as they walk their lap. And sometimes, unfortunately, I don’t see them.

I encourage people to get involved with Relay. They find their own reasons to fight back against cancer.

Yes, it can sometimes be overwhelming to be on the Committee as well as be a Team Captain. But, I do what I do for them; the Survivors. I do what I do so that I don’t have to lose another loved one to cancer. I do what I do to educate people on what they can do to survive. I do what I do for better treatments. I do what I do so that I can continue to say “I don’t have cancer.”

I started participating in the Relay For Life of Hillsboro in 2005 for my Aunt Tami. My first team, Tami’s Dugout, supported me that year and we’ve continued to grow for the past 6 years. Tami’s Dugout, Tami’s Guys & Dolls, Tami’s Stars & Stripes, Tami’s Reading Railroad, Tami’s Full-House of Champions and Tami’s CUREageous Sprites – you’ve all been wonderful! We’ve raised more than $43,000 for the American Cancer Society’s Relay For Life of Hillsboro.

And I just wanted to say THANK YOU!

I do have pictures to share from the event. You know how I am tho - I have 2 disks of pictures to look through and edit and that takes time. Time that I need to fit in to my day, and hopefully soon!

All the wonderful things that put a smile on my face

For the past month, I've been receiving birthday presents. It's been the best month ever!

Each of the gifts had been thoughtfully chosen for me.

I received a package full of goodies from my Aunt Tami. A pen with Amber on it, a small lucky pig, a bookmark imprinted with "Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.", trinkets and the small plaque below which says "Be the change you wish to see in the world."

My mom had a basket of goodies for me too. A tree and plants for the lake, gardening supplies and she made the sign below. I've been searching for a sign for The Shed for a while now, without any luck, so she made this one for me. It's perfect.

I received money and cards in the mail. Gifts of my choosing.

Jamie rented a limo for my friends and I to enjoy a night out-on-the-town. I received a case of Mirror Pond for the limo ride.

And Dawn gave me the pig watering can below. It's found a home in my office.

My sister surprised me with a basket goodies on our front porch on my birthday. Organic lotions, bath products, smellies and more.

Jamie and Makena picked out an iPad for me. They each have toys to get online and play games with and now I have one too. (Mine is better tho!)

Tracie gave me a Tree of Life necklace.

And today, I received surprises from Kylah and Kallie. Decorated stones with each of their handprints.

A very special card that Kylah made me; Auntie Auntie Amber. Notice my red hair on one of the drawings and that I'm wearing a crown on the other.

And they had painted and decorated the below planter for me - including an orange Lily.

It says "Thank you for helping us grow" with each of their hand prints.

It just doesn't get any better than birthday gifts.

Not even Santa can do that well.