Relay for Life 2013

Relay for Life 2013 was a HUGE success! We had a LOT of fun and really enjoyed Celebrating with survivors, remembering those who lost their battle, and fighting back against this terrible disease.

This year’s theme was superheroes and our team had shirts made especially for the event! LOVED them!!

Check out the video I made of our SUPER night!

My team! :0)

Survivor lap…

The MR. RELAY contest – this is my friend Erin’s husband and he came in 2nd place. Basically, Mr. Relay contestants “dress up” and spend the evening filling their purses with spare change from relay participants. At the end of the competition, the Mr. with the most money in his purse is the winner!

Guess what I found while at Relay?! MCALISTERS sweet tea! I was in HEAVEN! Know what’s kind of sad? the McAlister’s workers recognized me. Ah well, they made my day for sure!

The luminaria ceremony was very touching as always. It’s just a small part of the night, but a very important and moving one. These bags were created in memory of those who lost their fight with cancer and in honor of those who are continuing the fight as survivors. The candle inside each bag is a symbol of hope…hope that we will one day find a cure.

This year, we added floating lanterns – such a neat touch! Sort of reminded me of Tangled! :0)

We participated in the t-shirt contest but I still haven’t found out who won…

Jason and I ended the evening with a little dessert! We stuck around until 11:30 or so – the longest I’ve ever stayed at Relay! My boss said because I’m a “big dog” now, I have to stay later…hah!  The event lasted until 6 a.m. but I don’t do so well without sleep, so I called it a night!

Before leaving, we enjoyed the sounds of Yeah You Right. They were AWESOME and drove all the way from New Orleans to be with us!

Such a fun and satisfying night! I can’t wait for next year! :0)

Have you ever attended a Relay For Life event?

Another Weekend Has Come & Gone

One of my favorite weekends of the year has come and gone – Relay for Life weekend!

We had a GREAT time and I stayed until midnight (the latest I’ve stayed so far)!

Our theme was Superhero’s and my hospital made these awesome shirts for us!

Jason created his own superhero…not quite sure his superpower just yet.

Uhhh…ok.

My speech went over really well and so did our mustache straws! Stay tuned for a complete recap tomorrow (with video)! Yay!

Here’s a recap of Relay’s from the past two years:

Relay 2012
Relay 2011

I slept on in Saturday morning, then began the process of staining our deck. I pressure washed the old faded stain off the deck back in April but it’s been raining so much, I couldn’t get out there and put new stain on the deck until this weekend!

Here’s the pressure-washed pre stained deck

I have big plans for our backyard area! Hopefully I’ll be able to share the after pictures with you soon!

I made a HUGE mistake this weekend, and I completely, 100% knew better. I am almost embarrassed to admit because I preach it all the time – I forgot to wear sunscreen and let me tell you, I’m paying for it. I now have the worst sunburn of my life. I woke up twice on Saturday night because of the pain. It’s miserable. Thankfully I have aloe vera gel with lidocaine and I have a prescription burn cream so I’ve been using both very generously. I can honestly say, I’ve learned my lesson.

Here’s where I stopped because I realized how much sun I had been exposed to.

I painfully resumed staining today and finished the entire deck before the sun set. I took a picture before being completely finished so you could see the contrast in color of the wood. I LOVE it and can’t wait to finish up the rest of the backyard!

How was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? Run any races?