Most of you know that I participated in the Breast Cancer 3 Day Walk this weekend in Dallas. It was a 3 day, 60 mile walk to raise money & awareness for breast cancer. I chose to walk with an amazing group of women in my neighborhood, Team Tiara, and on Friday morning, nearly 40 of us began our journey. I am one of the lucky few who does not have a personal experience with breast cancer. No one in our family has it. None of my friends have it. At first, I chose to walk to train & lose weight for a good cause. I have friends whose moms and aunts have been diagnosed. I've taken meals to people at church who were going thru chemo. I had friends signing up to walk with this group of people, and I thought, "Why not?!" And after spending my summer and fall fundraising, I now know a HUGE number of survivors and a small circle of people who have lost a loved one to breast cancer. It's amazing how far and wide this disease has spread, and I never knew it until this experience opened my eyes!
Tanya, Chris, me, & Melissa at our Team Tiara party the night before the walk:
We have been training all summer long for this event. Walks at 8:30 pm after the Texas sun had gone down to avoid the scorching heat. Walks with the boys crammed in the jogging stroller. Walks on the treadmill when it was too rainy or humid to be outdoors. We flocked neighbors with pink flamingos to help raise money. We had a Bunko for Boobies night. We had a Texas Hold'Em night and sold raffle tix for an AC/DC guitar. We ran pink lemonade stands during soccer season. All to help fundraise the $2300 necessary to participate. It was a long road, and we were SO ready to get moving on Friday morning!
EARLY Friday morning, we left our hotel for opening ceremonies and huddled together in a sea of 3000 pink bodies to be inspired before our walk. We had perfect weather--50 degrees at night; 75-80 degrees during the day; sun & clouds and NO RAIN! Hallelujah! Can you imagine walking 60 miles in the rain? They don't stop for rain, so we were thanking God for the good weather! We walked all day long, from 7am until 3-4pm, stopping about every 3 miles to stretch, eat, drink, use the ever glorious port-a-potties, and hit the medical tent, if necessary. We ate lunch in parks, were cheered on by elementary school kids as we passed by the playgrounds, and had hundreds of people show up at cheering stations to pass out candy, water, popsicles, and stickers. They held signs that said, "Thank you for walking for me. I'm a survivor!" or "Thank you for walking for my mom who is watching from heaven!" It was a truly humbling experience. Men walked with signs on their backs that said, "I walk for my wife, who is still in the fight." Women walked with signs that said, "For Nonnie," "In memory of my mom, aunt, & grandmother," and "I walk for my sister who can't be with us today." How can you not walk 20 measly miles for these people? After all, "blisters don't need chemo!"
20 miles down; 40 to go!
It was a LONG hard day. We got blisters. We got tired and achy feet. We learned about muscles we never knew we had. I made it thru the first day and was exhausted, but I was so proud to be walking for those who could not. I wore a tiara and a cape that listed the names of survivors and those I walked "in memory" of. Those names helped push me the entire 2o miles that day!
I should mention that along with the sad and emotional, there was plenty of fun and craziness! There were "themed" sweep vans to pick us up along the route if we needed to stop. They were decorated like hippie vans, cows, pirates, soldiers ("Stop the war in my rack!"), Mary Poppins, bras, etc. The people who drove them were in full gear and blasted music from the top of their vans and cheered us on the entire time. They had so much energy over 3 days! Cars were decorated with bras, "boobie-mobile" signs, and pink balloons, ribbons, and flowers. One VW bug convertible was entirely covered in bras and drove from cheer station to cheer station to encourage us forward! People were at street corners in hot pink wigs, hot pink tutus and gigantic oversized bras (and these were mostly the men!). We saw signs that said, "We love boobies," "These 2 boobs are cheering for you," and "Save a life, grope your wife." Only on the 3 day walk is this the norm. :)
VW bra mobile along the route:
We also had plenty to help keep our spirits high at camp. We signed up for 10 minute chair massages, which was the highlight of the day! They had karaoke nights, inspirational speakers, and computers to e-mail home or charge your cell phones. We took lots of pictures, caught up with each other on the day's events (we all walked in separate clumps so we wanted to hear about everyone else's day). We slept in pink tents, and sleeping on the ground is never comfortable after walking 20 miles! We were fed under a giant tent and showered in semi trucks (converted into locker-room type showers). We used port-a-potties, and limped around with stiff joints and muscles. We had finished day 1 and were quite proud of it!
Day two was a little harder. Setting out for another 20 was a grim task. There was less enthusiasm and more quiet pain. I started forming blisters on day 2 and had pain in both my knees. I skipped 5 miles in order to go to the medical tent where they iced and bandaged me up. I walked a while longer, and skipped 2 more miles in order to hit medical again back at camp. I missed 7 miles on day two, which was a little disappointing, but I wanted to walk all of day 3. I was self-preserving. I used that time to visit the memory tent where people wrote tributes to those they had lost. It was a moving experience to learn the stories of people I never met but somehow still felt close to. At night, we cheered for the survivors and those currently fighting the disease, and it was amazing the number of people there who were walking or getting pushed on a wheelchair while going thru chemo. If they could be there, surely I could keep walking with a few blisters on my feet!
Day three was an exciting day! We woke up ready to be done! We packed up our gear, took down our tents, and headed out for our last stretch! There were cheerleaders for miles and miles of our journey, and they were needed! While we were so excited to be finishing, we were sore, tired, hurting, and feeling every last step! My blisters were taped up and not a problem, but my knees were aching, and I developed a sharp, stabbing pain in the ball of my foot. Ice didn't help. Massage didn't help. Advil didn't help. The only thing that helped was sitting down, but that wasn't an option. I won't lie....I HURT the last 5-6 miles and even fought back tears as we neared the finish line. I WANTED to get on a bus so I could stop limping, but I wanted to walk in to closing ceremonies even more. :) My teammates kept me going, and the cheerleaders along the way kept me wanting to continue. People honked as they drove by. They yelled out, "Thank you!" and "You girls are amazing!" "You're almost to the end!" Hearing that made it easier to finish the day! We walked into the holding area and the walkers ahead of us lined a path and cheered us in. I cried the entire time....because I finished an amazing journey; because I walked thru the pain; because I walked for someone who couldn't. We high fived, took pictures, took a short moment to sit, and continued to cheer on those coming to the end. It was a moving experience, to say the least!
At the finish line with Chris, Tanya, me, Melissa & Kristine:
The closing ceremony was truly touching. They spotlighted the survivors that walked. They brought in flags that said, "My mother, my sister, my father, my friend, my wife, etc." and people who represented that fight. We held up our shoes to show our support for them, and we cried over those who couldn't be there. We were exhausted after walking 60 miles (ok, 53 miles for me), but we stood for another half hour to celebrate what we had accomplished.
Shoe salute:
I am proud of my team and proud of myself. So many members walked the entire 6o miles (some of them limping the last 2 days). Several members had last minute emergencies--a death in the family; a child in the hospital. One member, Cheri, is currently undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer, but she was wheeled thru part of the walk, helped cheer us on, and walked into closing ceremonies with us. One member, Anna, fell down on a broken sidewalk and was carried away in an ambulance. She couldn't finish with us because of a sprained wrist and cuts & bruises, and we missed her! I have to say that I walked a good chunk of my walk with my friends Tanya, Melissa, Kristine, and Chris. They were my training partners all summer long, and they kept my spirits up and had me laughing and talking most of the way. Thanks, girls, for helping to make this 3 Day special! I'm so glad I got to know you! :)
Finally, I'm super thankful to my friends, family, and donors for their support through all of this. I've gotten so many e-mails and phone calls and FB posts cheering me on and congratulating me! I've had so many people donate their time and money to help me fundraise! I am so grateful for your prayers and well-wishes. Thank you, thank you, thank you! And thank you to my boys and Ross who put up with me training 4-5 days/week. They never asked me to stay home (well, Alex might have asked!), and they never told me not to go. They wrote me letters to cheer me on during the walk and talked to me on the phone every night. Andrew wrote, "I hope you don't get lost. I hope you find a cure for breast cancer. " What a sweet boy! I am so proud of him!
If you'd like to follow our team, please go to
http://www.teamtiara.net/ for more information. You can donate for next year's walk, you can join the team and walk with them (you don't have to be from Houston to join), you can read other people's stories about why they walk and how the team came to be. I am unsure if I'll be walking next year. It was an unforgettable experience, but it was hard, and right now I'm not ready to commit again. If I don't walk, I want to be there at the cheer stations, supporting my girls and the thousands of others who work so hard during those 3 days! As they say at the 3 Day, "Everyone deserves a lifetime!"
Andrew was awake at 5:45 Christmas morning but was sweet enough to stay in bed and TRY to go back to sleep until 7, when we told them they could get up. Their eyes lit up to see a bike for Andrew and Nintendo DS for Alex! They got a Wii & games, all 6 Star Wars movies, Star Wars action figures & ships, and many, many other fabulous gifts (including: a snuggie for Andrew, as well)! 
For now, we're spending the day playing video games, eating bad food, and soon our friends will be over to celebrate Christmas dinner with us. Merry Christmas, everyone! Hope the day is as good for you, as it is for us!
3 Darth Vaders (Andrew is on the right), Jengo Fett (Alex), and Batman:
Lord Vader (Andrew) & Jengo Fett (Alex):
Hanging out with Grammy, Grandpa, Charlie & Everett:
Lovin' on mama at the wedding reception:
The best wedding favor in the world....lobster lollipops:
Holding the twins with Aunt Amy & Jan:
More wedding pictures to come.....
Posing with their new Keith t-shirts and Keith stuffed animals. The PTO has a major racket going on with the amount of stuff they sell! And I'm a sucker for it every year!
Daddy & Andrew meeting the Clone Troopers (while Alex cowered behind mom): 
Trying on old space helmets:
Daddy helping Andrew dock with the Space Station:
Hanging out with our "girl" friends in the backyard (100+degrees):
Waiting for the parade with daddy:
holding our newest baby cousin and asking why WE can't have a new baby in OUR house:
a view of Lake Superior with Grandpa:
a family picture at the local park (the 1st time we've all been together in YEARS):
Grandpa & boys (Alex eating his ever nutritious pop tart):
A full family picture! It's been awhile since we've taken one of these!
Darth Vader 1 and Darth Vader 2:
Showing off his new ipod; proud that he doesn't have to borrow Andrew's anymore!
Resting after a long hike (and seeing MANY deer):
