Quote of the day....

A friend of mine sent this to me today, I thought it was cute - but it also scared me a little how much I agreed with it....must be having a bad week;)

Thought for the Day:
SOME people are like Slinkys.....
They 're not really good for anything..... But they still bring a smile to your face
when you push them down a flight of stairs.

Buddy Walk - 2007!!!

Team Samantha!

This last Thursday and Friday were a little rough for me in my final minutes to finish preparation for the event I have been helping to plan since early spring, the annual Up With Down Buddy Walk.....I know there are several people that could testify to this:)

Luckily I had a lot of help on Friday from Beth, my Mom, sister Cathy, sister Julie and Steve that allowed me to be ready for the event on Saturday....JUST!

Mom, Dad, Julie and Sam, and Cathy and Kobe and Zoey had come to town on Friday evening to be there for the walk that started fairly early in the morning. I was so glad they were there because I really ended up needing their help.

Julie and Samantha

Saturday morning came, and it was such a gorgeous day!!!!! We were so lucky. In fact - it was very close to the most perfect day I have seen all summer. The Auction went off with only a few hitches and was very successful. I had excellent help from my friends Amy and Myra all morning and Bro-in-law Tim and Nicolle walked with us in the walk and were a lot of help following the walk in the last hour and closing out of the auction. Steve also really stepped in and helped with the auction and the audio visual equipment handling. I really can't thank everyone enough for all of the help with this event! My family even helped up with clean up! I think the nieces and nephews enjoyed it. There were a lot of fun things for the kids to do.

Sam, Zoey, Alex, Leah, Ben and Kobe

Nicolle and Tim.....and everyone;)

We ended up with approximately 1100 participants. We raised $6015 in the Silent Auction and over $60,000 for the event over all! Read article from the Metro section of the Des Moines Register if you'd like: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070826/NEWS/708260342/-1/archive .

After the walk was over the family went back to our house to hang out and celebrate Mom and Dad's birthdays (both were in the past week). Happy Birthday Mom and Dad!

Team Samantha additions!

Yesterday my brother Brett let me know that he, Leah, Alex and Ben would be joining "Team Samantha" for for the Buddy Walk on Saturday! I was excited to hear this because that makes almost my whole family is going to get to do this together! Unfortunately it sounds like they are leaving Cheryl and little Jenna at home - probably thought she wasn't quite ready for such a trip. It is nice because there isn't often an occassion for me to get them to Des Moines since Cedar Rapids is much more central to all of us.

My "honorary" sister-in-law Nicolle and brother-in-law Tim are also going to take part in the walk too and help me out with my Silent Auction as well!

My week is full with collecting Silent Auction items and putting together materials around it for Saturday!

Wish me luck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I will need it:)

Another Monday...

“Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.”
James Matthew Barrie

Since Steve didn't win the lottery for me over the weekend, we had to come to work again today ;) My Dad seems to think it would be such a curse, but I think we could rise above the hardship of that and be happy regardless!

We had a busy weekend of doing things we are good at, and other things we are not so good at.

Our friend Jeff had recently participated in support of a wine competition here in the area and happily payed for his help with a case of medal winners in the competition. He was kind enough to have us and some other couples over to snack and do a tasting of these excellent and one or two not-so-excellent wines: this was the activity we were good at!

On Saturday we took part in a golf outing for The Weitz Company, which is where Steve works. Since this was only my 4th golfing experience in my life, and Steve is ok, but mostly just goofs around at it - I must say - It is a good thing this was best ball! We were fortunate enough to be paired with a fun, and fairly golfing-proficient couple, and of course in best ball - rather than chasing around all of your own shots - you get to chase around the best of the four of you. If I had to play my own, we might still be there. It is a good thing I can laugh at myself. This was obviously the thing we are not so good at. We all had a great time anyway.

Might as well give it a shot:)

I figured this was more enjoyable than a picture of Steve and I, so instead I give you - Zeus and Ollie at their finest!

Hello All!

Sheri has inspired me with her new blog! I love hearing/seeing what's going on with her with detail we never seem to be able to manage in our all too infrequent phone calls! I've known about blogging, but was too lazy to try to make it a habit. It is easy, and with the way everyone gets so busy - it seems like a really good method to keep up with everyone. I encourage anyone who has the same problem to give it a shot. So here goes.....

We will start with this past weekend. We had a busy Saturday of errands and made a quick trip to Cedar Rapids - or rather Springville to go to my niece Leah's birthday party. This was also going to be our first time to meet our new niece that just recently arrived home from China. Her name is now Jenna. She is 3 years old and just joined my brother Brett, his wife Cheryl and their children Leah, Alex and Ben's family. The kids had a great time playing on one of Leah's presents - an inflatable waterslide. Jenna is a very sweet, beautiful, docile little girl. A little timid and shy still around us "new" people, but seems to have a wonderful nature and we were so happy to finally get to meet her!

Jenna

Birthday Girl Leah and her new sister!

As most of you know, I have been working for several months with the Up With Down Family Support Group here in Des Moines to plan this year's Buddy Walk which is an awareness and advocacy event for Down Syndrome. I have been in charge of putting together the Silent Auction, and picture slideshow that will play at the event. It has been a lot more work than I had anticipated and took a lot more effort than I had planned for, but has really also been a really good experience for me and one I am glad that I have had. My friend Beth was kind enough to help with the walk and is in charge of Volunteers for the event. If anyone who likes in the Des Moines area would like to help on the 25th of August she is still looking for volunteers and can be contacted at buddywalkia@gmail.com. Some of my friends have been kind enough to donate items- thanks Cathy G. and Sandy! I also have some friends that have already agreed to help with the Silent Auction that day including Myra, Adam, Amy and Nicolle - Thanks guys! I really appreciate the help!

I have invited my family to come and join me in doing the walk in honor of my niece Samantha that is Downs - so Steve and I, my Mom and Dad, sister Julie and niece Samantha, sister Cathy and niece Zoey and nephew Kobe have all formed Team Samantha! Below is the design for the 3x5 banner we will carry at the walk. I am really excited - I think Sam will really have a lot of fun with this!