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!