Samantha's Mission Possible!!

"Did you do a poke yet?" was the question my amazing brother asked his 10 year old daughter after about 3 miles of walking in 80 degree heat. Since her diagnosis 5 years ago with Juvenile Diabetes, I am sure this is one of the more commonly uttered phrases in their home. It is second nature to them, but when he uttered those words, a tingle went up my spine as I caught another glimpse of what they deal with on a day to day basis.

Along with her diabetic status, my sweet niece and her sweet little sister also suffer from a condition called celiac disease. This is where the body has an abnormal immune reaction to gluten so it has to be completely eliminated from her diet. I have a great deal of admiration for my brother, his wife and their little family. They are pillars of devotion, stability, and accuracy as they handle these less than ideal circumstances in the most ideal way possible. They are always aware of what needs to be done to manage their daughters’ health and always prepared to do just that. One example of this effort is another incident I witnessed on Saturday. My sister-in-law was carrying juice boxes (incase her daughter was low and needed a quick dose of sugar). But when approached by a frantic, unprepared stranger who had a diabetic relative that was passing out due to low blood-sugar, she freely gave him the juice that his loved one desperately needed. That is sympathy and understanding at its best.
Well, on Saturday my kids and I had the privilege of spending the day with my brother and his amazing family and some other family members as we participated in the JDRF 5K Walk. About 25,000 people showed up to trek up and down in the heat to try to raise funds to help JDRF find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes. It was an honor to participate and something I will never forget. I worried about my niece during the walk (especially after seeing another person suffering so badly) but she was incredible! She even worked a little harder than me at times because she pushed my stroller for about ¾ of a mile!! And she had fun doing it!! What a trooper! We were all hot, sweaty, and tired, but the kids ended the walk by running to the finish line with big smiles on their faces. Here are some pictures…

(sorry they are in reverse order)

Me and my kiddos at the end of the walk. Spencer crashed out at about mile 2.

Do we look tired? Well, the bad news is that we still had another mile to walk to get back to our car!

Here's the whole gag... Samantha's Mission Possible was our theme!

You guys ROCK!!

The kids are all grabbing for treats at our resting place.

Chansey and Bree walking hand in hand... all smiles!

Eathan and Caleb... not a word of complaint out of these two!

It sure feels good to know that you are a small part of something huge that has the potential to help so many. I only wish I could do more! Too bad I am not a millionaire or a biological scientist! :)

Happy Halloween!

I am typically a very positive and optimistic person. But, I can't lie... for the last several days I have been a bit of a scrooge about Halloween. I spent a great deal of time wondering why we celebrate Halloween...?! I know it is many peoples' favorite holiday. But I just don't get it... On Halloween, we endorse activities that directly contradict what we spend the other 364 days of the year trying to teach our children to do. Just to name a few... 'be yourself' ... 'eat healthy'... 'go to bed early'... 'don't talk to strangers'... do you get what I mean?!
So, the reason for me explaining this all is because I finally see the light! For all you Halloween lovers out there, I get it now! The reason for Halloween is to HAVE FUN!! That's it!! And that's what we did. We spent time together as a family and had fun! It is still not my favorite holiday, but fun nonetheless. Here's a brief recap...
On Thursday, we went to our ward's Trunk or Treat. That's where people line up their cars in the parking lot and decorate the trunks with Halloween gear. Then the kids trick or treat to everyone. This year we had a chili cook-off and some really fun games. The most exciting attraction was the pain-stakingly crafted 'Spook Alley'. Todd, with a couple other awesome ward members, spent about 6 hours turning the nursery rooms into an amazing haunted house. It was a hit!! He even stayed in there the whole time and caringly jumped out and scared all of the little ones! :) In the end, he was thankful that it only took about 30 minutes to take down. :)

The big night though was, of course, Halloween!! Without further adieu, here are the costumes...

Spencer didn't really have a costume. I couldn't find one that wasn't girly, constricting, or made of fleece. So I bought him this cute little outfit to wear. It says "hair wolf" (which I thought was funny) so we spiked his hair too. And his teeth match the hair-wolf's! :)

This is the Dark Spider-man climbing the wall.

Raggedy-ann (otherwise know as Raggedy-ansey) posing like a good little girl!

Bella was a black cat (who looked a little cuter before her make-up was smeared)
BTW- It took 8 shots to get a good picture of her. AHHH!

I just thought this was funny... Eathan is playing with Bella and Spencer at Grandma's house (as he often does) but he didn't take his mask off to do it! He's a die-hard I guess!

Our Halloween festivities included, going to visit grand-parents, hanging out at my brother's house for his block-party, trick-or-treating in my brother's neighborhood, and spending time with some super-fun friends after all of the festivities were over. Last but not least, the night would not have been complete without home-made caramel apples (at the above stated friends' house). YUMMY!!

The end result you ask?!... The point off all this madness?!... A TON OF FUN!!

(And four sticky, exhausted children!)

P.S.- The coolest thing this year was that Todd dressed up too! I don't have a picture, but I will get one and post it later. He was a 70's dude and it was pretty sweet! (You can catch a slight glimpse of his polyester garb and butterfly collar in the background of the first picture of my post.)