Relay for Life.

This past weekend my family participated in the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life in Hurricane, Utah. We did this relay as a memorial for my grandpa but also to remember my mom's defeat against cancer and the others in our family whom this disease has affected. This was my first time doing anything like this and it was truly amazing. The relay started at 6pm on friday and went through the night until 12 noon on saturday. We all took turns walking through the night and got about 2-3 hours of sleep if that. {this is a long post}

The opening ceremony was really emotional for us. they had all the survivors walk the track once and I was really surprised how touching it was.

{my mom and grandma getting ready to walk as survivors}




we brought the kids to the opening ceremony then took them home to bed.


{my mom & maddon}


{lex & i - we stayed awake by making each other laugh the whole night}

there was a dj there the entire night and there was karaoke which was quite hilarious.

my cousins drew singing 'golddigger' and landon singing 'how to save a life' These 2 walked a total of 20 miles... they were awesome.


{my grandma, lex and becky singing 'love shack'}

At 10pm everyone stopped walking and we had a luminarias ceremony. They turned off all the lights and there were paper bags lit with candles lined along the entire trick with names and messages to all the loved ones who are currently battling, loved ones who've survived and the ones we've lost. It was a very beautiful and emotional ceremony. They read off every single name and it was so amazing how many people really are effected by cancer.


i did a bag for my good friend megan's mom who is currently in remission.

Taylor Vaifanua from American Idol was there and sang, 'the climb' and sounded so much better than miley cyrus.

{5am after a couple hours of sleep}


{rockstars and redbulls kept us alive}


After walking for a few more hours we went and got the boys ready and fed and we were back at it!

{mom, lex and marnie}

{shawntae had to work but flew in at about 12am to finish with us}


{lex and boston}



{all our family who was there}

We've decided this will be an annual event and hopefully more of the family will be able to be there. especially nick. he started a new job so he wasn't able to come but we missed him a lot. This was an experience I will never forget and i really recommend doing something like this if you have the opportunity. It's amazing what you can get out of doing something for someone else rather than focusing on yourself.