WE DID IT!! Avon Walk '09

Nicole, Dawn, Leslie, Kris. Day 1. We're excited to start!!

Though it's been several weeks, I HAD to post about the Avon Walk for a Cure. I did this with my cousin Leslie, her sister Nicole and Nicole's sister-in-law Dawn. We walked in honor of Nicole and Leslie's mom (my aunt) Cheryl. She was often called Cherry, hence the name, the 'Pink Cherries'. :)
We had a wonderful pasta dinner the night before and even went for some yummy Cold Stone Ice-cream. Thanks Uncle Joe and Claudia!! It was hard to get to bed because we were so excited but we somehow managed to get a 'little' bit of sleep and were up bright and early.
They had several blow up pillars. The top picture is of Nicole writing her message. The second is mine.
We thought we were smart getting at the back of the crowd since the following year we heard that ended up being the front. Not this year though. We got stuck and were seriously almost the past people out. Oh well. I got a few sweet pictures along the way.


I loved that so many people came out to support us. The crossing guards, obviously, were dressed in tutu's and many wore pink bra's. Van's drove around with bra's strapped all over them. Posters and sayings everywhere like, "welcome to boob fest", "dudes for boobs", "save the milk makers". I wish I could remember all of them. They were really funny.
Several of the rest stations had different 'themed' cheer groups. This particular on had drag queens. Awesome! Everywhere we went we had amazing cheerleaders. Especially Nicole's family who followed us most of the two days and even walked with us for several miles. They were a constant support and it was so great to see their fun cheers. They even brought us yummy cupcakes to eat along the way! The best part was that they walked the last 2 miles of day 2 with us across the finish line.
Me and Leslie. It was so fun to catch up with Leslie. I probably talked her to boredom but it was so fun to learn new things about her and reflect on the amazing person her mother was. She also made a cool site of her pictures at www.leukhardt.org.
Day 1 was 26.2 miles. When we got to the sign, it seemed like 'forever' until the finish. Seriously, we think they marked it wrong.
My knee was starting to hurt by mile 26. Probably because I'm a slacker and should have trained a little better. doh!
We made it!! The sweet part was that we had to walk another 1/4 mile back and forth across the field to get to our tents and the bathrooms. :) It's all good though. We had yummy food and a much enjoyed hot shower. We slept in tents and giggled until we finally dropped on our pillows. Nicole was totally prepared and I kept calling her mother hen. Thank goodness she was so on top of it and there to help us.
Day 2: I woke up with a sore knee. That was not a good sign. Especially since we still had another 13 plus miles to go. The last 2 miles was very difficult with my knee. Not to mention that as we walked across the top of these stairs, it was obviously a loop and everyone was passing us on the bottom of them. Thankfully, Leslie and I were so sore we didn't think we could actually walk down the stairs to cheat and our integrity was kept in tact. :)


It rained all of day 2 but it was still a wonderful experience. Nicole was so happy! She totally out walked me! :)
Me and Leslie. Yahoo!!
The 'Pink Cherries"

This was seriously a very rewarding experience. I met some amazing people and got to hear their inspiring stories of sadness and hope. It was harder than I thought to walk that far but it makes me feel stronger. Cancer is a battle, it hurts and many times they feel as if they can't go on. We felt like that in some ways. Gives me hope to face whatever may come in the future.
Our team "The Pink Cherries", raised $9,152!!! The total money raised for the Washington DC '09 walk was $6.8 million!! That's amazing!
You can check out the Avon Walk site for more info about what they do with the money and how it helps. Also, there are many other sites you can participate in the future. A big thank you to ALL of YOU who helped support us. We couldn't have done it without you!!

Great pics!

Our good friend, 'Uncle Mike', had a break from school and came to visit. We took a ride out to Montauk and he was so nice to take some great pictures for us. We had a great time playing in the park, shopping and of course, singing the kids Disney music in the car. Amazingly Mike knows all the words. :) Thankfully, he put his foot down when Payton wanted to listen to an old n'sync cd he'd found. (I know I know, from HS!!)
When my kids see a camera, they pose. I swear, we didn't teach them that. It's hilarious though. I love it.

Payton at the top of the Lighthouse.


GQ here I come......
It's so hard to get us all looking semi decent. :)
I call this look, 'blue steal'.


A lady came up to Halle and told her she was so cute. Halle said, "Thankyou, I AM so cute!"

whatever, I'm the greatest

For some reason, I seem to be ALWAYS doing laundry. So much so, that my kids now think it's fun. CRAZY! Anyway, they are my little helpers and decided they wanted a washer and dryer of their own to play with. I looked on craigslist and couldn't find anything. I even looked on line at several toy stores to see if there was maybe something affordable but nothing. So....being the super mom that I am, (ha ha) I grabbed some boxes and tada! I wanted to paint them but they wouldn't let me. These are so much better than anything I could have found.
There are so many times when my kids are whining and not listening to a thing I say; won't go potty or share their crackers and make the house a disaster. So many times I feel like a crappy mom but today I felt totally redeemed. Though most days here are chaotic, there are few things I can't do with super glue and markers. The kids now do a lot of laundry and ironing. If only they really worked!
Haven't updated these for a while but this is our 'yellow day'.

More Fun at Grandma's

Payton put on numerous concerts and shows for us on the trampoline. Though he does a wide variety, I'd still say 'Camp Rock' is his forte.
So cute. She's finally not scared of the trampoline. That's the only thing she was nervous about though. Halle was climbing all over the playhouse and swings. She insisted on going "super high and super fast". High enough so she could kick the tree. :)

Such is the life. Eating Cheetos and chillin on the boat. Later we roasted marshmallow's, mm mm good. Halle of course eats anything but Payton just volunteered to do the roasting.

FuN WitH FaMilY

Aunt Alice and Robyn

We headed to the south for a nice break from the cold and had a great time with the our Gold family cousins. We had the best time just playing, playing, playing. The kids played from morning til dark and were so tuckered out they actually went to bed despite they all filled the loft for several giant sleep-overs.
Payton and Spencer had a fun birthday party BBQ. And after everyone gets their pj's on, Grandma breaks out the little ice-cream dishes! I've never seen kids so attentive and sitting so still at the table. :)
aunt Ashley
aunt Afton and Kris
Though it wasn't exactly 100 degrees, the kids had a blast playing in the lake. Halle kept saying, "this is where I get to splash, but not in the bath." They rode the paddle boat, jumped from the pier, and at least attempted to make sand castles.
Next, us 'old' ladies just watched but the kids had fun playing duck-duck-goose and making giant bubbles. Well, mostly they just got extremely sticky but a few of them managed. :)
The next day we headed with Grandma and some of the cousins to the Houston zoo. This is one of my favorite zoo's. It's huge, shaded and has a ton of animals that you can actually see up close. We'll definitely have to get a pass when we move.

Like my kids need more sugar....

Another extension of Payton's birthday was when Grandma Lori came to visit. On the one day it didn't rain, we went to the city to play. We found Dylan's Candy Store and of course had a fabulous time finding all sorts of goodies. I told the kids they could each pick out 1 thing and it took us a long time to find something they could finally decide to keep past the next aisle. I love that there are huge stores devoted to chocolate and treats!
Peyton and Payton

We then headed to the Wax Museum. Grandma hadn't been there yet and Payton was very excited to see the new Jonas Brothers figures.
Of course my kids are American Idol fans... Only a strong girl like Halle could put up with Mr. Cowell.
Payton and the Jonas Bro's
Not a day goes by that we don't hear a tune from this band. The kids were so excited to say the least.
"this is real, this is me, I'm exactly where I'm supposed to be.. Gotta let the light, shine on me!" Oh yeah Halle, go girl! Cracks me up that she knows this entire song.

Happy Birthday Payton!

OK, so Payton's birthday was back in March but I'm just now getting caught up in our journal. I can't believe he's 5 years old! Took him a while to stop saying he was 4. For a while he'd say he didn't know how old he was and now he's finally adjusted to being 5.
Payton was so lucky to get to a few birthday parties this year. We had a fun birthday at Grandpa and Grandma Gold's house. Almost all the cousins were there and we had so much fun. He and Spencer got to have a joint party and he was just so happy. They had a blast playing duck duck goose, making giant bubbles and running around. Notice Grandma is trying to keep Halle from blowing out the candles. Classic Halle...
As always, he was so spoiled. Thanks so much to all the aunts, uncles and cousins for such a great party. We love you!
On the actual day of Payton's birthday we had our own little family party with our good friends, Raegan and Jack. We made yummy scones and homemade chili. We had a wonderful time and are so grateful for friends.
Halle and Payton helped make his cake. When I asked what he wanted he said a Gingerbread man cake. (he gets this from watching Shrek 2. ) He even did the frosting himself! Great job!!

Guess I couldn't be a Vampire

Oddly, the first thought that came to my mind this week, was that I couldn't be a vampire. Most likely because I got talked into reading the Twilight series and just finished.
Halle has been pretty sick with a viral gastro intestinal thing since last week. She wouldn't eat or drink and we finally had to take her into the ER after she wouldn't even lift her head.
We surprisingly got in quicker than I thought. I knew they'd need to give her fluid and that she'd be a fighter against the IV. Uh..Yeah.... It took 3 of us to hold her down and since they were also trying to get a blood sample, it was much worse. It was taking soooo long. Drip, drip, drip. I don't know how they expected to get it done without a mess. There was blood everywhere; Halle's arm, the nurses hands, the bed. I started getting a little light headed and I remember saying I need to sit down and the nurses yelling for help. Yep.......I passed out. So embarrassing. I woke up and it took a minute to realize where I was and what happened. They had a bunch of people in there and they quickly put me on a stretcher with oxygen and ice. Poor Halle kept saying, "mama, mama".
So Halle and I layed there together while she got some fluid. Both of us strapped with lines of some sort. Luckily our good friend is a chief resident in the ER and he called Andy, who seriously thought he was playing a joke on him.
After two bags of fluid and no urine they decided to admit her and we then waited 6 hours to get her a room. Luckily she slept but I was worried she'd get something else just sitting there in the hallway.
We had a stressful 3 day stay but thankfully she is doing much better and we were able to come home. She even smiled at the nurses and told them thank you as we left. It was a big change from when we first got there and she would tell them that they could NOT touch her belly and they could NOT take here temperature. "No you can't", "Leave me alone!" That's a red head. All I could do was laugh.
I didn't realize how good we had it in Southern Utah hospitals. We shared a room with two other sick kids. It surely wasn't ideal, but luckily, we had Disney channel.
I'm so grateful to the Francis Family for keeping Payton for us. He had a great time and it was nice to not have to worry about him too. You guys are awesome! We definitely owe you.
Halle still has a little tummy pain every once and a while but other than that she is back to her wild and crazy self.

Yep, that's my boy.

My friend Reagan was about to have her baby and since we've been hanging out with her, I can only imagine she is the reason for this post. I love the things my kids get from you, :) JK....
We found him this way one night. Yep, he was preggers.
While I've been trying to get the house packed up, my kids have been putting on concerts again for the neighbors. They can obviously here us above them. The bed is their stage and I believe this particular song was 'This is me' duet from "Camp Rock".

Happy Mother's Day--from us Men

This shout goes out to all those Huge Mother Striped Bass in the Long Island Sound that gave us Medical folk something to do on a rare R &R Monday in NYC. While our women are back home sleeping or reading gushy Vampire romance, we're out there putting our lives on the line to bring home meat for the table. Well, sort of...
Jeremy, Me (Andy), Dave, Rob and Capt Joby Vinarski met up at the dock a few blocks away at 6am for the first trip of the Spring Striper run out on the Sound. On Long Island all of the world record stripers (now at 78lbs) were caught and is home to some of the most prestigious fishing ground in the USA for saltwater Bass. Jaws was filmed based on a semi-true story off Long Island East end. Though we didn't find Jaws, we found something a little closer to reality, and much better tasting.
We started the trip under the Throgs Neck Bridge, (the bridge to get to the Bronx) a short 20 minute boat ride, but rather cold, where we found a few Bluefish running off with the cut bunker slabs in about 50 ft of water--but none of us able to set the hook... I finally reeled in a (Capt Joby calls small) 15 lb 30 incher to break the ice and open up the adrenaline.
With the overcast and temp at 50 degrees with 15 mph winds we headed back to Manhassett bay to catch the Bass moving up into the warmer shallows as the tide came in. Dave finally hooked up with a gorgeous 20+ pounder approaching 36 inches on some cut bunker in under 6 ft of water. It was a beauty to watch and as good as it gets. For this early in the Spring we had a blast and stocked up the freezer for the next time us guys get a night off...very soon... It's nice to be this close to NY and not have to ever see concrete or climb a subway stairwell with a stroller!! Most guys avoid the big city, but they just don't know about these large mothers that are sitting a short stone's throw off shore. So to them we say--happy late mother's day!!

Slightly Embarrassed

Yes I know it's been forever since we've posted. I have a lot of catching up to do. Not because any of you REALLY want to know what has been going on, but because this is basically our family journal. We've had some fun times and also a little slump of just being too lazy to write. So be patient at the next few days of major posts.

I decided that I probably should try and train a little better for the Avon walk coming up next week. I'm in ok shape so I haven't worried about it but now I think I'm in for a shock. I keep thinking, I've been running, it's just a walk. I've since decided it will probably be very hard and I've just been stupid. In my head I can see my mom shaking her head at me. Either way, I'm very excited to be doing it with Nicole and Leslie.

So the other day I told the kids we were going on a long walk. It's slightly difficult here to get in the mileage because many of the roads don't have sidewalks. There was a park on route so they were all for it.

We came to a major road and were just merrily skipping along when I noticed they had a large section closed and covered with trees. They were cutting and mulching with huge trucks. We had no where to go. A worker asked me if I wanted to cross the street and I reminded him there was no sidewalk there and I obviously had a double stroller and kids.
Now, I don't get embarrassed very easily but when he full out stopped traffic, I came about as close as one could get. We probably had about 200 yards to get around them and I can only imagine the evil glares we were getting. Not to mention the traffic pile-up it was causing. Luckily it wasn't on the big hill and I could just jog it. That was actually very nice of them to help us out. Had to laugh though.

When we reached the park, the kids were so happy to have their picnic we'd taken. We'd been there 20 minutes and it started to rain. We had about 7 miles back to our house. Yeah, so luckily the train was a block away and we got a ride home. I had thought that we could probably just walk home from the station by then but nope, it was then POURING. So.. we took a taxi. Our long walk turned out to be about 2 miles. I'm so ready for 39!! :)