London's Run

London's Run is something that I've always wanted to do. This run is so touching and dear to my heart for many reasons. Our family can't help but be around and meet kids with cancer and other life threatening illnesses. After all, Mia herself is in the hospital every 3-4 weeks. This is a picture of little London...she is the reason for this run. (You can read more about her story by clicking the link below.) We never met her, but her story is so touching. She passed away before the first race was even held, and overwhelmingly people wanted the race to continue. I think this year was the 5th year it's been held. Her memory lives on and because of this race, she is helping other kids raise money to help them fight cancer.



http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/londonsolomon

My boot camp friend Alicia and I have been talking about doing this run for a long time. She has a very sweet heart. I happened to see her coming to the 10 am boot camp after I was done with the 9 am boot camp (we both usually go at 5:30 am) the day before the race. So it was meant to be that we were to do London's Run. (By the way, she is an awesome runner, and has done many marathons etc.) We just laughed because neither of us 'trained' for this, but that's ok...we do boot camp!

I also saw my friend Mary Lisa, who has taken it upon herself to lose more than 60 pounds and get active. She is so inspiring!! She just did the PF Changs half marathon, and here she is...ready to do the 10k. Hello?!?! ML you rock girl!

Another inspiring person in my life is Miss Tiffany, one of Mia's nurses who we see regularly. She decided as well that she was going to take charge of her health and lose weight and participte in half marathons etc. She rocks too...AND she is a fellow blogger. Miss Tiffany knew London and had her as her patient. She also knew Layla, and one of the benefactors of London's Run this year, her name is Maliyah.

Miss Tiffany and I @ London's Run

The poster I made and pinned to my back are pictures of Mia, Layla, Ethan, & Trevor. All special kids who I love dearly. All fighting to live a normal healthy life. ~ Layla's memory is always with us...that's why we wear purple! (My favorite color.)

Here we go...10 K - 6.2 miles. Gulp. The farthest I've ever ran is 3 and a half. My goal was to keep going and try not to stop.

It was really pretty through the farm and fields, although it was freezing.

So my friend Alicia rocks at running, and right at the start she was way ahead of me. I could see her in her white shirt and pink shorts...but this picture is blurry.

Ok you had to be there, it looked prettier than this at that moment.

After a while there were all these signs...how inspiring.

What a great reminder of why you are running, and that the money you spent is truly going to help kids fight the battle of their lives.

Gulp...how can you not cry or be touched in some way looking at these pictures??

Ok...I'll try and keep going. Mile 2 I had a side ache...but thought it will go away. It did. By mile 5 I was sooooooo tired, and almost ready to walk. I did stop to tie my shoe at mile 5 but my legs started cramping so I kept going.

Oh finally the finish line...thank goodness!! My time was: 1:00:30
which is good. I just can't help but think if I didn't stop to tie my shoe :)

This is a picture of me about 30 seconds before the finish line:
http://sportshots.exposuremanager.com/p/900am-930am_lr_2011/0922_20110129092213_2718_64_2_2

We will never forget...

Mia's 66th Blood Transfusion

Mia had her 66th blood transfusion today. She didn't make a sound getting her IV, I didn't even know she had it in already. Sigh, she is so brave and getting so much older but she'll always be my little Mia.

Dr. Happenin' (it's really Hanrahan, but we like Happenin') stopped in to say hi. He liked our muffins we made for all the staff. Mia likes to finger scan everyone on her ipod to see what 'mood' they are in...never a dull moment.

Mia & Miss Paula...the one with the 'feet.' Darn it, I should of taken a picture of Paula's shoes, err, I mean feet. I'll keep you in suspense until next time...stay tuned.

Mia didn't pick out a barbie this time...shocking! Instead, she picked out this zhu zhu pet named princess, but apparantly she needed an IV.

It was PURPLE day in POTC ~

Today we rememebered Layla, a very special and brave girl who went to heaven 1 year ago tonight. Her favorite color was purple. We all wore purple, and when Matt brought Madison by the hospital on his way to work and I saw him wearing his purple shirt, I smiled. I think he knew it would mean a lot to me, and it sure did. We ALL miss and love Layla and her family very much. I hope they know they were thought of today and will be prayed for tonight.

Please take a minute to remember Layla...CLICK HERE

A visit from Marsha!

Look who stopped by to see us, my dear friend Marsha. It sure made Mia smile to have a visitor, ok me too.

Sharing french fries...yeah, we're close like that.

Thanks for coming to see us. It sure cheered us up to see a smiling face. We love you Marsha.

The Seahawks - Won?!

Game day 2:30 pm: Seattle Seahawks VS. New Orleans Saints

- We went to Tucson for the day to watch the game with Matt's dad Dennis. He is currently getting 30 hours of continuous chemo to prepare him for a bone marrow transplant because of his Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma. We dropped the girls off at Grandma's house to spend the day with her and headed to the hospital.

For such a special game, Matt brought his Seahawks cups and some sparkling cider to celebrate. The nurses thought that was so funny.

Dennis used to take Matt to watch the Seahawks games in the Kingdome when he was a little boy. They would leave church early and go home where Dennis would make air-popped popcorn with butter and salt and he would always put it in a brown paper bag. Matt remembers they would park far away and they would walk together all the way to the stadium. Matt wanted to bring his dad some popcorn for the game.

Matt getting a flip video of the touchdown. Go Hawks!

Of course the game went way better than expected, especially that awesome run by Marshawn Lynch (Wow!) I wish QB Whitehurst went in, he had a great game last week.

Pure joy ~ (I wish these last 2 photos weren't blurry.) The Seahawks WON 41-36!! Of ALL games ever for the Seahawks to win, I am so glad they won today. There's something about watching a game that brings people together.

It was a good day to watch a football game in the hospital.

A Visit From the Mullins...

Ashley wearing Isaac's 'man-dals'...nike socks with boys 'flip flops.' - Oh how funny.

Isaac doesn't mind it being - freezing. Afterall, he's used to it being from the Seattle area.

I don't think I've EVER heard Uncle Matt, I mean Matt, laugh so hard in all my life. How I WISH I had a video of Jabe blowing through a straw into Matt's ear.

New Year's Eve ~

Bring on the Wii games...the 4 of us adults played a little Mario Kart...oh yeah.

A knock at the door at 11:50 pm on New Years Eve could only mean one thing - girls coming over to kidnap Ashley for 10 minutes to do something involving TP down the street :)

Jabe & Isaac ~

It was seriously freezing outside!! That's Kirsten under the blanket...

Matt lighting off fireworks - Happy New Year!!!!

Alyssa writing her name with a sparkler...

New Year's Day 2011

We started out 2011 with a yummy breakfast, Wii games (family feud), and a trip to the park for a little family game of baseball & football.

We ended the day with a trip to Kokomo's...

If you haven't been to Kokomo's yet, you should. It's the tasty-ist frozen yogurt around, especially on a hot day - nevermind that it was freezing outside, it was still good!