Breast Cancer Awareness

This month I have been working on a new plate that includes the pink ribbon for Breast Cancer Awareness. I am hoping they will be out by the end of next week. I'll keep you posted.

This reminds me of the 3-Day Avon Breast Cancer Walk I did in 2002. I raised $1900 and walked from Baltimore, MD to Washington DC and it was a long 60 miles! I remember thinking that the curbs in Washington felt like rocky mountains after walking for three days. I also recall thinking that I would have made a lousy pioneer as I know the pioneers did not have the comfort of a Nike sneaker and porta pottys every 2 to 3 miles! I did meet many breast cancer survivors on the walk and heard many of their stories. It was a triumphant feeling to walk into a town and hear complete strangers tell you "thank you for walking" or "thanks for helping my sister or mom". Some other great signs along the way were, "mom, hurry home - we are out of cereal" or "save the boobies". It was a wonderful experience, one that I will never forget. I surely hope that I will never have to fight cancer of any sort but, realize that many do and my heart goes out to all.

New Calling

For the past year and half I have been serving as the Education Counselor in our Relief Society here in the Shenandoah Valley Ward. Last week I was released and called to work with the CTR 5 class in our primary. This was my first week to work with the kids in primary and teach them a lesson. I will now be teaching a lesson to the 4 - 6 year olds each week and helping them to stay reverent during sharing and singing time. While it is a new challenge, I have been reading up on some things I can do in our class room to keep them motivated, reverent and in-tune with what I am trying to teach them. At first, I was a little hesitant but, I know that the Lord will bless us as I dive in to this new calling and give it the best that I can. (PS - FYI CTR stands for Choose The Right.)

Jelly Bean Cake

Wondering what to do with all your left over jelly beans from Easter? We made a cake last week and Max was in favor of using "all" the leftover jelly beans for decorations. The best part - no one wants to eat so many beans with their cake so you pick them off and end up throwing them away. Cute cake and no calories! Of course the chocolate frosting is still delicious ... even with a jelly bean or two!

Apple Blossom Grand Parade / Circus

Our little town has over 250,000 guests come in for a little over a week to celebrate Apple Blossom. The colors for the festival are kelly green and bright pink. (You'll notice my outfit at the end!) We had a great day at the parade and then got free tickets to the circus for the early evening show. We ended up leaving early from the circus due to hunger pains but overall we had a great day. We did have an accident happen right in front of us at the parade - a crushed plastic chair collapsed on to a girls foot and she just about lost her big toe! That added a little more excitement to the parade for us but overall it was nice to sit back, relax and not be in charge of a single thing!

PS - Even the rain held off all day today!

Mark & Max riding the elephant at the circus.

Max driving the elephant!

Lots of riders on the elephant!
Elephants in the parade - they had a busy day!


Our local high school band!

The Queen & her court. The queen was Michael Landon's grandaughter.

More local high school bands.

We had two princesses floats!

Another local high school band.

Erik Estrada ... our Grand Marshall - he also showed us his pink socks!

Budweisser Clydes Dale Horses.

First float of the day.

Mom & Max - Max is holding a soft pretzel.

Max & dad ... we were ready for the parade!

Where Have I Been?

The past week has been very busy to say the least! I worked all week to get ready for the kick off to Apple Blossom here in Winchester for the Wine & Fine Arts Festival in old town. It was lots of work but, we pulled it off. Here is one picture of the booth but if you want to see more click on the cherry blossom picture or ttp://www.plateitupinwinchester.blogspot.com/.

My friend Julie joined me and sold yummy treats along with her beautiful bags, baby clutches and aprons. I was also next door to one of my other neighbors who sold beautiful sterling silver bracelets. We had a good time and got some good laughs together. Hope everyone is enjoying the warm / HOT weather. Somehow I don't think our AC is keeping up!

MS Walk

Yesterday we participated in the 3 mile MS walk at Sherando High School. We were part of the Friends of John Ferrulli Team which helped raise over $1600. John is a member of our bishopric in our ward and we have been privileged to get to know their family. In this picture you see John, Karla, his wife, Christina & Justin. Their other kids are off at BYU Idaho and will be home later this spring. While it was a long three miles with both Justin & Max we were glad to have helped supported this walk. We hope that a cure will be found sooner than later and that all who suffer from MS will have help sooner than later.

The Big Park

Today I would have to say that Max gave us his first off-the-cuff funny joke without any promptings or help. Mark and I are still laughing about it. Here is the scenario:

Max: Let's go to the park - the big park.

Mom: OK - let's all get showered and cleaned up and we'll all go!

After lunch, showers, etc. we all finally get in the car and we were off. Then I decide we should get some gas in the car, run over to the bank, check in on a store, etc. Then Mark decides before we go to the park, Max should have a little nap in the car .... poor Max ... will we ever get to the big park?

Mark: Max, you need to have a little nap before we go to the park so once I see you sleeping and hear you snoring, I'll know you are napping in the back seat.

Max: (Without hesitation) leans his head over and starts making a snoring noise repeatedly. Then he says, "I've had my nap dad - lets go to the big park!"

Mark / Stephanie - crack up laughing for the next 20 minutes.

Finally after driving through a couple of neighborhoods, we look in the back seat and Maxs head is now bent over and the real snoring begins. After a good 40 minutes we finally make it to the big park. Our day was now complete.