Relay For Life T&T

Today the ACS Relay For Life of Tigard/Tualatin is going on. I got there nice and early this morning to set up for the Survivor Celebration. I unloaded my stuff, put the tables and chairs up, decorated the tables, and got ready to let our Survivors know THEY are the reason we Relay.

Here is a picture of the field before everyone arrived.

One the young women from Tualatin HS organized a run/walk, taking place before the Relay. She had around 71 people take part and it was a rousing success! I am so impressed by the young people who become involved with Relay. Their parents should be so proud of them.

Run for Relay!

Here is my Survivor Celebration set up. I bought a bunch of dodads and put them out on the tables. Very decorative! It made me happy how much people liked the decorations. AND not just the kids: the adults all loved taking some of the dodads with them.

Got the Survivor shirts all lined up, ready to hand out.

Hey mom and dad, I have yours ready and I'll send them along. I thought of you today. YOU are the reason I Relay. I love you and wished you were here. You were with me today, really.

A happy dodad. Ready for the Survivors to come and party! Makes you smile, eh?

Folks began to arrive and began to gather for the opening ceremony.

Girl and Boy Scouts gathered on the stage, to help kick off the event.

They didn't have a flag, so we were instructed to view the flag on this young man's shoulder. Very inventive, and the young man speaking did an excellent job.

Sharon, from Breast Friends, spoke at the opening ceremony. She did a great job!!!!!

Our Survivors.

The first lap was very inspiring. All the teams cheered, and they followed our Survivors and let them know how much they cared. It was wonderful.

Our littlest Survivor.

Paradise Bakery was wonderful and provided cookie gift bags for our Survivors.

Our lunch was late, so our good friends at Paradise Bakery brought out a cookie CAKE (yes, that is a big ole chocolate chip cookie, frosted--AMAZING). So festive and good.

They also brought a cookie shaped like a purple ribbon, and some brownie bites. You should have seen every one's faces! No one minded eating desert first today. No one.

See what I mean???

After the celebration I walked the track. Rock climbing wall was very popular.

I was so glad to see Kathy, Victor, and Charlie visit. I MISS seeing Kathy at work.

I loved the robot here. This young man informed me his father made it and he was very proud of that. Very nice young man here folks. The kind of folks that make me happy I Relay.

A fun picture of the event. Is this not creative to the max?

The first bank was so good! I'd love to have them come to Hillsboro and play there too.

No, they aren't a Jazz band. LOL! (private joke for Hillsboro Relay folks)

Our littlest Survivor walks the track.

Being at Tualatin HS field I had to go and sit in the visitor stands. Been there several times for football games. Brings back some nice memories.

Remember the empty field? Not so empty now! A good turn out.

I will always remember. When I first started doing Relay I was doing it for Terry Henshaw. She was my first trainer at Intel, one of the craziest ladies I've ever known, and I miss her. I also Relay for my Aunt Mikie, Terry (one of the guys I worked with at Intel), Sandy...I could go on and on.

One day I'd LOVE to be in a world where no one ever has to hear the words, 'You have cancer'.

Chicken and Beans

Mark and I took off on Saturday afternoon, heading out to Tigard HS. Ah, June in Oregon. Perfect football weather!

We were heading out to the first annual Tigard HS Football 'Chicken and Bean Bowl'.

What the heck is THAT you ask? I will tell you.

Our new coach has done this for years, putting together a scrimmage at the end of the school year. The freshman and JV teams work out in front of the parents, and then the Varsity scrimmages for chicken or beans.

Yep, you heard me: chicken or beans. The winner eats chicken and the losers eat beans. Hence the name.

In the picture you see some of the parents cooking up said chicken. They weren't only cooking it up for the teams, but for friends and family alike. The boys sold tickets to the event as a fundraiser. Hmmm: who would have guessed that chicken and beans would team up to raise money for football. Will wonders never cease???

The graduation ceremony took place Friday night. The kids were told they couldn't have beach balls at the ceremony, so someone brought a blow up doll and 'she' got bounced around until one of the staff ended that. I'm thinking blow up dolls will now also be on the 'don't you dare bring that to graduation' list now. Wonder what next year's class will come up with?

The parents were busy setting up when we got there.

Setting tables, putting out balloons, etc.

Hate to say it, glad I don't have to worry about all that anymore. Sorry: it's just the plain ole truth. I like being lazy at times like this now.

The freshmen didn't suit up for the bowl. They went through their drills and such.

Over 60 kids came out for the team. WOW.

Mark is going to be one very busy boy.

Here he begins being one very busy boy. And let me tell you, he LOVES being busy when it comes to football.

The JV suited up, and basically ran through some plays. Parents still cheered them on.

Mark. Busy.

Then the scrimmage began, white against green.

The team lined up, ready to begin. Before the scrimmage all the guys were hanging out, just having fun. I think this bowl is a good idea, a fun way for the guys to end the school year.

I filmed the scrimmage for the coach, it was fun to watch, and the white team won, earning the right to eat themselves some chicken. Towards the end of the game I could hear some of the boys shouting out to the other boys to play hard, reminding them, 'It's for the chicken!!! Remember the chicken!!!!' Cracked me up big time.

Mark. Busy.


Man, Mark is BUSY again? But doing what?


Here is our new coach and his wife. The parents made a presentation of welcome to them, providing several items they'll need for the upcoming season. Tigard football hat for coach, a Tigard apron for Mrs. coach, hand warmers, Tigard blanket, etc. You get the message.

Our friend Andy read off the gifts, while one of the moms handed them out. Very well done folks! Very nice way to welcome them into our family.

The final item? When we win the Tigard players have a tradition of singing a song to the crow, and the parents LOVE that song. I always loved it when Steven and crew would sing it after a game. The parents framed it so the coach could learn the words, and then the boys came out to sing it for them. And Mark was being busy coming on down to help the boys with the words. The freshman haven't learned the words yet.

He's nice that way.

That's a big ole bunch of boys!

Good job on the presentation Andy.

The evening came to a close. Cleanup was happening, and kids were hanging out on the field.

Mark took down our pop-up (didn't get broken this time-yea!) and began the long trek to the car.

It was a good evening and I love Tigard Football. GO TIGARD!!!

Too darn good.

Months ago I was reading one of my favorite cupcake blogs, and one of the gals had come up with a recipe for cream cheese frosted red velvet cupcakes dipped in chocolate. YES. You heard right. Dipped in chocolate. They looked amazing, I printed the recipe, and I put it in my recipe file, knowing that one day I would give them a go. Time passed.

A couple of months later I decided I was looking at cupcake blogs too much, getting off the discipline of WW, so I deleted most of my cupcake blogs from my favorites, and added some WW blogs to my favorites. During that time period I not only lost the recipe for the lovely cupcakes dipped in chocolate, I couldn't remember the blog I found them on! Oh no! I was 'rather' upset since I'd told two of the girls at the RMH that I would make those lovely, wonderful, decadent cupcakes before they left, and they were packing up to go home this last Thursday (after staying at the house for just over a year-wow).

What the heck was I gonna do??? I'd searched and searched for the recipe, but no go.

THEN, last Monday, I gave it one last go since I knew the girls were leaving, and I found it. YES. I quickly added the blog back to my favorites, and printed off a few copies. They're called 'Red Velvet Highhats' in her blog, but I took my own path.

I baked up a regular batch of chocolate cupcakes, swirled some cream cheese frosting on them, froze them for about an hour (to ensure the frosting would stay on the cupcake when dipped), and then dipped the tops of the cupcakes in chocolate. Oh yes, they were amazing. Folks really enjoyed them, the girls were happy, and so I was happy.

The gal's cupcakes had really high frosting on them, but I didn't want too much frosting on the cupcakes. The one above is one of the 'lower' frosting cupcakes I did. I tried a bit of everything and they were all good.

Mark ended up eating the one showing above, he really liked it, and was wondering if there were anymore. Nope, I'd taken the rest to the RMH because I knew that I would eat them all up. I will never be the person who can keep CAKE and such around. Just the way it is. I can keep Oreos and such around, no sweat. Doesn't tempt me. But as for CAKE and cupcakes: ain't gonna happen no more.