Amazing 5K / Carnival in Auburn (post #1)

Holy cow, I am still just on a high from the amazing weekend we just had!  Where do I even start?  Well, several months ago, my dear friend Emily Stevens told me that she wanted to plan a 5K fundraiser to help our family with the medical bills.  I imagined at the time about a dozen people from her ward getting together running through the streets of Auburn.  I had NO IDEA what it was going to turn into!  Emily enlisted Amber, Candi and Wendy to help her plan not only a 5K, but a full on barbeque and carnival too!  They called around to secure donations and an actual sponser of the event (Thanks MOLEN ORTHODONTICS!).  I seriously think it was my mad dancing skills at homecoming Junior year that secured that one, but who knows? But I do know the event was well funded and turned out to be so fun and memorable for all of us. 

When we showed up to the Game Farm Park in Auburn Saturday morning, it was drizzling.  Then it started pouring.  We had rented out the ampitheater area, and were setting up tents around the perimeter for the different carnival attractions.  We were trying to keep positive as we were setting up, but it was hard to not huddle under the pop-up tents to stay warm and dry.  WHO FORGOT TO PRAY FOR SUN?! 

But, the weather decided to cooperate after a little while, and ended up being just perfect!  One of the first things I did before anything else was secure myself a sweet balloon hat.  I didn't want the day to go on without everyone being constantly reminded that it was all about me.  So I went over to Bud Little before he even started his balloon art booth and demanded something AMAZING.  You be the judge:

Yeah, that's what I thought.  So then, we all gathered together to do a one mile walk - you know, to make those of us who were not going to run a 5K feel like we did something physical.  And I'm pretty sure all the runners in the crowd needed the warm up.  Oh, and there was some pretty good conversation and catching up that went on during the walk. 

One thing that was pretty trippy for me on this day was the fact that my worlds all collided.  The friends I grew up with meeting the friends that live up in Arlington with me now meeting my Hammond and Mower family relatives meeting friends from when I was in the singles ward.  I hope they all liked eachother.  I was just trying to keep all of my stories straight.  I couldn't remember which people I had told which lies. ;)

Cavin and Tory couldn't contain their excitement!  I'm pretty sure they ran the 5K like this, too.

After the walk, the 5K commenced. 

Here, Em is outlining the rules of the race:  No drafting, No cutting, No speedwalking, No coloring your hair any unnatural colors...

I heard that my brother in law Ryan drafted behind Tory pretty much the whole time.  I guess here's proof!

As far as the actual 5K goes, I'll admit, I kind of played the "cancer card". (Did you guys even know there was a cancer card?)  I REALLY didn't want to walk that far.  And even though I'm sure I could have run it, no prob, I thought I should save my energy for the cake walk.

Speaking of which...

Did I mention there was cake?  Well, there was.  There were a bunch of fun booths that the kids could take their tickets to.  Here they are:

Here's the Balloon Animal/Hat booth.  Emma and Natalie are waiting so patiently.  Karen actually told me she didn't know about Bud's talent until just recently.  She said she fell in love with him all over again.

This is John Jolley doing the "Magic Doodle".  Everyone was loving this: the kids would draw a little doodle on a page, then hand it to John who turned it in to an amazing cartoon.  He is so creative!  Thekids kept running up to me to show what John had turned their doodle in to. 

What? A professional clown?  This party was off the hook!  Yup, that's popcorn, and yes there was cotton candy. 

The bouncy house was definitely a favorite!  Here I am high-fiving one of the cutest little jumpers in there.  Oh, I didn't even realize - it's Emma!  Gosh, she's cute. 

Scott Stevens manned the Lollipop Tree.  The kids were pretty excited to not only get a lollipop, but maybe win a prize.  This is Grant, my nephew, was clearly disappointed to not pull a winner.  Scott seems secretly happy about that though... I'll have to talk to him about that.

Apparently I didn't win a prize either.  I took it worse than Grant did.  Now, I'll tell you about the booth I loved the very most:

This kid was hilarious.  I don't know his name, or the name of his friend who helped him, but they cracked me up.  They'd stand out there shouting for people to come in to their Peep Show, but they wouldn't say what it was.  Well, me and Clint decided to brave it.  I asked the kids if we'd get hurt if we went in there, and they said, "Not if you don't want to!"  What was that supposed to mean?!  We were just laughing so hard.  So, in to the tent we climbed with a couple of other curious kids.  We brought in Clint's dog for protection.  Well, it turns out the Peep Show was quite literal.  Peeps. Dancing Peeps.  And they let you eat one at the end if you wanted to.

Here's where the magic happened.  Amber and Candi did such an awesome job planning and executing the food tents.  My hot dog was luke warm, but other than that, they did great. I kinda think Amber's shirt wasn't bright enough either!  No, really - this was a lot of work and we were very well fed.  Thanks gurlz!  (And the men who helped them...)

Here are some cute pics of a few of the kids who got their faces painted:  This first one is my niece Natalie. She was a kitty cat!

There are a ton more pictures and lots more to talk about, but it's so late and I need to go to bed.  So rather than save this and add to it later (who knows when "later" is going to be?), I'll just leave you with a "to be continued..."  I'll keep you on your toes.