Pictures!

 I didn't take nearly as many pictures while I was in South Dakota as one would think. Normally I'm the shutterbug capturing every moment. Here's what I have gathered from other people - Amanda, Julie, Carla. and a few from my cell phone. If you have pictures from Mom's funeral, Relay or other shots of her last few weeks, please send them to me!

So without further ado...

This one turned out blurry - but it's Tony using his "Indian Purse" - Our funeral director Chad got a kick out of it, though I'm not sure Brenda was impressed.

We decided Momma needed to go out in style - This is Crawford's 1957 Cadillac Hearse.

The inset of Mom's Casket - In God's Care

Her Solid Oak Box... we really thought it fit her.

Mom's temporary grave site marker

Momma's Grave site.

We thought it was only appropriate that we went to Relay after Mom's funeral. Dianne's Determine Dreamers came out in 6 fold... There were a LOT of us...

Our Tentsite - Great Job Julie!

Erica Walking for Grammi

Brenda walking with her Family

Our  group (Plus or minus a few)

Shannie, Brenda & Erica

Erica with Tysen

Waiting to take a team picture.

More waiting.

Walking with my gradeschool classmate Angie.

It was Kathy's Idea that we all wear one of Mom's hats while we walked. So she brought the bounty and let every one choose their favorite to wear!

Dianne's Battle is OUR Battle

Our Survivor Jackie - Double mastectomy just a few months ago !

Shannie

Kimmy Sue - entertainment chair!

Elio & Tony

Erica was pretty determine to walk for her Grammi.

LOOK! Tony's HOLDING MY HAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Our Family :)

It was so fun to walk with this many people - we just wish we would have been walking in Honor of Mom instead of in Memory of her.

Jason, Tony, Eric & Luke

Lisa - Rhonda - Carla & Jackie

One Full campsite!

Our Luminary

Adding her Survivor pin

Me with our Luminaria

About the time I lost it... tears, tears and more tears. Relay is going to be a lot harder from now on.

Carter's Luminary for Grammi - Great job buddy!

Luminaria

For Grandpa PaPa

By Erica

By Julie (?)

Such a pretty time of Relay...

That's by Troy - He drew Grammi watching him play Tee ball...

I think this is the back of Carter's - He drew Grammi in her Vikings Gear!

Lighting them up!

One someone else made :)

By Julie

So pretty...

Today...

I've been dreading this day for a while. The day we take our Momma to her final resting place. We know she is in a better place, but that doesn't make us miss her any less.

Today the plan is as follows for those of you who wish to join in...

The Funeral is at Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer at 2pm.
The Burial will follow at Mt. Hope Cemetery where we will lay her to rest right beside her Grandparents and Great Grandparents.
There will be a cookie and coffee reception at the Church following the burial.

At 9pm the family will be headed to the Codington County Relay for Life to walk a couple laps in memory of our Mom; please join us, because Dianne's Battle is Our Battle!

Funeral & Visitation Schedule

Visitation at Crawford Funeral Home on Thursday June 23rd from 4pm to 7pm

Funeral at Lutheran Church of Our Redeemer in Watertown on Friday June 24th 2pm,  coffee and cake reception to follow.

Also, Come join us for a few laps at Allen Mitchell track for Codington County Relay for Life after the service and reception to continue our fight against Cancer to honor Mom.

Not to be left out

I also have the link for Dianne's Determine Dreamers page for Relay for Life.
They will be Relaying on June 24th in Watertown South Dakota if you'd like to join them - if you'd like to donate click HERE!!!

Go Dreamers Go!

Diannes Determine Dreamers

I am snagging pictures from Julie left and right off of Facebbok recently. However, I feel this one REALLY needed to be posted! What a GREAT looking group of people!

GO TEAM!

Down with Chemo!

We wish we could cure Mom's cancer with hugs... not Drugs... but she's going in on Friday for her last round of maintenance chemotherapy before her next PET scan.
We're hoping the Chemo doesn't make her super sick like it did last time, and really hoping that the pneumonia holds off all together.

In Relay news... Mom had 2 teams walking to support her and they both made "BRONZE" fundraising status! I recieved an e-mail today from the ACS letting us know that The Hope Corps "Final" total fundraising was $3,653.16! Way to Rock the fundraising! Thank you all so much for your support for BOTH teams! We're so blessed!

-a

Relay for Life 2010 : Codington County!

I cannot believe that over 3 weeks have passed since we walked at the Codington County Relay For Life...but all the wonderful feelings rush back as I look at the pics Abby chose to share on the blog.

It was a WARM day but our excitement built as we set up camp!

And emotions built as we watched Dianne and Norm line up for the Survivor's lap.

It was NEAT watching them walk it together...

Our boys did not understand WHY they let their balloons go!! We tried to explain...

No words can explain how we felt when we joined Dianne!! Let's just say it was emotional...to be honest, tears were shed but not as many as I prepared for... It probably helped having the boys looking at us like "What?" But wow for the lump in my throat!!

AMAZING feeling walking hand in hand ... side by side!!!

The bag says it all...

Again the bag says it all...we sure LOVE our Grammi/Mom/Daughter/Sister/Aunt/Cousin/Friend

Having a good time walking and talking!! :)

Oh, Kyman...what can ya say?

Carter enjoying his face paint!!

Our theme...inspired by Vikings/Dianne's Determined Dreamers

Rodney, Tony & Kyle Representing (Go Team Kneeland Construction!)

Resting- tho it was hard to stop!! Exhaustion wanted to settle in

Just keep walking, Just keep walking, walking, walking, waaaaalking (Dory's "Just keep Swimming" ... From Finding Nemo).

Johanna all snuggled up for a lil' nap! I couldn't have done it - I wouldn't have gotten back up!

Heather's Neat Poster - LOVE the pic of Cooper!!!

Heather and Joe Representing!

Tony's last lap of his 21 miles...he just HAD to beat Abby's 20 miles!!! Oh, sibling rivalry!!! :D It's great motivation, that's for sure!!! I made it 16 miles - my goal was 8, so I was happy!! And didn't push myself - didn't want cramping, sore muscles, etc!! ;) Everyone that stayed over night walked more than 10 miles!

Those that stayed all night were Erica, Johanna, Heather, Joe, Rodney, Tony and I!! Carter, Troy and Kyle stayed all night, too, but eventually did go to sleep in the tent - who knows how many miles they put on!! Troy made it the longest...he wanted to keep walking all night, but I finally talked him into laying down a lil' after 2 am. They had A LOT of fun!! And I believe understand a bit more about "Cancer"...

I sincerely am SOOOOO proud of our team!!!! They kicked butt with donations - we made BRONZE status!! Still waiting to receive our sign... They surpast my goal by a looooonnnnggg shot!!!! I'm so proud of how we came together to honor such a special person in such a short amount of time (I only gave them 2 weeks)!!! And the memories made that night are PRICELESS!!!!! I cannot say THANKS enough to EVERYone for EVERYthing!!! It was an INCREDIBLE experience and I look forward to doing it again in 2011!!! Hopefully WITH Abby!!! ;)

LOTS of Love,
Julie