Brandon and Jennifer: 4th of July Fun

5K & 1 Mile Walk:

So because I'm the Women's Sports Director in my ward, that automatically nominates me to be in charge of our little town's {simple & FREE} 5K we have every 4th of July. It was a little scary getting the news, but I've ran enough races to be confident that I could probably pull it off OK {with lots of prayers and planning :)}.

I typed up this flyer to try to spread the word in our community. I spent a lot of time asking for donations to our after-the-race-raffle from local businesses, and sometimes they wanted to see this flyer {makes sense}, so making it helped with that too.

It's 6:05am... everyone is here and ready. We had a GREAT turn out of 100 people!!! It's been much less in the past, so I was thrilled! I gave a few announcements about the raffle afterwards, and gave the 5K route directions.... ready, set, GO!

I took this picture before the race to include it with a thank you card I'm sending to all the sponsors who donated stuff to our 5K raffle.

The first 10 minutes into the race, my helpers and I set up the raffle table with prizes and got bottled water into the coolers.

I was so thankful that Katie and Desire were so willing to help! Katie has ran lots of races, so having her to bounce ideas off of during the planning was just what I needed. She organized the West Weber 5K a few years ago, so her input of what worked and what didn't was invaluable to me.

All {eleven} 1 mile walkers were back before any runners got back. They did awesome!

Cara and Kammy were the first 2 women to cross the finish line for the 5K at about 22 minutes. They killed it! Way to go ladies!

Kerry rode his bike to "rescue" runners if they needed it. But we all know he just hasn't been exercising lately. LOL.

When participants crossed the finish line, I yelled their time out to them and they were all given a raffle ticket... even the adults and kids on their bikes. :)

Zeke is in my ward... this was his first 5K. What a rock star!

Katrina is really happy to be at the finish line. That is always a good feeling.

While we waited for the last few runners to come in the flag ceremony started across the street. It was perfect timing, cause it was a chill time during the race that we wouldn't interrupt the silent moment of the raising of the flag with our 5K noise.

Yeahy... he made it. :)

Jacki was my 3rd helper. She has a fabulous and fun personality... and a great voice that everyone can hear. She took care of giving away the prizes for me. And she rocked it like I knew she would.

There was 50 prizes to give away...

I didn't record their times, or give first, second, and third place metals cause without having microchips on their shoes... it had the potential of being a big disorganized mess. Talking to the ladies who have organized this race in the past, that was their biggest challenge. So instead, I worked hard on getting lots of raffle prizes, and everyone had an equal chance to win them.

This guy won salon quality hairspray! He was a great sport about it, it was funny.

Our generous Sponsors gave...

Country Corner {local gas station}: 5 - $10 gift cards
Jeremiah's Restaurant: 1 - $15 gift certificate
C-A-L Ranch: 2 - $10 gift cards
Salon Sanity: 1 gift basket {with shampoo, conditioner, frizz serum, earrings & headband}, 1 gift card for shellac nails and glitter toes, and 1 gift card for family hair cuts.
Wood Creations: 1 summer craft with a $10 gift card
Vivid Hair Company: 2 - hair cut gift cards
Jacki's Salon: 3 - salon products {2 hair spray, and 1 mini lotion set}
Toes in the Sand Tanning: 1 - gift certificate for 5 tans
Little Caesars : 5 - Hot-n-ready pizza certificates
Isamar's Nails: 2 - glitter toes gift cards
Smith and Edwards: 4 - $10 gift cards
GriDeli's: 4 - $10 combo meal gift cards, 5 - GriDeli's t-shirts
McDonald's: 10 - value meal certificates
Dallas Green Farm & Home: 2 - $10 gift cards

Thank you Sponsors... and great job everyone!!!

Now I can breathe a big sigh of relief. The race is over and there was no hiccups. It was a success. :)

Kids Parade:

I ran home to get my kids ready for the kids parade at the church parking lot. They can decorate their bikes however they want to.

Last night, Willie washed his Gator for the parade. He washed it on the lawn and dried it off with a towel. When he was done he was so proud and said, "I'm done! My Gator is clean and shinny!" I thought the Gator would be perfect for Willie to drive around the twins in with him... maybe they can keep up with the other kids this way.

Baylee and Abbee were there. They walked around the parking lot with Will to make sure he stays on course. :) Paisley rode in the back and loved it!

I think the parade went around the church 3 times... it was so cute.

I taped flags to the windshield...

...and gave flags to the twins to hold.

Candy Cannon:

After the parade was a candy cannon in the grass.

The first 2 shots were for kids 5 & under.

Brandon, Baylee, and Abbee helped the little ones hurry and pick up all the candy off the grass.

Willie was screaming right here... Brandon just has a big smile on his face. Will felt like he didn't get enough candy.

Then the older kids had a couple cannon blasts of candy too. Then the little kids had more turns... everyone got plenty of candy. Will was happy when it was all over.

Will is waving his flag and eating candy.

Paisley and Emmy sat on the curb together to eat their suckers. They are so funny cause they seem to always be looking for the perfect size seat for them to sit down somewhere.

Willie is climbing on the huge tires...

Fireworks at Mary's:

We went to Mary and Nate's house to BBQ and watch fireworks with them.

The kids played outside and when it was dark we set up our chairs in their front yard to watch the fireworks at Fremont High. The kids waved their flags while the fireworks went off. :)