Boatnik 2014

This year Nate actually had some time off during the Annual Boatnik weekend - we went together a couple of times and we had a great time - I love it when he gets time off during community events like these - we love getting out together!

So, Boatnik ... The day started with a parade down sixth street that I actually ended up walking in with the Club ... it was a lot of fun and the kiddos were all really excited ... I'm super grateful for comfortable running shoes, though - my feet really could have been hurting!

 

After the parade we went to the V.I.P. tent with my co-workers (it's kind of nice knowing people who know people) - we sat on the deck, had lunch & drinks and watched the boat exhibitions! 

 

The following day, Nate & I headed back over to the V.I.P. tent but instead of sitting up on the deck, we went and sat below it and had great, great seating for the Memorial Day celebration and the boat race that followed ...

   

 I absolutely love the Memorial Day traditions that they have here, which include the National Anthem while the American Flag is unfolded over the bridge, a moment of silent and a wreath that floats down the river while bagpipes play "Amazing Grace," gunshots from the local military branch and this year, we had an awesome flyover!

   

We had a wonderful weekend together! 

BGCA National Conference

It's been a while since I've mentioned how much I LOVE my job! The first week of May I was blessed to be able to go to San Francisco with three of my co-workers so that we could attend the Boys & Girls Clubs of America National Conference!

It. Was. AMAZING.

We had an afternoon to spend upon arrival so we walked down to the pier, had fresh crab and took lots and lots of pictures! I joked with the ladies that this would be their best document trip E V E R ... and it was!

Here is a slideshow of the pictures that I took and some of the experiences that we had ...

(Weird ... the video cuts out half way through ... I'll look into that ... for now, just enjoy the first part!)

Attending this conference and "drinking the kool-aid" was one of the best experiences that I have ever been blessed to do! The speakers were motivational, the classes were wonderful and I feel beyond blessed to be a part of the Boys & Girls Club Movement!

Random April Fun {2014}

April was a C R A Z Y month at our house - we had visitors, work events, and a lot of fun!

The month started out with this guy saving my behind at work by helping me purchase and set up a new computer after mine crashed weeks before our biggest event of the year! I'm so grateful to have a husband who not only knows computers, but is willing to spend  hours on his day off to help out his wife!!

We went on a date to our favorite Chinese restaurant and had some delicious, delicious food!

I got some new shoes that I just can't help but adore ...

We had a quiet, low key, beautiful Easter! We made blue pancakes for breakfast (because for some reason they sounded festive), colored Easter eggs and made Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner!

We had a surprise visit from an old friend, Jared, from High School! We drove to Medford to pick him up and we went out to dinner at a delicious Irish Pub! It was SO much fun to see him and catch up!!

I'll post more about our giant Special Event that we had for work another time, but the event was a very large scale Live Auction & Dinner. One of the items that was donated for the Auction was this awesome guitar - used and autographed by the band Styx! A picture was definitely needed ;)

Another SUPER exciting part of April was that we had a visit from our favorite Dutson family!! I'll post about that separately as well, but after they left I was happy that there were Fruit Loops left in the cupboard - they made a delicious breakfast for a few days!! AND, they brought us a jar of Weeks Raspberry Jam from Logan - my mouth waters just to think about it, and of course it didn't last long ...

And one last highlight of the month was that I was able to head out to the Dutch Bros. headquarters with two of my co-workers to tour their facilities, shop at the Dutch Bros. Store and have some yummy chocolate chai! This company does SO MUCH for the non-profit organizations in Southern Oregon (they were started in Grants Pass and are HUGE supporters of the Club) and it was fun to go out and talk to the owner and hear his thoughts about the Club and our community!

There's our crazy April in a nutshell!

Taste of the Rogue

So we just got done with our biggest annual event, Taste of the Rogue! We have spent months and months and months preparing and procuring items for the silent and live auction, working with restauraunts, planning decorations, working on videos, programs, and slideshows ... and it was awesome!

This was my first TOR experience because I started at the Club just after it ended last year and from what I've been told, this year's TOR was the best that has been put on and it ran the most smooth, as well! My jobs for the event included creating the Live Auction Catalog, creating the Live Auction Slideshow and creating the videos that were played at the event ...

THIS video took me so much time, love and preparation and I am absolutely in love with it:

 

The event was a HUGE success and even though it was exhausting, it was a really great evening (and several months prepping for it)! I'm so blessed to be able to work events like these and to help inspire people to make a difference in the lives of the kids in our community!

Here are a few pics from the evening:

This was my FAVORITE part of the evening, our Sponsor A Kid ask - it was amazing to see how much response we got during this part of the program!

 

Meet Jessica & Megan - a few of my amazing co-workers!

The whole crew! This group worked SO hard to make the event as wonderful as it was!

March Fun {2014}

Where did the last month go? We have been so busy! Anyway, here's a quick re-cap of the fun that we had in March!

I was invited to attend a Zonta (a women's service organization group) Luncheon with my friend Talia so we got dressed up and pretended to be fancy for an afternoon:

I updated our picture board with the most adorable kids in the WORLD:

 

The Grower's Market started and we found our new favorite food: The Thai Guy Pizza from Rosie's Inferno! No Saturday will be complete without this yummy pizza from now on!!

 
 

We decided to act proactively this year and we built a "fence" to keep the snakes off our patio this summer! We built it out of wire mesh - we've had some skeptics weigh in on whether or not it will work and the jury is still out because it hasn't been warm enough to see them yet, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed!! I'd really love to be able to spend some time outside this summer - we'll keep you posted!! :) I also planted some new strawberries from starts that I got from a friend AND my raspberries came in without a hitch! Now we'll just see if we can keep them alive!!

We had some really beautiful sunsets and evenings in March - our cold weather went away and we enjoyed time outdoors and going on drives!!

The Thai Guy pizza that we started buying at the Grower's Market inspired Nate to get creative with dinner a couple of times - he made a delicious BBQ Chicken Pizza - YUM!!

March was a very fulfilling month at work for me - I finally launched the website that I re-built for the Club! This thing was MONTHS in the making and I am so glad that it finally launched! If you want to check it out, you can see it at: www.begreat4kids.com. After the launch, my sweet boss Diann brought me these beautiful flowers - I didn't even tell her that Gerber Daisey's were my favorite!

So there you have it, our March in a nutshell!! :)