JDRF Race for the Cure

Last Saturday Nick, Allie, and I walked with 16 other members of my family in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Race for the Cure at Tempe Town Lake. My cousin Samantha was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when she was only 5. After she was diagnosed they tested her for other autoimmune diseases and diagnosed her with Celiac Disease, too. She is such an awesome kid! I remember when she was really little asking if things were gluten free before she ate it. She could also tell me that she was allowed to have 15 cheetos for a snack. At such a young age! She blew me away! She has the best attitude about it and it such a good example to me. I am always asking her about things to help me understand it better for school. This was our second year walking and it was sometimes overwhelming to see all the different shirts. Almost all of the teams make matching shirts and some were very moving. My mom and I being the bawl bags that we are got a little teary eyed reading a few. Especially the ones that read "In Loving Memory of". Samantha designed our shirts and they said, "Samantha's Mission Possible" on the front with a footprint under the lettering and "Target the Cure Juvenile Diabetes" on the back. There were over 26,000 walkers this year and it was decided that they needed to have two seperate walks on the same day next year. Our family agrees :) We had a fun time together on the walk and look forward to doing it next year! Thanks Samantha for inviting us and for having such a strong spirit! We love you!

My cousin's husband

works for GoDaddy

who is a major

sponsor so he and

his wife wore the

orange and white

GoDaddy shirts

with green hats.

These are Samantha's

parents. They are

amazing. They have

had to learn to be

mathematicians,

chemists, nurses, and

Samantha's emotional

rocks.

Samantha and Allie.

If Samantha is

around this is where

you will find Allie...

in her arms. Allie

adores her cousins.

This picture is pretty

dark, but I love

Brittany's face in it.

We had to keep

stopping and make

sure everyone was

together. There

were so many people!

Good 'ole Daddy

pulling that wagon

again. Most of the

time it had two kids

in it and Nick pulled

it the whole time.

Thanks honey!

Brittany and her

husband, Eric.

We had to stop

and refuel with

some trailmix

and water.

This picture cracks

me up because

Allie and Caleb

have the same

face and they look

like what we all

felt like at the end.

Those free

hotdogs and chips

at the end make

it all worth it!