Revenge of the Nice People!!

{Pre-note:  I was messing around with the order of blog pages and accidentally deleted the header at the top.  Whoops.  I am so smrt and can't figure out how to get it back--so for now there's a blank space, baby.  Back to your unregularly scheduled blog post.}

I've had a lot of people ask how the fundraiser went!

I'll tell you how it went.

It went



AWESOME!!!


The forecast for the 16th was rain.  We still had high hopes, and when everyone arrived at the park at 6 AM, it was already a gorgeous day.

At 6:15 AM, as we were setting up, it began to sprinkle.

At 6:30 AM, the temperature had dropped into the 40's and the clouds began to let loose.

My youngest sister--who is someone you don't mess with--was lousy with umbrage.

Completely unrelated note:  this younger sister also looks exactly like Taylor Swift.

Taylor Swift: 

Little sister:

Crazy, right?  I keep telling her she should go on a crime spree while pretending to be Taylor Swift.

Anyway, back to the fundraiser.

I think if I could have one word to describe the weather, it'd be soggy.  We had the pavilions and set up a billion canopies, but it was still so, so wet.  Every step we took squished.  We were scared that no one would come.

But people came.

Soooo many people came!!

Even though it was miserable and soggy, people still came to donate and to buy and to see my sister and to help out.  It was amazing.

{But it really was the rain!}

I was in the furthest pavilion out, drawing caricatures with my buddy Lauren.  She's only 17 but did an amazing job!  I'm glad I got to work with her.

Poor Lauren, though.  She was freezing.  It was soooooo cold.

The moment you realize 

you're turning into your mother.

We still had a great time with the kids!

Soooo...the girl had just been at the nail painting station.

Oops.

I missed the live auction, which was too bad, because one of my sisters had designed and sewn dresses for it.

I would've bought ALL OF THEM.

My Taylor-Swift sister won the middle one.  And my director, Bryan {who came all the way from Bountiful!}, won the dress on the left.

It wasn't for him, though {though he'd look great in it!}  It's for his 3 daughters--in a few years.  They're not teenagers yet and don't fit into it.  But he told me that he was so touched a sister would sacrifice and make dresses to save her sister that he bought it and gave it to his girls, and told them that whenever they wore it, they would remember how sisters bore each others' burdens.

*sobs*

Anyway :)

But I know what you're all really wondering.  You're wondering:  Did she get those chocolates she wanted??

YES I DID!!

And the Disney Artist Jumpstart Kit--it sold!!!  It sold with flying colors!!  In fact, it sold for so much, I think I might actually fly the kid to Disneyland and teach them there, just to make it worth it.  Hahaha. :)




Here are some pictures from the event:

My nieces and nephews singing with the band that came.

My sister Katie, and her husband Robert.  

Their wedding pictures were also taken in the rain 

with a red-and-white striped umbrella.  

So I think this is pretty sweet :)

Here's me :)

 Katie's family, ready to launch their balloons.

They sang: "My Heavenly Father Loves Me" before they launched the balloons.  I heard it was so touching--I wish I'd been there. {I was...still drawing at the pavilion hahaha}  {But it was great!}

 Love it :) :)

It was all a smashing success.  We sold all the bake sale items, we sold all the live auction items, we sold all the baskets!  With everyone's help and kindness, we raised over 100,000 dollars!!!

That will buy a big part of a bone marrow transplant!!!

So now I'm getting all weepy again {it's the rain :)} but I just want to say thank you.  Thank you so much for all your help, your donations, you prayers.  It means the world to all of us.

Thank you. :) :) :)




Addendum.  Remember the biker dude?  It turns out he actually looks more like this:

{He may or may not wear a bow tie.}