Relay for Life 2019

Our annual Relay for Life took place last weekend and I'm 100% serious when I say that I'm still riding that high from our event! Apart from a Relay several years back (when McAlister's was there with the tea), this was seriously one of my top favorite Relay events for me!

A little back story in case you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about - I'm an oncology nurse, I work with patient's who are receiving radiation. I absolutely love what I do and love working with cancer patients. When I transitioned in this department about 12 years ago, my boss introduced me to the idea of Relay for Life and the American Cancer Society and asked me to join their team. After attending one relay event, I cried like a baby and was hooked!! I now sit on the event leadership team and at this year's relay, I was in charge of making sure the activities and games took place in a timely manner!

I also twisted my friend Kim's arm and encouraged her to join the committee with us to be my activities co-lead! We had SO much fun this year!

The Louisiana Ghostbuster's team picks one relay in the state of Louisiana each year to attend and fund raise for. They literally had the gear, the sirens, and the whole 9 yards! It was so cool to see and a huge hit with the kids!

My hospital team! :)

Our band this year was phenomenal. I visited another relay last year where I heard them play and loved them! I'm so glad we were able to snag Johnny Earthquake and the Moondogs this year!

About half an hour before this aired, I was told that I was going on the news. (Basically it was a game of "not it"! Thanks, guys!) Thankfully, it all went ok. Although I don't mind public speaking, live things still make me a bit nervous!

Right at 7 p.m., our event kicked off with opening ceremonies and the survivor lap!

A new addition this year was the confetti poppers for the survivor lap. This was yet another idea we saw while visiting a local relay this year and loved it!

As official "activities chair", that meant we also had the opportunity to taste test all of the yummy goodies for the sweet off!

Our theme this year was the "Colors of Cancer" where we encouraged each team to pick a diagnosis/cancer they've been affected by and go with that cancer's color. A lot of teams (our hospital team included) decided to go with a multi-color approach to support all of the different cancer diagnoses out there.

The above dessert was the winner! That sugar cookie was seriously the bomb.com. I don't even know if that's a phrase anymore, but I'm using it anyway. 

The cake/icing was delicious, too...and the spoons/forks they provided were also painted to match their theme! 

This team's theme was around the color teal because their mom passed away from cervical cancer. 

We had probably 15 desserts to taste. Poor things, right?

We also had a photo booth there with a personalized backdrop (from a green screen). We also each received a 4x6 printed photo and a digital version as well. Pretty snazzy!

I'm glad we stopped for a picture when we did because we were so busy, we never saw the photo booth again! 

At 9 p.m., all of the generators and lights were turned off and we took a few moments during the luminaria ceremony to honor our survivors and those who've lost their battle with cancer. My grandfather (pictured on the bags above) lost his battle with lung cancer my senior year in high school.

This is truly a reverent and personal time and one of my favorites of the night.

Another addition this year was the inclusion of fireworks after the luminaria ceremony. They were SO neat to see and the show was pretty great, too!

Brayden loved the fireworks!!

At the end of the night, we not only reached our goal, we actually exceeded our goal by $10,000!! As I mentioned,  this event was one of my favorites ever and I loved how everything/everyone came together to fight this terrible disease we call cancer!

Until next year... :)

Have you ever participated in a Relay for Life event? If so, what was your favorite part of the evening?