Canstruction 2013

So we do this every single year at work.

It's called "Canstruction" which is a nationwide effort to help with hunger across America. Our specific efforts go towards helping the needs of many local food banks supported by Access of West Michigan... which every year around this time is supported by the WZZM 13 "Food For Families" food drive. Each department raises funds to purchase non-perishable food items and then decides how best to display those items in a unique and artistic way. And every year, Catherine Behrendt from WZZM comes out with a crew to not only tally and accept the donations but to judge and award the top trophies to our final creations as well. It's all in good fun for a great cause!

And every year each department comes up with some very creative ideas!

These were this year's entries and winners!...

Gold Trophy

Hunger Is Despicable... :)

Silver Trophy

Hunger Bugs Us...

Bronze Trophy

Operation Zap Hunger...

And there were so many other creative ones as well, such as:

Fishing for Food (Which included about a hundred cans of tuna fish.) ~ Wow!

I'm Grouchy When I'm Hungry ~ Cute!

Racing Against Hunger ~ (Channeling the Fifth Third River Bank Run and displaying structural integrity to the max!)

R2D2.. Forcing Out Hunger ~ Adorable!

And then there was ours... the I.T. Department's... or rather mine and Renee's, I mean. But after 8 years of doing this, we'd sort of run out of ideas... Still, that didn't stop us. Because there are ALWAYS ideas to be had...

Don't Let Hunger Get You Down... ~ haha

But then we got a little nervous that we might get marked down about not keeping within the spacial confines of the allotted blue taped border...

So we rearranged the border...

And even though we didn't win (heck we didn't even place!).. it's really all about the food donations that matter in the end, right?

Anyway, together we helped to raise nearly 7,500 lbs of food for the cause while enjoying a a ton of smiles in the meantime.

This link from WZZM may not last for long, so catch it while you can. While you CAN... Get it?

From 0 to 86 in Three Days on ALOT of Wheels... (Aspen Grove)

Don't ask me to explain the title. It was really just the first thing I came up with...

Anyway, just returned from a fun filled weekend in Provo Canyon for the Salisbury reunion at Aspen Grove!... sadly minus the patriarch. :(

We've had several family reunions and attempted a ton of family pictures but this one was pretty amazing in that only two of our family members were missing and then (unfortunately) only three who had actully been there are missing from the photo...

But still, what a great photo!

We had a wonderful time and I had the opportunity to get a glimpse into just how incredibly awesome and FUN my parents' progenitors actually are!

Of course I've always KNOWN that about mine...

Me and My Girls

My Top 10 Memories...

• Everyone arriving!
• Calder calling me Jannet. Yes, just Jannet...
• The view from my window!
• Mini-golf and Shuffleboard.
• Jade at 3:00am saying "Grandma I can't sleep! You're being too noisy!"
• All the Dining Hall antics.
• Rachel chasing the train... (pricless!)
• The view from the pottery studio.
• Apples To Apples, Pictionary and Rummikub
• Zumba at 7:00am on the badminton court.

Not to negate at ALL all the hugs from my grandkids (and kids!) and watching the kids play while also seeing watching their parents enjoying a few rare moments of alone time...

And did I mention how great it was to be able to finally spend some good quality time with my mom? (Thanks for the help Aaron!)

I'm being completely serious here. She had SUCH a great time! And so thank you to everyone who helped make that possible! She'd been planning this reunion for such a long, long time! And overall, I think it turned out to be absolutely perfect! Everything she'd dreamed of. And I dare say that goes for the rest of us too...

You can see the rest of the reunion pics here