An Awesome Night of Fun

Well the auction went great on Thursday! We raised a lot of money for Tegan and I pray that it helps her and her family with the day to day costs. I loved being a part of it all. Thank You Jen for letting me help. We got to the Red Lion at 3pm to set up. Erin, Alison and I were getting all of the centerpieces ready. We had fish bowls filled with pretty pink and purple rocks and goldfish. They were slippery little suckers! So much in fact that Erin ended up spilling the bag of like 30 fish on the floor and there was goldfish flopping all around. It was pretty funny and I just want to reassure everyone that we saved every single fish.....including the one I found under the table about 5 minutes later! We got the slide show working on the projecter and then the band showed up to set up and practice. The bands name was Brothers of Jared and they were really, really good! They played a lot of old and new stuff. I was really impressed with them. I highly recommend them. After setting up, we all rushed home to get ready and head back to start greeting people. I was positioned up front with Brandi, Shelby and Alison. Shelby and Alison are aunts of Tegan. It was really awesome to get to know them and work beside them most of the night. Our job was to sell raffle tickets, greet people and assign them a bid number. After the auction we were also in charge of checking the winning bidders out at the end of the night. That proved to be the toughest job throughout the whole night. It was pure chaos but everyone ended up paying and being happy with what they won. Even Brenda Baumgartner and Todd Blackinton from channel 6 news came. Brenda won a fun gift and it was really neat to see them there just showing their support for the Salce's, not because they were reporting the event. The auctioneer, Roger, did an amazing job with getting people to bid higher and making it a fun night for everyone. I never did get to go inside the auction because I was super busy selling tickets and checking people out but I could hear him and he sounded like he was having lots of fun too. We had one game called 50/50. Anyone who bought a ticket for it was eligible to win half of the pot at the end of the night. I knew the lady that won it and she ended up donating her half back to the family!! What an awesome thing to do! The whole night was so much fun. My family and Nicks parents showed up too and they all stayed the whole night. Carter, my son, had so much fun playing with all of the big kids at the auction. It was so fun to watch him laugh and run around. They all ended up dancing on the dance floor to the band. I'm pretty sure they had a good time too. Towards the end, Shelby, Tegan's aunt, got up and thanked everyone and there wasn't a dry eye in the room. Earlier in the evening, I had 2 small boys, along w/their mom, come up to the table and put $20 each in the donation cans. I thanked them for their generosity and the mom pointed to one of her boys and said, "This is my little survivor. He was diagnosed when he was 5 and he made it. Ive know people on both sides and we support anyone going through this." All four of us at the table were bawling like babies. Its just so amazing to see how generous people can be and that they really do care. I am so blessed to be a part of this and I pray for Tegan everyday that she will get stronger and healthier for her big surgery on the 29th. Thank you to everyone who came and showed your support. Mostly I am thankful for my beautiful children and for their health. You never know when it could be them in the hospital fighting for their life. We are going to start planning our next fundraiser for Nov. 7. A craft fair with lots of neat stuff. Keep it open on your calendars and please keep Tegan in your prayers! Thanks everyone!