Miss Becky's Blog

SMILEY'S FUN RUN -- Logan, Utah - October 21, 2006

TOP SECRET ADVENTURE REVEALED . . .

On Friday, the day before the BIG SURPRISE, Ken was assigned to officiate a high school football game, a long way from our home. That was really good because Ken left town early in the afternoon and did not return home until late that night, allowing family members to gather in Logan to prepare for the event. Our daughter Kara flew in from Boston that day and daughter, Amy and her son, McKay flew in from Arizona. McKay was so excited about coming that he called to tell me that he was about to get on the airplane, but Pappy (Ken) answered the phone. McKay asked to talk to Nana (that's me) and Pappy told him that I was in Provo and to call my cell phone. When Ken asked McKay how come he was calling in the middle of the day, shouldn't he be in school -- McKay made up some story that he was on his way to school late that day because of a Pep Rally or something. Often McKay will call and talk to us as they are driving somewhere, so Ken was not suspicious AND Ken later said he really didn't understand what he was saying about a "pep rally" ... but then he often does not understand the grandchildren when they are talking on the phone.

The morning of October 21, 2006 a layer of fog lay on the floor of Cache Valley where Logan, Utah is located ... the valley is surrounded with mountains. The fog was due to the cold temperatures and the mositure in the air, as it had rained all day and most of the night before our FUN RUN.

The layer of fog covered the lower part of the valley that included the Golf Course where we intended to start the RUN. This picture shows the Temple, a special landmark in our city. It is in the middle of our town, on a hill so you can see it from all points in the valley. Our RUN took us past the Temple, which is over a 100 years old. The Temple is a very special place for us and four of our five children were born in a hospital that was located just across the street from this place at the time. That hospital was removed when a new one was built about 20 years ago.

Here is Lindsay, a niece; daughter, Kara, my sister, Dianne (mother of ten children); Emilee, niece, Katie, niece holding her baby and son, Brady. These three nieces are all Dianne's daughters. We are gathering at the Golf Course for the start of the RUN ... the fog still in the air and you can how cold it was.

The sun arrived before Ken did, but you can still see the fog coming off the water areas and the frost on the grass in the shadow of the Club House. It became a beautiful fall day in our valley as the sun touched the earth the frost melted quickly and the fog was gone so we started SMILEY's FUN RUN in the warmth of SUNSHINE --- so fitting for the SUNSHINE to come out as we "ran" for the SUNSHINE Project!

A friend picked Ken up following a basketball meeting and drove him to the Golf Course. We were all waiting in the parking lot and Ken just stared at all of us, wondering what is the world we were doing. I came and opened the door of the car inviting him to get out. He was surprised to see me as he thought that I was in Provo at my Dad's home.

At first all he saw was a huge HAPPY BIRTHDAY sign and lots of people singing Happy Birthday to him -- there were four of our five children, a daughter-in-law, four of our eight grandchildren, Pingle, our dog, several nieces and cousins from Salt Lake City, my two sisters from Colorado and California, one brother-in-law and several friends and neighbors. At first he was a little embarrassed, because he does not like to draw a lot of attention to himself, but when I told him about SMILEY'S FUN RUN to not only celebrate his 70th birthday, but to raise funds for the Sunshine Project, he was really pleased and touched.

Ken starts SMILING and LAUGHING as he realizes what is happening. Here he hugs our daughter, Kara, who flew in from Boston the day before. Ken had returned her phone call the night before and Kara had thought it was a friend calling her and when he asked where she was, she answer she was in Utah!!! Realizing her mistake, she quickly said something like she couldn't hear him well, her phone had a bad connection, so she would call him back. She waited a while and called him and told him that she had taken some medication that had made her confused and she was not feeling well, so she would talk to him the next day. Ken believed what she said because he knew that she was suffering some bad backpain and was seeing a doctor about it. When Ken saw her that morning, he said, "So you really were in Utah!" That is why she is laughing so hard and he SMILED as he began to understand it all!!!

We gave Ken a shirt and here he is with Richard Criddle, his golfing buddy, who had brought him to the Golf Course. Richard had his jacket zipped up covering his FUN RUN shirt when he picked up Ken.

Here's Ken with the Birthday sign we made for him and it was the first thing he saw with all the people at the Golf Course. McKay and Baylor, our two oldest grandchildren, are helping to hold up the sign.

Turning the Birthday sign around, we see the FUN RUN sign we made the night before. McKay and Baylor are still the sign holders, while Ken/Smiley talks to our daughter, Kara and our son, Jason who had been at the basketball meeting that morning earlier with Ken. Jason left the meeting called us to let us know the meeting was over and our friend went to get Ken, as he had asked Ken to help him with a project that morning and had told him he would pick him up after the meeting. Then Richard drove Ken to the Golf Course!!!

The FUN RUN begins on the Golf Course Road with the children leading the way. Pingle, our dog is really pulling Kayla, a niece, along. After we got to the first corner, we rolled up the sign, as Baylor and McKay wanted to "run" ... the rest of us "walked and talked" and had a great time.

The course of the FUN RUN to covered seven miles ... Starting at Ken's favorite Golf Course, where he LOVES to play golf and "hunt" for lost balls, to finish at Ft Smiley, the name Ken gave our HOME some years ago!!! Our FUN RUN would take us pass most of the special places in Logan where we and our family had spent time and had many special memories of.

We first passed a park where Ken and our children had played ball games, then a small Zoo, where a bull elk was bellowing and charged us, but ran into a fence before he reached us. You can see the fence was just before this row of trees!! It was exciting for the children, they loved seeing such a big animal so close.

Our son, K.C. and his family who live in Las Vegas did the FUN RUN there that morning, shirts and prizes for the children had been sent ahead of time.

As we were "walking" along K.C. called my cell phone from Las Vegas to report that he had completed his miles that morning -- K.C. and his wife, Holly, each completed 70 miles for our project. Ken/Smiley talked to him on the cell phone as we walked and told him how surprised he was -- he had no idea about what we had been doing. OUR TOP SECRET MISSION WAS ACCOMPLISHED!!!

While K.C. ran his wife took their little girls, Allie (1 1/2 years old) and Savanah (four-years-old) to the park where Savanah rode her bike and Holly pushed Allie in the stroller getting some more "miles" for our project.

The Las Vegas Mitchells had finished their FUN RUN before we had completed the first mile of our's in Logan. In this way ALL of our children and grandchildren participated in SMILEY's FUN RUN...that was REALLY special to Ken!

Our walk took us pass many interesting places and several different friends along the way including these horses:

Two of our granddaughters who love "horese" and are taking horse riding lessons and had to stop and pet the horses.

We walked pass the Logan High School Football field where our sons played high school football and Ken has officiated many football games, including several Little League games (for younger boys) just two Saturdays earlier. This is the school where Ken currently coaches basketball. Then into the center of our town we stopped for some water and snacks.

We did not have time to stop at Ken's favorite bakery, which he finds hard to pass on his way home from golfing!!!

This building, the Tabernacle, is located on the Main street in the middle of our town. It is a special place where all our children were baptized and we have attended many church, community meetings and concerts there.

We had "walked" for over two miles, when my sisters and their children turned around, returned to the Golf Course to get their cars and headed to Provo for a Birthday Celebration for my Dad that day.

It had really warmed up and we were enjoying a beautiful fall day.

Many of the streets are lined with trees in our city and it was fun to walk in the leaves that had fallen on the sidewalks.

Our two oldest grandsons along with our daughter Amy were "running" most of the route and way out ahead of the rest of us. The two grandsons wanted to "win". I had already told Baylor when he asked what the "winner" would get, that everyone in the FUN RUN was a "winner." Everyone who finished the SEVEN miles were winners!!! That was a really big challenge for the children. All the grandchildren received a bag of "smiley-faced" toys, pencils, notebook, candy, etc. when they finished, just like all the children at the Gao Chun school will receive when they finished their FUN RUN the next Saturday on October 28th.

The Three Mile marker was right in front of the Temple and then we continued walking pass Adams School, the elementary school that all our children attended, which had been built the same year that Ken was born! Up that street led us to the foot of Aggie Hill, the top of that hill is the campus of Utah State University.

This is the "Aggie Hill" ... the letter "A" is on the top of the tower on Old Main (the main administration building on campus -- President's office is in this building as well as teaching classrooms.) The small building on the left-hand side of the picture is the "Media Services Building" where Ken's first office was when he was hired at Utah State University to be the Sports Information Director.

We "walked" across the campus, pass all the buildings that Ken had worked and played in ....

This is the Field House, which has an indoor track, basketball and tennis courts, fitness and weight-lifting equipment, etc. This is where Ken would play basketball at noon most days when he was working at USU ... the group he plays with call themselves the NBA -- Noon Basketbal Association. Even after retirement, Ken returns at noon to play "hoops" at least three days a week.

This is the USU Football Stadium. Ken's job included serving all the media or press people at the football games -- notice the "Press Box" at the top of the bleachers -- that was where the press/media people would sit, broadcast the games from and Ken would see that all their needs were met. This location was the FIVE MILE Mark in our FUN RUN. Our daughter, Kara, rode in a car because of the pain she could not walk ... she would meet us at each MILE marker and give each child a "smiley-faced" sticker for each mile they did.

We headed for the Finish Line (Ft. Smiley) and passed our first home when we moved to Logan.

When we moved to Logan we only had one child and this small home was just right. It was located on 600 North. After the birth of two more children, we needed more room and moved to a larger home just a couple of blocks away on 700 North. That is the home we have lived in ever since.

Our son, Jason pulled a red wagon giving the children turns to ride and take a little rest. Ken talked with some friends who were not able to come to Logan for the event.

Pingle, the dog, in her shirt, completed the whole seven miles, walking at the end with Ken.

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED --- The Finish Line . . . Ft. Smiley ... 149 East 700 North ...

Baylor and McKay were the first to arrive, with Amy very close to them. It worked out well, as Amy is preparing to "run" in a race in Las Vegas in December, so she really wanted to "run" more than "walk", so she stayed with the boys. They were sooooo excited to have been first -- a tie -- they jumped up and down and wer giving each other "high fives", my neighbor reported who was waiting and watching for us to come. She helped put out the water, fruit and muffins for people to eat when they arrived. Some neighbors and friends stopped by to see us along the way and others came to our home giving us donations for the Sunshine Project.

Here are the GRANDKIDS: (from left to right: Jake, Baylor, Kayla, Gwen, Britt and McKay) celebrating their accomplishment -- note the "smiley-faced" stickers they got at each of the mile markers. These were my special "Secret Agents" in our Top Secret Adventure ... they all did some training miles to prepare, helped me make the signs, blow up the balloons, prepare the shirts for shipping, and more AND kept it a SECRET from Pappy-Ken-Smiley!!! After the race I paid them eacn $1.00 for every mile they had completed, including the 7 done that day. Each of them put some of their money in the donation box for the SUNSHINE Project.

It was truly a wonderful project for our family and we did have lots of FUN!!! That afternoon, Britt said, "I want to have a FUN RUN for my Birthday." When I asked her how many miles she wanted to do for her FUN RUN, she replied, "Nine. Because I'll be nine years old." I hope that they will all continue to be Active and Healthy and Fit because it will all so much Happiness and Joy to their lives! That is also my hope for all the children at the Gao Chun Special School.

A special THANKS to EVERYONE who helped us accomplish our Top Secret Mission -- over 200 people participated and no one gave it away -- MANY, MANY THANKS. Ken/Smiley was completely SURPRISED and TOUCHED that so many people in China and America participated. As we "walked" along on the FUN RUN I told him about each of you and what you had contributed. I'm making a special "Birthday" book for him with your pictures and information. The thing that made him most happy was being able to help the special children in China that we both love!

SMILEY's FUN RUN in Logan was a WONDERFUL, SUNNY DAY, full of LOVE and JOY; FAMILY and FRIENDS that will remain in our HEARTS forever.