Introducing BE THE GOLD Mini Badges!

Introducing BE THE GOLD mini badges!

These pint-sized pins pack a big awareness punch. Great to wear anywhere; school, work, while running errands, a PTA meeting, in a YouTube video, Instagram pic, anywhere!

Making them is easy!

Step 1.) Print out a sheet of Mini Badges by CLICKING HERE and then clicking on the print icon.
(preferably on white card stock)

Step 2.) Cut out the badges! (Tip: A paper cutter/slicer will make this a breeze!)

Step 3.) Laminate! Make sure to leave some room around each individual badge and cut each out. (Tip: Thicker lamination works best.)

Step 4.) Attach an self-Adhesive Bar Pin to the back. (Tip: These are easily found at your local Walmart in the jewelry/craft making section and cost around $2 for a pack of 20.)

ALL DONE!

Make one or dozens! Share with friends!

3 MILLION!

What an exciting day! 3 Million views on #bethegold YouTube videos and counting!

"Only Hope" cover by the Gardiner Sisters

Thank you to all the supporters and especially the awesome Youtubers that have worked so hard to help this cause. Yesterday the Gardiner Sisters debut their stunning cover of "Only Hope" in support of BE THE GOLD. The video's cinematography was just amazing and the girls sound goose-bumps-good. It is just magical to watch and listen to.





And the sisters are through yet! They are following up the video with a challenge,

"Our Gardinerds are the BEST! Thank you for all your support so far in joining us in the @bethegold campaign! Repost this photo to help raise awareness for childhood cancer and tweet it at us using ‪#‎bethegold‬ and we'll follow you on Twitter." (Posted by them on their Facebook this morning,)

The Gardiner Sisters can be found at:

Twitter: @gardinersisters
Instagram: @gardinersistersofficial
Youtube:http://www.youtube.com/user/GardinerSisters
Website: http://www.gardinersisters.com

 More #bethegold YouTube videos coming soon!  I. can. not. wait. :)

2 Million!!!

#bethegold videos reaches 2 MILLION views!

What a great day!
2 MILLION VIEWS! 
Thank you all for your support!

In related news, I have been reaching out to some of my favorite Youtubers and I'm excited to say that more videos are coming soon.

To check out the videos so far CLICK HERE.

I feel overwhelmed with gratitude for all the support and lovely comments from you all! I am doing my best and working hard at this and it feels amazing that it is making a difference! Thank You so much!

Happy Belated Halloween!

My son, Dallin (5 years old), cancer kid and the inspiration behind BE THE GOLD, wearing his homemade GOLD C3PO Halloween costume. Photo by Mindy Weston Photography.

Happy belated Halloween everyone!

I know it is almost Thanksgiving but I just had to share this super cute photo of my son in his Halloween costume! He was C3PO! Yes, he was rockin' the GOLD!

This was actually a homemade costume I made for him. He asked for this months ago, when he first discovered Star Wars, so I had plenty of time to plan, design and make the costume. In fact, the whole family was in on the action with Star War themed costumes! It was A WHOLE LOT of work! We thought to make the photos extra authentic by having actual Tatooine-like sand dunes in the background. I just love how this one turned out! Actually this is the only photo I have seen from the session. This is just a preview as the other photos aren't back yet. Mindy was kind enough to take these photos. She is awesome! She is the super talented photographer behind the official website photos a well.

In other news, after a bit of a video hiatus, more #bethegold videos are right around the corner! So excited! Stay tuned!

Thank you all for your wonderful support!

Zumbathon Gold-Style

Homemade BE THE GOLD shirt with iron-on badge in the front and logo on the back! How COOL is THAT!?!

A friend of mine recently posted some pictures of an event she hosted. She is a certified Zumba instructor. She and 11 other instructors shared 90 minutes of Zumba dancing at a Zumbathon Cancer Kickin' Party.

The event raised money for the American Cancer Society and didn't focus on one specific cancer. Rather, it was an energetic event bringing people together to fight cancer as a whole.

Everyone was asked to wear their favorite cancer color for support. My friend decided to BE THE GOLD for the event. She event made a super cool homemade BE THE GOLD t-shirt as well as some printable badges for herself and her kids. I am really lovin' the t-shirt and will have to make one for myself in the near future!

Thank you Rebecca for being so awesome at BEing THE GOLD! I was delighted to have such a great spokesperson for GOLD at the event!

Website Overhaul

Revamped site at www.bethegold.com

After a night of feverishly updating, editting and revamping... I am please to announce the newest version of our website is live!

Visit it at www.BeTheGold.com!

I was up until 2am working on this last night. I had been wanting to reboot the look of the site for weeks now but couldn't decide on the direction to take it. I was also worried that my website messin' would result in a mess or in a irreversible disappointment, so I kept holding back. After being hit with some major inspiration this week, I just had to take the plunge and reboot everything.

I was going for a more fresh and interactive vibe and I think I managed to get what I was looking for. There is still alot more tweeking to do, namely; some infographics for The Plan tab, the social media shout-outs need posting as well as some other extra pages to be made.

All and all, I am very happy with it even though at 2am, when I pressed "publish" on the site, I had a mini heart attack. But even in the clear light of day this morning, I am still happy I did.

So what do you think? YAY? Nay? Meh?
Any suggestions?

1 MILLION VIEWS!!!!

WHAT AN EXCITING DAY!!!

This morning we hit 1,000,000 combined views. In fact, we are exactly 1,000,020 as I type. :)

Two #BeTheGold videos from Evynne Hollens

So far we have a total of 9 videos from 8 different YouTube content creators.

Evynne Hollen's has two videos currently posted. One being her beautiful "Fields of Gold" video and secondly, an uplifting vlog video.

Rounding off the rest of the current videos is a video from arguably the most popular kid on YouTube, EvanTube HD. Next is a beautiful embossed card tutorial from Catherine Pooler. Then a generous video from the super talented Mark Crilley. He celebrated his 300th YouTube video by featuring this BE THE GOLD video! He even broke out some copic markers and made his chibi drawing one of only a handful of videos featuring color. WOW! Finally, is an adorable Golden Snitch hair clip tutorial from the equally adorable Lauren Fatherweather.

More #BeTheGold videos from other awesome YouTubers!

With all of these awesome and eclectic videos, and more to come in the coming weeks and months, I had to update the video icon key. I also plan to add about 2 to 3 more icons to it this month.

Updates Icon Legend key!

Maybe it is a little OCD of me, but I love icon keys/legends! I am in awe that this list needs so many different icons! It is so awesome!

So keep your eye out for more videos! More coming soon. To make sure you don't miss any, be sure to like our Facebook page. I post new videos link there first!




My heart feels like bursting over the overwhelming support from the YouTube community! I am so appreciative of their willingness to contribute their time, talent, resources, and name to this movement! They are generous beyond words and I feel blessed to have the opportunity to know them a little better! Thank you current and future #BeTheGold YouTubers. You are more awesome than you know!

GOLD in the Scroll

Thumbnail on the front page!

What a great feeling having my husband walk through the door with half a dozen freshly printed newspapers with a BE THE GOLD article inside!

Yesterday the BYU-I Scroll published an article about BE THE GOLD. (CLICK HERE to read the article)

It was during the Rexburg City Council Meeting Proclamation a few weeks ago that I was first approached by Scroll reporter, Keslee Kerby. She was interested in interviewing me for a story.



We chatted for a bit as I answered some questions she had. She also visited the face painting booth at the Farmer's Market later that week. She was great to work with and very thorough. I was impressed with her professionalism and overall enthusiasm.


Later the next week, I emailed her some more info as well as a few pictures to choose from, including some pictures from the City Counsel Meeting. What a surprise to see a huge picture of my recent headshot with the article! I thought if used, the headshot would be a thumbnail picture in the corner somewhere!

Thank you to the Scroll for featuring BE THE GOLD in such an awesome way!

BYU-I Scroll Newspaper article about BE THE GOLD

ON THE AIR @ NPR

Growing up, NPR was the symbol of truth, realness, big deals...
I would have never thought I would have ever been interviewed and be put on NPR air.

Photo from 94.3 website

This time the interview would be over the phone with our local NPR station, also known as BYU-Idaho Radio 94.3. I was home with all three of my children while my husband was at school. The baby was asleep but Dallin and his sister were awake, entertained watching a movie in our living room. I found a quiet place in my bedroom. This was so much less nerve-racking than my Classy 97 interview. No driving, no sitter-finding, no face-to-face with radio personalities, no giant microphone. Piece of cake, right?

It was to be prerecorded, so my stress level was definitely much lower. I did have the challenging task of giving clean audio while in a house full of usually loud children and two small dogs. They tested for sound and I found myself struggling to be loud enough for them to record me well, while being quiet enough so that my little ones would remain unaware of the interesting thing I was doing and not come investigate.... something a normal phone conversation would usually do. So, as I tired to find the balance with the volume of my voice, I also had to try to answer coherently. Towards the end of the interview, this was proving more difficult with Dallin realizing I was up to something and trying to figure out what exactly. Luckily, I think the audio was recorded cleanly and the interview went very well.

Handy little app called Super Note

The interview was to be played two days later (today) on the NPR news breaks throughout the day, one segment every 2 hours or so. I called to see if they could give me a copy of the completed interview but this proved to be difficult so I tried my hand at recording it myself. Armed with the news schedule and a handy recording app called Super Note and got ready to press record. My children and dogs once again made this task a little stressful. How do I keep 5 little noisemakers quiet during the 1 to 2 minute newscast to get a clear recording? I think I managed to get a pretty good recording of each segment though there is a bit of static and popping once in a while.


Hearing it played back sounds so strange to me. It's NPR. They cover serious stuff. I still can't believe I was on there. Thank you 94.3! I am in awe that you find BE THE GOLD NPR-worthy! It warms my heart to find others taking this as seriously as I do.

Loco for GOLD

I am so excited about this special event hosted by Rexburg Kiwi Loco! They generously donated 20% of sales between 6pm-9pm last night to CureSearch, a childhood cancer research foundation. Plus, people wearing a BE THE GOLD badge received a free cookie! They were delicious warm just-baked cookies too!

Images at the checkout stands. How cool is that!?!

The Standard Journal even wrote a piece about it. CLICK HERE to read.

It was so neat to walk in the store and find BE THE GOLD posters and signs everywhere. The Kiwi Loco employees even wore BE THE GOLD badges! What I thought was extra cool was the digital screens located at the check out presenting the BE THE GOLD badge image and the BE THE GOLD Night flyer! It was kind of surreal!

We all enjoyed some awesome frozen yogurt (Tip: Cake Batter flavor is amazing!). It was a fun time!


Today I called the manager at the Kiwi Loco to find out how the night went and to let him know I would be picking up the posters later today. I was so pleasantly surprised to hear him ask if they could wear the BE THE GOLD badges for the remainder of the month! How AWESOME! Thank you Rexburg Kiwi Loco for hosting this event, for your generous donation to CureSearch and for your overall enthusiasm for BE THE GOLD!

Thank you Rexburg Kiwi Loco for hosting this BE THE GOLD supporting event!

Care to Dance

Yesterday was such a fun day! The Rexburg Mommy and Me Dance Class hosted a BE THE GOLD day with a GOLDilock and the Three Bears Themed dance day. There was GOLDilock themed stretching and dancing, some cute games and story time. At the end, I was given time to talk to the parents briefly about what BE THE GOLD is all about. It was a fun morning! Thank you Kierstena for hosting!

Kiwi Loco BE THE GOLD Night

Rexburg Kiwi Loco BE THE GOLD Night!

So excited to share this Kiwi Loco Event!
If you are in the Rexburg area, come on out and join us!
See you there!


CLICK HERE to read about the event!

GOLDilocks can dance!

If you are in the Rexburg area, join us for this super fun FREE event!
Big thank you to Kierstena Rolfson of Rexburg Mommy & Me for hosting!
See you there!

UPDATE: Read about it here.

My Appointment with a Microphone

Left to right: Mike Nelson, myself and Liza Raley.

Last Wednesday was another big day for BE THE GOLD! I was invited by KLCE Classy 97 to come in for an interview! I have always been more of an introverted, private person but I knew that it was an amazing opportunity. So I enthusiastically accepted the invitation.

I was scheduled to come in at 9am Wednesday morning. I slept little the night before. That morning, I kept forcing my body to do the list of things in order to get ready for the event; shower, eat breakfast, get the kids ready for the sitter, not hyperventilate.... ya know, the usual.

The babysitter was a little late from getting lost but I was more worried about the drive to the radio station in Idaho Falls. Fortunately, the drive was much easier of a task than I made it out to be in my mind (I had never been to Idaho Falls before). I got there, parked my van, took a deep breath and made my way inside.

HUGE microphone!

I was greeted by the lovely Liza Raley, one half of "Mike and Liza In The Morning". She walked me back to the booth where we would be recording. One major comfort to me was knowing this would be prerecorded! I met Mike Nelson who had a voice, even in person, that made you think, "Wow, that guy should be on the radio." which makes sense because he is.

Then they showed me my mic... the biggest mic I had ever seen in my life. I wished the picture I took would do it better justice. It looked much bigger in person. Despite the hugeness of it, I was told I needed to get within a couple of inches of the mic for proper sound. I was intimidated, to say the least.

They wisely chatted me up for a few minutes to get me warmed up. This included Mike mentioning that Classy 97 is the most listened to station in East Idaho (gulp). Then it was time. They pressed record and started the intro.

I was more relaxed after chatting with Mike and Liza but as soon as Mike started his intro, I could feel such a surge of adrenaline, I wasn't sure if when I opened my mouth if any sound would come out. It was an intense feeling of, "How on Earth did I end up here? I can't do this!".

But I did do it. That's how I know how passionate I am about this movement. I have figured out how to override my brain and do scary things I would never normally do, all because I truly believe in this. When I say "Let's change the world." I really do believe that. I honestly feel it is my calling in life. Without that conviction I would never be able to power through the sleepless nights or the scary, intimidating moments. I let go of my fear and jumped in with both feet because at the end of the day, I want to know I did all I could to make this happen. Hopefully, I can motivate others to feel the same.

After we were done, Mike and Liza gave me a round of applause and I sheepishly accepted their compliments. I gave them some BE THE GOLD pins and we took some pictures. All and all, it was a wonderful experience. I am happy that it went so well, not only because it was great exposure for the movement but also because it will make the next scary thing seem a little more overcome-able. Thank you Mike and Liza for making this such a pleasant experience!

The recorded interview was to be played the next morning at 6:15am and 8:15am. Regrettably, I slept through the first airing after a night of baby-tending-to. At 8am, I was glued to my computer, listening online to the broadcast. 8:15am neared and I started getting nervous and clammy all over again. Then they cut to the weather report and immediately after I heard the familiar intro I heard from Mike the morning before. Oh, the mix of emotion listening to it! I was so excited. I was so nervous. I was plagued with the thought that my voice sounded horrible and my words were so not eloquent. I was just sitting there listening with my eyes open as wide as possible as if they would help me hear the interview better. It was surreal.

I look back at it now and it feels like a dream. If not for the recording, I would file it away in my mind as something too good to be true. Thank you Classy 97 for your generosity in inviting me for the interview and the air time it received!

A Proclamation!

Yesterday was a big day for the BE THE GOLD movement!
The city of Rexburg graciously made an official proclamation making September 2013 BE THE GOLD Childhood Cancer Awareness month!

I had the pleasure to attend the city council meeting making it all official. I was also given the opportunity to speak briefly and give thanks to Mayor Woodland and the rest of the city council members. It was a great experience!

Even though the proclamation is for the month of September, the BE THE GOLD aims to be a year-round movement. This proclamation is a great jumping off point!

After the meeting was over, I made my best effort to record the event with my camera. Unfortunately, the florescent lights weren't very flattering. Still, it was such a special night, I just had to post a picture. Upon meeting me, Mayor Woodland asked, "So are you the 'Gold Lady'?". I smiled because I had never been called that before, but I guess the name fits. I have gold on the mind all the time. Gratefully,  more people have joined me in BEing THE GOLD too. :)

In other news, #BeTheGold videos are over 350K views! I am so excited for tomorrow's #BeTheGold video to go live! I am a big fan!

Radio Waves

If you are in the East Idaho area, tune in to Classy 97 on Thursday, September 19th at 6:15am and 8:15am to listen to my interview with Mike and Liza! Or listen online at http://www.klce.com/

Blog post about the experience coming soon!

UPDATE: CLICK HERE to listen to a recording of the interview and read about the experience .

Front Page Above the Fold!

Front page on the Standard Journal!

So excited! Last week I  had an interview with the Rexburg Standard Journal. I was so nervous going in but that quickly melted away when I shook hands with reporter writing the story. Preston Lindsey was a pleasure to interview with. He was kind and genuinely interested in the BE THE GOLD story. The interview went on for over an hour but it flew by super quickly. After the interview was done, I felt really good, both from getting through something that beforehand caused plenty of anxiety and also because I felt it was a great experience that would help spread more awareness throughout the community.

I knew the story would be printed today but I didn't think it would front page news! How excited I was when I got a Facebook comment from a local friend that saw my son's picture on the news stands. I was in awe! I am humbled by the priority spot the Standard put the story in and grateful for the exposure the movement had and will receive because of it.

Painting the town GOLD

Some of my face painting designs... a couple I had to totally "wing it".

I had a great time last Friday at the BE THE GOLD Free Face Painting Booth at the local Farmer's Market. I am not a professional face painter but I so enjoy it. This was only my third time face painting.... ever.... in. my. life. My experience resume, before the last two Farmer's Markets, was my son's birthday party a couple of years ago. I did much of my learning through watching YouTube videos.

This week's designs seemed to go through a quantum leap from last week's. I credit it to being less nervous, having a few more hours practice under my belt and especially having a tall chair for the kids to sit in. Last week, I was forced to sit across from the kids at normal chair level. Not the best position for artistry, I would say. This week, with the addition of a counter-height chair, I could stand while painting. The paint and brush table were also counter-height. Yes, I was standing most of the day but the designs (and my back) thanked me for it.

I have a couple dozen designs in my repertoire but I always aim to please, so when a little guy whispered for a "wittle baby long neck " and a guy asked for a Hunger Games beard, I winged it and gave it my best shot. The most popular designs by far for the day were butterfly and princess masks. Boys seemed to ask for more variety.

One of the most popular designs for the day!

Great helpers!

I was so pleased with the day, I honestly started to think I missed my calling as a professional face painter. But what has made the experience all the more sweeter (other than the reactions of the kids when I show their finished faces through a mirror) is knowing that I am reaching out to the community and providing a free service that does an amazing job of spreading awareness. It really is so satisfying. At the end of the day when I am tired and packing up, I just feel so good. I feel like I'm glowing. Weird maybe, but I totally feel uplifted and like I did something worthwhile. I love it! I would consider providing the service for free long-term if the paints I use (professional quality face paints) weren't so expensive.

I must mention that I had a couple great helpers both weeks. They help with line-control, chatting to people about BE THE GOLD and handing out badges and cards. They are also volunteering their time and I am so appreciative of it.

In other news, #BeTheGold videos are almost at 300k total combined views. More videos coming soon. Stay tuned! My heart feels like bursting from the excitement!

Pass the GOLD

Another great photo shoot by Mindy Weston Photography

Lots of laughs always accompany the shoots.

So many exciting things happening!

Let's start off by talking about the fabulous photo shoot this week. As usual, Mindy did an outstanding job capturing the vision in my head. The lighting was wonderful with a sunny day as the backdrop. The models were so easy to direct. All and all, it was a quick easy shoot with great results! Check out the main website's "Home" page for the final shots.

Earlier in the week, I announced the winner for the business card giveaway. The winning suggestion was "Gold Cards" which might seem a little on the nose but fits perfectly. People have been naturally calling them "Be The Gold cards" and "Gold cards" for short. When I hand them out, I always mention that these cards are meant to travel and never stay in one place. "Like and pass it along", I always say.

We shot this pose with a couple different backgrounds. The glass door background in the first pic won out.

Even indoors, the lighting was cooperating.

In other exciting news, #BeTheGold videos reached a combined 250K views today! A quarter MILLION! AH-mazing! In fact, as I write this, the official current count is 262,340! More videos going live throughout the coming weeks. In order to make browsing the videos more efficient and to introduce different channels to those not yet familiar with them, I made a icon key for the page. Check it out in the "Video" tab of the main website.

New icon key on Video page

So today has felt like a great day! I am so excited to see what the next few days, weeks and months have in store!

Adventures in Face Painting

Photos by Mindy Weston Photography

Last Friday I had the pleasure of having a booth at the local Farmer's Market where I did free face painting. It was a blast! I really enjoyed it! I hadn't face painted in about 2 years but I felt I did a pretty good job. The kids had no complaints. It was also an excellent opportunity to spread the word about BE THE GOLD in the community. Both the face painting and info on BE THE GOLD were well received.

I am excited to say that the Farmer's Market has invited me back this Friday. So if you have the time, stop by,  have your little ones' faces painted and learn more about BE THE GOLD!

On another note, #BeTheGold Youtube videos are currently over 140K VIEWS! Let's keep the momentum going and share, share, share! More videos scheduled to go live all month long! Also, don't forget to take a look at all the "How to BE THE GOLD's" and find out how you can help spread the word!

I use professional face paints and have a variety of designs in my repertoire. Stop on by!