Walk a Mile in Her Shoes 2010

This was my first year to join my dad's company, Phase II, in the Walk a Mile in Her Shoes fundraiser for the Pierce County Sexual Assault Center. It is a one mile walk to raise awareness for sexual assault and violence against women. There are walks all over America and my dad's company has participated the last three years.

And even though the cause is an important and serious one, the walk itself is lots of fun- mainly because all the men walking are wearing women's shoes. It literally is a mile in "her" shoes. I'm very proud of my dad and his company for being such good sports about putting on women's shoes and walking through downtown Tacoma for all to see. The topic of domestic violence and sexual assault are important to me because I was a social worker for the state of Utah for two years and I saw a lot of families, especially women and children, dealing with these issues and I love that there are fundraisers like this all over the nation to promote awareness.

Do you see the pink and white shoes my dad is wearing? And Bryce is wearing Olivia's old pink shoes too. And all the guys that work for my dad carried pink umbrellas too, even though it wasn't raining.

Even though none of the guys in Phase II wore heels, they still wore pink and white and girly shoes. Some guys, though, wore some awesome shoes... for a mile!

My dad sporting his pink umbrella so well.

Bryce in his shoes. Cole also wore some of Olivia's old brown and pink cowboy boots. Rix absolutely refused to wear girl shoes. I'm sure he was completely weirded out by all the men in girl shoes!

Okay, so this one was a woman, but she had awesome red heels and even more amazing fishnet nylons, plus she walked the entire mile without even flinching. She is a hero in my book!

This guy got a lot of attention with his get-up. I just love that he had to add a toolbelt to show off his manly side with the pink track suit he is sporting.

These guys were super funny. Do you see the news cameras following them? They were in the very front of the walk, and right near the end they were struggling with each step but finished anyway. And when I say "struggling" I mean about to break an ankle! Check out the next picture:

Yeah, that's how I would walk in those too! The socks crack me up with the little bow on the back.

There were bagpipers everywhere. One led the way on the walk and there were more at the finish line... wearing heels!

We got these super cute cookies at the end of the walk. And super yummy too.

And yes, both of these are men wearing these shoes. Brave, I tell ya!

Afterwards we went to Red Robin to celebrate, and it also happened to be my dad's birthday. Someone ratted him out so the staff sang to him and put a coffee filter on my head. My dad embarrasses really easy so there is no way he will be happy I'm posting this, but it is not to embarrass him but to show him how much I love him! Happy birthday Dad!

I will definitely be walking next year too. I hope to bring my kids and Adam too so they can learn about doing good things for people. And because I would love to see Adam in some platform heels. And Jack too.