Citizens of the month

Paige and Spencer were each given the honor this year of being named "Citizen of the Month" at their Elementary School. This award goes to one student from each class chosen by their teacher based on how well they exemplified the citizenship theme for the month. I was able to go the assemblies where they were recognized. Yay for good citizens!! 

Here is Spencer walking up to the stage:

A handshake from the principal:

On stage with the other honorees:

And here is Paige at her assembly:

After the assembly, with friends:

Good job, Paigie bug!

Track 2013

Nicole has just 6 1/2 days left in her freshman year of high school. As the year is winding down so are all of the sports, including track. Nicole decided to compete in track this Spring and her events were the 100m hurdles, the 300m hurdles, and the 100m dash. She loved it! She only had one bad spill when one of the hurdles jumped up and grabbed her leg, otherwise it was a great season. It was really fun for me to go to her meets, even the rainy ones. 

Here are some action shots from several of those meets:

First race ever--before their uniforms had even arrived.

Warming up for her event at the Box Elder meet:

The Box Elder 100m hurdles, where she ran her PR:

All smiles after the race.

Warming up at the starting blocks during the JV Region meet:

Neck-and-neck with her friend, Laura during the 100m dash.

With Liz and Laura

Love you, my beautiful girl!

Star Raising Party

Until about 1 1/2 years ago, I had heard of the Make-a-Wish Foundation just casually and in name only. I had no idea how truly amazing they are. It was in the days following Spencer's transplant that we first heard anything about Spencer's wish. The transplant nurse approached me and said that Spencer's doctor had referred Spencer to Make-a-Wish. It kind of surprised me! My initial thought was, "Really? I thought that was for the really sick kids!" (Denial, maybe?)

Due to Spencer's immunosuppression, he was homebound for several months after discharge so it took us a while to finally schedule our first get-together with the Wish Granters. Eventually though we were able to have them in our home for what would be the first glimpse of the magic! 

Our Wish Granters were so wonderful and sweet! They treated Spencer like a king and were very aware of his four sisters as well. They played a board game with the kids which helped Spencer narrow down his wishes in the following categories:

I WISH TO:

GO: to Disney World

HAVE: a game room

MEET: The Kratt Brothers

BE: I really can't remember what he said here. Probably a cowboy or paleontologist.   

Then he narrowed these four down to his top two. His first choice was Disney World, his second choice was a game room. 

Several weeks later his Wish Granters came back with the big announcement. "You're going to DisneyWorld!" 

The trip was beyond anything I could have possibly imagined! But they weren't done yet. In March, Make-a-Wish threw a party for Spencer in which he was able to go to The Wishing Place along with many of his aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents, and raise his star as a wish child. 

Here he is entering the building:

First, we were given a tour of the building. 

And the outside where we made wishes at the fountain,

and walked around the grounds.

Back inside they took us to the wishing tower where we shared what our wishes for Spencer would be.

After the tour we went into the conference room where our Wish Granters served a delicious dinner and led us in a game of Spencer Bingo! Like I said, they were so sweet! 

The main entryway of The Wishing Place is adorned with these beautiful stained-glass stars hanging from the ceiling. Each one representing a wish child.

Spencer was given a green star and special pen so that he could decorate his star however he wanted. He wrote his name on one point, the date of his transplant on another, and drew a picture of a heart on yet another. Then he asked me how to spell "special", and added that word as well. 

The final and main event was the star-raising. Spencer really seemed to like this part and couldn't wait to get on with it. 

Once we were all gathered our host gave him the go-ahead and he hoisted his star.

It was a bittersweet moment to realize what it means that he has a star hanging there. 

We said our goodbyes and Spencer handed out the party favors that we had made.

It was really nice to be able to go the The Wishing Place and see all the pictures on the walls with the stories of each wish child. What a special place! It felt like we were closing the book on that very long, very difficult, very wonderful journey.

Matt and I made this slide-show and shared it at the star-raising party. A quick overview of Spencer's wish trip and what he went through to get there.

Ski Day

In February Matt took Nicole, Corinne, and Spencer skiing. This was Spencer's second time skiing, ever, and his first since his transplant. When Spencer was waiting for a heart we asked a lot of questions about what his life would be like after a transplant. Before his illness I knew NOTHING about heart transplants so I pictured a sickly little boy with very little energy who would get winded walking around the house. One of the nurses surprised me greatly by telling me that they had one little transplant patient who was now a competitive skier. I could hardly imagine something like that to be possible. It was my first glimmer of hope! 

Now, looking at these pictures, that conversation with our nurse comes to mind. Go Spencer!!

Here are Spencer and Nicole rounding the corner just after coming off the lift

Nicole and Corinne

Happy face!

My cute little snow bunnies!

Nicole on the lift

Nicole and Corinne trying out a jump

Spencer, making it look easy...