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...

A good dad

Corinne turned 13 last week.  (Happy Birthday, my Rinnie!!) Thirteen! That means we now have TWO teenage girls in the house.  Matt feels like he's been thrown into alien territory with no methods of defense. When emotions are running high I step in and offer counsel: "Matt, just follow my lead. And if you don't know how to make it better, then PLEASE, for the love of all that is good, PLEASE don't make it worse!" His poor engineering brain just can't compute. "What is this emotion thing of which you speak?"

Growing up among brothers he only had to deal with girls in small doses and usually when they were putting their best selves forward. Now, as a father of four daughters he is receiving quite an education. But I think he's doing a great job and once in a while his girls agree. :) 

Here is something that I found on the counter Sunday night. Paige wrote it and you can see that she didn't forget to include a bibliography showing where she got her information.

It says:

Matthew John Felt is the best dad ever. He will jump on the tramp with you, wrestle with you, watch movies with you and so much more! He works at Space Dinamics. He has brown eyes and black hair. 

I had been to a meeting that evening and this is what I came home to. Movie night on the trampoline! I assume that this is what inspired the note.  What a great dad!

SEM

I am so, so proud of my Paigie-bug today. Last night Matt and I were her guests at an Evening of Excellence where we met such historical figures as Abraham Lincoln, Cleopatra, Jackie Robinson, Joan of Arc, Walt Disney, Annie Oakley, and many others. But, in my humble opinion, none of them shone as brightly as Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth the 2nd. 

Paige is part of a program at her school called SEM. To be honest, I've never known what that stands for, but as Paige explained it to her grandma the other day, "It's for super-smart kids that need something extra because their regular class work is too easy for them." As a 4th grader in SEM she's learned how to research a subject and write a bibliography; she's also made her own podcast and presented on several topics.  Last fall, her research project was on zebras:

Her spring project, as mentioned above, was to research a famous person, complete several projects for her research and finally present, in character, all that she had learned about that person. 

Throughout this class I have seen a transformation. My cute Paige has been my most shy child. She's the girl who I've found playing inside when everyone is outside because the neighbor kids came over and she didn't want them to see her. She's the girl who has asked to stay home alone when we go somewhere as a family because she doesn't like crowds. (I always say no.) She's also the girl who will completely ignore (much to my chagrin) a hello from a grownup, including her own grandparents, because it scares her too much to engage in conversation.  

Well last night, she sat up on that stage as regal as could be, waiting her turn. As Jim Bridger returned to his seat my girl strode to the microphone, and recited her Bio Riddle--a "Guess Who I Am?" life-sketch poem that she had written about QE2.  I was so proud of her for doing something that was so scary for her, but when she began to speak I was stunned. Not only did she recite the poem perfectly, from memory, she did it with a British accent!! 

This girl has been holding out on me! 

 

I snapped this picture of Paige and her friend before the program began. I just love it! Any ideas for a good caption? 

"Your Majesty, Prince Phillip just called and said to remind you to pick up eggs and milk on the way home."