A Wishing Place

Each year, the student government at the high school where I teach raise funds to grant a wish for a child with a life-threatening or terminal illness through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. This year they worked hard to put on a community carnival, a fund raising dance, as well as weeks worth of lunch activities. (Their favorite was the chicken squares - they sold numbered squares to students then let a chicken loose. The person who bought the square the chicken pooped on won a prize.)

They were able to raise $5,300 and granted the wish of a shopping spree to a teenager named Joseph. Joseph had a great time shopping all day. They picked him up in a limousine and took him to any store he wanted to go to. The main thing he wanted was a Wii. He got a lot of great things and ended his shopping spree by purchasing a puppy!

On Monday, the student government went to A Wishing Place in Murray. We got a tour, learned about how the wishes are declared, carried out and celebrated. They have a very magical place there and you can't help feeling the spirit as you are touched by the stories of these wonderful children.

This is a picture of the room where the children declare their wish. They put it in the "wizard hat" and as soon as they close the lid, music plays and there is a short light show. It is a very magical room and I can only imagine how special that must be for the children and their family.After a child has been granted their wish, they have a star-raising ceremony where they get to choose a star, etch in it, then raise it up to hang forever in the entryway.

If any of you are looking for a project, need a good YM/YW activity, or just want to volunteer somewhere, I strongly suggest looking into doing something with the Make-A-Wish Foundation. It is something youth can easily do and something that will touch their hearts.

I also need to commend the students from the high school. They were respectful, listened to their guide, and the boys held the doors open any time we went into a new room. Our guide complimented them on being more respectful than most of the other school groups she has hosted.

What we've been up to (lot's of pictures) . . .

CHRISTMAS 2008!

This year for Christmas we were able to go down to Price and spend the time with my family. Sadly, Nick's Grandpa Brown passed away just before Christmas, so we also attended his funeral. It was great to meet more of Nick's family, but we forgot to take our camera, so no pictures : (

PRE-CHRISTMAS FESTIVITIES

We got to go up to see Ryan sing in his preschool Christmas program.
The only problem was that he didn't sing! Luckily he had sung most of the songs to us at other times before, so we still got to hear them.

After the program, we all ate at IHOP, yum! Emmy loves to wear hats, so even though mine was a little big, she was still happy for something on her head.

CHRISTMAS EVE

Dallan played with us on Christmas Eve. We were making Uncle Nick do push-ups with both of us on his back (he did get at least one before he gave up!)

Kamdyn is of course more interested in eating his presents than opening them!

Nick and Dallan trying to figure out what some of their presents are.

Mom spent the day baking and we walked treats around to some of our neighbors.

I love this picture of happy Kamdyn!
Matt & Kristen came over Christmas Eve and we read the Christmas story and opened a whole bunch of presents together.

CHRISTMAS DAY
We had a great Christmas Day. We got up and opened presents. One of the things Nick surprised me with was a set of marshmellow guns. We had a great time shooting each other all weekend!

Mom and me cooking our traditional Christmas morning breakfast.

Playing in all of the wonderful Christmas snow!

Even though the weather was bad, Jenn & Joe were able to make it down to spend the rest of the week with us. It was so much fun to all be together!

Jenn & Mom

Playing Go-Fish with the boys.

Emmy preparing for her CATS audition!

Having fun at Grandma's!

2nd ANNIVERSARY
Jenn made pizzas for dinner on the night of our anniversary, so she made one for us that was shaped as a heart!

Later that weekend we went to Manti for a couple of nights. It was really fun to go back to the Temple.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009!

Again we forgot our camera so I don't have any pictures of this, but we went to our friend's house for New Year's Eve. We had all sorts of goodies, played games, got addicted to Guitar Hero and watched some firework shows from their deck. It was a great weekend and we're so glad they let us come and play with them :)

BACK TO SCHOOL

After the New Year, we finally got back home and settled quickly back into school and work. Things have been busy (we are still working on putting away our Christmas decorations). I finished up the semeter with my students and worked on getting things graded. Now I am teaching 2 periods of the same class I taught last semester, with one period of an advanced class. I've been trying to get things planned for that. Plus the Senior Class has a dance coming up this Saturday we have been busy planning.

Nick has been back to school. He rides the bus up to Salt Lake twice a week for an externship with a judge. It has been great, but it makes for a long day. He just got his grades from last semester and did really well in all of his classes. Only 3 months to go before he graduates. Believe me, he's counting the days!

ROOM MAKE-OVER

My mom was very brave to let me go back down to Price and re-decorate her living room. I had a long weekend after the semester ended, so I thought it would be a good time. We worked long and hard. I think it turned out pretty well. There are still some finishing touches needed (a shelf, blinds, slip covers for the couch...) but it was a lot of fun.

Thanks again, mom, for trusting me and working so hard to help me get it painted and put together! Here are some before and after pictures. We forgot to take some when the furniture was still in place for the befores, but you can go back up to the Christmas pictures if you want to see that.

BEFORE

DURING

AFTER

*Welcome, Megan! Thanks for your previous comment :)