Living a Dream!!

Warning: Lots of pictures for one heck of a Great day!!

Have you ever had one of those days that you keep thinking "this day is so amazing, it is like a dream?" We lived it yesterday, words can not explain the kind of a day we had!! It was so incredibly amazing we will NEVER forget it!! I know Tucker and Austin will remember it, but Bryson is probably too young, I can only show him video and pictures and hope he remembers it!!

Having a son with special needs has been hard at moments!! I see him watching all his friends go and do all the things he would love to do and it has been extremely gut wrenching at times. I have cried many times wishing I could change things for him!! I would give him my legs if I could, I remember for the first three years of his life asking the Lord MANY times to heal him!! I would even ask Mike to give him blessings that would make him better!! I have found myself at times even feeling sorry for him and myself. These moments come and go, but have become more often lately as he has gotten older and kids his age are going and doing so much. I want to give him more than I can. I have through time realized, that the only one who can give him what he needs is the Lord. The hardest part is that I have to have faith in His plan. I have to embrace all things even the difficult ones and enjoy the journey!! Some of the hardest days have brought about the greatest growth. I have witnessed the Lord's hand in our lives so much that I feel His strength. We have been so blessed by Tucker in so many ways that I can't even imagine it any other way really! The Lord really blessed us this day and it has made up for all those hard moments!! We were so blessed to experience this amazing day!!

We were given tickets from Shriner's Hospital, one for each of our family members and two extra, so Tucker could take some friends. We received these tickets because Tucker has been a patient at Shriners. We wanted him to take two friends from his new school. On Friday he asked two kids in his class. One was grounded for a week and the other one was going camping with his family for his birthday. Anyway to make a long story short we called a ton of people asking if they wanted to go and in one way or another all couldn't go. It ended up being just our family. We had no idea just how good these seats were!! We thought we were getting some good seats in the grandstands or something. They escorted us to the pit area next to the track on the second floor up above. There were tables and chairs and lots of food!! Couldn't even believe it!! They had coloring books for the kids, m&m candies, goldfish, jelly beans, drinks and bubbles to blow. We were given VIP wristbands and pit passes to go anywhere we wanted and see anything we wanted at any time!!! We were shocked and couldn't believe what was going on!! Mike and I kept looking at each other like can you believe this!??

Joan our escort explained to us that this was a gift from the Austin Hatcher Foundation. It is a foundation for pediatric cancer. Founded by a pediatric spine surgeon who also was a father of a child who died from an aggressive form of cancer. His name was Austin Hatcher Osborn. They called him "Hatch." Their story is a hard one to read but helps you understand why this foundation is what it is!! The foundations goal is to support research towards the diagnoses, treatment and development of a cure for pediatric cancer and to provide support and hope to children and families undergoing treatment as well as to those who have lost children due to cancer. Take a minute and click on Hatch to read their story!! It is through their generosity that we were able to live this dream!!

This is our view from where we were seated.

Andrew Caddall was last years #1 champion for the Ford Mustang Challenge. Yesterday was the last day of the season and Championship race for the Ford Mustang Challenge to which Andrew Caddall won again!! Amazing kid and such a sweetheart!!! Here he is just getting out of his car it is the first one you see, the #1 car.Andrew came up to our area and came over to meet Tucker!!!!! This is him with the number 3 guy. Joan is the one who escorted us around and was there for anything we needed at all. I didn't think to get a picture of her and Dave with us and am sad about that, they are the reason we were there and made our day extra special!!!! She was amazing and so sweet, with a heart of gold!! Thank you!!!Tucker enjoying the endless supply of goldfish!! Right in front of us the cars getting ready for the race.It was incredible to see how fast they did this!!! Amazing!!Another amazing opportunity that not very many people get to do is be the honorary starters for the Race. Well they asked the kids if they wanted to do this and of course they said yes. So they trucked us down to the track where it was on National TV. These are pictures of us on the track getting ready to start the race, the drivers are all standing for the National Anthem. Then they all got in their cars and moved to their positions for the race. Sweet huh!! You should see the semi that carries this car!!!!Here they are on the track about to start.All lined up!! Seriously, just when you think it can't get any better than this . . . the boys are being wheeled out on to the track in a rush with all the girls and people everywhere taking there places. Then to hear the count down for the camera crew was so surreal, like I truly was in a dream! I was so nervous for the boys hoping they wouldn't screw it up!!! :) They didn't and they even sounded AWESOME!!! Here is the video clip of them starting the race, you gotta listen!!
After that amazing experience they took us to the garages to sit in any car we wanted to!! This is a picture of Tucker in Dan Aweida's car. Isn't this amazing!!!??? He looks like a little racer!! :)Tucker is truly living a dream!!Austin also loving it!! Bryson all day kept saying wow look at that cool car!! He had never seen so many COOL cars!! He was loving every minute of it all!!This is Dan the #3 guy and he was also super nice!! The kids were just hanging out in the garage taking it all in!! Mike talking with Dan and Joan.Andrew came and gave Tucker his Visor from his helmet that he wore all year signed with his autograph. Truly it doesn't get better than this!! He also gave the boys these hats with his autograph on them. :) Tucker is getting ready to get into Andrew's car, the number 1 guy in Ford Mustang Racing for two years!! Seriously are we dreaming?? !! :)Andrew opening the door for Tucker to get in and the trophy he won yesterday. (Miller cup)What a lucky boy to sit in his car and hold his trophy and get pictures of it all!! Tucker and Andrew Caddall! Yep, we're dreaming!! SO FUN!!Austin saw this red car and just wanted to sit in it like crazy!! So George, the driver heard and let Austin go and sit in it!! His wife, Kelli was really sweet also!! I mean everyone was amazing!! Bryson sitting in his car also!Tucker was next.

Here is George, the driver of the number 12 car. Super nice guy!!
This is us after a long day at the races and where we sat most of the day. It was incredible and a day we will never forget!!! Everyone was so nice, we have never been treated better!!

When we got home I got in the shower to get ready for the Brad Paisley concert Mike had gotten tickets for, including Dierks Bentley!!!( Yes it was great also!!) that is when it really all hit me!! I was so overcome all I could do was cry!! We were so blessed and I was emotionally drained!! It was really like we were living a dream!!! The boys can't stop telling everyone about their amazing day!!

The Lord really does answer our prayers!!

This last little while has been really hard for Mike and I, to say the least!! Last Wednesday we got a phone call from the new Charter School here. They told us that they had an opening for Tucker and wanted to know if we wanted to take it. We had thought all summer long that he would get in since his brother was already accepted. Well summer came and left and still no word so we sent him to school with his friends and his teacher that we have been excited about! Well a week and a half later we get this call. I am just sick. I don't know what I am going to say to him or how we are going to make the decision!! So I tell them that I will bring him down to the school and let him wheel around and see what he thinks. They proceed to tell me that I have until Friday to make the decision because they can fill it with someone else. So I hang up the phone and I am panicking inside wondering how I can bring this up to Tucker.
We had wanted this all along but to have him leave what he has already started and he had two of his really good friends in his class with him. I was just sick to my stomach!! So I tell him that we are going to go down to the school and see what he thinks and to pay attention to how he feels there. Mike and I both talk to him about how when he was 8 he was given the gift of the Holy Ghost and how this is a perfect time to call upon that gift. We talked to him about how our answers come and that we know he will make the right choice.
He went right in there and for the most part liked what he saw. When we got home Mike had to go to work and so he told him to pray about it and to call him when he got an answer.
So all that evening I am just sick to my stomach thinking to myself I can't believe I am making him make this decision!! I kept thinking how can he choose when he doesn't even know what it is like!! I was thinking about his amazing network he has here already and how we would be giving that up and his friends. I thought about how hard it is for regular kids to be taken from their comfort zone but for those who have extra challenges how much more harder that must be!! I was nearly in tears all the time!! I tried not to show him how nervous I was and what a hard decision this was for me!! We told him that we would support him with whatever he chose. I even told him why don't you go there Thurs and Fri see how it is and if you like it and then make your decision. He said ok and so I thought that was that.
Well later that night he was climbing into bed and I passed by and he called to me and said "mom will you get the phone?" I said "yes, why?" He then told me he wanted to talk to dad, that he had received his answer, that he had prayed about it and felt like he needed to go to the Charter School!!!!! I couldn't believe what I was hearing!! He sounded so mature and so sure. There was this incredible weight that had come off my shoulders!! I felt this peace and walked over to his bed and said "why do you feel like you should go there?" He said that he felt like he would get a better education there and he liked the elevator!! :) I talked to him for awhile but I was seeing a side to Tucker that I really hadn't seen!! He seemed so mature and really at peace with his decision!! He was even smiling!!
I went and retrieved the phone so he could call his father. So he told his dad that he was going to go to the Charter School. He really couldn't believe it either.
The next day I drove him down there and he went straight in there. I took him up to his class and his teacher introduced him to the class and she came out in the hall to talk to me. When we were finished talking the class had moved the empty chair out of the way and had moved out of the row so Tucker could get down the isle to get to the center of the class in the front row. My heart swelled and I could no longer hold the tears. I walked down to the office to talk to the school nurse and had tears streaming down my face.
For any parent you want your child to be accepted by others but for your child who struggles with a disability it is 10 X's worse!! To see that they were already accepting him was such a relief and blessing I can't even describe!! Tucker didn't even look back again to say good bye!! That was hard but good!!
The nurse was amazing and so on top of it all I was just blown away!! I have seen her more times in the last week then I had even seen the other school nurse in three years!! Amazing!! She was so confident that he was going to like it that it helped calm me so much!!
Thursday and Friday passed and I really expected him to say mom I don't like this I want to go back. He hasn't, not once. Well over this last weekend I have not slept much and Mike and I have had some pretty serious talks about if we are doing the right thing for him or not!! It has been one of the hardest decisions I have had to make!! Tucker has proven to me that he is more mature than I thought!! He has been coming home wanting to do his homework and actually doing it in a timely manner and his attitude is so much better!! He is so much nicer and more patient with his brothers I have been so amazed!!!
All Mike and I keep saying is there must be some reason he needs to be there, we may not even understand it but we need to have faith in his decision!! In some ways it is easier because now I don't have to juggle two different schools because Austin was already going to school there. We don't have much to decide on for what we are going to wear since there is a uniform. I am hearing so many good things about their curriculum, and the classes are smaller the whole school in general is smaller. SO it is exciting!!
BUT I had to go and talk to his old teacher (who he had for just two weeks) and tell her he is not coming back and all the people who have helped him for the last three years!!! Talk about hard I pulled into the school and was already in tears!! They have been so good to him and it is my comfort zone as well!! We are truly starting a new adventure!!

This has been a very interesting week to say the least!! I have been on my knees more than usual and have really needed the extra strength!! The Lord has really blessed our lives and I am so grateful Tucker has so much faith in his decision!! He is always teaching me something!!

A week or so ago Tara had put this amazing song on the KIDZ blog and it hit home of course but especially lately!! You have to take a moment and listen to this amazing song!! It is beautiful!!

One of the Most Beautiful places on earth!!

Tucker loves to look at the National Geographic. He has spent hours on end going from one magazine to another. Well about 5 months ago he asked if he could go to West Yellowstone and see Old Faithful. (because he saw it in the National Geographic) When I asked him what he wanted for his birthday he told me he wanted to see Old Faithful. So this labor day weekend we went to West Yellowstone. It was a beautiful trip so I thought I would share some pictures with you!!

Every body's gotta have a buffalo picture when you have been to West Yellowstone!!

OR one of these. . . .

OR one of these. . .

Mike's sister Paula has been here in Utah and Idaho for the last couple weeks. It has been fun and we asked them if they wanted to come along. They decided to take that adventure with us. Not sure if they had as much fun as we did!! We really enjoyed it and love to travel and see new things! Mike's parents also came with us, we got a hotel, did some shopping and site seeing!!

My favorite part had to have been the Grand Tetons!! I would love to live near Jackson Hole, Wy. It is beautiful there!! I lived there for a year working in a salon, had a ton of fun! (that was when I was single) Not really the ideal place to raise a family! It definitely is a tourist town and I didn't like that much. I think it is one of the most beautiful places on earth!! If you haven't made it there yet, you gotta go!!

Anyway the kids had a ton of fun seeing their cousins, riding the horses, four wheelers and site seeing!! It was a fun weekend!! How was yours!??