....Ready, Set, GO!

You know that commercial about Disneyland when the kids are awake talking about the excitement of their trip and the parents aren't sleeping either because they are so excited....well that pretty much sums up our little family right now. We are all just super excited to take a nice long break together as a family again and to celebrate something amazing!

Everyday I look at my Taylie and feel so in awe about what she actually went through. At all she accomplished. At what we made it through as a family. It's all a memory now and we want to keep it that way! Let me take you along with us in pictures through our magical adventure in Disney World Orlando! Here we go baby!

After the wonderful Make-A-Wish send off party we sent Dad back home to work one more day and the girls and I stayed at Grandma Jeanne's house. I was able to get the last few things together in order to leave way early Friday morning. The girls spent a bunch of time playing in the back yard and all of us of course had to go swimming.

Day 1

We had to go to bed pretty early because our plane was leaving @ 7:30 AM Friday May 7, 2010. This meant and extra hour and an half at the airport. My biggest worry with this whole trip was the airplane ride with all the girls. I wasn't too worried about the hassle of security, which actually went really smooth. The girls just thought we were a little crazy taking all of our shoes of and on. Silly Mom and Dad!

Early morning at the airport ready, but waiting to leave.

Thank goodness for DVD players. Pop in those head phones and we were golden most of the way!

I of course was sitting with all the girls and Bret was across the isle in between two others. Seating is always a little silly on planes. We were lucky to be able to talk others into moving around a few times when our seating wasn't very good with all the kids. After I got Sunnie to sleep Bret was in charge of her for the rest of the flight. We only had one layover in Houston, TX and it gave us a chance to eat some lunch before the last flight.

We landed and with all the time changes it was now 5:00 Orlando time. A lovely Lady from the Village we will be staying at met us at baggage and helped us with directions and the rental car. We put all the seats in the rental and we were on our way baby!

Dad,was the driver and Mom was the navigator. A few times I will add that it maybe should have gone the other way around. :) We had a 30 minute Drive to the Give Kids the World Village. Not so used to driving around without all the mountains. We are definitely not in Utah anymore!We were welcomed so friendly at the Give Kids the World Village. And Holy Cow!, this place was so incredible. I feel as if I should give you a brief tour before I continue on with the trip, but there are just so many pictures I'm not so sure how to go about all of this.

Anyways...

They took us to our Villa where we were to reside the whole week, and first things first they had to take a picture of us.


The mayor of this village was a Bunny like in the photo. We saw him from a distance but never met him up close.

The next thing we saw was the cookie car driving around. It was always driving around just in case you wanted a cookie. How cool is that! :)

It didn't take long to get the van unloaded and moved in to the villa. We sent Bret off to orientation while I ordered in dinner from Boston Market in the village. They delivered it to us and all the food was no charge. Everything at the village was no charge to us. It was so crazy wonderful!

Sitting on our table when we arrived was a huge bag full of gifts and candy. They told us that everyday we would receive something fun sitting on the table! The girls especially thought this was so cool!

The only thing left to do tonight that was open was the Ice Cream Parlor. It opened at 8:00 am everyday and closed at 10:00 pm at night. Lets just say that we ate our fair share of ice cream daily! It's a good thing, for Mom, that we did a lot of walking and swimming!

It was only like a 3-5 min walk from our lovely villa to the center of the village. Today was a long busy day full of the travel start of things. Tomorrow the fun begins. Animal Kingdom here we come!

Make-A-Wish Party

During Taylie's last Chemotherapy round we had a visit from two very wonderful people. After our Social Worker had referred Taylie to the Make-A-Wish Foundation they assigned us the cutest girls you've ever seen to be our own coordinators. They brought Taylie a big bag full of gifts. Coloring things, tootsie rolls, a shirt and a hat, and this super cool fish that runs on batteries and swims in the water. They came to our hospital room to talk to Taylie about what her wish might be. They played some games with her while Mom gave all the important information needed. As soon as they left all she wanted to do was play with her fish, which now lives at Papa Brian's swimming pool. Of course we didn't have a great way of letting it swim, but it sure made a fun bath time for Sunnie!

Now that Taylie is home and her line is all out and healed up, we have been talking to her about what her wish might be. She had a lot of ideas: a play house for her and Mayzi to play in, a guitar, or a piano. She really wanted to see Mickey Mouse, Whales and Animals.

One day while sitting listening to primary songs she looked at me and said, "I know what my wish could be, I can go and see Jesus! Both me and Bret looked at each other so surprised. All I could do was hug her. After telling Make-A-Wish that wish they told me they pretty much couldn't make that one possible. Thank Goodness for that! I think we need her here with us right now.

It didn't take long and she decided that it was going to be Mickey Mouse. We scheduled her send off party, and also her wish to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida. It was going to be 7 whole days and 6 nights of magic. We were leaving on the 7th of May 2010.

Taylie's send off party was incredible. The Make-A-Wish Foundation Center in Murray, UT was where we had it. We were able to invite a bunch of people like our family members etc. Let me just take you through our wish experience in pictures.

Taylie was all smiles tonight. She hardly ever said a word, but she had the time of her life.

Mickey Mouse wasn't able to make it, but Minnie came and held her hand through the whole thing. Mayzi was so afraid of Minnie. She kept her distance for a little while and before too long she was hugging her and even straightened her belt buckle at one point. It was the funniest thing you've ever seen. If you know my Mayzi you can probably hear her saying, "that's better!" We all received a token to throw into this wishing pond. We all got to make our own wish that night to. It was so cool!

The night started with gifts. This is her hat that had her name on the back of it. They also had the cutest bag full of things to do on the airplane and a t-shirt and another hat. And don't forget the treats, a whole bunch of treats. Talk about spoiled, so well deserved though!

She wrote her wish down on a piece of paper and rolled it up so carefully and put it in this cylinder to give to the wish wizard.

Everyone also at this point was given a piece of paper and was asked to write down a wish that we wanted for Taylie.

Then she got to unlock this special door in the tower with her very own key that we have been saving from way back at the hospital when they gave it to her. Inside it was so pretty and amazing. The sound of water from the fountain and the awesome colors that changed all the time. Here is where she dropped her cylinder in and actually made her wish.

The Wish wizard you cannot see but her granted her wish. Then we all stood around her and told her our wishes for her. This made Bret and myself a little emotional. We have been through a lot with Taylie and it was so neat to hear what others wanted for her. She is loved by so many!

A nice family shot listening to the wizard grant her wish!

Then it was party time. Cake and Ice Cream...yummy!

Taylie was able to get the first piece and she got exactly the one she wanted, no matter how big it was!

After we ate we went out to do her star raising. Every wish child gets to raise a star. They played the "When you wish upon a star" song. They helped her hook it up and then left her to raise it. Was very cool. My eyes kept getting kinda teary eyed throughout this whole night. It was all so incredible and fun!

There was so much to read and see here at the Make-A-Wish Center. So many stories brought tears to our eyes. Watching my Child brought tears to my eyes. What a beautiful thing that has been made possible for children who have to go through so much. My heart is indeed so full of gratitude and thanks for all the many people who have made such a thing a reality for us!