Jett POWER!!

There is a special group of people that I want to tell you about.  The Highmark Group out of Draper, UT is a landscaping contracting company who heard my story and decided to help me and my family!  Every year, the employees and management all participate in an "Annual Ride (your bike) to Work" day.  They pick a special person to sponsor for this event.  And guess what??

They chose ME!!

Even though my parents and I now live in Omaha, Nebraska…they still decided that I was going to be their special buddy.  Weeks in advance, employees gathered donations.  They even made bike jerseys with my logo on them.  Underneath the logo read, "JETT POWER!"  I bet this helped them ride really fast.

My mommy and daddy weren't able to attend because we live so far away.  And let's be honest, I may not be the easiest baby to travel with!  M & D were really sad that they couldn't take me to this big event.  However, Aunt Amy (daddy's sister) and Aunt Tiffany (mommy's sister) were able to go.  They got to tell everyone my story and tell all of the employees how grateful our family is for their support.  Mommy and I were able to "kind of" be there on Skype.  It was so amazing to see so many people (many of which, we have never had the privilege of meeting) wearing my shirt and showing me their Jett Power!

All in all, the employees of the Highmark Group rode 283 miles and raised $1200 for me. Wow!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Our family is strengthened every day by those who have participated in events like this.  YOU are the ones who give us JETT POWER!!

10% of the world

With the help of all my wonderful friends I have officially traveled 10% of the world.  What an amazing feat to have accomplished so quickly.  It feels like I have traveled much more than 10%, but I guess the world has a lot of places to see.  Thanks again to all of my friends that have made this happen.

The ZOO, an EEG, and lots of fun travels!

Hi Everyone!
        I hope you are all having a good week…my momma has not been good about getting this blog post up as fast as I would like.  I have TRIED and TRIED to tell her.  Finally, she got around to it today and I am excited to tell you about my past week.

Last Tuesday, a nice lady from Neuroquest came to my house and put these crazy colored strings all over my head.  I was not too happy about it.  She had to super glue 24 of them to my head.  My mommy told me that the doctors are trying to figure my brain out…they want to know FOR SURE if I have seizures or not.  Sometimes I do some crazy stuff like twitch or roll my eyes back.  I like to keep everyone on their toes.  The EEG lasted for 48 hours and I had to stay in front of a video camera the WHOLE time.  Man, was that rough!  I couldn't go outside or anything (but my mom may have snuck me outside a couple times).

My mommy and daddy will find out the results from this EEG in a couple of weeks.  They are, at least, hoping that the brain doctors will be able to prescribe some medicine that will help me be more comfortable.  I would LOVE that and I hope the doctors are able to do it!

Once the EEG was complete, it took my mommy two hours to get these strings off of my head!  I was a very good boy and only cried a little bit and, man, was I HAPPY to have them off.  We went straight outside so I could feel the wind run through my hair again.  I closed my eyes and enjoyed every second of it!

Just a few days ago, my mommy and daddy took me to the Omaha Zoo.  I loved being outside in the beautiful, sunny weather.  We even went to the petting zoo…and I touched a goat!  Before we knew it, however, that crazy goat was trying to eat my feeding tube.  Don't worry, I laid down the smack, and gave that goat a kick with my strong legs!

And lastly, my TRAVELS!  I have made so many wonderful friends.  I think I may be the most popular baby ever…and the luckiest.  You, my friends, are wonderful people.  You keep me and my parents going!  We have become so strong because of your faith in us.  Enjoy the following video of my September travels.

Growing Up!!!

Hey Guys,

I'm just finishing up my latest travel slide show and it will hopefully be up this weekend, but in the mean time I just wanted to show everyone how Big I am getting... I mean seriously, look how long I am.  I may be really skinny, but I make up for it in length.   I'm so big that I have grown out of the little device that mommy puts me in and walks around with, I think its called a baby bjorn.  I'm going prove a lot of people wrong and be the first PCH basketball player...

I've been doing pretty good lately.  Mommy has been brave with trying to take me out during the day.  I don't really like my new lay flat car seat because it is too small, but we both deal with it and we're able to get out every few days. 

Oh, Guess what???  M&D took me to an airshow and on a boat over the last couple weeks... and I LOVED IT!!!  M&D usually take me to the nurse when they want to go somewhere fun (that always makes me feel bad) but last week they decided to start taking me along.  It was soooo cool to see the airplanes.  I always hear daddy talk about how cool they are, and I see them all over my room, but I had no idea that they were so awesome in real life.  They went really fast, made loud noises, went upside down, and looked really cool.  Then our friends invited us to go wakeboarding.  M&D were really nervous to take me on a boat, but after I had so much fun at the airshow they decided to try it out.  Well... It was also awesome.  The boat vibrated just right that it made my tummy feel really relaxed.  Then the wind was blowing ever so slightly, so I got really sleepy eyes and took a nap.  It was so nice to soak up some rays (thats what you say when you're in the sun right?) with mommy, daddy and their friends.  (Thanks Kim Bowman)

Lastly, I want to just give you a really quick hint at something that happened yesterday.  I'll tell you more about it when I get the pictures, but I'm so excited I have to say something.  The Highmark Group, a landscaping business back home in Utah, held their annual work party.  They are a VERY nice company that does a lot of good things.  One of them is going to India to help build homes as a service.  A couple months ago I showed you a picture of their WHOLE team that took me to India with them. Anyway, Aaron, the CEO of this amazing company believes that their company parties should benefit a good cause.  There will be many more details to come, but yesterday they all rode their bikes to work with Me on their hearts.  Although I think I'm perfectly normal, I know Mommy and Daddy were in tears about this all day yesterday, so I'm pretty sure the thoughtfulness struck a chord in them.

Stay tuned for some more pictures in the next few days.

Wrapping up August

I sure have been a busy little guy the last little while.  August has been a pretty good month for me.  Daddy had to go back to school, so I don't get to see him as much as I would like, but other than that it was good.  Last weekend I even made it to an airshow.  I decided that I love airplanes... everytime I am in, on, or around them I feel pretty good.  When I was at the airshow I was so well behaved because I didn't want to leave.  Hopefully mommy and daddy took some pictures that I can post later this week.

As for my travels this week, I made another slide show.  I apologize for some of the blurry pictures.  When I download them they came through very small and I wasn't able to make them look great in the slide show.  Regardless, I had a blast whether the picture was blurry or not.

Thanks again to everyone that makes this happen for me.

My hometown posse

I may have barely missed the chance of living in Logan Utah, but I know that its my hometown.  Here are a couple of reasons why:

1. I have the BEST friends ever back in my hometown.  Not to take anything away from all my awesome friends all over the world, but my Logan crew is pretty special.
2. I am a TRUE AGGIE  at Utah State University
3. I am a Yeti Hockey super fan
4. I have a whole dance team worth of girlfriends in Logan
(more to come on these reasons shortly)

This past week I have received multiple packages from friends of my parents in Logan.  They have had such cool stuff I don't even know where to start.

If you don't know what a True Aggie is you may have to google it because I'm not sure either.  But Mommy and Daddy said that I am an honorary True Aggie because Big Blue personally escorted me to the "A" to take pictures.  Then he autographed the picture and sent it to me in a really cool frame, along with some other Aggie gear for me and M&D to cheer them on with (I hear that watching football with Daddy is going to be awesome)

Big Blue didn't stop with the picture.  He also sent me a stuffed version of him, a children's book that he wrote (and daddy read to me), along with a super soft blankie and some USU water bottles.  Holy cow, I am totally set for the upcoming football season.  Thanks so much Jenny & Burke Hollingsworth and Linda Zimmerman you guys are so nice to make sure that my loyalty is where it should be (although M&D would never let it be anywhere else)

I am a big hockey fan.  I'm so bummed that I won't ever be able to play this awesome sport.  Daddy talks to me all the time about how he really misses playing hockey with his friends, the Yeti's, in Logan.   Last week I learned why he was so bummed.  These "Yeti's" he talks about must be really cool guys, because they sent me a team jersey so I could be a part of their team.  They told me that the Yeti's will always have my back.  Whenever I put on my new jersey I get into "hockey" mode.  That means that I put on my mad face, so I don't have any good pictures in it yet.  Regardless, here is a picture of my jersey and a pic of dad in his Jersey.  Thanks to the Yeti's, and especially Matt and Abby Erickson for having my back.

Look at my daddy GO!!

Lastly, I wanted to tell you about my latest group of girlfriends… Hubba hubba!

My mommy is best friend's with their coach, Kara Hall.  She wrote me and my mommy this letter below:

Tennille (T to me) and I have been best friends from a very young age. Many of the best memories of my youth involved her.  I would ride my bike to her house, and her to mine. She taught me how to craft, make Top Ramon, play the piano better, organize and even how to be an entrepenuer! Our bake sales and summer preschools were something to be reckoned with! She helped me audition and land a spot in the school choir. She all but forced me to tryout for the high school drill team (which we will get to later). 

I am the wife of an amazing husband, and a mom to a beautiful son. My life is very full, but I was still wanting a way to give back, and serve others, while doing something I was passionate about. In March of this year, things came full circle and I had the opportunity to apply for the drill team coaching position at Logan High School. I was fortunate enough to be able to be offered the position (thanks to a beautiful recommendation letter from T.) It has been another blessing in my life, and I and my assistant coach Haddie (also a friend of T's) are lucky to be able to coach these beautiful, talented girls! 

As any high school athlete knows, the year can be somewhat of a roller coaster. Some points are high, and some are low. Our team has experienced some challenges and growing pains over this past summer that really could have broken us down. I was trying to think of a way to teach the girls that life isn't always easy, but is about perseverance and endurance. I wanted them to know that sometimes life is hard, but that it's ok because with the right attitude, the human spirit is built to do hard things. 

While contemplating these thoughts, I was immediately reminded of my good friend and her little boy. Every time I am facing something that seems too difficult to endure, I go to Jett's blog and read about his struggles, challenges, feats, and accomplishments. My spirits are always lifted, and I know that if such a frail body can overcome these enormous physical challenges each day, that I can overcome my challenges too. 

The message I wanted to convey to the team was simple: "I can do hard things." 

Haddie and I took Jett's story to our team. After reading all about Jett, we gave each of them a custom Jett shirt (thanks to Amy Rigby for drumming up a custom shirt that would match our team clothing), and this poem (bear with my mediocre poetry skills):

Jett’s little body can’t go very far,

He can’t travel by sea, plane, bike or car.

His little legs will never know how to dance;

A passion of ours, and his moms, and his aunts.

By wearing this shirt we can take him around,

To see things through our eyes that would make him so proud.

Let’s wear it to practice, competitions and then,

He can be with us when we win!

But no matter what this Hi-Lo season brings,

Jett will help to remind us “we can do HARD THINGS!”

As a team we decided to wear our Jett shirts when we needed an extra "boost" as a team or individually. We have had the shirts for a week now, and it has been so fun to see the girls bringing Jett with them to practice! We danced a total of over 26 hours this week alone, and Jett has been there with us! We know he would love the music and the energy of the dances. We can't wait to take him with us to performances, competitions, and nationals in Florida! Thanks to Jett for providing us with something so much bigger than ourselves! 

T, you have always been an inspiration to me, and are now more than ever!!!

Love, 

The 2012-2013 Logan High School Hi-Los:

Kara, Haddie, Colie, Jane, Mazey, Courtney, Courteney, Hannah, Haley, Amanda, Katie, Brooke, Katrina, Lily, Maddy, Yaneli, Mikayla, Erin, Makaylie, Misty, Darby, and Karlie. 

Am I a lucky guy or what?  My daddy says that I have to wait until I am 16 months before I can start dating so I'll have to wait to ask these cute girls out.  The Hi-Lo's are so lucky to have Kara and Haddie Harris as their coaches.  My mommy was telling me how good they are going to be this year and I believe it.  They CAN do hard things!!

Thank you to my hometown posse!!  I LOVE YOU ALL.

The Olympics, Afghanistan, and much more

Hey Everyone,

Can you believe it?  My mommy had to help me make a video because I have been to SOOOOO many fun places.  I have absolutely loved traveling with all of you.  My mommy says that she loves seeing all of your smiling faces.  It helps her get through the tough days...wait a second?  Am I tough to take care of Mommy?  Why yes...yes I am hard to take care of!!  It's a good thing I'm so cute.

If your picture isn't on this video yet, it will make it to next week's blog post! I can't thank you enough for taking me with you on your travels.  I have been to some amazing places and have met some really caring and compassionate people.  Enjoy the video everyone!  Always remember..enjoy the small things in life.  I know that I do!

I learned how to make a slide show of my pictures, and I want to know what you guys think about it.  Let me know in the comments if you like the slide show or the other way better.