I am so thankful that we are able to spend this big Milestone with Makenzie. It has been 10 years since Makenzie's heart transplant. It has defiantly been a roller coaster of a ride, but she is doing amazing. She has been asking to go to Disneyland for the past 2 years for her big 10-year mark. But between Tyler's medical stuff and buying a new house, we haven't been able to save up the money to take 8 of us there. So, I heard about this foundation called Merlin's Magic wand Foundation that helps kids enjoy a day out at specific place. The one that was closest to us, was Lego Land in California. But before we could go, Makenzie had her Cath a week before our Vacation. Her Cath went well, she was in mild rejection, so she had to be on steroids for a week. We also had to wait to see if her EBV levels came back good otherwise they suggested us not to go.
An amazing thing happened, I won't go into too much detail, but I got asked to speak on Mother's Day at our church, but that was the day we were planning on leaving if Makenzie's levels came back good. Our bishop is amazing, he asked what we were going to do in California besides Lego Land. I told him "Anything that is free." we had a hard time saving money for this trip, but we wanted to do something special for Makenzie. Well, if you know Jeff Grant he is a huge Disneyland fan. He asked if we were going to go to Disneyland, and I replied, "no we don't have the funds to go". But Kenzie would have loved to go. We Told Makenzie we were just going camping for her special day, and she was OK with that, she understood our finances and didn't care what we did.
Any ways, my bishop Jeff was asking me all these questions about California, and I didn't think anything of it. Come to find out he told friends about Makenzie and our situation, and they donated $1500 for us to take Makenzie to Disneyland for her BIG DAY. Tears rolled down my face forever it felt like. They were making Makenzie's day the best day ever for her.
So, Makenzie's labs came back good, so we were good to go on our trip. The kids still had no idea what we were doing or as a matter of fact that we were even going anywhere. I packed all the suitcases secretly and just woke them up at 4 A.M and told them lets go. We left Sunday on Mother's Day, stopped in Vegas for a little bit for a stretch and go to the M&M and coke Factory, and ate lunch. We finally made it to California 12 hours later, but we did it.
Monday, we went to Lego Land, it was fun, the mini figurines of all the little Lego's everywhere were unbelievable.
Tuesday May 16th was Makenzie's big day; she still had no idea what was in store for her. We arrived at Disneyland and the look on her face was priceless. It was such a magical place, the kids had so much fun there they didn't want to leave. We got there at opening and left at 11:30 P.M. It was the best way to celebrate such a big milestone for Makenzie's. She deserved it. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people in our lives to do such a big thing like that for her. Her Favorite ride was Hyper space Mountain. I think that was all the kid's favorite ride.
Wednesday was our last day before we were headed home, so we went to the beach it was cold, but that didn't stop most of the family from getting in the water. Tyler, Jackson, and Braxton I think loved that day more than anyone else.
I'm so glad that Makenzie was able to have such an amazing 10 year "Heartiversary". She says, "Disneyland was the best day ever" and talks about it all the time. She is ready to go back. And it was her first time on big roller coasters, and she loves them!!!
