Life Happens

We haven't posted in awhile because life has a way of just happening.  Our family has been busy with family pictures and end of school preparations.  Jayla's last day of school was yesterday.  Her entire class performed a dance to Justin Beiber's "Never Say Never" at the school talent show.  It was adorable!

Jayla's last day of school and all dressed up for her talent show performance

Our family has also been dealing with some unexpected medical issues.  Grams fell down a flight of stairs last week while visiting her friend out of state.  She was briefly hospitalized with a burst fracture in her spine.  Miraculously, she's doing extremely well and will have no long term ramifications from the injury.  It was certainly scary though.  It has also meant lots of doctor appointments.  I've experienced a variety of new areas within the MU health system and all have been truly remarkable.

Now that summer is officially upon us, we are gearing up for lots of fun CMNH events.  Jayla and I will be visiting local Walmarts on Saturday.  We are welcoming nearly 100 soldiers from Fort Leonard Wood army base that are coming down to run barbecues at the six Walmart and Sams Club locations in Columbia and Jefferson City.  This will be the second year for Grill Sergeants.  It was huge last year and so much fun, so we're really excited to have them back! 

Here are some of the Grill Sergeants from 2011 hard at work in the summer heat!

Jayla will also be taking a couple of golf lessons from the pros at Old Hawthorne.  They are going to teach her the basics so she can have an awesome opening swing to kick-off the Coaches for Kids golf tournament in June.  This will also be the second year for this event which was extremely successful last year.  In fact, it was the most successful inaugural golf tournament in Columbia! 

Finally, we received an email yesterday inviting Jayla to be the guest of honor at the Miss Missouri pageant in June.  She will absolutely love this!  We will have the opportunity to thank all the contestants for their hard work on behalf of CMNH and will get to tell the audience a little about Jayla and the important work of the hospital and CMNH.  The Miss America Organization has been such a wonderful supporter of the hospital. 

Here's Jayla practicing her pageant pose with all the titleholders in attendance at this year's Gala.

In addition to all these exciting activities, Jayla is also looking forward to all the usual summer activities.  She can't wait to get to the pool.  We are planning some small trips and will hopefully get some camping in this year.  She's also going to spend one day a week with her cousin, Caitlin.  Caitlin has agreed to teach Jayla how to take great pictures, so she'll be ready for her trip in September.  She already has an eye for it, so I can't wait to see what they come up with!