Make a Wish

If you ever read the blog, you may know about my amazing nephew Hinckley. In 2015, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor and cancer. The removal of the tumor was successful and subsequent chemo and radiation treatments took care of the cancer, but there were effects from trauma to his brain that remain to this day. He has trouble walking. He speaks very slowly. Half of his face is paralyzed but they are working on therapy to retrieve some movement. He still is super smart and very funny. And his kindness and tenderness of heart were not diminished at all by his hard experiences.

Hinckley definitely qualified as a Make a Wish Foundation recipient. I didn't know much about Make a Wish before, but now I know a bit more. Kids usually choose one of four wishes:

1) Take a trip/go somewhere
2) Meet someone famous, a celebrity or team
3) Get something material, shopping trip or bedroom makeover
4) Be someone, policeman, model, etc.for a day

Hinckley decided on the fourth type of wish. He wanted to model. In the summer, he went out to New York and was able to participate in a photo shoot for Macy's department store. A famous photographer from France? came and they spent all day with lots of models working on a winter catalog.

Then Hinckley was extended a great honor. The Make a Wish Foundation in tandem with Macy's has a big kick off every Christmas season, where Macy's donates a dollar for every letter written to Santa that is dropped off in their stores, nation wide. They decided that Hinckley would  be the face of their campaign this winter. His picture was displayed in all the Macy's stores and he wrote the first letter to Santa and dropped it in the box. And he was featured in their winter catalog. Here are a couple of his pictures. He looks so handsome. He is a good looking guy.

Our family was invited to come to the kick off event. It was on a Wednesday, so everyone took off work and school and we trekked up to Idaho. It was totally worth it.

We went over to Macy's in the morning to be there before Hinckley arrived. Everyone was wearing antler ears and there was an sense of excitement in the air. When he arrived, everyone was cheering and he walked down the red carpet and through the store to the mall entrance.

At the mall entrance, there was a desk set up where Hinckley wrote his letter. Then people were able to put in their own letters and get autographs from Hinckley in the catalogs provided. It was really cool. We all took turns doing all those things.

This is the first time I have seen Kaysen since he got back from his mission in September. It was great to see him, although hard to get a picture without the classic Kaysen look. And it was great to see KJ too. And all the Cazier's up there.

It was a pretty fancy deal. They had some cookies that were so pretty, it was hard to eat them, but we managed.

When we left the store, we swung by a billboard in town where you can see Hinckley's ad. That is pretty darn awesome.

We were in and out since we needed to get back to UT for activities in the evening. Grandma took us to Scotty's for burgers since it was one of Grandpa Cazier's favorite dives. I liked the window art and the food was pretty good.

This is also where we were when we got June's score on the ACT. She got a 35!! What a smarty pants. So it was a pretty terrific day all around. We sure have an awesome family. We are so proud of our nephew Hinckley. He has overcome so many trials to be where he is today and still it is not easy. He is a tower of strength and determination and we love him.