The Second Chance Foundation Benefit Concert

Neil and Celeste putting up The Second Chance Foundation Banner.

This was an incredible night. This is our family with J.R. Richards after the concert.

Kobi and Tiffany were in town visiting.

Sammy, Maddie and J.R.

Sammy, Kinsey and Hannah.

J.R. Richards and Hannah Laursens family.

Hannah is nine years old. She has brain cancer and has had many surgeries, chemo and radiation. This is the famly The Second Chance Foundation helped with the benefit concert.

Read more about it here and here is a video that a BYU student did about the Laursen family.

Neil, J.R.,Celeste and Matt.

Celeste helped out so much. Don't know what I would have done without her.

Nate Mathis, J.R. and Neil.

Nate is a board member of the foundation and he was a huge help. The Prestwich family were also a big help. Russ is also a board member of the foundation. We are so grateful to all those who helped and for all the support from Utah Valley University and all the busineeses who gave food.

We had a VIP dinner before the event. We worked hard on getting the food donated. We had BBQ pork from GoodWood, Steak and Chicken from Texas Road House, Salad and Baked Potatoes from Ruby River, Rolls from Shirley's Bakery, Chocolate Cake from Magelbys and Pies from Marie Calendars. We were a little late starting with the food and we had A Lot more poeple than p lanned. But we didn't run out food and all in all it turned out really well.

Here is some highlights of the concert http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RU8ezhIl64

Melody with Tyler Forsberg was the opening act. Here is one of the songs they performed.

I am so proud of Neil and his foundation. There were so many amazing and wonderful experiences the past few weeks. UVU soccer and Volleyball teams teamed up with the foundation in support of the Laursen family. We were crazy busy trying to put it all together but once we were sitting at the concert and listening to the music it was the time to take it all in. What an amazing concert J.R. Richards has an amazing voice. Neil and I sat front row and held hands and just took it all in. We have loved Dishwalla and especially like J.R. Richards new solo music. This all came together in amazing ways and we know we were blessed and we are grateful to be able to help the Laursens family. Helping others truly is the way to happiness.

Halloween 2009

Kinsey (Vampiress) Tova (pumpkin)

Sammy (Batgirl) Maddie (Biker Chick)

Kinsey, Aaron, Cora, Eason and Brevon...So cute!

Aaron (Al Harris) Gets taken down.

Aaron and Kinsey

Kinsey and Tova, Kinseys day costume (Mario)

Kinsey moving home

Kinsey has lived on her own for the last six months.
She has really liked being independent and being her own person. She has done so well on her own she is very responsible and hard working. She has decided that living pay check to pay check isn't a great way to live long term.

So she has decided to move home so that she can go to school and move on with her life. Moving forward and setting some goals. She has decided to go to Salt Lake Community College and she plans on being a nurse or maybe a Therapist. She is a not 100% sure what she wants to do but she has decided that she needs schooling. I am so grateful she realizes that school is important. She really only took off one semester so she isn't too far behind. I am so proud of you McKinsey you are an amazing girl. I am proud you are taking control of your life and making decisions for your future and especially proud of your tender heart and loving nature.

Welcome Home sweet girl! We Love You!

Sadie Hawkins Dance

The theme wa jungle. They all dress in dark clothes and put paint all over them and leaves.

It was a cheap creative way to dress up.

Sammy and Shayne

They ate dinner at Fuddruckers. The group had a lot of fun. They had a day date where they did an amazing race type game that they video taped. These girls are creative and a lot of fun.

Second Chance of Utah Foundation Benefit Çoncert!

Neil's Foundation is having a benefit concert for a 9-year-old Provo girl, who has brain cancer.

JR Richards of the group Dishwalla will be performing on Monday, Oct. 26 at Utah Valley University.

We will be hosting a VIP dinner for 100 people on the night of the concert with a silent auction. At the VIP dinner, there will be a meet-and-greet with the musicians and we will be honoring Hannah and her family. If you want tickets to the MVP event it is $25 and includes dinner, meet and greeet and a concert ticket. Tickets for the concert are $15- $10 for students.

Here is some information on Hannah Laursen, the girl who we are doing the concert for.

Hannah is 9-years old and was spending this summer having fun with her mom and two sisters before starting the 4th grade. Every summer the girls go to Florida to visit Grandparents and other family.

This summer, about halfway through the trip, Hannah started having severe headaches that were eventually accompanied by fatigue and vomiting. The doctors said these were classic migraine headache symptoms, but decided to do a CT scan just to follow protocol. The scan revealed a mass in Hannah's brain located just above her hypothalamus.

As soon as the doctors saw the mass in Hannah's brain they arranged an ambulance to drive her to a children's hospital in Pensacola, FL. En route to Pensacola Hannah's heart started to race and then slow, which was a dangerous symptom of extreme pressure on her brain. Due to the increasing emergency, Hannah was picked up and flown the rest of the way to the hospital in a helicopter.

Upon arrival at the hospital Hannah was rushed into surgery. Over the next 6 days Hannah had 3 brain surgeries to relieve pressure on her brain and remove as much of the tumor as possible. A biopsy of the tumor revealed that it is a malignant and rapidly growing tumor.

Hannah has gone through 2 round of chemotherapy and is currently going in daily, Monday through Friday, for radiation treatments.Hannah's prognosis for the future is very good and she is attending school and gaining back a lot of her strength and energy.She will still have to go through at least one more surgery and will have to have hormone therapy for years to come.

Baseball Father and Son

BASEBALL!!

Neil has been waiting since Aaron was born to be able to play baseball with his son.

This summer they played together. It was so fun to go to their games and watch them play together. I can't believe that Aaron is old enough to play with Neil. Neil still looks the same and still plays really well. But the time Neil had been waiting for has arrived.

It was a fun summer!!

I love these two!

Something I never thought I would do!

See this 100 ft cliff. Yea it is very tall. Especially to me. If you know me you know that I am deathly. Really deathly afraid of heights. I have had many embarassing moments due to my fear of heights. Well you'll never guess what I did. Nope never.

Good things I have photos to prove it!

This is me crying and holding on for dear life. James was AMAZING.

I would never have ever been able to do it without him.

Still holding on for dear life!

Not the best view or all that atractive but I don't care. I have proof that I did it!

At this point I was told to look down. Nope I didn't look once. I was afraid I would pass out!

This picture was before we started the hike. All smiles not sweaty or full of fear.

At the start of the hike I was like ok self you can do the hike. Yes your out of shape but you can do the hike to the top and then hike back down again. Not in my wildest dreams did I think I would rappel. The hike up was a tough hike going up and I knew it would be even harder coming down. So the option of hiking down and making someone else hike down with me was not a fun option and rappeling was not a fun option. I will admit I cried out loud and even more inside. I whined inside mostly but some how I did it. My team was amazing and helpful. Some how I did it. I have been so proud of myself. I have been on a high. I have thought a lot of limitations I put on myself. I know I am still deathly afraid of heights but maybe... just maybe I will try and be more adventureous try to live a little more out of my box.

A shout out to Travis. You inspired me.