Blogs: Families, Foundations & Researchers

Through love, laughter, and loss, the one constant and our favorite has been music.

McKenna loved all things that had to do with the beach. Whether it was riding our bikes down to the pier and having breakfast at Ruby’s, going beach camping with 20 families on our annual “Beach and Surf” trip, or going surfing with her sister in Hawaii, McKenna couldn’t wait to run on the sand and swim in the waves. Probably her favorite thing to do was go snorkeling and chase sea turtles in Hawaii. I can still hear the exciting sounds my girls would make underwater when they would spot a turtle and swim off hand in hand to follow it.

Charlie loved to eat at diners. “I mean, come on, you can get breakfast ALL DAY!” he would say. He could never decide between the egg special or pancakes, so he usually got both! He loved enjoying a good cup of coffee and pie. We traveled far and wide to every diner we could, and each one was his favorite. When I want to feel close to him, I have breakfast for dinner, or visit one of his favorite diners and get pancakes AND eggs.

Jennifer loved sweets… She had the ultimate sweet tooth.

Kelsey was a July baby, and she loved everything about summer, warm weather, and being on the water. One of her favorite things to do was go fishing with our family up in Canada every year. And, like any good fisherwoman, she had the patience to wait for the big fish.

Carson LOVED vacation! Whether it was Great Wolf Lodge, the mountains in Colorado, the lake, or the beach, he loved to travel. His favorite place of all time was the beach. I feel like as parents, we instilled that in him from the young age of 2 when we visited friends in Hawaii. Carson was diagnosed with DIPG in May 2016. We made the decision at that time to make as many memories with him as we could, which meant vacationing.

When David was very young, he loved playing with a kitchen set, so it was no shock that he took Culinary Arts in high school and planned to go to culinary school after he graduated. He loved learning about recipes from others, and he would regularly choose a cooking experience over other “fun” things. He got the chance to experience cooking with Chef Jose Andres and was excited to have been in the audience for an episode of Hell’s Kitchen.

Ty loved a show called Max and Ruby. He had DVDs with every single episode and they played all day every day. One day we received a random phone call from a representative for the Max and Ruby Live show that was coming to the area, and we were invited to a meet-and-greet backstage.

I couldn’t NOT share a post about Halloween, as Michael loved everything about it. The scary decorations, creating a unique costume, a night out in the neighborhood with buddies, and the CANDY! Oh, how he loved candy.