Walk with the Heart of a Child 2012

This year's walk was amazing! I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be so much fun! We had such amazing support for Mylah both from virtual walkers and the ones who joined us the day of the walk!

We began the day by rising early and leaving to the Heart Walk around 6 a.m. My kids, who usually rise early, chose to not wake up until right before we had to leave that day. It made for some grumpy tired kids, but we worked it out. We also didn't have Neil with us. He had to work and we were so sad that he couldn't be there. Mylah missed her Daddy a lot!

We arrived, checked in, grabbed our T-shirts, and put on our Team Mylah pins.
We took a few pictures of those of us that were there already and then headed to the Kids Zone!

{My Dad & Mom {not sure why they both look mad}, Me, Mylah (wearing her CHD shirt), Rylee and Dallin}


{My beautiful kids and I}

{My besite Kati, Me and the kids}



They offered a few free things to do in the Kids Zone. Dallin was excited to have his face painted, but they ended up only having slightly girly picture options. Rylee decided to get butterflies. She was very overwhelmed by all the people and everything going on, but braved the chair and had her face painted.





Dallin instead waited in line to get a balloon character. It was a long wait, but worth it. He had the lady make him a sword and he loved it! Rylee also had hair tinsel put in, and a princess crown made from balloons.



The walk was about to begin so we quickly took a few more pictures.

Team Mylah
{Kati, Steve, Margaret Ann, Christopher, Travis, Kim, Burton, MaryAnn,
Mylah, Me, Jonathan, Anella, Dallin, Rylee}


Grandma and Grandpa H. and Mylah


Grandma and Grandpa C. and Mylah


The Keys Family and Mylah
{Christopher, Travis, Mylah, Kim, Jonathan and Anella}


After pictures, we were off! The walk was a 3k, basically around the entire Mall. It was fun to watch other Teams, rally together for Heart Children and spread awareness about CHD's. There was a wonderful team spirit in everyone and I was overwhelmed by the amount of love I felt. Love for Mylah and her health, love for other heart families who's babies didn't make it, love for a community who believes that we can make a difference and help fund research for CHD's. It was such a fabulous experience. I am so glad we decided to do it!









Here's our sweet Heart Baby! She was playing with her toys for most of the walk and then fell asleep about halfway through. We were so proud to walk with her and for her!







During the walk there were a few local mascots that joined the festivities and stopped to take pictures with the kids. Rylee wanted NOTHING to do with the characters, but Dallin had fun getting his picture taken!



At the end of the walk there was a performance by Tim McGraw!!! We only wished that were true, it was an impersonator, but a pretty good one! We rocked out to the music and then they announced the winners of each of the contests they had for walk. Gifts and Raffle Prizes were given away and we all enjoyed water, granola bars and apples. Yum!

"Tim McGraw"


The End of the Walk


Even Mylah got a snack and water!



Here's me and my sweet girl, I love her so much and am so blessed that we were able to do this, to honor her. I can't remember what life was like before her and living with a child who has a CHD. I can't remember living my days not wanting to create awareness, raise money for research, and spread the word. I am an advocate for my daughter and only I can help heal her!



Thank you again to everyone who donated to Team Mylah and our local Heart Foundation. Thank you for your love and support of our heart baby! We can't wait until next year!