Many of you on here saw my posts about my 11-year-old daughter Hayley's trip to the Primary Children's ICU last month. The short recap is she missed a school field trip to "BYU Heroes" day, where they were going to meet and hear from the athletes. Hayley was excited to meet her favorite player, Jackson Emery. She missed that chance because she went to the Timpanogos ER, then was transported to Primary's because her condition was extremely serious. It was the first manifestation of Type I diabetes, and now since that stay she is doing well counting carbs in her meals and giving herself insulin shots. But, that's only the background for this post.

I came onto Cougarboard while sitting in the ICU with my daughter to ask if there was a way to meet the athletes before or after a game when she got out of the hospital. You guys on CB didn't think that was good enough, however. Through CB connections, Jackson Emery called my daughter to cheer her up (I posted previously about this too). Then, last Monday we received a package from the Basketball team, which had a Cosmo kid's t-shirt signed by Jackson, one of the Jackson Emery night "Wanted" posters, also signed by Jackson, and one of the large whole-team posters (white background) that was signed by each team member. Perhaps the best part was the card that accompanied the package. It was so thoughtful and personalized that Hayley started crying when she read it--and her parents both got teary-eyed as well (she said "they don't even know me, and they're being so nice"). That package happened because certain CBers, who wish not to be named, emailed and called whoever they knew just to help us out my sick little girl.

That brings us to yesterday. Some of you may have read my post about my son (child #6) being born at 4:46 yesterday morning. Well, my other kids had mixed feelings about the timing because the BYU Basketball team also invited us to their practice yesterday. My 3 girls (Hayley, plus 8 and 6 year-olds) spent Sunday afternoon making Valentines Day cards for the team and coaches. They were all thrilled and then got up to find out Mom and Dad were gone to the hospital, and new little brother Carter had arrived.

My wife, in a gesture that probably assured her sainthood, told me I should go ahead and take the kids. So, a little after 3:00 yesterday, I filed into the Marriott Center with 5 very excited children (oldest 13, youngest 2). We sat in the first couple rows of seats, and watched the team doing drills.

I struggled to keep my 2-year-old's interest, and keep the noise down. There was only one problem: everybody was there EXCEPT Jackson (Of all the times for him to miss practice for nagging injuries). Despite that, it was really a fun time for my older kids to watch.

When practice was close to being over, Mike Hall went in and got Jackson out of wherever he was rehabbing (or whatever). Jackson came over and talked with my kids for a good 15 minutes.

I have to say he is a genuinely nice, caring person. I was totally impressed. He chatted with each of the kids, and just had a good time with them. I also have to give Hayley some props here: she congratulated Jackson on his good game against Utah, and accurately spouted his stats from the game. I swear I didn't coach her on that--that was completely on her own apparently from reading the sports page.

When practice finished, Coach Rose gathered the team and called us down onto the court. Hayley had also made a thank-you card for the team and one for Jackson (for the phone call), so she gave Coach Rose the team card. Then my girls gave out Valentines Cards (with Pixie Stix) to each of the players and members of the practice squad.



We took pictures with the whole team. I won't post the team photo because it's a full front image of all of us (I'd like to have some semblance of internet security), but there are some really cool shots.

One other thing that I thought was kind of cool: Hayley was the focus, but my other kids were really made welcome as well. Jimmer talked to my 13-year-old son for a bit. I don't know what they talked about, but I appreciated him making my son's day while Hayley was getting most of the attention. Actually all of the players were great and friendly, but meeting Jimmer really was a highlight for my son.

Next, my kids got to shoot baskets. Wow, that was fun for them. Down on the floor where they've watched many games with me, they got to play while the team milled about.





Thanks again, Cougarboard for all you did for us. And a big thanks to BYU Basketball for your kindness. This made an incredible memory for my children. We'll always be Cougar fans.