Soccer Season

I signed Slade up to play soccer this year and he is loving every minute of it! He has his cousin Kleven on his team as well as two other friends. His coaches are his Uncle Chris and his preschool teacher's husband. His team had their first game this past Saturday and it was HILARIOUS! After a while Slade understood the point of the game but he just needs to work on going the right direction with the ball :) Here are some action shots:

He and his friend Jake had so much fun on the field together.

Slade was able to play goalie and he did great!!

Slade and Skylar used to play soccer in the backyard and before his game I was trying to explain the game to him and that he needs to run really fast, like daddy showed him... His reply was, "I think I'm faster than daddy and I can kick the ball harder too." Oh yes, he is his father's child! Its fun to see Slade out there playing soccer and I know Skylar would be so proud of him. Slade asked me if daddy was playing soccer in Heaven and if there was grass there with flowers. I said that I am sure of it! He was satisfied with that. He is such a joy!

Daisy's 3rd Birthday!!

Daisy celebrated her 3rd birthday today, well, actually the past few days :) She was able to go to Buid-A-Bear on Thursday and picked out a pink multi-colored bear and dressed her like a ballerina. On Friday, we went and saw How to Train Your Dragon at the IMAX and she loved it! Saturday she got to watch conference and then we went to Peter Piper Pizza for dinner. And, believe it or not, the celebrations are not over! She woke up this morning very excited to be three and was happy for most of the day! Her birthday will always land around General Conference, but I will have to remind her that she chose to come early so it wasn't my fault ;)

Grandma Stock sent her a barbie head. That sounds funny, but Daisy really enjoys styling hair so this gift was perfect!! Shhh! Slade got into it as well...

Birthday candle! Slade blew it out the first time so this was the second time around.

Miss Smiley. What a contagious smile!

Had to pull the poor cats tail :)

Our friends, the Boretsky's, were able to meet us for the movie and all the kids loved it!

Dear Sweet Daisy, I sure do love you!

Our New Pool and the joys of an OREO

Before I show you our new pool, I have to document Maylee's first OREO cookie. She loved it and wanted more!

Our NEW POOL!! It was the most amazing 10 minutes Slade and Daisy shared! They weren't allowed to stand up or move around too much or else their new pool would topple over, BUT they had a blast!

Grief List

I found this list on another blog and thought it would be helpful to post. I have had a lot of people tell me they just don't know what to do for me, so here you go! I loved this list and I added a few things to it as well...

1. First and foremost TALK about the loved one who's passed. Even if it uncomfortable at first, it will become easier.

2. If you didn't know the person at all or very well, ask to hear about them and learn of them through stories.

3. Don't ever put a time line on someone's grief.

4. Saying things like, "They are in a better place," or "This too shall pass..." really isn't comforting. It makes the bereaved feel like the place they had with them wasn't good or that the pain will go away eventually.

5. If you don't know what to say, just say, "I'm SO sorry you have to go through this."

6. If the person needs to analyze the circumstances surrounding the death, let them just talk and rehash anything as many times as they need to.

7. Don't assume they are ever "better." It never gets better and will be a part of them for the rest of their lives.

8. Don't underestimate how frazzled, abscent minded & spacey grief can make you.

9. Pamper them if you have means. Retail Therapy works great! So did pedicures and getting my hair done, I felt awful on the inside, at least I could try to feel good about me on the outside.

10. Love notes. Emails. Thinking of You cards. Thinking of the bereaved person cards.

11. Do not, I stress Do not get offended if your loved one doesn't answer his/her phone or return your calls. Don't assume that they don't appreciate your effort. It's just that someone bereaved doesn't want to put on a "happy voice" and burden everyone with their grief.

12. Most bereaved people will not offer information on how they are doing unless they truly feel like you want to know.

13. Validate.Validate.Validate. Please whatever you do, don't compare your loved ones loss to someone elses' "harder loss". Every loss is hard. Comparing makes the person feel like they shouldn't struggle because it could be worse.

14. Serve. Even the smallest act of service makes a huge impact.

15. Just make sure they know you love them. Be a shoulder to cry on.

Football Comparison

Maylee had her 1 year well check today and weighed in at almost 16 lbs. Her doctor weighed her twice and took the bigger number :) That put her in the .3% (yes, point three) for weight... I was told again not to worry that she is so small because she is following a normal growth pattern and is healthy. She is 27 inches tall (4th %) and ended up having an ear infection...again. So, no forward facing car seat for her for a long while!

I also had the doctor check Daisy's ears because I don't think she has been able to hear me very well. A few days ago I was whispering to Slade and Daisy and they were the same distance away from me but Daisy was telling that she couldn't hear me. I have also been having a really hard time with her not listening and I'm hoping its because she really can't hear me and not because she is almost 3. Turns out she has a lot of fluid in her ears so that IS the reason she can't hear me! Hopefully some allergy medicine will help clear that up soon...

Some Birthday Stuff and Tub Time!

Birthday celebrations! To celebrate Skylar and Maylee's birthdays, we visited "daddy's dirt" and released balloons in to the sky. I will post about that later when I get the pictures. I had my camera but of course forgot to put the card in it:) My dad saved me and brought his camera...

For dinner, we met up with my family and Skylar's family at Texas Roadhouse! I brought cupcakes for Maylee's birthday and she opened presents there as well.



Blowing out her birthday cupcake!



YUM! She thoroughly enjoyed her cupcake.

Sweet Daisy doing what she does best....smiling!

Maylee got to sit on the saddle and we sang Happy Birthday to her. She LOVED it!

Checking out the menu!

Momma and Maylee

Kambri let Maylee borrow her birthday tutu but Maylee wanted nothing to do with it! She hated that it touched her arms, haha!

Gorgeous Maylee. We love her so much!

Maylee loves taking baths and will make her way into the bathroom and yell, "bubba", letting me know she is ready to play in the bubbles!

It gets pretty crazy with all of them in there but they sure do love it and I sure do love them!

Happy Birthday!!

Today is a special day because we are celebrating two birthdays! Skylar would have been 28 years old and Maylee turns 1 today!! Its a bittersweet day with so many different emotions. I am grateful that Maylee will always have this day that she shared with her daddy.

Maylee was born 3 weeks early via c-section. She was not growing properly in utero and my doctors didn't know why and wanted her out incase there was something wrong that they could not see. I had my first amnio at 35 weeks but Maylee's lungs ended up not being mature enough. I had the second amnio at 36 weeks and she was finally ready enough... So, the next day at 1:49pm Maylee entered this world. She was purple and struggling to breathe because she had fluid in her lungs. The nurses worked on her and were able to get her stable enough for me to see her. I will never forget the awful gasping noises she was making in order to get some air. She was then taken to the NICU where she stayed for the next few days.


I finally got to see her again early the next morning and she had an oxygen bubble over her head. It was really hard to see her that way but Skylar reassured me that she was fine. And he was right, like always. Maylee was able to come home with me when I was released a few days later. The only thing my doctors found was that the placenta had been dying but it was giving Maylee the life support she needed so they were stumped as to why she wasn't growing. She has been a huge blessing to our family.

Maylee's 1st photo shoot:

I need to take a picture of her now next to the football to compare!

Skylar would be 28 today. He was pretty excited to share a birthday with Maylee. I think it was because the attention would be taken off of him from now on, haha! My doctor gave us the option whether or not to deliver Maylee on his birthday but Skylar did not hesitate to say that it was okay. Skylar was born 2 months early and fought for his life. I am so grateful that he was given the short 27 years to live and to bring so much happiness to so many people. I only posted a couple of pictures of him because there will definitely be a lot more pictures of him posted and I only have so many...

He absolutely loved being outdoors. Hunting, fishing and camping were by far his favorite things to do.

He was such a cute and chubby baby!

Happy Birthday Skylar and Maylee!! I love you!