Gone but Not Forgotten

Today our sweet little baby would have been 12. It is hard for me to wrap my head around the idea that we would have a 12 year old. October 24th is always a hard day for Cory and I. It always brings up the what ifs and if onlys. It is also on this day that I am most grateful for the knowledge we as an LDS family have of an eternal family. I know that I will get to see Shaylee again and I know that Cory and I will get the chance to raise her! Like it says on her headstone, "Born still to us, but alive to God".

Shaylee we love you! Happy Birthday angel!

Mom, have you seen the Sand Dunes?

On Friday we went to Cherry Creek, which is near sand mountain with some friends from the neighborhood.
I have not been there since I was pregnant with Gunner. So yea it has been a few years.

I think this was our last camp out of the year though, cause it was cold that night!! We could not get Taya on the four wheeler for nothing! She is a little scared ever since Rob's.


So she took pictures, here is a nice one of her toes...



The next few weeks should be filled with fun! We have Gavin's Birthday coming cup. Along with a school party, a ward party, his birthday party and his baptism. It will be fun!

Hula Hoopin' queen!

Isn't she cute!?! I can't believe how big big she is, I still think of her as my little baby until I see her doing things like this. Okay the blog is private, hopefully no one has problems getting in. If you hear of any email me at coryshilokids@netzero.com.

Going private...

In addition to this blog I also do a craft blog. I do the craft blog to share ideas with other people. But I have noticed that the more hits I get to the craft blog, the more hits I get this, our family blog. I am not apposed to family, friends and even people I don't know so well checking out this, the family, blog. But I feel, in order to monitor who is viewing the family blog and our day to day going on, that it needs to become a private blog.
This will only affect the family blog and Gunner's blog (even though he has not blogged in several months, I hope that at some point, he may decide he wants to start blogging again.)
The craft blog will remain public.
If you want to be able to view this(the family)and Gunners blog still, please leave a comment or email me.
I will officially make the switch in one week (October 10th) to private.
If you are on the list of blogs at right, you will automatically be added to the people who can access our family blog.

2009 Family Photos

You know any post that starts out with this pic is going to be good!


My sister in law Lyndsy, is a very talented photographer. Check out her blog, Pickle Head Photograph

She was sweet enough to take some photos of the family for me.



I have not had a really good shot of the three kids all together in a long time. So I asked her for one of the three kids.


I asked for a family shot for this years Christmas card.


A shot of Taya in both regular clothes...


and in her Tinkerbell outfit...


and a daddys girl shot.


Then I wanted one of Gunner...


and of him in his Scout uniform for a shadow box I am doing with all the mothers pins I have from him....(in the first one he is actually rolling his eyes, but it worked out good!!)



And then Gavin I needed a really good one for his 8th birthday / Baptism...


I needed one with me and the hottie man!!


I saw this same concept and loved it...luck me Lyndsy duplicated it so well!! A version of this may end up on the Christmas card...






I love this in sephia too!

I am not telling which one will end up on the card it is a suprise....okay I really just can't decide!

Thank you Lyndsy! I LOVE these! You did a great job. I know that we did not get any great ones of your family. So tell me when and I would love to come push the button for you...and get some cute ones of you guys!

Finally got me some Rob's Pictures

...Starlee went all the way to St George to pick them up for me!
Here are some of my favorites



This is Gunner, waiting....waiting...waiting...for a fish.
This is Isabella, my three year old niece that Cory is cradling. Taya wanted nothing to do with shooting the gun, but Bella sure did!


This is the actual lake, Rob's Reservoir. My family has been going there since my great grandfather. We would meet up with all my cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents. I remember hearing the trucks way off in the distance and knowing that one of my cousins was almost there. We went up, rain or shine every year. My sisters were barely a few months old and we still went up! Levi caught the biggest fish on this trip. It was sure pretty with its unusual yellow coloring.

Cory and Gavin on the four wheeler.
Love this! So sweet! Momma and son.
This is the old mill. My dad said it use to be a grain mill along, long time ago. I always remember it as meaning we were almost to the base of the mountain. When I was little, it was not chained or fenced, so we would go in and explore. My grandpa would stop there every year to get himself some fresh watercress. It is now chained, locked and fenced with no trespassing signs posted all over it. Vandals were coming in and tagging it or taking the old barn wood. It sure is pretty and spooky at the same time. Wait until you see what we do with some pictures of this on the craft blog!
My sweet little nephew, Arbor who is almost two. This is actually pretty clean.







Teisha, I love your camera!

A Special place in my heart...

This post is already on my craft blog but I thought I would add it here, for those who don't see the craft blog.

When strangers ask how many kids I have I give them the simple answer....three. When someone I know a little better asks I give them the real answer....four, three on earth and one waiting for us in heaven.

Gunner is our oldest child..here. He is 10 and a true miracle! That is thanks to his sister, Shaylee. Shaylee was stillborn at 42 weeks. Yes, I was two weeks over due. There was never any indication during the entire pregnancy that anything was wrong. We went into a routine appointment and the DR could not find her heartbeat.

After a long, difficult birth our beautiful baby girl was born. She was perfect in everyway, except she was no longer alive. We later discovered that I get a condition called IUGR - Intrauterine Growth Retardation. Essentially the placenta quits working at about 5 months. If it goes undetected, like in Shaylee's case, then it often results in the baby dying. Nothing can prevent it. But it can be controlled, with severe bed rest and around the clock monitoring of the baby and eventually an early birth. We did not know any of this with Shaylee, but because of her, we knew about it when we were pregnant with Gunner and Taya (both had the same condition). He was premature and had to stay in NICU for several weeks, but today he is healthy happy 10 year old.

After Shaylee was born, the nurses wrapped her in a blanket and we held her for several hours. When the nurses took her body, they gave me the blanket she had been wrapped in. I slept with that blanket for 3 months. And when ever I fell alone or like the pain of losing her is going to eat me up, I take that blanket out and hold it. I always fell closer to her when I do.

This is still tender and hard for me to share (even after 12 years), because the grief always overwhelms me when I get this far into the store, hence the reason strangers get the simple answer. But I felt sharing my store might encourage some of you to join my mom, sister (I hope all of them?) and I in participating in Greyson's Gift I know how much comfort that little blanket can bring to a mom or a dad when they feel like life will never be happy again.