September 21st...Ryker

Addison had a cousin born exactly 3 months after her. Here is Ryker Pierce. We went to visit them in the hospital and he was so small! Holy cow I was amazed that babies came to earth that tiny. He was 6lbs something ounces. (I can't remember.) I now understand why the doctors called Addison big Buddha at the hospital. She looked huge compared to Ryker. But still cuter right? :)

I was totally jealous of Christy. She felt so good after the birth she was feeding my baby. Heck, at that point in Addison's life I wasn't even feeling well enough to feed my own baby.
Ryker had lots of new born baby fuzz.
Tiny!!!

He felt so fragile in our hands it was crazy. But we are so happy he is here and healthy!!

Theron Yates

My Grandpa Yates passed away while we were in the middle of remodeling his basement. Life has a strange timing for things. But I am grateful for the tender mercies of certain events that happened before he passed. He was 95 and had a long wonderful life. As I was looking through the pictures of the funeral it brought back so many memories of him. His funny stories, his cute smile, his great attitude, and his love for his family. His passing was bitter sweet. I miss him terribly but it was his time to go.

I am so ever grateful for the gospel and the knowledge that we will see him again. And I am grateful he is with his wife again. Every night while putting my grandpa in bed I would ask him if there was anything he needed and he would say "yes, I need a wife!". I would laugh and tell him that I will find him one but it might be a while because I want to find him the best one. He would laugh and say okay. It always made me smile and now grandpa you have a wife again and the absolute best one out there.

The last story I heard from my grandpa was when he was in hospice care. A week earlier he was in a lot of pain and so they took him to the hospice center. They had concluded that part of his intestine had died and that he wasn't going to live much longer. He was feeling a little bit better though and so the plan was to take him home and let him spend the remainder of his days there. I went in that afternoon to the hospice center to spend some time with him and he was feeling well enough to go outside. I pushed him in his wheelchair around outside and we went to see the horses that were in the field by his room. He told me about how he used to own work horses but he didn't like horses much. They did help to get the work done though. In the winter they were useful too because there would be snow drifts over the fences and the horses and sled would go right over the fences. He also told me how the horses we were looking at were riding horses because of how their legs were built. He then went on and repeated that story several times always asking me where we were at, at the end.

He did however mention once that he was not ever going to be going back to his home. I told him the plan was for him to be going home tomorrow. He just looked at me funny and looked away. I think he knew more then all of us about his future because the next day his health took a turn for the worse and he never went home. He passed away the next week on September 16, 2011. The two weeks before he passed away many tender mercies happened and I look back at that time grateful for answers to prayers. It is never easy to see a loved one pass away.

I have many great pictures from the funeral and couldn't decide which ones to post. So I put a couple of my favorite up and then put a slide show up.

My grandpa was a WWII veterinarian and here is my dad receiving a flag in his honor.


My grandpa and I at the July 24th parade. I memory I will always cherish. I will miss you grandpa and I can't wait to see you again!

August

In August Addison was blessed. I posted pictures a few post back if you missed them but here are a few fun ones from my camera. On Sundays my day is filled with church, football and sleeping. Even on blessing Sundays!

The huddle. My nephew Jayden is the quarterback.

Did I mention sleeping on Sundays?

This was Addison's new trick. She loved to push her arms and legs out straight and squeal.

The week after Addison's blessing my grandpa's basement that we were living in was going to be remodeled. Here are the before pictures.

The awesome tiny bathroom. :) It was so small that our knees hit the wall when we sat down on the toilet. I smile now because it was so funny. But it was an adventure while I pregnant.

July

I am going back into July for this post because I realized I have a few pictures from then. My SIL and brother were in town for their summer vacation and I turned 26. So, a few fun things happened.

My mom and I practically share the same birthday so we always share the celebration.

My mom's homemade icecream being made. It is my all time FAVORITE dessert and I could eat the whole thing by myself.
A few more pictures of Addison with my mom and dad. I think these are the last of them. :(


David and Heather Heather just recently had her own baby girl. Kate and Addison are going to be the best of friends. They are actually blessing their Kate today and I am sad I can't be there. Love you guys!

And this next picture is for you David. :) You are such a stud. Just for you I put this picture as my wallpaper. :)

Socks

Addison has this thing where once I put her socks on, they have to come off and go straight to her mouth. I feel terrible because her feet are always cold but maybe she is like me and loves her feet sock less and cold.

Trying to get her socks off...

Taking a little break with one sock off...

One happy little girl now that both socks are off!

Sheesh

Oh my goodness I am getting so far behind on my blog. I have all of these pictures from the holiday season and by the time I get around to posting them it will already by a new holiday season! Sheesh.

Hopefully after this post I will have our life updated to September...ish. Of course this post includes lots of pictures. And more are to follow.

Yep too cute. This was our first walk outside. I couldn't help but laugh because Addison kind of looks like...a bum. Or maybe just a baby dressed by my awesome dressing talents. And I just noticed this, lol she has a bib on! Okay... maybe I just think that is funny.

These next pictures aren't the best but really they are some of the only pictures of Addison and my mom!! I just get too distracted to take pictures when my mom is holding Addison. And my 'awesome' picture taking skills are totally evident in these next couple of pictures. But like I said, they are pretty much the only pictures of my mom and Addison so I have to post them.

This is just a random picture.

We wanted to see if Addison is bigger than my sister's cat yet. The cat still to this day has 4lbs on Addison. 4!!! And she is a cat!

Addison LOVES to sleep. She loves to take long naps and loves to sleep through the night. By nighttime her eyes look like this because she is so tired. And this is at 7pm!

I am not sure what this is a picture of, (well Addison obviously) but how can it not make you laugh.

My curious happy baby!

Addison had this thing, and sometimes still does, where she liked to put here had over her eyes whenever she ate. I couldn't tell if it was to say, 'I am so tired', or 'leave me alone', or something like, 'being a baby is so hard'. But it sure was cute.