Monday, April 12, 2010

Baileys First Birthday

We also celebrated Bailey's First Birthday on Easter Sunday. She was born April 4th, 2009.
She is one of the cutest things ever and she LOVED her cake!!!!!






(Pictures with her Daddy-Gus)


Easter Sunday

We Celebrated Easter Sunday in Veyo at Aunt Kelly's Home this year...we had A TON of fun!!!!


(Left to Right: Cort, Bailey, and Oakley)











(Cort of course belongs to Chuck and I, Bailey is the Daughter of Gus and Melissa-Our Cousins, and Oakley is the daughter of Tad and Cheryl-Our Cousins. Oakley and Bailey are cousins and Bailey is about 3 weeks older then Cort and Oakley is 18 months old)











(Aunt Kelly and her Granddaughter Oakley-She loves her Grandma Kelly so much!!!)

Friday, April 9, 2010

Count Your Many Blessings

Yesterday (April 9th, 2010) there was an absolute tragedy that happened in our family. My cousin, Amy, lives in Vegas with her husband and their 4 beautiful boys. Sadly, yesterday Amy was doing some yard work in her front yard and Trayce (9) decided to take Noah (1 year and 3 days) in the house. Amy was talking to a neighbor and went in the house a bit later, she asked the boys where the baby was and they didn't know, that's when she saw their back door open. The problem? They have a pool and jacuzzi. She ran out and found her baby face down in the jacuzzi. Blue, not breathing and no pulse, my cousin had to do CPR on her baby.


She yelled to the boys to get the phone, they couldn't find it. Miraculously, she saw it in the corner of her eye, it was right next to her, Miracle #1. Between breaths and chest compressions, she was telling 911 that she was doing CPR on her 1 year old that had drowned in her pool. She gave them all the info they needed and they dispatched an ambulance. Amy yelled at the older boy to go get their neighbor that is a police officer. Miracle #2, there was an ambulance driving right by her house and heard the call, saving the other ambulance 5 minutes travel time.When in the ambulance, she called my Mom that lives in Hurricane but we didn't hear my Moms phone ring so then she called my phone...Chuck answered and then handed me the phone because he couldn't hear what was being said...I said hello and could hear Amy and a ton of noise and then it clicked in my head what she was saying and what the noise was. Amy was crying and saying over and over again "Noah fell in the pool Please start praying, start right now." The noise was the ambulance and my heart sank right then. My Mom said I knew something was wrong because your face went white. My Mom wanted to get on the road to Vegas right away, but she was waiting for a food order that was being delivered to them but not for 15 more minutes. Miracle #3, the truck driver called and told my Mom that he was early and to go get her food. As soon as they were done unloading that food, my Mom and Dad were on their way to Las Vegas. There were paramedics working on Noah, trying everything to make him alive again. When they got to the hospital and they got him in the hands of the hospital staff, one of the paramedics asked my cousin if the was LDS. She replied that she is and he said he was too. Miracle #4, he helped Dan-Noah's Dad- give him a blessing. Noah went through all the testing and as he did, he became more responsive and was recognizing his mommy. The doctors had to raise his body temperature, he fell into freezing cold water, Miracle #5, the cold water helped save his life. He wasn't able to breathe when he hit the water, therefor he didn't get AS MUCH water in his lungs.
As last night went on, Noah kept getting better. This morning, he is free of IVs, suction tubes and is able to nurse again.
My cousin is going to be ok, Dan is going to be ok, Noah is kicking butt and the other 3 boys, with a little counseling, are going to be just fine. The miracles continue to show through.

I have learned some valuable lessons with this:

1- When it comes to tragedies, those whom you need around you will pull in. Those who don't, do not need to be a part of our lives.

2- Divine intervention happened in our family. It was NOT Noah's time to die. A loving Heavenly Father snatched him from the jaws of death.
3- The church in Las Vegas is STRONG. The people that have been a part of my cousin's life since she moved down there are absolutely amazing. When I think of Vegas, I don't think of the strip clubs or bars, it's THESE people and all of my family that I think about.

The lessons continue to be taught. I am just so grateful for all the blessings that have been showered down on us. No one is exempt from hard times right now, but if we look at the positives and seek out blessings from our Heavenly Father, we will all be ok. And we can be happy. Believe me, the thought of my cousin doing CPR on her blue one year old is enough to send me into a panic attack, but with the love of our Savior, I can see the miracles surrounding it.
Thank you Amy and Dan for being the ones that Heavenly Father has trusted to teach us these lessons. The prayers are never ending for you and I love you more then you will ever know!!!! So, count your many blessing see what God has done!!!
Noah is 3 weeks older then my little man Cort...they are the best of friends and I just can't imagine a life with out Noah in it...You never think something like this can happen to your family but IT CAN...I have looked up CPR and started learning it and hammering it into my head and updating myself...I hope I never have to use it like my Cousin had to but THANK GOODNESS she knew what to do...I hope we can all learn something from this and remember to ALWAYS COUNT OUR BLESSINGS!!!!

I love you Stocking Family!!!!!!!!







(P.S. My Aunt Hope wrote most of this blog on her personal blog and I loved how she worded everything and she knew more details then me so I stole most of this from her blog-Thanks Auntie Hopie)

I took these photos on April 1st and 2nd 2010 when Amy and the boys came into town to visit and have some fun. Just days before their lives were turned upside down.