Kinsley Shirley Stocking

It has been a long time since we have updated our blog. Life gets busy with a little boy and being pregnant and now with two little ones I don't see our updates getting any better.

Kinsley Shirley Stocking

Born May 3rd at 12:26 AM

7 Lbs 10 Oz

19 1/2 inches long

 I did want to write about Kinsley's birth though before I forget all the details (I will include lots of details so read only if you want to.)
In the middle of April I went in for my doctor's appointment and I was 3 cm dilated and 80% effaced. I stayed at these same measurements the next two appointments. On May 1st my doctor stripped my membranes and then we waited. I was 39 weeks along. On May 2nd at about 6 pm I started tracking my contractions (I hadn't really been having any before this point or it I did they were really random) they started becoming pretty consistent and stronger. At about 7:30 we decided to take Theo over to Chuck and Ginger in case we had to run to Logan in the middle of the night. At around 9 pm I decided that my contractions were getting too close together and that we should probably head to Logan. I was wanting to have a natural birth this time so I wanted to labor at "home" as long as possible so we stayed at my parent's house for an hour. At 11:00 I decided that I couldn't handle the contractions anymore so we made our way to the hospital.

I decided that I wanted an epidural because I have really bad back labor. Since it was the middle of the night the doctor and anesthesiologist were not at the hospital but on call. They called the anesthesiologist and then I went through all the medical history questions while we waited. Finally the anesthesiologist showed up and prepped me for an epidural. After receiving the epidural I moved my legs back up onto the bed and right at that moment my water broke and I felt Kinsley's head drop. I told the nurse that my water broke and that I needed to push. Since the doctor wasn't there yet you could tell that the nurses were trying to hold me off. The nurses were really great at helping me focus and breath (since I had just received the epidural it hadn't kicked in yet). I wanted to tell the nurses that Kinsley was ready to come but between breathing and focusing I couldn't. Finally one of the nurses decided she better check me and she saw that I was ready to push. She lifted up my legs and one push later Kinsley was born at 12:26 AM on May 3rd. The nurse/table caught Kinsley since they didn't have the bed prepped.  The doctor showed up right after she was born and in time to deliver the after-birth this was also about the time that the epidural decided to kick in. So the nurses say I can claim that I gave birth naturally. Joey wanted me to include that is was a beautiful warm night.

Kinsley's birth was so different from Theo's birth it was so interesting how different they were. I starting laboring on my own, was able to go natural, was able to do almost all my laboring at home and was only in the delivery room for an hour and only pushed once. With Theo my water broke but no contractions started, I was started on Pitocin since I wasn't progressing, I had an epidural and I pushed for about 30 minutes although it didn't seem that long. Theo was whisked away after he was born, I was only able to hold him for a couple of minutes. Kinsley I was able to snuggle and feed right away, I almost didn't know what to do because they had to take Theo. After we got to the recovery room they did have to put Kinsley under a lamp for a little while because she was having a hard time keeping her temperature up and my body heat wasn't helping quite enough.

I am excited to have a beautiful little girl join of family.

Nov 2012: Theo is 1 Year Old

NOV2012

We started staying in our cabins doing deep clean work and making sure maintenance work is getting done. It has been fun to stay in the different cabins.

Theo turned 1 Year old he is getting close to walking. He is getting more brave and trying to stand by himself without holding onto anything.

The children opened Theo's presents for him.

Birthday Hat made by Zailey and Zenick

Trying to open the present before the kids try and help him.

Surrounded by his new presents

Big 1 Candle

They were helping him pick up pieces that he dropped.

He ate the whole thing!

It was a Jungle Themed Party: Lions, Tigers, and Monkeys.
The cupcakes were zebra striped with white and chocolate cake.

For Thanksgiving we went down to Tricia and Dustin's house in Safford, AZ. It was fun to spend time with them and be in the warm weather. Theo did really well on the drive. He got a little fussy but overall was really good. We had Dustin's Deep Fried Turkey (Joey loves it and wants it every year!) It was good to see all the little boys, Theo loved spending time with them.

Taking a break at a pond/waterfall on our little hike.

Theo staying warm with Grandma

We drove up a mountain and took a little hike around a dam.

Oct 2012: St George and Family Pictures

Oct 2012

The first week in October we went to St George with Chuck and Ginger and their kids as part of our bonus for overworking this summer. It was a nice break. We were able to go one some bike rides, a little hiking in Snow Canyon, we went to Staheli Family Farms and did their fall/halloween festivities (train rides, pumpkin patch, petting zoo, corn slide, etc.). We were able to go to Tuachan (Joey had never been so I was excited to take him, although I feel like the shows this year weren't necessarily the greatest they have done.) We went to Aladdin and part of it was in 3-D that was pretty cool. Andy and Jess watched Theo for us (Thank you so much we really appreciated it and it was nice to be able to go on a date without him, it doesn't happen very often.)

Chuck and Joey went on some crazy trail in Snow Canyon

I don't know what they were thinking.

The Bike Path ruined due to the Flooding in St George.

Joey and Chuck were able to play Racquetball where we were staying.

Theo loved watching Zenick play games on the tablet.

Joey is staying pretty busy with work though. He is still doing some work on the cabins and marketing for Bear Lake Cabin Rentals but he is doing a lot of website work for bearlake.com and he also has some other website projects that will keep him busy through the winter. We are planning on staying in each of our cabins and seeing what kitchen supplies they are missing and things like that that need to be fixed that we don't know about without staying in them. After we stay in them we will work on doing deep cleans on them. That should make it easier so we aren't doing all the deep cleans in the Spring right before Memorial Weekend.


I was able to go to a witches party that they do here every year. It is a lot of fun and a great way to meet a lot of the ladies in the community. We weren't able to make it to the other Halloween Party that they do here so last night we had our own couple's party. We played some Minute to Win It games and it was nice to get to know each other better. On Halloween we went to the KOA for Trick or Treating. They have a bunch of the bounce houses for the kids and a train ride. People come and decorate the little camper cabins and then pass out candy. We went as Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Theo was the most adorable bear, the first time we put his costume on he started crawling around growling.

Zoe the Elephant and Theo the Bear

Goldilocks and the Three Bears

My little Baby Bear

Ready for the Witches Party

This month we did family pictures with Joey's family.

Our Little Family

Felt like we were doing Engagement Pictures all over again

I Love this Guy!

So cute, his lips started to turn purple because it was windy.

Update on Theo:


Theo now has four and a half teeth (one is trying to break through the gums). He loves to walk around with those push/walker toys. He has become a pro at climbing up and down stairs. He would climb them all day if I would let him. He is almost 1, I can't believe it.

Update: April 2012- Sept 2012

It has been almost a year since I last posted a blog. I am really sad about it because that was when I should have been posting about Theo's first year. I will work on getting better but the summer always throws us for a loop and we don't have a bunch of time for things. It was getting ready for summer last year that got me out of the habit of blogging. I will attempt to do a year review update of the important things and then try to just keep up to date from now on. My family does a monthly family email so I will pull from those to update. (Sorry if the post switches between past and present tense, I tried to change it but didn't catch all of them)

APRIL 2012

In April we moved in to our new home. I got a new calling and switched primary classes. I now am an Activity Day (formally known as Achievement Days) Leader and I teach the 9,10 and 11 year old Primary Class.

With the nice weather we had a few get together's with neighbors, having BBQ's and Tin foil dinners. It has been fun making friends and feeling more comfortable living here. 

April and May mean Deep Cleaning and Maintenance work. Bear Lake Cabin Rentals took over management of the Motor Lodge so we spent April getting the rooms ready to be rented.

Theo (5 Months) is doing really good. He keeps acting like he is getting teeth but there is no sign of them coming anytime soon. He is doing pretty good at sitting up but I still have to make sure I am close by or that he has pillows around him for when he reaches for a toy that is too far out of his reach. He is a big wiggler when he sleeps he is almost never in the same position when he wakes up that I put him down in. 

First Bike Ride

MAY 2012

May was pretty hectic for us here in Bear Lake we have been trying to get ready for the busy season. I did deep cleans and Joey was working on marketing and maintenance. Taking on the Motor Lodge created a lot more work for us. I finally felt caught up and then we get rentals on the motel rooms and I get behind again. It was definitely a new experience for all of us. We weren't used to one night stays. Our house almost always looks like a laundromat! 

Theo helping with the Laundry

Theo is great helper with the Laundry and making me stronger!

The first week of May we were able to attend our friend's Temple Sealing it was such an amazing experience. I haven't been to a Sealing since ours so it was quite the experience. It is fun to see the new couple being new to the Temple and not being sure of what to do. They both had just received their endowment the night before so it was all very new to them. I wish I could go back in time and see how I acted at our Sealing.

For our anniversary Joey took me out on a canoe ride and then we had a pizza picnic at the City Park on the beach. It was a lot of fun. After that we went home and watched We Bought a Zoo. It was a great night especially to have time to relax after such a busy month. 

All summer Theo would make this funny face or click his tongue.

Theo was six months during May. He can sit up by himself and he tries to crawl. He can get up on his knees he just doesn't know what to do after that point it is super funny to watch. He ends up just doing the worm and moving backwards. He is a big talker now and likes to squawk.

June/July 2012

My life consists of cleaning motel rooms, condos, and washing/drying/folding sheets. Joey is either in the office taking phone calls and doing check ins and a bunch of other stuff (marketing, social media stuff, etc) or he is at the cabin properties doing maintenance work. 

We have tried to have a little bit of fun some of the things that we have done is gone go-karting, took a boat out on Raspberry Days to see the fireworks (the only fireworks they did this summer due to the fire warnings), tried paddle boarding. We went to the demolition derby.

Theo trying the SUP Board.

Rich County Demolition Derby

We dressed up for the Demo Derby

It has been a lot of fun having mom and dad come and help us. It has been interesting being their "boss." It is different having to tell your own parents what to do. 

Theo has gone from rolling around everywhere, to sitting up on his own, to army crawling, to real crawling and standing up in his crib. I can't believe how much he has learned in the last few weeks. It was seriously like two weeks ago that he started army crawling all over and then he finally figured out the knees and is all over the place. We have a crib that can be raised so I don't have to bend over so much, well one night he was crying and yelling for his momma so I went in his room and he was standing up it scared me which probably scared him because I rushed in there and picked him up as fast as I could. We had to set up his pack n play for the next few nights until we finally had time to lower his crib down. I can't believe how big he is getting. 

AUGUST 2012

The first weekend in August is Raspberry Days so we went to the Raspberry Days Berry Princess Pageant where Zailey (Joey's niece) got 2nd attendant. We were all very proud of her for talking on stage which she has had a hard time doing in years past. We watched the parade. Enjoyed the fireworks (the only ones of the summer) on a boat in the water!

We also took a break and headed down to Salt Lake for the REAL Salt Lake Soccer game. It was a great game, they scored 2 goals and won! We had a lot of fun being there. One of the players names is Kwame so we cheered for him and everyone around us just looked at us like we were weirdos! :)

REAL Salt Lake Game.

Joey's Grandpa had his 100th Birthday party during the summer. He claims that he has lived that long because of fishing and Mtn Dew so Theo thought he would give it a try.

Dress-up Photo Booth at Grandpa's 100th.

We hope to get some SUP Boarding in this month and spending some time at the beach. 

Updates on Theo: This kid is insane he is learning so fast. Just over the past couple of weeks he has gone from army crawling to knee crawling, he has learned to climb stairs and sometimes he gets really excited and starts rocking while he is still climbing and gets very close to falling which scares me. He is starting to stand up whenever he can find something to pull himself up with. He loves to go in the bathroom and pull himself up on the tub which also scares us. Today Joey kept telling Theo "no" because he kept going into the bathroom and then later on Theo was sitting there jabbering and we look over at him and he is shaking his head and kept saying "no no no" it was so cute. 

SEPT 2012

We went to the Brigham City Temple Open House. It is beautiful I love the paintings in the Creation Room. I think that is one of my favorite parts of most of the open houses I have been to, I remember the Twin Falls one was amazing.

We have stayed busy with the motel, Mom and Dad came up early September to help with deep cleans. We were ready for a break and we were excited for Labor Day weekend to be over because that is when things usually slow down but that wasn't the case with the motel. It has stayed busy with construction workers, different races going on, and now hunters. I guess it is good to still have a job and be making money though so I shouldn't be complaining.

Last month Joey and I realized that we have a lot of older friends (like mom and dad's age or older) In one week we have two dinners with older couples. It is fun to talk to them and receive advice about life. 

We went to Logan for USU's Homecoming, Joey had a reunion for his Huntsman Scholar Program. It was fun to show off Theo and find out what everyone was up to. Then Joey was able to go to the football game, he was gotten into Football again this season so he was excited to be able to go.

Theo at a USU Football game with Daddy 

Cheering for the Aggies

Theo is getting so big. He is standing up with the help of things, his favorite place is to stand up by the tub and then he tries to climb in. It is hilarious but scares me as well. Just the other day he learned how to climb all of our stairs. (We have two steps and then a landing and then four more steps. He used to only be able to climb up to the landing and then wasn't talented enough to make it up the other stairs without falling but the other day Joey and I were brushing our teeth and we turn around and he was crawling towards us as if crawling the stairs was the easiest thing he had done! It was super cute!) He also got his first two teeth on his 10 month mark and is working on three of his top teeth.

Trying to climb in the Tub