Dallis is 3

So, it happened.... Dallis turned 3, I know, I know she will turn 4, 5, and even 16 eeek!! I can't really explain why her turning 3 is such a big deal, I mean the obvious (Paris never was 3) but I wish I could put it into real words!!
Despite my emotions we had a BLAST!! We really didn't do anything big, she went to school, we went to gym starz and then for dinner, we went to Old Mc Donald's. She was simply adorable and the things that came out of her yesterday were bossy and super funny! I can't believe I said that in the same sentence! She loves to sing, dance, boss everyone around and pray! Even this morning the day after she woke up, walked out and since the house was still decorated she goes
"ooooa, oooooa" shook her shoulders and asked "what's for breakfast"

Here are a few Pictures from her BIG day!!

French Fries and Ice Cream My kind of Girl!

Personal Narrative By: Skyler White

This was Skyler's Final he did for a Class

“Everything Happens For A Reason”

“Skyler, Paris is floating in the Pool, is she supposed to be there?” This is how my morning began on July 14 2005, which changed my life forever.
As I laid on the couch watching ESPN, enjoying my time off from school, I never imagined how my summer would turn instantly into a nightmare. My brother Cooper walked leisurely into the house on the beautiful morning of July 14th and asked me “the” question that constantly rings in my ears.
As I go running out to my pool to see what was going on I see my mom already jumped in the pool and was pulling my sister out of the water. As she was pulling her out I ran inside to call 911.
“Hello this is 911 what is your emergency?”
“My sister, she drowned in the pool! Hurry please we need help!”
“Sir I am sending help, is she breathing?”
“NO! She is blue and there is no life in her, HURRY PLEASE!”
“Are you doing CPR? Do you know how to do CPR? Are there more people around you? Do you know how she got in your pool?”
“We are doing CPR and there is others here, I don’t know how she got in the pool.”
Then I gave the phone to my dad and I don’t know what was said after that. The fire dept. showed up and they life flighted her to Children’s hospital. My parents and I had to drive ourselves to the hospital, where we were met by a counselor, and I knew it was going to turn out bad. We spent the rest of our time singing, and talking to Paris, trying to get some sort of response out of her.
Unfortunately, my sister ended up dying that day at 3:20pm. When this all first happened I was in shock. Her dying did not really set in till her funeral. Once it set in, IT REALLY HURT. I did not want to do anything and I was mad at everything. It was not fair, why did my sister have to go? When I would see other families with little girls it would just remind me of my sister and it would make me miss her even more. I was mad at this whole situation until three years ago.
This is when my parents had another baby girl, Dallis. 14 months later my parents had another baby girl, Lexis. These girls are the biggest blessing not only in my life, but to my family’s life as well. See, after my Mom and Dad had Paris they were going to be done having kids, but with her death they ended up having two more! This was the turning point for me; it really made me realize that there is a purpose for everything that happens. We all were sent to this world to do something special. Paris’s special thing was to bless my family’s life for two years, then open the doors and bring two more girls into our family, which made us happy and brought us joy again. This is why we live; to find out our important role we have in life. Everything happens for a reason.

34?

Holy Cow where did that come from? I can't believe I am 34!! I don't feel 34, but I do look 34....in fact I think by the wrinkles I am pushing 40! Thanks to Paris and lack of sunscreen I have so many wrinkles, I don't even think my iron would take on the job!!

My birthday was super fun!! My friends and family went above and beyond, as always!! I am surrounded by such great people!!

I was given a very priceless gift, I don't think those involved will ever know how much it meant to me!! Our Young Women and leaders did a "roast" if you will, it was so sweet!! I will cherish that moment and WOW all the time and effort put into everything!! It was amazing!! They even made me BROWNIES with GANACHE!!


My sweet mom even made me a yummy dinner and my favorite dessert (star trek trifle)

That Was Fast

Can you believe they are over....the holiday's? I love all the hustle and bustle of it all! The Christmas music, the fun school art, the school holiday concerts, the traditions and even the the shopping (can you believe I said that)! I just can't believe I have to do it with out Paris. How I long to listen to her sing Christmas Carols as loud and as often as Dallis (who by the way is still singing them)

This Christmas was fast and furious and such a blast! I am so grateful for my children who Love all the "traditions" we do around Christmas time.

This year feeding the homeless hit to close to home.... we gave lunches to a few homeless teenagers.

Our Coats concert was amazing cause not only did the Alfrey's come along but we MET the Coats after the concert!

Snow Flake lane and the Make a Wish letters for Santa was such a blast! How can something that is virtually the same every year still be so magical!!

Ginger bread making with the Kriddles is always a blast! This year the kids went BIG a few 2nd floors went on these houses and of course Tay and Sky built the Temple.

BINGO.....always such a big hit and super fun!

The Nativity and Singing by the piano posed to be biggest challenge for me!!

I miss you Paris, EVERY part of you!!

The reunion has ended, my family -2 have all had the super flu, my house is finally cleaned and another Christmas is behind me, what to do but continue on this most amazing journey!!

Football, Turkey, Mrs. Claus and DENNIS!!!

THANKSGIVING 2009

Our turkey bowl this year was a little wet, but such a blast!! We love Grandpa and his "rules" every year they get better and better!

The Dinner was AMAZING!! Grandma Banker always out does her self! I still can't figure out how SHE gets it all done and everything tastes incredible!!

Mrs. Claus tricked us this year... she came to the back door instead of the front door. We think she was trying to keep the Jammie's from getting wet!! What a thinker she is

Then, the greatest thing ever happened.... My brother Dennis surprised us!! I have never been surprised in my life, EVER!! It was so fun, I think Dani and I traumatized our kids with our over excitement!!

PURE JOY!!

How Thankful I am I Survived 16

It's true.... Sky went a head and turned 16!! I wasn't sure I was going to survive it! I didn't realize how sad I truly was!! I'm not sure what I expected, but being so incredibly sad wasn't one of them. And why 16? Well, because he will have a little extra freedom (when he gets his licence he is trying to finish his Eagle for Scouts) I can't tell him he can't have a girlfriend (well I guess I could) He can date.....need I say more!! Sky is a great kid and I feel so blessed to have him as mine!! He is fun, polite, caring, athletic, a great listener, LOYAL, he has a testimony of Jesus Christ and he loves his family!!
His birthday was fun! We surprised him with a car and then on Friday we had a surprise party for him!

One of the other great benefits of a birthday is you get your favorite dinner made special by Grandma

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

Halloween this year was super fun!! It was a pretty laid back day and we enjoyed doing fun Halloween activities!! Poor Sky didn't have much excitement but my little kids had a blast!! Hunter is a Football Ref, Cooper is a Motor cross Rider, Dallis is Cinderella, and Lexis is the Ladybug. All 3 of my girls wore the ladybug costume, it was a bittersweet moment!! How I loved getting Lexis ready for the night, so many tender memories go along with that costume. It was sweet walk down memory lane! In fact, just the other day Dani asked me if I was ever going to take that costume off the back of the door of Paris' and Lexis' room......NOPE!! Not yet!













We went to a new pumpkin patch this year, we waited til the last day so I thought we were going to completely bomb out, actually, we scored!! They seemed to have lowered their prices on everything, so it was a pretty cheep night!! They rode the monster truck, the four wheelers(multiple times), fed the goats, did the vortex and we still bought pumpkins (we weren't going to buy pumpkins this year since we grew them in our garden) We also didn't carve them til today, it was a good way to keep the boys busy this morning!!
I tried something new this year! We've never done a haunted chocolate house and I bought one early this month thinking we would do it for family night, of course we ran out of time and so we did that this afternoon! I'm glad it never fit into our schedule until today!! Dallis had so much fun eating... I mean decorating the house, the boys were very patient and creative trying to work around Dallis! It makes me sad to think October is over! That means so many things, football is coming to an end, summer is completely gone, my kids have now been in school for 2 months which means they are getting older and smarter, I have to get serious about Christmas shopping but the saddest of all is, Skyler is 16 in 11 days......... Where is the time going? I hope I don't miss anything!!!