December Fun!

December was definitely a busy month but we made so many wonderful memories!

The first slideshow below is from my cousin Lindsey's wedding! Lindsey and Brett asked Laila to be the flower girl. She was absolutely adorable and the wedding was gorgeous! Congratulations again to Mr. and Mrs. Brett Moore!

This next slideshow is from other random things we did in the month of December....birthday parties, Christmas crafts with friends, and spending time with family!

Harvest Happiness!

Here's a slideshow of pictures from Thanksgiving and other November Fun!

North Carolina - November 2010

Nate and I were so excited to get away to North Carolina in November on our first trip without Laila! We surprised our good friend John there as part of his 30th birthday gift from his wife Erin! The trip was short but it was a blast! It was snowing when we arrived to the cabin up in the mountains and it was so gorgeous! We're hoping we can take another trip up to NC with the kids in the spring before our new baby girl arrives :)

Autumn Blessings!

Most of our family and friends already know by now that we have another Lil Punkin on the way! Although we told those closest to us pretty early on, we waited a little longer this time to make a big announcement on Facebook or our blog. In the picture below, taken at the end of October, I am about 12 weeks along. The due date for Baby #2 is May 16!

We are so excited and feel so blessed and so thankful! It would mean so much to us if you would continue to say prayers for the new baby. We're so excited for the adventure that lies ahead and absolutely thrilled for Laila to be a big sister!

As you will see by the 4 slideshows below, this past month has been full of so many fun memories! Hope you enjoy!

This first slideshow is from mid October. Laila, my mom, and I went to Tallahassee for 5 days to stay with the Peacock kids (my cousins) while my aunt and uncle were out of town. We had a great time! Especially Laila, she loved hanging out with her 2nd cousins, spending time with her Great Nana and a few friends, and seeing the horses next door!

The next slideshow of pictures is from the fun time we had the Pumpkin Patch and on Halloween with friends! Laila was cutest pumpkin in the patch! She was also the most adorable Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz that I've ever seen! She loved taking my grandparent's dog, Pepper, along with us as well to be Toto!

The slideshow below is from our fun time at Disney World! Our first trip there this month was with John, Erin, and Isaac Moss and Sarah and Kyle (John's sister and brother-in-law). As you'll see from the photos below, it was a blast! Laila absolutely loved meeting the princesses! Our second visit to Disney this month was just Laila, Nate, and I for a night trip to see the Electric Parade and the fireworks. We got front row seats to the parade and Laila loved it! She got to see Mickey, Minnie, Cinderella, and all the rest of her favorite characters. After the parade we saw the fireworks. Laila wasn't too sure about that! She did fine but she covered her eyes most of the time, which was a bit funny since it was the noise that was scaring her!

This last slideshow is just other miscellaneous pictures from this Fall season so far. Hope you enjoyed all of our pictures!!

Discovery Cove 2010

We had an awesome time at Discovery Cove at the end of September! This year we went with the Schuck family and my sister Holly went with us too. Aunt Susie and her boyfriend Kenny hooked us up with their half off discount and my cousin Melissa treated us to VIP treatment and let us take pictures with the dolphins! It was an awesome day and so many great memories were made!

Fun times with family & friends!

This past month we have had lots of fun times with family friends! Here our a few of those fun memories I captured on camera!

Thank you

Wow...I am overwhelmed with all of the prayers, support, and love we have felt over the past few days. I can't tell you enough how grateful I am to everyone that has written notes, emails, and called to send condolences and share your stories with me. I was hesitant to post anything about the pregnancy so soon in the first place, and then when I lost the baby a week later, I felt like I needed to share that as well as hard as that was. God definitely had His hand in all of that though, because I know if I hadn't of shared the news about the pregnancy, I most likely wouldn't have shared the news about the miscarriage. God knew I needed your prayers, to hear your stories, and to feel the love of my family and friends. Thank you again to everyone that took the time to write me a note of encouragement and especially to pray for us. I love you all!

A peace that passes all understanding...

A little over a week ago I shared the news that we were expecting our 2nd. Unfortunately now I am having to share that we lost the baby. We are of course very sad, but we also have complete peace knowing that there is a reason for everything, and that God sees the bigger picture and has a plan for our lives. He is in control and we are using this time to draw closer to Him. One of my friends on Facebook wrote this to me and it is exactly how I feel, "It's amazing how fast you fall in love with the baby within... Rest knowing he or she is in the arms of Jesus and one day you too will have him in your arms as well."

We are extremely grateful for the love, support, and prayers of our family and closest friends. The notes, emails, and calls we have received these past few days have meant more to us than you know.

‎"There's a peace I've come to know, though my heart and flesh may fail. There's an anchor for my soul, I can say it is well."

Laila is going to be a big sister!

We are SO thrilled to announce that Laila is going to be a big sister! Baby #2 is on the way!!!!

We feel so blessed and thankful, and we're so excited for the adventure that lies ahead. Thank you to all of you that love us and pray for our growing family. Please continue to keep us and the new baby in your prayers. We hope that those of you that don't live near or that we don't get to see as often as we'd like, will continue to enjoy following our journey through this blog with Baby #2, just like you did with Laila. We'd love to hear from you as well! Send us an email or leave a comment when you stop by to visit. We love you guys! Hopefully we will be updating soon with Baby Schuck #2's first photos!

Summer Loving!

June and July have been filled with so many fun memories! From Laila's first day at school, Father's Day, beach fun, the 4th of July, swim lessons, our first time at Aquatica, and fun with family and friends, we have had a blast! Enjoy the slideshow!

Sophia is here!!!

Our good friends Lisa and Eric Petersen had their little baby girl and she is absolutely perfect! Sophia Marie Petersen was born on July 15 at 5:12 PM. She weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 20.5 inches long! We can't wait to meet her in September! Congratulations again Lisa & Eric! You guys are going to be amazing parents and we are praying for you on every step of your journey. Love you both!

Cocoa Beach 2010

We had a blast this year at Cocoa Beach! Laila and I got to stay over there with Ammy for the whole week in June, and Daddy and Papa came back and forth from work as they could. Holly and Scooter got to hang out a little too, and we got a chance to meet up the Moss Family for dinner one night as well. It was such a fun week, and the weather could not have been more perfect! I'm so thankful for times like these that we get to be with our family, take a break from the day to day grind, and get refocused and reenergized for all that lies ahead. Hope you enjoy our pictures! Click the play button below to watch the slideshow!

Laila turns 2!

It's hard to believe just 2 short years ago I gave birth to our first daughter, Laila Grace! They have been an amazing 2 years! She is definitely the greatest blessing from the Lord we have ever received! Before you have kids people always tell you how fast time goes by, but I think you don't realize how true that is until you actually experience it yourself. It's amazing to think how much Laila has grown these past two years and how much we have experienced with heralready. A thousand memories we share with a million more to go! When you get a chance, check out how much Laila has grown these past two years by clicking on the right side of the blog under "How big is Laila? So big!".

June 2008

June 2009

June 2010

The slideshow below has a few pictures of Laila's actual birthday on June 2nd. This year was Laila's Golden Birthday...she turned 2 on the 2nd! The rest of the photos are from Laila's Luau!!! As you can tell from the pictures, we had an awesome time celebrating Laila's 2nd birthday with family and friends!

Catching up!

I cannot believe I have been so horrible with keeping up with my blog! It has been about 6 months since I last updated it. I'm so sorry to those family and friends that like to keep up with us through this and that are not on Facebook to see recent pictures and updates. I'm really going to try to be better at it in the months to come! So, here I go....highlights from January thru May 2010 in a nutshell!

To start off 2010....

-we got to see horses with Oma, Aunt Susie, and Aunt Bekah

-we celebrated Papa Schuck's birthday

-our good friends from Tallahassee the Garcia's came for a visit and we had fun at Sea World with them

-Laila, Mommy, and Grammy went for to visit family and friends in Tallahassee

February 2010....

-Laila had fun at Lake Eola with Oma

-Mommy & Laila had fun with friends at our playgroup

-Great Papa and Great Grandma MaryAlice come for over for dinner

-Valentine's Craft and playdate

-Isaac and Laila spend Valentine's Day together!

-Family fun at Lake Eola

March 2010....

-we had fun with friends and family fun at home

-Laila, Mommy, and Grammy attend a Baby shower for Laura and baby Gracyn

-Isaac's 2nd birthday party

-Mommy's 30th birthday

-Easter crafts and playdate

-Laila and Mia at Lake Eola

April 2010.....

-we had lots of fun this month with friends and family

-on Easter we went to church and had lunch and an Easter egg hunt with family

-we had a fun beach day with Aunt Susie & Aunt Bekah and then afterwards Laila got to visit Isaac

-Family picnic at Lake Eola

-Mommy & Laila had fun with friends at Gatorland

-Laila's first pedicure :)

-Laila met Lulabelle for the first time

-We had a blast in North Carolina with our best friends!

May 2010....

-Laila went on an airplane for the first time on our trip to New York (a 30th bday present for Mommy from Grammy & Papa!)

-Laila went to Disney for the first time with her friend Caroline (thanks to the volunteer for a day program from Disney!)

-We had fun at Sea World with our friends from Tallahassee on Mother's Day and enjoyed a nice dinner with family afterwards

-We helped throw a shower for Lisa to celebrate baby Sophia

-Fun times with family

-Beach day with Papa Schuck

-Laila went in the potty for the first time this month (no pictures of this) haha :)

-Although we had lots of fun this month, this was also a very tough month for our family because Laila's Great Papa Phelps was in the hospital. On May 14 Papa fell and broke his C1 vertebrae. He was in the hospital for about 4 weeks and has recently been moved to a specialty hospital that is helping him get off the ventilator. The doctors are calling Great Papa "the miracle man" because this injury is almost always life threatening or causes paralysis. We are so thankful that God has made Papa a strong man and has given him the extra strength to get where he is today. We know he still has a long road of recovery ahead, but we know he can get through this with God's help and the support and love of his family. Please continue to keep him in your prayers.

As you can see, we've been very busy these past 5-6 months of 2010, but it has been a blast! We are looking forward to seeing what the rest of this year has in store for us! Pictures from June and Laila's 2nd birthday party coming soon!!! :)

The most important things in life aren't things!

Christmas 2009 was a time was a special time for our little family! We are so thankful for all the Lord has given us, and we realize now more than ever that the most important things in life aren't things. We got to experience a lot of fun things this past holiday season, but by far, the best part about those things were the people and seeing God's hand in each situation. Nate and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary on December 11th! We feel so blessed to have each other and to have a beautiful daughter that is most definitely a gift from the Lord. We are thankful for our awesome family, and for the friendships He has given us as well. 2009 has brought some hard times for us just like it has for so many others, but the Lord has been faithful and has continued to grow us in so many ways. We are looking forward to seeing what all He has in store for us in 2010!

Hope you enjoy the pictures of all the good times we had in December! I haven't been doing a good job at keeping up with the blog lately, but I've still been taking lots of pictures, as usual! :) Enjoy!



Here is a slideshow of miscellaneous stuff we did in December!






Below is a slideshow of pictures of our two trips to Seaworld in December!






This next slideshow is of our Christmas activities! We had a wonderful Christmas this year with Laila and all of our family! Unfortunately I didn't do a good job of getting pictures of everybody, but the time spent with our family and the memories we made were awesome! For those of you we didn't get to see this Christmas, we missed you and look forward to seeing you soon!

Happy New Year!!! Pictures of our first few weeks in 2010 coming soon!