30 Years And Getting Better July 30, 2012

Thirty years ago today I was blessed to bring into this world my second daughter, and to the sadness of my heart my last child.

Heather Ashley Hocking arrived healthy, strong and with a head full of beautiful coal black hair!  If I remember correctly the first words out of my mouth when I saw her was "Look at all that hair!!!"  You see, her big sissy and brother were not as fortunate, and what little hair they came into this world with was very light!

By the time this picture was taken they had thankfully grown much more and it had darkened up some!  Still cute none the less!

Heather's hair remained dark and she remained just as sweet.
In this picture she looks like she has a little bit of an overbite but she actually had just the opposite, she had a slight under bite instead. That was a good thing though because she was what is called a reverse swallower; which means when she swallowed instead of her tongue pushing to the back of her throat it would go forward.  This also contributed to a cute little lisp that she had.

 We were living in Colorado at the time this picture was taken with her big sissy and brother, she was 7.  Believe it or not, her hair accessory was suppose to look like an old phone dial...kids today would say, "What's a phone dial!?"  Even then most phones had push buttons!

Here's our budding dancer!  She and Kimmy were in a dance group together in Aurora, CO.

Wish this picture hadn't turned out so yellow The girls loved to dance.  One thing I regret to this day  is not being able to continue them in dance.  They both were naturals.  Well Heather's talent came out a little later than this age but her passion for dancing was there.  If I could figure out a way to post the video from their recital you would understand better what I am saying.  LOL!
Unfortunately not long after this picture was taken, the kid's step-father and I divorced and we moved back to WA.  It was not where I wanted to return to because I loved it so much in CO but when Heavenly Father says go you go...or you regret not listening.

Heather was a darn good athlete and in 7th grade, obviously, she played on the volleyball team.
I will never figure this one out though...as good a player as she was her coach complained that she was too aggressive!!  Hmmm, seems to me your players should be aggressive...but what do I know!

This was Christmas at Heather's Uncle Terry and Aunt Lynda's, my brother and sister-in-law.  This  was the last Christmas we would spend at their house before we moved to South Carolina and Aunt Lynda returned to our Heavenly Father.  Heather is sitting with her Uncle Mike, my sister's husband.  I think she was about 14 here.  I love this picture of Mike, what a handsome man.

I love this picture of Heather.  She has that look on her face that says, "Surrrre I was good!"lol
This was taken at our house in Bellevue, WA.  We lived next door to the church house and the house was owned by the church.  Although I loved the house it was in need of so many repairs that my ex fiance, who worked for the church said this about it, "So when did the church become slum lords?"  This was the last house we would live in in WA before Brian left to serve his mission in the Mississippi, Jackson mission and Heather and I would move to South Carolina.  After we moved out the house was demolished.  The lot still stands vacant today.

On this same Christmas, I was too poor to buy a Christmas tree, in addition to presents, plus they were so expensive that year.  I knew that most of the tree lots closed around 6PM on Christmas Eve, and many would put free signs out for what was left, and it was rarely good ones but Heather, Brian and I got in the car and went out on Christmas Eve in search of a Christmas tree...and we found a great one!  It was a pretty sad looking Charlie Brown tree!  You know the kind that's usually tall and skinny with big gapping branches!!!  But after I wrapped that sucker with tons of white lights on every branch and we decorated it, to us it was one beautiful tree!  To this day Heather says it was her favorite Christmas tree.

This was taken on our move to South Carolina.  We stopped for a couple of days in Aurora, CO to visit my dear friend Alana, or Aunt Alana as she is known to Heather and her brother and sister.

This was taken in the back yard of our first house in Lugoff, SC.  That's Christopher, my oldest grandson, who's 19 now.  He's holding Heather's puppy Cyrus.  That winter Heather came down with a sever case of mono and had to do home school.  She was home all day by herself and would get lonely.  For Christmas I had given her a coupon for a kitten.  Her sister was working for a veterinarian and a white Persian kitten that was ill had been brought in and then abandoned.  She was getting better and we were going to adopt her.  Unfortunately she relapsed and didn't pull through so one day Heather asked if we could take a trip to the local humane society to see if they had any kittens, so she could redeem her coupon.  Well as luck would have it there were only adult cats and she wanted a kitten.  All of a sudden she pipes up to the lady, "Do you have any puppies?" before I could get a single word out the lady says, "Oh yes!!  In fact we just received a litter of puppies this morning that a little girl and her daddy found abandoned at the dump!!  They haven't been bathed or anything yet but if you'd like to see them you sure may!"  Heather looks at me with those eyes of hers and says, "Ohhh Mommy, please!?
As you can see, Cyrus tugged at our heart strings and he became a wonderful companion to us both.

Heather attending church prom with our bishops son. 

Heather worked for one of the sisters in our ward who did seasonal photography at the mall.  I'll never forget when it was her turn to where the Easter Bunny costume.  It was so hot she had to wear her bathing suite to try and stay cool.  Not to mention the mall had them set up right in the middle of the mall under a huge sky light!  She would be drenched with sweat when she came out of that thing!  I was afraid she was going to end up passing out from dehydration.  I think she was 17 when she did this.

This is Justin Giles with Heather.  His family was in our ward and they owned a dance studio called Southern Strutt.  Although Justin was a "friend", there were always lots of boys whose eyes followed where my daughter went.

Heather and her twin brother Brian.  Oh you didn't know they were twins???  Well that's because they're not...but you wouldn't believe how many times people have asked if they were!  And I swear to you that in my heart I believe that originally they were meant to be but the good Lord in all his wisdom knew that if he sent them together I would either kill them both or they would have killed me!!  You would not believe how unreal it is that when one calls me it isn't but a few minutes later the other one calls.  They crack me up!!

  Oh...and yes, these two pictures were taken the same Sunday.  This one was taken before we went to church, the previous one after church let out.

This was the second house we lived in in Irmo, SC, and one I really wanted to buy but it was a bit out of my price range.  It would also become the last home Heather would live in before meeting and marrying Mark.

Hanging out in Brian's room and as usual talking on the phone to probably some guy!! LOL!

This is Devin who Heather was dating before she met Mark...don't remember much about him so I guess he didn't leave a lasting impression!!  There were soooooo many!!!  Love it!

Hanging with the girls!!  Other than Jamie, front left, I have no clue the names of the other girls!

The last and eternal boyfriend.  Heather and Mark in Charleston! 

Time flies too quickly and the little girl that was placed in my arms 19 years ago is now in the arms of someone else.  She made such a beautiful bride and they make such a handsome couple.

This was taken the night Heather took out her endowment at the Columbia, SC Temple.  To the right of Mark and Heather is our dear friends Bryan and Heather Parker whom Brian met while serving on his mission.  Bryan was transferred to Columbia with the airline he worked for while Brian was still serving in LA.  The Parker's not only came to support Heather on this special night but they also rented a car so Brian and I could ride up with them to DC when the kids were sealed, they knew my car would never make the trip there and back!  I don't know...I would have attempted it and I think angels would have gotten me there and back!  Course, they gave me the car so maybe they had some inside knowledge!!!  I loved that car and it served me much, much longer than they ever felt it would!  Thanks Heather and Bryan!

Sealed for eternity.  What an incredible day this was.  There was a pipe that broke in the DC Temple and they sent everyone home except for Mark and Heather and one other couple.  In fact they sent away a family that had driven down from New Jersey to be sealed!  Heather and Mark were sealed by the temple president.  It was so incredibly quiet in the temple, beyond the normal quiet that is found there.  I am so thankful that Brian and I were able to be there.  Of course like with Kimmy and Virgil, I would have crawled to DC in order to be there for this special day.  Both my girls were sealed in this beautiful temple.

My three babies all grown up.  Kimmy is holding her youngest and only girl, Katelynn.

Mark and Heather's first.  I became a Grammy to two, and eventually three, grandpups! 

The first two, Maverick and Rogue.  They were so cute!!

The proud parents!

 If my memory serves me correctly this was the last supper out before I moved to Salt Lake.  Love this picture of the kids.

Not sure what car Heather is in or when this picture was even taken, all I know is I love it!

My baby's havin' a baby!!  Here is my little girl all pregnant with her first daughter Maddie.  My tummy was never that pretty!!

On December 19, 2006 our beautiful Madesta Claire came into our lives.  I love this three generation picture...and now she's in kindergarten!!!

Maddie's just a little bigger than above!

This is such a cute picture!  Heather is beautiful and pregnant with number two daughter in this pic. Cocky is too cute as well!

Here she is...Taylor Ashley

Love the smile on Taylor's face and the look on Maddie's!

Both knocked out cold...it's hard work being a big sissy!  There's so much sponsatility when you're a big sissy!

Maddie looks huge compared to our tiny little Taterbug!

Three beautiful girls! 

And now Taylor is in Preschool!

Our beautiful daughter once again preparing for another girl!  It takes a special man to raise daughters!  This one will be Savannah J!

And soon there would be three!

Welcome Savannah J! She reminds me so much of Heather!  Look at all that dark hair!

Now she is such a little blondie!

Still as cute as can be!

And now there are three!  But wait!

Could it be???  Yes!!!  Number four will be heading through the door come October!!

Girl or Boy???  Well the ultra sound originally said girl but come next Thursday September 20, 2012 we'll know for sure...or will we???  But for now we are planing on welcoming Peyton Zoey into the family next month!

So now I say thank you to my beautiful daughter for being a light in my life.   Sometimes a firecracker but always filled with love, laughter, and adventure!

You are a blessing in my life and I will always be grateful that you chose me to be your Mommy.  Thank you for being such a wonderful mother to our three, or four, beautiful grand daughters.  May you be blessed as the years pass by with blessings beyond your wildest dreams.

I love you!