Memories

Take a few minutes out of your day to read some favorite memories that friends and family have put together.

Baby girl, it’s daddy. I sit here now at 9:02 Friday Nov 7th. In primary children’s hospital next to your bed side waiting for a miracle to happen. Maybe my faith has been shaken but I don’t believe we are getting anything we have been praying about and the miracle we have been waiting on might have to come later in life. You have been officially confirmed brain dead due to cardiac arrest from your lungs swelling and cutting off your airway from the virus croup. Without oxygen to your Brain for over 10-15 min it was just too long and to hard on you. You fought through fevers , seizures, and being stabbed from ivs over 15 times. Including your legs being drilled on 3 separate times to be able to get an IV. You were brought back to life by the amazing staff of Riverton hospital and got an exciting helicopter ride to primary children’s hospital where you lay now. I can’t stop staring at you. My eyes are swollen, I haven’t showered in four days, my feet are so sore, but mostly my heart is in shambles due to knowing I’m going to have to live the rest of my life without you in it. 

You were a totally healthy girl 23 pounds, full of spunk , sass , and personality. You loved to dance , wrestle , and your latest trick was screaming at the top of your lungs for absolutely no apparent reason. My ears would literally ring in pain from these screams and I low key hated them. What I would do now to hear just one more of those screams. You were as accident prone as your sister kinlee , you teased Kannon like your older brother Bryatt teased you  , and you loved asking Nash to take you downstairs to play. NASS STAIRS ! You ate everything in sight. Ms chunky girl. Would play with those fat rolls for hours on end and would never get sick of it. 

You loved to say daaaaadddyy. You would say it soooo many different ways in so many different tones and accents.  It made my heart swell with love every single time you would say my name. Id say it back to you over and over and over just so I could keep hearing you say it back to me. It was my absolute favorite. I knew you loved me and I am and always will be absolutely in love with you my baby girl. All the hours we spent eating one of your favorites together. Grapefruit! I was your first word and the last one to hold you before you flatlined in my arms on the way to the Riverton hospital. 

I’ll never forget you jumping off the couch to come running after me when I went to make you a bottle the morning you had your incident. I ran back to you picked you up and made you a bottle while holding you. I was so happy you were on your feet running after me it seemed like you were doing better! Holding you was my favorite even though you were sooooo heavy! 

Your true love was your mommy and everyone knew it. As much as I wanted you to be a daddy’s girl. You weren’t. You were attached to mom from day one and the rest of us were just the supporting cast to moms main character. You always wanted her. To hold you, to feed you and to change you. The bond you two had and will continue to have as a mother and daughter was special to say the least. 

I’m going to miss out on a lot of things with you my Zaylee girl. I wanted to walk you down the aisle, teach you to drive, how to throw a spiral, how to throw a punch, let you paint my nails, and do my make up.  Teach you how to swim, ride a bike, and how to get swoll in the gym. I look forward to doing these things when I see you again.

The blessing you have been in my life for the past 17 months has been nothing but pure joy.  Coming home from work and seeing your gleaming face when I show up made all the stress go away. You running up to me and latching onto my leg and yelling made my whole day. Every time. I’m going to miss that more than you know. 

Your something special bay bay. You got the same nickname and middle name as one the strongest human beings I’ve ever met. Baylie Mae. My sister. The pinnacle of love and kindness. I always wondered and imagined how you two would interact together, now I guess you will get to do that a lot sooner than I anticipated. 

Being your dad has been one of the biggest blessings in my life. You have taught me way more than I have taught you. I can’t wait to see you again baby girl. I love you to the moon and back forever and ever.

Before you were born I use to sit and write your name at work. Not knowing whether or not you were a boy or a girl but deep down in my heart I knew you were a girl. I loved writing your name and saying it in my head over and over counting down the days until I got to meet you. Zaylee Mae Larsen. It rolls so beautifully together. Your name fit your sassy style perfectly. 

From day one you have been a mama girl! I LOVE everything about it. I was your safe place, your comfort, your hold me just because person, to so much more, but in the end baby girl you were the missing piece in my heart that I needed. You were my safe place, my comfort, and holding you made everything better. My favorite is when you finally learned to walk…. You would walk/run into my arms as fast as you could with the biggest smile on your face. My mama loved this so much. Sometimes I would get the best kisses sometimes I would get a slap to the face. 

Your sassy personality was contagious. As much as I was your person. Your favorite word was Daddy and Sissy. Especially when we got in the car. You loved to scream their names as loud as you could. Or when I would come switch cars with daddy to take you and Kannon home. The minute I sat down you would get this mischievous smile on your face and say “daddy” I would look at you in the mirror and say mommy. You would smile back and me and say “daddy” i know you were being silly. It was written all over your face. I know you knew it was me but loves to tease me. (Deep down I would get really sad sometimes. I knew you were being silly. I knew I was your person but sometime it’s would hurt my feelings. I know call me a baby.) a week before all this happened. I was coming out of your room. You were in the living room playing with toys. You ran your little heart out with open arms and said mommy. Oh baby girl how my mama heart needed this so badly. I just picked you right up. Kissed your sweet face and cried. I bawling like a baby. I loved every second of you calling my name. Oh how I wish I could hear you say it one last time. 

I have 510 days of memories of you. I hold each of them very close to my heart. Thank you for choosing me to be your mommy. You are truly the greatest unexpected blessing to us. As hard as everything has been with you gone. I would go back in time to relive those 510 days with you all over. I love you so much Zaylee Mae aka Baby girl! Please be my forever guardian angel. Please visit me often. Your daddy and siblings also need you more then ever. 

Love mommy 

💜💜💜

My favorite memory of Zaylee would be whenever I get in the car and she is in there she will always say my name in the cutest way. She calls me "Sissy" but she doesnt just say it she emphisizes it by holding the "i" in sissy, like siiiiissy, or say sisy but she goes higher with her tone towards the end of the word. It is one of my most favorite things she does and when she's done saying sissy I will say Bae Bae back to her to let her know I am here, and I hear her!

Bae Bae is like a dream that has come so true to me that it seems fake. I will miss waking her up in the morning and seeing her give me her best big smile! Her just letting me hold her while she restes her head on me. Kannon would always ask to play jump around in the morning. Bae Bae loved it so much she would always come running to me with a smile and her two gapped teeth in the front wanting me to hold her. We would all wait for the beat of the song to come, to start jumping around and that was our favorite. I would be jumping around with her in my arms while she lets out the biggest happiest laugh that would make me cackle. Bae Bae would aways fling her head back to be upside down for me to bring her right back up and just keep going up and down. She would always give a smirk that she was about to go back and when I would drop her back she would giggle. She is my life, she is my dreams, she is mine forever to keep with me in my heart. 

One of my favorite memories of Zaylee is when she would always say "no" Bryatt even if I didn't do anything.

The things that I love about Zaylee is that she would sit in her high chair and eat a bunch of food. Like Strawberries and Bananas that is why she is Chunky. When she was not hungry she would throw her food and I would have white socks on and I would step and I heard a slash and it had starwberry juice on it and it would be red. I would be so mad then I would go to school and right when I would come back from school she would say Nash! I thought it was so cute. It was my favorite that is why she is the best little sister I could ever have. 

My favorite memory of Zaylee would have to be one of the last times that I saw her. My husband and I were getting ready to leave Ashli and Preston's house after a family party. We were in a hurry to get home so I started to say goodbye to everyone quickly. I go to say bye to Zaylee while Ashli is holding her and ask Bae Bae for a kiss. Right away she leans in for a BIG one, then pulls away and goes right back in for another BIG kiss. This probably happened about 5 times before Ashli asked for one. Bae Bae hurried and gave her a kiss then leaned in to gave me even more BIG kisses. I was in heaven at this point. I never had to keep asking her, she just wanted to do it. I look back now and think about how grateful I am that I didn't just quickly leave after one kiss. This is a memory that I will forever hold close to my heart. 

Another favorite memory of mine is being in the room the day that Bae Bae was born. It was such a surreal moment. I couldn't hold back tears of happiness as I watched Zaylee come into this world. Seeing the look of pure joy on Ashli and Preston's face when they finally found out that she was a girl is something that I'll never forget. I will forever be thankful that my sister picked me to support her in such a vulnerable moment. 

I am going to miss you with all of my heart beautiful girl. This is a heartbreak that I know will last a lifetime but I know that you will be watching over me to help ease this pain. Aunt Funner loves you so much baby girl. I can't wait to see you again. 

My favorite memory is when I got to hold her when she was a newborn on the 4th of July. We got to watch the fireworks together for a little bit and then she fell asleep in my arms.

When Zaylee was born I was so excited that she was a little girl. She was so beautiful. It was such a special day to meet her and also find out that they named her Zaylee Mae Larsen after our sweet Baylie Mae Larsen. That touched my heart so deep. I will always remember that and the way she would smile and reach out for me to hold her. She was such a good baby full of love and laughter. I will miss you so much. My heart aches for you. I loved being your grandma and loved playing and snuggling with you. I felt your love for me. Love you for eternity. ❤️🐞❤️

Fondest memories of Zaylee Mae (Our sweet chunky Bae Bae)

      The best part of my day is seeing my grandchildren, the hardest part is saying goodbye.  Words can’t describe the happiness when holding a grandchild in your arms.  On Halloween, Bill and I got to spend quality time with our youngest granddaughter Zaylee Mae while Ashli and Preston took Kannon trick or treating around the neighborhood.  Zaylee’s sweet nature and bubbly personality was contagious to be around.  The minute the doorbell rang to hand out candy Zaylee watched as her Papa opened the door to greet the trick or treaters.  She sat quietly anticipating of what her Papa would do next.  Once the door closed, Papa stomped his feet all the way over to tickle her while sitting in my arms.  She screamed and giggled the whole time until Papa reached her and then she would say, “No” in the most sweetest, genuine voice possible.  We would sit and laugh with her every single time.  

     Another sweet memory is when Ashli would stop by the house with Kannon and Zaylee.  I would walk in the door from work and see my family gathered in the living room laughing and talking.  I would walk around giving hugs to everyone.  When it was Zaylee’s turn,  I would glance in her direction and see her enormous grin as we locked eyes on each other.  I couldn’t walk over fast enough to grab her as she tried to crawl towards me.  The minute I picked her up the kisses and hugs were infectious.  I love the bond that connected the two of us.  That connection was her way of saying, “I love Ammy-ooo-ooo”.   

       This is the hardest goodbye.  I’m going to miss you sweet Bae Bae.  You have definitely left a huge handprint on my heart that I will cherish forever.  I love you Zaylee! I can’t wait to see and be with you again!♥️

Writing this short memory puts a smile on my face as I think about our little miss Chunky Chunks. When it came to our relationship you could definitely say it was on the cautious side, at least from her point of view. Whenever Zaylee spotted me she would immediately run to the nearest person for protection then point her little finger and say “NO”! Sometimes if she got a little too anxious instead of saying no she would say “Hi” but a very nervous “Hi”. However, eventually I could always bribe her to come sit down next to me and share whatever there was to eat or drink. Sometimes I could even get her to cuddle. Those were the most special of times. She especially loved sharing Diet Coke ice with her papa but I would always whisper to her, don’t tell Daddy! Ammy and I were especially blessed to be able to spend time together with just Zaylee Halloween night while everyone was out trick or treating. That night whenever the doorbell rang I’d go to the door to hand out treats. Zaylee waited anxiously! As I turned back towards her I’d yell Bae Bae while Ammy covered her eyes. Then I’d stomp loudly towards her. Ammy would uncover Zaylee’s eyes just before I’d start tickling her. Our Bae Bae would scream, laugh, smile, hide and sometimes say “No”! Ammy and I were blessed to have that special night of hugs, kisses and laughter together. Zaylee was such a beautiful blessing from our father above. It’s heartbreaking to think our sweetheart is no longer with us. However, we take comfort in knowing she is in the arms of our savior now and someday we’ll be together again. I love you little miss Chunky Chunks!

Your papa voom voom

My favorite memory of Zaylee is how every time I would walk up to her she would stick her hands out for me to hold her with the cutest little smile that would just melt my heart and I don’t know how you could say no to that face.

There were a whole bunch of times where my wife Summer had agreed to watch/babysit Kannon and Zaylee. Unbeknownst to me, my help was volunteered. Most of the time, I would go pick up the babies to bring them to Summer so that she could watch them. Every time, as a hopeful future father, Zaylee gave me a glimpse of how easy Fatherhood seemed to be. Her mellowness made me question how people can even say that kids are hard. And then Kannon would quickly bring you back to reality. She was the easiest, sweetest baby. 

Sitting on the couch and playing video games or watching football was our jam. Some of the funniest times that I had with her were when her and I were alone. I would have full on one sided conversations with her in a normal adult voice. There was one time, I was talking to her and it really seemed like she was picking up on what I had to say. She was sitting down being a great listener, when she just rolled her eyes and turned her back to me. Her personality was so much fun to see.

My favorite memories of Zaylee are of feeding her and watching her eat—she truly loved her food and always made the sweetest little messes. I’ll never forget how she would reach for me, making me feel so special and loved. Her scrunch-nose smile could light up any room, and the way she adored her cousin Sloane was so precious. She always wanted to play with her and couldn’t resist reaching out to touch her. Zaylee’s joy and love will always stay in my heart.

One of my favorite memories with her was when she wouldn’t let me get my own sip from my drink without her pushing me away so she could get her own big gulp. Next thing we both knew was us wearing the lemonade more than she drank it. 

Zaylee, I will always have your sweet smile with your crinkled up nose and little teeth showing, as a memory to hold onto. You loved your groceries and were my little “chunky monkey“. Our time together here on earth was way too short,but I look forward to the eternities with you❤️

Love Grandpa❤️

My favorite memory of Zaylee is when Keira and I were able to babysit her and Kannon when they were both so little. We were so excited to have them over and loved being able to interact with them. It was the first time Chief had really been around little kids and he was so intrigued by them and they both did so good around him. It was so funny trying to learn how to feed them because we had never really done that and Kannon smacked food all over the place and we were both laughing. We loved the time we got to spend with her.

The last time I saw Zaylee she had just gotten up from her nap. I was in the kitchen with her and she just could not stop laughing. It was seriously the cutest giggle fest on the planet. She was the happiest baby. She made me and the other workers smile so wide that day. I remember telling her something along the lines of “oh you’re so happy today aren’t you!” My heart is broken because of her loss but this memory has mended it little by little as I have recalled it over and over today. 

My memory was when I first met Zaylee was at our grandpa’s funeral and she was so cute and I loved her very much and my second favorite memory was when I saw her again in June of this year at our cousin Austin’s wedding that was my favorite memory with Zaylee I’m going to miss her so much I was so happy and glad that I got to meet her.

More memories to come. If you have a memory you would like to share please message Summer Hunt 801-895-9947.