Freshly Picked Moccasins Review

Stella and I had the chance of reviewing one of the latest baby trends from Freshly Picked!! I jumped all over this opportunity when I saw a post on instagram about reviewing these oh so cute moccasins for children. I remember watching Susan on Shark Tank and telling Jake "this woman is brilliant!!!" I didn't have children yet, but thought they were so adorable and hoped for a little girl (even though boys can wear them too) so she could wear these adorable moccs!

courtesy of Freshly Picked

I have never purchased them previously because of the price.. it was a bit steep not sure if these would even stay on Stella's skinny feet!! Stella has a ridiculous amount of shoes and of course her foot is too skinny to wear 90% of them. These actually stay on her foot!!! I was shocked, and am so in love! I was worried about the strap around the foot being too tight and it was fine. Stella didn't even notice them on her feet. I picked the neon hot pink and love the color! She wears lots of pink, and white so they do with anything! I can dress them up or down! Overall I am very pleased with the Moccasins and love supporting Freshly Picked! I would purchase these in the future for her! Thanks Freshly Picked for sending me a pair to try out, we love them!! They are also launching exclusively at Nordstrom in the fall if you want to try them on!!

photos Freshly Picked 

For more information please visit http://freshlypicked.com/

"100% Genuine Leather Moccasins

Freshly Picked moccasins feature a unique design with elastic at the opening. Our shoes are easy to put on, easy to take off, and most importantly: stay on your child’s foot. Our soft-soled shoes are made with durable leather and are suitable for infants and toddlers alike. Moccasins fit true to size and are available in children sizes 1 - 10. For sizing inquiries, please see our shoe size chart.

These gorgeous moccs have been featured in Parenting Magazine, IN TOUCH, US weekly, People.com, Keeping Up with the Kardashians and Kourtney and Kim Take New York.

Each item in our shop is hand made in the U.S.A. and ready to ship. Please allow at least 10 - 15 business days for your moccs to ship."-Freshly Picked

happy august

HAPPY AUGUST YA'LL!!! Ever since I had Stella I am awful at updates! I am so busy, but wouldn't trade it for anything. I thought the season just started yesterday? Now we are almost done with it. This season has been umm..... interesting...I think its safe to say Jake has learned a lot this year, and is still learning. It's so hard going from something you have known for so long to somewhere you don't know anything about. There has been a ton of adjustments with everything this year including no facial hair (haha.) I do believe lots of positive adjustments in Jake's career. Jake was pitching very well until about June. He had shoulder fatigue and they placed him on the DL. He still pitched really well hurt!! Jake came back about a week later, and pitched well again then they needed a spot for someone coming down from big leagues, and also worried about his velocity (speed) so placed him on the DL again... This was confusing at first, but we feel they made the best decision. Jake is finally pitching again and is doing a rehab assignment in short season ball-where they send the June drafts picks to play for a couple months.. The reason they sent Jake here was they didn't have to put anybody on the DL, or release anyone since the rosters are all full at every level. Jake has pitched twice, and done very well. We are hoping he flies out to be with Indy soon.... Jake is having to stay in a college dorm, a really crappy town, and it's safe to say probably a bit humbling going back to where it all started for him. Even though a ton of odd things have happened with this experience, he has really enjoyed the guys and the excitement for the game! They ask a ton of questions, and its fun remembering when this all started for Jake back in 2006.

I am still in Orlando, I came down because they have been gone almost the entire month of July, and this momma needed a break!!!!! It has been very hard being away from Jake, and he misses Stella so much!! Thankful for technology! I am headed back on Thursday. I can't wait to see Jake, but being home and having some normalcy for my daughter has been a breath of fresh air.. she goes to bed at 8:30, not midnight has a crib, her grandparents-aunts,cousins...and most of all I have help. I have really enjoyed my time home spending quality time with my family, I am excited to get back to Jake to help him finish strong and support him in this last month..

We have prayed so hard for Jake to have the opportunity to get called up, and we really thought it would happen this year not going to lie.. I'm not saying it couldn't happen because we always have to stay optimistic. This has been my biggest struggle seeing so many of our friends get called up, or playing in the big leagues for years. I constantly have to pray and focus on our family knowing God has an amazing plan for our family! I am so proud of Jake, and all his hard work this year! We have found true happiness and as much as I know Jake loves baseball being a dad is the best job ever! If we don't get called up this year we will again be free agents, and go through what we did last year of signing with a team. Jake and his agent are exploring options of winter ball as well. This would be anywhere from October-Dec and be in Dominican,puerto rico, mexico, etc.. A lot is up in the air with the Brigham family right now and I do know so many of you pray for us and ask about Jake's career often. Keep the prayers coming in this last month!!

PS!!!!!! If you ever write me or respond to my posts, I do NOT receive them from feedburner.. I am not ignoring you, we realized from my mom when she has replied we don't get them.. my email is taylorbrigham49@gmail.com

Indy

Sorry we have been mia for a while!! The season is back in full swing again, and we got settled in our new little town. Jake is in AAA Indianapolis. He had a really good spring training, and made it in big league camp all the way through until 6 days before the season! I am so proud of him, and all his hard work!!

Jake has had a few rocky starts, but is figuring everything out. Everyone just assumes you get back into the grind and everything is going to work perfectly. Unfortunately it doesn't always happen the way we want it to, but Jake will be just fine!! :) All of the games are on milb tv and you can watch online.

My mom and I made the move up together and it took two long days. Stella did amazing!! She was such a good baby during the drive up! She is doing great at the games as well! We plan on traveling as much as we can this year! We are so excited to see what God has in store for Jake this year!!

I can't believe our baby girl is 6 months old! 

Tickets and games

I just wanted to tell everyone unfortunately we do have to pay for tickets ourselves. Teams like the pirates they can't afford to hand out tickets like the Rangers. Jake only gets 2 tickets a game (we pay for) so if you are wanting to come it may be best to order tickets online or buy at the gate. He will have to go to each player to try to gather tickets, so I think that will be best route and we can always meet up after the game or something! We wish it was different!

Jake will be pitching in the first game on Tuesday and then in Clearwater on Friday! He will throw only an inning, but wanted to let everyone know! :)

Play ball!

I know it has been months since I have done an update. We have been so busy (I wonder why!) We had an ahhmazzzingg off season! I can't believe it is already over!! :( We got to do some incredible things. Being a mom is THE best gifts God has given me. Stella has brought us so much joy.. not only to us, but our entire family. She is such a sweet little babe. We have hit a few bumps in the road with her, however she's a little trooper and doing amazing! Stella has terrible reflux issues. All her outfits are ruined by ugly bibs therefore I decided to make some cute ones haha ;) We have started her on first stage solids recommended by two doctors to help with weight gain since she can't really keep milk down. She LOVES to eat!! She immediately got the hang of the spoon and tries to do it herself. She is plumping up (some)...She also had a mild condition of torticollis. I know some wrote concerned about her favoring one side of her head, so we went to physical therapy twice and she is doing great! She is made to be a baseball kid..We have traveled so much during the off season, and she does amazing in the car, hotel, carseat you name it! One week in December poor thing was in the car for 16 hours and did amazing! That's all with Stella, she is so perfect and we love all the changes she is doing daily! Jake is so in love with her,and is an amazing dad! I couldn't have asked for a better partner to help me through everything in life! 

2 months old 

In December we got the chance to go to PAO (Professional Athlete Outreach) if you have been following my blog for a while you have heard about this, but for others it is a christian conference just for baseball players, and families to come learn about God, and things we face in the baseball world. It is one of our favorite weeks out of the off season. We went down to Miami and my mom came to watch Stella for us. We had the privilege of sponsoring two couples from our team, and one of our close friends we met a few years ago. The amazing part of this is that 2 got saved, and 4 baptized that we helped sponsored. We had the largest amount of couples at the conference from our AAA team! The week was incredible! We also got to be apart of some great charity events and adopting some families with our family over the holidays. I highly recommend everyone to get involved with something next christmas. You don't have to have a lot of money or skills just get your family to do it with you, and do something for someone else. That brought joy to Jake and I. We were thankful for the opportunity that our church gives us, and community! 

Baptism singing Amazing Grace at the Ritz

AAA Team for Rangers

Stella also was dedicated at our amazing church back from before we left for the season! 

We move along to January and it was filled with lots of stress trying to find a place that seemed next to impossible in Bradenton for spring training! We tried to stay on Anna Marie island, and we have never seen prices like this (16,000 is normal for 2 months.) Thankfully our agent found us a place. We are staying in Sarasota. I  am so thankful to not be living in a hotel for 2 months with Stella. I would probably shoot myself. We have been in Sarasota since February 1. Jake always likes getting down here early to start training. He feels really good, his arms is feeling very strong. We are so excited for the new team and season to start! I love being only 2 hours away from home, both our parents have already been down!

Here is the schedule! Let us know if anyone ends up coming to the games! :) Spring Training Schedule  <------I can't offer tickets since we don't know how it works with this organization and if we have to buy them ourselves, but they are very reasonable and we would love to see you if you end up coming! 

The first official day is tomorrow! We came down for a big league camp a few weeks back, and I am so proud of Jake and all his hard work during the off season! He turned a lot of heads, received a lot of positive feedback with the big league staff. Jake is taking each day at a time, and learning everything he can from the staff. We have no idea where we will be in April. I will keep everyone updated on that. We feel this is going to be an incredible year, as well as opportunity! 

Almost 4 months old!! 

Also- if you receive this by email and never get a email back from me if you hit reply I do not receive your message. I heard this from some and I think you have to hit my email if you ever need to write me or Jake a personal message. Taylorbrigham49@gmail.com 

New team, new chapter!

Many of you know we became free agents and no longer with the Rangers. That was bittersweet finishing up the season, heading home from Texas knowing that was probably it for us being a Ranger. Jake was drafted by them, and really wanted to get called up with them. We were really hurt by a few things that happened with them this year. Jake and maybe one other are the only ones left with the Rangers organization from his draft year. The others either released (most) or traded. We know that God had another plan for us and everything that happened was for a reason.

Having Stella has really changed our priorities for the good. It is so hard for any of us not to get caught up in our jobs, and remember what is important in life. Of course baseball is our livelihood, but it never should be number 1 and we easily make it that. 5 days after the world series we became jobless, no insurance needed to take Stella to a specialist and our routine post op appointments. I worried even though I know we would get reimbursed still a mess always filing! The first day of free agency the Pirates reached out to our agent. A couple days later the White Sox, Braves, Orioles, etc.. We were getting excited had 8 teams or so, but confused because what if we made the wrong decision. So many things come into play with this decision. We needed a big league spring training invite, good contract, location, and connections somehow with the team either in front office or staff. We didn't know any with the Pirates. The Braves called and of course I was over the moon thrilled! We could live at home for spring training (additional 2 months.. WHAAAATTTT!!!!?) AAA team is in Georgia then of course Atlanta. Check, Check, Check.. All of that sounded great to me where do I sign?? However....that wasn't what God had in store for us. A week goes by we don't hear much about a contract or anything from any teams. We had discussed last Sunday to wait until after the Rule 5 draft December 12 to sign. Our agent felt like we would have a ton of offers, because most teams don't want to sign right now due to the Rule 5 draft someone picking a player up which means a team can get Jake and they would have to put him in the big leagues all next year, if they sent him down to AAA he would go back to the original team. This happens very little. Anyways again my normal self starting to worry thinking more teams will fill up, what if we get our best offer taken away by waiting?Monday we hear from Pirates they made us an offer we couldn't turn down. The minor league cordinator called Jake and let Jake ask anything he needed to ask and spent about 30 minutes on the phone with him (not necessary or done very often.) Originally no spring training invite, but in the end offered Jake big league invite and in BRADENTON FLORIDA!!

F.L.O.R.I.D.A. S.P.R.I.N.G T.R.A.I.N.I.N.G 

when Jake agreed! We couldn't get ahold of anyone lol!! 

I don't even know how to accept this and soak it in that I will not be packing my life away in January with a new baby and what I have for 7 months is all I get to bring with me! WOW. Also the Brigham family has never been out to see Jake play in spring training since he has been drafted the last 7 years! I may never make any friends since our families and friends will be down weekly (haha) but to have an additional 2 months with them is just mind blowing to me! We agreed to terms Tuesday night and since then we have had 5 phone calls from front office/major league coaches welcoming us! That has just shown us a lot about the organization (Texas never did that for us..ahem) They really wanted Jake, and this is going to be an amazing year for Jake and I. The Pirates as an organization is everything we want in a team. They believe in a lot of the same stuff we do not only a player, but a man off the field, they have values and standards. We will more than likely go to Indianapolis for AAA. Our goal like every year is to break camp and go to Pittsburgh of course! All I know is both places are cold, I knew when I bought Stella summer clothes back in the summer for 4-8 months we would get traded and go to where it snows, and of course that happens! HAHA...

We are so thankful for another opportunity to play baseball, and Jake to follow his dream. We know God has big plans for us not only on the field, but off of it too! Each place we go I know there is a reason! We are excited to keep using our platform to glorify Him in all that we do. We are so excited to be a Pirate, and thankful for all the prayers and support we had to make the decision! 

Santa, I've been good this year!!

Our little peanut is 5 weeks today (Where did my baby go?!?) She is 9.2 lbs loves to eat a little too much! She has started to smile at us, and is the sweetest little thing! She is very nosy like her mommy so doesn't like to sleep when people are around! She wants to know whats going on!  She does have colic, and reflux we are dealing with. I do believe it is on the minor side, I have cut out all dairy and only eat air. I was very negative thinking poor pitiful me having to deal with a screaming baby couple times a day. We find out one of our closest friends on our team this year had their sweet baby girl 3 weeks ago and just got the test results back that she has downs. Here I am complaining I can't eat diary, hating the pain Stella is in, and only a couple month issue when they have a lifetime of this. It put things into perspective and I was ashamed of myself! This precious little angel, Shaelyn is the most beautiful little girl! God knew all along when He created her she would be special, and belonged to this sweet family. I want ya'll to pray for them, and for her! We look up to this couple so much, and have been a huge impact to Jake and I! They are the kind of couple we want to be, and hope we can play as long as they have impacting couples as them!! 

I'm done rambling on! I hope ya'll have an amazing Thanksgiving!! We all have so much to be thankful for! Enjoy your loved ones! 

Hello our love

Wow October has been an AMAZING month for Jake and I! We welcomed our sweet baby girl into the world on October 21 at 1:11 pm 6 lb 7 oz 19" long! Who is this little peanut?!? We are so in love and our lives have forever changed in the best way possible! Stella is doing so good and Jakes little twin!!

Today starts a new chapter in our life. After 7 years with the Rangers we are now free agents, and no longer a Ranger basically jobless!  We can get picked up by any team, but we have to agree to terms. This is the first time in Jake's career we actually have some say! We are so excited/anxious to see where we end up this year! Please keep us in your prayers and that God will open the best door for us, and for Jake to get to the big leagues with this new team. I will leave you with some pictures of our little peanut <3 

if you want to see all of our pictures from the shoot click here http://rebeccareadphotography.com/

Rebecca Read Photography