Girls Trip!

Caitlin and I went on a Girls trip to Utah this week to go meet this little cutie...

Olivia (my twin sister's newest daughter) is tiny, precious, and adorable! I loved getting to cuddle with her.

I also had a blast hanging out with my favorite little sweetheart- Maddie. We went to Mrs. Fields, the park, and then just hung out and played, watched Super Why, and enjoyed a lot of time outside! This week was beautiful in Utah.

Caitlin had some chill time with her new BFF/cousin Olivia.

We also got Miss Maddie in on a little photo shoot with all her babies... she is already proving to be an awesome big sister!

I love how she's holding Olivia's tiny little hand in this picture

During Cate's naps, I got lots of snuggle time with Olivia. I love her itty bitty features and reddish blonde hair! What a darling little girl!

Can't wait to see her again in a few weeks when we come out for Maddie's 2nd b-day and Olivia's baby blessing!

PS- Have I told you lately how much I love staying with my mom and dad? :) When Cate and I arrived at midnight on Wednesday night, this is how we were greeted.

PPS- We also managed to get in a shopping trip to the mall (where I managed to forget my single BOB stroller in the Nordstrom parking lot... sigh)... and we hit up The Chocolate in Orem with Shari as a little Mother's Day treat. I had a huge piece of this cake. I am still dreaming about it. I ate the entire thing and it was totally worth the stomach ache!

Fortunately, Shari is an awesome mother-in-law and watched Cate this morning so that I could go run off all the cake I had eaten (since I was stroller-less at that point). 

I am missing Kevin and my little man though, so I'm looking forward to our trip home! Three saintly friends watched Andrew on Thursday and Friday... and let's just say that I owe one of them a lot of trips to Cheesecake Factory and Andrew isn't as potty trained as we thought... grr. Never a dull moment with that kid for sure!  

Hair Stylin

Party in the front

Business in the back

and check out those sides ;)

Pretty awesome if you ask me...

Kev calls her Cam (from Modern Family bc of the chub)

and some call her "The Donald" (bc of the insane combover)

Fortunately her smile is so mesmerizing you barely notice her "do" all that much 

Love this girl!

Caitlin at 5 months!

Words we use to describe Caitlin: chubbalicious, cuddly, smiley, content, and our little drooly monster.

Her favorite things: 

- Eating and sucking on her hands

- Grabbing her toes

- Watching Andrew, talking to Andrew, smiling at Andrew, and following Andrew with her eyes as he runs around

- Her mom (though slightly demoted this month by Andrew)

- Sleeping

- Watching little kids and other adults and smiling at them (and pretending to be shy when they smile at her)

- Grabbing mom's hair, sucking on mom's shirts, and spitting up on mom's clothes :)

- Drooling everywhere

- Hanging out in her exersaucer 

- Sneakily watching Handy Manny and anything else Andrew is watching on TV 

- Jabbering and cooing and purring like a little cat... especially at her mom and Andrew.

Stats:
- Probably around 18 lbs (we'll know later in the month)
- Wears 9-12 month clothes (and a few 6 month old outfits)
- Wears size 3 diapers
- Takes 3-4 naps on a pretty similar schedule each day (11am-12pm, 2pm-3pm, and 5:30-6:30pm).
- Typically sleeps from 8pm until 6 or 7am, eats, and then goes back to sleep until 9am (unless we have to wake her up to go somewhere!). These sleeping habits make Caitlin a breath of fresh air and the reason our kids will get to have more siblings!

I'm sure there are plenty more things that we could share about Caitlin at 5 months... but our favorite thing is how much she loves Andrew and how much he loves her.

We also love how much this little girl likes to smile and cuddle. We cannot believe she is already 5 months old!

What's better than lunch at Wingers?

Lunch with Shari, Shauna, Liesl & Leah AT Wingers! Add some yummy asphalt pie into the mix and you've got a perfect afternoon. 

Little Caitlin had fun hanging out with Grandma and smiling at everyone

Until she decided to be super grumpy and we let her take a nap while the rest of us ate and ate.

We were so excited to find time to catch up a bit with Shauna after her birthday trip to Disneyland... and hang out with Liesl, Leah, and Shari again!

Andrew was a big fan of the asphalt pie. Definitely his daddy's boy! He also downed huge spoonful after spoonful of whipped cream.

These two crazy kids had fun goofing around a bit too. Andrew just has the best cousins EVER! What a lucky kid to have a Buskirk buddy that is his same age and likes the same silly things that he does.

Nothing makes a trip more perfect than being able to have fun with the Buskirks, Johnsons, Smiths, AND Caffees!

There is never a dull moment on our trips to Utah!! Can't wait to go back again soon.

A little bit of winter lacrosse

One of the other reasons I wanted to stay in Utah for a little extra time was so that we could go to one of Elise's lacrosse games. She's been the coach of Skyline's HS team for almost three years now (I think?)... and she loves it. We loaded up the car with lots of warm clothes and headed up to Cottonwood Park to watch the girls play against Olympus. 

Where'd Andrew go?

Little dude had the best time sitting in Elise & Dan's little camping chair next to Grandma & Grandpa just watching the game.

It was freezing, especially when the sun would dip behind the clouds! Fortunately I had little Catie bug snuggled up with me... and we spent the game walking around together.

It is so awesome to be watching lacrosse right by snow-capped mountains. This game brought back a lot of good memories of playing in the cold when I played on the "BYU" women's lacrosse team. Aluminum sticks + freezing weather = frozen hands... and legs and arms... especially since we played in kilts.

Maddie & Dan also joined us in the cheering section and Andrew & Mads had fun playing together.

This picture was shot right before they tried to make a run for it onto the field (during the middle of the game).

After the game I went over to say hi to Coach Caffee and thoroughly confuse Elise's lacrosse girls. They were amazed when they saw us together and thought it was so cool that we looked so much alike (other than the basketball in Elise's stomach :)). It was pretty funny to confuse some of the parents on the sidelines too.

Caffee clan

Maddie is ready to start playing lacrosse now.

We warmed up after the game by heading over to The Pie for dinner. Delish! I ate way too much and the little people had fun watching them make the pizzas and throw the dough in the air.

Aunt Elise had fun cuddling with cutie Cate... we are getting so excited for Cate's new cousin to arrive soon!

Great night! Great food! Sooo cold, but so fun!

Elise's lacrosse team even made it into the Utah Lacrosse news this week. :) Congrats coach! :)

If I Only Had Today

My heart has been a little heavy today as I have rushed about doing regular Saturday things- running errands, going to t-ball, planning my church lesson, and cleaning out the garage...

Tonight, when I finally got a moment to be still and work on my lesson for tomorrow about the temple, I thought about the blessings that our marriage in the temple has brought me...  

The greatest one of which is peace. Peace to know that if I only had today with these special people here on earth (picture below :))... I would still get to be with them forever.

A beautiful family in our ward has experienced heartache this week as the father suddenly suffered a massive stroke. 


The words that keep going through my head again and again are from the blog that is updated daily... earlier this week it said, "... this is a life-altering event. Dad will never be the same, so prepare yourself for that reality." 


I can't get stop thinking about my last conversation with this friend- such a sweet man in our ward- who was going on and on complimenting me about an activity I helped coordinate. He has always taken every opportunity to say hi, talk with me, and say something kind to me whenever I would see him. When I was pregnant with Caitlin, he went out of his way to bring a special Christmas book to me that he thought I would appreciate.  


I don't think I remember often enough how precious life is... 

And most specifically the difference that we can each make by doing small things (like this friend always does).

Giving a compliment, smiling, choosing to look for the good, expecting the best in someone, remembering important events or details, saying thank you, noticing when someone is having a rough day, giving up your time to serve in little ways, and just listening when someone seems like they need to talk.

I have been a little weepy late this evening as I have been thinking about how fragile life is. We are praying for our friend and his family and I think there might be a higher probability that he will survive now... though he isn't out of the woods yet and if he does survive, he has a long long recovery ahead.

When Caitlin woke up crying tonight, I cuddled with her for an extra long time. I love how little kids seem to know when you just need some extra love. 

This week has reminded me once again that every moment is precious. That is one of the reasons why I loved my trip to Utah last week so much as well. Nothing is more important to me than my family. I love my friends (who have become family to me), but if I could spend each morning running with my mom and sisters or chatting with my dad, or goofing around with Scott, Cat, and Dan , I would take that over anything. Especially if cute little Maddie and Andrew, Kevin, and Caitlin were there too. I almost can't wait to get to heaven so hopefully we can all have big houses right next to one another.

That would be heaven to me. 

Time to finally hit the sack! Heaven would also mean sleeping in late and no little boys waking up at night ;)