Cousins

Aren’t cousins the best? Over the past few months Cash has had plenty of play time with cousins. My sister Debbie, my niece Brittany, and her new little daughter Maili came to visit soCal for a few days. Maili looks just like Brittany did when she was a baby, but with a little Samoan flair from her Daddy Trevor. It was so fun to see them and get the kiddos all together.

Brittany, Maili, Lexi, Cash, Nikki, Lily, Hank

My sister Misha stayed with us during spring break and we had a blast hanging out with all of our little ones. My sister Nikki lives in our apartment complex and is just across the sidewalk from us. She has twins, Misha has two girls, and I have Cash. We spent the week enjoying nap times. But seriously. These kids had a ball climbing all over each other. And I got to enjoy more time with my sisters. We took the kids to the Long Beach Aquarium and to see the new movie Rio. The Aquarium was awesome and the movie was a total disaster. I think I saw maybe 20 minutes of the movie and spent the rest of the time chasing around Cash or helping with the other kids. When you are playing with cousins, it doesn't matter what you do because it seems to be the best thing ever!

 

Hank, Lily, Arden, Sable, Cash

Sisters

For the first time in my entire life, all six of my sisters and I went on a girl’s trip. It was epic. We spend the weekend free from kids and sans husbands in Las Vegas. I can’t believe I’m 28 and this is the first time I’ve done a girls trip with all of my sisters. I plan on doing this every year until I die.  I love these women. There’s just nothing like a sister. They are the women that I aspire to be like and the women whose opinions matter most to me. I wish my Mom could have been there to enjoy the good times we had. I thank her dearly for having the strength to have so many kids and give me so many siblings, especially sisters. What a blessing to have 10 people that will rally behind me whenever I need them. I know I’ve said it before, but I love my family!

Becky, Jacque, Buffy, Debbie, Misha, Nikki, Lexi

Misha and I are both pregnant. I love that we are on either side of Elvis. Classic.

 We spent the weekend overeating, talking into the wee small hours of the morning, getting dessert at every opportunity, and laughing. Lots of laughing and story telling. In a perfect world, I would see these lovely ladies all the time. But in reality, I only see most of them a few times a year during summer family reunions and Thanksgiving. Two of my favorite times of the year. Now I can add the sister’s weekend into that mix and hope that we can do it every year. Cheers for sisters!!!

Erica & John's Wedding

My best friend Erica Lott married John Crismon in the Mesa, Arizona temple on March 12, 2011. It was a splendid affair. I am so thrilled for her and I was so fortunate to be a part of their special day. One of the best things about the weekend, besides the nuptials, was spending time with all of my best friends from BYU volleyball days. It was one of the best weekends I’ve ever had. 

 

The only downside was my little boy Cash was a total monster the whole weekend. I knew he was sick, but I didn’t know (until we got home from the wedding and I took him to the doctor) the extent of my little boy’s torment. Between messing up his nap and sleeping schedule and him being sick, it made for a very stressful/emotional/frustrating trip. He was diagnosed with a double ear infection and sinus infection. And by the time we had taken him in the following week, he had a bad case of pink eye. Poor little baby. Why do kids always get sick while you’re traveling?

All in all it was a fabulous weekend. We ate out a ton, spent time with our family that live in Arizona, had plenty of girl time, enjoyed the hot weather, celebrated to the full extent with Erica and John, and all fell in love with each other again. 

 Here’s to John and Erica Crismon! Congratulations and we love you guys.

Cash Lately

I love having a son. Here is what we have been doing lately.

Sports. Sports. And more sports. He is destined to be an athlete. I wonder what sport he will pick.

 

Cash tore his upper lip frenulum. He fell off a little stone wall at the beach and came up with a mouth full of blood. He tore his lip flap right in half. The blood was the scariest part because it didn't stop for a while and it was a lot of blood. But after a little research online, I was relieved to find out that this is a common injury. No stitches or doctor trip necessary. Just a day in the life of a little boy.

 

Trying to be like Daddy. He loves doing anything that Casey does. He got a tool set from Grandpa and Grandma Patterson for Easter and he is all sorts of helpful around the house now.

Playing in the sun with the neighbors. Cash loves to be outside and be active.

The volleyball club that Casey coaches for threw a luau fundraiser that we were able to attend. It was fun to have a reason to dress up, eat good Hawaiian food, and watch a team of teenage girls fawn over my husband and son. Can you blame them?

 

Antoinette Hatch Brown

February 24, 2001 marks the 10-year anniversary of my Mother's death. I was dreading this day, but it seemed to go by without any special notice. Cash and I did what we do every day. Nothing out of the ordinary. I was sad, but not as sad as I have been on previous anniversaries. Maybe it's the proximity of mourning my Father's death last August. Maybe it's the realization that in another nine years, I will have lived more time without my Mom than with her. Or it simply could be that life goes on.

I am pregnant with my second child and busy caring for a toddler. It's much easier for me to get lost in the mundane tasks of my day as a mom. I think about my parents every day. I still miss them every day. But I look at their lives as a celebration. A guiding force to pattern my life after. I didn't always feel this way. Before I was a mother myself, I mourned her death as a loss. A loss of life. A loss of experiencing my life with her in it. I felt sorry for myself that I didn't have a Mom to turn to for guidance, support, and love. My Mom faced life full on, enjoyed herself to the fullest, excelled at every sport she attempted, raised her children with effortless grace, always followed her instincts, exhibited immense faith, and never let an opportunity pass her by. She was one of the greats. And she lived her life for her family. How could I not feel cheated out of time with her?

At the same time, I was immensely grateful that I still had a loving Dad. When my Dad was diagnosed with cancer again in August 2008, I mourned his eventual death and my Mom's death all over again. What would life be like without parents? I had already lost my Mom. Now I have to deal with losing the one parent I have left? All of my mourning centered on loss once again. I was very focused on how my life would be without these two giants in it. Then I gave birth to my son Cash. Slowly my feelings on my life shifted. So slowly that I think I'm just now realizing it.

I am so grateful for every second that I spend with Casey and Cash. Grateful for the love they share with me each day. The hugs, the cuddling, the kisses, the quiet times, and the comforting. When I said goodbye to my Dad last August, I held my boys close and breathed them in. They saved me from the suffering that I always knew I would feel at losing my last remaining parent. They showed me how much I have to look forward to. No longer will I look at my parent's deaths as losses in my life. I will instead be grateful for the precious time that I had with them. I had 18 wonderful years with my Mom. The last two years were especially important because I had her all to myself. I needed that time. Time to really soak up every ounce of love and counsel that she had to offer. Fast forward 10 years and I have a life of my own with a loving husband, an adorable son, and another baby boy on the way. I have so much to be grateful for and look forward to. No more wallowing. Life goes on. My parents would say the same thing to me. I appreciate the example that my Mother set for me in faith, love and family. And I'll forever shed a tear for the times I miss her the most, but now I need to focus on what's right in front of me. My own family.

I love you always and forever Mom.

Cash at 19 Months

My baby isn't a baby anymore. He's a toddler and getting so independent that it scares me. I know this is all part of the experience, but it's still hard to believe how fast it has gone by. Soon we will have another baby in our family and he will be the big boy. I'm trying to soak up all of the alone time that I have with him right now. He currently weights 31 lbs and is 34 inches tall. He is 90% for both height and weight. Cash is still the king of crazy faces and makes me laugh all day long. He says around 10 words pretty well and just talks gibberish the rest of the time. He carries on long conversations and nods his head trying to explain things to me. It's exciting to watch him communicate with us.

This month we got rid of the binky! I was really not looking forward to this moment, but it was strangely pretty easy. I just hid it one day and after two days of crying himself to sleep, he forgot about it. He really is turning into a big boy. He is now down to one nap a day which is bittersweet. I love that I have more time with him and more flexibility to run errands during the day. But that also means two more hours of keeping him entertained on days that I'm trying to get a lot of stuff done. Now we just need to move him into the big boy bed to get ready for little brother's arrival.

One night I came into the front room to see this. Casey had popped Cash some popcorn, put on his favorite movie, Cars, and helped him get situated on his little car. Apparently Cash put on his rain boots and fuzzy steering wheel cover hat all by himself. What a freaking cool kid.

Cash is obsessed with Toy Story 1, 2, and 3. We watch one of them every day. So when Casey found out he didn't have to coach one afternoon, we made a little trip to Disneyland to show Cash the Toy Story and Buzz Lightyear rides. We have gone on them before, but he was little and hadn't seen the movies. He loved the rides of course, but the giant talking Mr. Potato Head made him a little nervous.

 You can see the scar on his lip in this picture. It's healing pretty well. I love this little boy so much.

I love my sweet Cash and my sweet Casey. I love being a Mom and I'm so grateful to Casey for letting me focus on that right now. 

Reunited And It Feels So Good

We drove to Arizona to see some familiar faces in January. My BYU coach is now the head coach at ASU and his wife threw him a surprise 40th birthday party. Many of my teammates were going to come in for the weekend and I couldn't miss out on the party. So Casey, Cash, and I piled in the car and made the 5-hour trek to my homeland. We decided to make the most of the weekend by cramming in a bachelorette party for my best friend Erica who recently moved to Arizona and then got engaged! It was a really fun weekend filled with all of my favorite things: parties, good food, great conversations, and event greater friends.

Two of my teammates are also pregnant with boys and due the same month as me! Here we are in all our pregnant glory. I finally started showing mid-January. I'm 25 weeks along in these pictures.

 Here are all of my teammates at Jason's bday party.

 

It was a quick trip, but we squeezed in lunch with our cousins, Greg & Chelsea. Cash loves hanging out with their kids, Finn and Goldie, and I just love reuniting with family. This trip really made me miss Arizona. I can't believe that I don't have any siblings living there anymore. We all started there and somehow none of us ended up there. Maybe someday we will all return to our homeland. At least I hope we will. I miss the Valley of the Sun.