Little Baby A

 The bright spot of the weekend was seeing our sweet little Addie.  We could not wait to get our hands on her! She fussed, slept, smiled, cooed and we loved it all! She is an angel. There were a lot of people around so we had little time to ourselves with her. However, we did have a bit of time in the hotel room to hang out, visit and bond.  It was so wonderful.

 Papa and Grandma had only Skyped with William and NaKya and Addie, so this was his first time meeting her.  Although she cried the first time he held her, it looks like she settled down. Great Grandpa approved:)

 This is our lame attempt at a 5-generation photo...Great Grandma was pretty unaware of anyone and anything.  But, it's the best we could do.

 And THIS is our JOY!

 Uncle Garrett and Uncle Grant only love Addie a little bit...NOT! They adore her.

 We are so proud of William and NaKya. They are amazing parents.  Addie is very well taken care of.  They handle things as if they had been parenting for years.  Bravo!

Just as we have done with previous babies in our family, we lay them on the floor and watch them do basically nothing...and yet, it is amazing! It was incredibly hard leaving her in Utah with her awesome parents.  We miss her tremendously.

Loving wife, mother, grandmother and friend

 And THIS was Mom's JOY. 

Such a great looking group of Caspers.
 The funeral was wonderful.  Marnie and Jeni gave the eulogy (life sketch) and Jared gave a beautiful tribute to Mom.  The grand kids all sang "Army of Helaman"  and Senator Orrin Hatch spoke briefly also.  Apparently if a missionary passes away while serving on their mission, the Church sends a representative from the missionary department.  In this case, Elder Martino of the Seventy came and presided at the service.  He met with all of us before the viewing and the Stake President spoke to us as well.  It was awesome. 

All of the grandsons were pallbearers. The grand daughters were also pallbearers, but at the Church.  It was quite a sight.  It was a beautiful, warm, sunny, breezy day.  Mom's kind of weather.

A group of veterans came to the graveside service and honored Mom with a 21-gun salute.  They said they had never before done this for a civilian...a 21-gun salute is reserved for the military only.  Quite an honor.

Grandma's beautiful casket and flowers.

More awesome Caspers.

Just a few of my favorite people...Aiden, Chris and Alix Olsen.

The family was given the opportunity to write a little note to Grandma on the outside of her casket.  This was Papa's message to her. 

We were all blessed because we knew Grandma.  She was humble, kind, loving, loyal, accepting, generous, faithful, steadfast and immovable. We will miss Grandma's influence in our lives, but we are so happy that she is in a better place.  And we are comforted by the knowledge that we will see her again one day.

And he's off...

 315 Lamprecht Hall

 The dorms...

 a) Scared b)Excited c)Sad d)Nervous e)Pensive f)ALL of the above..."f". Definitely "f".

This is where Garrett will rest his head for the next 2 semesters.  He's adjusting well to BYU-I, but it was touch and go until I pulled out of Rexburg.  He has great roommates and LOVES the cooler weather.  His classes are good and he has been successful at cooking for himself and doing his own laundry.  I think he'll be fine.  It is so fun to see our kids grow and do hard things and realize that they actually can survive, thrive even, on their own.  Great things will come to this young man.

 Jennie and I made our yearly trek to visit, rejuvenate and see sights we haven't seen before.  We actually had been to Tybee Island, GA a couple of years ago, but neglected to visit this awesome little shack on the beach.  We ate lunch at the wonderful "hole in the wall" named North Beach Bar and Grille.  It was quaint and cozy and served awesome food! We had chips and salsa, salads and yummy white chocolate key lime cheesecake...simply THE BEST!

This is the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge that crosses over the Cooper River and connects Charleston, SC to Mt. Pleasant, SC. It is an amazing suspension bridge! (by the way, I snapped this while driving...crazy dumb)

We learned a new trick on this trip! We learned how to ride segways.  They are suprisingly easy and we had an absolute blast!

We went on a historical tour of quaint, little Mt. Pleasant, SC.  Nicholas Sparks' movie "The Notebook", was filmed in parts of this town.

I took a ton of pictures of the wonderful homes in this town...this is one of them.  It's price tag?...several million dollars.

 Although I am not a big fan of Spanish moss---it gives me the creeps---this is an awesome shot of it...plus, I love the porch in the background.

We stopped at the local drugstore/soda shop for lunch.  A "no frills" grilled cheese.  It was great!

Our last night in Hilton Head called for dinner at a place we'd never eaten at, but Jennie had read about in a magazine.  It was a great find.  The Skull Creek Boathouse was so great!  The food and the service and the location were all perfect! Jennie had her first fish tacos.  She approved! One of these years we hope to visit Hilton Head with our husbands. We will definitely be taking them here:)

So this may be photo overload, but I don't think so.  Truthfully, these pictures are only a small sampling of the many we have.  Over the years we have made SO many memories with our sweet Grandma Casper.  And boy are we grateful we took the time to share so many of life's experiences with her.  Grandma passed away on Sept. 14, 2013 while she and Papa were serving a mission for the Church in Knoxville, TN.  It was a surprise...but what a way to go.  She was LOVING her mission.  That was a tender mercy from the Lord.  We love you Grandma..."til we meet again."