A Texan Holiday

Grandma & Grandpa Cassat treated us to an incredible ice exhibit at this amazing hotel/convention center not far from their home in Colleyville, TX. The Gaylord Texan showcased the story of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" in bigger than life ice sculptures. Zero to nine degree temperatures inside the exhibit couldn't keep us from this jaw-dropping show. We thought we had dressed appropriately, but we were given huge overcoats to wear and we needed them. Emma and Stephen & Grandma Jeanne enjoyed a ride down an ice slide. It was a magical place to visit. Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!

Emma looks like "a tick, ready to pop". (Christmas Story reference). Brrrr, it's cold!

Along with the ice show, the hotel had displays of trains, Texan historical sights and a 50ft. rotating tree (told you they do things big in Texas!) We had such a great day! Look at the pure joy on Stephen's face watching the trains. He could've stayed there all day.

Merry Christmas 2009

Emma opens her new "laptop". We hope this will keep her from using the real one! Yeah, right!

Stephen with his new micro Mario Kart remote control car. Just what he wanted!

Grandma Jeanne happy to have kids on Christmas morning.

After having a very long travel day, we arrived in Ft. Worth, TX at 11:30 p.m. (7 hours later than planned, thanks to a snowstorm in Texas) Christmas Eve night. Christmas morning came way too fast and it shows! Despite the delays we had a great time at Grandma and Grandpa Cassat's. They say everything is bigger in Texas, and the snow storm proved it. Icy roads, heavy winds mingled with snow made it difficult to land. Emma and Stephen were troopers through it all. No matter the circumstances, Christmas with your loved ones is a magical and special time.

I may be wrong, but I think this is a Cassat male Christmas tradition. Whatda'ya think?

Snow Removal System

Stephen came home from school so excited to shovel the driveway, who was I to say "No" to that? As you can see, he is very proud of his progress, and so was I. (I only had to finish about half the driveway!) Not only is he cheaper than a snowblower, he's cuter too! Thanks Stephen!

Christmastime in Utah

What's Christmastime without taking a trip to downtown SLC to see the beautiful lights of Temple Square? We joined my brother and sister and dad and Linda. We lucked out and went on a warmer night, but it was still packed with people. I'm always in awe of the lights and spirit when visiting Temple Square. The kids all behaved well for such a special place. Emma's favorite word for all animals is "puppy" so the donkeys in the nativity scenes were "puppy"s. Afterwards we headed to Gateway for some yummy food.

We took the kids to see Santa last week at South Towne Mall. They have the best Santa and set-up. It was a long wait but they made it to the big guy. Stephen wasn't sure what to say to him and Emma would not have anything to do with the man in red. I guess I'll be writing apology letters to Santa to make sure Stephen and Emma get presents on Christmas morning.

Children make Christmas that much more special. Merry Christmas to my little ones!

So Random

Here is a look at the random going-ons that have happened the last few months. Typical Utah weather, beautiful fall day one day then snow a few days later. Stephen was so excited to get out in the snow and play even though there was only an inch on the ground. I was just glad to have raked all the leaves before the snow fell. As of now, there hasn't been any new snow, but just wait 15 minutes and the weather will change.

Emma is getting to be such a "big girl" that she wants to do what her big brother does also, like homework, eating cereal but still is the little girl getting into toyboxes and just being silly.

Trick-or-Treat

What an eventful Halloween weekend we had. We kicked off the Halloween fun with a school parade on Thursday, Oct. 29 followed later that same day with Stephen's first piano recital. He did great on both of his spooky music pieces. He has great stage presence. He'll tell you he was nervous, but you couldn't tell by the way he played. On Halloween night we fed Harry Potter and Little Witch a fun jack-o-lantern pizza and headed out for the fun. I took the kids to a few houses and then Stephen and dad finished up while Emma and I ate, I mean passed out the candy. The little trick-or-treaters were quickly transformed back into Stephen and Emma and put to sleep. Too much excitement (plus early church the next day!) made for an early night.

10 Years and Counting!

Greg & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary by spending some "couple time". We dropped the kids off at Grandma and Grandpa Price's, hopped in the get-away car for some relaxing time together. We first treated ourselves to pedicures - yes even Greg had his feet done and they look fantastic! We decided to stay local so we spent two wonderful days in downtown SLC at the Little America. Wow! We forgot how much you can get done without kids around! We stayed up late, slept in, went to movies that didn't include talking animals or was animated and walked everywhere. The special highlights for us was the temple session and attending the Tabernacle Choir broadcast. After picking up the kids we wanted the magic to continue a bit longer so we drove to see the Mt. Timpanogos Temple where we were married on October 23, 1999. Stephen enjoyed walking around with me while I showed him all the places we had our pictures taken. It was hard to come back to reality - dirty diapers, homework, work and laundry. We had a great time reconnecting and can really see how far we've come in ten years. We truly have a wonderful life!