winter wonderland

 The RiverWoods is such a fun place during the month of December. They deck the whole plaza out in beautiful lights and have fire pits and heat lamps scattered around. On top of that they have an awesome Santa to visit and people carving ice sculptures, give free horse carriage rides, and there's occasionally even a concert in the center. The night they turned on the lights they had John Schmidt doing a piano concert and I was totally amazed how good he is! He did some really cool covers of popular songs by Coldplay and Adele, I'll try to post a video.

Make sure to keep watching, Emmett will give you some hilarious entertainment! Love that guy :-)

The RiverWoods is also home to Provo Beach Resort - a really cool entertainment mecca that includes indoor surfing? Despite the frosty temperatures Emmett decided to brave the waves.

On a seperate visit I took him to meet, drumroll please... the man in red! It was the first time he's met the big man and he wasn't quite sure what to do. He was very excited... but also very intimidated. So he just froze up stiff as a board and stared at his own shoes the whole time. When Santa offered him a candy cane he forced himself to bring his eyes up to the peace offering, but still didn't dare look up at his face. PS this Santa was the real deal, he's probably the best one I've ever seen!

It's actually such a happening location - we happened to run into my sisters by coincidence!

(being mother hens to emmers)

I wanted to play with our new camera a little bit while we were there, and the following pictures are the result. Gives you a glimpse of the beautiful atmosphere! I love the lights strung across the top

I think we've found a new family tradition!

season's greetings

For anyone who missed our Christmas Card this year

Twas the night before Christmas when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse

With the baby asleep, and Jared well on his way

Cassie tried to reassemble the mess made that day.

Not before long Jared too went to bed

With visions of Cougars running routes in his head.

With a house full of silence, Cassie finally felt at ease

And allowed herself to revel in the hard-to-come-by peace.

But out in the parking lot there arose such clatter,

And Cassie crept to the window to see what was the matter.
 Lo and behold it was just a false alarm,

For surely that Chinese man meant her no harm.

Slowly she exhaled and returned to her task,

Maybe her article would get finished at last.

But once more she heard that mysterious sound

And louder and louder her heart started to pound.

All from the Chinese Man? It just could not be.

So Cassie stealthily hid behind the Christmas tree.

A thump sounded at the landing, there was jingling behind the door

And suddenly she understood not to fear anymore.

He nudged open the door, just as quiet as can be

And Cassie slunk even farther behind that big tree

Dressed in all fur from his head to his foot,

Cassie imagined what would happen if PETA got a look.

He went about his work, and divvyed out the goods,

And Cassie wondered if possibly…just maybe, she could…

She leaned out in attempt to get a clear view,

But that sly old man, of course he already knew.

He spoke not a word and went back to his work

(Good thing cause Cassie’s neck was starting to hurt)

He filled all the stockings and jumped to his feet,

Then snuck back out the door for his reindeer to meet.

He jumped in his sleigh and let out a roar,

And into the stars that great red sled soared.

But she heard him exclaim as he drove out of sight,

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!

And our annual newsletter:

We can't believe it's time for Christmas again already! This year has flown by and we’ve been completely blessed every single minute of it. Emmett continues to grow and soak up information like a sponge. He will forever be our little miracle, and we can’t say a prayer without expressing our gratitude. He has an incredible memory, learns things quickly, and adds a new word to his vocabulary every day. As he nears his second birthday, he is 100% caught up in both size and development. No one ever guesses our little tank had to fight his way into the world.

Jared is coming to the end of school - just months away from his Bachelor’s degree in Civil Engineering! He has done a lot of great things this year. In March he travelled with BYU to Mexico, and had the opportunity to do a hands-on engineering project along with students from a University in Mexico. He also did a summer internship with an engineering company in Salt Lake, where he was able to learn a lot about the field. It is still up in the air whether we will be continuing on with grad school, or moving to the next phase in our life. We will keep you posted!

I spend my days hanging out with my best bud, and feel tremendously blessed because I wouldn’t trade my role for any title in the world. I’m extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to manage our apartments and do freelance writing from home. It can be a little hectic juggling multiple hats some days, but I love being kept busy (and having the world’s cutest co-worker alongside me)!

We love you all and keep you in our thoughts and prayers. You are what makes the season so enjoyable. Hope your holiday is wonderful and filled with Christmas spirit! Love to all!

Cassie, Jared, and Emmett

the curious case of the poopy screwdriver

Last week I had quite the experience... I doubt I'll ever forget this one, but it's goin down in the books just in case!

It started out a day just like any other - Emmett and I were going about our morning routine. I fed him breakfast, checked my email while he caught up on a little Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, and did some quick picking up. Not too long after, Emmett did his business (if ya know what I mean), and I gathered the changing supplies. After the diaper had been changed, I set it right next to the door. *NOTE: I normally ALWAYS take poopy diapers outside immediately because I hate having that smell lingering around the house. But on this particular day it was freezing and I wasn't dressed - so I figured it would be okay for 10 minutes while I jumped in the shower

15 minutes later...

Emmett and I had finished showering/bathing. I threw a diaper on him and sent him back out to the living room to play and watch Disney while I got dressed.

3 minutes later...

I've thrown on some clothes and I walk back into the bathroom to get ready for the day. I hear Emmett yanking at something in the hallway and shrieking in escalating frustration. I find that he's dropped his toy screwdriver into a shapesorter toy and can't get it to come back out (imagine that). So I assuage his little outburst, explain that I'll get it out and everything will be okay, and pull it out for him. Only when I hand it back to him....I notice the tip of the screwdriver is covered in some type of brown substance. Is that chocolate? What is it? Where did it come from?  
Then I proceed to do what any mom of a toddler would do... bring it to my nose and sniff. Whoa. Definitely not chocolate. Definitely poop, and I'm feeling that rising wave of repulsion in my stomach. Had he touched it? Did he go the bathroom again? He must have. And he must have stuck the screwdriver down into it... I pull his diaper and take a peek in the back, only to find he's clean as a whistle.

Lightbulb!

Then I remember! I didn't set his diaper outside! I jump up and run back out to living room, where I'm stopped dead in my tracks. My entire living room floor is scattered with turds. I stand there calculating what this means: He definitely had touched it. Did he put any in his mouth? What should I do? ... Oh no! Emmett's walking back out here, I have to hurry and get this cleaned up before he steps on one and smashes it into my carpet!
I quickly grab a wipe and start using it to gather up the scattered pieces of poop. As I'm frantically picking them up, while simultaneously keeping on eye on Emmett's feet to avoid disaster - my eye catches something.

What is that?...

Emmett is constantly getting into the xbox drawer of our tv stand and playing with the controllers. He loves taking off the battery compartment and emptying out the batteries, then replacing them and closing it back up. Only today I notice the battery he's putting back in has poop smeared all down it.
Are you serious? I've already been on the verge of throwing up, and now this?
I get a new wipe and use it to take the battery and compartment from his hand. As I'm wiping the battery down a thought occurs to me. He was in the middle of the putting the battery in - had any poop gotten on the inside?

I peer down into the little compartment

Actual vomit. Rising up in my throat. The good news is the sides hadn't been streaked with poop as I was afraid of. The bad news is - the slots for batteries had been replaced with packed Emmett-poop. My mind reeled, picturing what had happened.
Emmett had taken out the batteries, picked up a turd (or two?) and dropped it down into the little cylinder. But apparently it didn't drop down as far as he pleased, because he then proceeded to take the aforementioned battery and ramrod it back down the cylinder - successfully packing his poop in the bottom half of the tube.

Jared was going to kill me.

"Sorry hunny, the controller doesn't work anymore. The battery compartment is packed with poop."

I swallowed down the bile that was rising in my throat, and forced myself to act. And by "act" I mean layed a paper towl on the counter, placed the poop compartment on it, then posted my dilemma on facebook asking other people I should do. (unfortunately out of the 15 comments I received, none offered any words of wisdom, but all found laughter in my traumatizing predicament). I couldn't even muster up a plan of action - How would I get it out of that little deep hole? Could the thing even get wet? Was it ruined?

So I made my own decision.

That poop compartment would remain there untouched until Jared got home from school. (Mostly because I didn't want to touch it, but also because I knew he would not fully understand my description of it being "packed with poop" until he saw it for himself.

* I also would like to note the my feelings during this whole scenario went like this: repulsion upon finding the screwdriver, despair and verge of tears when picking up the scattered poop from the living room, then hysterical laugh-out-loud laughter to point of actual tears while deliberating a plan of action for poop-pod. (It cannot be said whether the last stage was characterized more by the laughter or the tears).

Long story short

Jared returned home that evening, took a look at the specimin - and too started laughing until his eyes watered. What had inspired our baby to do this?! In a matter of minutes?!

24 hours later, after a long soak in hot water and some intervention with toothpicks and rubber gloves.... the compartment was rid of poop (for the record, Jared did the dirty work. That's how much he loves that xbox).

...Buuuut we still couldn't stand to think about it. So it sat on the counter for another 24 hours.

I'm glad to report - today the controller is poop-free and working like a champ. I, on the other hand, have learned Emmett is capable of even more than I gave him credit for in 3 minutes time (and that's saying a lot - I know this little rascal and stay on top of him like a hawk).

I will leave you with this:

The curious case of the poopy screwdriver?? Never solved. We will never know the fate that poor little Black & Decker suffered. But I will certainly have the aftermath ingrained into my memory forever. :-)

it's that time again...

We had family pictures taken back in October, and I just realized I haven't posted any yet! I love the way they turned out :) I couldn't narrow it down so you get the full shebang!

the day of thanks

We have so much to be thankful for this year. I am so grateful to live near my family - I love having them close by. I'm so thankful to have so many sisters close in age. Sisters really are the best friends you can ever have. I'm grateful for our health and (always & forever) for my sweet little Emmett. We're so blessed to have the gospel in our lives.
I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was as wonderful as ours.

The men hard at work - Dad on his traditional and Rusty on his deep fried turkey 

(and it looks like Jared might be directing haha)

Notice who's the head of the table :)