mele kalikimaka

It seems Christmas just keeps getting better and better each year. Part of it is that Emmett's getting older and makes everything more fun, and part if it that the list of things I have to be grateful for just keep growing and growing.

This post is going to be mostly pictures, so get ready for an overload!

We kicked off Christmas a week early with the Ericksons up in Idaho. The granchildren had so much fun baking sugar cookies with Grandma, and having their very own decorating stations. Unfortunately I think I consumed most of them (as usual). Emmett got his fun pegboard from Grandma and lots of Play-doh toys from his cousin Julia.

After returning to Utah, we did our annual tradition of going to see the Christmas lights at Temple Square (isn't it everybodys?)  I love seeing how majestic the grounds look, there's such a special spirit felt there. It was FREEZING, so it's a good thing we all had the scarves and headbands Grandma Whittaker knitted us!

Jared and I also took Emmett to see the Festival of Lights, which we told him was the "North Pole". He loved it!

Finally it was Christmas Sunday, so we dressed in our holiday best! (Jared did too, but someone had to take the photo)

We went and spent the night up at my parents on Christmas Eve with the rest of my family. As you can see I had lots of fun playing with the Christmas lights.

We played Christmas themed "minute to win it" games, which luckily weren't documented on my camera (they got pretty crazy!). We watched lots of Christmas shows, set out our cookies for Santa, and went to bed dreaming of sugar plums... 

Santa brought Emmett a bike and he was so excited!

(Almost as exited as when he saw his Captain American fan in his stocking)

And THEN he opened Gramby's present (a Mater power wheels!!) and all other presents were forgotten...haha. Rufio was a little bent up he only got one gift, so he sat and sulked most the morning.

As you can see I undergo an outfit change, thanks to my stylish new pajamas (which I'm in at this exact moment). I know, time to get dressed right?

Thanks to all our family for making our holiday so special and memorable! We love you all!!

dear santa

 

Dear Santa,

I'm trying very hard to be good this year. There are a lot of toys I want. Please bring me a:

1.) Strider Bike (check!)

 

2.) Mater Helmet & Bell

3.) "Lawnmower" (as seen in above letter - but what he's really asking for is a power wheels quad, preferably "lightning ah-queen". He confuses it with Grandpas Lawnmower :)

4.) Kitchen

(Any kitchen will do, but this is the one mommy wants to get me. She's been scouting KSL for months and the other day she missed this one by 30 seconds. I think she almost cried.)

5.) My own Fire Station

 

 5.) Giant Pegboard (check!)

 

As you can see, my wants are small. I do not ask for much.  I can't wait for Christmas, and all the fun things we are going to do to celebrate!!

Love,

Emmett

 

our holly jolly christmas

We had such a great Christmas this year, and loved being able to spend time with both sides of the family. We were able to do our "express Christmas" (Modern Family anyone?) with my family a few days before Christmas, and then head up to Rexburg and spend 5 days with the Ericksons. There's nothing like spending the holidays with family - and we really had the best of both worlds.

I love reflecting on our Savior's birth each year. The combination of Christmas and New Year's really helps me see the great blessings and growth our family has experienced. Adding that to the gratitude I feel for the life of Jesus Christ, leaves my heart so full of joy and peace.

Here's a glimpse of the great times we had with the Whittakers this year.

                                          Showing off the "sisters are best friends" necklaces we all gave each other.

                                                                               Here's a close-up

Loved his little car from Gamby so much we had to pack it up to Idaho!

And here's some fun shots of Christmas with the Ericksons

                                                                                                 Santa Baby
  

The hilarious Christmas Eve Pajamas Jared's mom Sherri made for the kids.
She used a vintage pattern her kids made with their grandma.

I was a little dissappointed by Emmett's reaction to his presents this year. There are a few he loved (the ones pictured) but I've actually taken a couple back already that he's shown no interest in whatsoever. His cousin Julia got a doll stroller and once he saw that - he locked on and it was all over.

Yes, Sherri is holding up a 6 pack of beer in that third picture. Jared's Dad is huge into doing meat (smoking, grilling, frying, you name it), and turns out the next gift was some kind of frying kit. We sure got a good laugh over the first part of the gift though!

Thank you to all the family who made our holiday perfect! Only 359 days til next Christmas!! Let the countdown begin :-)

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

I Couldn't Help It

I mean really?? How could I pass up the cutest girl christmas stocking fabric ever? Can't you just picture it with the coordinating red and white stripes on the toe/lining? So perfect for our vintage theme too! (See the rest of our Stockings *here*) Reminds me of Candyland :-)

So baby girl, even though I'm not planning on you joining on our family anytime soon, I've got your Christmas stocking designed and waiting!

...And the stockings were hung by the chimney with care

I had so much fun designing Christmas stockings for our family this year! Sherri helped me make them over Thanksgiving break, and they turned out so cute. I wanted them to kind of have a retro theme, yet each have a little bit of our individual personalities. Here they are!

 All of the stockings are lined with the coordinating striped fabric of the toe on the inside

I love how huge they are! You can stuff DVDs, Books, all kinds of cool stuff in there!

I alternated them so they will hang green ,red, green, etc on the fireplace. I am already excited for when I get to make the next stocking! haha. (and no, it won't be coming anytime soon!)



Be It Ever So Humble...

...There's no tree like ours!

Baby it's Cold Outside!

Well the unthinkable has happened. Snow fell on my California home!! I almost refuse to believe, but it's hard when I log onto Facebook and my entire newsfeed is flooded with photos and comments about this Christmas miracle. The whole town is going nuts! And with good reason, I have never seen snow in the Sacramento area in my entire life!

 The funny thing is that even though I'm always griping and complaning about the the excess of snow we get here in Idaho, I was dying to be in California to see their few inches! Schools there have been cancelled for the past two days, due to the extreme weather conditions. lol. Even though I laugh, Jared and I both agree that we would not want to be driving around the hills amidst all the the 2-wheel drive Mercedes that have never experienced snow in their existences.

Apparently, even my little dog Rufio had a hay day with the snow. He got bundled up in the cute winter sweater I bought him, and frolicked around in excitement. My mom said he kept rolling all around in it, and every time she brought him back in the house, he would scratch at the door to go back out.

This pictures itself is blog-worthy. It cracks me up! Rufio and Caysen sharing the sled! You can just see the excitement in Rufi's tensed little body! And Cays looks like he's having a blast!

The streets were lined with everyone outside their houses, making snowmen or snow angels, having snowball fights, or sledding. It was one giant party!  I am sad I had to miss out.

It's amazing the joy that a little snowfall can bring :-)