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Worth the Wait

Last weekend we decided to venture to the mall and see Santa. The past two years when we have gone we have really lucked out. There was hardly anyone in line and we got to see Santa really quick. We knew it was too good to be true and to happen a third year in a row, and we were right!! When we got to the mall the line didn't look horribly long but it moved so slow. We debated whether or not to stick it out, but are glad we chose to bear the 90 minute wait! We thought for sure Ethan would not be happy to see Santa and would probably cry for him. We were totally wrong. He sat on Cassidy's lap and did great! He kept staring at Santa, couldn't quite figure him out. The promise of a candy cane may have helped a little! Watching the excitement on the kids faces made it really worth the wait!!

Christmas Concerts

With this time of year comes lots of performances, concerts, recitals, etc. Cassidy had two performances this past week, both of which really added to our Christmas spirit.
Her first performance was the school choir concert. Cassidy was so excited to be able to join the choir this year. It is only for fourth, fifth, and sixth graders. She has always loved to sing so it was a great opportunity for her. She has been very dedicated, getting up early twice a week, so that she can make it to choir on time--they meet an hour before school starts. They sang seven songs, and they all sounded great! One of the songs was in Latin and one in Hebrew--I was impressed!!

The fam before we left for the concert

For some reason Ethan kept smiling AFTER I would take the picture. So I hurried and took this one right after while he was smiling so big!

Andy's parents drove over an hour just for the concert! I love having such supportive grandparents!

Cassidy is on the front row right in the middle

Cassidy and her friend Tatumn after their concert!


The second performance we were able to attend was really really neat. Cassidy's piano teacher chose only 8 of her students(out of almost 60), to have a small, spiritual, Christmas recital. I have to admit that I was not too excited to have to go. Her piano recitals tend to drag on and on and you really only want to hear your child(rude, but true). I was pleasantly surprised by this particular recital. Her teacher had all the students pick some beautiful Christmas music, it was such a special night. Cassidy has started playing out of the LDS hymn book and the LDS primary hymn book, so she chose to play "Picture a Christmas", and "He Sent His Son". If you aren't familiar with those songs, "He Sent His Son" is a very very difficult piece. To make things even harder her teacher wanted her to accompany someone singing. Cassidy asked her friend Madison to do that. They practiced so hard and it really paid off. They did a wonderful job--it brought tears to my eyes!

They both looked so beautiful in their Christmas dresses!


Cassidy's teacher had her and Madison close the evening by singing a duet of Silent Night, then the audience joined in on the last verse. She definitely doesn't have stage fright like her mom!

Thanks to my wonderful friend Trish who watched all my boys plus her kids(6 kids total)so we could enjoy this great evening with Cassidy.

Tis the Season!

I absolutely love the Christmas season! One of my favorite things about this time of year is all the extra time we get to spend with family! We kicked off the holiday season on Saturday with a family party. Most of my family will not be in town this year for Christmas so we decided to celebrate a little early. We have actually had this family party for a couple years now. It is always fun to be with everyone and this year was no exception! A big thank you to my brother Chris and his wife Julie for hosting, they always do a great job. We had a great dinner, a fun talent show, and even more fun doing a white elephant gift exchange. Laura started the talent show idea a couple years ago and it is such a success! I always pawn the talent portion off onto my kids. This year Cassidy played the piano. She always does a great job and amazes everyone at how well she can play! Kaden decided to read a Christmas story to everyone and did a wonderful job. His nerves got to him right before it was his turn so I promised to sit with him and luckily that helped. Since Spencer is our resident comedian we though it would be appropriate for him to tell Christmas jokes. He did a great job up there, no nerves at all, and even stumped us on most of the answers! It is such a fun tradition that we have started. Here are some pics from our fun-filled night:
Sorry to those of you(Dad, Laura & Jon, Kevin's fam) whose pictures aren't shown. My camera was being weird and some of them came out so dark you couldn't see anything.

Our wonderful holiday meal!

All the kids were putting this tinsel on their heads, so of course Ethan had to be in on the action too!

Cassidy playing fabulously!

My niece Elly narrating the hilarious skit that my brother wrote!

Julie playing, she did an outstanding job!

My cute little nieces, Sophie and Liza, singing Away in a Manger!

My little comedian, he will do anything for a laugh!

The white elephant gift exchange, my favorite!

My brother Chris modeling the awesome 1970's sweater he got!!


We did miss Katie's family and David's family(who live out of state), and of course we missed Mom! It was weird not to have her there but we were definitely thinking of her!