Home for the Holidays

It is always nice to have all of my chicks under the same roof. William arrived home from Snow Saturday and we are so happy to have him for a few weeks. Truth be told, he is more "at home" away from home. He loves us, we know that, but he for sure has moved on...we are an intense family, and that drives him a little crazy. He is missing his "girl"...she is coming on the 30th for a few days...hopefully our family won't run her off:) We are just about done with Christmas preparations...and looking forward to visits from Papa and Grandma Casper, and of course, NaKya...life is good and we are blessed. Merry Christmas to all!

Family Time...St. George

We headed off into the wild blue yonder looking forward to spending a week with family in St. George...we pride ourselves on keeping our cars in good repair. Fears of repeating what I experienced a time or two as a child (sitting by the side of busy highways with broken down cars) has been my motivation. Well, I suppose our good luck ran out. About 20 miles this side of Amarillo our super reliable car DIED! We were so bummed...we are so unfamiliar with car problems that I looked at Bill and said "Now what do we do?" Before he could answer we heard Christine from the back of the car say "Call Allstate. We have roadside assistance." When I asked her how she knew that, she said she had seen it on a commercial:) Too funny. I did call Allstate, and although we don't really have roadside assistance, the nice lady was able to help us...Thank goodness for modern technology. Between Bill's iPhone and iPad, we were able to figure out where we were...because it really was the middle of nowhere...this is Taxas we are talking about! After a very long and uninteresting story as well as a 2+hour wait along a busy highway, we drove out of Amarillo in a brand, spanking new GMC Yukon XL...we had no idea how many of the gadgets worked...actually, I still am not sure of many things. But all was well and we handled what could have been a very stressful situation surprisingly well.

Passing time while awaiting the tow truck...

Still waiting...in the middle of nowhere:)

A nice shot of Christine's shoes...

And here she is...all loaded up:( That truck in the picture will be our ride into Amarillo. We had to pay $100 extra for the extra car...little did we know Bill would be driving. What a silly arrangement. I was certain we would add a speeding ticket to the day's tab...the tow truck driver was leading the way---we had no idea where we were going---so in order to keep up with him, Bill was speeding down the highway! We arrived w/o a ticket and ready to buy. We were in and out of the dealership in about 1 1/2 hours. Not an ideal way to purchase a new car...but hey, we are not your "normal" folks:)

Although we were staying in St. George, we headed south to Vegas to see Cirque du Soliel's "Love" (it's a tribute to The Beatles.) I was a lot of fun...Bill and I aren't big fans of Vegas...in fact, we couldn't wait to get out of there, but we did enjoy the show.

We met 2 former Dallas missionaries for breakfast. Milton Williams and Mark Metcalf are both living in St. George and attending Dixie State. It was great seeing them. We have been so blessed with great young men serving in our ward...Grant is especially close to these two guys:)

A quick visit to Southern Utah University. 50 miles north of St. George...both William and Christine will most likely be attending there in the fall.

A cool replica of Shakespear's Globe Theatre.

Uncle Bill and Ky...we'd kick Ky out of the family because he's a Ute fan, but we can't...he's a Casper, so he has to stay:)

Let the fun begin...William brought his dance game for the Wii and ALL of the family was groovin'. Even Great Grandma Casper enjoyed watching and participating. There were 33 of us, we were only missing Laws and Bryson...they are both serving missions. Because our numbers were large, we reserved Papa and Grandma's church...it was wonderful being able to spread out. I didn't take any pictures of the set up in the gym...shame on me. It was perfect though...just take my word for it.

Friday morning most of the cousins, a few of the parents and Papa went to the St George Temple to do some baptisms...It was such a special time. I would not have wanted to be anywhere else...being in the presence of such great Casper youth, all worthy to be in the temple, was priceless. The Temple...always where I want to be with my family.

Papa arranged for us to borrow 5 authentic handcarts, one for each family. We loaded our blankets and lunches up and walked a few blocks to a nearby park for a family picnic. The weather was perfect and being together was wonderful too. The kids, as well as the adults had a great time...

Lots of family pictures on the steps at the St. George Temple

Friday night we surprised Papa with a 70th birthday party. It was perfect and he was surprised and touched. Songs were sung and a wonderful DVD of his life was watched and both Grandma and Uncle Richard said a few words about their feelings about Dad...we had cake and laughed...a great time!

a strange tradition (A post about Homecoming way back in October...a little late)

Homecoming Mums...What's in a mum?...well, you start with a large white silk flower, add long(like 3+foot long) wide ribbons...the more ribbons, the better. Staple the ribbons onto a piece of white cardboard paper that serves as the back of the flower...then attach a bunch of trinkets (bells & whistles(seriously), miniature musical instruments, footballs, soccer balls, musical notes, mini cowgirl hats, etc) to ribbons and staple them on as well. The idea is to personalize the mum for the person to whom you are giving it...These things can cost hundreds of dollars (ridiculous I know...there are starving people in the world) Each grade level at the high school has a traditional color...seniors-white, juniors-navy/silver, etc. The girls wear the mums on ribbons around their necks and the boys wear similarly decorated, yet much smaller garters around their arms. Strangest tradition ever...The mums are only worn to school and not to the actual dance...here are a couple of not so good pictures of what I am talking about.

Mandy and Jana Tryon:)... Jana knows how to make mums...she's done several. She's a good mom...me, not so much:(

I LOVE them...

Ashley and Olivia:)

An early morning view

It's not a great picture...I find it diffcult to drive and take a quality photo at the same time...anyway, this is the scene near our home when I am coming home from the gym in the mornings. I think it is so beautiful. We have water towers all over Texas. I need to get a shot of some in the daylight. Every town has them and they have the town's name written on the side...totally Texas.

We love the missionaries!

We don't have them over near enough, but we love to have the full-time missionaries in our home. It is usually a circus around the dinner table. Grant is hard to harness and generally keeps them laughing. Thanks Elder Hong and Elder Seager for being good sports and for being willing to play on the Lord's team! We love you! (As a side note: Grant wears his Sunday clothes all day on Sundays...even when we meet at 9am! I call him "Bishop"...funny kid!)

Smudgie

This post is for the kids...they adore Smudge. Bill and I like her...she represents work to us...and enjoyment for the kids...she is a great dog though, except for the rare times when she pees on the floor or when she rubs hers dirty body on the furniture leaving a residue...or clicks her nails on the wood floors at 5am...or whines constantly when there is a thunder and lightening storm...we really don't like it when she eats bunnies in the backyard or does the unthinkable (eats her own poop!) Yuck! She is getting old...12, I think. She seems to be doing well, other than going deaf...or is she just playing us? Who knows. We do all love her and are glad she's part of the family...Christine thinks we should have her in our next family picture...I am pretty sure Bill will say "heck no!":)(for any Vera Bradley fans out there...you might recognize her bandana...it's a napkin cut in half in "Totally Turq". Even Smudgie scored from the 6 weeks I worked there:)