Christmas 2008

What a great Christmas this year! The day the kids got out of school, the snow started falling and didn't stop. I've never seen so much snow in Saratoga. We were so excited .. the kids have been sledding and playing in the snow for hours and hours.

Rick and Mike decided to combine winter sports and water sports. They got out the knee board and the tube!

Isn't she a cute snow bunny!

Christmas Eve Pictures ...

We went to Rick's Aunt Jan's house for Christmas Eve dinner.


At my parent's Christmas eve party, Michele and Barry gave Mallory her first Build-a-Bear. She(Lucy) is now an official part of our family. We can't go anywhere without bringing "Lucy" along.

It was so funny .... Meg and Jeremy surprised Rick with his favorite Toy! A couple of months ago, Rick was talking about how annoyed he gets by loud toys. He told us all that he hid the "popper" toy from the kids for years. Every time he would get on the phone, the kids would be playing with this toy and he could not hear, so he would hide it from them. He had just come across this toy hidden at the top of one of our closets. He decided to finally throw this toy in the garbage and get rid of it once and for all. Well, Meg and Jeremy happened to be babysitting our kids on garbage day, and found the popper sticking out of the garbage can. They took it and wrapped it up to give to Rick for Christmas. He was totally shocked over this gift. We were all laughing pretty hard. Rick took the toy and threw it out my parents front door. It's the toy that never goes away.

A few days before Christmas, we had a fun gift exchange with some of the kids friends. What a cute bunch!



We set out Cookies for Santa on Christmas eve

Christmas Morning:
Some of Troy's favorite's.....

He got an IPOD shuffle! His favorite music right now is Elvis. He says he loves his deep voice.

Mallory's favorite was her talking doll house from Santa




Lindsie reading the note that Santa left....

Lindsie was so excited to get her "Just Like Me" American Girl doll

David and Lisa joined us for all the excitement. We're so glad they could come out for Christmas

Lindsie got a Kareoke Player ... David and Lisa impressed us with their amazing voices!All the adults spent the day putting together toys and reading instructions, instructions, and more instructions! Thank goodness for the wirecutters ... the packaging now days takes a college degree to get the toys out.


Santa brought a four car race track. We had some fun competitions with this!


We worked up an appetite after opening all those presents. Jacquie brought us all funny head bands to wear while we ate breakfast.

My parents, Meg, and Jeremy came over Christmas night. It had been snowing all day, so we were glad they made it here safely.


Meg is about 4 months pregnant -- She is due June 1st.

This picture makes me laugh just to look at it. Troy has this laugh that is so contagious. He was laughing so hard because Meg and Jeremy gave him a burping machine .... thanks Meg and Jer, that's all we needed is more of that around here.This was such a wonderful Christmas. The kids were all at perfect ages this year to really enjoy everything. I am so grateful for all that we have been blessed with and most of all for the birth of our Savior. It was so neat this year to help our children understand the importance of the Savior's birth and the true meaning of Christmas.

Christmas Tradition

My Grandma Murdoch was the greatest grandma that ever lived. Anyone who knew her would agree. She was such a neat lady and was loved by everyone. She has been gone now for the past four years. We have a tradition every Christmas to go hang an ornament on the tree at the mortuary. We hang a bright red ornament because red was her favorite color. Engraved on the ornament is her name and my grandpa's name. Grandma Murdoch loved Christmas time -- all of my childhood Christmas memories included her. It's fun to still have a memory of her each year. Thanks to my mom for getting us all together to share this fun tradition.

We take turns each year who gets to hang the ornament. This year Mallory was old enough to participate!

We love you Great Grandma Murdoch!

The Santa Cause

This Christmas we had the opportunity to be involved in a Sub-for-Santa program called the Santa Cause. Our good friends/neighbors started the Santa Cause when they realized how fortunate they were to be able to provide a Christmas for their own children. They decided to give to other families and what started out a small idea turned into something HUGE. The Santa Cause ended up helping around 85 families with a 4 month supply of food, clothes, and toys. It was so much fun to be involved -- our kids thought it was great to shop for the families and Troy and Lindsie also helped us wrap all the gifts. They hosted a fun night at the Gallivan Center where they held an auction and had ice skating. All the money went to the Santa Cause. It was such a great opportunity for our children, Rick and I to focus on others this holiday season.

Rick and I were in a sled race with two other couples. Here is a picture of Rick and I coming across the finish line -- we took 1st!!! It was so funny -- the guys were trying to slow each other down by holding on to each others sleds while the wives were struggling to push the husbands across the ice. It was very entertaining.

Lisa, Amber and I showing off our skates

Lindsie is such a cute little snow bunny. It was her first time ice skating and she loved it. She did great and is begging to go again.

Lisa and Brielle

Troy had just as much falling as he did skating. By the end of the night he was skating fast all over the place.

Lindsie, Nicole and Rylie

Caden and Troy

Lindsie's Piano recital

Lindsie had her first piano recital. The song she played was We Three Kings and she played it perfect! She really loves music and I'm so glad she has the opportunity to learn to play.

We are so grateful that both Rick's and My parents live so close so they can come enjoy their grandchildren so often. My kids absolutely love their grandparents. They are such a big part of their lives. I was so lucky to live so close to my Grandma Murdoch. She was such a huge part of my life and I'm glad my children will have many of memories of their grandparents too!

Lindsie with her piano teacher, Brittany. Brittany is an excellent pianist and such a great teacher. Lindsie really loves her. She makes learning the piano so much fun.