Christmas

We had a fantastic Christmas this year.  Filipe, Joei, and Al came up on Christmas Eve and stayed with us for a few days and we had lots of fun.  We had a big dinner on Christmas Eve, then the kids got to open the gifts they got for each other.

Before bed, we put out candy cane cookies, fudge, and milk for Santa.

Waiting to go downstairs on Christmas morning.

Sam must have miraculously secured a place on the nice list, because Santa brought him what he asked for... a horse he can ride on.

Grace got a digital camera.

Liam got a Batman figurine and a Batmobile that ejects Batman on his motorcycle.

Declan got a wooden race track and cars.

Filipe and Joei got all the kids hats and gloves - these two were the only ones who would pose for me!

The whole gang.

Train -obsessed Declan with his "choo-choo" from Grandpa Tom and Merrily.

Reading Sam's giant horse book.  (Declan was apparently not enjoying it much.)

Sam and Al, the world's most patient dog.

Garreth got RockBand and we played it (and are still playing it!) for hours on end.  

Liam has thoroughly impressed us with his guitar and drum skills.  Seriously, the kid has potential!  Garreth even started giving him lessons on his real drums!

We all love this game SO much.  The other day I caught Liam singing all the words to Nirvana's "In Bloom" to himself!   The kids' favorite song to perform is Bon Jovi "Dead or Alive."

On tour with Septic Monkey. 

Another attempt to get Sam to stop picking the scab on his forehead.

It was a great Christmas.  

Thanks, Muffolettos, for spending it with us, and for the yummy Christmas dinner you made us!  We love you guys! 

Snow Day

Winter Wonderland

When I was a kid, Christmas Eve seemed like the longest day of the year and I think it seemed like that to my kids this year, too.  Luckily, Grace is the most inventive big sister ever and turned her room into this:

Decorations, Christmas music, and the best part of all...

...a visit with Santa!!

You can bet the boys paid their 25 cents to sit on Santa's lap, tell her what they want for Christmas, and get a candy cane.

Layton with the Ratchfords

We got to spend time with Davy and Rachel and had lots of crazy, chaotic fun! 

The day we flew into SLC was Davy's birthday, so we got to go to his birthday party.  Here he is being blindly led to his present from Rachel and the kids - a table saw.

Yummy birthday cake.

The kids had a blast hanging out with their cousins...

...unfortunately for the other kids, to Declan "having a blast" means lots of tackling and wrestling.

We had a great Christmas party and dinner.

A lot of the Ratchford clan.

Here's Nanny Flo opening her present from Davy's family and us - concert tickets to "Celtic Women."  You can tell by this picture that these were a big hit!  (Thanks for letting us in on that great gift idea, guys!)

Opening more presents. 

Garreth always reaps the benefits of having a brother who is the PR manager for Real Salt Lake!

Our niece Candi and her husband Zac announced that they're having a baby by wrapping up a baby doll for Elaine to open.  I wish I had taken a picture of "Grandma Elaine" opening that great surprise!

Nanny Flo and Garreth.

Before bed every night our family all does push ups and sit ups together, so one night we had everyone join in.  Here's supermodel Ronan preparing for some serious crunches.

Liam doing pushups.  He can do 30... and from his feet, not knees.  Pretty impressive!

Garreth got a little extra workout with Leah and Eva's help!

We flew back home on the Monday before Christmas.  The weather was bad in SLC and Seattle, so we were lucky to get home without too much delay, although we did have to wait on the runway for an extra 30 minutes for the plane to get de-iced.   

The most exciting part of our travel day was in the SLC airport.  Sam was being Sam and running ahead of us in the airport.  He ran right in front of one of the little cars that drive around the airport and Garreth grabbed him and looked up at the cart to apologize to the driver.  And guess who was in that cart?  This guy:

That's right - SEAL was in Salt Lake!  Sadly for Garreth, Heidi Klum (his wife) was not with him, but I think his nanny and one of his kids was.  It was pretty exciting to have our brush with celebrity!

When we got into SeaTac, there was about 8 inches of snow, but we lucked out because the freeway had been cleared.  You Utahns may laugh at that, but seriously, the whole state of Washington has a complete freak out when it snows that much!  They are not equipped to stay on top of it and so people just pretty much stay home until the snow melts.   We were very excited to come home to over a foot of snow in our yard, lots of Christmas cards in our mailbox, and no frozen pipes! (thanks to some awesome neighbors!)  It was a really great trip, but it was also really great to be home!!

Preston with the Becksteads

We had lots of fun in Preston at Nana and Papa's house.  They even changed their traditional Christmas Eve celebration so we could be a part of it this year and we were so glad they did!  We got to open our cousin and grandparent gift and see them open ours.  

Grace opening her gift from Halle - a notepad and cute earrings, a necklace, and a bracelet made by Cait.  

It's probably a good thing Bailey doesn't read our blog - he might not be too amused by Trip in a very "Anne of Green Gables"-ish hat!

Kenyoun and Easton gave Liam and Sam the perfect Ratchford boy gifts - marshmallow guns!  (Now if Sam would only stop sucking on his marshmallows before loading them!)

Sam and Trip.

Our little family.

Declan and his helicopter from Nana and Papa.

I love Liam's face in this one...

...and also this one.

It took Tegan a little while to warm up to Declan and his intense wrestling moves, but by the last few days, they were great buddies.

Halle is one of my favorite babies of all time.  She is so smart and funny!  I couldn't get over her latest trick - winking.  I was trying to capture a wink here, but to no avail.  It makes me laugh so hard!  We also found out that Halle is going to be a big sister!!!

Kid dominos.  This brought me right back to childhood and Uncle Sid lining up all the cousins for this trick!

Lucy and Sam had a great time together and got along so well.

Papa built a gingerbread house with the kids...

...and then tried to turn them all into Papa look-a-likes!

Thanks for everything, Mom and Dad!  We had so much fun!!