Christmas Day

Christmas Eve

Grandma sitting on Santa's lap.

Rick and Christie on Santa's lap.

Every Christmas Eve we gather for dinner at my Grandma's house and Santa will drop by to give gifts to the grandchildren. This year we were able to sit on Santa's lap together.

Another tradition from my family is that we get a new ornament every year that we open on Christmas Eve. The ornament usually has to do with something that happened the past year. This year our ornament was a cap, gown, and diploma to celebrate Rick graduating from ASU.

Merry Christmas

Rick and Christie’s Top 10 Highlights for 2007
(In no particular order!)

1. Rick’s Hand Surgery: To start the year off, Rick had hand surgery to remove a piece of metal from his knuckle. We are still unsure on how this piece of metal came to be in his finger but we think it is from an incident involving a hammer and primer of a bullet that happened 17 years ago. Needless to say, his hand is now metal-free.

2. New Callings: This year both of us were blessed to receive new callings in our ward. Along with being the Weblos leader, Rick has been called to teach Elder’s Quorum as well. He has found that there really isn’t much of a difference between teaching the two groups. Christie has been called to the Relief Society Presidency as the Counselor over Enrichment. The past year has been full of both blessings and pain (mostly blessings) as she learns all about this wonderful program.

3. Rick’s Graduation from ASU: This May Rick graduated from Arizona State University with a Bachelor of Arts in Spanish. We were so grateful to celebrate such a great accomplishment with friends and family! Congratulations Rick!

4. Las Vegas Trip: We spent our family vacation in Las Vegas! We had a great time wandering through all of the casinos and taking in the sites. The best part of the trip was going to see Mystere.

5. Applying to Dental School: We’re not sure we can call this a “highlight” but it has definitely been an experience! Rick reapplied to dental school this year and we are now waiting to hear back. He was fortunate enough to have a couple of interviews so hopefully we’ll hear something soon. Unfortunately this whole experience involves a lot of waiting (definitely not a fun way to develop patience).

6. Weddings: We have been blessed with new in-laws on both sides of the families. Christie’s brother Jeff married Camille Packer in July of this year and Rick’s brother Steven married Amanda Terrill in August. We loved being able to celebrate these great events with family and friends. Congratulations to both!

7. Going to the Beach: After three long years of marriage to a girl from San Diego, Rick FINALLY was able to make it to the beach for the first (and second) time this summer. Of course he loved it and is looking forward to going again.

8. Christie Knee Surgery: Again, not sure if we can call this a “highlight” but it was a big part of our summer and fall. Christie had surgery on her knee in August and got to go through the fun experience of physical therapy and recovery. Rick got to play chauffer, gofer, cook, maid, etc. Rick’s happiest day this year was when Christie could finally drive again!

9. Clarksville Trip: This fall Christie had the opportunity to attend training for work in Clarksville, TN. Trane has one of their factories there and so she had the pleasure of meeting people she talks to often as well as learning more about how a commercial air conditioner is built.

10. Starting a Blog: That is right, we jumped on the blog bandwagon and are trying to keep it going. We have had so much fun keeping up with family and friends through their blogs that we started our own. Feel free to stop by through the year to see what we are up to and to leave us a note: http://rickfarnsworthfamily.blogspot.com/.

We hope everyone has a great holiday season. We love you all!
Love, Rick and Christie Farnsworth

Happy Birthday Rex!

It is Rex's 3rd Birthday on Saturday, Dec. 22nd, so we threw him a little birthday party last night to celebrate. He loved the cake, sweets and fire, every little boys dream.

Getting a little help from Mom to blow out the candles.

Cars!

It's Elmo!

Back to the best part, cake!

Silly Animals

We had so much fun playing with the "animals". Rick and Rex tried racing....

Ella decided to get in on the action and took a ride on the tiger.

Emily and Ella playing dolls.

One, two, three ....

Temple Lights

We had so much fun going to look at the Temple Lights on Monday night. It was a great night to meet with old friends and get into the spirit of Christmas.

Heidi and Jeremy Musseman

Emily and Todd Glenn

Rick and Christie Farnsworth

This was Rick's favorite part, playing with Alyson.

Gingerbread Houses

We got together with our Farnsworth family on Dec. 9th to make gingerbread houses. It was lots of fun to see what everyone came up with. We also had a great time munching and talking.

Counting My Blessings

This past week I have been especially grateful for those that fulfill their callings. We had an Enrichment night last Thursday and even though a member of the committee could not attend, she still helped immensely by doing the decorations the night before. They were gorgeous. Her family made these paper snowflakes by hand and then hung them from the ceiling in the cultural hall. They added so much to the night. Also the woman in charge of the food had a family emergency that night but still managed to get the food there on time even though she wasn't able to stay as well. It is such a blessing when others fulfill their callings because then my life is a lot less stressful. Anyway I am grateful for the hard work everyone puts in to make the night go smoothly and I am grateful I am blessed with such a wonderful committee.

Here Comes Santa Claus...

For our Ward Christmas Party this year, Rick played Santa Claus for the kids. He did such a good job that one little boy in our ward decided that he was the "real" Santa Claus. I just wanted to share how cute he looked, what a hot Santa!