2011 Merry Christmas Newsletter

Here is our newsletter!
(with a few small things deleted)

Hope you all enjoy!!!
Love y'all!!!

PS Click on them to zoom in a little and read!

Christmas 2011!

We just had a few fun pictures from a wonderful family Christmas this year!

Here are some of the funny highlights of the day!

Rachel and her Mega T-Rex!!


Emma and her La-La-Loopsy doll!


Sarah and her ipod!!


Playing our new game "SING IT!!!". I love that they laughed and laughed through most of the songs. There is even a way to play back their singing as mice or as lions! halarious!!!


Our new table top soccer game! They can't get enough of it!


Sarah and her pez! yum!


Santa brought a HUGE box of chocolates! The girls loved opening the box and reading about which candy they were eating! love it!


For the last picture, I really wanted to include this. This is Sarah hanging up our new family Christmas tree ornament for 2011. It is from our trip to Disney World! What a blast!


What a great year for us!!!
We hope everyone had a very, very Merry Christmas!!!

Fun December Adventures!!!

I am getting back on the band wagon.
So I hope you enjoy the catching up!
Here is December...

Emma singing "Jingle Bells" with at her preschool program. What a cutie pie!

Sarah had her second Christmas Piano Concert and did awesome! She loves to play, especially Christmas music.

Waiting to get up there.

Solo: "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town"

Duet with her teacher: "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year"

So, since we live in the midwest, we had to get our snowman on!!!

Big snowman!!!

Mini snowman on the antenna of a neighbors van


Christmastime in Nauvoo. The Visitor's Center was so beautiful!

Christmas at our house! The girls were up earlier this year, but waited patiently until it was time to open presents.

Sarah and her unicorn pillow pet, beautiful new purse, and zhu zhu pet

Rachel and her beloved guitar, panda pillow pet, and books

Emma with her remote controlled Strawberry Shortcake car, lady bug pillow pet, and dolly

New pjs for Christmas! (Rachel's pjs glow in the dark)

Rachel, our little roaming minstrel!

Building with her new rods. They are glasses!

Sarah really wanted a real purse that was pink with sparkles! Love it!

It was so fun to be together as a family! We are so grateful to have each other!
I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

*****Merry Christmas from the Ruffs 2010*****

~We spent this last year watching our girls grow like the Iowa corn. We enjoyed many simple pleasures. We visited the zoo and the family museum all year round. And got caught up in a few sports: spring & fall soccer and summer softball (still learning!).

~In the spring, we took a trip up to visit Richard’s aunt and uncle, Janice and Paul Day in Rochester, MN. Along the way Richard showed us some areas of his mission in northern Iowa and we were able to stop and play some baseball at the Field of Dreams.

~During the summer break, we drove to visit our families and friends in Utah, to enjoy all their hugs, love and bar-b-qs!

~Then this fall we took a trip down to visit friends in Kentucky and we were able to stop and visit the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum and Library. One word… AMAZING!!!

~We are so grateful to know that Families Can Be Together Forever… not just “til death do you part”. So we started a project with the girls of visiting temples, every chance we get, all around the country. We love showing them that through the temple, anyone can have an Eternal Family, wherever they live. Of course there is Nauvoo, IL (which is the temple we visit monthly). We were also able to visit the temples in Mt. Timp, Salt Lake City, Draper, & Oquirrh Mt. UT, Winter Quarters NB, St. Louis MO, and Nashville TN.

~This year was a really exciting one for Sarah. She fell in love with playing forward in soccer and is still trying to decide how she feels about softball. She started 3^rd grade and is doing great in school. Sarah turned 8 years old and made the decision to be baptized. It was a wonderful and beautiful day for our whole family. We were lucky enough to have Grandma Patty, Aunt Michelle, and Grandma Joy & Grandpa Lynn come into town for that special day. A week after her birthday she had her appendix taken out and hung out at the hospital for 5 days after as her body was fighting to get better. She plays the piano everyday and wishes she could play more! She was a Monarch Butterfly for Halloween and won both costume contests she entered! And just a week ago she got her first pair of glasses. Pink with Diamonds! Gotta love it!!!

~Rachel’s year started out with a bang with a Dinosaur 6^th Birthday Party, where she received her dream gift, Spike, the huge remote-controlled dinosaur. First grade has been wonderful for Rachel! She is really learning the joys of reading! She has been listening to her sister read for 3 years and now it’s her turn. She always surprises us how much she can read. And math is something that comes so naturally to her! Her love for soccer comes in playing defender. She likes to watch the game and run up to defend the goalie. For Halloween Rachel was a Cavegirl Riding on a Dinosaur, her dream costume! She won “Most Creative Costume” and she was so excited about it! And now that we have snow on the ground, she is outside all the time and comes in covered in snow!

~This year Emma has grown up so much! Her 4^th birthday celebrated her favorite color… PINK! She wears pink (and a skirt, for that matter) every single day, if she can. Her summer was full of swimming, coloring, and cheering on the sidelines of her sisters’ soccer games. Emma waited with baited breath for the first day of preschool and it finally came in September. She LOVES it and wishes she could go every day! She was writing her first name before school started and she loves to copy words all around her! For Halloween she was her favorite character, Minnie Mouse! She begged every day to wear her costume. When she finally got to wear it, she was beaming so sweetly, she won “The Cutest Costume”!!! Sweet, funny little Emma!

~Richard is over halfway through his doctorate (D.C.) program at Palmer College of Chiropractic. It has been a great year! His trimesters have varied from 29 credit hours up to 35 credit hours. He works really hard and made the Dean’s List! This year in school he focused on chiropractic techniques, applying his anatomy and physiology studies, and working with patients. Richard is preparing to begin work in the clinic in March, where he will be adjusting actual patients! So awesome! In his “free time” he coached Sarah’s softball team. And has been working with Becky on their photography business and has really enjoyed mastering the camera and lenses and Photoshop. At church he is teaching Elder’s Quorum and rescuing Becky in Primary (hahaha!).

~This year has been a busy one for Becky (of course). The three girls have been keeping her busy and on her toes. Balancing their schoolwork, their lunches, the dentist and doctor appts, piano lessons, playdates, reading time, play time, and family time is a big job. But somehow she manages to get it all done (usually!). After her ankle injury, she had to hit the gym a little less, but she is glad to be back. Having a healthy family is a whole family project. Also, Becky has been working hard to grow her photography business, with a lot of success! She loves being able to make family picture day a little better for other people! Serving as the Primary President is very humbling and helps Becky stretch and grow. A LOT!!!

~We celebrated our 10^th anniversary this year! We took a trip into Chicago, saw the musical “Wicked” and stayed in a great hotel! Ordering room service for the first time was a blast! Being married to your best friend forever is amazing!

~As we look over this last year, and the last 10 years of our marriage, the things that we are grateful for are still the same from year to year. We are so grateful for our warm home and a good education, our beautiful family and wonderful friends, and, above all else, we are so grateful for our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. For his birth, life and death for each of us. Christ came to Earth because He loves each one of us!!!

Merry Christmas and a Joyful New Year!

Love,

Richard, Becky, Sarah, Rachel, and Emma

Aaaaaannnnnndddddd... We're BACK!!!!

It is probably pretty obvious by now that I have been on hiatus from blogging for a while. Between the holidays and trying to keep up with Primary, I have been swamped. But, starting now, I am going to get back on the bandwagon.

So here are the last 2 months in pictures. I hope you enjoy and come back for more!

11/09- Sarah and I at a State Park, where we learned all about the local Indians. Great field trip!!!Loose tooth pulling at our house!

Our visit home to Utah for Thanksgiving:

Chillin' with my girl, Michelle! Love you and miss you!

Nothin' like some Ghanaian dresses to brighten the day!

Above: at Jeff's homecoming with beautiful Katie.

Below: Thanksgiving day photoshoot with the ladies in the family; Katie, Mom, Me, and Julie

We had to see us some friends while we were in town: Me with Deb at the Purple Turtle, gettin' us some amazing shakes! Some more Springville ladies for a playgroup! Elisa, Me, Michelle, and Lori!

I love you girls and miss you all so much!!!

Grandma Joy sent home some beautiful new blankets for the girls to sleep with! Make with love and that is what makes them magical!

Decorating the tree!!!

Rachel putting up the family ornament for this year, a Spine, to celebrate Richard starting his gradaute school.

Getting the star on. Looks exciting huh?!?!?!

Girl's ornaments for this year! There is nothing like glitter-sparkle glue!

Me visiting Sarah's 2nd grade class and making a gingerbread house with her. What a blast!

Let's celebrate our 9th anniversary with some beef with broccoli, yellow curry and sparkling cider!

I love you Richard! You are amazing!

Emma's first real hair cut!
Long haired Emma

Hair everywhere!

Emma checking herself out. She really does like her haircut a lot!

Christmas 2009

Sarah and her jewelry box and new watch

Rachel and the Fur Real Dalmation puppy of her dreams!!!

Emma with her dolly who she loves!!! (check out the outfit on Emma! Fashionista!)

Sarah had her first piano recital and it was amazing! She was the first one to perform and she played her solo beautifully. Later she did a duet with her teacher! Sarah loves the piano and just can't stop touching it all day long! She begs to play it, especially if it's Christmas songs!

New Year's Eve at our house!
Emma and Richard bowling

Sarah with her bowling stance!

Rachel loves to have Daddy to help her with her bowling technique!

We played boxing and the girls LOVED it!!!! Rachel won each time!

Yeah, not a lot to say about that!

Our Winter in the Midwest

Our little Snowman on the front porch!

Rachel and Emma loving the snow!

What do the Ruffs do when it's 2 degrees above zero, and -15 degrees with windchill???

WE GO SLEDDING!!!!!

(there was no one else out there for some reason, so we set the camera on top of the van and set the timer)

Yes, we are CRAZY!!!!!

and finally...

The Snowman they have been waiting for

(with one arm up and one arm down so it is dancing):

How can you tell when a snowman is a girl?

She has eye lashes!!!!

Thanks for checking in with us! I will be better and start posting more often! I hope that you have enjoyed this 2 month review!!! Come back often!!!