Ketchup. . . I mean tomato sauce

It's time to do a little ketchup, only we call it tomato (say tom-ah-to) sauce here.  Things have been very busy since the new school year started.  It will have to wait for another post though.

We had a fabulous trip home for Christmas.  We asked our children what their favorite part was, and they all agreed that playing with their cousins and friends was the highlight of our holiday.

We spent time in Los Angeles, Farmington New Mexico, Salt Lake City Utah, and Twin Falls Idaho.  

The week after Christmas, we had our Patterson Family Reunion at the Albion Campus Retreat.   It was awesome.  Growing up, we always drove past the Albion State Normal School on the way to Pomerelle ski area.  There is an old state college for teachers.  Built in 1901, it was used for decades to teach teachers, but has been completely vacant since the 60's.  I used to day dream about going inside the old buildings.  

Not only did we get to stay in the restored Miller Hall, we were given a tour of the other buildings, which are now used only at Halloween as a haunted house.  We explored the orchestra pit and dressing rooms under the stage in the theater.  The gym was pretty cool too.  I always feel bad seeing things in disrepair - especially something that used to be so beautiful.  But we had an awesome time exploring.  I think it would be a very scary haunted house!

The weather was unusually warm, but we still managed to have a great time skiing!  It was Caleb and Abby's first time.  They did great!  I think they are our first children to not cry their first time on the slopes.

When we weren't skiing, eating, or playing games in the rec room, we were in the hot tub!  The best part of course, was just being with family.

But, before we headed up to Idaho, we spent a week in Utah.

We had a special visitor.  Brother A was visiting from Arkansas!  It was so good to see him again.  I miss Brother A.

Me and Brother A.

Go BYU Basketball!

At Temple Square.  Can you tell Caleb was tired? 

Christmas Eve with Shon's grandparents.

 We got to see the Tabernacle Choir Christmas broadcast.  The choir was amazing.  Jane Seymore was a witty narrator.  Everything was great - especially the super nice college student who paid for our parking when I realized that I only had Australian cash!  I offered to get his number to pay him back and he wouldn't have it.  Merry Christmas to you too!  Living in Australia, I sometimes forget there are so many LDS members in the world.  To see so many people - including President Monson - in one room was overwhelming.

Sarah and I in the Conference Center.

It was so much fun to spend Christmas Eve with Shon's family.