Christmas Day

Christmas morning came early at our house. Kaitlyn woke the boys up...she says that she didn't but all day Zach kept saying that he was tired because Kaitlyn woke him up. Not sure how long she will continue to deny it!

We had a great day, everyone seemed to get what they wanted.

This year we got some very special gifts. My parents gave each of the kids a journal, a states quarter coin collection full of quarters and a bookmark with a leaf from the Sacred Grove with their testimony on the back. It was awesome! They really put a lot of work and thought into Christmas this year and we loved it. Thanks Grandpa & Grandma Patterson!

Blue's sister Michelle also gave us something very cool. She gave us a binder with Blue's, Grandpa and Grandma, and great grandparents life history on his moms side. We have loved reading stories. Makenzie even used one in her talk for Primary last week! It is so neat! Thanks Michelle, I know that was a lot of work! My family absolutely loves it!

Christmas Eve

We went to some friends house for Christmas Eve dinner. We had yummy Prime Rib. Thanks Boyers! We had a great time! Then we came home and opened our one gift for Christmas Eve...which is always PJ's and slippers.

Then the kids went to bed. I was all done with my wrapping so we finished things up and went to bed ourselves. It was great. I have vowed to get all of the wrapping done before Christmas Eve every year...we will see how that goes!

Kaitlyn's 13th Birthday

We now officially have a teenager in the house! Yikes!

For Kaitlyn's birthday she flew with Blue to Las Vegas Nevada to go to the Maaco Bowl. BYU played Oregon State and won 44 to 20. She froze her butt off at the game but had a great time with her dad! I think that it will be a birthday that she will always remember. They flew home on her birthday, we met them at Atami's Japanese Steak House for dinner then home for my lame attempt at Reese's Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake!

Scrambled Eggs

I heard the boys in the kitchen...I could tell that they were up to something. I wanted so badly to sleep in but I walked out of my bedroom just to see what they were up to. They are both standing in the kitchen with eggs in each of their hands. They smiled at me and said, "We're hungry mom, we are making scrambled eggs!" The nice mom that I am scooped out the shells and made them scrambled eggs. Got to love them!

Blue's Graduation

Blue is finally done with his Executive MBA! He graduated on December 12, 2009 from the Kellogg School of Management. This is something that Blue has always wanted to do and he finally did it! It has been a long 2 years for all of us but worth it...I guess. Blue thought that it was important for the whole family to go see why he has been gone so much so we flew the whole family to Chicago for graduation.

We had a lot of fun!

Waiting in the Chapel at Blue's Graduation. Zach slept almost the whole time. It was perfect!

I am extremely proud of my husband for seeing this through. It was a lot of work and he did a great job of trying to juggle family, church, work, and school. Good thing he is so smart!

I love you Blue!

Outside the Alice Millar Chapel where the graduation was held. It was a beautiful church. It was so cold!

The "After Party"

After graduation we went out to eat with Blue's Group. This is Group G! I think that everyone was a little jealous of Group G because they all got along so well.

Jose Luis, Blue, Kathleen, Gustavo, David

They adopted Pablo as a cousin.

All the wives: Me, Katherine, Erika, Daniela, & Debbie

Chicago

We had a great time in Chicago. We went site seeing, shopped on Michigan Avenue (Magnificent Mile), had Chicago style stuffed pizza, and went to the Field Museum. We all had fun but were glad to get back to Texas where it isn't as cold and windy.

Sue the Dinosaur!

The real head to the dinosaur Sue.

One Crazy Night!

Tonight was absolutely crazy! Makenzie had a choir concert at 6, Kaitlyn had a basketball game that was supposed to start about 6:30 and a concert that started at 7. We got a babysitter for the boys because we knew that things had to align just right if we were going to make it to everything. Makenzie's concert started on time and we were out of there at 6:30, we made it just in time for Kaitlyn's game. As soon as her game ended we drove her to her concert making it just in time for her first number, a combined girls choir.

Makenzie and Ben

Makenzie's 5th Grade Choir sounded very nice. She did a great job!

They did win their game!

Her choir teacher knew that if she made it at all she would not have time to change so told her to come as she was. If you look at her face you can tell that she is still a bit flushed from her game. She had many comments about her "nice dress". I think that she was a little embarrassed but to tell you the truth I think she is way more comfortable in her basketball uniform than her formal choir dress.

She made the Varsity Choir this year as a 7th Grader which is very hard to do. She is so talented, she is good at just about everything that she tries!