Gingerbread House Extravaganza!!!

On Mason and I's 2nd date we went to his parents house for the annual Gingerbread making contest. We made an amazing 'Gingerbread House boat' that won first prize. Well the annual contest got postponed two years, but it was back again last night!! I started planning ahead on what our design would be and came up with an awesome idea that you will have to see at the end!! So now for the build up! PS: There is a 1 hour time limit.

Mason beginning the sketch for our masterpiece. Each team consisted of Mason's brothers and sisters with their spouses and then we all drew 2 names and had those kids on our teams. We had Zach and Avery.

Bryan, Tandi and Monet - not showing anyone the front until the end.

Ashlee, Bobbie and Sydney concentrating hard at the end of the table.

Mason and Zach making goofy faces while Avery and I smile away. Can you tell what ours is yet??

Tom and Adrian (below) were the other couple together last night along with little wolfy...

And below is little Lilah just loving all the excitement!!

And here are the finished results!!! Drum roll please......

Bryan and Tandi's 'Monster' Gingerbread house. I got this picture after the roof had fallen in. Dang it.

Ashlee and Bobby's Santa sleigh. I love the little Santa and reindeer. Aren't they cute?

Tom and Adrian's 'technical' Gingerbread house. Look at that precision!!

And... our Gingerbread baseball stadium!!

And in case you wanted a view from the other side, which I'm sure you did - here it is!! I'm so proud at how it came out!

We got a picture like this on our 2nd date. So we had to recreate the scene. I tried to find the picture to compare... but it's packed away in a box somewhere.

And then it was on to The Beetles Rock Band. An early Christmas present. I love the concentration on everyones faces.

Such a fun night!! Sunday is gag gift night!! Check back for pictures. I have a great idea this year... *wink wink*

Tagged

Yesterday while Mason was at work his car got tagged. I guess he works next to an 'alternative' high school for troubled youth. The funny thing is, is that being it was on the passenger side he didn't know it was there until after he had driven around all during his lunch break Christmas shopping. He must have looked pretty hard core.

But seriously though... who does that?? And Money Mob?! Oooo... tough. I feel like I'm back home in Casa Grande. Except they wouldn't be wanna be gangsta's like these Utah ones.

Luckily it came off nice and easy with a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. Works like a charm every time.

For the parents

This year for Christmas we are giving parents a candid picture of their kids in a black frame that is decorated by the kids. I just LOVE how these pictures turned out. I think all of them came out just beautiful.

These were 5 of my favorites but really I just think they are all so sweet. I just imagine them putting these out each year as part of their family Christmas decorations. I would just love one of these of Mason if he had one from when he was in 1st grade.

Children are so sweet. These pictures really capture just how little and innocent they are at this age.

Will you be attending?

Today in class we learned how to write letters. They got to choose who they wrote to. Here is a letter I received:

Dear Mrs. Lefler,

Thank you for being my teacher. It is so fun with math! I wish I had 100 more days. It would be fun with you. When you die I'll come to your funeral.

Love,

Anabelle

So back to the question in my heading... will you be attending? Either she really loves me that much... or she is trying to give me a heads up as to what my little 6 year olds are planning behind my back...

Addresses

It's time to send me your addresses!! This year I am going to write them all down and keep them for next year so maybe I won't have so many to track down. But for now... please send me your addresses.

Send them to my email: allisons01@hotmail.com

U.G.L.Y.

I just love the holiday season because of all the activities that go on. The many parties and concerts - I just love them all. Friday night began our holiday season with an ugly sweater Christmas party. We had a blast!! Mason couldn't find an ugly sweater so he made one up. It was so good that he won 1st place in the contest! You can't really see how 'ugly' it is here but it was great. He bought garland and then we hot glued it around the seams. Then he decorated it with candy canes for people to take off and eat throughout the night. He also has giant bows on his shoulder and had ornaments dangling. He was hilarious!

We had a white elephant exchange. I won these beautiful reindeer antlers. Mason got a BYU beenie. Then we played games. I took some pictures of the charades game but my flash wasn't on so none came out. Dang it! But it was so fun! It was actually charades backwards. You get into big groups and instead of 1 person acting it out and the team guessing, the whole team acted it out and 1 person guessed. Our team won!

Last night we went to the combined choirs concert at BYU. It was wonderful! This week we have 3 parties and one concert. Busy busy - but oh so much fun!

Fa la la la la

It's been Christmas at our house for the past week. I love Christmas decorations. I love putting them up and I love remembering what I have each year and then getting excited about them all over again. My only wish is that I had more to put up. But slowly and bit by bit I am getting more and more.

Here is our tree. We decorated the whole thing only to remember the ribbon that goes around it. We decided to just leave the ribbon off for this year. Maybe next year. I love our tree!!

Here is our front door. Remember that we live in a basement apartment so that's about all we get to decorate. I'm also urked that the JOY is not in the center of the door for this picture. Oops!! Also... I just realized my keys were still in the door. I do that quite often. Oops again!

This is my 'oh so favorite' nativity set that I got in Uganda last summer. This isn't a very good picture of it... But I think it's beautiful. I'm only missing an angel. If any of you ever go to Africa, please pick me up and angel. Thanks.

This is right against the wall when you walk in.

Our stockings hung by the chimney with care...

Did I mention that I just love Christmas?? We have a little snowman collection too. We decided that each year we would buy a snowman to add to the collection. So far we have gotten one each year since we have been married. That way when we have been married for 25 years we will have 25 snowmen! I didn't get a picture of them though... Although there are only 3 - our 3rd Christmas together.

So now that the presents are wrapped and the decorations are up I need to focus on the Christmas cards. That's my next task!