Thanksgiving

It's that time again- Gingerbread house contest! Please, even if you are someone who only looks at pictures on blogs, go down to the bottom and vote on which team has the best gingerbread house. We are playing for bragging rights for the entire year and we need you to help us decide. You can vote by leaving a comment on the blog here or on mine or Rachel's Facebook.

Okay- now that you have done that, you can read all about the wonderful Thanksgiving vacation we had. It all started on Wednesday afternoon when my Mom, Dad, Allison and Courtney arrived at our house. From then until this morning it has been non-stop fun and games. We had a great time. Here are some highlights:

 We went on walks.

 We discovered plants.

And climbed trees.

We did a dessert bake-off. Allison, Adalie, and I made a delicious paradise pie. It should have won, but it didn't. Rachel, Jackson, and my Mom made a fabulous homemade Snickers bar cake thing which did, in fact, win the "official" contest (as determined my our neighbor). Meanwhile, my dad, Courtney, and Evelyn took the popular vote with their amazing ice-cream sandwich oreo cake. At the end of the day we had three great desserts and I think we had a lot of fun making them.

Allison and Addy bonded. They have a lot in common.

By the way, my favorite quote of the week was from Addy. I was making rolls with her and Evelyn and I announced that I had a big sharp knife to help cut the dough. Without missing a beat, Addy asked, in a very chipper and upbeat tone- "Oh! Are you going to hurt us?"

We all started laughing. That will go down in family history. Where does she get this stuff? Honestly!

Of course we had an amazing Thanksgiving dinner. Oh man- I am still full!

Lots of reading and hanging out. In the top picture, Mom and Evelyn are sporting their "Indian necklaces" that they made out of colored pasta. Leave it to my mom, ever the kindergarten teacher, to come up with great ideas like this!

We went to the Coeur d'Alene Christmas parade. This was actually a lot of fun. Of course we got a babysitter for the kids. After the parade they did the annual lighting ceremony at the resort where they have a fireworks display with music and everything, followed by turning on all the Christmas lights that are put on the  resort. For those who have been to temple square on Christmas, the lights are similar to that, and it is pretty awesome to have them all go on at once to the tunes of Mannheim Steamroller. After the festivities we all  went to eat at Chili's. By the way, my dad was there too- but he was the one taking all the pictures.

One day we split up and the girls went shopping. While they were out, the ended up running into Santa Claus! Meanwhile, the guys (and Maren) were out hiking by the river. I think both groups had fun.

We went and hung out at my office for a while. Actually, we were there a lot longer than we thought we would be because the Vonage people were trying to get our phones to work better. Let me tell you- we are saving a ton of money with Vonage, but their customer service and tech support are somewhat lacking. When they left, things were actually worse off than they were before they came.

And of course, we had our Annual Gingerbread House Contest! This is where you come in. We have two teams. We'll call them "Team A" and "Team B." Please look at both, read the descriptions, and then VOTE by leaving a comment on this blog or on one our our Facebook pages. Really, we have a full year of bragging rights at stake here, so don't take this lightly.

Team A: This beautiful lighthouse scene is full of creativity and attention to detail, from the foam topped waves to the hand-sculpted ship (from caramel, of course). And while the lighthouse keeps the sailors safe from the rocky shore, they still better watch out for the over-sized shark lurking just beneath the surface!

Team B: This pleasant candy cottage seems to have leaped from the pages of a fairy tale straight onto the plate! With plenty of whimsical decorations, there is always something new and fanciful to find as you explore this magical winter scene.