Rowley

Bret's Uncle Calvin lost his battle with cancer in December so we were able to experience a White Christmas...after Christmas.  So we headed on up to Blanding for the funeral services.  They were beautifully done!  What a tribute to a great man.

 

While we were there, we managed a few snow breaks which the kids loved!

We even managed a tubing excursion with Bret's family.  It was so much fun!  It had been a while since I'd been tubing. 

Amanda, Kelsie, Grandpa, Uncle Chad (?), Ressa 

Grandpa, Lauren, Cade, Aiden, Conner or Tyler, Kelsie, Mabel 

Grandpa taking Mabel down the slopes! 

Grayson took a ride with Daddy! 

Aiden was a lone wolf!  He faced the slopes alone! 

Mabel, Grandpa, and me! 

Grayson took a trip sans tube!  Thanks to Aunt Sarah, he was prepared for the trip with his snow pants.

Oh what fun!

Mabel, being shy??  Wait, what happened to Mabel?  My girl is NEVER shy!

Christmas morning...the kids and some of their loot from Santa and Mom and Dad. 

Judging by this next picture, there was a tornado in Arizona on Christmas Eve because this girl's hair is out of control!

Gray managed to get everything in the picture, I think. 

John and Rose were the only ones there when we got there.  Everyone else was coming later that day.  We had to be off to Coolidge! 

Me opening my SUPER comfy blanket from Grandma! 

It was a whirlwind, per the norm, but I LOVED it!

I am FINALLY blogging the FINAL Gingerbread House party!  I say this with a sigh of relief and a tinge of regret.  Good times were had at each and every gathering, but it has taken on a life of its own and is no longer within my control/capabilities.  I will miss it.  Seeing friends and family around the holidays.  Playing my Christmas music while rolling out my umpteenth batch of gingerbread dough.  Plotting and planning, planning and plotting.  I'll just have to come up with something more manageable.  My wheels have already begun to spin!

 

Here we have our first place winners (and first timers), Phil and Leila, with "Santa's Cabin".   

I was waaay impressed!  It was structurally sound and everything!

 

Second place was Jay and Kendra with, "There's no Place Like Home".

It had everything from Dorothy to the tornado.

 

In third place, were Shane and Kayleen with "The Three Little Pigs"

Immaculate!

 

And the rest of the participants:

Bret and I with, "Win money, money, money!"

If you've ever seen a Charlie Brown Christmas, you get it.  If not, it's just stupid.

 

Mike and Dara with, "Into the Woods"

 

Chad and Sarah's, "Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf"

 

Landon and Kristin-"Angry Bird Christmas"

This was another of my favorites.  I was surprised that it didn't place, but you just never know!

 

Zack and Genice-"Christmas on Government Cheese"

I can always count on their's for a laugh!  It's unfortunate that I wasn't a judge because this one might have placed as well, just because I always find their houses funny.

 

Creston and Gennifer-"Peppermint Elf House"

 

Ryan and Tracy-"Snoopy's House"

I found it interesting that we had two Snoopy themed houses and two 3 Little Pig themes.  What are the odds?!

 

Rusty and Sharla-"Doughnut House"

 

Mike and Rene'-"Mushroom Gnome Home"

I liked this one, but she gave up early.  The fondant was extremely hard to roll out in the cooler temps.  I struggled with this myself but pounded that stuff to oblivion.

 

Tim and Nancy with "Calvin and Hobbs Snowman Wars"

 

Well, it's 2013, so it's time to blog Thanksgiving of last year!  To my credit, I've tried two other times.  The first, I was waiting on pics to download and left the computer and a child closed the screen.  The second, Blogger had problems and wouldn't let me download the pics. 

We'll start with the most important part of Thanksgiving:

The food!

John and Rose gave us a delicious turkey!

And I furnished the rolls.

We sat and talked...

And talked...

And talked.

And, of course, nobody could get enough of this little peanut!

(Not, Karli!  Miss Eisley!  Though we love Karli, too!)

Don't mind Rose.  She had a little too much Martinelli's to drink ;).

And Logan was too cool to join all of us old fogies at the dinner table!

Another successful Thanksgiving!  Thanks again, John and Rose!