6th Annual Gingerbread House Competition

*Update*  

The voting is located on the right hand side of your computer screen.  You can't see it from a phone.  If you are unable to cast a vote, please vote in the comments.  Please cast a vote for "Best Overall".  Also please vote for each house in one of the following categories:  "Winter Wonderlandiest", "Most Creative", "Most Funny", "Martha Stewartiest".  Thanks!

Wowzers!  I had to dust this old blog off so as to get my kids off my back about posting the contest pictures.  And it was really dusty.  I can't even remember how to use this here old blog that used to be my BFF.  Anyhoo, it's that time of year.  A time of peace, love, joy, and good old fashioned cut throat competition.  Please vote somewhere on my blog.  I have no idea where the poll will actually show up, I don't know if it's even possible to add a poll to my blog anymore.  I have 1,170 posts on my blog, you'd think I'd be an expert at working the thing.  Time and age do funny things to a persons capacities.  

Here are the 4 entries.  Please vote for each house only once in the different categories.  So...4 houses, 4 categories...cast a vote for each house.  Because we live in a politically correct world and every house needs one vote from each of you.  In the Best Overall category, just vote for one.  The one you think is the very best overall.  Because I'm not a fan of political correctness and there has to be one winner!

Merry Christmas!  Let the voting begin!

House #1

 House #2

House #3

 House #4

Aubrey Anna's 12th Birthday

My sweet beautiful Aubrey Anna turned 12 on Tuesday.  Back in early February when we were having lovely 60 degree weather, and unbeknownst to me, she and her friend Amaya planned a joint Birthday party which they were going to invite their entire school class to.  The plan was to have the party later in February, between both of their birthdays.  I knew the awesome weather we were having wouldn't last forever, eventually it had to be winter.  And I could not handle the entire 6th grade in my house while it was snowing outside.  So I decided to seize the day and the weather we were having at that moment.  Twenty four hours later we were having a full on party!

 I turned my back for one second and when I turned around again this was happening:

And then all out cake war broke out.  Almost a month later and I'm still finding cake smear in strange places.

 Last Sunday my mom had us over to her house for Aubrey's Family Birthday Dinner.  She made Aubrey the cake of her choice.  Actually she made her 2 of them.  One to eat then, one to take home for later.  Best Grandma ever!

Ever since she turned 11, she has been planning her 12th Birthday.  Her greatest desire?  To go on her 12th birthday to the Temple and do baptisms for her ancestors.  We told her she could choose which temple she wanted to go to.  It was a decision she took very seriously and didn't decided until just a few days before.  She chose the Logan Utah Temple.  She chose this temple because it is beautiful and also because it the the temple where her grandparents, Steve's mom and dad, were sealed.  Steve was working out of town but he drove back home for the special day.  As soon as school was out, we left for Logan.   Before we went to the temple we had a delicious dinner at a Brazilian restaurant.

 It was a special night.  As soon as the temple workers found out it was her 12th Birthday and that she chose their temple to go to, they gave her extra special treatment.  I am so thankful for Aubrey and her desire to go to the temple.  She is a special girl.  I am so grateful for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  I am thankful for temples that bind families together for eternity. And I am so thankful for the effect the temple has had on our family as we have made it our focus.

Here We Are Now, In Containers...Avocados, In Containers

Well, I guess it's about time I dusted off this here old blog!  I can't believe my last post was on October 21st.  Almost 4 months ago!  Well, really, I can believe it.  Life has been one big ride on the crazy train around here since then.  I looked at that post from October 21st and took a deep breath and  sighed as I remembered the simpler times.  Since October 21st I have had some health issues and a pretty major church calling that have been taking up every spare minute of my time and then some.  Not to mention all the holiday fun that was mixed in.  But today I said ENOUGH!  MY blog is important to me and to my family (they have been asking if I'm ever going to blog again) as a way of recording our family history.  So I'm back.  I think.  We shall see....

So this morning, just a few minutes ago (it's before 11am so it's still considered morning, right?) my girls and I (2 of them are on a legal holiday from school, the other somehow cashed in on her sisters day off) were eating blueberry pancakes in the kitchen.  Emily had her iPod playing and I was singing along.  Then I realized what decade it was and what decade the song I was singing along to came out, and then I did the math in my head.  Which, if you have ever seen me do math, you know what a big task that is, in my head or otherwise.  And even though I've learned to doubt my math skills, I still knew something wasn't adding up. 

Hello, Hello, Hal-low, Haaal-low

I asked Emily why she was listening to that.  She asked me why I was singing along.  I asked her if she even knew the name of the band.  She did.  Nirvana.  What?  And what really surprised me was when Aubrey started singing along with her own words to the song...Here we are now, in containers, avocados, in containers...

So we ate our delicious blueberry pancakes.  After we finished eating, Emily started singing, "Carry on my wayward son, there'll be peace when you are done..."

What can I say?  They get their diverse musical taste from me.