Gingerbread Houses and Christmas Eve!

On the Eve of Christmas Eve, we had the missionaries over for dinner and a serious gingerbread house building competition. All of our buidling materials
We split into 3 teams and the competition began. They were all very serious about their creationsAbout and hour later we had the finished projects. Elder See and Elder black constructed an Indian Reservation. Complete with a Teepee, bonfire, slot machine, a buffalo, a bed of coals, and of course a giant Indian man. They won the creativity award for sure!Elder Schroeder and Elder Baker were the most focused on their house. They used up most of their time creating the structure, which is why they won the stability award. It looked like a mini house! They managed to get "Ho ho ho" on the roof and a snow covered hot tub and garage.Of course we won the overall competion! Brooklyn was a totally un-biased judge and not influenced in any way by the amount of candy on our house... Greg was in charge of the house construction and I of course was in charge of landscaping. Our house is complete with a sunroof, water fall, palm trees, swimming pool, and melting snowman. We all had so much fun and were pretty proud of our creations!

On Christmas Eve we had our friend Jennifer and her two boys Tristan and Logan over for dinner and games! We gave the boys play-doh and the game Ants in the Pants and they gave us huge box of chocolates! After dinner we had yummy cinnamon rolls and homemade hot chocolate while we played Don't Break the Ice and Ants in the Pants.

Greg and the boys playing with the play-doh we got for Tristan
Jennifer and her boys
Logan and Brooklyn had so much fun playing and laughing together!Tristan and Logan were so excited for Santa to come! They kept going outside on the balcony and looking at the sky trying to spot Santa! It was so much fun to see their excitement! We loved having them over!

We also have started the tradition of opening new pajamas on Christmas Eve!

Here is Greg showing off his new "pajamas"

Me and my pjs
And Brooklyn looking thrilled about her pajamas!Just before Brooklyn went to bed she put out milk and cookies for Santa, and crackers and carots for his reindeer!

This Christmas has been so much fun for us, and we have started so many fun traditions that we are so excited to do year after year!

St. Augustine with Jason and Cheryl

A few days before Christmas, we went to St. Augustine to meet up with Jason and Cheryl Jensen, our good friends from Rexburg.

We went and toured Fort Castillo De San Marcos. Old St. Augustine is the oldest city in the U.S. and the fort was used a prison and to house Indians.
Outside the Fort

Greg and Brooklyn next to the soldiers beds. The beds consisted of only sheets that were filled with a tiny bit of straw. Not comfy at all!This was the British BarracksGreg and Brooklyn on the top of the fortThe view from the topCheryl and DanielInside the walls of the FortGreg in one of the look-out towersFamily picture overlooking the bayAfter the Fort, we ate lunch at a fish'n'chips restaurant in St. Augustine. After lunch we headed out to explore Cresent Beach.

It was pretty cold but Brooklyn loved walking on the beach

We love the oceanShe had so much fun running around!Greg, Jason, and Cheryl. Cheryl's little sisters were crazy enough to go swimming in the ocean! It was so cold, they had to have been freezing, but they had fun!Gotta love being at the beach, 3 days before Christmas!One of Cheryl's little sisters found this awesome starfish!I finally got a picture of the Jacksonville sign!

Orlando Trip!

For Christmas Greg's parents gave him tickets to the Orlando Magic and Portland Trailblazer basketball game, along with a hotel room for the night! It was the perfect gift for Greg, and it was a good bonus for me too!

The Amway Arena

While we were waiting for the game to start, Brooklyn became best friends with this little boy and his mom. They were sitting right in front of us, and Brooklyn couldn't resist poking them and patting them on the back. They just happened to have a HUGE tub of popcorn, and Brooklyn being the little charmer she is, mooched her way into eating it! It was her first time eating popcorn and she became addicted!!! We think she gets this from her Grandma Baxter! After munching on the popcorn for a bit, she decided she wanted to take his hat. It just so happend that he had a spare, and he gave it to Brooklyn to wear. She kept it on backwards just like him the rest of the game! All the while devouring their popcorn and dancing to the music!He was such a cute little boy and he loved Brooklyn! He kept wanting me to take his picture with her!Me and BrooklynShooting fire during the pre-game show and player introductionFamily picture. This was Brooklyn's 2nd NBA game. Look how excited she is!The view from our room! We love Orlando!

Here is a little video of Brooklyn jammin' to the music and munching on the popcorn!

This was such a fun mini-vacation and a good way to end finals week for Greg! We had a ton of fun and enjoyed getting out of town for the weekend! Thanks again for the great gift!