Gingerbread Party and the BEST Present

I got the coolest message from my brother Mike. He said, "I asked Larkin to learn and sing a song for you to add to your Christmas present. She only recorded a minute of it so I'll send you a sneak peek. Hope you like it." It was AMAZING! He is having Larkin play the guitar and sing Visiting Hours! I cried and cried when he sent it. It was soooo cool. I absolutely love it and can't wait until he sends me the entire thing! What a nice, thoughtful, awesome gift! Larkin plays and sings beautifully too. I love it!

We had the Smith family gingerbread party today. It was so much fun. It's a lot of work, but I love getting together. Tage never fails to tell me this is her favorite thing of the year. Haha. Lisa and Nathan flew in yesterday, so they were able to be here too. What a great day.

Stephanie~ making frosting. Yes, I used ALL those bags of powdered sugar

We actually had a spot for the food this year. Shannon usually brings pizza and Sherry usually brings salad.

Stephanie again

Stockton invited Alyssa. They were here first and got a head start.

Alyssa & Stockton

Candy

Preston wanted a chocolate house

Matt, Xander, Connor, Erica's head, Miah, Dallin, Tage

Leo, Jacob, Nova's head, Alyssa, Stockton, Preston

Xander, Connor, Miah's elbow, Melissa's head, bit of Tage's face, Derek

Leo, Jacob, Nova's head, Brandon, Maysen's head, Alyssa, Stockton, Preston

Jorja & Michael

Jacob (sleepy Connor, Xander, Brandon)

Jacob & Brandon (Xander & Miah behind)

We hung out in the movie room after decorating. Mike made lots of cotton candy. We had fun throwing in different hard candies. Holy cow jolly ranchers are crazy strong!

Connor

Matt, Miah, Connor

The newlyweds ~ Dallin & Tage

And now... the houses...

Preston's chocolate house

Jorja

Stockton ~ heat miser/cold miser house

Alyssa

Stockton & Alyssa

Maysen

Mike

Tage & Dallin

Miah

Xander & Connor

Sherry & Matt

Brandon (and Steve)

Jacob

Shannon

Michael

Michael made a home in a trailer park

Lisa ~ she was planning on making Snoopy's house, but I didn't get any licorice, or red for the roof.

Melissa & Taylor

Aimee flies here in a few days, but we will be at the cabin. I sent home two houses, frosting and candy for them. Hope they have fun! Too bad we don't get to see baby Jonathan. I missed getting pictures of some houses. Erica, Nova, Leo..... anyway, today was a great day. Alyssa is sleeping in Stockton's room and Stockton is sleeping with Jorja and Preston in Jorja's room. We played Jackbox until it was time to sleep. I'm exhausted, but it was such a great day. Although we did find out one sad thing. The little kid bumper cars at Lagoon burned down. That use to be my favorite ride. Hope they build it back.

Interviews

Preston took this picture at school. This was the Make-a-Wish closing assembly. The boy they sponsored was driving the t-shirt robot. Man, Jorja would have loved to be able to have an assembly like that! Nice things are getting back to normal though. 

Mike had a dentist appointment today. I took Jorja up to Provo for her FSY interview. Stockton also had an online FSY interview. How cool would it be if they both worked there during the summer? Jorja and I went and got açaí bowls after. I have been spending my days cooking. We have put the gingerbread house pieces in a table in our room. Well, Bear got in there and ATE lots of the men and doors. He got one side of the building too. GRRRRRRR. At least it wasn't too bad. We can do without the men and doors, still.... annoying.

Matt and Sam left today. I got this message before they left. Who knew Mike came to visit? Hahaha

Stockton came home today!!! That is all...

Final Gingerbread

 Preston had an orthodontist appointment today. He loves those.

Stockton had his last finals. Statistics. He needed a 62.5% to get an A in the class. Stockton sent our family this picture of one of the formulas for the class. Looks awful.

Stockton did it. Another 4.0. And just like that his freshman year of college is over.

Stockton's view as he left the testing center.

Matt and Sam's family came down today. They are staying for a few days. We did the Millburn gingerbread party today. It was just Matt's family, my dad, and Max. Kind of sad about that. Wish I could see my family more. Still, it was fun and I'm glad Matt and his family were able to come down. Matt said they wanted to have two houses. A girls and a boys. I make theirs dairy free and it is a bit harder to work with the dough, so this worked out well for me.

Max

Girls house ~ Amy, Anne, Kaylee

Boys house ~ Greg & Jeff

Greg, Anne, Jeff, Kaylee, Amy

Dad

There was so much snow when my dad left! There was no snow when he got here after dropping Max back off. So much snow in such little time. Glad Matt and Sam got here before the storm hit.

Dad