gingerbread extravaganza

it's a big deal around these parts.

ever since i can remember, christmas time has involved decorating gingerbread houses.

some of my fondest memories are when we went as a family to our friends, the parrotts, and decorated beautiful, home-made gingerbread houses. there were bowls and bowls of candy, plenty of icing to go around, warm wassail, christmas tunes playing in the background, and lots of creativity floating around.

it's been a few year since that has happened, but i still try to carry on the tradition. this year, a few days before christmas, we had some of my good girl-friends down for dinner + gingerbread {aka graham cracker} decorating. i grew up with these girls in the slate canyon second ward, and amazingly our birthday's are all within two weeks of each other. we thought we were pretty cool back in the day :) i'm so happy we were all able to get together with our spouses + babies and have such a fun night together in good 'old nephi. thanks again girls, for making the trek down here! we had a blast.

not only that, but over the break, we had a gingerbread decorating party with my family. my mom ordered two gingerbread houses from bountiful baskets and we decorated to our hearts content. it was wonderful!

we each took a side of the house to decorate and it turned out pretty cute. we had a good time, and max especially loved the endless supply of treats and pretzels that came his way!

{above: my contribution to the gingerbread house}

max and cute baby sally {7 months}

p.s. have i mentioned that i am going to oklahoma for an entire week at the end of january?? my brother and his family live out there while he is going to dental school, and bekah could use an extra hand around the house. i'm glad i can help before this little baby arrives. it's going to be slightly crazy though...max isn't coming with me! pray for us all :)