I haven't been too hot on blogging lately. I feel no guilt about it either. But I figured it's time for an update. Where do I begin? I never really blogged about Christmas, New Years, or even the day to day stuff, so I have a lot of ground to cover. I guess I'll start with Christmas. It was a Jackson family year so we stayed in Spanish Fork for a few days. I was so excited to give Vic the denim quilt I had secretly and religiously been working on at home. I have to say, for having no pattern, no help, (OK, my mom and Marlene helped a little!) and for it being my first ever quilt...IT WAS AWESOME. In fact, we sleep with it on our bed every night now. The weight of it really keeps us warm and we both are sleeping better now. Go figure. Because of the top secret mission of this quilt, I had to lay out all the pieces like a puzzle and take a picture of it so that I could get all the fabric out the next day and recreate it. It was a tedious process, but worth it. Here's a sample:

Another highlight of our Christmas was the gingerbread house contest. If you don't already know, I am VERY competitive. I usually do whatever it takes to win (yes, that includes cheating) and I love to gloat. Last time we had a gingerbread contest at the Jackson's, Sam stepped in at the last second and created a two-minute Boy Scout scene, complete with tent, snow, backpack, and fire. With Le being the judge, there was no chance of anyone else winning. (He is an AVID scouter. I don't quite get it. But to each his own). I was bitter about not winning, to put it mildly. I was determined to win this year...but with Peter Pan, quilting, Xmas shopping, and everything else, I wasn't as prepared as I would have liked. In fact, Vic and I were downstairs hurriedly trying to look up ideas online while the rest of the gang was upstairs creating their masterpieces. We found a photo of an open doll house made out of gingerbread. (You know, where you can see all the different floors and the kitchen table, etc. It's like the house has been cut in half so you can see inside). Anyway, we tried to copy that idea. But when I say WE, I really mean ME, because Vic was too busy working on his little skier gingerbread man and left me to work all alone. I'll let the photos help me with the rest of the story:


Paul and Kristyn! Damn them! Paul and his darn creativity, artistic abilities, AND construction experience. A little excited? I love it! (not that they won, but that they are thrilled!)

Look how long Kristyn's hair is! Gorgeous!

And here they are for your viewing pleasure:




Other fun Christmas activities included:








and relaxing. (as much as you can with a toddler). It was a great Christmas! Many thanks to Le and Marlene for hosting all of us and for inviting my parents over for Christmas Eve dinner. What a treat for me to be with both families at the same time!
Thanks for keeping us updated! I'm excited to see what you come up with for the next Jackson Xmas gingerbread contest. And thanks for the heads up on the advance prep, we'll be sure to start scouting out ideas early. :) It was so fun to see you guys - I love big hoolidays like that!
ReplyDeleteMolly said, "Damn." We can all say, "Damn." Damn, damn, damn...
ReplyDeleteFinally! The blog drought has ended! We love little Wesley (who ended up coming late) but missed all of our family at Christmas time. Its a good thing we were not in the competition or we would have smeared you faster than your "damn" frosting. -Jason
ReplyDeleteAwww, what a great vacation. I LOVE that you get into your contest! Those are some seriously cleaver gingerbread houses. I really liked the tree house. I don't know why, I guess it struck a cord. Yours was great too, you should feel proud. And speaking of proud!...nice job on the quilt. That is some hard work and dedication! Vic should feel truly loved! :) Nice, nice.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of Lucy in the little cardboard house (every child needs one of those- nothing better than a cardboard box!). What is so funny about it is that it looks like a little outhouse and Lucy is "taking care of business"! Love the outfit too by the way!
ReplyDeleteJoy
Joy,
ReplyDeleteI agree a cardbord box can be a new world. I have a great time painting your when you were little, yours and Jens and Wendy and everyone.
So a contest next year for ginger bread something. I think we were more creative when we did'nt have a house to put together. We need to establish what types for materials can be used. I can state collecting. Hard candy 11 months old Hum. Hey, we could do this at Thanksgiving next year!.
Loved the pictures. Now I miss Lucy. I saw Thack today and he was just so full of energy. Paul is getting payback. Sorry Kristyn.
Loved your pictures, Molly...well, Lucy's and Vic's too. That Lucy is such a doll, love her dearly.
ReplyDelete