Gingerbread Houses

Last post of my posting marathon....this one is for my mom!

We went to Beaver Creek last night and they had a Gingerbread House Competition.

There were amateur divisions, kid divisions, and professional divisions.

Here are a few things that I liked from the houses that I thought I would pass on to you, mom!

These little reindeer are super cute

(couldn't figure out how to turn my pic, sorry)

Love the shredded wheat roof

This one was just cool

The little old lady that lives in a (gingerbread) shoe

Nightmare on Christmas House

(I think that is what it is called..that old movie...???)

I liked the fence on this one

Grand Professional Champion

(4 stories tall!)

Just thought this one was nice

Cool idea for trees

Lots of little sugar people

Last Day with Don and Kathy

On our last day with Don and Kathy, .....

-Don, Kathy, and Justin hit up some Black Friday sales in Glenwood

-We all went to the Beaver Creek Tree Lighting fiesta (and missed the tree lighting)

-Saw special fireworks (Macklin loves those)

-Saw some super cool ginger bread houses (see next post)

-Went out to eat at Don's favorite Mexican place in town

-Gave lots of hugs and kisses to Don and Kathy

Thanks so much for coming you two! The time went by too fast!

Candles lit and ready for the ceremony

(too bad we got too cold and had to go inside for most of it!)

Cutie boy

Loves his grandparents!

Hugs!

Crawling

Macklin is moving forward!

He first moved forward in a crawling motion (remember, he previously was crawling but was only going backwards) on Monday afternoon when Eric got into town. I was so excited to see a real crawl (vs. an army drag)! I took this video when Don and Kathy were here on Thanksgiving Day! We are proud of his movement. Crawling at about 8 months...not bad!

Thanksgiving!!!!

Thanksgiving was a fantastic event in the Brandt home! Kathy worked so hard (most of Wednesday and Thursday) to prepare a delicious meal that was enjoyed by all six of us! We had a huge turkey, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes (mashed by Eric!), green bean casserole, cranberries, rolls, stuffing, gravy, corn....you name it...we ate it! Oh, and brownies, fruit cobbler, and pumpkin pie! Huge thanks to Kathy Schlottach for all of her hard work.

Macklin had a great time with his first Thanksgiving as well. He ate his first turkey and mashed potatoes and loved them! I think it is time to move along in the solid food feeding!

At this time of year, we can't help but think of all that we are thankful for....

-Our Heavenly Father who offers us the free gift of salvation

-Our amazing families that love and support us

-Our friends (from STL, Bloomington, Columbia, EVHS, Vail Valley, and around the country) that we get to enjoy life with and who continually help us any time we are in need

-Our healthy, precious son

-Our crazy pup, Baxter

-The blessings of a home and food to eat

-Our own health

-Our jobs (well, Justin's job and my side jobs)

-The ability to stay home with Macklin

-Our involvement in watching kids come to know Jesus through Young Life

...

the list could go on and on!

Thank you to all for being in our lives!

The table is set...

(look mom, we used the china!)

And the turkey on the table!

Don is ready to eat!

Macklin is dressed up for Thanksgiving dinner!

Here is the little plate that I made Macklin. He gets to eat off of the China too!

He had green beans, squash, mashed potatoes, turkey, carrots, and baked apples.

Can you tell he was anxious to start his meal?

One happy boy!

I love my little man!

All four of us.

I took this to compare to our first Thanksgiving away from STL two years ago when it was just the three of us. I love that we have four now!

Christmas Tree Hunt

While the turkey was cooking today, we set out on our annual Christmas Tree Cutting Adventure. We loaded up Macklin and Mema and Grandpa and were equipped with our snowshoes and saw. We set out toward Sylvan Lake State Park just outside of Eagle, CO.

It was a cold day (like 13 degrees I think), but we didn't let that stop us. We bundled up and trekked out to find that perfect tree! This was the first time in 4 years that we have not gone at night...it was a bit easier to see the trees out there!

Macklin is ready for his first real adventure in his backpack!

Justin's Dad even sported some snowshoes for a bit! Justin showed him how to put them on!

Ready to go!

Our tree!

(To everyone not from the mountains...this is what a real tree from the forrest looks like...not quite like the ones from the Wal-mart parking lot :)

Proud grandparents!

Happy family after the tree hunt is complete.

Justin jumping off a bench. Check out how much snow there is!

Here is a little video of us in the forrest. It was so beautiful!

Opening Day at Beaver Creek

We were super excited to get out for the opening day at Beaver Creek today! There was tons of great snow on the ground and Justin and I enjoyed the time out together! Macklin's Mema and Grandpa hung with him as we went out to play. Here are a few pics of me tele-skiing.

On a side note...I forgot how hard tele-skiing is. At first I was dissapointed that we had to come back for Justin's basketball practice at 2pm, but after hitting a few runs, it was clear that I was not going to last all day. We had a blast though (especially on this tree run where we found about two feet of powder).

Now...to figure out how I am going to get out the rest of the season!

(It was freezing...hence you cannot see my face.)

Welcome Mema and Grandpa!

Welcome Mema and Grandpa!

Thanks for coming to see me!

At story time before Mema and Grandpa came.

Waiting at the airport....

Yah, they are here!

So happy to see each other! (I promise that Macklin was happy!)