Our little Covid Christmas Village...

We were so sad to not have family and friends 

join us this year for the Christmas Village because of Covid. 

Emily and Chris were even gone 

so it was mom and the guys. 

We decided instead of a theme this year

we just needed to include at least these 4 things:

1. a landmark

2. a water feature

3. a mode of transportation

4. a dwelling

The ideas and fun started flowing 

after Zac came up with the idea 

of recycling styrofoam slabs by carving them 

into our own Mt. Everest! 

(1. landmark)

Paul made prayer flags

Hunter made a glacier fed river

(2. water feature)

I made a swing in the forest

a campfire

and yurt pictured below. 

(4. dwelling)

Did you know we all slept in a yurt one night 

with 1000 of our closest box elder bug friends? 

True story, haha.

Hunter's ski lift was so clever! 

I love the little skiers and snowboarders. 

He also made an abominable snow monster 

that was munching on a skier - awk!

Zac made our basecamp for Everest - love it!

Down in the valley, Zac made a lodge for all the climbers. 

The streetlights Paul made hearken back to some Liz made years ago. 

There was a little Charlie Brown aluminum tree farm. 

Zac's climbers were trying to avoid a crevasse

Wait! 

What about the mode of transportation?!

See the little brown jelly bean looking blobs on the right below?

Those are yaks! 

Our modes of trans =D

Merry Christmas everyone - we send our love 

and sing praises of our Jesus, the greatest gift!

2019 Christmas Village - Southeast Utah State Parks Theme

Last winter when Hunter was working as an intern for Senator Mike Lee, 

he was researching National and State Parks in Utah 

in preparation for 

upcoming meetings the Senator had 

that Hunter would be fielding calls and emails about. 

That studying stirred in Hunter 

a desire to visit all the Utah State Parks in 2020. 

He wouldn't be home from DC in time

to help with the village this year 

so we chose the theme in his honor.

"State Parks of Southeast Utah"

became our Christmas Village 2019 theme.

We envisioned Dead Horse Point mesa, 

The San Juan River Goosenecks, 

Goblin Valley hoodoos, 

and Anasazi and Cedar Mesa cliff dwellings. 

Zac put his engineering education to work 

and made our base (not pictured) 

then Paul, Emma and I covered the base 

in slick-rock looking salt dough. 

Family & friends let their creativity flow 

and here are their results.

Gummy people played above and in the water.

Even kayaking the waterfall!

The slot canyon and cave 

beckoned to Alex and Marley's cliff-dwelling exploring gummy guys 

with backpacks and hiking sticks (so cute).

Alex and Marley also took advantage 

of the mesa to park their "adventure car" 

and rappel off the back side.

The backpack and rope are too legit. 

Near the rappelling action, 

Josh built a house complete with a removable roof

and people inside. 

Above the mesa, Alex and Marley 

 contributed parasailers to the village. 

The girl parasailer even has braided hair.  =D

Our littlest village-builders 

(Grant, Hannah & Adam) 

contributed a cave,

hoodoos,

 tootsie roll wrapper blankets & flags,

and a very large ant at the end of the dirt bike trail.

Bikes and 4-wheelers 

were contributed by many village builders. 

Such a fun looking trail!

Joseph made an awesome camp

 on a peninsula in the lake.

Zac made a "van down by the river". 

Backstory here...

he's getting close enough to finishing his Mechanical Engineering degree 

that there is a visible light at the end of the tunnel.

Hoot Hoot!!!!!

In that light sits a future van 

he dreams of adventuring in 

with his bike and climbing gear and friends. 

Go, Zac!!!!

Sarah' houseboat looks like heaven - sign me up!

Emma's teepee was legit 

(as is that gorgeous hair of hers).

Thanks everyone for all the fun,

love you all!

Christmas Village 2018

Zac made an awesome DC Temple!

Next to Zac's creations 

was the Lincoln Memorial 

that Chris made.

Awesome job, Chris!

Then continuing to the right was Hunter's pentagon

with an abominable in the middle.

Hunter was on a snow monster kick

this year. 

If you look close you'll 

see a few of them scattered around

the DC village. 

Our Emily was next with a

vintage village home.

Love your sprinkle siding, sis!

Paul, with the help of both Emilys,

made Arlington National Cemetery.

Love it, Paul!

He also made a Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall.

(It's the little green structure between Sarah's White House 

and Emily Bo's Smithsonian 

just right of the top center.)

Layton, Utah now has it's own replica

Vietnam Veteran Memorial Wall thanks in part to our

family friend Coach Dooley who told us there's 

an app called "The Wall"

where you can enter a deceased serviceman or woman's name 

and see where their name is engraved on the wall. 

In the picture above, right of the green "Wall" 

is Emily Bo's Smithsonian. We loved

her domed ceiling and 

arched entry!

The tallest entry ways were on Sarah's White House

and she totally rocked it!!!

She even made both the North and South entries

which are quite different. 

You probably already knew that

but I sure didn't. 

I also don't know how Alex does it

but every year he gets 

twice the number of features

built as the rest of us! 

This year was no exception with his 

Capital Building

and his Washington Monument. 

Sarah and Darren's little ones decorated houses too.

Such precious little people!

Rascal loved that they brought Frankie!
This pic was taken in between all the fun.

Frankie looks like she's thinking, come on pal, 

let's play some more. 

It was a blast watching those cute dogs together. =D

Thanks everyone 

for helping us!

<3