We've had many "guest villagers" join us and have loved their creative ideas.
Like Grandma, and Katie...
and Liz...
and Joe...
and Katie...
and Katie. :)
Don't know where Keith was in this picture but it looks like little Charlie is making a "bump" appearance.
We've had a wide variety of themes, like our "Tree House Village" pictured above for the year we went to Oregon's Tree Houses on vacation and the "San Juan Islands Village" below, for our Washington adventure.
The "Redwoods Village" the year we were going to explore the Redwoods in Northern California...
and last year the theme was "guess where Zac will be going on his mission."
This year the theme was "Yellowstone in Winter" (not for an upcoming vacation though it's for sure on our bucket list). Our favorite part this year was our "guest villagers." We had our fantastic Sister Missionaries and some of Hunter's friends join us!
Sister Fortin and Sister Nicolasora stopped by tonight to see the finished project as we were still going strong way after the time they had to leave.
Some of our favorites village creations were Nate's cabin even after it plummeted to the ground. It turned out looking the most "rustic and woodsie" of all and ya gotta dig that wreath. :)
Old Faithful was well represented and had a little river flowing out from it complete with a guy on a raft, thanks to Nate.
There's too much to say about Rachel's cabin with her hilarious "domesticated bear pen" and the cutest mailbox ever. Don't ask about the sour patch kids holding hands... :)
If you know Hunter well, you probably know he loves goldfish crackers, like he believes they and carrots make up a food group all of their own...the "orange" food group, so of course his cabin has goldfish on it. He also made a chariot pulled by...what else...bears! :)
Liam's circular entry way was the boss! He also had a little slide in the back of his house. Nothing like a little playground to say home in the woods. :)
Vanessa had creativity all over the place. I love a campfire on a cold evening, and I love village campfires - we've had many - her's was one of my favorite! She also had a slide out of the back of her house complete with her initials. :)
Em's pretty pathway added lots of interest to an otherwise sparse field of snow but my favorite of her creations...
...was her reindeer on their own little pretzel bench. So cute!!!
Speaking of cute, check out that bomb of a "Grand Prismatic Spring." Sister Fortin came up with the idea of melting Jolly Ranchers in the oven to get the gorgeous color. Beautiful job, Sister Fortin!!
The Mr. had a very manly chimney and some cool roof tiles this year.
I copied ideas I'd loved from years past with my chairs and porch. Love a nice porch! Oh, and there's my copy of Vanessa's fire - thanks Vanessa. ;)
Sister Nicolasora is from Manilla, Phillipines so snow and Yellowstone were foreign concepts to her but she got right into the white stuff and made an awesome cabin. Love her sweet little door. :)
Sister Fortin got us all going on the chimney idea this year - thanks Sister Fortin! She made a sweet fence around her cabin too. The little skiing sour patch kid in the front of her cabin was Nate's contribution as this was the best ski hill around. :)
Put it all together and here is our "Yellowstone in winter village!"
Before the Sisters left for the evening, they shared this video with us, because as fun as the holidays and villages and presents for friends and family are...the very best gift...the first gift...was Him. xoxo
This is the biggest village by far! The pictures of villages past brought back fun memories! I loved making them with you wonderful people! It is always fun to see all the creative ideas that people come up with. Melting the Jolly Ranchers to make the spring was pure genius! Glad to hear the leg is improving!
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