Gingerbread Houses

We spent the first Friday night of December with some of our wonderful cousins. We met Emily, Jordan and their little boy Ben downtown for dinner and then we walked around Temple Square with them, enjoying the lights and the time with each other. It was a cold night for walking around Temple Square, but we planned ahead and bundled up warmly. When we got to the North Visitor's center (we started on the southeast side of the square), we went inside for a little bit to warm up, but didn't stay too long since we didn't want to get too warm and start sweating. We completed our route through the square, walked through the Joseph Smith Building, and split to go to our own cars.
We then went out to their place in Sandy, where we joined up with Tyler, Em's brother, and his wife Sara to make gingerbread houses. Em had made all the gingerbread and the glue (white and green frosting) for us, and Michael and I brought the candy. Tyler and Sara weren't sure if they would be able to make it, but we were glad to know that they would, and we were happy to see them. It doesn't happen often because they are so busy! Here is how we decorated our house. I think it was a unanimous vote that ours was the most festive with the colors. :) We have red & green twists all around the door and the roof line, as well as the "dead" red & green bears on top of the roof. We also appreciated that Em made us a dog (freehand! No stencil) for the front yard of our house.