Home for the Holidays

I know it's been a while since our last post which doesn't make much sense because we were on vacation so we should have had more time...but you know how that goes. Anyway, we have loved reading your posts and seeing pics from your holiday celebrations and we want to share ours with all of you.

Some of you may know that Jenny's parents are selling their house and plan to move to Tucson, AZ. They have an offer and will be closing on the 18th of January so our trip up to Issaquah was probably the last one for a while. Thankfully, Jenny's brother Mike and his wife Jenn came up from Lousiana also so their entire family was together for the holidays. "There's no place like home for the holidays." So here are some pics from Issaquah. And a little disclaimer -- Jenny is the blog-master in our family but she is working all day at Melaleuca. It is the last day of the month so she belongs to them today. (But school starts in about 10 days so she's almost done working there!!!) I thought i'd try my luck at blogging so if something looks funny blame my inexperience.

We were the proud designers of this lovely gingerbread house. Well, actually it was a kit but we didn't exactly follow the picture on the box, if you know what I mean. It's a Reed family tradition to make gingerbread houses for the holidays so we did. Here are some more pics of it.

Do not be decieved. While it may look tasty it actually is far from it. I got some of the frosting on my hands as we were making it so naturally, I licked it off and was surprised to find that it tasted more like play-dough than frosting. I guess it keeps kids from picking in while they're making their houses.

Here's an action shot...

And my beautiful wife as she proudly displays the finished product.

We flew from Boise to Seattle on the 19th of December in the evening. On the 20th we did some last minute shopping and then went to Everett, WA to meet Chelsi and Kamela! It was so good to see them. Jenny and I were both kicking ourselves for forgetting our cameras but luckily Chelsi had one on her phone so we at least got something. She posted those on her blog so you can go there to see them. I'm glad nobody in our family had to fly solo for all the holiday season. Jason and Brandon got together with their families, we got to see Chelsi & Kamela, and when we got back to Idaho we spent some time with Cassie and Mark and their family along with Mom, Dad, Tyler and Tia in Blackfoot.

Jenny's Dad was working on the 21st so that was our gingerbread house day. We watched "White Christmas" while assembling our work of art seen above. That night we got together with Mike and Jenn, went out to eat at a local Mexican restaurant, La Casita -- a Reed family favorite. It was really good but I ate way too much. Here are some pics that Jenny took from the restaurant.

Mom and Dad Reed

Mike and Jenn Reed

Travis and Jenny Holloway (that's us)

The Restaurant