I LOVE my "in-laws"...Thanksgiving, continued...

The word "in-law" has a negative connotation with most people, but certainly not with me! I LOVE my in-laws like I was born into their family! This Thanksgiving was spent with tons of Axelson in-laws, not only for Turkey Day, but for Nanny and Da Axelson's 60th Anniversary celebration! We spent Thanksgiving morning baking and cooking at Heidi and Aarron's house (The men actually contributed GREATLY! Thanks hubbies!), before joining the whole crowd for a late Turkey Dinner at the Axelson homestead!

Alison, making her famous banana cream pies...YUM...

Heidi and Josh makin' the rolls...

I don't have any pics of the actual dinner, but we stayed in the local Hampton Inn that night and got ready the next morning to take family pictures...always a blast! I had made matching shirts for the girls and me, so we were the "maroon" part of the family...

Here's one of them getting ready! As you can see, Phoebe was pleased as punch to be held tightly around the neck by her big sis, but she sure looked cute with her miniature pig tails!!!

Pictures were made at Furman University. Such a beautiful campus and a lovely lake area!!! Abby looked so grown up posing for me!

And Sweet Phoebe is definitely a daddy's girl!

I took this one! It's obviously not the best, but I couldn't resist Will's pose (all the way to the right!)

This picture just cracks me up! I have no idea what Josh was laughing at, but I love Dad's expression, Mom's squinty smile and the tilt of Alison's head!!! So cute! Just such a happy picture!

I wanted to put one of the whole gang on, but I think the file is way too large! Maybe I'll try again when I'm patient enough to wait. Aren't families great?

And one of those pics became our Christmas card!!!! Merry Belated Christmas everyone!!! More to come...

Grove Park Inn Gingerbread Competition

Thanksgiving was so fantastic this year!!! We started out the fun with a trip to Asheville, where we visited the annual Gingerbread House Competition at the Grove Park Inn. Our nieces, Madilyn and Zoie, decided to enter a gingerbread house in the youth category this year and their theme was "Goldilocks and the Three Bears...Share Christmas". They were so creative and ended up getting in the Top Ten! Their house was also first on display in their category, and we laughed when we saw how every viewer of their house held up the long line trying to catch every little detail they put into it! It was so fun and the inn was BEAUTIFUL!

Award-Winning gingerbread house!!!



...The beautiful grounds

The whole gang

Old-fashioned phone "booths"

Abby LOVED the phones!

All tuckered out!

Sweet Phoebe

Cool tree bench!

It was a long, but very fun day in a gorgeous place!! Congrats, Madi and Zoie!