Cottage style or Malibu retreat?

On Thurs. night we headed to my dad's house for dinner and to visit with Brenn. We stopped by the store and grabbed all the fixin's for some gingerbread house making. Neither Lisa or Alec had ever done a gingerbread house so we were excited to be there for their first experience. We divided into teams: Dad and Brenn, Lisa and Deke, and MeKell supervising Hunter and Alec. I asked them to give me their game face, here's shots of all the contestants getting their game on:

Hunter and Alec excited first timers, ready to build and sugar themselves up,

Brenn, definitely the creative artistic threat to the other competitors yet might be distracted from the need to constantly be texting,

Dad, the motivator keeping his team energized and encouraging them to "think outside of the box with their ideas, however his frustration with his team mates texting issues could come into play,
Deke, the engineer whose structural sturdiness could very likely overpower the other teams yet his enthusiasm to create may allow him to become power hungry and cause contention with the team,

Lisa, the quiet innovator who could very well come up with a single new idea that could blow that competition out of the water, however her trash talking ways could cause her to be jumped by the other contestants (hence she is preparing herself with a weapon) Deke and Lisa get off to a good start, Deke's structural style already in another class:

Dad and Brenn are having a rough start with design as seen below and their lines of communication are starting to break down and cause a lack of partnership:

Hunter and Alec are finished, with their final entries as follows:
Alec with a traditional style house who skillfully used all available materials in his construction.

Hunter who goes for less flash and color but uses one style element repeatedly and innovatively, and that style is gum...lots and lots of gum. The other two teams have now finished and it looks like Brenn and dad were able to pull it together, here are their entries:

Deke and Lisa use the cottage style themed around the "3 little bears," design elements include a shingled roof with licorice trim, texturized grass and flowing stream with bridge, graham paved driveway and a new innovative tree design never seen before. The design is clean and sturdy as well as colorful and cozy, what did their competitors come up with:

Brenn and dad came up with a style has never been seen by anyone we know in the gingerbread world, a beach retreat. This comes complete with exposed beams, lots of windows and a nice patio looking out onto beach front property. A landscape includes palm trees, a sandy beach with starfish, a beach umbrella and lawn chairs and a beautiful blue ocean. The design is unique, beautiful and relaxing. Upon discussion the beachfront is definitely this years winner as its style begins a new trend in gingerbread making. It has prompted us to want to continue this as a tradition, next year Kimbre and Marley we will wait to do it with all of you. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!! Here are some final shots of everyone....