Buddies

LaGrande and Gingerbread Houses

We went to LaGrande last weekend to visit Heather Rae and Dylan.We were there Thursday through Sunday, and it was an adventure. We ate really good food, made gingerbread houses (from scratch!) and played video games. We watched movies, HR and I went to Baker for a Holiday Bazaar and Dylan got out Duck hunting. It was entirely way too cold for the boys to get outside, and they went a little crazy. Asher was at his peak of tyrant-ness, and Brayden followed suit. Poor kids. Next time we'll remember to bring toys for them, since HR and Dyl had zilch. Dylan's mom is the sweetest woman ever and brought over toys on Saturday for them so that they'd quit destroying the house and we were all SO grateful!

HR's House. We decided this was the house that Hansel and Gretel found in the forest.

The front of HR's house. She even had an igloo. I don't have any non-fuzzy pictures of our house but really...I'm not sure it cassified as a "house." More like a glob of sugar and candy. The boys sure did have fun though!

Tooth!

Everett's first tooth broke through today. FINALLY! It his his bottom left one. (I'm sure it has a technical name but you all know what I mean) Other than rivers of snot and drool, he really has been a pleasant baby through it all. Let's hope this trend continues!

Chicken Eggs

Our chickens have started laying! We have gotten 6 eggs in 2 weeks but regardless, they are laying. The boys have so much fun getting bundled up like snowmen so they can go out and check. 2 days ago, we were  surprised with an itty bitty egg. So I'm assuming a secnd chicken just started laying. It was so cute though! The boys couldn't get over it. 

3 of the 6. We gave 3 to the owner of the property that we have our little homestead on

Dog pile on Daddy! Everett was less than thrilled...

Ties

I made these for the boys for Christmas. I can't wait to see them all wearing them!

Christmas Tree!

On Saturday, we went with my brothers and Mom to go and get their Christmas tree. We bundled the kids and loaded them up in the car. Keith rode with us and we followed Mom and Scott. By the time we got there and got the kids out of the car, they had already found the perfect tree! It was a tree just off of the road, as you can see, but it is beautiful! I wish I would have gotten a picture with the lights on it in the house, but I didn't. I'm grateful that we were able to get a tree with Grandma and Uncles this year because we are gone so much this month, I'm not sure we'll be getting one of our own!

More Thanksgiving Tree Pictures

School, Sleep, Books, Hearing, Scriptures, Overdraft Protection, My Body, Delicious Food, Stars, Everett Bradford Janeway, Awesome sisters that are my best friends, Younger brothers who spoil us, a job, Music, Asher, Eggs, Silence, Presents, Laughter, Friends, the Ocean, Monkeys eating cookies, Dancing, Imagination, Pineapple, Kelsey...    The list was endless!

Check ups

Asher and Everett both had doctor appointments yesterday. Asher got one shot, Everett 4. They are both happy and healthy. The doctor was impressed with Asher's politeness (I laughed) and his advanced sentence structures. He was also impressed with how strong, mobile, and happy Everett was during his exam.

Here are their stats!

Asher Briggs 

Weight: 35 pounds (76th percentile)

Height: 39 inches (76th percentile)

(In 7 months he grew 2.5 inches! Is that normal for this age?)

Everett Bradford

Weight: 16 pounds 11 ounces (18th percentile)

Height: 25 3/4 inches (9th percentile)

I am so proud of my little boys. I can't believe how well they did in the appointment, and I am so grateful that they are healthy, happy, and right on track!

Standing already!?

Everett is not quite 7 months...but he is already looking pretty sure on his feet! I have a feeling he will be walking soon. I'm SO not ready for this!

Thanksgiving Weekend

This Thanksgiving was by far my favorite EVER. And that is saying something because Thanksgiving is always an extremely positive event around these parts. We were able to travel up to Enumclaw on Tuesday night. Heather and Dylan had gotten there a couple hours before us, and Lisa and her family got to Enumclaw Wednesday around dinner time. We had SUCH a blast playing games, eating amazing food, playing the piano/flute/stereo, putting leaves on our "Gratitude Tree", Skeet Shooting, enjoying a girls' night in Seattle, doing Family History, going to the temple, and working on Christmas projects. I'm sure I forgot something in there... Oh, and the cousins all had a blast together. I'll let the pictures do most of the talking but some things definitely deserve some explaining!

Lisa had this idea to have a Gratitude Tree. She cut this tree out of vinyl, then cut out 400 leaves in different colors and sizes. We all got to write on the leaves, then put them on the wall. The plan was, by the end of the weekend, we'd have this tree that is full of our blessings, to remind us about the importance of this Thanksgiving Holiday. I think it only took about 45 minutes before the tree as full. It slowly got added to throughout the weekend and today it is full, and beautiful. I'm pretty sure Mom is going to keep it up for longer than she anticipated. It's pretty cool!  (I'll have to get a picture of what it looks like right now. It's amazing!)

Part of the Thanksgiving Spread. I made Avocado Deviled Eggs, and this Cheesecake Fruit Dip. Quinn smoked a ton of cheddar cheese, Lisa made 20 pies, Mom smoked 4 turkeys... the list goes on and on. There was a ton of food, and all of it was SO amazing!!

Everett LOVED crawling through this tube. He did it over and over and over!

What's Thanksgiving without Turkey Shooting?  Can you see the bayonet on that rifle? It was SO cool to shoot!

This year, we added Skeet Shooting. Look at all those manly men!

The day after Thanksgiving, Mom, Lisa, Natalie, Heather, Kayla and I had the amazing opportunity to go see Rodger's and Hammerstein's Cinderella at Seattle's 5th Avenue Theater. This is the movie that we watched many a Sunday (read: EVERY Sunday) for years while growing up. When we heard it was coming to 5th Avenue, we couldn't not go! So, we bought tickets, anticipated it for months, and we were not disappointed! The show was PHENOMENAL, brilliantly executed, with seemingly REAL MAGIC! haha, the evening was perfect. I wouldn't change one thing about it, except having Jenny with us. We definitely missed her!I am hoping that we can make this somewhat of a tradition because it was so special being able to spend the evening with my sisters/mom/niece! We got a little carried away with the camera while waiting in line. But it was SO fun!

"Look intimidating!"  FAIL.

Lisa took this picture standing at the stage. If you look really closely, you can see Heather, Me and Mom standing up, on the right, just to the left of the arch. We were only 14 rows from the stage. There is not a bad seat in the house but really...our seats were amazing!