Playing Catch Up!

I haven't been very good at blogging.....so here is a quick run down!

Lisa and Quinn stayed the night on their way to UT for Christmas. Lance wanted
his "own room" so we moved the kitchen table and pushed the benches together.
He loved it!

Atticus LOVES playing the piano with Dad

On Christmas we got to video chat with Keith! It was a group
video chat, so all the siblings (but Will) were there despite us all being at different homes.
It was so much fun. Technology is such a blessing.

Later that night we got to talk to Will!

Kim and Sean came and celebrated New Years with us.
The boys had just finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone
so we watched the movie! Everett fell asleep almost right away.

He slept for sooo long. Through the movie, through dinner, through bed time.
Uncle Dylan wanted to cuddle with him.

Everett slept through that too.

Kimberly and Atticus cuddling. This is as cuddly as she was willing to get with him.
In his defense, he is a really sheddy dog. Kimber got a little freaked out after Dylan
vacuumed the carpet and she saw all the dog hair in the vacuum hah.

Dylan, Tom, and Sean went duck hunting. Sean got 2 ducks! He did such a great job. Tom got 3
and gave them all to us. The boys made some delicious jerky. (Dylan forgot to take a
picture of Sean with the actual ducks, so here is a bag of the breasts :)

So much snow! The Janeway boys wanted to play in the snow so bad, but we
didn't get any until after they left, then we got so much!

Dylan has gotten really interested in wood working. He built this workbench out
of entirely reclaimed wood and only spent around $13. The top is a door we got
at Habitat for Humanity and the bottom shelf is the kitchen door from his parent's house.
We've been so blessed with the deals we've been finding on tools! Dylan's dad gave him the
table saw. The pancake air compressor came with a brad nailer from Tom too. We got
a miter saw from the classifieds, a circular saw for Christmas, a chisel set, a vice, and some
things I know I'm forgetting. All over the course of a few months (and all extremely
awesome deals! Like, insanely). It's incredible the things this boy can accomplish when
he puts his mind to it!

Dylan's new vice and rifle reloader (on the back bench, from his cousin Jason).

Dylan had a lot of reclaimed/scrap wood, and was eager for a project, so
he built me a changing table!

Doing work!

The final product. Total cost, under $1.

I love this dog so much it's ridiculous.

Dylan made this ornament when he was in kindergarten or first grade. It's a bear.....

I didn't get any pictures of Christmas! I feel so terrible. We went to Tom and Glenda's on Christmas Eve and stayed the night (so did the Carlson's) so we could all do Christmas morning together. It was kind of silly because Carly on lives 10 minutes away and we only live 30, but we really wanted to all be together for the holiday. It was so much fun. Grandma and Grandpa Aldrich (Glenda's parents) and Glenda's brother and his wife and their grandson came over on Christmas dinner. It was really fun. I seriously am so blessed with my in-laws. My family is so wonderful.

More puppy. We spent Christmas Eve at Tom and Glenda's and spent the night so we all
could do Christmas morning together. Atticus and Maya played so hard for 2 days (and Atti went hunting on Christmas with Dylan and Shem) and when we got home he zonked out for 24 hours.

I wanted to have a dwarf style beard.

Dylan's great-grandpa was a carpenter and came over from Sweden. Over the years a lot of his tools
have been borrowed and not returned but Dylan's Uncle Rick has managed to take care of a lot of them. Since
Tom and Dylan have been getting more into wood working they wanted to use some of the tools.
The trunk was made by Klaus Tyko Isaakson (Dad correct me if the spelling is wrong!) (Dyl's great-grandpa)
and all the tools he used and cared for. It's really awesome to see Tom and Dylan using them, and
the craft spanning the generations.

Dylan decided to shave (he doesn't ever go completely smooth anymore! Just cuts it down
occasionally when he gets bored or something).

Silly faces in between stages ;) what a cute boy I have (p.s. this is our
new bathroom!)

I look like I'm sleeping (I might be, it was a long day!) I subbed for 4 periods of seminary,
then had a Young Women's Presidency meeting, then had mutual, then came home and followed
up with signing my girls up for Personal Progress online (that's when this picture was snapped). Anyway,
I wanted to show off my belly. I finally look pregnant enough that strangers ask me when I'm
due! I absolutely love it.
*side note* today is the first day of my 3rd trimester! Time has FLOWN! (this picture was taken 5 days ago)

Next on Dylan's list of things to build was a piano bench. Our piano didn't come with one
and our chairs are a little short (the piano had larger wheels put on it, so it's taller). Dylan
decided to build the bench out of pine to practice because it's a lot cheaper than
hardwood, and then that way any mistakes wouldn't be so costly. He got measurements
from his parent's piano bench, but didn't use plans or anything. He is so smart.

Tapered the legs and added dowel rod pins so the seams are all clean.

The top isn't on it yet, but this is what it will look like!
*p.s. Dylan always smells like sawdust now. I love it. I don't even
mind that half the time I have to follow him around with the broom :)

Dylan made a rabbit for the bottom (he told me to write that, I don't know what it means.
I just know it makes it really strong!) Dylan planed the pieces for the top today and will
finish assembly probably tomorrow, then finish sanding. Then just some stain and a couple of hinges and
there you go! I'm so extremely proud and impressed by his desire to learn a new skill, his
problem solving, and attention to detail on these projects! We will probably just keep this bench
for now, but eventually (like when we aren't so poor!) we will get some nicer hardwood to make
a piano bench out of.

Anyway, I need to do better at keeping up on my blog instead of doing massive dump posts! Based on my track record I'm not making any promises.....

November and December at a glance

We had our 20 week ultrasound at the hospital in November. This was to take all of his measurements and such. He moved around so much it took so long to get all the pictures they needed! He is healthy and strong though. The techs kept commenting on how beautiful his heart and hands were :) At 20 weeks 1 day our boy measured at least 21 weeks on all of his measurements, but 21 weeks 6 days for head size! He is a big boy! Such a squirmer.

Not a great picture, but here is his profile!

Again, crummy picture, but here is his little hand

Dylan asked a trillion questions while we were in there. Everything from "what's that weird thing on the screen" to "does diaphragm really have a 'g' in it?" The techs loved it. Apparently not all the parents they see are as enthusiastic as we are.

Dylan has felt the baby move a couple times now, and when the wee babe pounds or has excessively violent hiccups I can both feel and see movement! Also, my belly button almost sticks out farther than my belly. Dylan thinks it's the funnies thing to push it. It's not funny.

We spent Thanksgiving in Enumclaw with my family. All of the siblings were there but Steve (who was in Africa) and William and Keith. Jenny still brought the kids down though so we still got Steve's family! All 13 grandkids (well, 14!) were there. It was a full house but so much fun. I wish I took more pictures! On Thanksgiving I went on a 15 mile bike ride with Dad, Lisa, and Quinn. We went through Green Valley Gorge. It was a route I had done before, so I knew what to expect, but it was still a little harder than I expected. I was on a different bike (trying out Mom's new road bike, it's awesome!) and I hadn't been on a bike for probably 15 weeks. Thankfully the crew didn't mind my slower pace and Natalie and Kalyn rescued me from having to ride back up the driveway. Friday we went shooting in the morning. Dylan and I brought our shot guns so we did clay pigeon shooting too! Watching Mom shoot was my favorite part, followed a close second by watching her try to throw the clay pigeons. All of the pictures are on Kimberly's camera, I'll have to get them from her and post! That afternoon I watched 8 of the 13 kids while the parents went to play volleyball. It was actually really nice. Dylan had a blast playing. It's so awesome that with just our family alone we have enough people for 2 full teams plus subs! And that's without everyone playing! Saturday morning most of the crew went to the temple. There was a storm coming through so Dylan and I had to leave a day early and drove home on Saturday. I was bummed to miss out on a day with the family but we were so so grateful we made that choice!

Some of the boys helping Grandma with the dishes after our 3rd batch of popcorn cake!

Driving through Chinook Pass Saturday morning (yes, Chinook! It was clear both driving to
and from Enumclaw. Such a gorgeous drive and saves us a lot of time. And no traffic :)

We set up our tree when we got home. My first year with a fake tree. It's growing on me.
Atticus stayed at Tom and Glenda's while we were in Enumclaw and needed lots of cuddles
when we got home.

Atti's breath has been terrible and his dentist sticks weren't cutting it. Dylan took
out his old toothbrush and brushed Atti's teeth. He thought it was a game and just
wanted to chew on the toothbrush! It definitely helped though.

Dylan taking a break from finals. Him and Atticus fell asleep like this.
Atti opened his eyes right as I was taking the picture.

Our pipes started to freeze because the temperature was in the negatives for so long!
(we went WEEKS without it getting above 20, and I was happy if it was a positive temperature.
It was too cold!) Dylan put on his jumpsuit to climb under the house and check on the pipes.
Of course Atticus wanted more cuddles when Dylan resurfaced. He forgot how to dog though hah.

My Christmas present! Dylan got this for free off of Craigslist. We paid $16 to rent a piano dolly
and borrowed a trailer and some man power from some of the members in the area. The piano is gorgeous
and sounds wonderful. It's practically identical to the piano Dylan's parents have. I've been practicing so much
(although I'm still very slow at sight reading) and Dylan has filled out house with amazing music.

Scott stayed a weekend with us. It was so fun to have him here!
We learned he looks insanely like Natalie when he smiles.......

I crochet a snowflake! I wanted to try something different so I just looked up a youtube
video. It took forever, and it lopsided, and I missed a couple stitches, but I'm so proud
of myself! 

Family Pictures

My sister-in-law is an incredible, unique, uber-talented, and wonderful photographer. She totally spoils us with family pictures every year. I wanted to share some of the shots from this year!

Another Hunt Day

My handsome hunters

November 5, 2013 - Just some thoughts

We have had snow on the ground for the past two nights! It snows during the day too, but not enough that it's staying yet. However, snow season has begun! (As I am writing this is just started snowing again. It looks like it will be a snowy day! Which I'm okay with :)

Dylan and I aren't fans of daylight savings, although I haven't felt my schedule so thrown off as I have this most recent time. I'm ready to go to bed by 6:30, and fight to make it to 8:30pm. I'm up between 5:30-6:30 in the morning. I guess we are more productive now, but I feel out of wack!

This morning I felt our little boy move! There have been a few times before where I wasn't sure, it could have been movement, but maybe not. But this morning it was definite. I definitely felt him move! I paused for a second, couldn't really believe what just happened, then rolled over to tell Dylan. He wanted to know what it felt like and if I thought it was weird. Not weird for me, I'm excited! But Dylan thought it was weird hah. He tried to feel him moving too but I just got one little.....kick? roll? stretch? before things went back to normal.

And to close, a picture of my sleepy boys from the other night. I am truly so blessed with such a wonderful family.