Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! This morning was exciting. It was fun to watch the kids open their gifts. Kiera would get stuck on one thing and not open another one til she was done playing with what she had just opened so gift opening lasted a really long time. But that's ok. No harm in having the fun last. Here's a picture of Ethan and Kiera sitting in a pile of stuff. Ethan had just as much fun wandering the house and playing with the old stuff as much as seeing new things. As you can see in the picture he stayed busy pulling the books off the bookshelf while Kiera opened gifts.

Dan got new camping chairs from my mom which have a sort of reclined back. He got sleepy pretty quick. I caught a picture of him with a giant bow on his head. Good thing he has no idea I took this picture.

Kiera got a tub full of dress up clothes. She was pretty excited and started putting everything in the box on all at once. She'll have lots of fun with those in the days to come.

Here's Ethan being his happy self. He got a cute stuffed puppy from his great-grandma Thornock. When he opened it he got a big smile on his face.

Kiera opening her stocking and finding a barking Christmas dog.


our rocking horse was a success! We got a little worried when Kiera saw it for the first time this morning. She sat on it and looked as though she was going to fall back to sleep. But as things went on and she woke up a little bit more she got back on a few times and had a great time! We're so happy she loved it. It should last a loooong long time. It turned out so cute too!


These pictures aren't from Christmas day but a just a couple days before. Kiera just loves the snow! She especially loves to taste it. Whenever we go out the first thing she does is take a handful and eats it. She is so fun to watch.

Musical Babies

I took a video of the kids today while they were at the piano. They're becoming quite the musical duo. Ethan is standing now and loves to stand and push the piano keys just like his big sister. Here's the video. CLICK HERE

more horse progress

We finally got to the painting stage. I am so excited because this is the part where I get to play! I got the first and second coats on and just have to do detail work for the face and I think I will play around with some lettering on the rockers. After that we'll attach the mane and tail. It is turning out soooo cute! Can't wait til it's finished!

To Travel or not the Travel...Maybe its not a question

We were originally planning on making a trip up to Portland for Christmas to see Dan's parents and his brother Ryan and his family but the weather just isn't cooperating. The snow keeps coming and our forecast says even more is coming. I went out this morning and took some pictures of what the snow storm brought last night. It's almost like we're back in Rexburg.

In this picture you can almost see my strawberry pot. It is the little bit of terracotta color under that big hump of snow.

This is a picture of what used to be a "raised" garden box. Doesn't look so raised anymore.

These are also tall flower boxes that are in the back yard. All you can see is the top few inches of the box and a big pile of snow on top of that.

Anyone need a cushy place to sit?

Rocking Horse Progress

Dan and I made some major progress on the rocking horse last night. We worked in the cold garage for a few hours while a friend of our watched the kids. Now we just need to putty, sand, paint and put the finishing touches on. It's gonna be so cool when it's done! It's even sturdy enough for me to ride. Believe me I already tested it out.

Beautiful Winter Weather

We keep getting more and more snow these days. And I'll admit I rather enjoy it. It is a nice change from the rain. It is also nice to wake up and have it be nice and bright outside because of all the fluffy whiteness! Anyway, it snowed a bunch again last night while Dan continued work on the Christmas rocking horse. We decided to take some more pictures of the outside. They turned out really cool. Check em' out.

Brittany Creations

So my Christmas shopping is done and all the decorations are put up but I still am in a creating mode. I decided to make a Christmas wreath so I went to Wal Mart and got some inexpensive ornaments, artificial flowers, and ribbon. I whipped out my hot glue gun and went crazy. It was a lot of fun and it brought me back to the good old days when I was decorating for weddings. I really like it and hope to do a "real" wreath too. I cut off some branches from the pine trees outside and hung them in the garage to dry. When those are ready I will make another Brittany Creation and we'll have a wreath for both sides of the front door. Since we have an artificial tree it will be a way to get that fresh pine tree smell in the house.




We had company over on Monday night for dinner and games. I am very proud of how my hawaiian style chicken pizza turned out. It was all homemade (which is the best!) If anyone wants the recipe let me know. It was very pretty and I jsut had to take some pictures of it. mmmmm. It make my hungry looking at it.

Winter has arrived

Winter is here in Washington. Well, it has been around for awhile but now it looks and feels like it is supposed to. We got a bit of snow on Saturday night. We'd been expecting it all day but it didn't start sticking until that evening. Dan and I had been working on the kid's rocking horse all day in the garage and didn't realize it had been snowing. But when we did notice we had to take advantage of it. Even if it does get dark at 4:00. We learned from last year that you can't expect the snow to stay for long. I got out the camera and took some pretty pictures of the snow. We've had a couple family members request pictures of our Christmas lights too so this was a good opportunity.

Kiera loved the snow as well. She helped dad build a small snowman too. Actually she just crawled around the yard and batted at the snowballs dad made for her to roll around. This is a picture of her giving the snowman a hug after he was put together. He's wearing daddy's baseball cap.

Ethan didn't play in the snow but he loved being outside with everyone. He was also fascinated with all the lights in the trees. You can see him checking them out in the picture of Dan holding him next to tree by our driveway. Just you wait Ethan. You'll be playing around in the snow with Kiera next year.

Kiera had fun eating the snow. The different colored lights from the trees and bushes made it more exciting for her too. It seemed she had to taste every color. It was so cute! She even shared some with everyone saying "want some too?" Oh what fun to be a kid!

One Last Attempt

Ok, so this will be the third time I have tried my mom's fudge recipe. She called the other day and told me we had been doing it wrong. She found her recipe and there was a critical step that we were leaving out. So the pan is sitting on the counter and we will soon find out if sets up. If it doesn't set up this time I will retire from fudge making for awhile. But it wouldn't be Christmas without fudge! If it does set up I will post a picture of my success. Wish us luck!

Ethan milestone

Ethan started to stand up last week! He is getting so big. The first time I saw him do it was while I was giving Kiera a bath. I guess he wanted to see what was going on and he crawled on over to the tub and pulled himself up! WOW! Now he is doing it everywhere he goes. I have to watch him more carefully now because he tends to get tired and looses his balance. Here are a couple pictures of him at the computer chair. Kiera joined in on the fun and I got a couple really cute shots. They grow up too fast!

Ward Christmas Party

Last Saturday was our ward's Christmas Party. I did figure out a treat to take to replace my bad fudge and they turned out great. I made peanut butter cups except they were balls. I didn't take a picture but they did turn out. That's all that matters right?

Kiera had lots of fun eating lots of sugar, and clapping and dancing to the music during the talent show. But her favorite part I think was after we all sang 'Santa's Coming to Town' It was her first time seeing the real Santa! She was so excited that she didn't wait for the closing prayer. She followed him right over to his chair and climbed up on his lap. I was very surprised of her reaction and since she was so anxious she got to be the very first one on his lap. Oh and it didn't stop there. She sat on his lap 3 different times! It was so cute and I think Santa felt pretty good too to have such a cutie in love with him.

Ethan had fun too. He was happy sitting on our laps looking around at all that was going on. Here are a couple pictures of him and daddy.

I just love his smile!

OUCH!

Dan and I went out with the kids to IHOP for dinner on Friday night and Dan decided to stop by Best Buy to get a replacement wireless card for our computer and I needed to go to Costco to pick up a few things. So, Dan dropped Ethan and I off at Costco and took Kiera with him to Best Buy. He picked me up when I came out and I unloaded the stuff into the trunk. When Ethan was back in his car seat I decided to take the cart back and on the way back to the car I found myself on the hard cold parking lot floor! A lady saw what happened to me as she was driving and stopped to see if I was ok. I said I was fine but I really wasn't. I limped back to the car and opened the passenger car door. Dan asked me what was wrong. I didn't say anything, I only breathed heavy and whimpered. Dan said "what happened" (a little more urgently now). "ow!" Is all I could say. "Brittany what happened." Ok, "I fell." So much to say, we didn't go to our next planned stop. Instead I am sitting here on the couch with ice on my knee and Neosporin on my hands.
So tripping and falling over one of those concrete parking barricades is not that fun. I don't suggest it to anyone. I hope to see the extent of the damage in the morning. I guess I am just making my entire self "festive" for the holidays. Although I am not sure blue and purple will match my Christmas decor.

Candy Disaster

Well, I gave making fudge another go this year to have something for our ward Christmas party. And yet again it failed! uuuhg! It is supposed to be a fail proof recipe and I have made it lots before but for some reason it doesn't work here in Washington! Just like last year it never set up and it ended up being like really thick brownie batter. ICKY. STICKY. GOOP. Can you tell I am a little bit upset? Now I am scrabbling to find something else to make for the party tomorrow. Any Ideas?

Thanksgiving Weekend

We had a busy Thanksgiving this year. We had both sides of the family there. My mom, brother and sister came up from Boise, and Dan's parents came up from Oregon City, and Dan's brother Steven and his family who live just around the corner from us were here. It was a full house but it was nice to get together with everyone to celebrate. Kiera absolutely loved having two sets of grandparents here and loved seeing her aunt Kayla and uncle Nathan. From the minute they arrived she was never left alone. Now it is the trick to get her back into a quieter routine. The above picture is of her pretending to be tinkerbell. She danced around in her tutu and handmade wings while playing with a set of play dishes from Grandma Lazenby. You can tell she was having fun.


We also decorated for Christmas this past weekend. Dan and I put up the outside lights the day before Thanksgiving and the following night as well. My sister Kayla also helped us. It looks very pretty at night. I think the lights are one of my favorite parts of Christmas. Maybe the fact we put them up even befor Thanksgiving was over is proof of that. I will post pictures of the outside lights a little bit later but for now here are some of the other decorations we put up.
I found this nativity at a yard sale during the summer. It also has three wise men and a shepherd and an angel that hangs above the manger but I wanted to get a close up to show you they were snowbuddies. Cute huh?


I made the star for the tree out of thick black wire from Home Depot. I got tired of tryin gto find one that I really liked so I made my own. I absolutely love it! The tree is really pretty too. We put both white and red lighs on this year. All the breakables are on the top half of the tree and Kiera rearranges the bottom ones several times a day.


Ethan is absolutely facinated with the tree too. He is much more enthusiastic when it comes to crawling now too. I think it helps that he is going after something new and shiny! Here's a picture of him playing with the low branches and bead garland that Kiera had dubbed "necklace."


Grandma Lazenby and Kiera were an inseperable pair during my families visit. It was nice to share the tradition of decorating the tree with them while they were here. Here's Grandma and Kiera wearing the star garlands as crowns, what beautiful Christmas princesses.


I collect Santa Clauses and love getting my collection out every year. And we have the perfect shelf to display them on in this house. It is up high out of the kids' reach and it makes the empty ceiling space very festive. Come on over if you'd like to see them up close. It is hard to see them all in this picture.


We inherited the famous "Bears on Stairs" from Dan's mom Shellie. All the figures are toll painted and decorated with lots of small details. Ignore the little blue truck and action figure. I didn't realize they wer still on the shelf when I took this picture. I need to return those toys to a boy I babysit.



Ethan loved watching us decorate the tree and was anxious to get his hands on something. We finally handed him a plastic ornament to keep him entertained while we finished up decorating.

Can you tell how excited Kiera was to get the tree up? She loves to rearrange the winnie the pooh figures and line them up on the windowsill .

Dan took this picture of Ethan while his mom Shellie got some grandma time in. He is such a happy little boy!
Thanks everyone for pitching in on Thanksgiving dinner. It made the whole thing sooo much easier and it was fun to have family here with us. We also loved being able to use our new kitchen table with all the leafs in it. It gets a lot bigger than I expected it to. I will post more pictures of our weekend a little later. But for now I need to get some more things done. Take care