What the Halloween in December?

Surprise, Surprise we are over a month late in updating our blog.Oh well, I promise it was worth the wait. From Halloween Costumes, to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in NYC, the pictures are cute and kids are cuter.  Plus-  IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!! So let’s get right into the pictures!

Halloween!  

 

 

 

 

The cutest Witch and Wizard on the Block. Auston’s Costume is hand-made, by Kristen.

New York City and THE Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

You can see we had a great time in the Big Apple with Steve’s sister Minde and her family.

Skating in Rockefeller Center, and Steve And Kristen in the Central Park Mall, Yes the Mall is in any Chick-flick set in NYC.

 The World Famous Brooklyn Bridge!

Jimmy Fallon is an old friend, I mean, Look- He’s pointing right at us. He was looking the other way, but Steve started to scream, “Jimmy!, Jimmy! We love you!” So we became friends. Oh and it was a little packed.

Santa rolled into town and ushered in the best time of Year! It was so awesome to be right down on the front row of the Parade. The clowns would come right up to Audrey and give her a handful of confetti, both the kids loved it.

But it wasn’t all fun and games. Kristen’s maternal instinct was needed to keep a tenacious Grandma at bay. We were standing there, enjoying the parade, when we started feeling major elbows in our back. We tried to ignore it, but when the pushing got so bad that Kristen almost fell on top of our kids and two other families’ kids we had made friends with from standing there for two hours before the parade. The instincts kicked in and Kristen turned to this old lady that had pushed her way up till she was between Minde and Tyler and us,(mind you, this wasn’t your typical sweet looking old grandma, this looked like a mean, mean grandma, so don’t start thinking “How mean of Kristen”), and said “Look, I can’t go up any further. We are as far up as we’re going to go, and there’s no way you’re going to cut in front of us and separate us from our children.” We then turned around to continue enjoying the parade, and again, elbows in our back. Kristen turned around and asked “Seriously? You’re going to keep pushing?” This Grandma then uses the lame excuse saying “ I’m trying to let my Granddaughter see” and her Granddaughter looks like she’s about 13 and she could care less about anything going on around her. And then we notice that this Grandma is using her to push through, she’s got her arms around her neck with her elbows poking out so she can push her way through. So Kristen says, “See that family behind you? They are with us, but you’ve pushed your way through so that now we’re divided and they can’t even see the parade now.” That’s when this lady next Kristen, who had also been getting pushed, starts going off on this lady, saying “That’s right, they got here at 6 o’clock to save places and have waited here this whole time with their kids to save a spot, and here you just barely get here and you push your way through, separating them from each other, and you think that’s ok? Now they can’t enjoy the parade together.” Then the Grandma starts going off saying something about this is Thanksgiving and we’re not being very giving, blah blah blah, and the lady starts yelling back about how it is Thanksgiving and the grandma has ruined all of ours, and they yell back and forth for a little longer, well, the Grandma didn’t just give up, she tried to go around Steve. But Steve just stuck out his elbows. So the Grandma says the same thing, “My grandkid can’t see.” Steve just looked at her and said, look, My two years olds are up there and you are not going to separate me from me kids, you could have come earlier.” The grandma again tries to elbow through, but Steve just stood there with his elbows out for the rest of the parade. Crazy old tenacious New York Grandma! Sure it was a long story, but so worth reading, right?

 

This is the Origami Christmas tree at the Museum of Natural History. All of its ornaments are Origami and they have examples from all the exhibits in the Museum, It was named one of the 10 Must-See-Christmas trees, Yeah we saw two, Rockefeller and the Origami Tree.

We also think our tree is a must see!

Birthday Pics to come soon . . . before Christmas . . . We Promise!

Happy Birthday Grandpa!

Utah, Illinois, California, and New York!

We are updating! I know it’s only been two months, but we thought, “What the heck, let’s update early.” So we are!  Here’s a run down of what we had going on, pictures included!

Kristen braved the two-day trip in a car out to Utah with Auston, Audrey and four of the five Noonans.

She stayed for over two weeks and was able to visit lots of family!

After Everyone arrived home safely, we visited Chicago. We spent some time on the shores of Lake Michigan and also went to the Harry Potter Exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry!

October didn’t slow down at all. Steve was interviewing in Chicago, Milwaukee, Grand Rapids, St. Louis and Indianapolis.  We also spent a week in California.

In California, Grandpa and Grandma Ririe were in Newport for the first half, then Steve’s family came down for the last part to go to Disneyland.

With Grandpa and Grandma Ririe we went to Church and got to see the beautiful Newport Temple, we cruised around Balboa Island on a Duffy, walked along the ocean and went to Disneyland.

Yeah, the convertible was the only car the rental place had left!

We even found time to celebrate Steve’s Birthday.

 

When Steve’s Family Arrived it was more Disneyland, it really is the happiest place on Earth (until it’s naptime)!

The absolute cutest little Princesses Dancing! ( Audrey and her cousin Taylor)

 

 

The next day we just re-cooped at the beach, and did a little shopping in Downtown Disney!

 

Just three days after getting home, Steve had a Trial Team Tournament in NYC! Of course he didn’t take a camera, but he had a great time. He hasn’t found out his scores yet, but felt good about his performance. He and his teammate when to a Broadway play and got to spent a day with Minde, Tyler Chase and Riley.

Wheww! What a month, Steve was gone more days in October than he was home, and now it’s time to gear up for Finals (even though they aren’t until the second week in December).  I guess that’s life, busy busy.

We’ll update soon with Halloween pictures, I promise, at least within a couple of months!

Our Quarterly Update

Well, we had a crazy summer and it has not let up now that Law school is in session. I, Steve, am doing the update because I am family-less. Kristen, Auston and Audrey are in Utah visiting family while I get settled in to school. Here is a picture recap of some of the stuff the you missed because you weren’t in the Beautiful Midwest:

Nauvoo

The Kids had great time playing like the pioneers. They are the cutest pioneers I’ve ever see.

I met my match in the stick pull!

It was great to go to such a beautiful Temple and Pageant. We were reminded of the sacrifices of those who came before and were strengthened in our efforts to be better.

The Bloomington, Illinois Children’s Museum

Our little scientists!

They had an awesome time exploring everything, Sadly I wasn’t able to go, but I heard it was fun!

The Circus

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The trips we've taken in the past 2 months:

The past two months have been super busy, we've tried to cram everything in, because our thinking is, this is our last summer here, so we need to see everything that's within driving distance while we're here. So we have. And it's been crazy. Ok, maybe not everything, but a lot. So here are the trips, and later I'll post the fun things, (and our trip this past weekend to Nauvoo for Pioneer Day), that we've done here in Champaign.
(Believe it or not, there are fun things to do here!)

For Father's Day, we went to Indianapolis for the weekend. We left Champaign while the tornado warning sirens were going off, and as soon as we got into our hotel room in downtown Indy, the sirens started going off again. The tornado had followed us there, and the whole time driving we had some crazy weather. But the next day turned out beautiful and we had a great time! We went to the NCAA Hall of Champions and the Zoo, where they had a great dolphin show! Unfortunately, shortly after arriving at the zoo, in the middle of the dolphin show, our camera died. But we still had fun!

The dolphin show
The bears

The monkeys (Audrey's favorite)

Playing at the Hall of Champions

On the bridge connecting the Zoo to downtown

For the 4th of July weekend, we went to Springfield with some friends for Lincoln's 200th birthday celebration. It was so awesome, visiting the places where Lincoln had been, he was such a great man. We had a great time with our friends, even if the fireworks did get rained out on the 4th. We ended up coming home early on Sat and had a indoor BBQ at our place, complete with sparklers, and the next day they did the fireworks. Luckily, we could see the fireworks from our backyard, so it worked out perfectly!
Lincoln's tomb

Outside of Lincoln's tomb (it's really impressive)

"Lincoln" giving a speech on the steps of the old capitol
(Steve was experimenting with our camera)

Our family with Lincoln

The Ladies of our group with Lincoln and Mary Todd
l-r: Me and Audrey, Melanie and Paige, Stephanie and Ellis

Our group on the lawn of the Old Capitol watching the totally awesome laser show
(I'm a bit sacrcastic :) I think the laser show was made in the 90's, but the Cold Stone ice cream made it totally worth it) It really was fun

Standing in front of Lincoln's house

The exact desk in the exact place in Lincoln's room that he wrote "A House Divided" on

Watching the fireworks on our lawn

Steve's a co-pres, with our friend James, of the Federalist Society in the Law School, and as a result, he was able to go back to D.C. for a Federalist convention, and had a great experience!

He met Orrin Hatch, a Federalist Soc. member

and Justice Clarence Thomas, of the Supreme Court, also a Federalist

Our friends, Greg and Katie, invited all of us law school friends to go camping at Greg's parents' farm in Northern IL, and let me just say, it was Awesome! His family has this huge farm (that's been in his family since the mid-1800's), and in the middle of the corn fields, they have this grove of trees with this large field mowed down where you can camp. Greg and Katie planned and did everything, the food, games, and even fogged the place so there were no bugs. It was completely perfect! Thanks so much you guys, we had a blast!
Daddy, Auston, and James playing some 'tunes 'round the campfire

Mommy and Audrey

Ring around the rosy....

We all fall down!

Taking a walk through the grove

Swimming at Greg's parents' house, the perfect way to end a camping trip

Holding Auston and our friends' baby, Liam

Playing basketball
(I think Audrey's about to commit a flagrant foul)

Utah: Part Two...

So big! Swinging at Gma and Gpa Rogers' house

Riding Lady, my parent's sheep, she is so sweet, Auston loved her! Muttin' Bustin' here we come! (It's where all the little kids ride sheep at the beginning of Strawberry Days Rodeo in PG, in case you were wondering)

Swinging at Gma and Gpa Ririe's house
Gpa Ririe

We went to Gardiner Village with our friends, Andrew and Missy, and the kids loved the petting zoo!

We went to Idaho falls for Dave (Steve's brother) and Britten's sealing. It was so beautiful, Congrats you guys! Here are 10 of the 13 grandkids:

Audrey with Taylor and Hailey
(poor Hailey broke her leg, but she got to get a cute pink cast)

We were able to stop in Rexburg and see my brother Seth and his cute family
l-r: Audrey, Paige, Auston, Ethan, Cole, Olivia, and baby Hazel

Yellowstone and all the buffalo

Old Faithful

The Stroller Brigade at Yellowstone:
Auston, Hailey, Taylor, and Audrey

Here's what we've been up to...Part One...(warning: lots of pics!)

This past month has been pretty busy, with Steve doing finals, getting together with friends before everyone leaves, and then going to Utah for two weeks. Busy but so much fun! (Except for the finals part :) ) Oh, and our anniversary was thrown in there also, which was fun too :) Here are some pics of all the fun we've been having!

We had a BBQ with the J. Reuben Clark Law Society (the LDS students) at Prof. Stancil's house. We're really going to miss all of our friends, the Parrys, Andersons, Logsdons, Watkins, and Gutkes, who have graduated and are moving away to start their real-life adult lives :) Congratulations everyone!Here's a picture of our last girls night out all together. Every week we'd get together for a movie night and/or craft night, and we had so much fun!
Playing on the computer: Laney, Auston, and Audrey
Steve's up-to-bat in the law school softball tourny
Watching Daddy play softball, one of our favorite things :)(It was a long day)
Where's Auston and Audrey?
Caught ya!

Little Miss Cool
Just like his dad, he can sleep anytime, anywhere!
UTAH
After arriving in Utah, we went swimming at our neighbor's pool and we had so much fun!
Audrey found the googles and loved having them on! She didn't even try to take them off :)
For Steph's (Steve's sister) husband Spencer's birthday, we went to Crown Burger and a Bee's game in Salt Lake, and had a blast! Here are the four cousins who were born within six months of each other: Audrey, Hailey, Auston, and Taylor. They're quite the troublemakers when they all get together!
Audrey couldn't stop dancing, everytime a little clip of music came on, she'd start shaking! It was pretty darn cute when her cousin Taylor joined in!

With Aunt Stephy
The Pink Ladies: Hailey, Gma Rogers, and Audrey
There will be more pictures to come in the next couple of days. Our camera broke, so since I don't have any pictures besides the ones from our trip, I'm trying to stretch these out till we get a new one. Recommondations on which camera to get?