Birthday Cake!

Drum roll. . . . Here is the video of Auston and Audrey eating their birthday cakes. You can see that Auston had no problem figuring out what to do, Audrey was a little more timid. But, after the video was taken Audrey really started to dig into the cake as you can see in the pictures below. (Make sure you pause the playlist on the side)

A Christmas Blessing

Well, tonight we were the recipients of a Christmas blessing. We took the kids to see Santa Clause at the mall (pictures to come later). And decided to grab some dinner at Chile's. We were seated by an older couple. Nothing really seemed special. We ordered and were talking while helping Auston and Audrey to eat some snacks before their favorite meal arrived, grilled cheese. Anyway, Auston and Audrey always seem to draw a crowd, and a few people made comments to us, of course the standard "Are they twins?" and "Oh! Boy and girl twins?" The older couple leaned over and talked with Kristen for a little. They asked how old the kids were and commented that they were beautiful children. The lady talked to Auston and we tried to coax him into saying "Hi" but he just stared at the lady and smiled. We noticed the couple leave and it seemd like the older gentleman was having trouble or something with his credit card because he took the server aside and was talking to her about his credit card. Kristen was about ready to offer to pay, but they got it figured out and left. When we asked for our check our server informed us that the couple had taken care of our meal and told her to tell us "Merry Christmas!" We couldn't believe it and wanted so badly to say "Thank you". It was so amazing to see the potential for good we have. We felt truly blessed and were impressed with the spirit of the season that motivates all of us to give gifts, whether big or small, in rememberence of the Ultimate gift.

The Big ONE!

Happy Birthday Auston and Audrey!!!!!
This past Monday, Auston and Audrey turned the big One!!! We were so excited, but also sad that our sweet little babies aren't so little anymore, so it was a little bittersweet! Last Saturday we celebrated their big day by inviting a bunch of our friends over for their Mickey and Minnie birthday party, where we watched Auston and Audrey blow out their candle (with a little help from their mom and dad) and then dig into their Mickey and Minnie cakes, making a huge mess! As soon as Auston got the cake, he knew just what to do, he started mashing, kneading, and smearing it everywhere! Audrey was a little more like, "what is this pink blob in front of me", just kind of pinching at it with her thumb and two fingers, but after a while of watching Auston having his fun, she decided to have some of her own, and also made a huge mess! During the mess-making, everyone else had a cupcake and ice cream, and then we made "gingerbread" houses, only with graham crackers, and then I made the icing and we had all sorts of candy to decorate, (which is so bad, because we now have all sorts of candy left over, and I'm forced to eat it all). It turned out really great and we really appreciate everyone who came, it made all the more fun! We crammed almost 30 people into our little house, so it was a bit tight, but we like to think of it as "cozy" (although those of you who were here might think otherwise :) ). Now that our babies are one, they've moved on to bigger and better things and are growing so big, so here are their stats:

• They are now riding in their booster seats! Yay!
• They are now completely off formula and bottles and totally on sippy cups and whole milk
• They're favorite food, as we just found out, is a sun-dried tomato pasta salad. We seriously couldn't get them to stop eating it, they ate so much! It was crazy!
• Auston is 20 lbs and 29 and 3/4 in long
  
• Audrey is 23 lbs and 30 in. long
• They both had their first ear infections this week. I took them in for their 12-month check, and they had runny noses, and were a little cranky, but not bad, so I just thought they were teething. Turns out they have ear infections, so we'll have to go back next week for shots, once they finish their antibiotic. I felt so bad, because I didn't even realize they were sick! It was funny, though, because it seemed like once the Dr. said they were sick, it was like they were given the ok to act like it, so the past several days have been awful! They weren't near this cranky at all before. Hmm, strange how that happens... J/K! They're doing really well now, though, thank heavens!
• Auston got his first haircut, and now he looks like a little man!
  

So this week has been a little crazy, and add in the fact that Steve's been studying for and taking finals, and I was just called into the Primary pres., we haven't been able to get a lot done, so I feel bad that I'm just now getting around to doing their birthday blog, or updating our blog, period. Anyway, just to do a quick update, my parents and my grandma came out for Thanksgiving, and it was so much fun having them here! My mom and I made a big dinner, Steve really hurt his ankle at a Turkey Bowl game, we did the whole Black Friday thing and got some great deals, and we went to Springfield and saw the Lincoln Museum, (which was so awesome), and the other Lincoln spots. We loved having them here, and can't wait to see them in a week! Anyway, onto the meat of the post, the pictures! There's also a really funny video at the end, so don't miss it : ) Enjoy!

Our Gingerbread house

The Noonan's winning house

The Parry's Bomb Shelter (Jack smashed it)

The McCubbins' cute house

The other Rogers' cute house

The Bednar's cute house

All tuckered out after a big dayThanksgiving

Auston is our stairmaster
Audrey loves to play peek-a-boo with her shirt

Us and the Lincolns

Steve's ankle injury, it was swollen for almost two weeks, crazy guy wouldn't go to the dr

This is a video of Auston and Audrey riding this airplane thing we got them for their birthday. Audrey screams everytime she's on it like its a roller coaster, it's too cute! Auston gets mad, because he likes to have it all to himself, and so, it's begun.

And Now We Have 'Happy Feet'

These past two weeks have been pretty eventful, but thankfully they've been growing and faith-building experiences. To start off, two weeks ago, Steve's backpack was stolen from a gas station where he was filling up. His backpack was basically his entire school life. It had his notebook, his books for law school, and his laptop with all of his notes and outlines on it, so he was really in trouble. He asked everyone in the parking lot, no one knew anything (of course). He went inside the gas station, and what do you know, there's two cops inside that are stationed there, but they didn't see anything. So Steve files a report, then drives around looking at everyone walking the streets, looking in dumpsters, he drove to the library and walked around inside, wondering if someone may have taken his laptop there to try it out, just doing anything he could think of. After realizing that there was nothing he could do, he drove home. The whole time he was praying to find his backpack, but as he drove home, he felt hopeless, which is hard for Steve, since he loves feeling in control of himself and situations (those of you who know him, know exactly what I'm talking about, and I love him for it :) ). Suddenly he had this thought that he shouldn't be praying to find his backpack, but he should be praying that the goodness that is inherent in all of God's children be stimulated in the person that had taken his bag. He thought about the 'light of Christ', that's in all of us, and how God really does have power to influence His children to to good. He prayed that God would use his power to stimulate the goodness that was in this person and they would feel the need to return the bag. The spirit really confirmed that that was exactly what he needed to pray for. Anyway, so when he told me this, me, being the completely supportive wife that I am, said, "that's great honey", when inside I was thinking 'yeah right, there's no way that's going to happen.' I know, I'm awful. So the next morning, Saturday, I talked him into to going to buy another laptop, since it's required for his school, and he reluctantly agreed, so we bought that, a new backpack, new law books, etc. We then continued to go through the process of filing a claim with our insurance company, putting a fraud alert out on our credit, and all that fun stuff. Steve also emailed all of his classmates, explained what happened, and asked if they would be willing to send him their notes. He wasn't expecting anything, since law school is really cut-throat, but the next morning, he had so many emails where people had not only sent him their notes, but their outlines and stuff as well, so that was pretty amazing. Also, that Sunday, as a side-note, Steve was asked to speak the following Sunday on Unity and how we're all connected. Well, that Wednesday, Steve gets a call from the police officer saying that his backpack was turned in, and not only that, EVERYTHING was in it!!! I know, it's a miracle!!! All of his books, his notebook, and most importantly, his laptop, were all there and intact. The only things missing was a dollar in change and his ipod's headphones. And the weirdest thing of all, in his laptop was the movie 'Happy Feet', which we don't own, (but we do now, and the kids absolutely love dancing too it!), so we know someone was at least trying to get into his laptop, but because of security features, they weren't able to. (Good old Windows Vista) Isn't that so amazing? Luckily we were able to return everything, so we aren't out any money. So, to sum it all up, for whatever reason, maybe the person's 'light of Christ' was 'lit', they turned it in, and Steve was able to give his talk about how we all have the 'light of Christ' within us and we're all connected. We definitely learned a lot and grew from this experience, especially me! (I need to have a lot more faith and be more supportive of my husband :) )
Well, so I realize this is a really long post, so I'll the post the rest of our eventful week later! Love you all!

News, News, and More News!

Wow, talk about an eventful couple of weeks! So much has happened, I feel bad I haven't been keeping more on top of things.

~First off, how amazing was last night? Even though I didn't vote for Obama, I couldn't help but feel excited and proud to be an American and to have been able to take part in a major piece of history. I can't remember who said it, but on some show they said that there wasn't really a loser last night, everyone won.(Whoever it was said it a lot more eloquently than I did :) It was also really cool to be here in Illinois when it happened. Steve and I were so close to driving up to Chicago just to be part of the excitement! We didn't, but a little part of me wished we had. :)
~On to an equally important and exciting announcement, Auston started crawling for real yesterday! Break out the baby-proofing! I say for real, because he's been a professional army crawler for a long time now. Also, not to be left out, Audrey's our professional scooter. She'll sit and scoot around on the floor with her legs, or if she's on her tummy, she only goes in reverse, but with both, she's really fast!
~They both have also been teething almost constantly for the last month or so, and they both each have 8 teeth now, and I swear there could be more, with the way they're carrying on! (It's been a really rough time!)
~Also, our little family has a new addition! Last week, we got a dog. I know, we're crazy, but we always said if we found the perfect dog, we'd consider it. Well, we found him. :) He's a two-year-old Miniature Australian Shepherd named Maximus. He's out of the puppy stage, so he doesn't bark or whine a ton, he's already house-broken, he's trained, he's small, and he's so gentle and cute with the kids. We just love him!
~Also, Halloween was a ton of fun here, we had a big Halloween party with all the LDS law students, and our ward trunk-or-treat, so it was non-stop fun! Audrey was an adorable ladybug, Auston was a freakin' cute bumble bee, I was a witch, and Steve was,....Captain America! You know, because he really is Captain America, since Captain America's alias is Steve Rogers. :) At our Halloween party, we had dinner with "mashed brains and eyeballs" (spaghetti and meatballs), "bones" (breadsticks cut like bones), a skeleton veggie tray, spider cupcakes, cookies, and other treats! After dinner, we had a haunted ghost "walk" and story, (the kids walked up our stairs that we had covered in spider webs, and then we set up our little tent in our guest bedroom and had our friend, James, dress up like a ghost and tell a spooky story. It was totally cute! Then we decorated cookies and trick-or-treat bags, so all in all, it was pretty fun! Thanks so much to everyone who helped out and brought food!
~Another exciting bit of news, is that in the past couple of weeks, Steve and our friend James partnered up and took part in their school negotiation competition, of which they took FIRST! So exciting! As a result, they had to go to ST. Louis this past weekend and take part in the regional competition, which included other law schools from Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin. They did really well, and ended getting 8th! We're really proud of both of them! ~After Steve's competition, we drove up to Chicago and stayed with Steve's dad, who was in town for some meetings. It was so great to see him, and it's getting us more excited for Christmas break! We stayed over night with him and had breakfast with him in the morning, before his flight left. Afterwards, we drove and walked around Chicago, seeing the different sites. It was so fun, I really love that city.
~Steve's law school softball team was in the tournament, and out of 30 teams, they made it to the top 8, a little better than his last softball team. :) His team was made up of all the other LDS law students, so we were known as the Mormon team, known by the facts that we were pretty much the only sober team and the only team with kids! Our friend Zach made everyone on the team baseball cards, so I've included Steve's on here. His nickname is 'Captain', after Captain America. Well, that's about all the news of our family for the next little while. Hope you enjoy the pictures! Sorry so long!

Where to Mom?How cool am I?

My head's too big for my shirt!Our newest addition, Max!

Getting Ready for the donut eating contest at the trunk-or-treat

Chowing Down

The Avengers, led by Captain America (or something like it)

The kids lined up, once again, on our couch R-L: Ellis (John McCain), Auston (bumble bee), Grant (lion), Charlotte (kitty), Eliza (princess), Audrey (ladybug), Laney (skunk), Jack (eggs), Cadence (toast)The kids (and parents) decorating their Trick-or-Treat bags

Audrey chowing down on our friend Tanner's necklace (he and his wife Carli dressed up as each other for Halloween, hence the necklace)

Captain America and Laney showing off the cookie they decorated

Our Day in Chi-Town (pronounced shy-town, just in case you were wondering)

Wrigley Field

Bleachers on houses across from Wrigley

Navy Pier

Okay, there's a lot of pictures in this. Since the last post, we've done a few things. I put some really cute pictures of our times at the parks, and they're so cute! Auston and Audrey LOVED the swings! Then we had Steve's birthday, and I made him a Lemon Meringue Pie, his favorite. To celebrate, we went to the University of Illinois football game, Go Fighting Illini! (Pronounced ill-line-eye. I struggled with that at first) It was pretty fun, and the stadium was really neat, since it's pretty old and made out of brick. I also took the twins to Curtis Orchard with some friends and their kids. Curtis Orchard is a big apple orchard near our house that also has a big pumpkin patch and a petting zoo with ponies, goats, chickens, etc. It was pretty fun, but it really made me miss my parents' apple orchard and the apple chips, juice, the smell, and everything else that goes along with apples and fall at my parents' house. Anyway, We also went to Lake of the Woods, a forest preserve about 10 minutes from our house, and we tried to take some family pictures, but we ended up just taking a bunch of pictures of Auston and Audrey. They had this really cool old red covered bridge that a bunch of people were having professional pictures taken on, so we decided to have a little photo shoot ourselves. As soon as Audrey got out of the car, she couldn't stop shrieking, she was so excited. It was so funny! There's a couple of pictures where you can tell she's just screaming as loud as she can, which is how she expresses herself! Auston played it a little more cool, but he was completely enthralled with the leaves on the ground, since it was basically the first time he had seen them. We could hardly get him to look at the camera, it was so funny! Anyway, I hope you all enjoy the pictures!

Our day at Lake of the Woods

So excited!

Still so excited!

Mini me

Steve's birthday pie

Having fun at Curtis Orchard

The gray goat looked exactly like my old pygmy goat, Daisy, miss her too (never thought I'd say that, we had a love/hate relationship :) )

Auston is so happy

Having fun at the park