Baby Jack

What we’ve been up to…

Well, I’m checking off the things on my list of things to do before baby brother, (or as Auston wants to name him, Crackers), gets here, and one of them is to update the blog, so here it is!

Steve has started his internship in Indianapolis and is really enjoying it! The firm is awesome and he likes everyone he works with, and we really love Indianapolis! We’re staying at a place right downtown, within walking distance of the zoo, so we got a year pass, which has been really fun! Steve also was able to go to the Indy 500 and hang out in a VIP suite, because the firm represents the track and owner, so that was pretty exciting for him (sadly, we weren’t invited). He was able to go down on the track, meet some drivers, and get this, Danica Patrick looked at him. So cool (I’m rolling my eyes at that last one :) Just kidding babe). Anyway, we’re really enjoying it out there.

Also, Steve’s mom came out for a week and we were able to get a lot done to prep for the baby, and it was so great to have her here to help out with the kids while Steve was in Indy!

Another thing we did was plant a garden, and Steve made the container and fence around it all by himself, and I think he did a great job! The garden has really taken off, so we’re excited to start enjoying the rewards.

Last week, some of friends out here threw me a shower, which was so nice and a lot of fun! Thank you so much for it, I loved it!

So that’s a quick recap of what’s been going on, and here are some fun pictures and videos, so enjoy!

Touching the Elephants after their show

  

The Dolphin show at the Zoo

 

My Baby Shower

Our Garden (it’s now huge! The fence is to keep the rabbits out)

Auston and his girlfriend Grace. He’s always asking for her and showing off for her when he sees her, doing karate moves (which I have no idea where he learned them. Very manly)

And here’s our future yoga master (I came downstairs from getting ready, and BYU TV was on somehow, and Audrey was doing the yoga on it. She was so into it, she didn’t even hear me come down or start filming her! It was adorable! And as a side note, the teacher who was teaching it turned out to be a yoga teacher I had at UVSC, and she is awesome! Good taste Audrey)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Can I just tell you how much I love being a mom? Today was so great, I woke up this morning to some awesome breakfast in bed, brought to me by my hot husband and two gorgeous kiddos, and then Steve surprised me with an cute scrapbooking tote, and I wasn’t expecting anything, I was so excited! The kids were so good getting ready for church, they actually were cooperating, and we were able to talk to Steve’s brother Matt whose on his mission in Italy via a conference call with the family. Then at church, Audrey fell asleep on my lap (or at least what she could of my lap, since it’s pretty much taken over by my belly), which was the best Mother’s Day gift she could give me! Church was great, the primary kids were good, sharing time went well, Audrey didn’t have an accident (she’s potty training), I got cookies (awesome!), Steve made dinner and one of my favorite pies, and the kids haven’t gotten in any really big fights. Such a great day!

It was funny, today we were out in our backyard on our swing set, and Steve was swinging the kids on the little two-seater swing thing where they face each other. They kept asking Steve to “Go higher, Daddy, go higher!”, which he of course did, when they went so high, Auston kind of flew off the seat a little, which scared me to death, but of course didn’t faze the kids. I told Steve to stop, and Audrey said to stop too, and when they did, this is the conversation we proceeded to have.

Audrey(waving me away): Go away mommy, go away

Me: Why?

Audrey: Just go away to the other side (of the yard)

Me: K, but don’t go high

Audrey: I won’t

I then start to walk away, then she says to Steve,whispering

Audrey: Mommy’s going away

Steve: Do you want to go higher?

Audrey: (still whispering) Yeah, go higher!

Isn’t she a little stinker? And she’s only two and a half! It’s scary to think about what she’s going to be like as a teenager. Ugh! Oh well, I still love being a mom! I wouldn’t trade it for anything, even on those days when Auston empties out every basket with every toy, or when Audrey has about 10 accidents in one day, or when Auston tries to play the Wii and throws the remote at the TV and brakes it so we have to get a new one (but hey, at least he has a good arm? :), or Audrey decides to get into Mommy’s make-up and jewelry. I still love it, and I love these babies! It makes me so sad to think we’ll only be able to share these fun moments for just a little longer, and then they’ll be all grown up and I’ll be wishing for these days again. But I’m so excited for this new little munchkin to join our family in 6 (yes 6!) weeks, I can’t wait to meet him! Here are some fun pictures to enjoy of the past however long it’s been since we last put up pictures :) And Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms out there, especially to my mom and my mom-in-law, I love you both and am so thankful for you!

I love these kids so much!

  

The

Best Family in the World!

We are SO proud of you Daddy!!

Well, Last week, Steve went to Hong Kong to compete in the International Competition for Client Counseling, and out of 22 countries, he and his team-mate James took 3rd! We are so proud of them, they did such a great job and really did a great job of representing our country! They also had a great missionary experience, where they were able to hand out 61 Books of Mormon, pretty amazing! I'll have him tell about that experience, because it's much better in his own words :). We are so excited he's home, we all really missed him! My mom was able to come out and spend the week with us while he was gone, and I am so thankful she did! We had so much fun with her, spending time in St. Louis, doing/finishing projects, shopping, and just hanging out. Pictures will come really soon, I just wanted to make this quick post to let you all know what we've been up to and how Steve did in Hong Kong. Congrats again Daddy! We love you!

Congrats to Daddy, the National Champion!!!

A quick little update, Steve and his partner/best friend/evil twin (to quote my friend Monica, the evil twin’s wife), James, won Regionals in their Client Counseling Competition in February, and this past weekend competed in Nationals in Texas, and they WON!!!! Yay!!! We're so proud of you!!! To quote my Dad, it's like he won the NCAA championship in Client Counseling :) The craziest/coolest thing is, though, that next they're going to HONG KONG to compete in the World Championship, representing the United States of America, so now it's like they're going to the Olympics of Client Counseling as Team USA!!! Whoo-hoo!!!We''re so excited for them!!! And thankfully, my mom will be coming out for the week while Steve is gone, so life is good :) Anyway, congrats to Daddy, we love you so much and are so proud of you!!!

Our Monthly Opine

If you couldn’t guess by the title, Kristen is not the updater this week. I am not usually one to tend the blog and worry if we are up-to-date, but we have some pictures that were too cute not to post. These really cute pictures were taken at a friend's house. This friend is the type of friend everyone looks for, they have amazing, cutting-edge electronics and a photo studio in their house. On top of all the cool gadgets, they are easy going, faithful people, just the best! We’ve met a lot of families out here in Champaign that are great. We couldn't survive without friends out here, Kristen and I would probably have killed each other by now! Another exciting announcement, although not quite as big as the one we made over Christmas (but close to as big), is that I am training for a sprint triathlon out here called Tri-the-illini. It’s a little tri around the U of I campus. So I have been swimming, biking and running. Hopefully it starts to get a little warmer so I can train outside. I'll let you know more as it gets closer, but I expect a fast and prayer session the weekend of the event, the last thing I need is to try and bike/run into a 30 mph wind. Anyway, here are the pictures – Enjoy!

Grandpa and Uncle Dave are in Haiti

This news clip has an interview with Steve's dad, (kind of at the end), we're really proud of him! He is in Haiti right now, along with Steve's brother Dave, helping to do surgeries and provide medical attention, and Dave is helping and will be flying back with the orphans. We love you and are keeping you in our prayers! When Audrey saw this, she got all excited saying "Apa! Apa!", it was so cute :)

ksl.com - Utah Hospital Task Force on its way to Haiti

Time For a Little Catch Up!

Ok, now you know that we don’t keep promises made on the Blog . . . You really shouldn’t believe everything you read on the internet.

Since it’s been forever since we last updated, I thought we might be due for one  :). We had a great time over the Holidays, and it all was kicked off with Auston and Audrey’s birthday! We had their party at an indoor playground nearby with all of their friends, and they had such a great time :).

 

They turned 2 years old and it almost seems like they instantly grew up! They just started talking a ton, putting words together into sentences and saying the cutest things! It seems like everyday I’m cracking up at something they said. For example, the other day Audrey’s tummy was hurting, and she let us know by telling us “My button’s hurting” (meaning her belly button). It was so cute, poor thing. Audrey’s actually more talkative than Auston, but he’s constantly making me laugh, with the funny faces he makes and mischief he gets into. Audrey has a very strong little personality and definitely knows what she likes, wants, dislikes, etc. She’s so funny. Auston is a little sweetheart, (most of the time), but he’s also a little troublemaker. He climbs on everything, is constantly throwing balls, as well as other things, (and he actually has a pretty good arm), but don’t you worry, Audrey’s always right there to help him with whatever trouble he’s getting into, and then to come get me and tell on him right after (don’t worry, I know the real story going on here). It’s pretty funny. Anyway, I could talk forever about these two, and you’ll probably hear a lot more about them in the future, but I’ll move on to finish updating!

Before we left for Utah, we had an Ugly Sweater and Mustache party with all of our friends here, which was so fun. Steve won one of the prizes, and looking at his picture, you’ll see why (he kind of looks like a creepy 40 year old man, no offense to any 40 year old men out there, or Steve for that matter :) Love you Babe!). So here some pics:

We then drove out to Utah (thank heavens for the dvd player and Cinderella, Audrey’s favorite! Although we can now quote the movie almost by heart) We had such a great time out there (see the albums below), spending time with our families and seeing friends, it was so awesome! We shopped, went on dates (finally!), went to the temple, went snowshoeing (actually really fun), went skiing (well, Steve did), saw movies in the actual movie theater, and had a great Christmas and New Years. We loved our time in Utah and were sad to leave, but it was nice to come home, and another fun thing is that we actually bought Steve’s brother’s van, so now we have two cars :).

View Full Album

View Full Album

Now why did we buy the van, you might be asking. Well, here’s the most exciting news of all, WE’RE EXPECTING!!! That’s right, we are 20 wks along (half way there!), and we found out yesterday we’re expecting a boy!!! He’s due June 20th, right in the middle of Steve’s internship in Indianapolis, so we’ll see how that all works out :) Indy’s about 2 hrs away, so hopefully he can drive really fast! (I have to stay in Illinois because of insurance) Anyway, we’re super excited, even though we’ll be one of those fun families with 3 kids under the age of 3. Yee-haw!

Anyway, so there’s our update! Sorry so long, but we had a lot to include :)