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 :)

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!