Stephens' Family Circus: 2012

In late August, Camp McKinney (aka: my mom and Mark) came to Colorado to stay with Harper and Riley while Caleb and I traveled to Chicago for our first weekend away from the girls ever! We went to visit our friends Stacey and Darren (who live there) and Cindy and Todd (who traveled from Texas) and had SO MUCH fun! Our travel guides were spectacular and took us to see a lot of cool Chicago sites. We had drinks at the top of the Hancock building, saw a Lichtenstein exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago, walked along Michigan Avenue, went to hear orchestral music at a Concert in the Park, took pictures in front of Wrigley Field and the Bean, saw the Blue Angels fly above us (part of the Air and Water show that was going on that weekend) and went to the Shedd Aquarium (one of my favorite parts of the trip!) We also went to two awesome restaurants, and of course had to partake in some famous Chicago hot dogs and deep dish pizza while we were there. We had SUCH a fun time...thank you so much Stace and Darren for showing us around!! :)

View from the top of the Hancock building

Seahorses and Jellies at the Shedd

The boys

The girls

The Bean

The requisite Bean picture

The Chicago River

Concert in the Park

Our awesome hosts in front of their cute house

Having a Chicago dog...

...while watching the Blue Angels fly above. Pretty cool!

Hanging out before dinner

SUCH a fun trip!! :)

It's happened again...I have completely neglected to update our blog for over two months now. Seriously, where does the time go?!?

Harper and Riley are now 10 months old (how did THAT happen?) and busier than ever. To catch you up to speed, here is a quick recap of a few of the Stephens' family happenings throughout the past few months...

The girls turned 8 months old on July 9th!

Taken 5 seconds before Riley's bow removal

One weekend in July (though it's been so long I can't remember which) we took a quick trip to my Grandpa's cabin with our friends Amy and Tony and their sweet little boy Asa. All the babies were a bit under the weather while we were there, but seemed to have a good time despite all the snottiness. Caleb and Tony went on a fly fishing expedition that Saturday, while Amy and I stayed back at the cabin and hung out with the babies. Since we were a bit house-bound, I convinced Amy it would be a good idea to walk down to the river with ALL the babies in tow. So we went, Amy with Asa in his front carrier and me with Riley in the Bjorn and Harper in my arms...bad plan! I guess I didn't realize how heavy they have gotten recently.

Since Riley in particular had gotten increasingly mobile prior to this trip, it was necessary to bring a few baby gates to the cabin so we could create a baby-safe zone and maintain some of our sanity. :)

Waiting patiently in baby jail for Asa Mann to arrive

Asa catching a few winks in the sky chair

Harper and Riley prefer swinging and giggling to napping any day

We have continued to enjoy our weekly visits from Great Grandpa...

Harper cuddling with Great Grandpa...Riley (not pictured) crawling all over the house and unable to be interrupted for a photo op.

A few random pics from July....

Sweet baby girls!

Just hanging out, being cute

These girls love their daddy!

Harper and her signature bouffant

Sweet Riley Roo

One precious face...

...and another

We had a quick visit from my dad and sister in August...

Grandpa and Harper

Grandpa and Riley

Harper often has a difficult time with the camera flash, so we have LOTS of pics of her with eyes shut

Distracted Harper with Aunt Mary

Pensive Riley with Aunt Mary

We also had a few visits from Grandpa and Grandma Stephens in August, but sadly, we apparently did not pull out the camera either weekend cause I can't find any pics...I vow to do better next time! :)

The girls turned 9 months on August 9th...

Unfortunately, our best shot since everyone is so squirmy these days

My mom came into town for a visit in August, and we were able to fit in another quick trip to the cabin. Here are just a few pics...not sure why we didn't take more.