Best Friends!

These pictures are from before we left but I thought they were so cute. Maddie gave Bella a good pinch on the arm flab, but Bella got her back with a good tug on Maddie's ear! They are going to have lots of fun together! It is funny because Maddie has recently started doing this screaming thing! She just yells really loud while she is playing with toys and things and it scares poor Bella to death! It always makes her cry, but hopefully she'll get used to it soon, because Maddie seems to only be getting louder

Who needs a white Christmas?

Santa found us! Here we are on Christmas morning at the beach house! Maddie is our early bird so she was eager for her presents. Bella takes a little longer to wake up, but she loved her toys too! We loved having Christmas with my parents and John's family! One of my most favorite traditions is going to the beach house every year! The weather was gorgeous and it was so nice to be outside and take walks with the girls! They were all bundled up to keep that fair skin from burning, but they loved the beach and getting all the attention from grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, and cousins! I love getting to be with my family and some of my greatest memories are at Capistrano beach!
We got to see all of my family during the trip and the boys did some golfing, we all did some reading, played games and ate lots! We rang in the New Year with all the kids singing Alice the camel around a bonfire as well as nursery rhymes, a bear hunt, and some marshmellows. Grandpa, we'll never forget the hokey pokey dance! We played games to keep us up until midnight and had all sorts of noise makers, hats, etc. Dan, Mike, and Scott made the annual 12:01 run into the ocean... the first swim of the new year. They claimed it wasn't that cold... ya right, but it was pretty funny!

The Pier

We always go to San Clemente Pier and this year we went while the boys wer golfing. (Except Mike... he and Chantele and just gotten to the beach) We were a sight walking along as all the cousins wanted to hold hands!
My big sister Michelle and I with the girls! We have loved our little baby carriers. The girls are always happy in them and like to see the world as we walk around!
I have the best mom and sisters in the world! We have so much fun together and I absolutely love chatting and catching up at the beach. I love watching them raise their kids. They all are wonderful examples to me! It was so fun to have Chantele around too! Hopefully we didn't scare her off! All of us went and saw The Holiday while the guys watched the kids! It was a blast to be together!

Visit to St. George!

We started out our Christmas vacation with Scott's family in St. George. Scott's highlights were shadowing an orthopedic surgeon a couple times and of course golfing with his Dad and Ashton. We loved hanging out with his parents and sisters and having everyone play with the girls! We were so glad we could see Lacey and Ashton before we left too! Here we are opening presents . The girls were loving it! Scott's parents gave us the ultimate christmas gift... a new computer! We are so excited because now Scott can take the laptop and I'll still have a computer at home!! We are so thrilled and grateful! We also got webcams so we can see our friends and family while we are away! I'm excited to try it out! We love the Rynearson fam and are so happy we could see them for the holidays!

Maddie and Daddy!

The girls love their Dad so much! We definitely have Daddy's girls. They love to have him play with them, and he loves to give them lots of kisses and tickles! 

Katie Jr.

Everyone used to say the Bella looks a lot like Scott, but I have to say that I have a picture of me when I was little that looks just like this! I wish I could get to it... it is in my scrapbook at my mom's house in Salt Lake, but I can see it in my mind! Mom... don't you think so? 

Missouri is Cold!

I never knew it, but it sure gets cold around here! Last week we had an ice storm. We are very grateful for a 2 car garage. A couple of Scott's friends had to thaw their car doors with a blow dryer. After an hour of work to get it open, it then got stuck and wouldn't shut! We went to Nauvoo for Ward Temple day yesterday and I got thinking about how amazing those early saints were to go west. A lot of the Mississippi was frozen and it looked so cold. I couldn't even imagine crossing it. I can appreciate a little more of what they went through, and I'm inspired by their many sacrifices for the gospel. We love going to the Nauvoo temple!

Well, we have been recovering from being sick at our house. It is the season! I think we are all finally feeling mostly better. It is not so fun to have sick babies! I wanted to post this picture because you can really tell who is who. In a lot of pictures they look really similar and when we were visiting Utah over Thanksgiving it was hard for everyone to tell the girls apart. In this picture you can tell that their head shapes are different and that they each have their own look. Bella is on the left and Maddie is on the right with the big smile. We love our adorable girls!

We are in the Holiday mood around here. We've got up our decorations and our tree. We are so excited to go to St. George next Sunday and then on to California. Hooray for the holidays, family, friends, great music, and yummy treats! 

Jacob's Baptism

This is at Jacob's baptism over Thanksgiving. It was so fun for all of us to be there together! 

Congratulations!

Here is Mike and his cute fiance Chauntele. They make a darling couple and we are so happy that they found each other. We are so excited for their wedding in May! 

Our wonderful Thanksgiving!

We just got back to Missouri after a wonderful time in Utah! It was so fun to be with our family and friends for the holiday! It was so great of my mom and dad to come get the girls and I so that we could come early and leave Scott to have study time for his finals. He did great on them by the way, and I'm always so proud of him!! The girls did well on both plane trips... a little crying, but not too bad!! We are gearing up to come again in a few weeks. We'll be going right to St. George to the Rynearson's and then to Capistrano with my fam. Hooray for the holidays!

We loved hanging at my mom's house where we were all spoiled and loved! We also got to see Scott's family for a couple days and it was so nice that they made the drive up! The girls are so blessed with wonderful grandparents, uncles, and aunts and cousins of course! We loved seeing you all!

Two important things that happened in our families that past couple weeks are 1. McCall was named the 3A state soccer MVP! We are so exited for her! There was a great article and pictures in the D. News about her! Congrats!!

2. We loved spending some time with Mike and his new fiance Chauntelle! Yes that is right! Mike is getting married on May 12 and we are so excited for him! We love Chauntelle and think they are just perfect for each other! She is honestly darling. I'm also so excited because that means another visit to Utah!! Hooray!

Our Thanksgiving feast was truly a feast!! We could have fed 50 more people with the amount of food we had! It was delicious! Mom always makes things perfect! We also got to be part of our nephew Jacob's baptism and we are so proud of him! That was a special day for all of us!

The time really flew by, but we did squeeze in a few visits with friends too! It was so wonderful to be with you all and we feel so blessed for the wonderful memories and influence you have on us!

We will be thinking of you all this holiday season and count our family and friends as our most precious people to be thankful for!

Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Rynearson fam. Here are our darling little pumpkins (compliments of Grandma Sue)! We are off to a ward trunk or treat tonight so we'll get to show these girls off. The adults can dress up too I guess. Scott doesn't love to dress up too much... he says all he used to dress up as was a doctor because he could just throw on scrubs. Well, that won't really work around here. They all wear scrubs regularly so it isn't much of a costume. We'll see what we can do. Hopefully we can get some candy! I have such a sweet tooth! I'm not really into the whole ghosts/witches thing about Halloween, but any day I can get yummy candy is a plus for me! Of course I had to buy some candy for the trick-or-treaters! (Truthfully, I'll be shocked if we get even one little kid! We live down at the very end of this country road and no one is going to come all the way down here. More for us!) I love the fall season though. The leaves around us are changing and are beautiful. It is starting to be pretty cold around here, but no snow yet. My favorite things about this season are: 1. Getting out warm, cute sweaters that you haven't seen for a while
2. Cooking with pumpkin! Aunt Joan gave us the yummiest pumpkin cake recipe that has become one of Scott's all time favorites! We've made it twice already! I also just learned the EASIEST treat ever. You mix a can of pumpkin with a package of spice cake and add some chocolate chips. Cook about 15 minutes at 350. Only 3 ingredients and they are so yummy!
3. Caramel apples
4. Fall colors and changing leaves
5. burning autumn candles
6. The holidays that are on the way... Thanksgiving and Christmas! (which means lots of great traditions and family time)

Happy Halloween and Happy Autumn!

3 months old today!

We finally captured their adorable smiles! We have yet to get them both smiling in the same picture, but it will come. Here is Madelyn.

















Here is Bella.



















We can't believe that they are 3 months. They have grown so fast and are so big. They have been the greatest blessing in our life and I don't know if it would be possible to love them any more than we do. Madelyn is a pound bigger than Bella at 11 lbs 8 oz and 10 lbs 8 oz. respectively. They both smile and giggle a ton, and they have started noticing each other. It is so cute because they'll just stare at each other and smile! I love having twins. It is so worth the extra work because it is such fun! 

TV already?

Both the girls totally love to watch Baby Einstein. They will sit and watch the video for like 15 minutes. I push them up in front of the TV and they are happy! Their favorite part is this black and white metronome with a little colored animal attached that goes back and forth. It mesmerizes them! 

Twin Fun!

"Hmm, I think I see a nice fist to suck on!"














"I better open really wide so I can catch it!"














"Got it! Yum!"
 

It is hard not to be a little camera crazy with these girls... here is the test, can you tell who is who yet?





























This is a little stroller I push the girls around the house in. Here they are watching me cook dinner!



















My pink ballerinas! 

lots of pictures

This picture was during the sustainings on the saturday session of conference. The girls didn't last long...both asleep, but they did have an hand out in the affirmative!















We had to have a family picture while Sarah was around to take it for us. It took a lot of work to get both girls looking!















This is out at the state park right by us. The leaves are starting to change and it is gorgeous. 

We love Family Visits!!

We had the best time having Sarah, Jacob, and Andrew come visit us! It was so nice of them to make the 7 hour journey to Kirksville! We loved having them see our apartment and where welive, and of course meeting the girls for the first time. The boys were so cute with them. They were great helpers! Sarah gave me all sorts of tips and help and we miss them already!














Because it was conference weekend of course we had to make conference soup. If you've never heard about it, this is a Lunt family tradition that we've been doing for years. It started when we were all young and mom had us help make the conference soup to keep us occupied and quiet during conference. Since then, we have all grown to love it, and crave it 2 times a year! Basically, you just take chicken broth and go buffet style to make a soup. You fill it up with all sorts of ingredients... hence the many bowls lined along the bar. There is everything from vegetables, to meats, to crunched up doritos! There are always tons of leftovers to have more soup or throw into all sorts of other recipies the following week. Thanks Mom for this wonderfu tradition!





Maddie and the boys!

Sisters are the greatest! Come visit us again soon!!