Home Again

Well the Belt Family has finally returned to West Lafayette after almost 5 weeks of being on the road! Whew! We all had a great time visiting with our family and friends back in Las Vegas, Nevada, and in Rocklin, California.

We started out in Las Vegas visiting with Dustin's family. We stayed with Dustin's parents at their house in Cold Creek and while we were there, we all experienced some real mountain like living. On the mountain there were herds of wild mustangs and we saw many new foals with their mothers--which were very protective. Sometimes they would bray at us and stomp their feet if we were too close when we walked on by. The neighbors to Dustin's parents both have roosters, so they crowed all day long, and every time Adelynne heard one she'd say, "A rooster!" Adelynne also saw daily goats, turkeys, and peacocks. Adelynne also enjoyed a daily ritual of walking down to the creek (Cold Creek), and feeding the fish bread and then throwing rocks at them. Amy also attended us on these outings, but not as frequently, she enjoyed being in the house more because she could practice her walking. Dustin grew up in a dome home where his parents still reside, and Amy enjoyed going around and around and around the house. The first five days she would make either mommy or daddy walk her around the house again and again, usually mommy and daddy would do about 5 or 6 trips before we'd make her find something else to do. Then we found a baby doll stroller that she could push around herself, which she did for a few days, and then on our second week there, we came home from church, and she just started walking by herself! She bruised herself up a bit, but she'd just keep going. While in Las Vegas we also were able to visit with Dustin's siblings and their families, and it was really fun to re-introduce Adelynne and Amy to all of their cousins. The girls had a great time playing with them all. We even got to spend time with our best friends Aaron and NIki Patty and their boys Ethan and Owen. We really had a great time with everyone, we just wish we had had more time with them all.

We left Las Vegas after two weeks and drove to Palmdale, CA where my Aunt Michelle picked us up from the rental car drop off. It was the first time in a year that we got to see my aunt and uncle and their four kids. It was fun to see how they had all grown and changed. My Grandma picked us up from there and drove us to her house in Tehachapi, CA. Amy woke us up right before 6am throwing up our first morning there. She threw up again later in the morning, but she seemed to still be in a good mood. Grandma Great took the girls to the best store in town--kMart--to buy them both a new toy. Adelynne studied out all of her options, but decided that "My Little Pony" toys were what she wanted. Amy also studied her options and didn't get very excited about anything until she saw the baby dolls. She wanted to hold them but they were all in boxes so she eventually gave up on them and pushed them away. Then she found a popper toy that plays music instead of popping and she was very happy with that until she found a baby doll that was not in a box and it took her all of half a second to throw the toy to the side and hold that baby doll. It was so cute! Amy just loves baby dolls. Once we got back to Grandma Great's house things just went downhill for Amy. She continued throwing up and couldn't keep any solids or liquids down. Luckily she still nurses so she would nurse from me and throw up. Meanwhile, Adelynne played with her new toys and enjoyed Grandma Great's bunnies. Grandma has six rabbits and two of them are Netherland Dwarfs and they are soooo cute. Adelynne got to hold then and pet them, and she enjoyed going out to feed them all with her Grandma Great. Amy spent three days throwing up and sleeping in mommy's lap. On occasion she would sit up and look around and it would seem like she was perking up, but then she would just collapse in my lap and fall asleep again. She became so week that she didn't have energy to move and therefor she lost her ability to walk that she had learned to do. On the third day I decided to take Amy to the emergency room because she was having high fevers and I figured she had ear infections. She did, and we got her some antibiotics. She continued to sleep throughout the day and she was in no way herself when her Grandpa and Grandma Biggs showed up at Grandma Great's house later that day. Luckily Adelynne had not been sick at all so she was great entertainment for all. However that night Adelynne woke mommy and daddy up because she was throwing up. Dustin and I and the girl stayed home from church the next day and sent the grandparents off with no little girls to show off. I'm sure they were all dissapointed. Sunday night more cousins and aunts and an uncle all came to visit and to take their chances on getting the bug. But we were glad they came, and I'm sorry that they all got sick a few days later. My parents drove us and our family back to Rocklin the next day. It was time to start getting ready for a wedding.

Our time in Rocklin with my parents was relaxing and somewhat entertaining, and I guess a little stressful as well. I had to host a bridal shower for my sister, which actually turned out to be really fun since it was a small crowd. We visited with more cousins and my brothers and my nieces, and Amy and Adelynne both recovered from their sickness. I enjoyed my time with my sister Amy before she got married. We ran a lot of errands getting ready for the wedding, but we spent some time shopping too. I got to visit with my good friend Phoebe and her boys Salem and Lincoln and my best friend Ashley. After our first week in Rocklin the girls really started adjusting to new schedules and new faces so life was more relaxing for Dustin and I. However Dustin and I took turns sleeping on a bed with Adelynne or sleeping on the couch by ourselves. Adelynne did not want to sleep by herself. The days finally wore away, and June 7th arrived--the day of my sisters wedding. It was a beautiful day and my sister was absolutely stunning. It all still seems so surreal to me, Amy is married. The reception was fun, I saw lots of old friends from my childhood and danced until my feet hurt so much that I could only walk on my heels. I had a few bites of cake and about three glasses of punch--it was my favorite. After everything got cleaned up we drove back to my parents house--it was about 11:30pm. We got the girls in pjs and Dustin and I started packing up all our stuff. We finally got to bed at 12:45am. We woke at 4am after a "short nap" and left for the airport so that we could catch our 6am flight. Luckily we had a really awesome airport official get us through the long line at security and then we got to preboard so that really helped things run a little smoother for us. The girls did pretty well minus a few tantrums mostly from Adelynne. But after a layover in Denver, another two hour flight, waiting 45 minutes for our shuttle, we reunited with our car and drove home. Adelynne actually cried to go back to Grandma Biggs' house all through the Indianapolis Airport and for a significant amount of the ride home. But it wasn't until we drove over the Wabash river into West Lafayette did she become excited about going home. And then she began saying "We're almost home to my house!" And we made it home.

I know we have missed so much with everyone here in West Lafayette the last month, and we hope that we get the chance to catch up with everyone. We are glad to be back home with our friends and we're anxious to get our lives in order again. I do have some pictures to post from our trip, but it might be a while, but hopefully not.