Building with Daddy

It rained on Saturday, so some outdoor activities were postponed, and instead we all headed to Lowe's for the "build it yourself" project they have every 2nd and 4th Saturdays of each month. (And for those of you who didn't know, Lowe's does this all across the country, so check out your local Lowe's--this is a totally free activity! The kids get a free apron and goggles and they earn patches and certificates when they complete a project). This Saturday's project was building a dune buggy. Dustin and Adelynne jumped right in to building their buggy. Amy wanted to build too, well actually she just wanted to hammer on the table and make lots of noise-not that there wasn't enough! But she had some fun too. Adelynne worked very hard and seriously as you can tell from the pictures, and yes, she did get Daddy's thumb at one point. When she was hammering a nail she'd sometimes get distracted and look away as she continued to hammer. When it was all hammered together Dustin let her do the sticker work herself, hence the perfectly placed stickers. Adelynne really seems to enjoy doing these projects with her Daddy. This was only her second time, but we'll be going back again. It is a lot of fun to watch her build too.

Swimming summer

I took the girls swimming over at the Beaux Jardin Apartments where Minnie lives at, its actually something we've been doing at least once a week. Its a great pool to go to because we practically get the pool to ourselves during the time of day that we go-late morning to early afternoon. Adelynne asks about every day, "Can we go for a swim?" I wish it was easy enough to go every day, but when you have to grease up, suit up, and buckle up 3 girls, it takes a good 45 minutes. And usually I pack a lunch as well, so that takes extra time. Then with all of the towels, water gear, lunches, and diaper bag I am usually hauling 3 to 4 large bags with me. I feel like I'm packing for a weeks vacation when I go to the pool. But I'm working at becoming more efficient at the process so that it is not as difficult. Once we are there, it is a lot of fun though. Yesterday I finally remembered to not only bring the camera, but to take pictures as well. Yesterday was also more warm than it has been, though it was still a pleasant day to be outside. So since the sun was out, the water was refreshing because it cooled you down, but it wasn't as cold as it has been the last several weeks either. Because it was warm, Amy actually got in the water and stayed in, and enjoyed it, and I got in all the way too. We were there for about 2 and a half hours just soaking up the sun, (a little too much-oops!) and enjoying the water. It was fun to see Amy really have a good time in the water. Usually she will get her feet in and then get out as fast as she can, and then she spends her time wandering around eating snacks and watching everyone else. Also, every time we've gone, Adelynne has been getting more and more brave, (thanks to the influence of Minnie-who is the bravest 3 year old in the water, no fear whatsoever-she's awesome in the pool)! This time Adelynne swam out into the deep end all on her own. She is also beginning to dunk her head under water, but she doesn't like it very much. Anyway, we had a great time with our friends, and we are always anxious to go back! See you at the pool!

Gymnastics

Yesterday I decided to take Adelynne to a gymnastics class and see how well she liked it. Well, you can see from the videos and pictures that she loved it! She was a very willing participant the entire class. There was a very cute moment when the instructor was trying to teach the girls a new stretch, and she was telling them, as they were sitting on the floor, to put their knees up and give them a big hug. When the instructor said, "Now give a big hug," Adelynne jumped up and gave the instructor a really big hug, arms around her and everything. Unfortunately, I did not get that on camera, and I practically missed the entire event myself, but I did catch the hug part. Adelynne doesn't even give me hugs that big. But she was so fun to watch, and did very well, so I signed her up for the rest of the sessions. Maybe we'll have a little gymnast!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

My Accomplishment

So I like to think that I am just like every other woman when it comes to what I call "the weight loss roller coaster." Weight loss is something that I am constantly battling with, at times faithfully and at times not. Well yesterday I hit a major milestone for myself in that after a little over a year, after having my second child, I have finally lost all of the baby weight that I gained during my pregnancy. And so you know, when I am pregnant, I pack on the pounds, 58 lbs, to be exact. But now that is all GONE! I'm feeling great about this goal, so great that I have decided to show you two pictures to compare. Though I think I look great in both pictures, I am very pleased to see that there is a big difference. For anyone else going through a similar challenge, don't give up, just keep on going!




And of course you can compare Amy's growth as well--okay, so her bald head is still the same, but look how cute she is!

Robust?

Okay, quick side story on the bike. I decided to get it last minute, and I was looking at different sites, price checking and seeing what was out there. I also looked on ebay which is where I found the bike. But I've never bought on ebay before, so I had a lesson to learn. I made a bid on a bike, just like Adelynne's, but after I made the bid, I realized that the bidding wouldn't close until the day before her birthday, and that wouldn't be enough time to get her the bike. So then I just went and did the "Buy It Now" option on another bike. I looked at the picture and all the info it had on the bike, and it looked like it would be perfect for Adelynne. The stickers on the bike had flowers and butterflies and the word "Pretty." Very girly, but perfect. When the bike arrived we had to assemble it, and after putting Adelynne to bed, Dustin got to work with the tools. When I took a good look at the bike, I noticed that instead of the word "Pretty" on the stickers, it said "Robust." That's right, "ROBUST." I wasn't sure what to think. The box said "Made in China" so I could only assume that "Robust" is a chinese translation of pretty. But I was not about to let Adelynne ride around on a bike that had "Robust" on four different places on the bike! Call me crazy, but I didn't think that was a very flattering compliment for any girl of any age. Though of course, about 90% of our neighbors are from a different country, and probably about 50% of them are Asian, so maybe none of them would think anything of it. Luckily, they were stickers, so I peeled all of the stickers off that said "Robust." And now it is just a pink bike with flowers on it. But I actually think it looks a little better with just a few flowers instead of all of them. Oh, and on Monday, the 7th, I got an email from ebay, congratulating me on winning the bid for another girl's bike. Hope that one doesn't say "Robust" too.

Adelynne's Birthday

It was Adelynne's 3rd Birthday all day yesterday, and we started celebrating right away. She put on a new outfit from Grandma Biggs and before Daddy went to school she got her first present; a new bed! Adelynne calls it "my big girl bed." Its actually just a toddler bed, but she's been sleeping on just a mattress for several months now, so having an actual frame for her bed is a pretty big deal. (FYI, I found it on Craig's List for $15.00 and when we got to the guy's house to pick it up, he was so nice and just gave it to us for free! Not bad for my first Craig's List experience). Anyway, she was pretty excited about it. I spent the rest of the morning rearranging the girls' room to try and make it fit in just the right place. Dustin went to school to teach his class, and by the time he got back Adelynne had put on a pink dress, changed back into the outfit from Grandma, and then changed into a completely different outfit. If you watch the slideshow you can see that Adelynne changed into another dress by the time our guests arrived for the celebrations. I don't normally let her change throughout the day, but since it was her birthday...

Dustin came home mid morning, so we got on web cam so that Grandma could see Adelynne open up the other gifts that she sent. Adelynne opened up five presents which included barbie dresses made by Grandma, stickers, and princess chalk, and two different leapfrog refrigerator magnet sets. Aunt Amy and Uncle Joe also sent Addie some new sheets to go with her bed. As I watched Adelynne open up these gifts one by one, I was worried that she wasn't very excited about them, but then I started to realize that it wasn't that Adelynne was unhappy with her gifts, it is just that she is a lot like her Dad. (For those of you who know Dustin, this will make a lot of sense). So watching Adelynne was very interesting. I kept waiting to see big smiles and some shouts of exclamation, but nothing. It was hard enough to catch a smile on camera. But after Adelynne was done opening her gifts she was eager to play with the new toys.

The rest of the afternoon I spent baking Adelynne's cake. It was time consuming because I had to place the dough in a special frame for each layer, and then just bake it one round at a time. My stove/oven is not a full size so in order to make sure that my cakes baked evenly, I only baked one layer at a time. I am no cake artist, but I enjoy decorating all the same. I really only go all out for birthdays, so I don't get much practice either. Of course I'm terrible at writing on cakes, and for some reason I thought I would write "Happy Birthday Adelynne" on her cake. The best part was cutting into the cake and seeing all of my hard work in the coolest checkerboard cake ever! And it tasted great too! Adelynne enjoyed everyone singing to her, actually she sang to herself too. I think it was a big deal for her to realize the entire day was just for her. Pizza seems to be the only dinner we don't have to bribe her to eat, so that's what we decided to do for her birthday dinner. With our friends the Aagard's and the Bench's we were a house full of little girls.

After dinner Adelynne opened up more presents from Dustin and I, and Amy too, and one from Minnie. She enjoyed them all. We ended the night with Adelynne's grand finale gift--her new pink bicycle, with a basket! Now for the bike we got a pretty good, split second, smile of excitement which you can catch on the video. And after all of her friends went home, Dustin took her outside to ride her new bike. All of the neighborhood kids commented on her new bike, which I think made her even more excited. I finally got her to come in right before 9pm and get ready for bed. She got to wear her new Little Mermaid nightgown that her Amy gave to her, and I got some pretty happy smiles from her on the camera. All in all, I think Adelynne had a pretty good birthday.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Our 4th of July

To celebrate Independence Day, we got together with our friends and ate and ate, lots of food. The kids played on the playground nearby and the grownups talked and socialized. Some of us even got out the frisbee and tossed it around. We all had a great time just being with our friends. I realize that I didn't get any pictures of anyone but our family, but I got some good ones of us. We didn't stay up for the fireworks because we were so tired-not just the girls, and Dustin and I just figured it wouldn't be worth it this year. Maybe next year when Adelynne is just one year older. I think she will appreciate them better when she's almost four.

We hope everyone else had a great day. And we just want you all to know how grateful we are to live in this country. Although we may not always be pleased with the leaders of our country, we still love this country. We are grateful for the founding fathers who put together our Constitution under the divine influence of our God. And we are grateful for all those past and present who put their lives at liberty to keep us free. May God bless you all!

Today's Story

I don't have any pictures for today, but I just thought I'd write about our day: today Minnie got to stay home with her Mommy, so Adelynne, Amy, and I had a quiet morning at home. Of course the morning did not pass without Adelynne asking if Minnie was coming, (they can't survive without one another). After Amy's morning nap we took off to go swimming with Minnie and Mary, (see, none of us can survive without our daily dose of Minnie-we love her too much). The sun was high in the sky, but unfortunately there it was quite windy, and the water was too cold, at least for Mary and I. Minnie is fearless in the water and she was jumping in the pool before we could blink, and Adelynne slowly followed. Amy was not too fond of the water either, she didn't like the temperature. Mary and I sat and talked and soaked up some sun, Amy ate snacks, and Adelynne and Minnie played in the pool. Adelynne eventually walked away from the edge of the pool and was standing in the middle-a first for her! She was really excited about that. After swimming we went and had lunch at Mary's apartment. It was great to spend the afternoon with our wonderful friends.

After hanging out we went to the store to pick up a few things and then we headed home. We got home and Amy took another nap, and when she woke up we all went outside to play at Adelynne's request. Dustin had come home as well, so he came out to play too. Adelynne jumped on a friends bike and went riding off. She was pedaling down the sidewalk and I was walking beside her, and we were coming to the end of it when Adelynne said, pointing in the correct directions, "That way is right, and that way is left." It kind of took me by surprise, but then I know that Dustin has been trying to teach her too. Then I asked her which way she wanted to go and she wanted to go to the right, so we did. When we got to another cross section of sidewalk, I pointed to the right and told her we could go right or left. "This way is right," I said pointing down the sidewalk to our right, and then she said, pointing back to the "original left" that was behind us now, "And that is left." I thought that was an interesting development. So she doesn't quite get it at each turn, but she's getting there! On our walk Adelynne reminded me, "I almost 3." I asked her what she wanted for her birthday, and like every time I ask her, the first response she gives is, "A bike!" And then she adds, "And it has a basket." Today I figured out why she is so determined to have a basket. Adelynne told me, "Aubree's new bike has a basket too." Aubree is Adelynne's friend. So now we know why she wants a basket.

Our day ended as usual with food, tears, and unrelenting parents (almost). It was a good day, nothing too out of the ordinary, but just a day worth writing about.

Back in Time

I was looking through our old photos and videos and I found this one, which is just precious to me. It is one of my favorites by far. When I watch this video, I feel an immense amount of love for my firstborn, and a small amount of sorrow that she has grown so much. I love my Adelynne!

FHE-Armor of God

So last night being Monday, it was time for Family Home Evening. Since Adelynne and Amy are so young and have very small attention spans, we have very, very short lessons to teach them more about the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the Scriptures. Our helping companion in these lessons is a book called 52 Weeks of Family Night. It has very short little lessons and stories about one topic. Well last nights lesson was on the Armor of God which we can find more about in Ephesians 6:11-17. I decided that I would help Adelynne put on the Armor of God, but of course I had to improvise with things around the house. Dustin's toy sword was about the only thing I didn't have to improvise with, and Adelynne was excited to get to play with it. Adelynne was dressed with the breastplate of Righteousness, the belt of truth, shoes to help her walk in gospel paths, shield of faith, helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit. Adelynne enjoyed being involved with the lesson in such a fun way. And when she was done, Amy wanted her turn as well.  Behold, our warriors of Jesus Christ!

P.S. Adelynne has a blue mouth from a piece of candy that she was eating before the lesson.
And this is Adelynne singing along to our opening song: "I am a Child of God." I was only able to get the chorus on camera.

Amy's cupboard

This is Amy's favorite cupboard in the house. She used to get into it so often that I had to move the dangerous cleaning chemicals out of it, and thought it would be a good idea to store snacks in it. That worked out really well because when she was hungry she'd just get in there and get what she wanted. She's pretty independent. But then we had a small flooding problem one night, and all of our boxed snacks and cereals got ruined, so we had to change that around too. Now it just stores odds and ends that aren't harmful to her. Dustin snapped these the other morning when she was just doing her own thing.

Superheroes or Supervillains?

We rented Meet the Robinsons last week, and Adelynne loved it..... as much as Dustin and I did! Of course like most kids, she wanted to watch it every day, sometimes more than once. She called it the "bad guy movie." And I think that the movie is the mastermind behind these pictures. Dustin does a pretty good imitation of the villain, but Adelynne said she was a hero, and she wanted to fly. We watched it all week long, and Dustin and I were still laughing the last time we watched it. If you haven't seen it, you should go check it out and watch it, even if you don't have kids.

Visitors

On Saturday, June 21st, my Aunt Jill and cousin Lisa-Marie came into town for a visit on their drive from Virginia to California. It was so exciting to have family stay and visit since most of my family lives in California and therefor we don't get many visitors. Well, with our visitors, we planned to show them Purdue campus, and then to go to Columbian Park and go to the zoo. However, despite a week of beautiful weather, Saturday became a day of storm clouds and rain showers. So we had the chance between rain showers to go show them the wonderful fountains at Purdue, but then it began to rain again. We weren't sure what we should do, but then my Aunt said, "Let's go to a thrift store!" Dustin graciously took the girls home for naps, while my aunt and cousin and I went to the local Good Will store for some shopping. I have never had a chance to really browse at the Good Will, and I didn't realize what fun clothes you can find there with some companions and lots of time. We were there for almost 3 hours, and on the way home we stopped at the Silver Dipper for some ice cream. We called Dustin to let him know we were coming home and us girls decided to play a little trick on him. Before we had gone to the Good Will, Dustin "jokingly" said, "Don't buy any big furniture." So when I had Dustin on the phone I said, "Do we have any rope, because we are going to come home and get some for this thing we bought." There was a moment of silence on the phone before Dustin answered me. But we put his fears at ease when we came home with a few bags of clothes. Oh, and Aunt Jill treated Lisa-Marie and I both to the clothes we picked out, Thanks Aunt Jill, you're awesome!
Later that evening Aunt Jill treated us to dinner as well. We ate out at Christos city grill. None of us had been there before, so it was fun to try something new, and it was really great food! The appetizers weren't anything special, but I tried a Gyro-and I would eat that again. My cousin got some tasty ribs, and I tried them and they were great too. AFter dinner we came back to our place and put the girls to bed. Then we had some grown up time and watched August Rush-a cute movie. And of course we three ladies talked late into the night. Yeah for late night chats with the ladies! I had a great time with my aunt and cousin, and I'm hoping it will happen on their next cross country tour. And who knows, maybe the weather will behave next time.

When Amy took her first steps-May 5th 2008

Before we left on our trip on May 7th, Amy wasn't walking yet, but she did take her first steps at the doctors office on May 5th. We have a little footage here of Amy re-taking those first steps. While we were gone Amy learned to really walk. On May 18th we returned to Dustin's parents house after church, and Amy started walking around the house all on her own. She is now practically an expert at walking, but everyone that gets to experience a baby learning to walk, knows how exciting it is to watch the progression.

Potty Talk

Adelynne is potty trained!!!!!!  YAY!!!!  It has taken her about 3 weeks to train, and she has had a couple of set backs, but she goes poop and pee in the potty-in the big potty too!  She has done such a great job, most of the prompting was all on her own.  Sometimes she still asks for a diaper to poop in, but we just tell her diapers are for naps and bedtime, and since she doesn't like either one of those times, she just goes in the potty.  She has earned rewards for all occasions, the first being an Ariel Barbie, and a Hershey's Kiss every time she goes pee in the potty.  For going poopy in the potty she was going to earn ice cream with Daddy.   When she did go poop she came running back outside, (because that's where I was), "Mommy, I went poopy!  I went poopy in the potty!  Now Daddy can take me to get ice cream!"  She certainly did go poop, and our doubts were later put down by the cleanliness of her panties.  So Daddy took her to get ice cream at our neighborhood DQ.  That was on Tuesday, and she has done great since then.  It is so rewarding to have this milestone in Adelynne's life completed.  With Amy I will know that it will happen when she's ready, and not to stress about getting it done.  

At our house you very rarely see Amy without her baby doll. And this is just one of those sweet moments that I caught on camera with Amy taking care of her baby. I also encouraged Amy to kiss the baby and give her hugs. Amy is my baby doll girl--she takes after me, and I'm proud of it! 

Amy loves her baby doll

Kiss the baby Amy, give her a kiss!

pat the baby; pat, pat

Thursday June 19th

An entire entourage of women and children traveled to the Purdue fountain on Thursday, we were quite the crowd! Four moms and 9 kids--all girls minus 1, little Eldon--what a lucky guy! We all had a great time watching the kids run in the fountain or just walk around. I chose not to put not to put Amy in a swimsuit because I knew that she wouldn't get wet and I thought she would benefit from less sun exposure. But she enjoyed walking around and watching the kids play. When I went to get a picture of all the kids, Adelynne was the only one that refused to pose, and instead of joining the kids in a round of "If You're Happy and You Know it..." she danced to their singing. We ate lunch and enjoyed the sunshine and the mist of the fountain, and some of us even got a little wet. We look forward to more fountain trips with our friends!

Our trip to the Purdue fountain June 19th

Amy Dancing

Amy Jensen's Wedding

This is the only picture we got of my sister on our camera because we forgot to bring the camera to the temple, and then when we went to the reception, the battery was low. So we got this one and then some more of the girls dancing. Hopefully my family and friends will be sending me pictures soon so that I can use them on the blog as well. Hope you enjoy what I've got.

Dancing the night away

Amy Crashes

When you aren't at home, sometimes it is difficult to get your kids to take naps. Well this was one of those days where Amy just wouldn't go down for a nap. She wondered around the house all morning eating her new favorite treat--Quaker's Chocolate Crunch Rice Cake. She ended up in Daddy's lap before she finished it, and before too long she just crashed. Nothing could be more comfortable than Daddy's tummy for a nice long (not long enough) nap.

So my mother made not just my girls matching dresses, but all four of her granddaughters matching dresses. And since it was the first time they had all been together, Grandma wanted her picture of them. Well Amy really wasn't up for taking the picture, so Aunt Rachel, (Heather and Katy's mom), bribed them all with little pieces of licorice. So the pictures where the girls are reaching out, they are begging for more licorice. If you can stand to watch them all, you might get a kick of their facial expressions and how there are 12 pictures and not one where they are all smiling at the same time and all looking at the camera.

Never a perfect picture

Farewell to the beard

Well as most of our local friends may know, when we left May 7th for our month long trip, Dustin was sporting a very handsome, full beard. He'd had it since Christmas time, and I actually enjoyed it. But for the sake of a family wedding, Dustin graciously shaved his beard, and of course when you do something like that, you've got to take advantage of enjoying some new looks along the way. Since the beard had to go, Dustin thought maybe he could sport another look, and we were wondering what your opinion is on each of the following options:

Option 1: The goatie

Option 2: Super Mario Mustache

I couldn't look at Dustin with the mustache without laughing hysterically. Anyone else? I still laugh when I see this photo

Daddy and Adelynne playing "Go Fish"-Gotta love the shades, and ignore the shiny lights from Dustin's shirt

Adelynne and Grandma Great's Bunny Trudy


Amy being cute-not hard for her

Adelynne and Ethan enjoying the carseats

These are pictures from our stay at Cold Creek with Grandpa and Grandma Belt--see below for details

Picmic With Adelynne

Last night after a long day of fun in the sun and dinner with friends, Dustin and I began the long drawn out process of putting the girls to bed. There isn't much to it other than putting the girls in clean diapers and pjs, but actually getting them into bed is the part that takes forever. While I nurse Amy and get her into "sleepy mode" Adelynne is usually entertained by Dustin. This takes about an hour before Adelynne goes to bed herself. Well, last night while I nursed Amy, Adelynne was playing by herself while Dustin was working on some school assignment. From my room I could hear Adelynne talking about having a picnic as she ran from her room to the living room collecting kitchen toys. After I got Amy to bed I was putting my own pjs on, when Adelynne came into my room and announced, "Mommy I made a picmic for me and you and Daddy. But we have to wait for Daddy." I asked her what Daddy was doing and she said, "Daddy is playing caputer." She then grabbed my hand and said, "Come on, we have a picmic!" When we got to the living room Adelynne had set up a very cute picnic inside the inflatable swimming pool that we have still not deflated since last Saturday. She had little plates with cups and pretend food. There was a plate with ice cream, a cooked chicken, a mushroom, and a muffin. Daddy went for the chicken, but Adelynne said, "No Daddy, that's for me." So Daddy got the mushroom and I got the muffin and we all pretended to eat our food. When Adelynne wasn't looking I did the 'ol throw the food over my shoulder. When Adelynne saw that my muffin was really gone, her eyes got wide and she had a look of worry on her face. Daddy was backing me up on this endeavor and Adelynne began lecturing me, "Just pretend eat, Mommy!" Well Dustin and I reassured her that I hadn't really eaten the muffin and we showed it to her. Then we all got to share the pretend ice cream as well. It was the best "picmic" we have enjoyed with Adelynne, I think all of her hard work and preparations really paid off, I only wish my picnics had as much success as hers. Happily we ended the picnic by putting Adelynne to bed, and she was happy to go.

Before she's 3?

Last week Adelynne started potty training, and she's still in full force! She's doing a great job with only an accident now and then. She is getting closer to going poop in the potty too. She's got the peepee down pretty good, so Dustin and I are keeping our fingers crossed that she'll be out of diapers by the time she is three--that is only a couple of weeks away! We don't have any secret to our success. We've been trying to do this for months, but Adelynne has had no interest until last Monday when SHE decided that she wanted to wear her panties. Adelynne gets rewarded with a Hershey's Kiss after going potty, (because only chocolate is a good enough reward), and she has already received Arial Barbie for her accomplishments. When she finally goes poop in the potty, Daddy is going to take her to DQ for her choice of ice cream, and she will also get a Cinderella Barbie. WooHoo!! Yeah for potty training and no more diapers!!!!

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.