Yet another day.... of pictures: May 22nd and 23rd

On Friday we picked up Uncle Joe from his work, and then he and Amy treated all of us to a movie: Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D. It was a great movie, and the girls were great. Adelynne sat enthralled the entire movie through and never even took off her glasses. Amy did end up in Dustin's lap and also took off her glasses about 1/2 the way through, but then she stayed on his lap and watched the rest of the movie with no problems. We had some down time before the movie started, and although I don't have any pictures, Amy and I enjoyed some Dance, Dance, Revolution competition. It was a lot of fun just being silly.
Family picture with Bob the blob
After the movie we went and walked around the new Oquirre Mountain Temple. I haven't posted pictures, because a few weeks later we came back and walked through it with family during the open house. But afterwards we went to Salt Lake City to take the girls to Temple Square for a quick walk around the temple. I was able to get some really beautiful pictures of the temple.
At the reflecting pool
The sun setting behind the temple


Adelynne was in princess heaven. We saw about 5 or 6 brides as we walked around.
If you look very closely you can see a bride in the background... probably a foreshadow of her future?
The traditional pedestal
Amy wasn't happy about it. hmm.
Joe and Amy
Kiss, kiss.
An eternal family
After walking around temple square we met up with Dustin's brother Cary at his work. He took us on a tour of office. He works for a company that designs video games for Electronic Arts (EA). Cary really enjoys his job and he gave us all a great tour. Then we went up to Cary's house and had dinner with his wife Cindy and there daughters Jenny, Wendy, and Rachel. Adelynne and Amy had a great time with Wendy and Rachel, who played wonderfully with them. I'm glad that the girls enjoyed playing with their cousins, even if they are 12+ years older than them. Actually, Wendy and Rachel have two nieces, (yes, Dustin and I are great uncle and aunt), that are about the same age as our girls.
Silly girls
Rachel wanted a kiss from Adelynne
Amy borrowed her cousins shoes
oh, Rachel!
It was a really wonderful evening with family. I'm so glad we were able to visit with Cary, Cindy, Wendy, and Rachel. We haven't seen any of them since we moved to Indiana in 2006. It was also fun to introduce my brother in-law, Joe, to Cary because Cary sings in the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, and Joe plays the Tuba for the Tabernacle Orchestra. We wish that we could see them more often and know them better, but we are grateful for the love and friendship we have from them now.
Before leaving town on Saturday, we met up with Dustin's nephew Brian and his wife Jessica. Brian is Cary's son. Brian and Jessica were married last year, but unfortunately we couldn't make it to their wedding. So we had never met Jessica. We met up with them on BYU campus where they both work. Jessica was so sweet and kind, and I'm so glad we finally were able to meet her. Brian was the first of the kids in his family that I met after Dustin and I were married. He's not much younger than I am, so its weird to think of him as a nephew. And even more weird that he has an older brother with two girls almost the same age as my two.

A day of pictures: May 21, 2009

When we visited campus the day before, I made sure that we all got some BYU gear. Here's Adelynne showing off the new clothes.

I had my sister snap some family photos of us all in our BYU gear. The girls weren't cooperating very well.

but then, neither were we.

um, what?

Amy is climbing a tree?

ha! no more pictures for these girls!

Later that day we went to the Bean Museum on BYU campus.

For some reason, I'm a fan of the moose. I just like mooses, who doesn't. Maybe its the word moose, I don't know, but I like them.

Some weird male bird with breasts.

If you can't tell, this butterfly is made up of lots of little butterflies. Pretty cool, eh?

Amy playing with the animals in the kid's room at the museum. Looking at this picture, I am amazed that she appears to not have very much hair. Since we've come home to Indiana, many friends have remarked at how much hair she now has. It must have come in during June, it seems to have snuck up on us.

My girls have an interest in alligators/crocodiles. So they had a job of finding the crocodile at the museum. They were pretty excited to find it.

My sister, Amy, and the Russian bear. (It is significant for my sister because that is where she served part of her mission--in case you didn't know).

The massive elephant that I thought for sure was a fake. But no, it once was a living elephant.

Intrigued by the video about elephants.... and tired.

Lost in thought.

After the Bean Museum we went over to the Provo Temple. Just outside the gates of this temple, Dustin popped that magical question to me. awww!

The big fir/pine/whatever kind of evergreen tree it is, on the south-easternish side of the temple.

It was another wonderful day with my sister and our family. The girls loved the museum as much as we adults did, and walking around the temple was, of course, a calming and sweet reminder of how wonderful families are.

A day of pictures: (Mostly) May 20th

Aunt Amy is the best!

Amy loves playing peek-a-boo with the door at Aunt Amy's house

We visited BYU campus...

and ate ice cream at the creamery on 9th

We played at the playground

and helped fly this awesome Chinese kite

It was a perfect day for kite flying!

Our first full day with Aunt Amy and Uncle Joe in Orem was wonderful and relaxing. I loved spending time with my sister and reminiscing my old days at the Y.

Beginning of a long story

We left West Lafayette, Indiana early the in the morning on May 15 and made a pleasant, yet long drive through, the rest of Indiana, Illinois, and most of Nebraska. We drove highway 74 to highway 80 west so as to avoid going through Chicago. Adelynne and Amy were great passengers, playing well with new trinkets set aside specifically for this trip, eating snacks, singing and talking. We made plenty of stops at grassy and shady rest stops for potty breaks and a chance to stretch our legs. We made it all the way to North Platte, Nebraska on our first night-which I might add, some say was a long shot for one day of driving. But we made it with energy to spare as we all went for a swim in the hotel swimming pool. We went to bed late and got up early again in preparation for another long day of driving. The second day in the car was not as fun, and for me, just slightly torturous. We spent most of the day driving through Wyoming, which wasn't much fun since the rest stops were not grassy nor shady, but rather windy and weedy instead. We didn't have luck finding a McDonald's with a playplace either. The girls were sick and tired of the car, Dustin and I were tired of the drab scenery and of listening to whiny background music, but we pushed on.

We decided to make our first visit with family in Laramy, Wyoming. Dustin's grandmother lives in a tiny, old home right on the main street of the little town. We hadn't seen Grandma Spann since August of 2006. Little Amy had never met Grandma Spann, and Adelynne certainly didn't remember her. Grandma Spann was expecting us and greeted us with open arms and a wonderful sweet smile that only a grandma can give. Little Amy seemed to know that this was a "kindred spirit" and went right into the arms with a huge smile on her face, and no misgivings whatsoever. I was glad to see Grandma Spann receive such a greeting from Amy. But if she expected one from the older, more mature child, she was sadly disappointed. Adelynne would have nothing to do with her great-grandmother.

But Adelynne, and the rest of us enjoyed a short, sweet visit with Grandma Spann, as well as with Aunt Marie (Grandma's oldest daughter). The girls enjoyed the big backyard, which did have grass, as well as a swing and a trampoline. The trampoline was the favorite, even I joined the girls in some good bouncing. We didn't stay very long, or long enough, as we wanted to end our day down in Happy Valley, Utah with my sister. So after a short time we loaded back into the car and finished the marathon drive in Orem at my sister, Amy's apartment.

I do want to put in a little side note here, that throughout the driving journey, little Amy insisted on using the potty every time we made a stop. She continued to wear a diaper throughout the journey, but she would use the toilet every time we stopped. Neither Dustin or I changed one poopy diaper for four days, since she continued to use the toilet when we stopped in Utah. Our excitement for the possibility of her being potty trained was unfortunately, short-lived. But it was a nice while it lasted!

Still around

Well, we've been gone for 4 weeks now!  WOW!  Actually, Dustin is back in Indiana, while the girls and I remain in California until July 5th.  I have so many pictures and things to post, but I'm lazy.  I don't really want to download my pictures on to my parents computer right now, and everything I have to say would be more interesting if I had pictures to accompany the narration.  So I'm just letting you know that we are having a great time with our families.  We do miss all of our wonderful friends in Indiana, and we are sorry to be missing out on your lives-especially those of our friends who won't be in Indiana much longer!  It is bittersweet to be here without you all.  The girls are loving their grandparents and cousins, and can't get enough of them all.  We hope everyone is doing well.

Mother's Day 2009

I had Dustin snap some pictures of the girls and I before church. It was a wonderful day for me. I enjoyed a peaceful morning while Dustin played with the girls and helped them make me cards. I also had the chance to look over pictures of my first couple of years of motherhood. Oh, how my angels have blessed my life with such joy and love! I couldn't ask for a better place to be in my life than being a mother to my beautiful daughters.





Here is a look into the past of my previous Mother's Days.  
My first Mother's Day.  2006
Around Mother's Day 2007

Mother's Day 2008.
Mother's Day 2009

The garden

This is our garden. My friend, Kim, and I are doing it together, and with a lot of help from Dustin and some child care from David (Kim's husband), we have had a successful start.

This is what the plot looked like before we dug, and tilled, and hoed, and dug some more.
These are the rows we made for planting, we've added a few more since this picture was taken.  But you can see on the first row that our lettuce came in!  It only took a few days for it to sprout.  

The fenced in garden.  Isn't it great?  

Addition to the last post because I remembered...

"Airfort."

Adelynne has been on an airplane so many times in her short life, but now that Amy is 2, buying four plane tickets is a little tough on our non-existent budget. But I was talking to Adelynne and telling her that we were going to go visit our grandma's and grandpas, and she was like, "yeah, we can go to the airfort and ride on a plane!" I told her we were going to drive because it was too much money to go on an airplane. She said, "We can take all the money back and then go to the airfort." It didn't make any sense, and still doesn't, but I thought it was cute that she said it.

"Valentination."

Adelynne received an invitation to a birthday party. She opened it up and exclaimed, "Wow! Its a valentination!" Can you figure out which words she combined? Its pretty easy, and pretty darn cute!