A day in Cold Creek with the Belt family

Our first full day in Cold Creek, Nevada we had a great visit with three of Dustin's siblings plus their beautiful children. Adelynne and Amy were ecstatic to see their cousins! We all had a great time and we are really grateful that they would all take time out of their busy lives to come see us during our visit.

This is Lauryn, probably thinking, "Who's the weirdo with the camera?"

You might know who this is

And them... so cute!

Tesa

Sarah (big sister to Tesa)

the girls eating dinner

Kristina, Hunter (the baby), Matthew (in black), and Zach (in green), with their friend (I forgot his name).

This is Ellie (big sister to Lauryn)

And Grandma Belt! She was a fantastic cook and fed us all extremely well. We love every minute we have with her, and are very anxious for our next visit.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any more photos. Just the kids and Grandma. But also in attendance was Darryl and Donna (parents to Sarah and Tesa), Melissa (mother of Ellie and Lauryn), Keila (mother to Kristina, Zach, Matthew, and Hunter), Grandpa Belt, and Great Aunt Donna.

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.