Way back when....

This is the start of the back blogging. You have been warned.

Way back in August.... So we moved. Like we really moved. We packed up all our things in our tiny little apartment in West Lafayette, Indiana and shoved all of those things into a moving truck that turned out to be significantly too small. Huh, who knew? As our dear friends took our belongings out of the apartment to the truck, it seemed as if more things appeared. Things just seemed to be bleeding from the walls. How did we have so much stuff in that tiny apartment?? Geez! So we had to leave behind the things in our extra storage unit. We packed up and drove out of town on August 3rd. We drove to our new home in Evanston, Illinois. Luckily, and gratefully, our new home is only 3 hours away from West Lafayette, so we were able to arrive in time to have some fantastic help unload our moving truck. We were able to get most of the house set up over the weekend and attend church on Sunday, ANNNND, pack for our trip. That's right, our trip. You know our yearly trip we have taken for the last 6 years, now 7, since we moved to Indiana? The one where we drive all the way to Utah, Nevada, and then California? That trip. On Monday the 6th, we registered the girls for school, and a couple of other tasks, and then we hit the road. Long story short.... we got back to our new home on September 2nd, Aurora's birthday! The terrible thing about the trip, I only have one picture from my camera to show for it; here is proof that we were in Cold Creek on August 16th:

Some highlights from our trip that we really did go on:
- ran a 5K with my sister. It was not a registered race, but a mapped out course just for my sister and I. We both trained all summer to run together. We didn't have a remarkable time, but our goal was to do the distance together without walking, and we did.
- had a birthday party for Aurora and Brek with my siblings and my parents. It was the first time for our family to meet my brother, Mark's, new wife and her twin boys. I was so glad to finally meet my new sister-in-law. And my sister planned a fun Elmo themed party for us all.
- Biggs Family Reunion 2012!
- Stay with Grandpa and Grandma Belt at Cold Creek.
- Belt family Party to celebrate Ronin's 2nd birthday
- visit with Grandma and Papa Great. Saw our former cat, Nemo, who now belongs to my grandparents. He is half the cat he used to be! Looks amazing and is totally happy in his new home.
 - Stayed with Grandpa and Grandma Biggs. Played with cousins.

Some "Excitement"

Tuesday night Dustin and I went to bed and were trying to get to sleep, but Dustin was feeling some pain in his side. He would get up go to the bathroom and come back to bed. Then do it again, and each time he came back to bed he was in more pain. He was becoming more vocal about the pain he was in. Finally I got up to be with him and I found him hugging the toilet. Then he started vomiting. But the vomiting brought no relief from the pain. I was starting to get more and more worried. After throwing up he started pacing the length of the house faster and faster. And then he said that he thought I should take him to the doctor, and I asked, "Now?" And he said yes. I was ready to panic at this point, but I remained as calm as I could be for his sake. I called a home teacher but he didn't answer, (it was 11:30 at night), so I texted him so he would know it was me trying to call. But I was still trying to hurry, so I called the other home teacher. He answered his phone and said he could come in a few minutes. I don't know how far away he lives, but he came 30 minutes later (a very long 30 minutes later). Dustin was getting light headed, he could be still. His pain was awful. The first home teacher called me back and asked what was going on and as I told him my emotions got the better of me and I began crying. He offered any help we needed, but there was nothing else at the moment. As soon as our home teacher arrived Dustin and I got in the van and I drove him to the emergency room. Just before arriving at the hospital I had the impression that Dustin had a kidney stone. Up to this point I had no idea what was going on and I was very scared. But as soon as I had that impression, my fears settled down. But poor Dustin was hurting so badly. When he got admitted into the Emergency Room, the nurses immediately told him he would have to calm down his breathing. Dustin was hyperventilating so badly. The doctor came in and after a quick examination told us that Dustin had a kidney stone. So as soon as Dustin calmed his breathing a little the nurses were able to give him an IV and get his pain medications started. It still took nearly an hour for Dustin to be without severe pain. During which his hyperventilating reached a high when he could no longer feel his hand and his fingers were cramped and purple. Dustin was so pale too. The worst was over after about an hour and a half. But the nurse came back and told us that Dustin's potassium levels were alarmingly low and that he would need some potassium supplements.  The early morning hours were slipping away and after more pain meds and a cat scan the doctor decided to admit Dustin into the general hospital for monitoring. Dustin really was ready to go home when his pain was gone, but he reluctantly stayed. And then he stayed all the next day until a little after 3 they said he could go home. Thankfully, Dustin had a quick recovery and is back to life as normal. I am so grateful for the help we received from our church family, especially our home teachers and visiting teachers. We hardly know them, really, but they came to our rescue and helped out so much. And then we had many offers of help from other ward members. I feel so blessed to have a ward family that is willing and able to help us in our time of need. Our home teacher came to our home and stayed with the girls during the night. He left his wife and infant son at home to come and "watch" our girls. Another friend came and took Aurora on Wednesday morning for a couple of hours so I could get a nap. My visiting teacher brought us dinner and took my load of towels home to wash for me. Tonight she brought them back so nicely folded. My other visiting teacher took Aurora for me this afternoon so I could get the rest of my laundry washed at the laundromat (we don't have a w/d or hookups in our house). That was very nice because I was still tired and I could get the laundry done more efficiently. I've received emails and notices and a few phone calls and I'm so grateful to have the prayers and positive thoughts on Dustin's behalf. I feel so blessed.

Something I needed today

I subscribe to a blog called "The Red Headed Hostess." I admit that when I receive her daily emails, I rarely read them. But today I was emotionally distressed by the news that our van needed a lot of repairs and would cost a lot of money. With our already stringent budget, this brought on me a wave of emotion and I retired to my bed to cry out my concerns. My mouth uttered no prayer, nor did I address God as I cried out in my heart for my family's needs. I just cried into my pillow. But then I heard the all too familiar "ding" of my email notification. My immediate thought was to ignore the email and read it later. But I didn't. I opened my email and saw this: Daily Bread Posted: 07 Nov 2012 09:16 PM PST I used this story in Gospel Doctrine a few weeks ago, and I just keep thinking about it. It is by Elder Christofferson, and I can’t tell you how applicable this quote has been in my life lately and I am so grateful I found it. So I thought to share it with you. Some of you may need it now, and others may need it in the future. Here you go: Trust in the Lord—Solutions May Come over Time Some time before I was called as a General Authority, I faced a personal economic challenge that persisted for several years. It did not come about as a consequence of anyone’s wrongdoing or ill will; it was just one of those things that sometimes come into our lives. It ebbed and flowed in seriousness and urgency, but it never went away completely. At times this challenge threatened the welfare of my family and me, and I thought we might be facing financial ruin. I prayed for some miraculous intervention to deliver us. Although I offered that prayer many times with great sincerity and earnest desire, the answer in the end was “No.” Finally I learned to pray as the Savior did: “Nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42). I sought the Lord’s help with each tiny step along the way to a final resolution. There were times when I had exhausted all my resources, when I had nowhere or no one to turn to at that moment, when there was simply no other human being I could call on to help meet the exigency before me. With no other recourse, more than once I fell down before my Heavenly Father begging in tears for His help. And He did help. Sometimes it was nothing more than a sense of peace, a feeling of assurance that things would work out. I might not see how or what the path would be, but He gave me to know that, directly or indirectly, He would open a way. Circumstances might change, a new and helpful idea might come to mind, some unanticipated income or other resource might appear at just the right time. Somehow there was a resolution. Though I suffered then, as I look back now, I am grateful that there was not a quick solution to my problem. The fact that I was forced to turn to God for help almost daily over an extended period of years taught me truly how to pray and get answers to prayer and taught me in a very practical way to have faith in God. I came to know my Savior and my Heavenly Father in a way and to a degree that might not have happened otherwise or that might have taken me much longer to achieve. I learned that daily bread is a precious commodity. I learned that manna today can be as real as the physical manna of biblical history. I learned to trust in the Lord with all my heart. I learned to walk with Him day by day. -Elder D. Todd Christofferson CES Fireside, Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread, January 9, 2011 I read in complete amazement. I cried more tears, but this time tears of comfort and relief. God heard my cries. He heard my unasked prayer, He heard the words of my heart. And he sent relief, immediate relief. My money problems aren't solved, but I have been given a reminder to have faith and endure my trials. I am so grateful for the peace and comfort I received this morning.

Belt's and Bench's. More in common than you might think.

Just back blogging from way back at the end of July when we spent an evening with some of our BFFs, the Bench Family. We love this family dearly and miss our more frequent interactions with them. They will be moving to Utah in December and so our interactions will be reduced to facebook statuses and an occasional Christmas letter perhaps a yearly visit. :( Well, we hope not, but that's certainly the reality. Ugh. Sometimes change sucks!! And when I say suck, I mean it hurts, like your heart is breaking kind of hurt. We have made so many wonderful memories with the Bench Family. Doreen has been the kind of friend to me that everyone should long to have. I am so grateful to know them and claim them as friends. Here are some pictures of our evening with the Bench's before we moved.

Amy's BFF. Amy LOVES Sabrina. Before Amy even understood what playing meant, she had figured out how to play with Sabrina. I wish these two could grow up together. They are so alike its funny.

The Big Sisters. Aubree is about 14 months older than Adelynne, but they have always been great friends and played so well together. Aubree's love of reading always inspires Adelynne, (and me too)!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE

The baby sisters. This is the best picture I could get from them. No hugging picture, but really, these two girlies (just weeks apart in age), LOVE each other SO much. They play so well together, just like Amy and Sabrina did at such a young age. They are so excited to see each other and play together. I think their favorite thing to do together is go into their room and surround themselves with books and read to each other. One of them will "read" to the other, and then they both will bust out laughing. This play will go on for 20 or 30 minutes. Its got to be one of the cutest things anyone could ever see.

All 6 girlies

The Belt and Bench Families. Aren't those two guys so blessed to be surrounded by so many gorgeous ladies?!

Adelynne's 7th Birthday

For Adelynne's 7th Birthday we had a "beach party." We got the biggest (affordable) inflatable pool we could find (believe me the pickins were slim), a sand station, beach umbrella, slip n' slide, beach balls, water guns, a water balloon fight, piñata, and a yummy lunch. It was a hot day, but I think everyone stayed pretty cool in the shade and with the water. The kids really had a great time!

Cake time! (Left to right: Olivia, Sung ju, Clayton, Adelynne, & Ana).

The girls in the pool pre- party time. (This picture was taken with my phone).

The party goers! Left side, front to back: Ashley, Olivia, Sung ju, Clayton, Adelynne, Kristen. Right side, front to back: Kelsey, Aubree, Sabrina, Amy, Aubrey A., and Bliss.

Adelynne's Actual Birthday. Wearing her beautiful birthday dress made by Grandma Biggs.

She's so beautiful and smart! 

I'm so grateful to be Adelynne's Mom! I am blown away that my baby is 7 years old! She is such a sweet girl. She wants to make others happy and be liked by everyone. She is very sensitive to the feelings of those around her, at home especially.  She hates to upset others and will cry when she realizes that she has hurt someone else. She is helpful and kind to me and her sisters. She enjoys singing and dancing and swimming. Adelynne also enjoys playing games and drawing and some reading. I love her so much!

I've been avoiding you

I really have been avoiding the blog. I haven't done much reading of blogs either. I can't really say why I have, but I just haven't really wanted to make any posts. Our little family had a great trip out to visit our families, and we've been back now about 3 weeks. We are definitely enjoying our new house, but its been a difficult transition, emotionally, especially for me. I mostly just feel lost, I guess.

The girls are doing very well though, and I'm thankful for that.

Family Pictures 2012

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I'm a cluster blogger.

Enjoy posts April through May. If you want chronological order start down and scroll up.

Adelynne's last day of 1st grade.

Adelynne's last day of the 1st grade was May 25th. She almost didn't go because she came home with a fever and sore throat the day before. I actually took her late to school the last day because she still wasn't feeling well, but she didn't want to miss her last day. She was able to perk up after breakfast and an easy (rather than rushed) morning.

Look how long her hair has grown!

This was her first day of 1st grade. She has changed!

A close-up:

First day close-up:

Adelynne and her teacher Mrs. Tammy Younts. She was an AMAZING teacher and I am so grateful that Adelynne had her as her 1st grade teacher.

Adelynne doing her morning work with her class mates: L to R at the table: Ana, Itsuki, Adelynne, Spencer, Justice.

More of Adelynne's classmates: Marissa, Dana, Itsuki, Olivia, Jordan, Hassan. (The girl sitting at the other table looking on is Amina).

Floor time!

Blowing bubbles! Ana and Adelynne. These two girls have been best friends (BFF) all year long. Ana is the sweetest girl and we sure love her. Adelynne misses her so much with school being out!

Putting herself to sleep

I started a job at the YMCA working a shift two days a week from 2/3- 10 pm. Aurora doesn't always like to go to sleep without me around, so this is what Dustin has resorted to doing on those more difficult nights. He sets Aurora in our lazy boy, gives her a blanket, her baby dolls, and sometimes her bunny. She refuses to let Dustin hold her, and will in fact yell at him to get out of the chair so she can sit there. Dustin finds it quite humorous and took this picture. She sure is a good source of entertainment!

In May...

Monday, May 14th, our family plus Grandpa and Grandma Belt took a road trip to Evanston, Il. We all wanted to check out Northwestern University, and look around Evanston to scout out any potential places to rent. On our trip we discovered that NW is right on the beach of Lake Michigan. We decided to have some fun on our trip and play at the beach. The girls were SO happy. It was a beautiful day to picnic on the lake and play in the sand. The water was very cold, so no one was swimming, but we did at least stick our feet in the water. We mostly had fun with the sand. It really was a great day trip, and it made us all excited about our upcoming move.

Here is the beach that is on Northwestern campus. You can see Chicago in the distance. Isn't it awesome?! We played on the beach just over that rock divider.

And Adelynne lost a tooth! I helped it a little, but she was SO excited! The first thing she said after I pulled it out was, "I can't wait to show Grandpa Biggs so he can call me Toothless Goofus!"

I love that scrunchie face and her tongue sticking out!

The girl's castle/river creation.

David and Mable Belt at Lake Michigan.

In May...

Dustin graduated!! Dustin's wonderful parents came out to celebrate Dustin's achievement. They have been some of our biggest supporters throughout these last six years, and we are forever grateful. They have been saving to come out to Indiana for this exact reason, and it was a great joy to have them be here with us. Dustin's graduation ceremony was also on Mother's Day. So Happy Mother's Day to me! :)  I am a very proud wife. The ceremony was 3 hours long, we definitely should have left after Dustin was hooded, especially since he was at the beginning.

Dustin's wonderful parents. We were so glad to have them share this special day with us!

A hug from his mom.

I know, a pitiful amount of pictures taken on this day, but I just wanted to enjoy it. I never did take a "Mother's Day" photo with my girls either. But there's a picture of me from my Mother's Day 2012.

And a Dance Recital!

Here are the girls all dolled up for their dance recital. We are waiting impatiently for the recording to come in the mail. The girls did such a great job. Amy wanted to just do ballet this year, and although she was 2 weeks late to the class, she proved to learn very quickly and VERY well. She was the best dancer in her class! I was one proud mama, that's for sure. I really had a ton of fun doing the their hair and make-up. I probably did more make-up than I should have, but I loved it! Plus, good eye make-up is important for stage performances, right? The girls had a great time too. Adelynne's dance class was hip/hop and jazz combo. Her dance was done to the song from the movie Rio, "Fly like an Eagle." She did so well too. It was really great to see how much she had improved in her dance skills. She really loves dancing.

Back in April.... Amy had a birthday, what?!

Amy girl turned 5! FIVE!! It is so unbelievable to me that to this day when people ask how old she is I am still saying that she is 4 and then correcting myself. Since Amy had a big party last year, she didn't have one this year. She did have a sleep over though. Her best friend, Sabrina was supposed to come over, but she and her sisters got very sick and were not able to come. But our neighbor/friend, Clayton came over and spent the night and Amy was happy about that. But before the sleepover began, our favorite neighbors and dear friends, the Iddings family came over and had cake and ice-cream with us. Their son, Dylan is another of Amy's best friends. In fact Dylan and Amy have a bit of a crush on each other. :) The draw each other pictures all the time that have hearts all over them and a boy and a girl holding hands. It is pretty cute. We did celebrate Amy's birthday starting on Friday (for the sleep over), but also because Dustin was leaving town on Sunday, her actual birthday, for a week. (He went to a conference at Yale. On Saturday night I stayed up late and decorated the apartment so that when Amy woke up on her actual birthday it would still be special for her. Some of the decorations are still up. :) Amy picked out this cake. She wanted the cake with a crown and wand. She was VERY excited about her cake. Some things about Amy at 5 years old: - Her "nick name" is "Amy Girl." - She still loves princesses, fancy clothes, dress-ups, crowns, skirts, dresses, etc. - Favorite color: pink and yellow. But if choosing between the two, she will choose yellow. - Favorite food: macaroni and cheese. - Ariel is her favorite Disney Princess - chocolate is her favorite treat - Dylan and Sabrina are her best friends - Little Mermaid is her favorite movie (although she loves to watch Barbie movies a lot) - Loves the Bubble Guppies on Nick Jr. - A is her favorite letter. - Her favorite thing to do is watch TV - Hippo is still her favorite toy - She picks her nose a little too much - She only wants to do something when she wants to do it. Persuasion doesn't usually work. - She is very sensitive and will cry or have hurt feelings easily if someone gets upset with her. - She loves playing at friend's houses and is always grumpy when I come to get her. - She loves making people happy and she really is a sweet and loving child. She is shy about making new friends, but she is excited when she does make a new friend. Amy really brings a lot of fun and brightness to our home and our family. I often call her my sunshine girl because when she is happy she just lights up the room and brings a smile to my face. She loves to love on her baby sister. Aurora is not necessarily fond of all the love from Amy, but Amy still loves to cuddle her. Amy enjoys giving Adelynne hugs too, and wants so much to please those around her.

Back in April...

 Easter pictures! (April 8, 2012) Not a moment too soon, right? Adelynne and Amy are once again wearing the dresses that my mother made for my sister and I on an Easter long ago. And my mom made one for Aurora too so she could match. The girls are so darling in them, they look like princesses. When Adelynne put her dress on for the first time on Easter morning she declared, "I might actually like this one!" Ha! She has loved all of the dresses from her Grandma.

I love Aurora's face in this one:

(April 13th). I had to snap some pictures of Aurora in this outfit because its one of my favorites, and she won't be able to wear it much longer since she is growing so much. I wish she would keep the cute little headband on longer than 2 minutes because it completes her outfit so well, but she doesn't. At least she left it on for pictures.

Again, her cute little scrunchie face. Oh I love it so much!