The Belt Way

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Easter 2013: Pictures

*gasp!* My girls are wearing store bought dresses! Gramma was just super busy this year, but its okay, cause I like shopping! :) We did enjoy celebrating Easter, just our family. I am so grateful for Jesus Christ. I know he is the Savior of every person on this earth. I know that because of His Atonement, we are saved and can be with our loved ones again and be with Him again. I am so glad to know that this life is not the end of our existence. Jesus was resurrected, He did rise the third day, and HE LIVES! And because He lives, we will live again after our mortal death.

Saturday, June 29, 2013

February 2013: I chopped off my hair

I was supposed to be doing laundry at the laundromat, but I made an impulse decision and went to get my haircut. I had been thinking about cutting it and wanting to get it cut for months. I thought about a pixie cut for at least a year if not more, but I was always too scared to go that drastic with my hair. It is REALLY hard to get my hair this long, and it wasn't that healthy being this long. But the thing I was most excited about was that I was able to donate my hair to Locks of Love. I've never done that before. I hope someone gets to enjoy my lovely hair. :)

And here's me with SHORT hair!

It was fun and mostly easy, just wash and go. I haven't cut it at all since this first cut.

Most everyone has like my hair short. I like it most of the time. But I want it longer again. Not as long as it was, but to my shoulders would be great.

February 2013. We got a dog in December

So, in case you didn't pick up on it, we got this cute little puppy in December. We brought her home December 3rd. At first we named her Hallie, but that just wasn't working for me. We quickly came up with another name: Zhu Zhu. She is a Shih tsu, tri colored. She has a super sweet personality and just loves people of all sizes/ages. We named her Zhu Zhu after a children's toy called Zhu Zhu Pets. When we first got her she was only 4.5lbs and like a living Zhu Zhu Pet. :) Dustin looked up what zhu zhu means and found out it means "little pig" which was/is very fitting. Because she was so small she could not breathe through her nose without snorting like a pig. She has since grown quite a bit (last weigh in was 12.5lbs), so she no longer snorts, but she still has her little piggy nose. House training her was a pain, but we have had an easy time teaching her some fun tricks. We just returned from a 2 week trip to California and back and we took her with us. She did great on the road and since we've been home (a week now), she is completely house trained.

I completely adore her and really enjoy having a dog again. She is a great little doggy to have in our family.

January 2013

Whadayaknow, I turned 30!

-A new friend of mine here in Evanston threw me a party. SO nice and amazing of her. She invited people from church so I could get to know them better. It was a really nice evening filled with very nice ladies.

-I made this Snickerdoodle cake. It was good.

-I really did kind of start having a mini melt down thinking of being 30. It made me think and evaluate what I had accomplished in the last 10 years, and could I do any better with the next 10 years.
-It was much better turning 30 than 29 due to the fact that I did not blow out my back! Yay!

January 27th:

This happened getting ready for church:

Aurora sure has great fashion!

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

Christmas Part 4: Fun in Chicago

We took Joe and Amy to see Chicago. It was cold, very cold, but we still had fun. Here are the highlights:

The Cloud Gate

or as its more commonly known, the bean:

On the drive to and from Chicago we could see Lake Michigan and it looked like a stormy ocean. The water was dark and grey and the wind was tossing the water about with strong waves. It was almost frightening to see.

We didn't go ice skating, but in front of the bean is this ice skating rink that is free to skate on with your own skates, or you can rent skates.

The Lego store!

And REAL Chicago pizza. And we like it meaty. YUM!

Pizza time!

Monday, April 8, 2013

Christmas 2012 Part 3

Christmas Morning:

Big girls are out of bed and anxious to get their hands on some Christmas loot!

Checking everything out:

Oooh! A letter from Santa, and he ate the cookies!

The stockings!

Slippers from their stockings:

Checking things out, not sure why she's looking in this fluffy sock for stuff:

Oooh, score! She found some chocolate! (P.S. Aldi Christmas chocolates, although cute with its yuletide wrapping and all, tastes horrible):

Quick story: Amy has been asking for this doll since 2011. She scoured the room for gifts for her and was really upset when none of her gifts looked big enough to be THIS doll. She was nearly heartbroken. But Gramma and Grampa did send the doll. They were just tricky because they took the doll out of her original container for the purpose of shipping. Amy was THRILLED to say the least upon opening up this gift.

Do you see that smile?

Post gift happiness. This is why we go through all the trouble. So worth it.

And Aunt Amy made all of us our own aprons. This is the one she made for Aurora. AMAZING!! They are all amazing. The girls love their aprons, Aurora calls hers a bib, but still, she loves it.

Adelynne, with the very gift she'd been asking for. Thanks again, Gramma and Grampa!

One more picture of Amy (it got out of order). This is the hug of joy. You know Amy loves it when she hugs it.

Dustin modeling his apron. Zhu Zhu needed to go outside so Dustin took her out just like this. And yes, he's wearing shorts. My man is awesome, pure awesome.