More pictures

Belle is getting so big lately. At her 4 month appt. she was 12 lbs 2.5 oz and 23 in long. She is now in the 25 percentile for weight so she is getting bigger! She rolls all over to find toys or whatever else may be nearby. She can laugh and giggle like crazy-she thinks her parents are the funniest people ever. Here she is with Grandpa Carl. They had matching outfits for church so we took some pictures. I made her the little purple dress and flower a couple weeks ago (its really a tank top for summer but it was a little long so she wore it as a dress first). I made a matching flower for me too that I wore on my purple sweater.

Tiffany was the Valedictorian for Quincy this year (there were actually 3 kids that all were Co-Valedictorian). She gave a great speech at graduation. She is off to BYU in Utah this fall and we are so sad she is leaving :(

Belle's Blessing Day

Belle was blessed on May 2. We had a lot of family come for that day. All of my sibling were able to be there. Bart's family (my brother) came since we found an incredible deal on airfare for the weekend. Janet (Jarod's mom), Aaron (Jarod'sbrother), and Jim's family (Jarod's brother) were able to come too. We are so grateful to everyone for making this a special day and travelling far just to be with us. She was so sweet and cute on that day (during church anyway). I am so glad we were able to get some pictures because she really wasn't too happy.

My mom made her blessing dress. It was beautiful with layers and layers of sheer fabric and lace. She stayed up until 4 am the night before to finish it up-what a great grandma!

Belle was somewhat content if we let her chew on the ribbons and lace.

Sweet baby and daddy. Jarod gave Belle a beautiful blessing. I am so glad I have an amazing husband who is able to do that for his children.

Scott and Kylie's Wedding

We are so happy for Scott and Kylie (don't they look so cute with all the kids).

Belle eventually went to sleep (after much fussing, eating, spitting up all over her and me-thank goodness you couldn't tell)

Belle is frowning a little bit but I great family picture.

She looks a little bit less upset in this photo.

All the Yeates kids.

And the whole Yeates fam!

I definitely have the cutest, sweetest baby girl!

So much to catch up on!

Jarod has become a farm boy! Here is the group of guys that took on the task of making the young bulls we had into steers (hopefully everyone knows what that entails so i don't have to explain it). We even invited the missionaries over to help so they could tell their families all about life on the farm.

My adorable sister, Tiffany, all ready for prom. Her dress was gorgeous and so was she!

Emotions

This month has been a good month but an emotional month too. Jarod and I were able to go to Utah and attend my brother Scott's wedding. He married a wonderful girl, Kylie, that we are happy to now call our sister. The wedding was beautiful and the weather cooperated wonderfully on their day. It was so good to be in the temple with all of my family and hear the great message from the temple sealer-he said such amazing things. The temple is such a special place to be and I also feel such a strong re-conviction of my testimony. Sealings are especially wonderful to go to because it really reiterates that the entire gospel is about families being eternal-which is what I constantly think about. Jarod and I also decided we wanted to move Hope home to Quincy the weekend we were down there. The funeral home we have worked with for everything has been fantastic (Serenicare), their fees are extremely low but their services are above and beyond. They helped us set everything up and we brought Hope home with us. I really didn't like having her down in Utah and not being able to visit her grave, and we know that no matter where we go in the future we will always be coming back to Quincy to visit so we decided this was the best place to bring her. We purchased a plot next to my grandparents (and eventually parents) graves and dedicated her grave on Tuesday. It was so emotional to see her little casket again and know this she is not here to be with us. It was a bittersweet moment at the cemetery with Jarod dedicating her new grave. We still miss her so much and think about her every second of every day. In addition to all of this, Hope would have been 18 months old next Monday. I keep thinking about how she would be old enough to start nursery this month-wow. I still wonder what her personality would have been like and what she would have looked like by now. We are so happy we have Belle with us but it makes us realize even more what we missed with Hope. I am so glad for the gospel in our lives and for this Easter season that we get to reflect upon our Savior and what he did for us so we can return to our Heavenly Father and be families forever.

Easter!

Here is Belle on Easter morning with her basket from the Easter Bunny. She was very excited if you can't tell.

She got a lot of cute board books-including Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit and a Little Mermaid bathtub book. She also got a cute huge chick!

She thought the chick was great and even grabbed it for the picture.

These are the candy Easter Eggs that my family makes every year. My Grandma Winder (Maxine, for who Hope is named after) made these every year and they have continued to be a tradition in our family. My mom said the family has been making them for about 40 years! We made four kinds this year: coconut, chocolate, chocolate with pecans, and peanut butter. Tiffany and Jarod worked hard at making the flowers and carrots, each one represents a certain flavor so you can tell them apart. They are so yummy and it always makes me think of my grandmother when we make them.