Sand Dunes

Logan kept calling the motorhome "the bus, lets go on the bus"

We like to take short trips once in a while and in April we did a little 2 day trip to the sand dunes. We are members of Toyshare where we can use our points for 4-wheelers, motorhomes, waverunners, snowmobiles and more-so far it has been a wonderful experience. Since I am 6 months pregnant I couldn't be the daredevil I usually am so I layed low and just hung out. Logan had a blast and if asked he would say "I went on a big hill." Our buddies the Burghardts also went with us and Nathan and Logan got pretty dirty in the sand-the first thing we did when we got home was bath them and clean them up.

Boys Boys Boys

It was Jazz night at the Belchers and everyone brought their boys...

1st Movie

Logan sat through his first movie Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who- He did great especially with his bucket of popcorn. His first movie as a baby was Mission Impossible III and he slept through the action packed movie which was amazing.

Crane Expo in Vegas

Week of March 15. This big event takes place every 3 years in the U.S. the other years it is in Asia and Europe so we were so excited to find out it would be in Vegas. We booked our hotels a year in advance-talk about planning (so unlike the Belchers) and here we are amidst this crazy convention. The machines were gigantic and we have one of our new cranes displayed-we were so proud. I was so lucky that I got to entertain the Wennsheimers our good friends from Michigan so I got to have all the fun-day spa, shopping and the Beatles "Love" show which was amazing.

Vendors who wanted our business took us out so we never had to pay for a meal-the first night I came to town was Wednesday and we went to the Wynn's upidy Tableau resturant for dinner. I had some surf and turf and then the coolest dessert ever-a sampling of pies-I thought it was so cool because they came out as mini pies. Then the next night we had Benihana's and I feel like I should become a vegetarian because I don't think I can eat another steak. But of course when we go to a famous Steak House the next night what do I order but another Filet-yikes! So that night I wasn't feeling so hot or at least the little baby in my belly was like WHAT ARE YOU EATING??? So many rich flavors and sauces...it got to me and I was down for the count Friday night and all of Saturday-so I flew home instead of driving home with Paul. My doctor said it was all the unusual food I had been eating-oops. Besides the bad ending we had a fabulous time-I missed out on seeing everyone on Saturday (we had booked out a flight from Salt Lake to Vegas with employees and customers to go for the day-)we all had matching shirts and all.

Enrichment

We celebrated the Relief Society's birthday with having themed birthday cakes for each table-check out the talented ladies in our ward. I thought they were great!!! Here were some of them:

An awesome camping cake by Lauren Fowler:

Creative Garden cake by Cassie Martindale:

"Go BYU" Football cake by Marilyn Hawk:

Halloween cupcakes by Jamie Kevern:
4th of July:

Springy Cupcakes by Jane Clark:

Flashback Enrichment 1 year ago

Last year we had 12 different sisters decorate each table with their own dishes-it turned out way cute.

My little brother is HOME

Cute boy cousins:
Logan and Beckham look alikes?

I can not believe how 2 years just flew by-it was 2 years ago that Logan had his baby blessing because my family was in town to see my brother off at the MTC. And here we are and he is already back from his mission in Atlanta, GA. Both my sister and older brother who still live in California were both able to make it up to Utah to see Skyler (Elder Blood) arrive home safely. We were thrilled to see him and had balloons and all the fam ready at the airport-he came down the escalator and I totally cried in excitment (I blame it on the pregnancy emotions) or maybe I just felt bad for not writing him enough? Anyways it was a fabulous reunion. It was fast Sunday that week so he bore his testimony at church, we then had his buddies and old mission companions over for a mini homecoming-he officially gets to talk in church on Easter Sunday. We had a wonderful time reminicing and playing games-we also helped him get set up with new clothes and room stuff as he will be attending BYU this Spring semester. He will enter as a Junior because he was quite ambitious before his mission and graduated High School early and got his Associates before his mission. On top of that he entered the mission field 3 weeks prior to his 19th birthday so finally today March 13th he turned 21. Happy Birthday little bro.

Girls Getaway

My freshmen year at BYU was almost 9 years ago, I lived in the dorms at Helaman Halls and had a fabulous group of girlfriends. We decided it was time to finally get together so we planned a reunion in Monterey, CA since most of us live on the west coast. 7 out of the 8 of us were able to attend-so we relaxed, chatted it up and ate lots of junk food. Pictured (maiden names): Debbie Clark (from Conn. now living in WA) Kacey Cozean(from WA living in WA), Anne Parkinson(from UT living in UT), Meagan Nelson(from AZ living in San Fran) Me (from CA now in UT) McKenna Ainge (from OR now in CA) and Megan Gooch (from AZ now in CA) not pictured Courtney Mallon (from Virginia living in Virginia).

Results in...

Paul was quite anxious to find out what we were having so we went to Fetal Fotos last Thursday and found out we are having a...boy!!! We are thrilled for Logan to have a brother close in age and also excited to already be prepared with all the boy things. It seems I am being out numbered:)

Heartbeat Myth?

Paul and I went to my second doctors appointment and the doctor said the heartbeat sounded PINK!!! That is if I believe in the heartbeat myth-but we can find out next week at fetal fotos:) which Paul was thrilled to hear. So we will keep you all updated. We would love another boy so Logan would have a close little brother and we know how to do the boy thing now. But a girl would also be so much fun-mommy would just have to go on some shopping trips-oh darn.

Disneyland '08

Paul and Natalie Burghardt are some of our good buds from USU-Natalie and I are both Californians who were dancers in high school who married a Paul and were due with our first kid in Jan of 06 and ended up having our kids 3 days apart in Nov '05. We have many similarities and our kids have them too-Logan and Nathan are both obsessed with CARS and Winnie the Pooh...needless to say....Disney. So we took a fun trip this past Thursday and took the kids to Disneyland on Friday and California Adventures on Saturday-the kids were way thrilled although at times they were more entertained with playing on the ground with their matchbox cars-go figure.

Airplane ride for the 2 year olds:

Group Picture:

Cars, cars and more cars: Two little buddies:
Had to go on Dumbo 3 times!!!
Going Home:

Whats CALI without Inn-N-Out!!!

Church Cancelled??

As most people know we Belchers are night owls who enjoy sleeping in-so when we woke up one Sunday (around 10 or 11) we had 3 messages that church got cancelled. And the pictures would explain why. Good thing Paul got a snow plow for the 4wheeler this winter or we would certainly be trapped. Our backyard had snow to the top of the fence line and the front had a snow drift of 40 inches Paul measured for the fun of it. We had so much fun with the snow.

President Hinckley's Viewing

I grew up loving President Hinckley mainly because my mother always said if your Grandfather (her dad-who passed away when she was 21) were still alive that is exactly what he would have looked like. So when ever I saw him I thought of my Grandpa who I would one day meet. And the funniest thing happened when Logan was born, while in the NICU all the nurses thought he looked like the prophet so they would take pictures of him-I still have a poloroid they gave me. Logan had his new hair with a receiding hair line, a cute little face and they added some glasses...it looked like the Prophet or as my mom said her father.
I kept hearing on Thurday that the line for the viewing was only 45 mins to 1 hour 15 so I thought I can do that! So Paul and I went at 3:30 pm on Friday and waited as time slowly crawled by. It was finally 7:30 when we moved from the main conference area to upstairs. We were walking in the Hall of Prophets and all of a sudden it was so reverent and peaceful. We get to the end room and there was President Hickley with the cutest grin on his face. Just looking at him you knew he completed his assignment here on earth above and beyond-he was such an amazing Prophet. I only can think how excited he was to see his wife on the other side-can you imagine the embrace. I received a poem on one of my emails that I thought was sweet.

Prophetic Passing

I imagine he’s running to Marjorie now,
Yes, running, not waving his cane.
I see him embracing his father and mother
While they keep repeating his name.

I see him now meeting his forebears,
Brother Brigham and Joseph are there.
Sweet reunion of prophets, united by service
That only such noble men share.

I see him embraced by the Savior
While Father says, “Good and well done.
So faithful in stalwart endurance, I welcome
My noble, most excellent son.”

I then hear the ripples of laughter
As he says the reception’s just fine,
But he hopes that he’ll get an assignment or two
Since there’s no need to waste any time.

I hear his clear voice in the stillness
At the close of this sweet Sabbath day,
Have faith and move forward – there’s work to be done.
President Hinckley would want it that way.

Anna M. Molgard
January 27, 2008

Discovery at the Gateway

I couldn't get a babysitter for Logan one night at a Jazz game so I decided to ride along with Paul and go hang out at the gateway during the game. Logan and I had a blast!!! We went to the Gateway Discovery and played and played until it closed at 9:30 pm at night. They had zones of different areas like a construction site with a cool little crane to lift blocks, a grocery store, farm, water area and a younger kids play place (and cute dress up outfits at each zone). They have an exibit coming Feb 8th with Sesame Street that teaches kids about the human body: lips, nose, eyes etc. They said its over a million dollar exibit and totally amazing so we are excited. Paul was jealous after I told him of all the fun things but no worries I got the family an annual pass:) So if anyone wants to explore the Gateway Discovery give Logan and I a call and we will join you.

Jazzing it up with the McAllisters

We had a fun date night with Susie and Spencer at the jazz game-I think its funny though when girls get together for a sporting event we tend to miss the whole thing because we're talking the whole time.

Father like Son

So I walk into the office and Logan is imitating daddy on the phone. He actually was making chit chat with no one on the other line-it was too cute.

At last entertained

So we finally joined the rest of the world and got a DVD player installed in Paul's truck. Logan absolutely loves to go in the car now. Seriously what did families do before this?

Snow Suit

At the beginning of January I suited up Logan to go play in the snow and I was amazed he wasn't very excited about stepping in the snow. But then just yesterday we attempted to make a snowman and again not very interested but then he learned how to throw snowballs and it all changed. He loved throwing snow-such a boy.