One Month and Growing . . .

Despite liking to cry more than ever before, Belle is doing great! She has surpassed the 8 lb mark and anxiously looks forward to feeding time every three hours. She has yet to crack a smile (except while in her sleep), but we are looking forward to the day when she does. She was able to meet some of her cousins and aunts and uncles in Blanding this past weekend - which also means that she experienced the joys of traveling through the Rez. We tried to explain the different monuments in Monument Valley, but she kept getting the Mittens, Bear, and Rabbit confused. She also had a blast this past week with her grandparents and Aunt Amanda! They were so great to her, as always. Enjoy these pics.

Belle's first dress!

Belle loves bathtime!!

She also loves to sleep!

She loves to watch her dad play football

She loves making this little face--and her mom likes to dress her up!

Belle's first trip to Monument Valley

Just getting ready for bed

Getting ready for her first Sunday at church

More pictures of Belle

Since her birth, Belle has been growing like a weed - a weed without water that is. We had to take her back into the hospital last week because she had jaundice and was losing weight. After being in the "spotlight" over night, she was all ready to come home. Really though, we were quite worried about our little girl and are now happy that she is doing well. She's finally gained her birth-weight back and is growing up to be strong just like her dad (this is Platte writing, of course). Here are some more pictures of the little cutie.


One of the rare moments when Belle is wide awake!


Pretty in pink.


Belle and her mommy.


See any resemblance? Platte thinks so.


Little shrimp.

Baby Belle continued . . .

Belle's Birth

We are the proud parents of Baby Belle. She is so cute! She was born on Sept. 11th (take that Bin Laden!)at 4:50 p.m. She is 6 lbs 15 ounces and is 19 1/2 inches long. So far, she loves to make little noises while she sleeps, swing her arms out wide, cross her legs, and pucker her lips. She is so cool. Heather did a great job bringing her to us - it took 19 hours of labor! We are so glad Belle Heather Nielson is here.

R.I.P. Gil

A moment of silence please - our beloved little fish "Gil" was taken to the great lake in the sky last week. We think he died simply from Heat. This darn heat of Yuma got the best of Gil. We were actually quite sad about losing him (Platte swears he was a boy). He has been with us for our entire marriage. Platte took custody of Gil from France while they were roommates together at BYU. Platte said France never was good at taking care of pets, so he took control of him. It's been about 3 years since Gil was purchased from Wal-Mart. Luckily, we took a couple of pictures just days before he succumbed to the heat.

Internship in Yuma, AZ

Platte is doing criminal defense work this summer in Yuma, Arizona. He was hired as a legal intern at the Yuma County Public Defender's Office. Crimes are a-plenty in this border town, so Platte has learned a lot and is enjoying his job. As you can see, our living accomodations are, well, CLASSIC! There is no other way to describe them, I guess. Yuma is ridiculously hot to say the least. A normal day reaches 115 degrees, easily. To make matters more interesting, the A/C in the trailer isn't the best. But, through swimming in the Colorado river and going to the beaches in California, we have made this summer fun.

Cruise with the Hunts

With the first year of law school completed, we set out for a Bahamas cruise with Blaine, Amy, and little Abigail. It was a lot of fun! We had a great time snorkeling, swimming, finding seashells (Blaine found the best one), eating key lime pie, and drinking margaritas in "Margaritaville" (j/k).