On October 27th, 2021, the world lost a beloved angel, Belinda Frances Aude who is now back with her Heavenly Father. From Pleasant Grove, Utah, she was 60 when she died after a short battle with COVID-19. She passed on while surrounded by her loved ones, who made sure she knew how loved she was. We are incredibly saddened by her sudden death, and have no words for just how much we will miss her. Belinda was born on August 25, 1961, in Racine, Wisconsin. She was the first child of Jack and Marlene Karst. Belinda was later joined by her brothers, Fred and Karl. Belinda was an incredibly loving sister, always looking out for her brothers. She remained close to them her whole life.  She was a very hard working student, and attended The Prairie School for 7 years and graduated summa cum laude in 1979. After high school, she went to Provo, Utah to study and graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in speech therapy in 1983.

A fun fact about Belinda is that she used to hide chocolate from her mother all of the time! When Belinda went off to college, her mom found 70-80 chocolate wrappers behind her bed. She kept that love for chocolate throughout her life, and some of her favorite chocolate treats were the Ghirardelli milk chocolate squares filled with caramel, as well as The Chocolate's Cherub cake (chocolate cake with milk chocolate fudge frosting).

While attending BYU, Belinda met Jack Aude and they were married in Washington D.C. in 1983. She fell in love with him for his generous heart.  Jack fell in love with Belinda the moment she smiled at him. He recounts a memory of when they went out on their first date. He held her hand, spun her around and said "I sure love you". She smiled and said "I love you too". Jack had no doubt at that point this was the woman he would marry. Together they lived in New York, Washington, Florida, and Utah. They enjoyed going to movies and watching live theater  noises off.  One time when they were dating, Jack showed up at Belinda's in a full gorilla suit to ask her on a date! 

Belinda wanted children for a long time, and applied to multiple adoption agencies. She wanted more than anything to share her life with a little one who she could love and support. After a long wait while living in Washington, Belinda was overjoyed when she was chosen to adopt a daughter, Kasey, born on May 15th,1992—and a son, Korey, born on December 12th 1996. Belinda adored her kids with all of her heart. She  was a brilliant dress maker, and enjoyed sewing dresses and making cute socks for Kasey, along with playing pretend and supporting her in her growing artistic abilities. Belinda was a fantastic cook, and Kasey loved helping her mom out in the kitchen. Kasey's favorite part of mom's baking as a kid was getting to lick the beaters! Belinda had just as much fun with Kasey's brother, Korey. Belinda and Korey always took walks together in the fall through the leaves, crunching as they walked. Korey was very inventive, and enjoyed creating things. Belinda always looked forward to what he would brainstorm next. She got to see him act out Spiderman in his costume, as well as Batman and Superman! (This family seems to be full of superheroes). Together, Korey and Kasey would make blanket forts with the rule that mom must leave them up for at least 24 hours. The best part is Belinda would join them inside the fort for movie nights. We love you mom, thank you for supporting us in being kids. 

Going back to Belinda's cooking...she always made it look so easy! She was a wizard in the kitchen, both with dinners and desserts.  One of Belinda's favorite meals to have were her Swedish meatballs which she always cooked herself! She loved having them each year on her birthday. She used to keep a recipe holder up on the counter filled to the brim with note cards full of delicious recipes like funeral potatoes, meat loaf, pineapple upside down cake, stroganoff, etc. Belinda's children had fond memories of looking through all of the recipes and attempting to be as good of cooks as their mom was (it didn't "pan" out).

Being their mother was her everything and she was a terrific mom.  She would do anything for her kids, and believed they could be successful in whatever they chose to pursue. You would never hear her complaining about her children.  We refer to Belinda as an “angel mom” and “superwoman”.  She taught us how to love unconditionally, and how to always look on the bright side. She helped us find meaning in even the smallest of things, and has shown us that you should never take anything for granted. 

Belinda always put others before herself, and wanted to make sure others were taken care of first. Something about Belinda is that she deserved all of the beautiful things in the world, but if it was more than say $25 she would want you to send whatever it was you got for her back. It's not that she didn't appreciate them (she definitely did, and she always kept the gifts), but she was incredibly humble. She didn't feel she needed all of the glitz and glam of the world. Quality time with her loved ones was the most precious gift to her.  She also really appreciated acts of service, and was always thankful when we would be the sidekick to her Superwoman. 

If you were to describe Belinda as "short and sassy", some people might think that only one of those things were true. Those people would be in for quite a surprise once they got to know her! You know the saying "big things come in small packages"? Well, Belinda was small, but also had a big personality that shone through! It did take her some time to get to that point (she was more shy and reserved for a while at first), but over the years of being  around bubbly kids, and a husband who made sure everyone laughed at his dad jokes, she truly blossomed into the fun loving lass full of sass we all know and love. Her smile could brighten any room, and people just tended to gravitate towards her for her warm and motherly nature. She was someone who you could call up about anything,  any time of day. Belinda's family did just that, sometimes to tell their mom/sister/wife something that made them happy and other times to vent about a hard day. But she was always there. 

Belinda was always a creative, and her favorite hobbies and activities reflected this. Belinda liked to cook, read, watch movies, play with her dogs and sew. She also enjoyed writing and kept journals or notebooks around to jot down her thoughts. Her favorite movie of all time was Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. Her favorite books were The Count of Monte Cristo and the Harry Potter series, and oh boy was she a Potter nerd (we mean this in the most loving way).  She used to line up for book releases with our Aunt, and when she finished reading them she would pass them down to Kasey who also fell in love with them. Belinda still read the series every summer, and  even took the sorting hat quiz to find out which Hogwarts house she belonged in. When she got Slytherin she was very put out, and said the quiz was broken. This was easily fixed of course by her just taking the quiz again. She prided herself on being a Gryffindor. 

Belinda loved crime shows, and some of her favorites were Monk, Law and Order, and Psyche. She let Kasey watch Law and Order with her too, until Kasey started asking questions about things in the show that Belinda wasn't ready to answer. Kasey still has fond memories of watching crime shows with her mom and eating pistachios. 

Belinda's love of dogs extended into her adult life. She loved always having an animal around, and was blessed with five more dogs (not all at once) throughout her life. The first dog was named Scooter, and boy was he smart. You could be out walking him, and all you had to do was say "tree" and he would walk around it. The second dogs Belinda had were two Golden Retrievers by the name of Riley and Kirby (Kirby after the vacuum cleaner). Riley was a lady, but Kirby was considered a big moose who sat on people's heads. Belinda loved both of them to pieces. Her next dog was a half husky, half collie by the name of Muppet who she found on KSL. At this point Belinda thought she didn't want another dog but she was wrong. She had Muppet for a good twelve years before having to say goodbye. Which brings us to her most recent dog, Ace the pug. Some people think pugs are ugly, but we say they grow on you. Belinda quickly grew attached to Ace, and he was always there for her both physically and emotionally. He helped her in many ways as she got older, and he is just like us. Always happy to see mom. 

Remember when we said that Belinda loved the show Psyche? This was the show that started my mom on collecting pineapples! If you aren't aware, my mom loves the show Psyche, and in each episode there is a hidden pineapple. Belinda and her friend from work would send each other pineapple gifts as a joke, which quickly escalated to my mom being known as the "pineapple lady", and everyone sending her pineapple related things. Belinda's desk at work  eventually became covered in all things pineapple related which we know made her feel very happy and loved. We are happy to say that those pineapple trinkets are all being kept up at her office, like a Belinda shrine. 

Speaking of work, circumstance necessitated Belinda working to assist our family when the children were younger. She was always a hard worker, and she wanted to make sure our family was taken care of. To remain home with her children, she operated a daycare center out of her home. She cared for the daycare children like they were her own. The kids always had a wonderful time going on adventures picking blackberries, watching power rangers and taking naps. Later she did home health care and for the last decade she worked for Aspen Senior Care as a member of the operation team. 

This particular job deserves to be spoken about. Belinda started this job almost 14 years ago as a caregiver herself, going to elderly people's homes and helping out. Over the years she made her way up into the operations team, and became one of the managers who ran the place. Her love and dedication for her job really showed, but what is just as important is the love and dedication that the people at Aspen showed to her. The "ladies in the office" as Belinda would lovingly call her fellow co-workers, grew an immensely close bond with her over the years. They were a second family to her, and she was a second mother to them. She loved getting to spend time with them outside of work and go to dinner and movies together.  She was also very close with her boss.  Belinda was his go-to when something at work needed doing, and Belinda would always talk about how kind and generous he was. It makes us so happy that Belinda had such amazing friends who took great care of her and made her happy. 

Family was very important to Belinda, and she made sure to not just show this with her children and husband, but with her brothers and sister as well. She kept in touch with them frequently, especially in the past 6-7 years. Her relatives enjoyed messaging Belinda, even about the little things that made them happy. I'd like to think that they were her sanctuary. Belinda also had a deep love for her mother. She made sure to call her mother often, and would visit her when she could (especially in the times her mother was feeling ill).  Belinda and her mother's humor are very similar! They both like to do things their own way but within limits, and both have let swear words slip here and there but then deny it. We can definitely see where Belinda got her sass from! 

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