Cousins!

We love our cousins! This year we've spent a lot of time with my family. We held our Christmas party for last year in January of this year because with everything going on with my grandma we felt it would be good to postpone the Christmas celebration. One of my brothers got married at the beginning of February and another brother was sealed to his beautiful family a week later. Then my sister and her kids came up and spent a week with us, helping me pack and clean (which is another story for another day) and playing. And last week we had our annual family reunion. Even with all the trips we still usually feel like we don't see them enough. Man alive, I am so grateful for my family! 

Kisses for cousins at Christmas. 

I like to tease Dan about making funny faces when he feeds babies. He doesn't even know he does it, so I had to sneak a picture while he fed my nephew in this photo. 

The youngest cousin. He was being a bit fussy and Livie was trying to calm him, saying "Sshh! Sshh!" It was pretty darn adorable! 

Dallin adores babies! 

This is from when my sister and her kids came to see us. They were at our house over St Patricks Day, so we made rainbows with skittles and marshmallows and enjoyed a green snack. 

And then we exercised (read: working out energy!). 

These cousins love each other so much! 

This was at our reunion last week. My youngest brother made this cute little cart the kids just couldn't get enough of! They took turns all weekend pushing and pulling each other around my mom's big family/dining room. 

We also had a piñata to celebrate all the family birthdays for the year. Some of the kids could barely pick up up the bat (which was made of plastic, by the way). 

This little guy had no trouble whatsoever hitting that piñata! On fact, he was so fast my iPod couldn't get any photos that weren't blurry! 

The youngest cousin had a little help from his momma. :)

And the second youngest had some help from grandma. 

Dallin thought it was pretty awesome, though I'm not sure he ever hit it. 

Livie couldn't hold up the bat, either! She may not have natural aptitude for baseball. :) 

We finally had to just drop the piñata to break it because none of the kids could hit it hard enough to break it! And they sure enjoyed going for that candy! 

We also enjoyed lots of time playing games (it rained all weekend, effectively keeping us inside) and watching shows together. Dallin now has a mild obsession with Big Hero 6, which is unfortunate for him since we don't have it. :) And both kids keep asking when we're going to go see their cousins again! 

Ballet

This past year, Livie has been taking a ballet class. This studio (as I've mentioned before) is dedicated solely to teaching ballet. There are a handful of advanced students who have earned international and full-ride college scholarships because of the insteuction of the teacher of this studio (Miss Brandy, which is what the students call her). Livie has loved it from the very beginning (have I ever mentioned that her room is decorated with a ballet theme?) and wants to take class again in the fall. 

Here she was getting ready to go to the dress-rehearsal for "Cinderella." 

Instead of traditional dance recitals, this studio puts on two full-scale ballets throughout the year. In December they did "Nutcracker," and Livie and her group were cast as mice for one dance and princesses/fairies for another dance. I chaperoned that event (they get parents/friends to volunteer as chaperones for each group of dancers so there is less stress for Brandy in getting everyone on stage when they're supposed to be there and taking care of them when they're off stage). Because I chaperoned that ballet for Livie's group I didn't get to see the entire show, but I know it was wonderful anyway. And I did see Livie from side-stage while she was doing her dances! Those little mice were adorable! 

She wasn't a huge fan of the ears part of her costume. 

That "smile"! 

Since I chaperoned I was able to get some pictures with the group of girls she danced with. 

In front of the big tree! 

She loved this princess costume! 

For the end-of-year ballet (which was held yesterday), they put on "Cinderella". I chose not to chaperone this ballet so that Dan and I could go watch Livie dance. She was so thrilled that we're going to be watching her! I loved the ballet (Dan said he thought it was long—it was about 2 1/2 hours— but he did like it). I always love watching hard work come together in a beautifully performed production. Watching the pride of the performers, instructors, and parents when something finally comes together, seeing all the hard work pay off, is an exciting thing! Anyway, the ballet was very well done and was fun to watch. Livie was a Pumpkin Blossom Fairy and in the scene during which the Fairy Godmother comes to Cinderella to change her fate. The ballerinas danced with huge flower pots (at one point they climb inside them) and parasol flowers. Despite the fact that Livie kept her shovel when she was supposed to put it down, had a minor tiff with another ballerina who stole her flower pot, and knocked over her flower pot when she climbed out of it, she was adorable! :) 

This smile, folks. She *loves* ballet! 

On stage (with the Fairy Godmother), filling their flower pots with dirt so they can grow their flowers. 

They're finishing the filling now and will then climb into their pots for the rest of their dance. Apparently Livie liked the shovel she used to fill her pot with dirt because she tried to keep it when she was supposed to climb into her pot. :)

Gratitude Tree

Since I'm so far behind in blogging I'll just have to pick and choose some things to catch up on! But I am determined to one day be a good record keeper (especially since my memory just doesn't keep everything stored clearly). So here I go. :)

Last Thanksgiving we started a tradition of having a Gratitude Tree. We basically had a "tree" made out of rolled packing paper that we hung leaves on which we'd written things we were grateful for. I want to document what we put on our tree for the year 2014. 

Here's our tree! 

House

Dallin kept saying numbers he was grateful for. Two was his favorite. :) 

"Daddy is safe at scouts" ~Livie

Water

Laughter

Prayer

Dallin

Snow

Daddy

Livie

Mommy

I loved this tradition and look forward to continuing it in years to come. 

Snapshot Saturday

Time for more snapshots! 

We went to a fun little play place with some cousins and my kids thought it was the best thing ever! Now every time we drive by the kids catch site of it and Livie will randomly beg to go play there again. 

I'm a big fan of sugar snap peas and they often get pulled out for snacks at our house. Livie has always loved them too, but they weren't Dallin's favorite. However, on this day, he decided they were the bomb and he stole all of mine for himself. :)

More eating pictures! Dallin had a peanut butter and jam sandwich and we always cut it half so he can eat through it a little better. He decided to stack the sandwiches and had a double decker pb&j! He thought it was pretty awesome! (And I know he's wearing the same shirt as the photos above but it was a different day....he just happens to love this shirt!)

One of the few times we've had snow this winter. My younger siblings were visiting and kind enough to take my children outside to play. It was freezing though! I think it was pretty close to 0 degrees Farenheit and they didn't last very long! Livie still loved it, though. I think sometimes she doesn't feel the cold.