Odyssey!!!

Ella just had the time of her life!  Her Jr Elite group was invited to perform with Odyssey Dance Theater.  They performed "Nutracker Redux" (A hip hop version of the nutcracker)  They found out 10 days before they had to perform.  They learned the dance in less than 48 hours and cleaned it up the remaining time.  The girls did perfectly.

Odyssey is a profession company, and Ella loved, loved, loved dancing in the same performance as professionals.  The girls said they were more scared than they ever have been, but they loved it more than anything they have ever done.

Maybe....maybe she will choose to be a professional dancer.  She loved it that much.

Thankful

We had Thanksgiving with the Bensons
I'm grateful that my kids have cousins to play with. I'm grateful that we live so close to both of our families.  I'm grateful for every memory we make as a family.

Reflections

One day, just randomly, I told Ella that one of the "reflections" categories for her school was Dance Choreography.  She took that and ran.  She choreographed a contemporary routine.  It is a beautiful routine to the song "Heart Cry".  She came up with the dance in just a few days, then practiced for hours.  I taped her routine at Skyview.  She entered reflections and that was that.
Then they announced the winners of her school.  She was one of them!  She got some gift cards, a ribbon and a certificate.  They displayed some pictures from her video in the front of the school for all to see.

A few weeks later, they announced the winners of the council level.  She was one of them!  She was thrilled.

A few nights ago we attended a ceremony for all the kids in region.  There were 3 entries remaining in dance choreography, and they announced that all 3 had recieved the Award of Excellence and so all 3 were moving on to state.  You should have seen Ella's face.  She was shocked, and then thrilled.  She said she almost started crying.

From the Herald Journal:

Moving on to States:

Dance

Katie Baldwin

Sophie Baldwin

Ella Benson

They love each other

I need this post to remember these 2 cute kids.

Parker loves Neveah.  They are in preschool together and he says "when we look at each other, we both smile.  Because we love eachother"

Both me and Neveah's mom are in the Relief Society Presidency, so when we meet weekly, these 2 get a playdate.  They get along perfectly.  They can play for hours and hours and have no problems.

At Parkers birthday party, it was near the end and he was super tired and was done with all the commotion. So he left the group and sat down by himself on the porch.  I walked over to find this:

Neveah saw he had left and went to keep him company while all the other kids kept playing.  I died.

Aunt Sondie

My aunt Sondi passed away the morning of my birthday.  She is the first sibling of either of my parents to pass away.  And in the days surrounding her death, I learned more about her than I ever knew.

She was incredible.  She had more faith than anyone I have ever known.  I didn't realize this until now.  She had a really hard adult life.  She married her true love, and after years and years of infertility, they adopted 2 kids.  They never were able to have their own children.  A few years later, when the youngest was under a year old, my uncle passed away suddenly.  She was left with 2 young kids.  One, because of things his birth mother did while pregnant, had major problems and issues.  He has spent his life in and out of prison, not easy for my aunt.  She ended up raising his daughter from the time her granddaughter was born.
Sondi then fought 2 types of cancer.  The first one, stage 4 colon cancer, she was told she would not survive.  But she did.  Then another cancer, which ultimately took her.
Through ALL of this, she stayed true to her faith.  She knew the Lord loved her and that he was directing her life. Through ALL of this, she never once complained.  I never ever heard her say anything negative.

Now she is back with my grandma and grandpa Alley (her parents) and her true love, after 34 years being apart.

 Uncle Mikey

Blonde haired trouble makers

A treat after the funeral

Another cool story
Last Christmas season, my family wanted to help someone in need.  My parents felt so strongly to serve my dads cousin, Gordon, and his family.  He had just been laid off and has health problems.  So we bought them gifts, sewed them quilts and pillow cases, made cards and really tried hard to think of what they would need to make their holiday a happy one.
One month after we delivered the gifts (which they found out who did it) Gordon's wife passed away unexpectedly.  Ella was devastated.
At my aunts funeral, Gordon was there.  He asked to talk to the little girl that helped sew his families gifts.  He expressed how amazing that Christmas was and how happy her gifts had made him and his wife.  Ella got to see the wonderful end result of Christlike service.

5 years old!!!

Parker turned 5 in October!  What a big, smart and happy kid.  He got a star wars birthday party with his best friends.

Look at what Grandma Alley made for my little guy.  She is amazing!

New bed

 No cake- we did donuts!