Ballet Bonding

It's been quite a few years since Nichole and I were able to go watch The Nutcracker Ballet. The last time we went was 2016. We did watch Ballet West's version on TV the very beginning of 2021 but it's different when it's live at the theatre. This year we were able to go to the Utah Metropolitan Ballet's version of The Nutcracker. 

Nichole's ballet bear again surprised her with tickets. 

The three of us (ballet bear included) had a great time and loved watching the ballet. 

It was neat to see it from a different company than we had watched before. In fact Nichole noticed in the program that her art teacher actually did the set and costume design.

I'm so glad we got this opportunity again. It really is special bonding time with my sweet daughter.

Light The World

Light the World is being done a little bit differently this year.  It's being done on a weekly basis instead of a daily basis.  That's good for us because last year we weren't able to do very much of it at all like we were in 2016.  This year may be more manageable with how crazy our life feels right now.
You can learn more at mormon.org but here are the weekly ideas for serving like Jesus this holiday season.
Week 1- Light the World
Week 2- Light your community
Week 3- Light your family
Week 4- Light your faith

It all started on December 1 with another Worldwide Day of Service.  Jr. has been learning to make holiday balloon animals lately.  He made a bunch that we as a family took to an assisted living facility that evening.  We handed them out to the residents and spent some time visiting with them and singing Christmas carols to them.  Lucky danced around as we sang which was quite entertaining.  Since we forgot juggling equipment with us, they sacrificed some oranges so Nichole, Jeremy, and I were able to show them some juggling.  It was a nice visit.

December 1 is also Eat a Red Apple Day so when we got home we cut up a red apple to snack on.  Yumm.

Earlier that day as a family we went to the Orem Library to watch an abbreviated performance of The Nutcracker Ballet.  Nichole and I had gone to watch The Nutcracker a couple years in a row back in 2015 and 2016.  It was nice to have a little bit of that again this year (and to share it with the rest of the family).

December 2 was National Fritters Day so I tried my hand at making baked apple fritters.  They turned out and were yummy.

We went to dinner at our friends' house and watched the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  Lovely time with friends.  When we got home, Jr. and Lucky made snow angels on the way into the house.  Cute kids.

Unfortunately that day we went back to our old tradition of someone missing church on the day of the Christmas Devotional.  Jr. Jr. wasn't feeling well that morning so he and I stayed home while the others went.  He felt better later so I wondered if maybe he was just hungry and that made him feel bad.

Today, Jeremy, Lucky, and I went up to Pleasant Grove to build an igloo for a Young Women's activity for our old ward.  We all helped out with the igloo.

 
It's also the time of year we've started our Christmas advent- Countdown to Christmas scripture study with M&M's. 

Here we go, December.

Water and Ballet

#LightTheWorld Day 2- Jesus taught: "I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink." -Matthew 25:35
"Did you know that access to clean water has the single greatest impact on global poverty?  Consider donating to a cause that helps provide safe water to individuals or communities."  That was one of the suggestions on mormon.org for today's LightTheWorld.  I had no idea how to do that.  It turns out a friend of ours did.  She researched and helped us so we were able to donate to an organization that does just that.  Hooray!  Thanks, Sarah, for helping us do this.
I encouraged the kids to drink lots of water today so we had glasses of water all set up for scripture study this morning.  We all need to be drinking more water.

I told the kids my service to them is encouraging them to drink water.  Their service to me could be actually drinking the water.

This evening I was reminded of recognizing blessings even when you have stresses and trials.  This evening, we went to the Nutcracker Experience at the Orem Library.  Beautiful dancing again.  At the end of their presentation, they let little kids come up and do some dancing with the ballerinas.  Lucky did some hopping.  Afterward the kids got candy canes.

What a blessing to be able to do go to something like that- for free.  Thanks, Orem Library, for helping us celebrate the season.

Ouch

This evening, I slipped on a box of pop cans in the kitchen.  Ouch.  Lucky saw that I was sad and brought me a blanket to put on me while I was lying on the floor.  Later, while I was sitting on the couch, he came up to me, gave me a hug, and said, "I'm sorry you slipped on the pop cans."  Way to LIGHTtheWORLD, little guy.  Jeremy offered to help me up while I was on the floor.  I said, "I can get up."  He told me, "Jesus helped people walk and so can you."  The theme for LIGHTtheWORLD for today.  He's so cute.  I almost told Jeremy to take a picture of me on the floor to put on my blog then decided not to.  You get this picture, though.

Earlier in the day, Nichole and I went to see the Nutcracker ballet like we did last year.  Great bonding time again.  We took Nichole's ballet bear again. 
Wow.  Ballet is amazing.  It is so amazing seeing the strength and technique of those dancers.
On our way to the ballet, Nichole and I talked about what things could be done in service to go along with the theme.  She told me that there is a girl at school who is using crutches because she broke her toe doing gymnastics.  If she was at school, she could help her out.  I told her that when she gets back to school she could do just that.  Sometimes it's good to think about things that you can do for others, even when the opportunity isn't right in front of you.
I also encouraged Nichole to work on her ballet exercises her teacher assigned them to practice.  The dancers in the Nutcracker work very hard at what they do.  You can tell they practice a lot.  Amazing.

Making the World a Beautiful Place

This is Amy.  We've known her for years.  She is one of our favorite librarians at the Orem Library.  She is friendly and helpful, she definitely knows her children's books, she is very creative, and she's a puppeteer.  Every Summer for the Summer Reading Program kickoff, she and another librarian, Mark, put on a puppet show for the kids.  When Lucky was little, it was the only thing that would keep his attention during the event.  Our kids love puppet shows.  Amy and Mark even wrote a book about puppets called Dressing the Naked Hand.  We, of course, own that book.
Today Amy helped us to LIGHTtheWORLD.  December 3- "Jesus helped others to see and so can you."
Years ago, Amy asked Nichole what she was interested in.  Nichole told her ballerinas.  That was the first we had heard of it.  Without hesitating, Amy led Nichole right over to the Angelina Ballerina books and gave her her first experience with them.
Now Nichole is a little old for the Angelina Ballerina books, but after we found out she was interested in ballet all those years ago, we had the opportunity to put her in a dance class.  She is now on her fourth year of ballet.  We go to her dance performances and it is amazing the beauty we can see watching dance.  I've had some amazing experiences feeling the Spirit while watching dance, experiences I wouldn't have had if these things hadn't happened, if I hadn't known Nichole was interested in dance if she hadn't mentioned it to Amy.  Nichole and I went to watch The Nutcracker last December.  Good bonding time.  Ballet is beautiful to watch.
This evening we went to a Nutcracker Gala at the Orem Library.  The Academy of Ballet was showing selections from the Nutcracker then they handed out candy canes for the kids.

While we were there, I wrote a letter to Amy thanking her for what she did for our family.  Because of that simple act of helping a little girl find some new books, we've been able to see things that we wouldn't have thought to see.
I'm glad Amy was there and was able to get my note.  She was also grateful for it.

There is beauty to be seen around this world and what a blessing when people help us see it.

December 19th- Enjoy Beauty

We are given so many wonderful gifts from our Heavenly Father- eyes to see, ears to hear, hands to touch, the list goes on and on. What a blessing it is use those gifts to appreciate the beauty around us. Today's countdown to Christmas activity was to enjoy beauty.

Over the last few days we've been reading the story of the Nutcracker in a book and enjoying the illustrations by Don Daily. This evening we finished reading it then we watched the movie on hulu.com

I let the kids know it was a dancing movie and encouraged them to dance around. We had fun, though I forgot that Jr. wasn't feeling very well earlier and all the playing around kind of took its toll on him. Poor little guy.

Beautiful illustrations. Beautiful music. Beautiful dancing. Beautiful family. Enjoying the beauty of the season can help us remember the beautiful gift of our Savior's birth.