Artshow, Easter, Etc.

So wow it has been forever! This post may be a bit long so I can catch up. Last month Daniel had one of his paintings displayed in the Statewide Art Competition here in Bountiful. We are so proud of him! He didn't win a prize or anything but he was excited just to be chosen for the show out of 300 some odd applicants.  Below is a picture of his painting entitled "Praise to the Man".  Let me know if you "get it".  I totally saw it but probably just because I watched it take shape.  Our parents had a hard time "seeing" it so I'm curious as to what other people see.  I wish you could see it in person, these pics don't really do it justice.

Easter was fun, a little disorganized as the sleep-deprived Easter bunny forgot to find the baskets til the morning of...then decided we should hide eggs in the yard only to open the curtains and find snow on the ground!  Argh! Luckily 2 year olds don't notice that the baskets magically appear later in the day, or that we waited til the snow melted to hide eggs in the late afternoon.  Aliya got an awesome new toy for Easter, called my pal Violet.  It's a leap frog toy and by connecting it to the computer you can teach it to say her name and what her favorite things are! So cool and she loved it! She wouldn't even turn it around for me to take a picture.  It says things like  "I love you Aliya.",  "My favorite food is strawberries.  Is that your favorite too?"  Adorable.  I highly recomend it, (they have a green one for boys.)

Also for Easter I decided we should make some cute sugar cookies.  It didn't work out all that well from the start but we had fun.  Daddy was sick so Aliya and I started getting out the ingredients and getting ready.  I got out the step ladder and let Aliya help pour things into the bowl, I asked her to put the softened butter into the bowl and she reached out and grabbed it, of course coming away with a ton of butter on her fingers which kind freaked her out "you need to wipe it Mommy!"  but it was hilarious!  Then once we get all the ingredients into the bowl I realize we don't actually have Easter cookie cutters, only christmas ones, so that's what we used. We finally got them all cut out and baked, (burning the first batch a little) the second batch was perfect...until  I managed to drop them while taking them out of the oven into the crack where the oven door closes.  So funny now, but so not at the time.  Aliya ate about 4 cookies while I was trying to push the cookies through the crack with a spatula and the clean them out of the drawer under the stove.  In the end a basically good time was had at least by Aliya.

Snow day!

A couple of weeks ago we had a really good snow so Daniel and Aliya went out to play in it.  I was watching out the window, where it was nice and warm.  They were having a great time and Daniel decided to build a snowman....unfortunately, it was really wet, heavy snow and he overestimated a little and started WAY too big. So by the time he made the middle section, he couldn't lift it onto the bottom (See picture below).  I was laughing hysterically watching him try to, but finally I took pity and decided to go out and help him. Did I mention the snow was REALLY heavy. We couldn't lift it together either! I'm sure it would have been funny if anyone had been watching us try, but Aliya wasn't even paying attention so we were safe from mocking.  Eventually we gave up and started over with the piece we couldn't lift as the new bottom.  We ended up making the original Giant snowball into a slide for Aliya which turned out awesome! unfortunately I never managed to take a picture of it, it's still sorta there in the backyard even though everything else has melted over a week ago.  It was a great time despite my not wanting to go out.  Aliya was having so much fun she didn't want to come in even though she was cold, tired and hungry.  I had to lure her in with talk of marshmallows. 

All bundled up!

Once there was a snowman...

This was the original begining of the snowman, yeah, turns out we are not He-Man and Sheera..sad day

Haircut!

The time had finally come....last week I took Aliya to get her first haircut.  I'd been debating over it for a while and for those of you who haven't seen her for a while, the mullet had only gotten worse.  The top had grown a little but the back was getting really long.  I did it kind of impulsively or I would've taken before and after pics.  She did really well! I took her to this cute kids place where the seats all look like cars or airplanes and they can pick a movie to watch. She got a little nervous a few times but she didn't freak out or cry at all!  When we were done she was so excited about her balloon and her sucker that I don't even think she remembered the haircut.  All she would talk about on the way home was going to show daddy her balloon. She wouldn't even let go of it for me to take pictures so the string is right across her face, oh well.  Anyway, she looks pretty cute, I'm glad we did it but I just wish it would grow!  

The best side shot I could get

Home for the Holiday

So, I know I'm a little slow to post this but I thought I'd update you on our holiday doings anyway. We had a Christmas party at Daniel's dad's place in Blackfoot the week before, unfortunately we were having so much fun we forgot to take pictures, but Aliya had a blast playing with her cousins and even got close enough to Santa to take a candy-cane from him!

  On Christmas eve we went to Daniel's mom's house to build gingerbread houses etc.  It was fun and we did manage to take a few pics.

Daniel's mom (Linda), niece (Ali), Daniel, & nephew (Trent)

Daniel's Masterpiece

Daniel's Grandma Nielsen and nephews Bryant and Clayton

  We stayed home for the day of Christmas.  We had our own little feast and I was so proud of myself I got everything done at the same time and ON time! It was strange not to be with our families that day, at least for me, I think Daniel loved it, but it was nice.  Then we went to my family's for the day after since everyone was there this year including Davis & Lisa, and  Elisabeth was home from Portland.  It was so nice to see everyone and spend some good quality time.  

   Aliya loved opening presents this year and she is no longer afraid of tearing the paper :).  It was so cute to watch her be so excited about things. She got a singing teapot and a little people school bus which she loves! We missed seeing all the good friends we left in Rexburg but we hope to be able to visit soon.  Hugs to all, we hope your holidays were wonderful.  Here are a few pics from the holidays

OLD!

Okay okay, so I may have been whining a little about being "old" for some time now, but really it was all in good fun because I happen to be old-er than a lot of friends but yesterday I was finishing my makeup and smiled at myself in the mirror and was shocked to see that I am starting to LOOK old! AHHHHHH! When did that happen!  I thought it was supposed to be more gradual than that!  I suppose it is time for it to start showing since no one ever thinks I'm as old as I am anyway but still...I"M NOT READY!!!