It's been a while...

It's been a while...here's a little peak into life with the Crosbys:





Whenever Jake needs a haircut, we have a little routine.We strip him down to a diaper, and Brian sets up a chair for him in the kitchen, looking into the family room, and we turn on "Thomas the Train." It's the only way we get him to hold still while Brian cuts his hair (with a pretty shabby pair of scissors-someday we'll break down and buy a hair razor). I'm not allowed to touch Jake's hair, and with good reason. Brian is MUCH better at the job. :)

Afterward, Jacob gets a treat! :)

And a bath. :)

And here is our princess, Katelyn, in her Easter outfit, with the giant flower headband from Grandma...

Jacob also got a new Easter outfit. He was rather dashing in it, if I do say so myself.

A couple of favorites...

This was one of my favorite mommy moments EVER! Kate was really grumpy on a little family walk, so I took her out of the "Snugli" and just snuggled while we walked. She cuddled right into me, popped her thumb in her mouth, and sucked herself to sleep. I wanted to snuggle her forever just like this and never let go. I'm so smitted with our baby girl.

We have had a few "kool-aid" adventures recently. This was our kool-aid play dough. Brian and Jacob made a truck-totally awesome, and then Jake wanted to call and tell grandma about it. I think he just likes to talk on the phone. He just likes to talk in general. :)

This picture speaks a thousand words. I absolutely love watching Brian love his baby girl.

Jake's basketball hoop: After weeks of sitting on the egde of our sidewalk, watching the older neighborhood boys play basketball and pointing out every basketball hoop in the subdivision, we decided it was time for Jacob to get his own. He sure loves it! Every day he says to me, "Let's play basketball!" How can I refuse?

Admitedly, after a week or so it became easier to deny the request, but it still melts my heart and I usually give in, at least for a few minutes.

A few more favorites of Princess Katelyn:

Jacob LOVES to play outside, loves the park, and could care less about how hot it is. Bless his heart, he was in dire need of this popsicle after having fun in the sun in St. George a few weeks ago.

A typical afternoon with "Gwama Te-wi" and "Papa Brian"...and the dogs. :)

My little guy is OBSESSED with trains. Here is the junior engineer at work. cute!

We baby-sat my cousin's super cute kids, Carter and Kinley, a few weeks ago. Jacob was so thrilled to have friends stay with us the whole day! He loves friends, and is always looking for someone to play with and say hello to when we go to the park or take a walk. I love his happy, open, friendly nature. I hope I never stifle it. Anyway, this was a picture of his "jam session" with Carter. (Carter is playing a drum-didn't show in the picture very well.)

Katelyn's current favorite: toes! So irresistable!

These are some of my beautiful Ogden dancers. I SO love teaching them! They're adorable!

Here we are. Brian and I get so excited when the tulips come out every year on temple grounds. Someday, we are going to have white, light pink, and dark purple tulips just like this all over our front yard in the spring! One thing we really enjoy doing together is designing and creating the landscape of our yard-which often changes (because we aren't like the professional temple gardeners and can never get it just right.) We like to wander the temple gardens and dream. Our yard probably won't ever reach that level, but we're having fun trying. :)

I have always dreamed of having a yard full of flowers, and we are starting to get one! The reason I want lots of flowers is so I can pick them, make bouquets and give them away. Everyone loves flowers, right? I've had so much fun picking our flowers this spring. :)

Speaking of gardening, how cute is daddy's little helper here?

For memorial day, we took a little family picnic to the Huntsville park and then threw rocks in Pineview Reservoir. :) Jacob had a blast. I love how easy it is to entertain him!

And here are my angels. I just love them!

Life is pretty wonderful and I'm feeling very grateful right now.
Love to all our family and friends!!



A Few Thoughts About Why I Teach Creative Dance...

So, I am often asked about my dancing and where I teach. When I mention the words "creative dance" most people have no idea what I am talking about. There are reasons I prefer teaching for a creative dance program verses other studios. Don't get me wrong, there are many wonderful dance forms and programs, and I enjoy many of them. However, creative dance truly teaches the "whole child." It is a "mind, body, spirit" experience, and I believe one of the most valuable and powerful teaching methods in the world. (All of this is just my opinion, but I know others who would agree. :)

That said, I feel like sharing the following about why I teach for University of Utah's Tanner Dance Program. Tanner Dance did not endorse me to write this. No one has any idea that I did write it, unless they read this blog. I actually wrote this for my own purposes earlier, and for some reason, I feel inclined to share it on the blog today. So here it is:

Why I Choose Creative Dance (and the Tanner Dance Program):

                Many people ask me why I choose to work for a dance organization that is based 45 minutes away from my home, when there are tons of dance studios in my local area. Aside from explaining that Tanner Dance offers classes only 15 minutes away from my home, through their satellite program, I offer my opinion that Tanner Dance offers children a unique experience.

                What I love about creative dance is founder and dance pioneer Virginia Tanner’s philosophy that we are not only “developing excellent dancers, but more importantly, developing young people who are useful, imaginative, worthwhile human beings.” In a creative dance class children learn dance technique in a way that involves imagination and creativity. There is an expectation that the dancers rise to be their best self, and opportunities are given to express themselves in a place of respect and friendship. Children are inspired to think outside the box as they improvise and create in class. They work together as they dance and develop their movement vocabulary, which encourages friendship, teamwork, and problem-solving skills. Dancers are respected for who they are and what they bring to their dance community. They are free to explore movement, and in doing so they often discover not only a love of dance, but a love of the world and people around them. That love often brings greater respect for their environment within class as well as without.  

Movement and costumes are always modest and appropriate. Children are treated as children-not dressed to be someone or something they are not. As such, the children who dance within the Tanner Dance program seem to glow. They touch audiences with their innocence and honesty. Children have a power to move our souls with their simple goodness and pure love. Creative dance encourages the natural goodness and beauty found within children.

In a creative dance program, Dance is respected as an art, not just a means of exercise or entertainment. Though it may serve those other purposes well, dance is an art form. It is a means of bringing something beautiful, inspiring and new to the world. Dance, and all art, helps define and add to our humanity.  It reaches into our souls and encourages us to do and be better than we already are. It helps us connect with others and reminds us that we are not alone in our feelings and experiences. Tanner dance teaches dance as an art. Creative dance not only trains the body, but enlightens the mind and inspires the soul.

Finally, the teachers, children, and parents who have experienced learning and dance in such a program come to view the world with a “magic eye.” This eye searches for the dance in the world around them and inside them. Upon finding the dance in the tiny seedling, the whistling wind, the lonely heart, and the joyful butterfly, creative dancers discover and treasure an inner peace and satisfaction-knowing that we are truly all connected, that all life is valuable and worthwhile, and that everyone has something wonderful to give. 

So, there you have it. I tend to get a little passionate about it at times, but having grown up in a creative dance program inspired by Virginia Tanner (Southwest Dance Theater) and knowing how it influenced my life for good, and now having taught for nearly 9 years and seeing the good it brings into my student's lives, and that of their families I think I have good reason behind that passion. I'm vey grateful for the choice my mother made when she took me to Miss Candy's class for the first time. My life is so much richer because of that choice. Thank you, mom! 

3 months as a family of 4!

 It all started on December 14, 2011. When sweet baby Katelyn joined our family, we became a family of 4. Wahoo!

 Brian is the bestest daddy to his two little munchkins and they both love him to pieces! So do I! :)

 Here is our little Katie bug on her one month birthday!




 And here is our BIG 2-year-old Jake!! He is such a cutie!

 Kate hit her 2 month mark on Valentine's Day! She falls at the 50 percentile for height, weight, and head circumference. I guess that makes her a perfectly proportioned baby. :) We think she's perfect, regardless.

 Valentine's Day was AWESOME! Jake got some chocolates, which he thoroughly enjoyed!

 Jacob decided the bunny, Spazzer, needed a friend to share his water.




 Brian gave me some beautiful roses. It was actually the first time he has bought roses. He knows I like sunflowers, wildflowers, daisies, lillies, etc. so it's usually one of those kind of arrangements. I'm not much into red roses. No offense, but I think they are kind of boring. However, I do like roses in general, and I LOVED these bright peach and yellow ones!

 I made a special Valentine breakfast with eggs (because Brian is "egg-ceptional", blueberry pancakes with strawberries (because I love him "berry" much) and bananas (because I'm "bananas" for Brian!), and "love potion" (which was apple juice). Brian got Reese's Pieces (I love him to pieces) and a kite that said (let's soar to new heights this Valentine's Day). Ultimately cheesy breakfast, I know, but it was fun.

 That weekend we took off to St. George. Brian went to his brother, Dan's, wedding in Texas with his parents, and I got to spend the weekend with my family. We had lots of fun playing in the warm sunshine and hanging out with grandma and grandpa!

 Katelyn was blessed on March 4. She looked beautiful in her flowery, white dress and we had lots of wonderful family and friends celebrate with us.

 This picture melts my heart...

 Katie bug has started taking naps in her own room. She looks so tiny in that big bed!

 Jacob is a total ham and so much fun. He is very good at making messes and remarkably good at helping clean them up-most of the time. :) He is full of energy and always keeping me on my toes!

So, 2 favorite Jacob stories. Number one is shown in the picture above. Little man was singing in his room one morning, so I went to get him out of bed. He stood up and said "stuck mommy!" Sure enough, his two legs were both in one pat leg and the other pant leg was hanging off the back like a tail. I helped him "unstick" himself after I got a picture.


 Story number 2 doesn't have a picture, though I wish it did. I came downstairs after picking up Katelyn from her nap the other day to find my sweet 2-year-old boy sitting in a puddle of apple juice in the middle of the kitchen. My face fell when I looked around and saw that he had dumped an entire container of apple juice on the floor. I was just about to get upset, when he looked at me and said, "spill juice mommy," then without hesitation, he took a big slurp of apple juice from the puddle he was sitting in. He followed that up with a big "MMMM!" and slurped again. EW!...but funny...I laughed in spite of myself, and cleaned up the floor to his dismay. I think he has since figured out that we are not supposed to drink juice from puddles on the floor...at least I hope he figured it out.

 Kate loves to have tummy time on her boppy while watching Jacobs train go around the track. I'm glad we've figured out a way to keep her on her tummy happily for longer than 30 seconds.

 Jacob is getting so good at prayers...well, most of the time. He likes to repeat the prayers after us, and especially likes to pray for our friend, Melanie, and her dog, Roxy. He also likes to pray for trains-of all colors---"and blue trains, and green trains, and yellow trains, and red trains..." What a cutie!

 These two kiddos are so much fun! I love that I get to be home with them and be a mommy! It's the best job I've ever had!

 Jake LOVES treats! Who doesn't? Anyway, for FHE we had smoothies-can you tell he enjoyed his?

 And here is Kate today-3 months old. She loves to giggle, snuggle, coo, smile, play, and go on walks. She has her daddy wrapped around her teeny, tiny pinky finger already. And she has brought such a sweet spirit into our home. We love her!

 Finally, our awesome neighbors, the Porters, moved their swing set into our yard. Jacob is having a hay day playing on the slides and swings. We are so excited for spring and warm weather and playing outside.

 Life is good!