Los Angeles (CNN) -- You could call it "the year of the rear" at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards, although last year's chief twerker chose a higher path. 

While Nicki Minaj and her collaborators paid tribute to their assets with song and dance, Miley Cyrus stood offstage and watched as a young homeless man accepted her best music video award. 

These might have been the most memorable moments of the night if not for Beyonce and her daughter, Blue Ivy, stealing the show. 

Here are four highlights from the show at the Forum in Inglewood, California, on Sunday night. 

1. Beyonce and Blue Ivy steal the show. Beyonce's 2-year-old daughter gave her own performance while sitting in her father's lap and watching her mother onstage Sunday. Blue Ivy's facial expressions and hand gestures suggested she inherited the music gene. 

Blue Ivy applauded her mommy as daddy Jay Z carried her onstage at the end of Beyonce's 16-minute performance. Jay Z handed his wife the MTV Michael Jackson Vanguard Award while declaring that she was "the greatest living entertainer." Blue Ivy is heard saying "Mommy!" 

"I'm so full," Beyonce said, as the audience began chanting. "I have nothing to say, but I'm filled with so much gratitude." 

The family hug that followed could be one of the most loving and memorable moments ever on the VMA stage. 

Even the stars were struck by Beyonce's daughter. Katy Perry tweeted: "OMG BLUE IVY JUST PERSONALLY WAVED AT ME. MY LIFE IS OVER." 

2. Miley Cyrus is the adult in the room. A year after she set tongues wagging with a provocative dance with a teddy bear, Cyrus was more like Mother Teresa when her "Wrecking Ball" video was named as the best of 2014. She stopped short of the stage, instead sending a young man who identified himself as Jesse to accept the moon man trophy on "behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youths in the United States who are starving, lost and scared for their lives right now." 
and who else ?
Blue Iv