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Thursday, November 13, 2014

Temple

Last night for our mutual activity we did Personal Progress! Yay for that! All the girls really want to get into personal progress so we've been focusing on that a lot lately.

Our theme was temples mostly because I really wanted to make this craft and mostly because it's a great topic. Nicole found an experience that they could complete that night, Choice and Accountability #3 which she tied into the temple quite well. She printed a cute little handout as well- that I don't have a picture of :(

I saw something similar on Pinterest one time and I've been thinking about it. Should we give it as a gift? Should they make their own? We decided they should make their own.

We talked about it and we needed 36 pieces to make 12 temples and Kristy said she had a lot of spare siding that could be used. Then she's a genius and decided that was a ridiculous amount of work to cut all of those pieces so she went to the hardware store and bought garden stakes! (Not steaks :))
She bought 3 packs of 12" stakes, the "problem" was we needed two of the three stakes (per temple) to be be a bit shorter than the longer one. Again genius she asked one of the employees to cut 1.5" off the bottom of two of the boxes. He cut right through the box and had them all cut in a jiffy.

What we did was use quick dry wood glue and put the two shorter pieces on the table just a little ways apart. Then we put a bead of glue on each of the inside sides of those pieces then put the taller piece on top of them. You can mess with it a little bit until it looks like you want it to. Then put a book or something on it until it dries. While we waited we worked on the value experience and by the time that was done it was time to paint! Basic white paint. Easy.

This is one of the many reasons I'm thankful for a very competent presidency who take an idea that I really wanted to do and they are the ones that make it happen. School has been very time consuming lately and I've felt really inadequate at my calling because there are so many things I want to do but don't have time to do. Oh well it is actually good because it makes me rely on those around me more which is something I need to do. Learn to let go!

On to the pictures which is the most fun part!

 I made these little quote cards and printed them on card stock. They the girls tied them on with tulle once their temples were dry.
 Taking a break with a photo shoot at the end of the night. Some of the girls had already left.
Here is a closer picture of the quote I made. You can go HERE if you'd like to print off your own copy of this page. There are five to a page.

This is our take on someone else's idea but it's the "easy" version.

Oh PS happy 1 year to our presidency on November 3rd :)

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Things I love right now 2014 edition

I've done this kind of post in the past and it's always fun to look back and see the different random things that make me happy in the different 'seasons' of life. So here is my 2014 list- incomplete as it might be because there are lots of things to love. (Sorry if the pictures are all messed up I don't have time to figure it out)

 


Gardening and just being outside in general has become one of my favorite things this summer. I never knew I liked gardening but apparently I do. One day I randomly mowed the lawn (usually Sam's job) but I just wanted to so I did. I quite enjoyed it- haven't done it for YEARS since my brother's took it over. Except it hurt my hand to hold down the lever. Also BUTTERNUT SQUASH is one of my favorite food so we're growing LOTS of it this year :)

 I was never a huge fan of waffles or pancakes really growing up. I ate the occasional eggo waffle but that was it. Ummm Nicole has a super fancy waffle maker and I've decided I LOVE whole wheat waffles with strawberries and real maple syrup. I'm obsessed.

 

Baby things. I've been spending way too much money on baby things as of late. My brother Ty and his wife Jessica are going to have their first baby in November and I can't stop buying things which is expensive :) but I've also been loving all the funy baby gifts. I've not only been buying girl things but one of my good friends is having TWIN boys. She's actually due around the same time as Ty and Jessica but will probably have them mid October.

 Honey bees. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone I love these little things. I study them. I know lots of "useless" facts that aren't really useless, maybe just boring to those who don't like honey bees like I do.

This picture is a two-fer. I love sweet potatoes. Especially sweet potato fries. I like this little baby :) He's our YW mascot. His mom is the 2nd Counselor in our YW presidency. I had never talked with Kristy before last November when they called me to be the YW President but as soon as our Bishop extended the calling her name popped into my head and I was confused because I knew nothing about her but I followed the feeling and am so very glad I did. Nobody knew it at the time but she was expecting this little guy at the time so when we found out it was a fun surprise!
 
 This is a picture of our YW Presidency (minus Dixie our secretary). I'm really grateful that both of these girls agreed to do this whole YW presidency with me because they do A LOT and I would be sitting in a corner sucking my thumb without their help/support! This pic was taken a few weekends ago at our stake's youth carnival. We had the topic of entertainment and media and we found out that our ward needed to provide a booth with an activity two days before the activity. So naturally we made our own shirts first. Priorities. They say #sharegoodness. Camden had to represent with # with his onesie too of course :) We had a 'selfie booth' and a quote game.

 I've been really adventurous with my clothing choices as of late. It's kind of embarrassing but I don't know much about fashion, never have so I just go with it.

 Personal Progress! I've always liked personal progress but I've developed a deeper appreciation for it over the last year. I actually just finished it for the 2nd time this last week so I've earned the fancy new medallion :)

 This is weird but we had a 'book' baby shower party for Kristy so I ordered several funny baby books (meant mostly for the parents) but this one ended up in my cart for me and it's pretty funny.

 Speaking of ordering and buying things. I'm obsessed with Amazon. Like for reals. I go on there almost every day even if it's just to browse. I order a lot of things for work as well. Plus you can't beat free 2 day shipping and if you're in a pinch $3.99 one day shipping :)

 I haven't drank pop for many many years and I've never really been a juice drinker either and I never ever drink milk (gag me) but I love these crystal lite liquid water flavors. My very favorites are strawberry lemonaid, pineapple coconut (or something like that), and blackberry lemonaid.
 #'s are a big thing right now. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, just random everyday conversation :) I especially like the hashtag #sharegood.
 I don't know that this is any healthier than regular mac and cheese but it's pretty delicious.
 Instagram is my social media of choice. It's a photo sharing app that's like twitter but for pictures. I love seeing friends pictures and I'll be honest I post a little too often :)
 SUPER excited for Apple's announcement this Tuesday where they announced the new iPhone 6 and the iPhone 6 plus. Preordering begins tonight at midnight. It's a big decision and as you can see below I've been taking my options very seriously. The top left corner is what I'm working with now the 4s then the 5s and then the two new 6's. Super exciting.


 Jimmy Fallon. I've always loved him but especially lately with the Tonight Show. I was pretty sad when I realized he was married lets be honest. He's hilarious.
 I love writing. I've started writing many books (maybe 6ish now) some of them are close to being fully written but nobody else has ever read them. It's just a fun hobby. I love being lost in my own made up world.
 I enjoy watching netflix sometimes. TV shows or movies but I don't do it very often. But I do love that the option is there.
 My favorite shampoo/conditioner for the last couple years is Lavender Mint by tea tree. It smells so good.
 ANOTHER social media type site...I need to get a life. But I love Pinterest...too much.

 This author's name is Sarah Eden and I love everything she's every written and I buy her books as soon as they come out. I do not hesitate, or even read the book description. I know it will be wholesome, funny, entertaining, with great characters and plots. They are considered Regency Romance books. I highly recommend her. Karen Witemeyer is another author who writes similar books but they're mostly set in the United States in the 1800's but it's the same idea :)
 Speaking of books. This app is called ^^ and it's like Netflix but for books. It's $8.99 a month and gives you unlimited access to all of their ebooks. They don't have everything but I've found lots to read. They have every genre and are adding more all the time. I signed up for a free trial and never cancelled it :)

 Pad Thai. I love food can you tell? I make pad thai all the time and it's become a family favorite. YUMM

I've also gotten back into sewing now that I bought my own old school Bernina machine. The other day I ordered a bunch of 5x5 fabric packs and have begun making another quilt. All the pieces are ready I just need to sew them together.

And that my friends is it. WHOA if you read that all you need a high five and a life ;) jkjk but really I go on and on but this is like my journal and I haven't written in it for awhile. So there's a few aspects of my life at this moment in time.

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Girls Camp 2014!

Girls camp, my 5th year in a row going as a leader. The best year of girls camp, ever. Including the years I went as a YW.
It was great because the stake camp director is Becky who is in my ward and she's the best at organizing and really listening to what the youth want from camp. I don't think I heard a negative thing about camp itself this year which is great!

We arrived at camp on Tuesday morning. Most of the girls went on hikes but the YCL's and leaders went straight to camp- I was with them because of my ghetto knee. It was good though because I got a head start on setting up the 1st years campsite. The last two years we've camped as stake years instead of by ward. Last year Nicole and I were with the 2nd years. This year Nicole didn't go but I still did and ended up with the first years. 25 of them. 25 twelve year olds...BIG WHOA. Only one of those girls was from my ward so I didn't know any of the others. Some of them were so little and looked like they were 8.

There were 5 adult leaders for our group so I was kind of a floater, I just went where I was needed. It was great. We had 7 girls from our ward at camp after 5 others cancelled (mostly last minute :p).

So the forecast for camp two weeks prior to camp was 88 degrees with 90% humidity basically the entire week...yuck. The week before camp it said 70's with clouds...PERFECT! Well that weather app changed almost by the minute. It POURED the first three days of camp. I'm not talking about rain. I'm talking about RAIN. We broke a rainfall record set in 1948 by NOON on Wednesday. We were wet, we were prune-y, we were cold. Despite this I didn't hear anyone complain. It's kind of fun actually to be 'forced' to all gather under the pavilion and/or canopies where you make lots of new friends. Despite cold nights I much preferred rainy camp to way too hot camp.

The theme for this year was Look Up and Believe. We talked about the temple and stars a lot.

It was really neat because there were A LOT of friends at camp this year. Many girls who aren't members got to attend. One of those girls is my neighbor Eve who's friends with a girl in our ward. Our ward is the best. They seriously are. They all get along, they are all so helpful, kind, funny, put up with my weirdness, etc...

I made a lot of new friends at camp. That's weird to say but I seriously met/talked to at least 50 new people and many of them became good camp buddies. Many of them made me friendship bracelets (which was the 'class' I taught about friendship). Old friendships were strengthened too. There are so many awesome leaders and youth in our stake and I love spending time with them all.

Funny camp story-
My ward sat together for almost every meal- they sought each other out. Well other girls want to sit with our ward too (which is totally fun!). So one day we were sitting in the pavilion staying dry and a few girls from the stake were talking to me about how they don't think of me as a typical leader. They explained that I wanted to befriend everyone while other leaders just want to 'lead' things. Anyways it came around to the point that the girls would do anything I told them to do because they like me. One girl then said she would get on the (wet) ground right then and do ten pushups if I told her to. I looked at the ground and back to her and she got on the ground to do them! I tried to stop her and told her NO! But she did them anyways (so I guess they won't do everything I say!). Her pushups made other people curious and four people ended up doing pushups between the tables after lunch. The rest of the week it was a joke that I'd just look at this girl and the ground and she'd start to do them- but I didn't let her do them again, don't worry ;).
All of the first years + YCL's up at the ropes course

The intense swinging tires
Rachael doing pushups in the rain...#beastmode
Just one of the times this canopy needed to be dumped


A1 STEAK SAUCE RULES!
 So here's another little story. The last full day of camp they have these challenges for the girls to do. I was in the group, A1. So before I got into my group I nicknamed us Steak Sauce. The girls looked at me like I was insane, even after I explained it...anyways I tried to get them to make up a chant but nobody was really into it as we walked down to our first competition.
The challenge was like the show Chopped but camp style. Each team had a basket with 5 ingredients they had to use to make a meal over the campfire. Leaders weren't supposed to help at all, which is REALLY hard! Anyways my team came together and ended up winning this round (out of two other teams).
 This was their plate ^^
 They were proud of it.
 Our next competition was shelter building. Once again STEAK SAUCE dominated. After the win at the food challenge the girls started coming up with their own chants/cheers.
 This was our next station- it was archery. Some of my fellow leaders took some selfies with my camera :). My group did not win archery but it kept them humble ;). Our last station was first aid. My team won that too. At the end of the day they tallied up all the teams and winners throughout the day and my team won both the overall food challenge and the first aid challenge out of the entire camp! Everyone was calling us Steak Sauce at this point haha it was reallllly fun. PLUS the sun came out Friday and Saturday so the weather was lovely.
Just chillin' before dinner

F2 Ward Skit- represent! Our entire skit was told in #hashtags
 We rewrote our skit about 20 minutes before skits began. We ended up deciding to speak in hashtags the entire time. SO funny. We made these HOPE super hero capes and did a fun skit. It's hilarious hearing our more serious girls saying things like #chillinlikeavillan at the very end we all #droppedthemic and #walkedaway.
Quick funny story- since half of our YW didn't go to camp we had three of us adult leaders from our ward who participated. When we told the other two adults what we were doing, one of them was like, I don't even know what hashtag means! So then I got an idea that instead of saying hashtag she should say, poundsign. It was SO funny because she said it so seriously. Anyways... #hopeheroesout
Friends waiting to get our picture taken!

Eve, McKenna, Hailey. F2 FRIENDS!
And that wraps up my 2014 girls camp post. It is not complete nor does it make a whole lot of sense because I'm rushing but it's good enough I think. But wait...the FOOD. Food at camp this year was delicious. Seriously everything was homemade and they had meals between meals for snacks...

I just want to go back, it was seriously a blast.

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