Easter Lesson

This last week I read a talk by Elder Bruce R. McConkie entitle, The Purifying Power of Gethsemane. As I read it I had an Easter lesson idea for Young Womens since Easter is also General Conference so we won't be at church.
Towards the end of his talk, Elder McConkie talked about three gardens, the Garden of Eden, the Garden of Gethsemane, and the Garden of the Empty Tomb. He said a little something about each garden and it hit me that talking about those three gardens could be a really cool way to learn about all of the events of the Atonement and relate to Easter as well. I still wasn't totally convinced to go this direction until I was in the car listening to a John Bytheway talk and he said something along the lines of, "the most important events in the world have happened in gardens." After hearing that I decided for sure to have that be my topic.

I had to come up with a way to present the lesson so it would be similar to the Come Follow Me curriculum where the girls could have a meaningful discussion and learn from each other as well as the scriptures. I ended up making a simple handout- not as "pretty" as I intended but that doesn't matter.

Here is a download-able PDF version of the handout if you're interested. I plan on using this to kick-start my personal study on these events and maybe someone else is interested too?

Three Gardens Easter Handout

These pictures are from the lds.org media resources

I printed them out double-sided on card stock, folded them in half then cut on the dotted lines halfway across the page so it was like a little "flip book" of sorts. Probably not necessary but I like to complicate things :)

We had some reallllly good discussions. I broke the girls up into three groups and gave each group one of the gardens to learn about. They read the scriptures listed on the handout and the quotes in their groups. Then they all talked about what they learned from their study and why it's important to them personally. The girls had wonderful insights and I love when they share why different gospel aspects matter to them personally. I had some Easter videos to watch "just in case" but they all got really into studying about their garden and all shared really great insights which is so much more spiritual than showing them videos they can watch whenever (the videos are GREAT and they really do bring the spirit as well but I'm not about to interrupt teenage girls relating these gospel experiences to their real lives!) 

Anyways it was just really good and I'm really glad that I randomly came across that talk and totally randomly heard that John Bytheway comment. 

I hope you all (whoever you are!) have a wonderful Easter week.

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 :)

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.

30 Days

December?! No it's not time for you yet, it's still August and this is just a trick. Seriously!

So after church today I decided I was going to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover in 30 days this month. Cray. I'm not going to focus on studying out each thing like I typically do because then it will take me 300 days. I'm just going to read/listen. I've not been very good at it lately which is a bummer because I was almost too overboard with it earlier this year. I would spend 3+ hours a day on one or two chapters. That's great if you have that time. I don't.

Here is a bookmark I found online a few minutes back that I'll be using to keep me on track.

If you click on the bookmark, it will send you to the blog of the lady who made this where you can copy it. 

December is crazy. But what month isn't crazy? Thinking about this last year a month hasn't gone by without some big event or project happening. Things aren't going to 'slow down' so my excuses are invalid and lame. 

You can do a lot in 30 days! 

You make time for the things that matter most to you. Choose wisely friends!

Elder B.

This weekend was so busy but so great. Our stake had the opportunity to have Elder Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles come and speak to us at a 'special stake conference'. He happened to be in the area for something and decided to do this. Saturday night he had a special YSA fireside in Arlington that Nicole and I went to. It was question and answer format which I was unsure of at first, I just wanted to hear what HE wanted to tell us! Then after just a couple minutes I was over it and loved the Q&A format. The way he was able to quickly answer so many questions without taking a pause to compose his thoughts is what really impressed me the most and confirmed that he truly is an apostle of the Lord. Being able to answer so plainly, honestly, and quickly is seriously impressive. I know it was Heavenly Father working through the Holy Ghost through Elder Bednar to answer those questions.

I took lots of notes because that's just what I do and I want to share them all but I'll do the cliff notes version for those unable to attend. (Some of these parts are just my random thoughts and aren't 'official' Elder Bednar words. My thoughts are italicized)

• Be an agent who acts, don't sit and wait around.
• There's a reason we all read 1st & 2nd Nephi so many times. It's so we can read and reread Nephi's story to get it through our thick skulls that we don't need to sit and wait for an answer or some big dramatic epiphany. We need to have faith that Christ will provide the way when we are obedient and righteous. Nephi didn't sit around and question whether or not he should go back to get the plates, he went and did what was asked of him. He was an agent, not an object.

•  Develop yourself to serve God. All things should lead to Him. 

• Learn love and patience to help bring others to the gospel. 
• It's not about getting them to church for a number or to say you've done your missionary work. It's about helping others find peace and happiness. Giving them the information and tools to be successful in each aspect of their lives. Pray for those opportunities.

• The Gospel makes us more than we are.  
• The principles and ordinances of the gospel allow us to tap into our incomprehensible potential. 

• God sets the terms and conditions of covenants.  
• The promises that we make bring along an obligation but they also bring along blessings. I think the obligation will always be less than the blessings. He has always and will always follow through on his side of the promise. He is and will always be the same.

• We act then we get power. We don't wait for power to act. He will inspire us to act when we are obedience. Have confidence in what you do. 

• Make time for what matters most to you. Spend time on the things that have enduring value, something that will last through eternity. 

• You will become what you spend your time doing.  
• Hmm so that means I should re-prioritize big time.   

• Complete your most important tasks first, then everything else will fall into place.

• Take something into the scriptures, a question you want answered so you can find direction as you study. Instead of going to the temple with a question you want answered, go to the temple with the desire to find a question. Then use that question, take that question into the scriptures to find your answer.

• Promise: Ask Heavenly Father how to be an agent, how to feast upon the words, not just read the scriptures. He will bless us.

• The Priesthood is not male. It is God's authority. It blesses us all equally. It is like an umbrella that men are ordained to hold up, but it pours out and blesses everyone. 

• We can't solve all the problems. We can make an impact with small influences/actions.

• No unhallowed hand can stop this work. We are in the last quarter of the game. We have an advantage, we know who wins.  
• WE KNOW WHO WINS. Keep faith that satan cannot overthrow God's will. Have you ever met someone who WANTS to be on the losing team? I've never heard of that before.

• Evil will increase and it won't lessen, it proves that it's the last days.  
•  The more good there is, the more evil. Remember, we know who wins!

• There is nothing better than opposition. When we're asked why is the gospel so hard? What are you weird? it's the perfect opportunity share what you know. Share what makes you happy and give that gift to someone else. It's not living the gospel that is hard, it's not living the gospel that's hard. 

• Don't talk about how you talk. If you're in a discussion and someone says, "why did you use that tone of voice." it makes situations harder than necessary. It causes hurt feelings and it's not necessary.

That's a long 'cliff-notes' version of the YSA fireside. Maybe I should google the meaning of cliff notes ;)

Anyways, it was really great. Then going to hear him speak again this morning for stake conference was good too. Last night was my favorite but today was awesome also. The stake center was beyond packed which is more than we can claim during regular stake conference.
Go and Do.

In the Mirror

Tonight as I brushed my teeth, I looked in the mirror and noticed my hair was wonky on one side (which isn't uncommon) so I used my fingers to push it back. Then I started thinking about reflections. When I look in the mirror, I see a reverse image of myself. What other people see is different than what I see, their perspective is different. When I see a picture of myself I always think it looks horrible because I'm used to seeing my face in a reflection. Does this make sense?

A few hours later I saw this quote that said, "I never thought I was a bully...until I listened to how I speak to myself. I think I owe myself an apology." Whoa. By that definition, I can be a bully.

Something that I've learned over the years as I've worked with the 12-18 yr old girls at church is that I know how awesome they are. I can see all their talents and abilities. I'm constantly impressed with their abilities to overcome challenges and to choose the right even when it's not popular. My point is, I can see their potential, I am their cheerleader and I hate when they put themselves down....The part I'm just now realizing is that in that same breath, I tend to put myself down. Either out loud or in my mind. What kind of example is that? Why the heck am I allowed to compliment them and expect them to not put themselves down, when I do that very thing! When I compliment someone on something, I really mean it and I hate having to defend my compliment when the person disagrees with me. I encourage them to accept the compliment and tell them not to compare themselves to anyone else. So why is it so easy for me to tell other people that but so difficult for me to put my own advice into action?

Maybe I think that if I accept a compliment I am being vain or arrogant. Maybe I have this idea in my mind of what I wanted that crocheted hat to look like and the final product doesn't meet my expectations so I don't feel like I deserve the compliment. I know I'm a terribly awkward person in general and accepting praise is uncomfortable for me because I feel like I have to point out all my flaws. Maybe I don't want others to feel like they're 'not as good' as I am at something so I downplay my abilities. I just don't know WHY.

Our society is great in many ways. On the other side, our society ingrains this notion that we are not good enough. There's a ranking system set in place by who knows who that we get sucked into and we seem set on constantly ranking ourselves with those around us. It really doesn't matter if so and so can sing and tap dance at the same time and I can't. Why am I trying to put myself on that scale? Why do I automatically think that person is so much more talented than me? No, that's not true! That person is very talented in their own right, in their own way! Yes, they're talented at singing and tap dancing, I am not, but I have other abilities. My ranking system should be within myself. When I gauge my singing abilities (or severe lack thereof-I'm not trying to be humble here!) I shouldn't automatically compare myself to Chaka Khan* because then I'll never be good enough. That notion is depressing and totally unnecessary. We do this everyday people! I hear/see it constantly in those around me and myself! "Amanda's a way better dancer than me, I could never dance like that" Well...let's be honest, this is probably true, so just give up now. No really, you "can't touch this". Instead of comparing my obviously awesome dance moves to your own, practice! Or take up macrame, whatever it is that you really want to do that will make you happy. Don't take up dancing just because Amanda's doing it. If you're really interested in it, go for it. If not, pick up that darning needle (or whatever tool is used in macrame) and work on your plastic cord artistry.

I wrote this post a week or so ago but hadn't posted it yet, and since I've written it, I've heard similar sentiments expressed at least four times. It's an epidemic!
President Uchtdorf gave a talk in this last general conference called, "You Can Do It Now!" he said, "One of the adversary’s methods to prevent us from progressing is to confuse us about who we really are and what we really desire." I think we can add to that and say the adversary also uses a very wily tactic to confuses us, that anyone can fall prey to at any time. Comparison. Even the most obedient people have been trapped by this extremely cunning and well disguised threat.

It makes me think of when someone asks you to choose your favorite food, well that is impossible because there are many types of foods out there. How can I compare my favorite carne asada to my favorite Italian soup? How about colors? I love them all, but I can't choose between green and orange, they are totally different and I like them both. Just like you can't compare totally different types of food, we can't compare ourselves, it will get us nowhere. We have no chance of progressing if we continue to use this skewed system to rate our self-worth. I can say a million times that I won't compare myself or beat myself up about silly things but I know I will, I can try to do better though.

That is all. 



*What? I don't even know who that is I just like saying Chaka Khan.

So About That...

Obvs. I haven't blogged for about twelve years...slash 3 weeks. I don't apologize for it haha pretty sure I have two faithful blog viewers anyways and one of them is hit or miss (Hi Mom! Hi Nicole!).

I have just been super busy with work, school, my calling, trying to schedule photo shoots that keep getting cancelled! GRRRR Silly rain keeps messing up my plans. Oh well, rain is good. I'm thankful for rain!

Blogging is mostly a way for me to document my life without having to write in a journal. I do have one, I'm just not very a very faithful writer, I wish I was! I've tried. It cramps my hand. Alas, this is my pseudo journal. (So feel free to skip the rest of this because it's mostly for my remembering purposes)

So the last two weeks have been pretty weird, I was asked to serve in a new calling and was officially called today. I have served in the Young Women's program in my ward for SIX years! WHOA. I was first called as the YW secretary with Stephanie (Pres), Carren (1st), and Emily (2nd). When that presidency changed, my stomach flip flopped because they forgot to tell me about it and a member of the bishopric had to run down and ask me during sacrament meeting :) I was called to be the 2nd Counselor with the next Presidency; Doneva (Pres), Vicky (1st), and me...I'm pretty sure there were only three of us there may have been a secretary for a minute but most of the time it was us 3 (if I remember right, see kids, THIS is why we journal!). Then once again my stomach sunk with the same dread of being released when Becky (Pres), Keala (1st), and Dixie (Sec) were called but I was saved again with a special calling "YW Specialist" with Nicole. This made me feel like a secret agent and I wish I would have bought some walkie-talkies and a spy scope. Basically that calling involved planning the Wednesday activities/extra activities/Personal progress and I helped teach on Sunday's while Nicole went to the other ward. (A year later Kim was called to be 2nd and I was called to be 1st)

Anywhoo fast forward another two years give or take (2 weeks ago), the bishop asked to speak with me. My stomach once again earned the gold medal in gymnastics. I wondered if a change would be happening because in April our Bishopric was changed after our 'old' Bishop Steve was called into the Stake Presidency. So our new Bishop and YW President are married and those are two major callings. I never expected in one million years that he would ask me to be the next YW President but he did and my stomach added spelunking to it's resume. I didn't really process it, all I could think about is the YW and how much they would miss Becky. Anyway, I ended up saying yes and sometimes when I remember about it I feel like I might projectile vomit, but I am excited. I mean, I've been in YW for SIX years with these girls- one of our graduating Laurels had been in YW for a couple months when I was first called, but other than that, I've been there as each of the current YW turned 12 which is so neat to me. I have seen them grow up SO much. It's crazy how much change happens just from 12-14 let alone 12-18! They are seriously the best people I know. I'm not a parent but I imagine parents think about their children a lot. I realized this last week that I think about the YW every day, multiple times a day or more! They seem to be my first priority and I spend lots of time preparing things for them. I love it!

We took a picture today after church with the YW who were there and our old Presidency. The YW weren't a fan of this, there was quite a bit of crying during church today but you can't even tell!

I stole this pic from Nicole on instagram. We went from having maybe four girls to 14ish almost overnight it seems like! There were many not there today who generally are too which was a bummer but it's not like we can't ever take another picture together :)

This will be good.

October 2013 General Conference

I have a fun app on my phone called RhonnaDesigns (thanks Nicha {my attempt at a nickname for Nicole--fail})
So there's a trend where fancy people choose their favorite conference quotes and make them cute. Since I love quotes, cute things, and graphic design, I used my phone to make my own! (Except then afterwards I realized I can do the same thing on my iPad which is WAY easier hahahahaha woops)

This one is not my favorite at all. But I love the quote. Will redo this quote for sure-and I won't do it at 2am while laying in bed :)

Perhaps I will make more when I get some time. Conference had lots of good quotes. I haven't even finished watching/reading it all yet either.

In but not Of

My YW lesson topic tomorrow is How to be IN the World but not OF it. I like to make handouts for the girls so they can take notes/have a reference page if they want to study it later. We have a couple girls who really use these so it's worth the time and effort to make them even if only one girl uses it. I really love that there are blogs where people share their handouts because sometimes I don't have time to make my own so I thought I'd share this one I made. Here is a link to the googledoc if you'd like to use it for any reason :)

Sometimes I think about this little blog. Then I think that it's a waste of time. Then I think it's a sort of journal. Then I think I want to post about a million things. Then I don't want to post anything.

Here's a good talk I found today. You can read it if you want. It's about adversity.

I wish Amazon would start selling magical wands.

This site is so awesome if you like fireside talks. 
I don't want to be rich necessarily but I would love to be able to buy all of the books they have with these talks in them without feeling guilty.

Anybody have and favorite quotes from General Conference talks (or magazines from the Apostles) relating to the following topics?
Agency, Atonement, family, forgiveness & mercy, happiness, marriage, our potential, patriarchal blessings, plan of salvation, pornography, prayer, spiritual & physical preparedness. 



Send them on over if you do! (Or reference a favorite talk where you read the quote and I'll look it up)
The more the merrier!

I've been reading so many talks and Ensign articles lately and I really like it, it just takes a long time so no time to blog. Oh darn ;)

This is why.

New Blog

One of my assignments for this semester's Teachings of the Living Prophets class is to compile a bunch of quotes about different gospel topics. I've chosen to make a blog to track my quotes easier, plus I just have to send a link to my teacher to turn it in!

I was making it here on blogger but had all sorts of issues so I made it on wordpress and I gotta say, there are pros and cons to both blog sites but I'm really like wordpress. We'll see how this assignment goes, I may do some blog host switching soon.

If you'd like to visit my other blog you can! Here's a link.

I may end up making it private depending on how I feel about it but if you want to be able to see it, I can add you to a list.

So I had 4 topics assigned to me, then my class came up with 5 of our own topic ideas then I came up with one for my own. So each of those topics needs a minimum of 10 quotes from our Living prophets/apostles. I'm actually really excited for this project! I have an extra topic or two and I've add pages for each topic. I also added 'sub-pages' for them to post other types of media relating to the topic.
I haven't had a chance to really start adding quotes yet but hopefully I'll get to have time this week.

So blogging is fun but I don't have enough time really. Oh well, I never really post about anything exciting anyways, wah wah.

If you have any favorite talks/quotes about any of my topics you should tell me!

Raise the Funds!

Like my play on words? It's like raise the roof, but it's not! Oh man I'm SO clever and hilarious.

This Saturday night our ward's YW are having their (now annual?) dinner and dessert auction night. Last year we had a spaghetti feed/dessert auction and this year we are having a chili cook-off competition, a dessert auction, AND a for sale dessert table for those who want instant gratification.

Everyone is invited! (unless you're a creeper, then please don't come.)
It's this Saturday at 6pm at the NW building
There is a suggested donation of $20 a family or $5 a person to come eat dinner then participate in winning some desserts :)

We made enough money last year to buy all new camp equipment as well as pay for each of the girls to attend camp. We're hoping we will raise enough to send all of our girls to camp again this year.

You should really come if you're in the area, promise it's fun!

Just to wet your whistle (is that a thing?) here is one of the items I prepared tonight for the auction

 It's a movie night basket! Yahoooo. I made something similar last year and a little girl cried because she didn't win it, I felt SO bad. Maybe she'll win it this year!

 This is one of my other donations I'm working on, a candy bouquet. It's totally unhealthy and such a cheat but oh well. I need to get a couple more 'filler' candies, it's not full enough yet haha....riiiiight.

I have a few other things I'm baking to donate also.




Also I'm proud to say I didn't even want to eat any of this candy while I made it. Go me! It's been about 6 weeks since I stopped eating sugar and whatnot and it feels good. I make up my own little treats here and there so I still have some sort of 'treat' sans sugar/flour. I consider a banana dipped in granola dessert, it's actually really good.

My Week with Christ

I decided that my 'goal' for 2013 is going to be simple and to the point. I want to become more like Christ. I want to live more how He lived and follow His example better. I want to know Him better and be an example to those around me. There are many many areas in life that I struggle with and I think with this 'goal' I will be able to stop focusing on the negative and start focusing on the positive.

I came across Al Fox's blog several months ago and I check it every once in awhile. She is a convert to the church and her story is pretty cool. If you ever get a chance you should go look at her blog/videos. The other night I was being all insomniac like and watching some of her youtube videos when I came across one that I decided I wanted to do for myself. She had a photo of Christ that she carried around with her all day, she didn't put it down no matter where she went. So that was my inspiration for this week.

I started Monday and taped a little pocket sized photo of Christ in several places around my house like, 

my bathroom mirror

my bedroom door

My bathroom door

my TV

my front door

I taped one to my dashboard too this is just the one I was holding

 I also have one on my computer and the background on my phone is Christ with the sheep.

The idea is that the constant reminder will help me remember not to stress the small things and to let go of my 'whatever's ailing me' at the moment.

Walking around Joann's yesterday I carried this photo around.
I think tomorrow is going to be my 'carry it around all day' day but I carried it around here and there this week.

 I also started a project called, Names of Christ. How many 'names' do you think He is referred to as in the scriptures? I was shocked by the number because I had never thought of those words/phrases as names before.
I'll let you guess. I started by making a list of a lot of names, not all. Each day I'm going to study one name. Some names may take several days, others maybe just a few minutes, I don't know. That will be my scripture study for now. Today I started with Advocate. I will continue to work on that one tomorrow too.

So that's my week this week. Seeing how Christ can make a difference in my life with a few little pictures.

Really you should guess how many names, I dare you.



Random photos just because

I started this quilt on Monday evening. I cut some of the fabric squares out, it wasn't my cup of tea but I did it!! Then I ironed/starched each square. Tuesday I'm usually at work in the office but Sam had major knee surgery again so I was home with Shelley. After our quick trip to Joann's to get the solid fabric I did a little more cutting then laid the design out. I couldn't decide if I wanted random or organized. I chose random but it's not random enough ;). Anyways it hasn't taken as long as I thought it would because I already have the rows sewed together, I just need to sew the rows together, add a backing/binding, and quilt it. School started again this week but it was a slow starting week so I'm taking advantage of the free time I have while I have it. 

This is called my night time insomnia project 2013. I've only cross stitched a couple times in the past but for some reason I think I can just figure things out as I go so it's not anywhere in the vicinity of perfect or straight or 'right' because I'm just doing whatever I want to do. This is the 2013 mutual theme for this year, I saw an outline for this so I drew it on to a piece of fabric and started it. I'm almost done at this point it was a fun little random project. I need to get out more geesh.

Modesty Night Photos

Here is a quick silly slideshow with more pictures from our modesty night. Some are really dark and not good but I fixed them after I made the slideshow.

be-YOU-tiful

^^That was our theme of the evening. Since I get to work with the young women in my ward, I get to spend Wednesday nights with them. We have an activity each week and this week was extra special.

About a month ago we had an activity suggestion that involved the younger girls (ages 7ish-10ish). Moms wanted to teach their daughters about modesty and one mom suggested we take all the girls to the store and have them try on outfits. That would be a little too much so with lots of brainstorming we came up with our own modesty activity.

About 2 weeks ago was when we decided to really do this activity so it all came together fairly quickly. I made up the invites then last Wednesday had the girls put them together.

We also had the girls break up into pairs to prepare stations, there were 6 stations total. 

I didn't know if the girls would know what kind of stations they could do so I had a few ideas prepared, but besides the ideas, they took everything else on and made it their own. I was SO impressed. 

The Stations:

First we had a table when they walked in they grabbed the following items:

•   I made little color coded name tags for each little girl and each YW/leader so everyone would know what group they belonged in.
• A little canvas purse with our 'theme' be-YOU-tiful ironed on it. They all wore these and put their little goodies/handouts in it throughout the night.
• A duct tape covered water bottle....(this ended up being annoying for the girls to carry around, next time I'll just leave those on the table and they can grab one when they want it.)
• Their moms also got a letter our YW president wrote to them as well as a Strength of Youth book (since the girls are a bit young to have their own copy we thought the moms might like to have one for reference)

Station #1:

 Xela and Tiana's station was 'Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes'. They had gotten together the day before and prepared a really excellent lesson. They had each girl stand up and do the motions with them and explained how that related to modesty.

• Head= When you touch your head, your shirt should still be long enough to cover your belly
• Shoulders= To remind us to keep our shoulders covered and to avoid sleeveless shirts
• Knees= When you bend down to touch your knees, the front of your shirt should be high enough that you don't show too much skin
• Toes= To check to see if your shirt and pants meet in the back so you avoid showing your backside

One group of girls learning the Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes of modesty. I had found a song that someone wrote to this tune and it related to modesty but I totally didn't like it at all and it wasn't appropriate for this age group, but I still thought the idea would be neat and they made it way better than I ever could have.

These girls had a handout that they made and they also made a really cute poster that had an outline of a girl and they made little clothes to put on her. They would put a piece of clothing on the poster and the girls said whether it was modest or not.

Station #2

Hailey and Ashley's station was next. They had a cute poster that talked about how they can be modest no matter where they are. After they talked, they had three dolls, only 2 were modest and the girls had to point out the immodest doll. Then they had a piece of paper with three sections where the girls could design their out modest outfits. I think the little girls really loved this activity.

 

(in action)

Station #3

 This station was Nicole's and mine. Honestly we had like a million ideas of what we could do and when we got there, we just wanted to watch the YW teach. Our main theme was showing them how we make our immodest clothes modest. With sweaters, undershirts, etc....Nicole also brought four of Michelle's fancy dresses which the girls LOVED they all had a favorite. I had this poem printed out:

Ours was just kind of pieced together, neither of us prepared what we had planned on so we just winged it.

The girls probably wondering what these crazy ladies (N and me) were talking about haha.

 Station #4

 

This station was Bailey and Bridgit's. Our YW President had shared an object lesson the week before about how modesty helps us. An unpeeled orange floats, while a peeled orange sinks right to the bottom. It was a good visual of how we can be protected if we obey God's commandments. These girls were awesome too and they shared their experiences and how they make their immodest clothes modest. They also had a fun handout with a picture of the object lesson.

Here they are in action --------->>

 

 

Station #5

 Moira and Abby taught the girls what it means to be a daughter of God. I have this cute set of princess cookie cutters and I thought I would use the crown to make the girls sugar cookie treats, then I thought that they could be taught about being a daughter of God then decorate their own cookie!! Thanks to our YW president who made the cookies in a mad rush.

 

We had pink frosting and lots of sprinkles to decorate with. The girls got most excited when we would tell them they could lick the frosting off their own spoons :)

  First the girls reading the awesome handouts the girls made.....

 ......then decorating cookies :) (sorry the pics are from my cell phone and not great)

Station #6

This station got absorbed in with Station #1, we had a YW who came down with the flu. It wasn't a big deal though, it ended up working out great. 

Our YW president and Dena worked on this station. 

I wanted the girls to have something to remind them of the things they learned (besides all the handouts :)) so I suggested some sort of certificate for completing all the stations. Of course, that idea was magnified and ended up great. Each of the YW signed the certificates then the young girls signed their names and made a pledge to dress modestly and to follow the standards. 

Oh but wait, the fun doesn't stop there!!

In my research of modesty related activities I saw several that had a runway for the girls. Of course I thought 7-10 yr old girls would love this (most did BTW :)). Nicole rolled out a long piece of paper then lined it with Christmas lights and wrote be-YOU-tiful on it. 

Bummer, I have the actual runway pictures on my real camera so no pics of the girls dancing down the runway. We played a fun upbeat song while the girls danced/posed as they walked. We had each girl say one thing they learned that night into the microphone then go down the runway. Some got really into it, some just walked, they were all beautiful!!

The fun continues!! 

We set up chairs all along the edge of the stage.....

.......Each girl chose a polish color/nail stickers/mini nail file and a YW gave them a pedicure!! I have more pics of that on my other camera too.

 A few painted toes. The circle picture didn't work to get the toes, but I think it's a cute picture anyway, those girls had those big smiles on the entire night.

Overall it was a HUGE success. We have had moms email us and comment on how much their daughter/s loved this activity. How they went through their modesty bags and shared all the items they got and what they learned.

Oh ya, besides all the cute handouts from each station each girl also got:

Chapstick with a custom label that I put our 'theme' and the date on

A small pack of gum with a custom label that said, "I can 'chews' to dress modestly"

A mini nail polish (each girl got 2)

A mini nail file and nail stickers

An orange and a candy cane or two

I want to share all the photos I took, I am going to see if I can find a way to make a blogger slideshow so you can see more of our fun night.

If anyone wants more details about this activity feel free to ask. It was a great one and one that would be beneficial for every ward. The young girls got to have a fun memorable night and learn about modesty, and the YW learned as they prepared their lessons and saw how much the young girls look up to them. It was a win win win win win all the way around.

More photos coming, close ups of our handouts and other fun pictures.

Nicole, please look at Ina BooBoo Beans face :) she's great.

 Such a fun night.