Released from Young Women

I am officially down to just a couple callings = I play the organ for the 4th Sunday and the 5th Sunday and I accompany the choir. I was released from my Camp Calling earlier this month and my best buddy Jessie is now the Ward Camp Director. She was ecstatic (and will do very, very well!) - I was released as the YW Secretary also. It was just too hard to have 5 callings and full-time work and "life", so I am thankful for the respite - - but will miss this crazy & lovely & wonderful bunch of Young Women!!

Evening in Excellence

Tonight was our Young Women Evening in Excellence program. Audrey created a wonderful DVD video with pictures of the girls throughout the year. She did a terrific job and spent countless hours working on this project. In addition, she made a 30 minute DVD with the evening's background music for before and after the program.

I was also involved in the program by accompanying every single musical number. The program was basically 'song - short narration - song' all evening, so I was kept quite busy. But I did enjoy the opportunity to accompany some very talented singers (Mollie, Mike, Tiffani, Angela, Jessie, Tycie).

Great Sunday

Today was Stake Conference, which actually ended up being a direct feed from Salt Lake to all the congregations in Alaska and Washington. What a pleasant surprise to be able to hear from President Monson! I was the organist for our building and had an interesting time playing prelude music in the dark as someone had flipped the lights out in anticipation of the video feed in the middle of one of the hymns... After a wonderful conference, we went home and had a impromptu barbecue with the McLaughlin's. Connor spent a lot of time picking tomatoes and blackberries, and then taking home his treasures. Emma kept trying to beat her score on the marble solitaire game we have while Dale kept us entertained. We had a nice time in our backyard enjoying probably the last barbecue of the summer. Then I headed to a YW Presidency meeting. They put in a new YW Presidency while we were on our Utah trip so we have a new president (Jenn) and counselors (Jill & Kim W) but I am still the secretary for the Young Women. While I was at my meeting (3 hrs) John went to a Stake Meeting for the audit committee. That's what we get with 5 callings (for me) and 3 callings (for John). I'm not sure how much resting we got today, but it was a great Sunday.

Easy Firecracker Treats

Smarties wrapped with scrapping paper - looked like baby firecrackers. Taught the YW lesson today and made them promise to wait until they got home (Fast Sunday you know). Also played the organ today and played for the choir number (Battle Hymn of the Republic). In the afternoon we watched Independence Day. Good day.

Busy Sunday & YW Recognition

Today was an incredibly busy day for the Carter's:

* Audrey spoke in Sacrament

* Audrey received her YW Recognition Award

* Audrey co-taught the YW Lesson to the Laurels

* Sam accompanied 2 musical numbers during Sacrament

* Sam played the organ

* Sam taught the YW Lesson to the Beehives

* Family went to Cameron's BD party right after church (yummy food)

* John & Sam set up technical items for fireside

* John & Sam attended fireside, Sam played piano

Good day - busy day! But our favorite part was listening to Audrey speak in Sacrament and seeing her earn her YW Recognition Award. She actually finished it on January 1st, but they present to all the girls at one time, right before the Stake YW Recognition event. So she worked very hard to get this accomplished while she was only 15. We are proud of her!!

Beehive Cake

Even though I was released from Beehive Advisor a few weeks ago, I had been asked to continue with the April assignments (lesson & activities) already outlined. So today was actually the last time I gave a lesson to the Beehives. Once my lesson was prepared, I had quite the Bee-theme going because the lesson included a story "The Parable of the Bee", I used a photograph of a bee with flower, and then I made this Beehive Cake. Lesson went very well and the cake was a hit! In fact, one of the Beehives asked me later if I would return to their class and make them another cake : )

Popcorn Scramble & YW Changes

I was released as the Beehive Advisor and called as the Young Women's Secretary & YW Ward Camp Director. (Can you believe I've never had a Secretary calling in the church?) The great thing is that I get to stay in YW - what a neat bunch of girls and leaders to play with. I'm up to FIVE callings now (not including VT)! So today was the last activity with the Beehives I was co-running. Since Patty was out of town, I had agreed to assist Mollie and so we had a game night with the girls. We had two game tables set up. The girls were also getting their Personal Progress interviews, so as one girl left, the one returning would take her place at the table. This mixed up the players between the two tables and all the girls got to interact with different girls throughout the evening. I think they had a good time. For treats I made this recipe - it is kind of addicting.

POPCORN SCRAMBLE
Mix together the following ingredients:

3 cups corn or rice Chex
6 cups popped popcorn
8 oz jar dry roasted peanuts
3 cups small shaped pretzels
1 & 1/2 cups coconut
Set aside

In deep saucepan combine:
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter
1/2 cup light Karo syrup
Heat until boiling. Boil for 5 minutes.
Add 2 tsp. vanilla and 1/2 tsp. baking soda.

Pour syrup over popcorn mix and stir well. Spread on a large baking sheet and bake at 200 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Separate into chunks as soon as it's not sticky and store in airtight container.

YW Activity: Valentine Birdseed

Patty planned tonight's activity. We put birdseed into little clear sacks, tied them with a red ribbon and attached the following poem (printed on Valentine paper). The girls were able to take some home to give to their parents, neighbors or friends.

I gave a hundred Valentines.
A hundred did I say?
I gave a thousand Valentines
One cold and wintry day.
I didn't put my name on them
Or any other words
Because my Valentines were seeds
For February birds!

When they were done, we still had some time, so the girls played "Thumbs Up, 7-Up" and "If you loved me, you'd smile". The girls were a riot!!

YW Activity: New Beginnings

Our New Beginnings was held tonight with "Carnival of Values" as the theme. Everything was decorated with balloons and in the value colors (of course). Each leader was in charge of a station and the girls and their parents rotated through all the stations during the evening. My station was Knowledge. I was instructed to have some type of trivia game ready, so I brought our laptop and had a Jeopardy game loaded. I got the idea off a website, but then created some of my own questions so that some questions were church related and some were not. My ending line each session was to remind everyone that we can spend a lot of time gaining knowledge, but that some of the knowledge we gain can be rather trivial and we should choose wisely. The other stations were Faith (they did the Faith Fall), Good Works (they tied a quilt), Divine Nature (nail polish booth), Choice and Accountability (a game where they flipped a coin and then made their decisions), Virtue (a memory game), Integrity (a board game) and Individual Worth (a game where they raced to finish certain tasks). They had popcorn and drinks for the refreshments.

YW Activity: Chinese New Year's

We had a fun activity this week with the Beehives - Chinese New Year's. Patty had decorated the room with paper lanterns, umbrellas and various books. It looked very festive. She started the evening by telling the girls a little history about Chinese New Year's and that it is the year of the Ox. Then we heard what year it was when we were born (Horse for me). Tying in the hard working characteristic of the ox (dependable, calm, patient, hardworking, ambitious, logical), she had me give them a short lesson on what characteristics they should have when they are in the work force. Then I started the craft portion. We had 11 girls show up (yeah) and they seemed to have a really good time during the whole evening.

DECORATE CHOPSTICKS: I used a wood burning tool. Had to borrow Audrey's and she gave me a lesson on how to use it. I think it turned out pretty good. I got a package of #100 chopsticks for under $2.00 at Cash N Carry. To decorate, you need to keep with simple lines and dots, unless you are a wood burning expert like my daughter! This was a hit with the girls until we had a little technical issue and had to stop before everyone got a chance to finish. Good thing the second craft kept them more than busy!!
MAKE PAPER FORTUNE COOKIES: I bought a package of take out boxes (#25 for about $2 also at Cash N Carry) and then some patterned paper. Cut circles out of scrapbook paper, 3"-4" works well. Fold the circle in half (lightly, do not crease) with just a little overlap. Then you bring the two sides together by holding your fingers on either edge and kind of push in the center so it folds. Again, do not crease at all. They look more realistic if you do not fold them exactly in half, but a bit off center. Then use a small piece of double-stick tape to seal it into the fortune cookie shape. I also had prepared some fortunes for the girls to put inside. You can put them in before you start folding, or push in afterwards. After the crafting session, we enjoyed some egg rolls & rice in traditional Chinese bowls (some girls even ate with their chopsticks) and of course, real fortune cookies for dessert!

YW Activity: Ice Cream Values

As Beehive Advisor, I get to help with the Wednesday night activities. We had a fun activity where the girls learned all about the Young Women values. We introduced the values and then they spent some time on a worksheet (matching the colors, themes and scriptures to each value). Then the hard part! They had to memorize the scripture that went with the YW value - so by the end of the evening nearly all the girls had memorized at least 6 of the 8 scriptures! I was impressed as I am not a memorizer at all! Then Patty (the Beehive Counselor) had put pieces of paper into a cup and the girls drew out the same number of paper as the number of scriptures they memorized. The slips of paper had items like: spoon, bowl, banana, chocolate syrup, whipped cream. So the girls got to make banana splits with those items. What a fun activity - thanks for everything Patty!