Saturday, February 18, 2012

Young Women-A Heritage of Righteous Traditions

Once a month for our Young Women's weekly activity we have a Personal Progress Power night.  We focus the night on Personal Progress and also choose a value for that month.  February's value is Divine Nature-I have inherited divine qualities which I will strive to develop.  All the young women were invited to participate by bringing a guest to share a fun/inspirational story of a righteous tradition in their family.  They were also invited to share a family heirloom and/or bring a family recipe for the taster's table.
It was an AWESOME night!
We gave each of the girls and their special guest an invitation.  Attached to the invitation was a little chocolate truffle.  Chocolate became a sweet tradition at my grandparents home.  My grandmother always had a little dish of chocolates on her living room table.  All the grandkids understood that as we sat and chatted with grandmother we were invited to sample the chocolates.  We LOVED to chat with our grandma!...and just maybe that tradition was the  inspiration for Chocolates for Breakfast

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Many of the girls brought family heirlooms to display.


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Many beautiful works of art showing labors of love and service given by ancestors.

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The phone presented some comical relief for the night.  Many of the girls did not know how to dial the phone.  They kept pushing the hole where the number appeared and wondering why nothing happened.  After a little technical support the girls were amazed that dialing a phone could take so long.  One leader reminisced about the "olden days" when she could dial an entire phone number without even looking!



Our special guests told stories from their younger years.  They shared their testimonies of temple worship, of missionary service, of sharing and loving.  
We heard a story about a pregnant young woman from the Philippines on her way to the temple to receive the sealing blessings.  While on the ferry she delivered the baby and decided that this trip to the temple was much more important than a little discomfort.  She and her family, with a newborn baby continued their trip and were sealed for time and all eternity.
A former Mrs.Utah shared her story of being entered into the pageant by a friend and then how she had to perform specific tasks to compete--like cooking, child care, how to manage finances, and about 7 other related topics.  She won Mrs. Utah and then went on to the Mrs. America pageant and became a 2nd runner up.
Another guest talked about making hundreds of donuts for the young women she served.  She also remembered a MiaMaid activity from her youth...skinny dipping!  She said it was a great bonding activity.  This Mia Maid class from years ago still get together several times a year and continue to look out for one another.  As we listened to these stories we gained a greater understanding and respect for the sacrifices of our ancestors and their righteous traditions.


We ended the evening sampling from the taster's table.  All kinds of family recipes for soda cracker candy, homemade donuts, cake pops, danish cookies, and all kinds of other fancy yummies.

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As the young women prepared to leave we gave them a little brown paper sack filled with a Valentine treat (it was a week before Valentine's Day), a few conference articles that related to Divine Nature, and the list of 1916 Beehive Requirements.  
The list included goals like: 
How to successfully care for a hive of bees 
Learn to float in Great Salt Lake and propel yourself 50 feet
Whitewash your toilet inside and out
For three months, take care of milk and cream from at least one cow and see that the pails, pans, strainer, and separator are thoroughly cleansed.  


I think we all decided that we are grateful for the modern day Personal Progress goals! 


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Saturday, February 11, 2012

Fun Valentines

For Valentines Day this year I wanted to do something fun and easy. I scoured Pinterest for some ideas and came up with these adorable ideas!

First we have Jackson's - I found the first idea here - It was very simple and fun to make. I ordered the Pillow Boxes from Paper Mart on-line and ended up getting several sizes. I went with the 4 X 2-1/4 X 7/8 size in the end. I now have a whole bunch of pillow boxes for another project! :)
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For Hannah's Valentine, since she's in third grade we wanted something a little more grown-up and fun. I've been obsessed with Mustache's lately. (I will be posting my Mustache New Years Eve party soon) so we found this fun idea and used my Silhouette to cut them out lickety split!
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Happy Valentines Day everyone!! If you need some fun valentine gifts check out our ETSY shoppe. I made this set for a customer yesterday. She was going to give them to her kids teachers. I say lucky teachers!


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Valetines Day Wreath

A few weeks ago I was looking at some fun craft ideas and came accross this adorable argyle wreath. I am a sucker for argyle and so i had to make it. It was a very simple craft and I bought everything and made it in just one day!
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Thursday, February 2, 2012

Penguin Baby Shower

One of my very best friends husbands is obsessed with Penguins. I mean OBSESSED! So when she got pregnant with her first child and I offered to throw her a baby shower, I knew what the theme would be. PENGUINS! I'm not a huge fan of Penguins (Sorry, Parker) but I knew I could make this shower adorable. I had to. This girl is crafty. I mean super crafty. Just check out this Twilight party we threw together. Anyway, I digress. I put my sister Connie on the job to make her a "Penguin Quilt" That's all I told her and wouldn't you know it, I got it in the mail from Utah a few days before the shower and it was THE SAME EXACT PENGUIN I had used for all the printables, cards, decor etc. Talk about being in sync!
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We started with a sign in tree as you enter the party. I found the idea on-line and thought what a fun way to give the new mommy our old mommy wisdom! Each party guest wrote their advice on a mini penguin and hung the little guy on the advice tree.
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We played a few of the classic baby shower games but mostly ate and talked. I made Oreo Truffles,
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used donut holes as "snowballs",
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made these cute little olive penguins,
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I found out her favorite snack foods that she loved to eat during pregnancy and mixed them all together for the party favor. I displayed them in this cute frame. (A word of caution...cheetos are greasy and bleed through the bags to make oily spots!)
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I decorated the food table with "snowballs" made from yarn and styrafoam trees. Here is before the food came:
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A friend of mine made these cute penguin cake pops. Adorable!
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The shower was a huge success!!

Photos Courtesy of http://www.rachaeldphotography.blogspot.com/

Breaking Dawn Shin Dig

The last movie!! Well second to last since they broke this into two parts...Ok, the last book! Those of us who love the Twilight Series are used to the ridiculing, judgemental looks and condescending snide remarks but I personally think "yay for us!" We are passionate about something and it doesn't hurt anyone to be excited about something...even if it is a silly movie! Plus it's a great opportunity to throw a party and have a girls night......This girls night had a special guest....
Hello there....Angry Edward
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My friend Candice and her mom Tracey were the masterminds of this fantastic party and I helped them carry it out.

As you walked up the steps to the house at the front door our guests signed in:
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We tried to replicate the "Wedding Scene" in the entry way with Edward greeting us,
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the wedding cake and special wedding rings we made for the guests
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we also decorated the chandelier to look like the scene in the movie
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Next each guest took their wedding photo with Edward..He looks so angry!
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Then they got their next favor. Cute Sour Cream Containers made from "Twilight" Scrapbook paper and filled with treats for the midnight movie
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Another favorite part of the entry way were the Edward and Bella Sillouettes
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The next room the guests entered was Esme Isle which as Twihards know is where Edward and Bella honeymoon. The room came complete with a Palm Tree that we constructed over my 70's style Fireplace and Bed and Canopy with feathers stuck in the canopy from their....hmmm....hmmmm....raucous evening together
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First comes love, then comes marriage then comes....you guessed it...the demon baby!
So we enter the delivery room!
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This is where Bella has her baby and again, if you've read the books or seen the movie she has to be injected with Edwards Venom to save her. Here is Candice's version of that lovely event!
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We had guests bring "Twilight" themed appetizers and we provided desserts like these delicious fang/forks cupcakes with quotes from the movie on them.
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Moving into our last room. The Kitchen is where we served drinks and "Got Bit"
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Instead of playing a Trivia Game we put Trivia questions on the drink markers
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It was an exhausting few days/months but we were so pleased with how it turned out.
Our guests left with great swag bags and off to the midnight show we went!
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OH....I forgot one room. This was in the bathroom and "faced you" (if you know what I mean)
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Can't wait til next year when the last one comes out!!!

Most of the printables were found here