An Imaginative Distraction

This was a stethoscope & magnifying glass for the 3-year-old girl who sat on my lap in church today.

The Prodigal Blogger's Departure-Part II

I just looked and I'm not nearly as far behind as I thought I was. Yay me! Before 2012 comes to a close I'll do my best to get through Thanksgiving and then post on Christmas festivities after they have come to an end. Here goes nothing...

The end of September we did a quick trip to Utah to visit with Dan's Uncle John and Aunt Norma before they left on their mission to Kentucky. We spent part of Saturday with them visiting at their home and reacquainting ourselves with our cousins on that branch of the family.

Before heading up to Poctello for more family time we stopped in South Ogden to see Amanda and Jake's new house. They closed the day before so it was now officially theirs (well, theirs after 200 +/- monthly payments to the bank). It's a cute home that needs some updating (the previous owner was the architect and he passed away in his 90's without making many updates) so they will be busy making the house their own. It's been a big project but they have enjoyed the renovation process thus far and moved in shortly after Thanksgiving.

 

While in Pocatello I borrowed a dress from my sister-in-law and then used it to put together our costumes for an upcoming Roaring 20's themed birthday party. The weekend before Halloween we stayed with four Andy & Angela's children while they were out of town to watch their oldest complete at the State Cross Country Tournament. Our ward held a Trunk-or-Treat party so we donned our costumes once again and to our nieces and nephews with us to the party. I think the highlight for them was when we walked into McDonald's for dinner all dressed in our various costumes.

Dan even did a little trick-or-treating too...

...and was given our Bishop's son, but on the condition that he eventually be returned to his parents. Bummer!

Also on our stop-over in Pocatello, we were finally able to see Neal's trophy hippo mounted on his bedroom wall:

A couple years ago he decided that hippos were cool, so cool that before he graduated from elementary school others were sporting hippo things as well. His mounted hippo was one of the birthday gifts he received earlier in the year on his 12th birthday.

October was also filled with opportunities to be involved with the Boise Temple Open House as tour guides. That carried over into November with both of us being chaperones for the young men and young women involved with the Youth Cultural Celebration. Both were such amazing events! We feel so blessed to have been asked to participate.

The Cultural Celebration was spectacular and the highlight of the Temple Dedication weekend for me. To be in the arena with over 9,200 youth was both a privilege and a blessing. They were so excited to perform the dances and songs they'd spent weeks practicing in front of our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. After, I found this quote regarding the Cultural Celebration performances: “On Sunday, Elder Bednarsaid there was enough energy during the program ‘to power every home in the United States for six months.’” (Original source) I would agree 100%!

Shortly after being asked to chaperone I received a letter describing our responsibilities. One of the things it said was to help keep the youth excited. Keep them excited?! I was more worried about keeping their excitement contained! The girls in our ward have been so excited from the moment we told them they'd be able to participate in a Cultural Celebration and the excitement returns whenever we talk about the event. It was one the the highlights of the year for them and for me. I don't know if of us will be able to participate in something similar in the future or that we'll ever forget the experience. Truly a tender mercy that I was able to be involved.

Whoa, I just might get things caught up here...Blogger, don't fail me now!!!

Monday immediately following the Youth Cultural Celebration and Sunday's Temple Rededication (see...huge events for me), my parents arrived in Boise to spend Thanksgiving with us. We had a good time visiting and being together. It was their first time in Boise so we did what we could to show them our "home town." We visited, strolled through the mall, attended the Festival of Trees, visited, watched our niece clog, visited, ate yummy food, and just enjoyed time together. Before they left we met for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We made sure to snap a photo by in the rockers out front:

 

(The sign in the back is my maiden name and one of 5 or 6 signs they have with my maiden name on it!)

Well, except for the onesey, twosey things that might come to mind, I am saying that I am now caught up enough that I can say good-bye to the Prodigal Blogger (hopefully forever but we'll have to just see about that). Now it’s onto my final preparations for Christmas then the posts about what we finally end up doing. (I can't wait to find out what we do because we can't seem to make up our minds.)

 

An answer, FINALLY!

Still wondering about my project I mentioned here? Everything was for Girl's Camp prep. Here are some of the pictures of the finished projects and how they looked at camp:

 

Some of the fun that week: (And, yes, amazingly, I'm saying fun.)

Packing up the borrowed truck to head off with the girls for a week.

Learning to kayak

(yep, I did this)

Learning to fly fish

(yep did this too)

"Chipmunk" fires to teach the required fire stuff.

Art basics

(Yep, did one too.)

 

One of the biggest hits all week...feeding the chipmunks!

(Yep, just watched the girls do that one.)

And of course, you can't forget the skits!

 

 

We all survived the drive (even after spilling Dr. Pepper in my lap), the food (prepped by the girls & cooked by a caterer), the rodents (all the cabins had mice, not fun), and the week away in the magical world called Girl's Camp.

Return of the Prodigal Blogger-Part 2

My goal is to get to sleep early tonight so I'll see how much I get posted before it's time to call it a night.

December began with our ward Christmas party. Dan and I were asked to be the chairs of the committee so the ideas began. As we contemplated what to do and how to do it I felt very strongly that our ward needed to be together celebrating and not some of us serving while others were celebrating. We contacted another ward to see if they would serve at our dinner in return for us serving at theirs. After several people commented on how nice it was to all be together and I was pleased that the inspiration came together as it did.

Each of the auxiliaries were in charge of part of the night. The YW helped with Santa and took pictures. The YM helped usher and set up the tables and chairs. The Relief Society decorated, the Primary worked with the Bishopric on a gift to the families, the Elder Quorum picked up the food, and the High Priests gave a presentation. Everyone helped with the clean up.

Santa came at the beginning of the event and he was in a room other than where we served dinner. We had everyone sing the 12 Days of Christmas and broke up the group by days. Each group selected a person or two to go to the front and read part of "Twas the Night Before Christmas." The High Priests took the book I Believe in Santa Claus by Diane G. Adamson and shared its message with those in attendance.

The whole evening went well and we came away very pleased with the end result and how it all came together.

I've often passed The Pastry Perfection when running errands or driving various places around town. It's only a few miles from our place and every time I drive by I think I'll stop in someday. Well, someday finally came. As we headed home from work I decided that I'd splurge some of my allowance money for Home Evening treats at Pastry Perfection. A smart and yet dangerous decision at the same time.

A good portion of the month was spent getting Christmas ready; purchasing gifts, wrapping, shipping, decorating the house, etc.

  

There much more to come but I'd better stop here before I don't get it posted and I'm more months behind...

Something to Think About

I just finished Gerald N. Lund's book Divine Signatures. He has a quote in there I loved and need to remember frequently:

The thermostat on the furnace of affliction will not have been set too high for us--though clearly we may think so at the time. Our God is a refining God who has been tempering soul-steel for a very long time. He knows when the right edge has been put upon our excellence and also when there is more in us than we have yet given.
Neal A. Maxwell

Now if only I could keep that in mind when the fire gets turned up hotter than ever before because I generally think the edges have been completed long before He does.

Would You Care To Dance?

Our Stake holds an adults Valentine's Dance the Friday before Valentines. Last year was an 80's theme. I visited a thrift store and found a couple things that would work well then added the right accessories...Wouldn't you like say we like look like totally gnarly?

I won't tell you exactly what was purchased at the thrift store and what we already had.

So this year there wasn't a theme, just come in Sunday dress. With Dan's new assignment to the High Council he is over activities and music. Due to a family emergency the Stake Activities Chair was unable to put things together. When Dan told me I asked that I not have to do much if anything since I had another BIG event come up at work just a day or two earlier, was fighting a cold, knew I'd be having a surgical procedure the week before, and I was going out of town a few days after the dance. Needless to say adding "our" being in charge of the dance was extremely overwhelming.

WELL...guess who ended up doing the decorating and being in charge of the dance????  Thankfully some very simple ideas for decorations came quickly and refreshments we kept very simple. Here's what we did to decorate:




And it's not Valentine's without cookies, candies, and brownies all appropriately decorated in pink and red:

 

Our drink was water but we spruced it up a little:

As I was walking through the hall I accidentally hit the shutter button and this was the picture that was taken:

Whoops! At least I got a good laugh out of it.

Luckily we had already received the names of several couples who could help and they were FABULOUS! One couple had other plans and couldn't stay for the dance but they set up and then returned to help with the clean up....their getting a vote into heaven from me!

Despite everything else on my plate the dance went well and everyone there seemed to be enjoying themselves. Whew! Now onto the next thing...