Ornament Exchange

We had our annual ornament exchange last week. I had planned on making these cute snowflakes out of the pages of a Bible, but as I started making them, I realized they were going to be huge! So I decided to use only one part of them and make them a leaf. I added a cute hanger, bow, and a tag with a quote by William Butler Yeats that said, "Though leaves are many, the root is one." I liked this as a reminder that we are the "leaves" and Jesus Christ is our "root." I think they turned out well.

 And I had to make 19 of them, so I made a few extra as well.

 The night we get together to exchange them is always a blast. We go around and hear each person's story about why they chose their ornament and any struggles they encountered in making theirs. I shared how I wanted to put a scripture or quote on mine about leaves and the only leaves in the scriptures were talking about coverings for Adam and Eve or the olive branch! Another fun one was my friend who did the door knocker. She was sharing with her husband how she thought maybe she should add glitter to it, so that afternoon he called her and said, "So did you glitter your knockers?" It was so funny and we were all laughing and joking with her about glittering her knockers for Christmas.

 Our silly group.

 And we started a new tradition of hanging each of our ornaments on the tree. What a great group and fun tradition!

Young Women Camp

 We had Young Women Camp at Camp Joseph July 10-13. I've been planning this camp for about nine months, along with several other leaders and youth leaders. I feel like I learned a lot and will be better prepared for next year. One hard thing was that we started planning with the old YW Camp book, which has certification by year levels, and halfway through our planning a new camp guidelines was released with no specific certification at all. I actually felt very strongly that we needed to have the girls camp by years, which was very concerning for many leaders who have been used to camping by wards for years. It ended up going really well and the goal to have the girls meet other girls their age in the stake seemed to work well.

 The first day was a bit hectic, getting everyone into camp and settled. The youth camp leaders (YCLs) felt like they didn't know what to do or how to help, so we encouraged them to "see a need, fill a need" instead of waiting to be asked. We had so many YCLs step up and work hard. Tink was one that by the end of the week felt so satisfied but SO tired! She didn't realize how much work it takes to be a leader, but I know her testimony grew as she was able to help others.

 It was so great to work with the YCLs and feel their spirit. They are some great girls.

 These two ladies always had my back. We were the last three leaders out of camp and this is us after everyone had gone and we were rewarding ourselves with some melting ice cream sandwiches!

I had one YCL plan this amazing activity for the whole camp that went through Jesus Christ's life. She had all the girls blindfolded, a few narrators to tell the story of His life on earth, and the YCLs to put things in their hands to feel while they listened. For example, when they spoke of Christ's birth, they placed a wrapped sack of rice in their arms to feel like they were holding a baby. It was really neat and the girls felt the Spirit very strongly.

One new, fun thing we did was go to the local swimming pool. We rented the whole thing out and went in shifts so we didn't overcrowd it. The girls loved it, and the leaders loved getting a shower in the locker rooms! It was a great week where we learned and grew a lot. It was fun to be there with both my two older girls. I can't wait for next year!