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!

Cross Country Banquet

Tink and I went to her cross country banquet last night. One of the runner's parents offered to cater the whole thing and the food was amazing! Tink lettered and got several awards, but the biggest one was most improved over her career. It was so sweet and she was so happy. She has had great coaches and friends throughout her whole time running cross country in high school. I'm so proud of her for working so hard and sticking to it.

Temple

I was able to go to the temple in Denver today. It was amazing. First, my friend texted me yesterday to ask if she could watch my littlest so I could go with some other ladies in the ward. So that was awesome and worked out beautifully. Then we hit traffic on the way due to a wreck so instead of doing an endowment session, we did initiatories which is what I needed to do for the names I had. It was amazing. The Spirit was so strong and I felt so strongly that my grandma was doing missionary work on the other side of the veil and needed us to do the temple work for them. I cried through the whole thing and my friend, Janey, who was also doing some of my family names was also crying through it all being so overwhelmed with the Spirit. After, we went to the celestial room and sat and prayed. The Spirit was strong there too and I felt like I was receiving answers and strength. At one point, I looked up and an older lady was walking by on her way out. When I saw her I thought, "Wow! She kind of looks like my Grandma!" Well she stops right in front of me and said, "Heavenly Father loves you." She just looked at me and smiled, and with tears in my eyes, I stood and gave her a hug. As we were hugging she said, "He knows everything you are struggling with. You are very special to Him." We ended our embrace and she walked out. Janey came over and asked who that was and I just said, "I have no idea" and then told her what she said to me. She said that angels can come in many forms. It was so touching and such an amazing experience to have in the temple! What a day!

Halloween

 For Halloween this year, we went as DC Super Heroes! I was Catwoman, PC was Superman, Tink was Wonder Woman, Bucko was Green Lantern, Minnie was Batgirl, Goofy was Robin, Shortcake was Supergirl, and Rosie was The Flash. It was fun to dress up as a family again.

Middle School Cross Country

Since Minnie's new school doesn't have sports teams set up yet, she was able to run cross country on her team from last year. It has been great for her, especially as she has a friend that moved in a few houses down from us that is also on the team. They have quickly become best friends, and I love how sweet they both are! Minnie had a rough start health-wise this season as all my kids had a bad cough from bronchitis that lasted over a month. So breathing was an issue at the beginning of the season. Today was their last meet, though, and it was a nice cool day! She did great! Most meets had been very hot, making a lot of the kids throw up. So it was great to have a meet with cooler weather.

 Their awesome YW leader was able to come to one of their meets. We have great leaders at church!

Homecoming

Tink went to Homecoming with a sweet guy from our ward. They lived here when we first moved to Colorado but moved to England about 2 years later. They've been gone for the past 4 years, but are now back and our oldest kids have hit it off. They both run cross country, so he had the best way to ask her to the dance. They hiked the Incline on Labor Day and at the top, he had a poster that said, "I'd be so eXCited if you would run to Homecoming with me..." It was so cute! Tink was so excited! We quickly ordered a dress, which ended up not being in stock so we had to go with this one, but she looked great in it! We got her sparkly Vans so she would be comfortable and not dying in heels! We had fun getting ready and I loved that one of her YW leaders wanted to come see her before she left. That one is my favorite because you can see how much fun they have together.

Don't they look great?

 The back was super pretty, but that took me over a half an hour to lace up!

He even got her a corsage! We totally blanked getting a boutonniere! They had a blast though. A little after they left, I got a text from a friend that said, "Just in case you're wondering how [Tink] is doing," along with this picture:

They had been out to eat at the same restaurant Tink went to with her date! Love that I have spies who can send my surveillance photos!