Kidnapped.

 Her very last day of Activity Days and her very first taste of Young Womens!

Nobody kidnaps like girls between the ages of 12-17. 

Nobody. 

Blindfolds, shrieking, unnecessary roughness. It's all a part of the initiation. It's totally the best. 

Things really are changing around here!

Charcuterie in Bethlehem

Here's a funny little story. 

I almost got tricked into running this whole activity. But my mama dint raise no dummy. 

I slip slided into the infinitely less stressful job of creating a little shop for the the "Night at Bethlehem" the ward put on for the ward Christmas party. I volunteered for the charcuterie shop. I know...it's funny. I don't doubt the fine citizens of Bethlehem enjoyed their fair share of shelf stable meats and cheeses, but did they call it charcuterie?? I think they called it dinner. 

But we're rolling with it. 

We dug out our bucket of earth tone fabric with rough-cut neck holes, loaded the truck with every tablecloth,  basket, candle and tassley pillow we could find.  Don't forget the staple gun!

And check it out!

Can you believe this beautiful hand-painted sign Megan created for me just hours before the party. She's so talented! I was blown away. 

I was a little stressed, maybe a little jaded. But we actually had a good time running our Charcuterie Shop. 

Anderson's ran the Bakery

And I loved our Roman Guard and Friar Tuck 

And this was probably my favorite Christamas program ever. It was a shadow nativity, with Brother Jackson singing "Hallelujah". It was lovely. 

Now what do I do with all this leftover cheese??

Janitorial

We had an unexpectedly good time cleaning the church building this morning. 

My job was to move the vacuum chord a little with my toe when I thought it was encroaching on Mark's path. 

Crucial.

Vital. 

Indispensable. 

Girls camp 2024

We went to Lake of the Ozarks with the girls from our original Olathe 3rd ward. They have been split into two wards now, so it was nice to be together again.

A few highlights:

Starting out fresh and clean!

Taking a tour of Ozark Caverns

I spent all my time filling this table with food

It was HOT....so so hot. I borrowed this AC unit from Bobby, my favorite chiropractor. It saved our lives. It was the best thing I brought. 

This truck was a close second...I used it to haul everyone and everything up and down from the water. When AJ and I got to a a point where we couldn't handle the heat or the drama or the human interaction or the mosquitos one more second, we would escape to the truck and let the AC bring us back to life. 

Everything in that kitchen was BIG. Big bowls, big ovens, big appetites. Cooking for 35 people is a full time job! 

We made floating lanterns

The final morning devotional

The last photo, a little worse for wear, but lots of love and memories made!

Are we feeling the love?

Will this day be romantic?

It will not. 

Will I want to weep from complete exhaustion when I finally climb into my bed tonight?

Yes I will. 

But will we have our HEART SHAPED CINNAMON ROLLS???

You bet your sweet bickies. 

Now, get back to work. 

 

Activity Days!

 I was asked to help lead Everly's Activity Days group. I jumped at the chance to spend more time with this sweet girl. And I know better than most that a successful activity with 6 active girls is just a balloon and a bag of marshmallows away!

Girls Camp...a retrospective.

 I don't think I have the energy to describe camp in any kind of detail. Anna had her own experiences. I was a leader and both enjoyed my time there, as well as felt 4 days of brutal heat and overscheduling. It's the girls camp way!

Here are the few photos I took and it will probably give a pretty accurate picture of how it went -->

Any woman anywhere that has attended girls camp as a leader knows deep deep in her bones the simultaneous love/hate relationship we have with this experience. I want everything for my girls. I want them to sing and do crafts and stay up late talking and go to classes and have the faith walk and all of it. And, by dang, if that means I go too, then so be it!

Everly at the mic

 Just in case I'm not feeling bad enough...I missed the primary program and Everly doing her part. gah!

I'm glad Mark snuck an illegal photo for me. hee hee. 

He snagged a pic of Anna's excellent nails, while he was at it. I seriously love being a mom. These kids make life fun.

Girls Camp 2022: Day 2

Day 2:

Morning devotional

A quick get-to-know-you game

And we were off to Redneck Waterslide. They were quick studies in the line up technique!

 

Ice cream cone feast!

Let me tell you, it was hot enough that they only thing to do after a day of water....more water!

I intervened on behalf of a couple fish that were being smuggled back to camp. You're welcome, fishies. 

While the kids tooled about in the water, I headed back to make tinfoil dinners and rest of the girls started working on their painted scriptures. They turned out pretty cool!

I dug deep into my memory to teach Emma how to clean (and cook) the already dead fish she found. 

I stayed close to make sure that nobody took a bite of that dead cooked fish. yeck. 

Fireside devotional and off to bed!