Sunday, May 11, 2014

Last post for a while...

I've really enjoyed sharing all of our young women's activities for the past year or so. But this week I was able to welcome baby boy #2 into our family! As such, I will be taking a little hiatus, both from young woman's and from the blog. Thank you for viewing!

Wednesday, April 30, 2014

PPP: Plants

Last night for mutual we had our Personal Progress Party with a plants theme, perfect for spring! Unfortunately, since school is getting busy, we only had 1 girl attend. We planned on planting some flowers at the house of an older sister as a service project (and surprise), but since we were small in numbers we just planted them around a tree at the church instead. And of course we had our regular Personal Progress update interview with the one YW who came. It was a pretty relaxing and fun night. Hopefully our flowers thrive!

Wednesday, April 23, 2014

Combined: Instagram photo scavenger hunt

Last night for mutual we had a combined activity and the Young Men were in charge. We split into teams and had an "Instagramenger Hunt." It was a ton of fun! We had 1 hour to take as many pictures from the list as we could. Sorry I don't have a hard copy of the list, I hope you can read what we did.


We ended up having 3 teams with 2 or 3 youth each. We made sure each team had a smartphone to take pictures and post with. You could post to Instagram or to Facebook. The bottom of our list also says that each like you get is worth 4 extra points and each repost is worth seven extra points.

Our group ended up going to 7-11, a street that was the same as the last name as one of our group members, and my house. We tried handing out a Book of Mormon and were (politely) rejected. We also tried to take a picture of a security officer doing the Heisman pose, but he refused also. But we did manage to finish 9 other tasks. And the instagram account we posted from was very busy that night and we got enough likes to give us about twice as many points as the second place team! We were all very excited to win! 

After refreshments were handed out, our YM president talked to us about how easy it was for us to do these things and post them to the internet. He encouraged the youth to post more things on social media that have to do with the church. It doesn't have to be anything too spiritual, but something that will start a conversation with our friends. When our friends ask about the pictures from tonight, we can tell them that we were at a church activity and then possibly invite them to a future activity based on that. It was a great close to the evening and I hope it inspired the youth to be member missionaries.  

And just for fun, here are some pictures of our group: 

"Disney bounding" as Belle
"Disney bounding" as Kristoff from Frozen


Hanging from the same tree branch
Red straws in nostrils (they were small straws)
The First Article of Faith on a public sidewalk


Wednesday, April 16, 2014

Egg Art

Last night for mutual we did "egg art." If you are a Pinterest junkie like me than I'm sure you have seen this pinned there before. First, we talked a little bit about why we see so many eggs used around Easter time, and that they represent rebirth and the resurrection of Jesus Christ, We were able to get some canvases for cheap from Michael's. Next, we taped off words we liked (I just did my last name). Then we filled empty egg shells with acrylic paint and threw them at the blank canvases. I think we needed more egg shells, because most of us had to add additional paint to get the letters all covered. When you pull the tape off, the word is left in white (or whatever color you painted your background). It was a fun activity and I loved seeing what words or phrases the girls put on their canvases. You really had to chuck the eggs to get them to break, so it was a good activity to blow off a little steam also.
Prepping our canvases


Canvases prepped

Chuck that egg!

Finished product. So cool!

Wednesday, April 9, 2014

Stake Combined Actviity-Did not attend

Last night for mutual our stake held a combined activity with a missionary theme. We had one of our Young women attend, but the rest were all MIA (which unfortunately is happening a lot lately, I think partly due to the end of school coming up). Since that one young woman as able to ride with her dad, we decided not to trek up the stake center. I was a little sad but a little relieved since I had just been in the car for a few hours and wanted to go home. I heard lots of positive feedback though and am grateful for wonderful stake leaders that put on a great activity for our youth.

Wednesday, April 2, 2014

P.P.P. - Pranks

Last night for mutual was our monthly personal progress party, and in honor of April Fool's Day, we decided to have a prank theme. And who better to prank than the young men! So while I was talking to the girls individually about their personal progress accomplishments, everyone else was emptying oreos of their delicious cream centers and replacing them with toothpaste. Our toothpaste was tinged slightly blue, so we decided to tell them they were the spring themed oreos. Then we just sat and waited, since they seem to have a 6th sense about us having treats in our room. We read lists of other pranks off the internet and talked about pranks we'd participated in in the past. It was a fun night. Our first victim was the YM president and he totally fell for it. We had one young man smell the mint and figure it out before he took a bite. Then everyone else fell for it also. It was a fun, harmless prank, as everyone was able to spit it out right away. I'm glad we were also able to talk to and motivate some of the girls to work on some personal progress goals.


Friday, March 28, 2014

Thursday Temple Trip

Last night for mutual was our temple night to do baptisms for the dead, which replaced our regular Tuesday night activity. Unfortunately I wasn't able to attend, as I couldn't find a babysitter for my son. It sounds like everyone had fun, and I'm sure they all enjoyed going to Tito's Tacos afterwards, which is tradition in our ward and a Los Angeles classic.

If you would like, you can learn a little bit more about baptisms for the dead here or here.  For those who are fortunate enough to live close to a temple, this is a regular activity. Our youth are usually able to go once or twice a year with the stake.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Out of town - Cupcake wars Round 2

Last night for mutual I was unfortunately out of town.

We had so much fun with cupcake wars last time, that we decided to do it again. But this time we invited the young men to compete against us. I heard that the young men won, which was a shock to me! It sounds like everyone had fun. Sorry I can't give you any details.

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Blindfold Karaoke

Last night for mutual we did blindfold karaoke. I know that name sounds weird, and I wasn't sure what we were getting into either, but it was a really fun activity. It's pretty simple: each person takes a turn with a blindfold on and headphones in and turned up loud (not loud enough to deafen but enough to drown out other sounds). Then you record each person singing their song.

All the girls were kind of embarrassed at first, so we had one of our leaders go first. Then we alternated girls and leader. By the end the girls were having so much fun some of them wanted to go again. We all got a laugh during the performances and then again watching the videos. We even had one of the young men come in at the end and want to participate also. We promised that all videos would be deleted afterwards, so I have nothing to show you from the night.  It was silly and fun and a good night for everyone.

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

72 hour kits

Last night for mutual we worked on 72 hour kits. Unfortunately we only had 1 of our young women show up, but we helped make some kits for the other girls also. To begin, we talked a little about why we need to be prepared. We live in Southern California, where earthquakes or wildfires could easily strand us. So having something on hand is very important. We talked about what things we needed in our 72 hours kits. We brought food and assembled food bags for our kits, which was kind of fun to do together. We used the list from this website. My kits has been neglected, so this was a great activity for me, and hopefully very informative (and not scary) for our young woman.

Monday, March 3, 2014

Sunday Special: New Beginnings

Yesterday during our third hour of church, which is normally when we have Young Woman's, we held our New beginnings. This is a program we do at the beginning of every year that serves as an introduction to Young Woman's for any girls who might be turning twelve during the year. Usually we hold this in an evening, but since we thought we had no new girls coming in this year, we wanted to make it a little simpler and keep it during church. However, we received a surprise just before we began. A girl who bore her testimony in sacrament meeting just that morning was turning twelve. So we went over the primary to confirm. They said yes, she was turning twelve this year. One of the counselors walked to her classroom with me and we pulled her out and asked her to come. As an afterthought, as I was closing the door to her classroom, I asked if any one else was turning twelve this year, and another girl over in the corner timidly raised her hand too. Surprise! Not just one, but two girls turning twelve this year. What a blessing for us. Neither of these girls has been baptized yet, they currently just come to church with their new convert parents, and so we weren't able to see on the church records that they were coming into Young Woman's this year. So we found their parents and then led them all to the stage, where we were hosting New Beginnings, since our YW room isn't big enough for all the girls and their parents and the Bishop.

Even with that surprise, we had an awesome New Beginnings. Our theme was "Adventure Awaits when you Come Unto Christ," inspired by the movie Up.  So we brought in some balloons, and our amazing counselor painted a picture of the temple landing at Paradise Falls.



Our YW president talked about how on our journey through life, much like Carl's journey to Paradise Falls, we might know where we want to go and how we want to get there, but life doesn't' always cooperate. Sometimes our plans have to change, but if we are working towards coming unto Christ, those changes will be for our benefit. Then each of our current young women and leaders presented one of the Personal Progress Values and talked about how that value can help us in our life when things don't go our way. We went with the bottle cap theme from the movie and pinned large bottle caps with the values on them to the curtain after each presentation. The young women always surprise me with how prepared they are for these programs, and some wonderful testimonies were born. It was a great program. 



Since it was Fast Sunday, we had take along refreshments: Bottles of soda with bottle caps, chocolate bars wrapped in these adorable wrappers, and some dumdum suckers to resemble balloons.  


We also assembled "adventure kits," which can be seen in the first picture, inspired by this cute blog, with a few modifications. 

It was a great hour and I hope we inspired the two new girls to want to come to Young Woman's when they turn twelve. The spirit was felt, and that is what was truly important. 

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Yoga Night with Relief Society

Last night for mutual we combined with our Relief Society sisters (the woman's organization of the church) for a yoga night and healthy eating demonstration. We had a really good turnout from the Relief Society, so it was a great night. Our RS president invited one of her friends who is a professional instructor to come help us do a simple routine. Everyone brought their own mat or was able to borrow from someone, although most ladies said they were inexperienced with yoga. A few ladies didn't make it through the routine, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. The 3 young women from our group who showed up are all dancers, so they had almost no trouble with it.

After our yoga session, we had a quick cooking lesson from one of the Relief Society sisters. She made a quinoa black bean mango salad for us that was delicious. We also snacked on some fruit afterwards too.

It was a wonderful night and I think everyone had a great time! Thank you to our Relief Society for all their help!

Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Combined: The Amazing Race: Come Unto Christ Edition

Last night for mutual we participated in the Amazing Race! This is one of my favorite TV shows, so I was especially excited to be able to put this together. Well, I don't know if I should say put it together, because I was fortunate enough to find this amazing activity here on Sugardoodle. Basically I just had to print everything off and set up a few things around our church building. I was pretty sure we wouldn't have that many youth show up, so I eliminated a few of the tasks (like the faith fall), and we only raced with 2 teams. We also didn't email any of the pictures and make a slideshow afterwards (not that tech savvy).

This activity was a big hit! Some of the youth were skeptical at first, but once we got going everyone had tons of fun. We had 2 adults go with each group. The youth either picked  a number 1-18 or randomly drew an envelope out of their packet. They then had to complete whatever challenge was inside. Each challenge coordinated with a section from the For Strength of Youth Pamphlet (learn more about that here). Some were simple reading and writing, others had more physical activities. Points were awarded for each activity. I left assigning points up to the discretion of the leaders with each team. If there was little or no effort put in they were allowed to dock points. The teams had to be back in the Relief Society room at 8:10 sharp or they were docked points also. The winning team won some "gold nuggets" (Rolos). And everyone who participated was able to "partake in the love of Christ" (heart shaped Reese's, hooray for clearance valentine's day candy). Our YW President spoke to us about coming unto Christ after everything had settled down. We actually got some responses out of the youth, which was so nice to hear. It was an awesome activity. Thanks again to Caytee at Sugardoodle for putting it all together. They couldn't stop talking about it afterwards.


I currently only have pictures from 1 group, hopefully I will have some from the second soon.
Modeling a modest outfit

After the floor maze. This was really hard they said.

Balloon portraits of themselves. 

Friday, February 14, 2014

Heart Attack Part 2

Last night we got together as Young Women to heart attack a girl who has been less active in our ward. The girls we brought with us had never done this so secretly before, so they had a lot of fun. We silently went up to her front door and taped the hearts we mad eon Tuesday all over. We also had a giant Valentine's Day card, some heart lollipops, and a small potted rose to leave on her doorstep. Then we played ding dong ditch. We were able to see somewhat from some bushes two doors down. It was a big adrenaline rush for all of us, so it was a lot of fun. I hope this young woman knows that we love her. Hopefully it will also spur her to come to more activities with us.


Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Heart Attack Part 1

Last night for mutual we prepared for our heart attack, which will take place late the night before Valentine's Day. We have a young women in our group who used to come all the time, and still attends seminary and Sunday School, but won't come to Young Women's for some reason. We are going to heart attack her to let her know that we still care and that we would love to see her come back to us. So last night, we spent the evening cutting out hearts and writing messages both sweet and cheesy on them. Thursday evening we will go and cover her front door with the hearts and leave a few treats also. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

Treats

Last night for mutual we made rice krispie treats and muddy buddies. Originally we had planned on going ice skating (as a reward for finally finishing 1st Nephi, see this post). But since half of our girls couldn't come and the two girls who did come were sick and exhausted, we decided to instead make some treats for those girls. Since we had a lot extra, we also delivered some to our Bishop and his executive secretary, who were at the church that night. It was a fun and easy night that I think the girls enjoyed, and the two girls who were gone were grateful for the treat and to know that we remembered them. We'll be rescheduling ice skating for another night.

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

Sewing: Round 3

Last night for mutual we had sewing: round 3. We finally finished up the pajama pants we've been working on!  Unfortunately, I wasn't there so I can't give too many details, but I know the girls have had fun learning this new skill and making something in the process.

Update: I found out that the pants were not finished, due to sewing machines breaking down. Looks like we might be going for round 4!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

PPP Party: Purple Pictionary

Last night for mutual we had our PPP party we had a purple theme and played pictionary. We all wore purple clothes, and our YW president also made us purple princess cupcakes (a la Sofia the First). We only had 2 girls there, so we had a group discussion about personal progress. We challenged them to finish Integrity #4 by Sunday. It is a pretty simple goal and went along with our purple theme. It was a fun night. 

Sorry for missing the last few weeks. I have been out of town and sick so I haven't been to mutual in a while. But we just had our first planning meeting of the year and we have some fun activities coming up! I'll try to be better from now on. 

Sunday, January 5, 2014

Christmas Break

Since both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve fell on Tuesday evenings this year, we did not have any mutual activities for the past 2 weeks. We'll be back next week though. Don't forget our new mutual theme for 2014: “Come unto Christ, and be perfected in him, and deny yourselves of all ungodliness” (Moroni 10:32). Happy New Year!