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!

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!

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

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!

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.

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.

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.