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.

Stake Youth Halloween party

Last night for mutual (which was Wednesday instead of Tuesday) our Stake Youth leaders put on a party for the youth. Our ward building was chosen this year to host the party. We just had to open up the building for them and they did the rest: food, decorating, everything. The theme this year was a harvest festival, so they encouraged everyone to wear their best western clothes, we had chili and hot dogs, and they brought in a square dance caller to lead the music. Even though this event usually includes dancing, all the youth, even the 12 and 13 year olds, were invited (usually dances are reserved for youth 14 and up). The stake did a great job and everything turned out wonderfully. I think some of the youth were disappointed that they didn't get to wear their Halloween costumes or get to dance to pop music, but overall I think everyone ended up having a good time.

One of our young women turned 16 this week! So at the dance we passed around a little notebook and had some adults write in their favorite dating advice. At the end of the night we made a special announcement introducing the newest eligible young lady in our stake. Our lovely YW president put together a little basket full of orange goodies to give to her with a sign reading "Orange you glad you're 16?" (similar to this). It was really cute.

One Act Play Wrap Up

Tonight was our performance of our One Act Play at the stake center along with all the other wards in the stake. All the shows were wonderful! We have a very creative stake, which isn't too surprising since we live next to Hollywood. We spent the last 3 mutuals and a few nights in between preparing and rehearsing for the show, and it turned out great! I'm so proud of our youth and everyone in the ward who participated.

Sisters ready to go

Getting Zombie makeup

Zombies!

Thriller Dance-Opening Number

Thriller Dance

Our main zombie, R.M.

Surpise! We won first place!!  We also won best script and best costumes. 

 Our prize was a box of candy bars!

This was a great experience, even if our stake did throw it together kind of last minute. I'm so glad our ward got to participate. 

One act plays for the roadshow - Week 1

Last night for  mutual we had our first rehearsal for our stake's roadshow. Each ward will be performing a one act play in October with the theme "Let your light so shine." One of our YW leaders wrote the script and is also directing, so for the next few weeks until we perform, out mutual activities are going to be devoted to rehearsal for this. This week we ran through the script once and then practiced the opening number: Thriller. Two of our young women are going to be the choreographers, so they got to try their hands at teaching last night. They did a great job for their first time, and the opening is looking good.

Two of our young women directing everyone

This is my husband as a zombie

Zombies! We have several primary children who are excited to participate in our show.

Saturday Skip: Stake youth beach activity

Yesterday for mutual our stake youth leaders organized a beach day for the youth. At a previous SYC, the representatives from each ward voted on a beach activity. Then each ward was assigned a food or drink to bring. We were in charge of the cut up watermelon (which is the only assignment that really requires work. Other assignments include grapes, bags of chips, cookies, and drinks. We got stuck with this because no one from our ward could attend this SYC). The stake provided fried chicken for lunch.

We met at our church building at 10:30 for rides and then headed out to Zuma beach. The stake leaders had an openeing prayer and then everyone kind of did their own thing after that. They did have one game that was optional: players put on a T-Shirt, ran into the ocean to get it wet, and then ran back and rung it out over a bucket. The first to fill the bucket won. Lots of kids brought booogie boards, some kids played volleyball. Someone brought Bocce ball, which was a hit, especially for our ward.

We had a really good turnout this year. I think everyone had a good time. I was able to bring my husband and 1 year old, which always makes it more fun. It was a pretty simple activity to organize, and luckily we live close enough to the beach to have this happen every year.