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.

Party Planning

Last night for mutual we did some party planning. We sort of volunteered our YW group to be in charge of the ward Halloween party this year. This is always a big party with great turnout for our ward, so I think it's important that it does get put on, and since no one else seemed to be stepping up to take charge, we did just that. We decided this would count as a service project :)  So last night we figured out everything we would need food wise and entertainment wise and made assignments. It sounds like its going to be a lot of fun, and hopefully all the girls will do wonderfully at the things they are assigned (running games and decorating). We will also be doing an encore performance of our One Act Play since a lot of the ward wasn't able to make it to the original performance. The girls are excited about that. I'll let you know how it turns out!

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.

Combined: Swimming

Last night for mutual was our combined activity. We did a farewell to summer (even if school did start a month ago) with a swimming party at our YW president's house. We grilled some hot dogs and cooked s'mores over the fire pit, and then pretty much let the kids do what they wanted. A diving contest was started, and everyone got squirted by the water guns. It was a fun, relaxing evening enjoyed by all.

Driving Range

Last night for mutual we went to the driving range!  This was an awesome activity for me because I was on my high school's golf team, as was the other YW leader who came. It has been a while since I've been golfing, but I still enjoyed hitting some balls on the range last night.

We went to a range that was lit up and open in the evening. We bought a big bucket of balls (120 balls) for $8, and that was plenty for us. One of our girls had been to a driving range before, the other 2 hadn't. So we started out with lesson on how to grip a club, and then how to swing. I told them before hand that they are going to miss the first time they swing, but it's okay, everyone misses. We did our best to help the girls with their swings, and we definitely saw improvement in all the girls over the course of the evening. We stopped by the putting green for a few minutes before we left also. I think at least 2 out of the 3 enjoyed this activity, which is good enough for me. It was a fun and cheap activity.

Babysitting Class

Last night for mutual we had a babysitting class. We only have 4 young women in our ward, so babysitters are scarce. We wanted to make sure that if the girls were asked to babysit, that they felt comfortable and knew how to do it. So we held this little class. Our YW president has a 2 month old, so he was our little guinea pig.

First thing, we went down to the kitchen and made him a bottle.

Next, we had a variety of snacks on the table and asked the girls which ones they shouldn't give to kids. We had things like yogurt, cheese, grapes, fruit snacks, pretzels, raisins, peanuts, strawberry applesauce squeeze, and a few others.  The girls did really well at identifying all of the choking hazards, and one girl even mentioned that peanuts could be dangerous as an allergy. But it was kind of a trick question. We reminded the girls about allergies: some kids are allergic to strawberries, so the applesauce in this case was questionable, and some kids are allergic to dairy also, so the yogurt and the cheese were out. We told them to always check with the parents on what things the kids can and cannot have while they are there.

Our YW president texted a few of her mom friends and asked for pet peeves and things they really like about babysitters. Things they don't like: coming home to a messy house, seeing the kids up past their bedtime. Things they like: the house as clean, if not cleaner than when they left, kids liked the babysitter, a recap of the night.

We printed up this babysitting kit list from Wendy's Activities and brought folders for each girl. Another night we will assemble the kits. Last night we just went over all the pages.

Next, we changed diapers. We brought stuffed animals and a few diapers and let each girl try. This was a good lesson for our girls.

Lastly, we learned how to swaddle a baby. This was also a good lesson, most girls didn't know anything about swaddles.

This was a great activity for our group. Our girls learned a lot and now when people in the ward ask if our YW babysit, we can say yes!