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!

Family History

Last night for mutual we worked on our family history. A few weeks ago on Sunday I handed out pedigree charts to all the girls and asked them to work on filling them in for this activity. Then I showed the girls how to use familysearch.org (note: there is also new.familysearch.org). Since we already had our log ins from our indexing activity, we didn't have much trouble getting on (just a few forgotten passwords). The girls were able to fill in some of their charts, but not all of it. With more help from their parents and grandparents, I think they will be able to. I told them that once they fill in their charts, we will be able to print a fan graphic, similar to this:

I also really like this idea from The Red Headed Hostess. The blog includes free printables.

I also challenged the girls to be able to find an ancestors name to take the temple to do baptisms for. I really hope they take this challenge because it is such a neat experience to do the work for your own ancestors. It really helps you feel close to them. (For those who may be wondering, the LDS church does proxy baptisms for the dead. You can learn more about that here).

This activity also allowed us to work on Personal Progress. Individual Worth #6 says:

    When you participate in family history, you come to understand your identity and individual worth. Visit with your living relatives to learn as much information about your family history as possible. Then complete a pedigree chart of your family and list the temple ordinances that have been completed for each person.

This was a wonderful activity and the girls had fun, as did some of the leaders who discovered that their family has been working on their family history. We will have to do it again soon to help the girls be able to find more of their ancestors. I'm thinking a trip to our stake family history library is in store. And I really hope we can make those cute trees once the girls have their charts filled in!

Sky High Sports

Last night for mutual was our combined activity with the young men. We budget in 2 large expense activities per year, and last night was one of them. We went to Sky High Sports, which is a large trampoline jumping place. They have several different areas for you to jump, including a big foam pit to do flips and jumps into. The youth loved it. By the end of our hour they were all too tired to jump anymore. We ordered a pizza and soda for afterward. It was a ton of fun!

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.