It's beginning to look a lot like.....

Ok, so what? Is it Christmas time and everyone is too busy to blog about the going's on at the Hansen Meadows Ward?! :) So sorry.....when I use Trav's camera, it takes a while for me to remind him to bring the cord home to upload pics! Which aren't ever even that good.....CAUSE HIS CAMERA IS ALWAYS BLURRY!! I guess I need to learn to deal with packing my big Nikon around, right ladies! On to the good stuff! Dec. 2nd we braved the Frigid cold Temps and headed down to see the lights at Temple Square with the Young Men! We only made it from the cars to the front doors of the visitor center before we were begging to get warm! We found the Sister Missionaries there, that took us to our own little room and turned on Mr. Kruger's Christmas for us to watch at warm our toes! Afterwards, we walked around the tabernacle, saw the lights, met back up with the YM and headed straight back to the cars! We ate cookies, drank hot chocolate.....and made it back to our warm homes by 9 pm! It was a great.....but absolutely cold night! May we remember the reason we celebrate......we are truly grateful for our Savior and his example in our lives! MERRY CHRISTMAS! We love you all!

YW in Excellence!

It's hard to believe we have just accomplished another Evening of Excellence program! Last night was incredible! We met at 4 pm to set up and decorate the gym.....which turned out pretty dang awesome, if we do say so ourselves! For the program, Sis. Piula from the Homestead ward came and spoke to us about Individual Worth. Afterwards, each YW leader took a minute spotlighting each girl. As each name was read, 2 YM escorted each YW on to the stage where she would stand as qualities and talents she possessed were read. Each girl received a rose and a copy of what was shared about them. They all sat on the stage and after all the girls had been spotlighted, the parents and the leaders gave them a Standing Ovation for their Excellence and for being incredible Young Women. Carly sang a beautiful song, "Light house in the Night," Bro. McKinstry and Bishop gave closing remarks, then all the YW sang "I Am a Child of God." We had really fun refreshments......Chocolate fountains with all kinds of fruit, cookies, rice crispie treats, candy, etc. to dip! It was such a fun night! The girls were beautiful and so were their table displays! It was PERFECT!! (Now for the sad part...Please forgive me.....I took pics. before you all showed up, and remembered to take more pics. after most of you had left! Duh!!! Sorry!)

Serving all over the place!!

Spiritually Serving -

The past couple of weeks we have been working on a special Thanksgiving Service Project. Our ward is amazing.....so many incredible people willing to donate and give to others! We received enough money to purchase turkeys, along with a bunch of food items. The girls went around this last Wednesday to collect the food donations from those who had signed up to help. With all that was donated, we will be able to provide FOUR families in our area with a FULL Thanksgiving meal! We were so thrilled and so grateful to all who so willingly gave to this amazing project!Physically Serving -
We just played our first set of Region Games for Volleyball. We were undefeated and took first in the Stake.......we weren't so lucky at Region....but no one can say we didn't play our hearts out! The girls did awesome winning the first round of games, but by the end (after 2 more full games).....we were 10 points away from being able to continue on! While they were disappointed, they all handled it well and were good sports! Sis. Witt did an amazing job as coach and even came dressed to TRULY support the girls! It was a great night.....we were proud of you "WHOPPERS!!" (Loads of pics. I know,....but the girls like to copy them!)

Combined with the Young Men...

Tonight's activity was so fun! Food was involved, so you know it was gonna be good! The Young Men were in charge and they had some of their leaders bring food from their missions for us to try and then they each took a moment to talk about their missions. We had food from: Korea, Mexico, Germany, England, and Georgia (USA). (Raise your hand if you liked the squid from Korea!!!) We all tried things we never had before, and learned that we might have to do that as missionaries in the field! We enjoyed hearing about mission life and it really got us excited about missionary work and serving the Lord in that capacity. Thank you to the Young Men leaders for such a great activity! It was wonderful.

p.s.
Sister Rodgers' camera is in the dog house for not working that night. So sorry. Maybe Santa knows that is on her wish list..........

We love you all!

Invites, Donation Boxes, and Chatter - Oh My!

Shoot!! Brought the camera.....but forgot to take the pics!! We were busy tonight making some visits to girls in our ward who need a little lift, making invites to our YW in Excellence program, and decorating boxes for our Thanksgiving Meal Donations. Thanks to all who came and helped! The invites turned out adorable!

Sharing our Talents....

Tonight was Amazing! The girls put on a talent show for the residents of Apple Tree Retirement Home. They sang songs, played instruments, danced and showed art work. The Elderly sisters that came to our program seemed to really enjoy it. We even had spots in our program where we had them join in singing hymns with us. It was so fun to see them tap their feet and sing along as the girls were performing. What a special spirit they have. It was a great evening spent sharing the talents and gifts the Lord has given these girls with those who really appreciated and enjoyed having us share! Hopefully we spread a little sunshine and brightened spirits tonight! Great job girls....you were incredible! Thanks to all who came and participated!

Out for a little "Fresh Air...."

Tonight we had an awesome activity! We were lucky enough to be able to tour Channel 2 News and then stand right in the room and watch the 6 o'clock news broadcast live! The 10 o'clock producer Milissa Gibbs took us on a tour of the studio and then in to the Control room for the first few minutes of the broadcast. After a few minutes we got to be right in the room while Sterling Poulson did the weather report, Dave Fox talked Sports, Brian Mullahy did something else :), and Mark Koelbel finished the news. After wards, thanks to Alyssa, we were able to take pictures with some of them! It was really neat to learn about some of the things they do to prepare for the broadcasts and then to watch it happen. Thanks Channel 2.....it really was a breath of "Fresh Air" just being with you all!! (Click on the collages to see them bigger!)

Nightmare on 13th -

Every year the Barber's invite our Youth to their Haunted House for an activity. The kids love this night.....and if we're being honest.....so do the leaders! They are so generous in allowing us all to come and have fun....we are so grateful! Afterwards, we meet in the parking lot for doughnuts and milk! We had a great turn-out and had a wonderful time! Thanks Barber family!

Volleyball, volleyball, volleyball

Seeing as volleyball started a couple of weeks ago, we decided to practice for our activity this week and to plan some of our personal progress while we were at it! The YM joined us - after playing, we had popcicles, talked, and headed home!

Cards and Treats.....

Our activity this week was great! We decided to make treats and cards for girls in the ward that we have missed seeing at our activities!!

The girls split up into two different groups:

One group helped in the kitchen making the yummiest treat ever!

They melted white chocolate chips and poured it over

popped popcorn, then spread it out on wax paper to cool. Then they

put the treat into bags, tied them with a ribbon and

sent them to the card room........

This group was in charge of making some cards to put with the treat!

The cricut machine came in handy as they cut out things like:

"We Miss You", and "Thinking of You". The cards turned out

D-A-R-L-I-N-G!

The night ended with the girls splitting up and delivering them! Thanks for

all that came and made this a great service activity! Love ya!

Hard work pays off.....!!

Hi Ladies! I sure missed not being with you last night! VERY weird being home on a Wednesday night! Didn't want to pass a bug....so I sat that one out! Missed you and Love you! Just wanted to share with you how AWESOME our Stake Parade float turned out! Don't know how many of you actually got to see the final thing, but had to show you how all the work you did paid off! Sis. Hadley asked Ty to sit on it for the "Peach Day's" parade last Saturday, so I took some pics! It is AMAZING!! "Peach Days" parade Committee gave it FIRST PLACE for the parade.....there were over 150 float entries! Fun, huh?! Take a look!

Mia Maid/Teacher - Laurel/Priest Activity!

So sorry this is a few days behind......
FOOTBALL SEASON, ya know? :)

Very awesome activity this week. Sis. Lindsey had a wonderful idea to have the Mia Maids/Teachers write their testimonies in Books of Mormon and then give them to the Sister Missionaries serving in our area to hand out to investigators! Due to the fact that the Priests hadn't had a planning meeting yet to plan an activity with the Laurels.....Sis. Lindsey was kind enough to let everyone get involved! The Sisters loved the idea so much, they donated a box of books for us to use! There were even enough for all of the leaders to share their testimonies! Each of us also highlighted our favorite scripture and also Moroni's Promise (Moroni 10:3-5). Afterwards, we realized there were still some extras, so we delivered them to the Beehive activity so they would have the opportunity as well. Awesome!!Afterwards, we headed over to Sis. Lindsey's house to chat and make smores around her incredible firepit! Great night and wonderful experience! Thanks Sis. Lindsey for your inspiration and hospitality! :)

Beehive Activity...Making fresh salsa!!!

YUMMY! We got together at Sister Rodgers' house and made some fresh salsa! The girls will be adding the recipes to their ever-growing recipe book! Most of the ingredients came from Sister McDougal's garden, too! We all took turns using the amazing food chopper, which is a great way to vent your frustrations, we decided! We made two different kinds and sat back and enjoyed ourselves! The night ended with us writing our testimonies in some Books of Mormon to give back to the sister missionaires. What a great ending to our activity!


Yes, it was as delicious as it looked!

Love your silly faces, Alyssa!!

Hailee and Lisa chopping some cilantro!!!

Sarah, Morgan and Sister McDougal eating, chopping and having a great time!! Yay!

Back to School Barbeque

For our combined YM/YW activity this week, the Young Men were in charge and they planned an awesome barbeque. We had really great food, volleyball, and some off the wall stretchy band game that Bro. Rhodes brought, that can only be related to the "Scrambler" at Lagoon! It was so fun, the kids had a blast with it.....along with a couple of leaders!!! The night was spent talking, laughing and just having a fun time! So many of the Youth brought friends with them last night, to share the gospel with. It turned out wonderful! Thanks Watt's family for letting us completely invade your home! Great Activity!