Making Sweet Lemonade

What an incredible activity we had last night!! A couple weeks ago, Sis. Lindsey received some inspiration in Sacrament Meeting and approached us about having a special night for the YW about making Lemonade out of the Lemons life throws at us at times. We all thought it was a perfect idea! Sis. Lindsey asked 3 Sisters in the ward who are amazing Christ-like examples to come share their experiences and testimonies with the girls. Last Sunday after sharing what our activity would be with the girls, they asked if we could have an "All Yellow Night" along with the theme! Of course we said yes! And of course.....there would be prizes awarded to those decked out in the most yellow!We started off the night in the Relief Society Room, where Sis. Spencer spoke to us about the importance of service. When we are going through rough times in our lives, the best thing to do is to forget about ourselves and serve others. Sis. Spencer is the PERFECT example of this. She is always the first to respond when others in the ward are in need. She shared some wonderful stories and quotes with us about Service, and made each of us a cute bag of chocolates to remind us that when we are having "Truffles" to serve and love others to feel better!Next we headed to the Primary Room to listen to Sis. Edwards. She talked to the Young Women about how in High School, she had dreams of what her fairytale life would be like, that once she was married, life would be perfect and all would be well. She shared with us how she learned that the Lord has many things in store for us, and some of those things are trials, that force us to learn and grow. It is necessary for us to go through these things to come closer to Heavenly Father and to learn to trust in him and go to him in prayer for help. She talked about the day their oldest little girl was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome, and how their family has had to adapt differently to certain situations. While it has been hard and trying at times, she has grown as a mother and has been able to recognize the blessings their family has been given, by having their daughter in their home. She talked about how to make lemonade, you need sour lemons, along with sweet sugar and water. She likened the water to our Savior and how he is the solution to make everything better.....to taste a little sweeter. Without the water, the lemons and the sugar wouldn't make sweet lemonade.Lastly, we moved into the Young Women's room, where Sis. Morris shared with us her experience with fighting cancer last year for the second time in her life. She has been such an amazing example to our ward. While she was struggling with the cancer and going through treatments, she was serving in the Primary Presidency, and still managed to make it to church, Primary and even attended all the baptisms that year. She definitely took the lemons that came at her and didn't let them stop her from making a difference in the lives of others. She shared with us a video she had made of her journey with cancer last year. It was very touching to see how as a Mom, she still had to do all the things that come with Motherhood, to stay strong for her family. She is wonderful!Afterwards, awards were given to those with the most yellow. Emily, Hailey, Samantha and Sis. Watts were the ever-so deserving winners! We spent the rest of the time devouring lemon treats of all kinds! Cake, Cupcakes, Cookies and even guacamole dip made with lemon juice.....topped off with lemon water and lemon head candy!
Thank you Sis. Lindsey for coming up with this incredible activity. Thank you Sis. Spencer, Sis. Edwards and Sis. Morris for sharing your amazing selves and testimonies with us! It was a very special night, and one that won't soon be forgotten!

Look Who's Scream'n for Ice Cream....

As a Presidency, we wanted to do something special this year to get closer to you girls, and also for you to feel closer to us. So, we started "Ice Cream Girls Night!" Each month, we draw 3-4 names, give ice cream handouts, set a date and head out for a night of talking and eating! It has been so fun up to this point. We just had our second night out tonight! Last month, we took Megan, Hailey, Chalise and Emily M. We Pigged out on Iceberg shakes and talked about some of our most embarrassing moments! Somehow that darn camera didn't make it to our first "Girls Night" so we'll have to improvise! Tonight we loaded into the car, picked up Laura from tumbling and headed over to Farr's Ice Cream. It is new in the area and we all thought it was pretty cool! It is set up as a self serve. They have the option of custards, ice cream, or frozen yogurt. Just grab a cup, fill it up and then add whatever topping you desire..... they have a ton to choose from! We made some pretty yummy bowls! (After we taste tested to our hearts desire!) We grabbed the area by the fire to sit and talk! It turned out perfect! We talked for over an hour about all of our latest reads, movie picks, Emily's poor dead fish and tumbling classes! Thank you ladies for such fun "Girls Nights!" Can't wait to see who gets the "Ice Cream Tickets" next month!
I know you're all on the edge of your seats!
(Huge thanks to Sis. Rodger's and her awesome Cricuit Machine!!)

We Love, Love, Love you all!
Thanks for letting us hang out with you!

Hooray for Class Activities

Last week the Laurels had a special night at the Temple with the Relief Society. It was amazing! We had a great turn-out and finished it off with Ice Cream at Farr's! (Of course....would we break tradition, just cause it was a school night?! NO!!) Unfortunately, no pics. were taken, but it was a wonderful night!The Beehives and Mia Maids had fun back at the church trying their hand at another diaper cake....only this time....they got to make it with Pink! Sis. Rodger's had sweet little Baby A. a couple weeks ago, and the girls wanted to make something special for her. The cake turned out absolutely adorable, and Sis. Rodger's was thrilled! They also enjoyed ice cream that night.....except they got AWESOME homemade ice cream, thanks to Sis. Watt's! It was a great night!

DODGEBALL!!!

For our combined YM/YW activity tonight we made a quick, last minute decision! Due to a huge lack of snow (until THIS MORNING!!!), we threw together a game of Dodgeball! The kids had fun, and to our surprise.....played for about an hour straight, before coming into the kitchen for some Yummy Desserts, thanks to Sis. Gardner! We topped the night off with some reallly disgusting root beer. (Which, unknown to the youth, was pulled from the YW closet, and has been there for who knows how long!!) Gotta love 'em, they drank it anyway! Great night!

Purses, High Heels, and Red Velvet Cake....Oh My!

New Beginnings 2010 went off without a hitch! We had such a fun, amazing night! We decided to spotlight the theme for the year, which is Joshua 1:9. The scripture talks about Being Strong and of Good Courage and recognizing that the Lord is always with us, no matter where we are or where we go. So, we thought about where we go and what we do everyday.....and ended up with a theme for the night of Purses and High Heels. Each girl was asked to bring a bag and a pair of shoes that best represents them! It was so fun to see what each brought.....we had everything from gigantic handbags and glittery/sparkly shoes, to slippers and spiderman back packs! It was so fun. The stage was the spot for them to display all of their shoes and bags, where we also had rod iron bodices dressed up to add to the decor!The major decoration/talk of the night was the RIDICULOUSLY CUTE AND AMAZING CAKE that Sis. Finch made! When we gave her the task of making us a Red Velvet cake for dessert, little did we know what would come of it! The picture will speak for itself!

And yes.....EVERY SINGLE part of it is edible!
(Ok, minus the beads)Is that the cutest thing you've ever seen or what?!!
Thank you so much Sis. Finch!

Our evening consisted of a fun video of all our activities last year, a special Personal Progress moment and thoughts by Sis. Sessions, a musical number by all the YW, an amazing talk by Sis. Heap in which she spoke about everything we pack physically in our purses everyday before leaving home and how they relate to the YW Values and how they represent the Spiritual items we should make sure we pack before leaving each day as well. Each of the YW took turns coming up after and sharing a thought they had been asked to share and placing it in a purse, then we had final remarks by Bro. McKinstry from our Bishopric.

Each YW was given a High Heel treat to take home with them.
It was such an amazing night and was so fun! We love these Young Women and feel so lucky to be with them every week! We hope that as they go throughout the year, they will be mindful of the places those beautiful shoes of theirs will stand. We truly hope they will walk in righteous places and that as they pack their bags each day, that they will be as particular about the Spiritual things they pack as they are the Physical Earthly possessions they carry. We have incredible YW and we recognize the honor it is to serve them at this time! Thanks to all who helped make this such a special night!

Where the Good Things Are...

My new years resolution? To do better at this blog thing!! :) I'm so sorry I have been such a slacker! I promise to get back to my weekly routine and update this after each activity. There are some activities I don't have from Dec. However, I did want to blog about the Laurels 2nd Annual Outing to "Good Things Utah!" This is an activity we started just shortly after we were called to serve in YW's, and that is, that the monday after the Laurels are out of school for Christmas break, we go to the taping of Good Things Utah and then treat ourselves to a fun lunch somewhere! This year, as we were sitting in the parking lot waiting to see the show, the Graduating Laurels started to feel the saddness of leaving us and were already planning our outing in May before they graduate and then begging us to let them attend next Christmas as well! I think we just might let them! Ya know, we are kinda loyal to our Laurel Alumni's! This year we had a blast as Carly picked a lucky card and was invited to be part of an actual segment. She had to pack an Ogio bag faster than another contestant! She WON and we all cheered! She got a $100 Gift Certificate to Skymall and a 2 night stay at any Hilton. We then finished off with lunch at Robintinos. We had a great day....so much fun! Take a look! (These videos aren't the best, I had to video record them off the tv and it didn't work so red hot!! Sorry!)

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!