Young Women Personal Progress Retreat

I have so much to catch up on! We just got back from a trip to New York, and then a conference weekend at the cabin, so I feel like I am way behind in "real life".

The weekend just before we went to New York, we had a Beehive Personal Progress Retreat up at our cabin. It was SO much fun!

We went up on Friday afternoon, and as soon as we got there, started working on making journals. 

 torn scrapbook paper

cut-up squares of layered paper

We used the regular memo notebooks that were really inexpensive during the school supply sales.

We had scrapbook paper, Mod Podge (with glitter mixed in with it -- the girls LOVE glitter!), scissors, and foam brushes, and let the girls create their own masterpieces. Some tore bits of paper, some cut shapes out... each had their own unique, darling creation. I wish I had taken a picture of each of the finished journals, because they were great!

We left the journal-making table up the whole time so that they could go over and put another layer of Mod Podge on it whenever they wanted to.

After they worked on their journals for a bit, we had hamburgers on the grill (this is where Bob came in to the schedule). After dinner, we had three 20 minute workshops on Personal Progress Value Experiences. My two advisors and I had each prepared a workshop in which we taught and discussed a different Value Experience. We made sure they were ones that the girls hadn't already finished. We even gave them journal-writing time so that they could have those three Value Experiences completed.

working on passing off a value experience

After the workshops, we moved on to another craft. We made Value bracelets with beads in all the colors of the values. Bob had made a little charm for each of the girls to put on their bracelets. The charm has the word "Shine" and also "2012" on it. Shine refers to the YW/YM theme this year: Arise and shine forth....

working on their bracelets

I should have noticed all of the Dr. Pepper being consumed in the above photo... then I might have had an idea of how late the girls would be up... (Note to self: next time, hide the Dr. Pepper)

Bob helping with terminating
the ends of the bracelet

While the girls were working on their bracelets, we (the advisors and I) interviewed each of the girls to update our records as far as what they have achieved in their Personal Progress.

When we were done with the bracelets, we moved on to a "Getting to Know You Game" that Jeanne (one of the advisors) had prepared for the girls to play. It was sort of like speed dating, but more like speed friends... with questions for the girls to be able to get to know each other.

After the game, we all got together and had a devotional on Friendship, which was given by the other advisor, Courtney. Perfect ending to a fun evening. It really wasn't the end of the evening for the girls. They had a lot more energy and wakefulness to work off.

The night was just beginning for them. They stayed up til somewhere in the 4:00 hour. Oh to be young.

The next morning, we had breakfast, and then gathered for a Personal Progress Devotional given by the bishop. I have a few strings I can pull with him, since I'm married to him. :) He said just the right things to help motivate the girls and also to help them recognize how important Personal Progress is and should be in their lives.

We went on a walk together around the loop and soaked up all of the fall colors and the crisp, cool air. It was perfect!

It was a fun overnight with the girls that had a lot of of substance in addition to the fun. We packed in as much as we could in the schedule. I think it might be fun to make it a tradition every year!

S'mores on a scorching hot night

We had a Young Women Beehive activity last night that turned out really great. The girls were supposed to come prepared to share a story or article from the New Era (I thought it might be a good way to get them to read through their New Era's, if they hadn't already), and give their own thoughts about it. It was centered around Personal Progress Value Experience Knowledge #4. We were going to sit around the fire pit and have them share in a nice cozy setting. What I hadn't planned on is the weather being as hot as blazes. Its "icky" hot. Feels like its 110. Anyway, I decided that sitting around a bonfire wouldn't be that comfortable, so I came up with a Plan B. We sat in the basement while the girls presented their New Era story, and then we went out on the patio to roast marshmallows in these:

I found the idea on Pinterest (Yay for Pinterest). It was so simple, and so effective! I used clay pots I already had on hand, lined them with heavy duty aluminum foil, put charcoal briquettes in them, and lit them just before the girls started arriving. By the time they were done with the first part of the activity, the coals were ready to use for roasting marshmallows for their s'mores. I had three pots going, so there was plenty of heat to go around. I thought it would be a fun idea for a outdoor dinner party, to have a pot in the center of each table and give the guests a little roasting stick and let them make their own s'mores. Also thought it would be fun for a college-age party, since they don't always have fire pits or even barbecues at their disposal.

The only thing to watch out for, is the pots get pretty hot. I had them on the cement, and that worked well. Just be sure to not have anything flammable around it. I don't think I'd put them on anything wood, unless you had a trivet underneath it, or bricks, or something like that.

Fun activity, and something I know I'll do again in the future!

Bartlett pears and Ensign Peak

Can you believe the pears are huge and ready to be picked? Yikes! Its really about a month earlier than usual. They have even started dropping from the trees. We have to Bartlett Pear trees in the front yard, and the bucket of pears is from those trees. We have 32 Asian Pear trees in the backyard, and they are also getting ripe and ready. 

When we bought the lot to build our house on, it was full of over 100 orchard trees. We had to take some out for the house itself, and then we also removed some for the back lawn area. We wanted to keep as many of the old trees as we could, so that we could keep the orchard feel. I love those trees! We prune them quite a bit each year, so they stay fairly small and manageable. The blossoms are gorgeous, and the fruit isn't bad (I'm not a real pear lover, but I am learning to like the Asian pears). We have a list of people we call when the pears are ready, and they come and pick to their hearts' delight. Everyone swoons over the Asian pears, so they are excited to come and fill their bushels. I think its about time to start calling my list of people!

Before I do that, though, I need to go out and get a few weeds out of the back yard. There are some that are honestly 3 feet tall. I don't know how that happened. Well, maybe I do know how. It could be that there are some areas out there that I haven't weeded since before the wedding. That is almost two months. That is how they are now 3 feet tall. I can't have people coming to pick pears if there are weeds that tall. I guess I know what I'll be doing this afternoon!

We had a great Young Women activity the other night. We hiked to the top of Ensign Peak and when we got there, we had a great little devotional about the Holy Ghost and using it to guide us in our lives (like using a GPS on a hike). The bishop gave the devotional, and it was truly special up there at the top of that peak, with the beautiful views and the lovely day. Its handy having the bishop as my husband, because I have exceptional access to him and his talents! We based the activity on Personal Progress Choice and Accountability #5. All they had to do was to go home and write in their journals about the things we talked about and the things they learned.

Next post will be photos from the wedding! Yay!

Personal Progress Summer Reminder

Because of the holiday, there is no Young Women mutual activity this week. Since we're about halfway through the summer, I thought I would give the girls a gentle reminder (and treat) to keep on working on Personal Progress during the summer. I think its easy to get a bit slack on doing things like Personal Progress, but I also think that they really have more free time to work on it during the summer than they do in the school year. So, we're working hard to get some things accomplished this summer. We're actually trying to tie in a Personal Progress Value Experience with just about every mutual night. There are a few exceptions, but you can find a way to do it most of the time. Of course that means having a short devotional-type lesson at the beginning of the activities, and also having the girls bring their books, but they actually seem to like getting things done in Personal Progress, so we haven't had any complaints yet...

Personal Progress
Summer Reminder

Oh, and I got the idea from beeinourbonnet.com. They have several cute Personal Progress treat ideas that I want to use in the coming months.

Peonies and Personal Progress

The other day, I was wandering through my yard with a clipboard, listing all of the things that needed to be done in preparation for the wedding. The clematis on my little arbor going back to the dog run is in beautiful shape right now. Hopefully it is still blooming in a week. We only have one week from tomorrow til the big day!

Clematis on the dog-run arbor

Tell me I'm not the only one who can be walking through a garden and actually catch my breath at a light pink peony. Oh my. And I always seem to say something aloud, in a sort of whisper. Something like, "Ooooh, you are gorgeous, aren't you?" Most of my peonies are spent, but I still have a couple of plants that are blooming beautifully. I had to cut them and bring them in the house so I could stare at them and smell them all throughout the coming days.

So lovely.

Now I have my three page list of things that need to be done before the wedding... and that's just for the yard prep. I plan on doing some planting today, and we will spend all day Saturday out there getting things all spruced up.

On a completely different subject, for Young Women Mutual last week, we did a really fun activity based on Personal Progress Individual Worth Value Experience #7. First, we looked up all the scriptures, read them aloud, and discussed what they each said. We talked about the special gifts we have been given -- some really obvious, and some that aren't. Then, we had each girl (one at a time) sit in a chair with her back to a large dry-erase board, and the other girls wrote some of the positive traits on the board about that particular girl.

Then, when they were all done writing, the girl in the chair was able to get up and turn around and view all of the wonderful things that were written about her. It was fun to watch her face as she read the board. Every one of the girls just lit up as they looked at what the other girls had written.

Before we erased it and started all over for the next girl, we took a photo of each girl in front of the board, so they would have that to keep. I'll be emailing it to the girls and their moms. Fun activity, and I think the girls loved it! We were able to pass off all of #7, except for the journal writing. They will be able to complete that at home and have their moms sign it all off!

Well, off to my day of wedding lists. I'll be working outside, and also doing some more preparation for the reception. Should be fun!