A pile of things to paint

We're trying to get things organized around here, and one of the big culprits is the garage. It's so easy to let things pile up "for when we have time to get to them". Problem is, it can be months before we have time to get to them, and during that time, the garage looks pretty scary. You think I'm exaggerating, but alas... I'm not -- even a bit.

So, when I looked at my "To-Do" list for the week, I added my painting projects to it, once and for all. I bought this darling little chair at an antique store in Logan several months ago when I was on a day trip with my mom and sisters. I've moved it around from the laundry room (when I thought I'd get to it in a day or two) to the garage (when it became apparent that I wasn't going to get to it any time soon). I also got a cradle back that we had given my nephew years and years ago. Each of my kids slept in it when they were infants, and my nephew's kids did, too. He didn't have any use for it any more, and since I've got grand babies now, I actually do have a use for it, so that cradle became part of my items that needed painting. I also acquired a mirror from that same nephew. The mirror was destined for the dumpster, but I thought it definitely could be put to good use with a coat of paint. So, there were three of my painting projects -- all just gathering dust and waiting to be painted.

I first had to clean them all off. They had layers of dust, and the little chair had bits of paint that would fall off of it whenever anyone even looked at it. So, I had to sand the chair up a bit to make sure all of the loose bits of paint were off the chair.

I also took the cradle apart, so that I wouldn't have to worry about painting around the hardware.

The mirror just had to be taped off, and I also removed the back braces that were on it for attaching it to a dresser.

After I had everything in place on drop cloths, I gave each item a good coat of Kilz primer. It just takes one coat, so it was pretty easy, but it's an important step not to miss.

After the Kilz was completely dry, I painted on the coats of paint. I painted the little chair and the mirror a perfect blue, and the cradle was going back to its original white.

It took several layers to get them all coated the way I wanted them, and let me just say... the cradle spindles were a bear to paint. Ugh. I don't ever want to do that again.

But look how cute that little chair is, pulled up to the coffee table. It has the most darling barrel shape! Now that we're grandparents, the look in our home has taken on a distinct " focus on grand babies" kind of a look, and I love it!

P.S. - I'll be posting another Amazing Race segment on Sunday...

March Week 2: Baking mixes

It's that time again! It seems like last week flew right by, but here we are again, talking about the Week-by-Week Food Storage Plan. This week's items are:

March Week 2: Mixes - pancake, cake, brownie, Bisquick, muffin, etc.

These items will vary widely from family to family. For instance, I can't remember the last time I used a cake mix to bake a cake. However, there are a few times a year I might need to make a batch of quick cupcakes or "cake mix cookies". So, for our family, we really only need a handful of cake mixes on the shelves. I use a pancake mix here and there, and I use Bisquick in a cookie recipe that I make fairly often, so I'll make sure I have enough of both of those items.

In an emergency, I could use the pancake mix and the Bisquick to go along with other things in our food storage, so they may come in handy that way, too.

Think about how much of each of these items you might use in the coming year, and try to buy and store those amounts. Be sure that you check the expiration dates of the items you're buying so that you can keep them on your shelves throughout the year. Remember, one of the things that makes this system work is that you will be rotating through and using much of the food. You shouldn't have to discard old, expired food, which is one thing I found myself doing quite a bit of before.

As mentioned in several of these posts, if you're looking at this plan for the first time, the beauty of it is that you can jump right in this week and have this be the start of your year. You don't need to go back and try to catch up on the earlier weeks of this year. Start now, and know that a year from now, you'll have your complete food storage system.

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.

A baby and a wedding... all within 12 hours!

Oh boy. This past week has been one of those, "Hang on, or you'll fall off the train" kind of weeks. We spent the first few days of the week preparing for our son's wedding, which was last Friday. There was a fair amount of running around and getting things crossed of my list, but I felt like we had a good handle on it. Then came Wednesday evening. We went to the temple with my son's fiance in preparation for their wedding. While we were there, we joked that "Lindsay is probably going into labor since we're all here, and she can't get in touch with us". In reality, her due date wasn't til March 17th, so we felt pretty safe. As soon as we got back to our phones, we realized that our joking matter was a reality. Her water broke while we were all gone! Thankfully, it turned out that she had a while to wait for baby to arrive, so things were somewhat in control. She was just starting to get panicky, though.

She didn't really start labor til the next day, but we were still sleeping lightly and checking our phones all through the night, in case we had somehow slept through an important call from her. That next day, Thursday, I had about a zillion things to do -- all of those pre-wedding things that have to wait til the last day to get done. So, I set up for the luncheon at the reception center. I was pretty fragmented in my thought process all day long, so I forgot things, or decided I needed to add this or that... I was going back and forth from our home to the reception center to See's (not a bad stop... they gave me a sample every time I dropped in) all day long.

See's Chocolates for all...
can't go wrong with that!

A glass candlestick from the dollar store,
with a cork in the top. We inserted a paper clip
into the cork, and that was the clip
that held the photos in place.

I finally got all of that in place, and about that same time, Lindsay and Ryan were getting checked into the birthing center.

Bob, Whitney and I all headed there to be the support group. Lindsay did a great job (no epidural... whaaaaatt?!) and we watched so many reruns of Pawn Stars that we saw Chumlee lose weight and grow his hair long all in one night. To make several hours of labor into a shorter story, somewhere around 10:30, Linday was dilated to a 6. A half hour later, she moved to a 9. As the midwife walked past us (we were all out in the waiting room at the time, including Ryan, who was out with us for a bit), I asked her, "You're going to let Ryan know when she starts pushing, right?", and she said, "Oh, yes... we'll start that in a while, and we'll come and get him". We chatted for a few minutes, and the midwife suddenly pops in and says excitedly, "The baby was just born!". Again, whaaaaatt?! Linds literally let out a yell, and the wee one was born. Just like that. Can you stand it?! We all missed it, including Ryan!

And it's a girl! They had waited to find out, so we all had our guesses, but no one knew for sure. They named her Zuma Preslie, and she is a doll... perfect in every way.

We didn't end up leaving the birthing center til 1:30am, and we climbed into bed around 2:00. I tossed and turned a bit, over-excited by the new grandbaby's birth, and also anticipating the wedding events of the next day. I heard Lindsay and Ryan come in at about 3:30 (they don't really let you stay long at the birthing center, so we had offered for them to come and stay at our house for a week or so). I got up and helped them get settled, and then climbed back into bed to try to get a few hours of sleep before the big day ahead.

And Friday was beautiful. Everything went as planned -- the wedding, the luncheon and the reception. It was a lovely, exhausting day, and I couldn't have been more thrilled. Wils is our last child to get married, and he married a gem! We count ourselves the luckiest people in the world to have all of our kids married to truly amazing, beautiful people. We love them all, and consider them our own.

Our family... missing the newest little family of three

These are some of the wedding reception details. I didn't have anything to do with the reception decor, but I loved what they did, and wanted to share...

Vintage bi-fold doors with
lace-filled embroidery hoops

Gorgeous paper flowers strewn across the walls

The "sign-in book" was squares of fabric that the guests
signed their names and a message on, which will later
be made into a quilt

A quilt square waiting to be written on

My grandson's handprint on his quilt square

The beautiful couple!

Amazing Race Youth Conference - Day 2 (morning)

Okay, just so you know... Day 1 was just a little appetizer for the two following days in our Amazing Race Youth Conference. Day 2 was packed to the brim, and exhausting (in a fun and happy way) for every person involved.

To read about Day 1 - click here.

To read about Day 2 - afternoon and evening, click here.

To read about Day 3 - click here.

Beforehand, I had asked a young-adult girl to be the Race Photographer, and gave her specific places and times, so that she was able to photograph teams coming in, and working on the activities. I also had the Team Parents take photos all along the way, and there were some clues that required photos to be taken of the team doing the activity.

Day Two: We had everyone meet at the church building at 7:30 a.m. Friday morning. The teams were all given their t-shirts, which they were to wear for the rest of the youth conference. Each team was given a bag of snacks and waters to keep in their coolers and then they were all given the same set of instructions: "Get in your car and follow the enclosed driving directions. As you travel to your first destination for the day, have team members work together to solve the enclosed puzzle about this particular destination. When you have solved the puzzle, you will have a better idea of where you are heading. As you continue to drive, play the game in the brown box. Have each team member take one paper out of the box and choose which question on the paper they would like to answer. Everyone should take a turn, including the Team Parents. Continue to play until you get to your destination." 

For this first activity of the day, we weren't racing quite yet. We planned it so that we all left around the same time and arrived at Ensign Peak together.

The puzzle mentioned in the above clue was just a word puzzle about the history of Ensign Peak. And the game was sort of an "ice breaker" game so that the team members would get to know each other quickly on the 20 minute drive to Ensign Peak. We put several questions in a little brown box and just had each team member answer one (or more) of the questions as they rode in the car together. When they arrived at the trail head, they all waited until all of the teams arrived, and then hiked all together up to the top of the peak. Once there, we had a devotional by a member of the bishopric, and then had a big group photo.

Don't you love those t-shirts? We actually had people asking
if we were from the show...

After the devotional, the teams were given their next clue, one at a time (two minutes apart), in the order they came in on the previous night. The clue they were given said, "DELIVERING DELIGHT: As spectacular as the view is from Ensign Peak, it can't compare to the joy we feel as we do what the Savior instructs in Matthew 25:34-40. When your entire team is in your car, read the scripture together, as well as the enclosed information about Primary Children's Medical Center. Make your way to Primary Children's to deliver the blankets your team made last night. Park in the parking area north of the hospital and go to the north information desk that is shaped like a boat. Ask the security guard for Marie _______. Give your blankets to her to receive your next clue."

Beforehand, we had dropped the clues off to our contact at the hospital, so she was able to give the kids their next clue. She was really excited about being a part of our Amazing Race, and also so very grateful for the blankets the kids would be delivering.

The clue that Marie then gave them said, "Drive your team to the place shown in the photo. After parking, head to the ticket desk and using your CONNECT PASSes, get a wristband for each team member. Once you all have your wristbands, go back to the place on the photo and count all the people depicted on the entire monument. When you give the Task Supervisor (positioned near the monument, and wearing the green t-shirt) the correct number of people, he will give you your next clue."

The Team Parents were given enough CONNECT PASSes for every member of their team. These were purchased beforehand, and included the admission for a few of the places we would be stopping at along The Race. By buying the CONNECT PASS, we were able to save some money.

By looking at the photo, the teams were able to discover that the next stop was This is the Place State Monument. They stopped there, and did what was instructed on the clue that Marie had given them.

There are people depicted on all sides,
and on the top, too!

These are the kids trying to give the correct answer to
my son, who was a Task Supervisor at this stop

Once they counted up all the people on the monument (easier said than done!), they told the Task Supervisor the number, and if they had it correct, she gave them the next clue. It read, "DETOUR - TRADE OR TRAVERSE: A detour is a choice between two tasks, each with its own pros and cons. In the DETOUR, teams must choose between TRADE or TRAVERSE. In TRADE, teams must use the enclosed pocket map to choose from a variety of traditional pioneer trades. Possible task locations are underlined in the "Open Buildings" section of the map. Each team must choose two locations to visit. At each location, EACH team member must complete their own craft before moving on. Crafts requires some skill, but handy teams may finish this task quickly. After each team member has completed BOTH crafts, locate one of the two roaming Task Supervisors within the park. They will check your work and provide your next clue.
In TRAVERSE, teams must use the enclosed map to locate the train stop. Once you get to the stop, the entire team must wait for the next train to arrive and board the train. Travel together in the train, round trip, returning to the same stop. The task doesn't require any skill, but teams may lose time waiting for the next train. Once you have completed a full train ride, the team must locate one of two roaming Task Supervisors within the park to receive your next clue."

Pretty self-explanatory, really. The two roaming Task Supervisors were my young adult daughter and her friend, each wearing the prescribed green shirt. They wandered around the park so that they weren't completely easy to find. Once the teams came to them with their tasks completed, they were given the next clue: "A WALK BACK IN TIME: Your team must complete any two of the following four tasks: 1-Working as a team, locate the item you see in the enclosed picture. Once you have found it, you must take a team photo by it. 2-As a team, locate the Deseret Alphabet Placard. Once you have found the alphabet, you must decipher the following message: (and then we included a message written in the Deseret Alphabet). 3-As a team, go to the historic ZCMI store and find a pattern for a women's basic pleated skirt. Locate the exact amount of fabric the pattern requires and the price of the pattern. Write the two answers below. 4-Locate the building displayed in the enclosed photo. Once you have found it, you must count the number of all the white fence pickets that surround the structure. Write the total below. 
When both tasks are finished, go to the Task Supervisor outside of the park, by the monument, for your next clue."

And after they finished two of those tasks correctly, the Task Supervisor outside of the park, gave them a clue that read: "FOREVER FAMILY: Drive your car and park in the Public Parking lot on the corner of West Temple and North Temple. You will use the enclosed money to pay for the parking. Go on foot to the edifice that took 40 years to build. Count the stars on the east side of the building. Once you have that number, locate a familiar ward couple who is enjoying pondering what takes place in this beautiful edifice. Give the correct # of stars to the couple for your next clue."

One of the teams trying to count the stars
on the east side of the temple

They all drove to the specified parking lot and then figured out that the edifice was the Salt Lake Temple. When they had counted the stars on the east side of the building, they looked around the grounds for a familiar couple (who was a young-married couple from our ward) sitting on a bench, talking and looking at the temple.

They gave the teams their next clue after they told them the correct number of stars. The next clue read, "If Brigham Young could see how beautiful the surroundings of his home are now, he would be so pleased! Continue on foot to the location in the photo".

That clue sent the kids to the courtyard between the Lion House and the Beehive House. A Task Supervisor was there with a clue that sent them all inside of the Lion House for lunch. The clue said, "GUESTS AT BRIGHAM'S TABLE: Using your CONNECT PASSes, go to the Lion House for lunch. Let the hostess know that you are using CONNECT PASSes, and she will give you the options for your lunch. Do not spend more than the CONNECT PASSes will cover. If you do, your team may be eliminated. After lunch, return to the courtyard and stay there until the Task Supervisor dismisses your team and gives you your next clue. Teams will leave in the order they arrived, 2 minutes apart, with the first team leaving no earlier than 12:00."

Some of the Task Supervisors enjoying a well-earned
lunch at the Lion House
(The kids on the left and right belong to me, and the one in
the middle is my daughter's friend... oh, how we loved being
able to depend on these kids!)

And that brought them all to lunch, where they were able to eat at a regular pace, knowing that everyone would be leaving 2 minutes apart, regardless of when they finished eating. We had a large tri-fold poster there, where we wrote in the order of the teams arriving, so that we wouldn't get that confused when it came time for them to leave.

Now, I think this is a good place to stop. We've only made it through a few hours of the second day, but we don't want to overwhelm... Stay tuned for more Amazing Race info!

For information about the entire Amazing Race, 

click below on the specific days.

To read about Day 1 - click here.

To read about Day 2 - afternoon and evening, click here.

To read about Day 3 - click here.

March Week 1: First-aid items

This week's food storage item is the following:

March Week 1: First-aid kit, gauze, Q-tips, cotton balls, band-aids, Neosporin, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, etc.

I like to do this one in two parts.

First, I have a first aid kit in our bathroom, and this week is the perfect opportunity to update it and replenish it. I have a list taped to the top of the lid (the whole thing is kept in a fishing tackle box, which I love!) and I'll go through and check the contents of the kit with the list, and write anything I need to purchase on my shopping list. By the way, you can get a Plano fishing tackle box on Amazon for about $15.00, and they're perfect for first-aid kits!

Below is my list specifically for my first-aid kit (which is on red paper and taped to the inside of my first-aid kit lid). I first list the items that don't really expire, but may need replenishing.

Check to refill:

10 Band-aid adhesive pads - 2.25 X 3

10 butterfly bandages

1 box Band-aids (regular)

1 roll bandaging tape - 1” X 2.3 yds

1 roll first aid tape - ½” X 5 yds

1 roll Dermi clear tape - 1” X 10 yds

1 roll elastic tape - 1”

8 gauze pads - 2 X 2

10 gauze pads - 3 X 3

6 gauze pads - 4 X 4

2 absorbent pads - 8 X 10

1 roll gauze wrap - 2”

1 roll gauze wrap - 1”

1 roll ace bandage - 2”

1 roll ace bandage - 4”

20 Q-tips    

3 pr. rubber gloves

25 matches

Then, I list the items that have expiration dates, and may need to be rotated out:

Items with expiration date:

Visine

Neosporin

Purell hand sanitizer

antiseptic wash

first-aid crea
After-Bite itch eraser

Benadryl (itch stopping cream)

20 alcohol pads

12 Pepto Bismol tablets

Dramamine

Tums

24 Tylenol

24 Advil

cough drops

And lastly, some standard items that I just want to check to be sure they are still in the kit:

Standard Equipment:

1 tweezers

1 scissors - large

1 scissors - small

2 needles

Thermometer (forehead)

nail clipper

safety pins

ice pack

quarters

First-aid kit in a fishing tackle box

Second, in addition to my first-aid kit, I like to keep some extra things on hand in my emergency supply. I keep Q-tips, cotton balls, extra band-aids, hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, various sizes of gauze pads, medical face masks, and rubber gloves. I keep most of these items (except the larger things) in a medium-sized container with a lid. It sits on the shelves next to the other items in my emergency supply. This week, when I checked my items, I noticed that the hydrogen peroxide had just expired. So, I'll need to pick up another couple of bottles from Costco. Everything else is on the shelf from a year ago, so we're good to go!

First-aid needs will vary from family to family, so as you look at my list, you may want to add or remove items. Store what your family will or may need for the year, as well as some extras that would be beneficial during a long-term emergency.

Let me reiterate that this is a weekly food storage plan that doesn't have any particular order. I like it that way so that I'm working on different things all the time, and building up different areas of my emergency supply. You can jump in on this plan at any given week, and have that be the start of your Week-by-Week Food Storage Plan. You don't need to go back to January and start at the beginning!

If you would like the full info on the Week-By-Week Food Storage Plan, just click on the tab at the top of the page. You can then click on any single week and it will take you to the most up-to-date post that featured that week's items. It also has the information as to how you can get a copy of the weekly schedule as well as the complete inventory sheets.

Nesting All Over Again...

Talk about nesting. Whew. I'm in full-throttle mode. We've been focusing on babies for a while now, and it isn't stopping any time soon, which is a good thing. My nephew and his cute wife and family just adopted sweet little twin babies. Because they live out of state, they needed a place to wait out the red tape and paperwork. Of course I offered them to come and stay here. Who wouldn't want to? So, we've had house guests, in and out, for the past two weeks, and loved every minute of it. Even though the babies are teeny tiny, they filled our house to the brim with something special. And the family got the OK to take the babies out of state yesterday, so they headed off to their home. It was sad to see them leave, but what a happy occasion for them to finally be heading home.

The good news is, we still have a new baby in the near future. My daughter is expecting any time now. Well, theoretically she is due on March 17, so it could be a while, but she's showing signs of having that baby a little earlier than that, so who knows? And I've invited her and her husband (and of course the baby) to come and stay here for a week or so after the baby has been born, so we will have another wee one in the house. We don't know the gender of the baby yet, but we all have our own ideas about that. I'm thinking boy, but I was wrong with our first grand-baby, so I wouldn't take that to the bank. Bob thinks it's a girl. I'll just be happy to not be calling it an "it" anymore.

So, that there is why we're (okay, maybe just I am) nesting around here. I did this before Wyatt was born, and wondered if there really was such a thing as grandparent nesting. I'm here to tell you, there is definitely such a thing, and I've got it bad. Which isn't really bad, since I've got lots of rooms and closets and cupboards to organize.

That brings me to a whole different subject. I have had to swallow my pride and let all of my walls down as we've hosted my nephew's family here. Normally, when you have someone in your home for a night or so, you can hide the fact that you have closets and rooms that are in such an upheaval, people might get harmed by opening the doors. But, when you have people in your home for an extended period of time, they become part of the family, and there isn't much in the house that they don't see. So, darling nephew and family, please forgive my disarray. Forgive it and forget it. Seriously. I have been planning for months to tear into the den and get it all organized ... when Bob was planning on going out of town for training. Stacks of projects had accumulated on the counter tops and shelves. I kept the door closed anytime anyone would come into the house.

Problem is, his trip hadn't happened yet when my nephew's family came. So, they not only saw it, they had to be IN IT, as they had some computer needs. When they asked to use the computer, my initial response was to say, "Oh, we don't have a computer". But I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have bought that. Soooo, I directed them to the doors, asked if they were up to date on their tetanus shots, and let them enter completely at their own risk. Oh well. It is what it is, and there wasn't much I could do about it in that moment. At least I can report happily that they didn't receive any harm (that I know of).

I did lose a little sleep over it, I must say, and that became my first project when Bob went out of town.  So, nephew and wife... the room is no longer a danger, and is actually quite usable. Come back.

And just as a side-note, it's fun, but distracting to organize the den. The cupboards and drawers have all sorts of Bob's treasures in them, like his collection of Micro Machines he used to play with the kids with. I get a little distracted with the memories sometimes, and the work takes longer than it maybe should. In fact, I had to stop and take a photo and send it to my kids on Group Me, so we could have a "Memory Night"...

And that brings me to another subject -- something I've learned in the past couple of months -- that relationships and time with family are much more important things than the little details in life. I learned that with Valentine's Day, as that came and went without me being able to do some of the extraneous Valentine's things I had wanted to do for our family. I realized, as we had them all here for dinner just before Valentine's Day, that being together is much more important than "things" I might have made or bought for them. And it is. I love my family, and both Bob and I receive so much joy from being with them. That is truly as good as it gets. And if I have a disastrous den, or craft room, but I have time to sit up into the wee hours and visit and laugh with my family members (sorry to keep you up so late, nephew and wife), that, again, is the best thing that I could have done with my time.

Now, there is a balance, right? I mean, we have to have clean, orderly, functioning homes. Soooooo, I need to take advantage of some of this nesting time, get things organized, and just keep my house that way. Then, I won't have to take big chunks out of my life (and away from family time) to clean and re-organize. Simple as that. And now, off to clean the bathroom...

Amazing Race Youth Conference - Day 1

I've finally decided to bite the bullet. We've had many people ask about our Amazing Race Youth Conference that Bob and I were in charge of a few years ago, so I thought the best way to get the info out is to post it here.

Let me start by saying that when they called us to be in charge, they actually asked me, and were sort of afraid to ask Bob, seeing as how he was in a fairly demanding calling at the time (high council), and they didn't want the stake leaders to frown upon him being asked to be in charge of youth conference. So, they asked me, and said, "We think it would be awesome if you and Bob did it together... as a team... that is... er..., if he has the time". And of course, he made the time.

Now, another thing that I have to make absolutely clear is that we started in March, and we planned and planned and planned til we were almost cross-eyed. I'm serious. We roped my young adult age kids into helping, and they can attest to the fact that we actually had nightly meetings, albeit on our bed and in our jammies. We would talk about what we got accomplished that day, and what needed to be done the next day, etc.

We went out every Friday afternoon and drove to one (or more) of the venues that we would be stopping at during The Race. We timed the drive, timed the activity at the venue, and figured out all of the details that would be needed at each stop.

It was a lot of work. There, I said it. BUT, what youth conference isn't a lot of work? It takes a lot of organizing and preparing and meeting to be able to pull off a smooth youth conference, no matter what you're planning. And, having said that, I can also say that we loved every minute of it. We loved working together, and with our kids, and the other adults that were helping us.

So, I'm going to do this in a few different posts, since there is a lot of information, and frankly, I don't want to overwhelm you with information.

Our Amazing Race Youth Conference was three days long. We did activities that were all in our valley, so that the kids could go back to their homes and sleep there. That saved on lodging expenses, so it worked perfectly for our needs. We wanted to spend the money on the activities and food and such.

We did have each youth pay $10.00 to be involved in the youth conference. This helped defray costs, and also that got us a firm commitment as to who and how many would be coming (and everyone who initially committed, ended up coming!). As part of their permission slip and information form, we asked for their t-shirt size, so we were able to order t-shirts in advance of the activity. Before we ordered the t-shirts, we divided all the kids up into six different teams, along with an adult couple that would be their team leaders. Each team was a different color, so we ordered the t-shirts in the different team colors for every member of each team. We had seven teams in all: red, orange, gray, yellow, blue, tan and brown. Green shirts were for the Race Helpers.

On the weeks prior to the race, we made announcements and talked it up quite a bit to get the kids excited about it. We found a Travelocity Gnome, and even just seeing that, got the kids really anticipating the activity. We made up a flier that had photos of the gnome in some of the places we'd be going on the race. None of the places were obvious, but it got the kids thinking and wondering...

The kids didn't know ANY details about the activity, except that it was The Amazing Race, and they were all very excited! In fact, the bishopric didn't know anything (because each of them and their wives were Team Leaders), and of course none of the other Team Leaders knew anything. We had to keep it that way so that all of the events were surprises and no one knew what was around the corner.

We did have a meeting with all of the Team Leaders (the couples that would be in charge of each group) prior to the activity. We talked about our objectives, which were: to help build unity in our youth group; to help the youth appreciate the history of the Church in our Salt Lake valley; to give them opportunities to serve; to help the youth feel the spirit; to help the youth understand the importance of the temple in their lives; and, to help the youth have a great time. We also gave the Team Leaders a list of things they needed to bring and have in their cars: scriptures, small first-aid kit, sunscreen, mosquito repellent, digital camera, 2 pairs of good fabric scissors (for the first night only), Driver's Race Packet (which was given to them on the first day of the race), a cooler with ice (Friday and Saturday only), race tickets (given to them the day they were needed), hand sanitizer, and cell phones.

All of the above is all just a brief synopsis of the details in the planning of The Race. We had handouts and meetings, and excel worksheets, and lists, and on and on. All of which, were very important, but are not included in this post. It would be WAY too much information. We're already going pretty long on information here. So, I'll move along to the meat of the first day of The Amazing Race...

To read about Day 2 - morning, click here.

To read about Day 2 - afternoon and evening, click here.

To read about Day 3 - click here.

Day One: We all met at the church in the evening, at 7:00.

When we got all of the kids and adults assembled, we began with a short devotional by Bob. We then explained some of the ground rules for the youth conference (no running through public areas, involve all team members, do each activity as outlined, no use of cell phones to aid in finding answers to clues, no electronic devices of any kind allowed for the youth... leave cell phones at home, obey traffic laws, etc). After that, we directed them to seven different over-sized Word Search puzzles hanging in the room. They had to look at every Word Search puzzle til they found their name, circle it, and then that particular puzzle indicated to them which team they were on.

The poster also indicated which room they should go to. When all of the kids were gathered in the rooms (where the Team Leaders were waiting for them), they were able to open the first Amazing Race clue to tell them what to do next.

I used my printer to print up loads of yellow envelopes to look similar to the ones on the Amazing Race show, 

and they became very familiar to them and were always waiting for them before or after each stop. The first clue said, "Your first task as a team is to finish this stack of blankets so that they are ready to be delivered to Primary Children's Hospital. Follow the attached instructions carefully and work together as a team. When the blankets are finished, return to the meeting room to have them checked off and to receive the next clue. After having the blankets checked off, put them back in the box and place them in your team car for use later in the race. Return all other supplies to the Task Supervisors and straighten your work room before you leave".

So, the kids and their team leaders went to work cutting fleece blankets. There was a stack of fabric, yardsticks, masking tape, and instructions waiting for them in their work room.  It was awesome seeing the boys and girls and leaders all working carefully and quickly on their fleece blankets. When they finished all of the blankets, they brought them back to Bob and I (who were the Task Supervisors for this task), and we checked them and gave them their next instructions, which read: "Your team must now make its way by car to the Draper Parks Pavilion within the ward boundaries. Park your vehicle and follow the markers to find 10 words that will lead you to your next destination."

Once they arrived at the pavilion, and got out of their car, they had to look around a bit til they found signs that were posted down along the trail...

Of course they ran from sign to sign! The signs read, "Get back in your car and go to the Wright's", with each word being on a different sign, so they didn't know where they were going til they read the very last sign.

At the Wright's, we had our Amazing Race clue box (that Bob and I made with a mail box and some scrap wood), and they found their next envelope in there. 

This envelope had instructions as to what they were to do at the Wright's house. Plastic balls (like the ones in ball pits at play yards) had been hidden all over the Wright's yard. The teams had to send one player at a time, using every member on their team, and find a specific color of ball and bring it back to their team bucket. When they found 10 balls of that certain color, and had them in their bucket, they had to then run as a team to the Amazing Race mat and check in. The order that the teams came in to the mat were the order that they would be leaving in the next morning. 

We served refreshments after all the teams had finished, and then the kids were loaded up and taken back to their homes. We told them to be at the church at 7:30 in the morning for a long, fun-filled race day that next day.

Now, that evening's events were just a tiny taste of what was to come. They were told they would be getting their race t-shirts the next morning, and we kept telling them, "Get some sleep... you're going to need it!" And we weren't over exaggerating that at all, as you'll see in the post about Day 2 (coming right around the corner).

For information about the entire Amazing Race, 

click below on the specific days.

To read about Day 2 - morning, click here.

To read about Day 2 - afternoon and evening, click here.

To read about Day 3 - click here.