Baby shower cake

At it again today, making a baby shower cake for one of Madeline's wonderful Young Womens leaders. She is not long off having her first baby - a little boy and the girls decided to surprise her with a little Baby Shower for tonight's activity.

It was a hell of an undertaking, as it's been so hot! Nothing would stick, or set and honestly I was about to give up. But in the end, this simple semi naked vanilla cake, with tinted buttercream, rosettes and sprinkles did the trick.

And there was not a single piece left, so it was obviously good. My favourite no fail vanilla cake can be found here.

foil temple pics with the young women

for our young womens activity recently we made these foil prints of the temple for the girls to take home and put in their rooms. as president spencer w. kimball said, “it seems to me it would be a fine thing if every set of parents would have in every bedroom in their house a picture of the temple so the child from the time he is an infant could look at the picture every day and it becomes a part of his life. when he reaches the age that he needs to make this very important decision, it will already have been made.” i love this quote so much and while i think it's really important to have temple pictures on display, i think it's even better when it's something that the girls have made themselves and put effort into so they have pride in displaying it.

i have made these prints many times since the first ones i did (you can find a tutorial here!) including at a ward relief society activity and i love that they are so effective and look amazing, but they are so, so easy to do! the girls seemed super keen to do them and got to work quickly... then were thrilled when i brought out frames for them. I find personally that if the girls make something and have to buy anything for themselves to complete it, it just doesn't happen, so we are very careful to provide e v e r y t h i n g. that way they go home and get used! 

i love our girls and love that they are finally starting to chat with me. yay! 

twas a good night. 

beehive day

we had the most amazing afternoon with our beehives on saturday! i'm the beehive (young women aged 11-13) leader and we decided as a presidency that we would make a special afternoon for them as they often miss out on stake activities that are 14 and up. after thinking about it for a while, i decided to make it something crafty, with food... easy right?

our schedule for the afternoon was:

1pm: welcome and introduction to the afternoon

we made sure the girls all knew each other and then played a game that involved blowing up a balloon then running with it between their knees from one side of the rec hall to the other. if you dropped the balloon you had to start again, if you popped it, you were out. easy, but there was a lotttt of giggles

1:15pm: cooking time. we gathered in the kitchen to make hot chocolate (for later) and chocolate truffles (for the girls to take home). i picked easy things so we could get it done without too much trouble. i gave the girls a bowl each to put their truffles on when they were finished and they took them home in a paper bag at the end of the day.

1:45pm: hairclip making. we made fabric covered hairclips - another simple but fun activity

all you need are scissors, glue, a fabric button kit, a bunch of different fabrics and hair clips. our creative girls loved choosing their fabrics and making them.

2:45pm: johnny lingo movie. i have always been a huge fan of this movie. it speaks of how speaking kindly to others can change their life completely, as sometimes you won't know of your own beauty until someone else can see it. it has such an amazing story and i was so excited to share it with the. bear in mind it is super old, but it's amazing. please go watch it!

i set up one of the rooms to look like a theatre room and served popcorn, which made it that little bit more fun. after the movie i gave each of the girls a card and asked them to write their name on the front and then pass it to their right. each girl wrote something they liked or admired about the girl whose name was on the front. there is nothing better than reading something nice about yourself, so i hope they have the desired effect when they read them later.

3:30pm: nails! one of the girls in our ward is completely nuts about nails, she has glitter, stickers, stamps, transfers, you name it, she can do it. she is amazing!!! so the next hour or so was taken up by all the girls going crazy doing their nails with professional advice.

4:30pm afternoon tea in the courtyard. we are so, so lucky and have the cutest courtyard in the middle of our building. i truly wish people would use it more often as it is the best thing out. i took along all my fancy tea party things and set up afternoon tea for the girls. chair covers, sashes, flowers... even bunting around the tree in the middle! it looked gorgeous and seeing all their faces when they got to sit down was well worth it.

such a perfect end to the afternoon. while we sat together, we talked about what they had liked the most from the day... they all liked different things... but were mostly happy with the food. no surprises there! that's kids for you.

last but not least, we sent the girls home with a bag of goodies... each stamped with their name. 

they contained:

a cool pen

a gratitude journal 

some young womens printouts and a letter each from our presidency

the beehive purpose statement (free printable available here)

(plus their 

chocolate truffles,

haircips and

cards with nice things from earlier)

i have the best time putting this activity together for the girls and loved watching them have a good time. it was worth all the effort and i would highly recommend you do it for your ward!

bloom into beauty

my friend melinda is the young womens president in their ward and last week she called and asked if i had any flowers that they could use to decorate for their young womens in excellence evening. we had a good laugh (i have more than just flowers and she knew it) then made a list of things that we could use to pretty up the place. 

earlier this evening we decorated to make their room look like they were having a garden party... and then as an added bonus, i got to stay and enjoy the evening! all of the young women got up one by one and briefly shared what they had worked on for their personal progress throughout the year. it was so fun to watch them speak of their achievements and i really enjoyed being there.

plus they received a little pot of flowers with this gorgeous handout attached to take home. so cute! (i am totally filing these ideas away for future reference, just in case i ever end up in young womens again one day...)

mel spoke last and amongst her comments directed at the girls she read this beautiful quote from jeffrey r. holland:
 "I want you to be proud you are a woman. I want you to feel the reality of what that means, to know who you truly are. You are literally a spirit daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and an eternal destiny. That surpassing truth should be fixed deep in your soul and be fundamental to every decision you make as you grow into mature womanhood. There could never be a greater authentication of your dignity, your worth, your privileges, and your promise. Your Father in Heaven knows your name and knows your circumstance. He hears your prayers. He knows your hopes and dreams, including your fears and frustrations. And He knows what you can become through faith in Him. Because of this divine heritage you, along with all of your spiritual sisters and brothers, have full equality in His sight and are empowered through obedience to become a rightful heir in His eternal kingdom, an “[heir] of God, and joint-[heir] with Christ.” Seek to comprehend the significance of these doctrines. Everything Christ taught He taught to women as well as men. Indeed, in the restored light of the gospel of Jesus Christ, a woman, including a young woman, occupies a majesty all her own in the divine design of the Creator."

it is the most wonderful talk, if you have a chance to read the whole thing, please do! you can find it here. 

♥♥♥

beauty night

"a winning young woman is a lady in the finest sense of the word. she is poised and trained in the social graces. her good manners are always evident and she doesn’t turn them on and off at her convenience."
or so the girls learnt this week...
after some training on how to walk and sit and speak and behave, we moved into out beauty bags...
containing various items such as:

(barbie) bandaids: to cover and heal the hurts of life with forgiveness
wet wipes: to wipe off any bad habits
rubberband: to be flexible and understanding
cotton ball: to show others gentleness and compassion
comb: to comb out the snarles of criticism
q-tip: the tip of your beauty is charity
soap: our sins can be washed away if we repent
emery board: although our life may seem rough at times, our trials will shape our lives

before putting on mud masks and cucumber slices and relaxing whilst listening to some meditation music

was a lot of good fun :)

temple tins

our young women are spoiled rotten...

imagine their delight when they showed up last night and we had a room full of pretty wedding stuff, complete with things to cut up - and cake and "champers" to boot

temple tins were the on the nights agenda :)

all the glory to dannii... when she was in yws in mandurah, they made a temple tin each - an oversize coffee tin (which mum scored from the ages care kitchen she works in) filled with fabric samples, dress pictures, flowers pictures, generally every possible idea you can come up with for your wedding - plus a slip of paper with a letter to your future husband, and even possible kids names. freaking love it!!! i am just annoyed i never got to make one when i was in youth!!

but it was so much fun - the girls got really into it and got to work

i just can't wait to see if any of their predictions actually come to pass when they are opened when it's time for...

their temple marriage :)

doing time...

last night i took "my girls"
to the freo prison for the torchlight tour

the torchlight, as it's name suggests is at night - and is dark and cold.... with lots of crazy goings-on. unfortunately this was a little too much for one of girls - who just didn't take it well when stumbling upon a "ghost" in the yard, when mass hysteria and sobbing ensued. however, we did all have a lot of fun and... it was definately worth it!

what can i say? i am truly 100% a freo gal at heart :)

me and the husband. hotness personified.
gotta love a good behind bars pic!
x

vision boards!!

last night anouck and her amzing friend eisha put on a night for our young women to make "vision boards". i am sure the girlies had heaps of fun (after all - what teenager doesn't have fun making a mess...) with magazines, stickers, glitter (oh the joy of cleaning up glitter... sigh)

so ... how does one make a vision board i hear you ask...?
cut out words and pictures that describe your goals and visions for a period of time (a few months, a year) and get set to create!

i had so much fun watching the girls create theirs that i was itching to give it a go, so danni and i are going to get together and make one soon :)


personal favourite of the night?
goes to chantal...

anouck: and what do the boys represent?
chantal: duh. i like boys
jade: and boys that just happen to be werewolves of course...?
chantal: *shrugs* added bonus

caitlin also had an awesome one with pics of all kinds of things...
that represented other things
ie:
caitlin: feet...? for a journey - duh!
broken chain and lock?? - i'm escaping!!

oh.. caitlin

crystals was also fab - lots of pics of beauty and makeup
hmmmmm like she needs any help there... stunnah!

and aggie - must be mentioned

aggie: the picture of the elephant?
oh - it reminded me of leigh so i thought i'd stick it on there.

haha. interesting

i loved it!...
can't wait to make mine!!

new beginnings

sunday night was our new beginnings night at
dianella for the young women

awesome night... i am so grateful to the girls for helping me out, and making sure the night ran smoothly. extra special shout-outs to leigh, mel and anouck for their beautiful presentations. we discussed the values and their meanings, personal progress, preparing to serve a mission and sharing activities and the gospel with friends, as well as our mutual theme for this year
BE STRONG - then... snacks! mmm lots of cake and muffins, only the best, "healthiest" treats for our girls :)

all in all was a great night had by all with only
three teeny hiccups...
(which hopefully no one noticed - fat chance!!)
1. none of our amazingly talented presidency can play the piano so i had the hymns on cd - ready to go, only all the cd players in the chapel had conveniently been relocated and could not be found... eep! thankyou to sis o'neil for stepping in and saving the day!
2. i left the programs at home!!!! after spending all that time making them and making sure they were perfect i forgot them... eep! thankyou jacob for being quick with the photocopier!
3. all my girls were running late! maybe next time i should tell them a 1/2 hour earlier than i want them grrrrrrr - i guess they were running on 'mst' (mormon standard time) haha

nothings perfect - but this was as close as could be...
lot of work though - glad it's only once a year!

i love my girls and can't wait to watch them go places!