Young Women "Evening of Excellence"

Wow, was I busy on the Sixth trying to finish up projects I was doing for the Young Women in my ward. I took some ideas I found on theideadoor.com and came up with an amazing program for our "Evening of Excellence" if I say so myself. The theme was "Your Happily Ever After" and I used a talk from President Uchtdorf. You can download the talk by clicking on the name above. I wanted the girls to feel like Princesses. We got tiaras for them to wear and my best friend made sashes. We asked the parents if they had to pick one value that best represented their daughter or best represented them which one would it be. We then took that value and painted it on the sash. During the program I had the parents explain why they chose that value. The girls loved the sashes and were surprised to hear their parents explanations; which turned out very touching.

Everything was a secret including the parents involvement in preparing the tables and display items. Usually the girls do it themselves but this year I wanted it to be different.

I found the temples on theideadoor.com website and had a friend cut them out of wood. The Young Women President and I painted them white, then I went to work on them to beautify them.

My temples came out a little different but I wouldn't want it any other way. I always tweak things to make them mine. The girls just loved everything. We sang new songs; we had the fathers crown their daughters; even one of the girls took down her cello and played it for us afterwards.
What really touched my heart is that they commented that they did feel like Princesses.
They are truly our Heavenly Fathers Princesses.

Days of Christmas Activities

Yay! I finally got my pictures downloaded to my computer. Now to catch up....

We decorated the tree on the Fourth.

 

 And the fireplace banner I made on the Fifth...

Christmas Countdown - 2011 Day 3

Day 3 - We went to the Boulder City Santa Claus Train. Its the Nevada Southern Railway excursion train at the Nevada State Railroad Museum located in historic Boulder City, Nevada - the city that built the Hoover Dam.
Santa Claus and his Misses greet each and every child on the train and they allow you to take pictures. It was pretty cool. Nathan was super excited to see Santa up until it came time for him to speak to him.

Here's some extra pictures that were taken.

Christmas Countdown - 2011

Has it really been three days since I blogged about the family Christmas excitement? Let's see December 2nd we got a HUGE Christmas Tree. The biggest I've ever had since I have been married.

Of course, Nathan had to get his pose on. Funny kid!! And that was day 2.

Christmas Advent Calendar - 2011

So it's that time of year again where I am in the craftiest mood! I found several Advent Calendars online and thought hey I can do that. I found one that used those small matchboxes but I couldn't find any so I cleverly made one up all on my own. 

First I took empty toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls and I cut them into 2 inch pieces; glued them together in the shape of a tree and glued that onto card-stock to hold the back on the tree.

 

After I had the back on I filled the slots with goodies; wrapped toys, candy, a few quarters, etc. and wrapped the tree with green tissue paper.

It wasn't the easiest thing to do without getting holes in the tissue paper but it worked. Then I took some Christmas wrapping paper I liked and cut 2 inch strips and glued them to the outside of the tree and for the base to look like a flower pot or tree stand thing. 

 

I finished it off with 25 numbers and a snowflake star on top. Pretty creative if I say so myself.

Nathan loved it and being that it is December 1st he punched out the 25; finding candy hid behind it. Luckily I don't remember what I put in each slot so I too can be surprised to see what he gets each day.

Thanksgiving 2011

We had and still do have lots to be Thankful for. I am just going to post some pictures.

We have a new house, each other and lots of room for family and friends. Smiles all around!!! = D

Update

I am really bad at this blogging thing.... I have let way to much time go by without updating; so so much has happened in the past few months.


My husband and I have a new home!! The other home fell through so we applied for a home loan and qualified. We had a list of things we wanted in a home and luckily we found the PERFECT home for us and it has everything on our list.
1) 4 or 5 bedrooms
2) 3 + bathrooms
3) big backyard for Nathan and our little doggies
4) zoned for a specific school
5) in our current church ward (we were willing to forgo this listed item but didn't have to)
We feel that the Lord really had a hand in this move because I was given a calling in our ward less than a month of finding this house. It is a 5 bedroom/4 bath home 2300 + sq. ft. on a 6000 + sq. ft. lot; in the ward and in the school zoned boundaries we wanted. We are TRULY blessed!!

We were always the ones in the family who needed all the help to get by and now we feel as if we have the means to help our loved ones. We love our new home and our new life!!!