Table decor...for cheap!

So here is the post that I mentioned earlier about decorating a table for Halloween. Our YW president made these. All she used was some old random candle sticks that she got from the DI and Good Will and some battery operated tea lights from the dollar store and then spray painted them black then to attach the candles to the holders, she used sticky tack(that way you can turn on and off the lights!). It was an amazing table set up and I wish I had a photo of it before it was disturbed. We also took these candle sticks with us during our pumpkin carolling/service activity. So cute!

Halloween Party and Service Activity

I thought I would share with you what we did as our mutual this past Wednesday. Since Halloween is on a Monday this year, we planned to have our annual Halloween party on the 26th (the Wednesday before). However, we thought that it would be a nice change to do a bit of service for those who wouldn't be able to go trick or treating. 

At first this was going to the hospital and visiting the children's wing and take treats into them, then it was going to be at the rest home to the elderly and take them some pumpkin bread, but then we had someone in the ward with a truck full of potatoes (we live in SE Idaho...they are kinda a big thing here) and so we ended up going around to families in our ward singing pumpkin carols and taking them a bag of potatoes. It was a nice to do some service to those who can't get out or who are struggling and the faces on some of the families were worth it. 

Once we got done with the service we did head back to our YW president's house and had treats and a mini party. Everyone was all dressed up (I mean what is pumpkin caroling without a little costume??). Everyone had fun and got full on many disgusting looking (but really yummy) treats/food.

Click HERE for a word doc with some pumpkin carols and HERE to be taken to the Kitty Litter Cake post (we served this to our girls that night...it was rather comical).

Hope your Old Hallow's Eve is a real scream! Be safe!!!!

Also be sure to check out my next post about some super easy candle light decorations we had on the food table and we took caroling!

PPW: 10/26

So here is my first progress report for PPW. I have to be honest with you all,  I have not hit my goal with the reading. I posted last week that I should be in Heleman chapter 11 today and I am only in Alma chapter 5. I am a little disappointed in my self for that but I know that I can meet my goal come our YWIE. 
I also need to report that I am still working on Faith value #1 and unfortinately I have not completed Faith value #3 but I have completed the following: Diving Nature #1, Individual Worth #1, Knowledge #1 and tomorrow I will have completed Knowledge #2. I am also going to meet with my YW president and see if my working on camp stuff will count towards a value project based on unity. 
So there is my progress report. I am still in hopes that I will pass of my faith value experiences by then and also my book of mormon reading. How is every one else doing? Remember if you wanna link up and share your progress that would be great! I have also created a button that you can post on your blog that will link back up with my Personal Progress Wednesday (PPW)!

2012 Binder Cover

Here is the first of what I hope will be a few different binder covers that goes with the 2012 mutual theme.

Right click and save for jpg or click HERE for pdf download

YWIE Fair

So I just mailed out our invitations to our girls and leaders (both on the ward and stake level). Thought I would share with you what our invite/flyer looks like. 

If you would like to use this as something for one of your events, email me at wearedaughtersofaheavenlyking@gmail.com and let me know and I will personalize it for your particular ward or event. Right now this is not an editable file, sorry! 

The flyer it self was printed on bright green paper (called vulcan green) I tried to take a picture of it but it turned out yellow =(

Marriage Standards

Here is the handout for lesson 36 from the Young Women Manual 3 for Marriage Standards. One of my clever leaders came up with this idea (as a book mark) and I just adapted to what you see down below. 

As most of us are aware, the church has created a resource manual for each of the lessons so that there is current words from our leaders that benefit the girls we teach today. One of the talks that was listed that our leader used was a talk given by Elder Hales (which you can find HERE). I thought that this was a clever way to relate the path that our young women are on to head towards the temple. If they don't know where they want to go now and start making the choices that are needed to help them get there, then like the Cheshire Cat says, it doesn't matter which way you go. Enjoy!!

Click HERE for PDF download set of 4

Finally a Video

Finally a video has been made for this great story from Elder Cook's talk. I loved this story when I first heard Elder Cook give it and loved it even more when it became the basis for our stake yw leadership training (you can see that post HERE).

Please take a minute to listen and watch this amazing video if you havent already!

Click HERE for link to be taken directly to the lds.org/youth website! Enjoy!

Preparing A Talk

So last night our Beehive adviser gave a really good mini lesson to our girls about how to prepare a talk. She took her notes from the current (October 2011) New Era and Ensign. 

Here is what she did.  She prepared several treat bags that were filled with candy and a piece of note book paper along with small piece of paper (the girls could not open these bags when they got it). She then proceeded to ask questions based on things she had went over. 

Once everyone had a bag she allowed them to open them where, on the small sheet of paper, was a topic for a talk. The girls then had 10-15 mins to prepare a 2 min or so talk. We showed the girls how to use the scripture, FSOY, True to the Faith books and other resources. 

It was really good practice for the girls. Once they had prepared their talk they had to get up and deliver it for all of us.  They did really well for being "put on the spot." Such great sports. They also were able to pass of a PP goal (Knowledge #4).

Personal Progress Wednesday!!

So here is my first progress report for Personal Progress Wednesday (PPW):

I am currently working on my Virtue Value Project: Reading the Book of Mormon. 

This is the only thing that is holding me back from earning my gold ribbon in two weeks (I really want the book mark!). I started this project back in November 2010 and since that time (up until a few weeks ago, I was stuck in the first few chapters of 1 Nephi. 

I made my self a goal to earn that gold ribbon by our YWIE night and I am going to hit it. I have 12 days to do it in (that way I can have it done by the last Sunday of the month to report on my progress) which means from the place that I left off in my reading I have to read 34 pages a day or 16 chapters. Yeah I know that is a lot but I know I can do it. Especially if I have any more nights like last night and couldn't sleep until 4 in the morning.

Right now I am in the middle of Jacob chapter 5 which means that I should be reading Helaman chapter 11 when I check back in with you next Wednesday. Yikes! That is a lot but you know what I can do it. I know what you are thinking, how can you possibly learn anything by reading that fast through the Book of Mormon. Well, I have learned a lot in just the few books that I have read and have been able to apply stories and teaching to my life. (Soon there will be a post in the next day or two to show case one of my analogies...ok it might be a common one but hey...I will take it).

Other than the Virtue value project, I am working on the Faith value experiences value 1 and 3 ( I already completed #2). So this is my project and goal. I hope to have at least experience #3 passed off by the next PPW. 

My Journey and Challenge

With our YWIE coming soon upon us, I have given much thought to my own personal progress. I will admit that I have been rather relaxed in completing values and the value projects. As soon as I got busy with camp, personal progress just kind of fell to the wayside and then school started up and yeah, its like a snowball rolling down a hill. 

This got me thinking a little bit. I want to be an example to the girls that I have been called to lead and teach and this nagging thought has always been in the back of mind telling me that how could I expect my young women to work and complete personal progress goals if I myself am not working towards my YW medallion. It comes down simply as this: I can't. 

So I have decided that I am going to hold myself accountable and challenge myself to post on this blog my progress (and journey through this really wonderful program). I am asking that you, my fellow readers...for I know you are out there, that you hold me accountable. If I slack I want YOU to tell me to be better.

So here is my plan: I am going to commit myself to work on personal progress (at least one goal a week). Then I am going to use Wednesday as my day to check in with all of you and blog about my progress (either my success or failure...I am going to bear myself to you all). We are going to call this Personal Progress Wednesday (its the day that I do all my YW stuff...such as mutual).

Welcome to the County Fair...

Or rather the YW Excellence Fair! Just got back from a presidency meeting where we began planning our YWIE night (2 weeks away....yeah I know what you are thinking and I agree...). This year we have focused on planting valuable seeds and since its the fall we are harvesting those seeds so we thought having a "county fair" themed night would be fun. Complete with games and food...it sounds like it will be a fun night...I will be sharing my ideas as I prep for my part of it (which is media...or rather more of the publicity and signage stuff along with the games) So keep an eye out for future posts (and pictures if I remember to take my camera this time!)

Modesty Statement

This statement and photo has been circulating around the net for some time now but I have felt inspired to post it on my blog as a reminder on how important modesty is and the effects it has on everyone. While I don't often agree with some of the things Emma Watson has done, I have to commend her on this statement she has made concerning modesty:

"I find the whole concept of being ‘sexy’ embarrassing and confusing. If I do an interview with photographs people desperately want to change me - dye my hair blonder, pluck my eyebrows, give me a fringe. Then there’s the choice of clothes. I know everyone wants a picture of me in a mini-skirt. But that’s not me. I feel uncomfortable. I’d never go out in a mini-skirt. It’s nothing to do with protecting the Hermione image. I wouldn’t do that. Personally, I don’t actually think it’s even that sexy. What’s sexy about saying, ‘I’m here with my boobs out and a short skirt, have a look at everything I’ve got?’ My idea of sexy is that less is more. The less you reveal the more people can wonder." - Emma Watson

LDS Young Women: Planning with a Purpose

Here is a great post that I saw on Vickie Hacking's blog that I just had to share with all of you. I think it is a great reminder for all of us to really remember why we were called and what our goal is as a YW leader. Enjoy!

LDS Young Women: Planning with a Purpose: We all know that we are called as Young Women leaders - not to entertain these girls, but to teach them. Sometimes we forget that our mid-w...

Great Video...

I just saw this in a news letter from Jenny Philips that would go great with either lessons 35 or 36...check it out if you haven't already!

Let's talk about dating....

Hello everyone...sorry for the delay...everything seems to be working just fine now...what a crazy weekend it has been. So I am finally posting some of lesson 35 from the YW Manual 3 handouts that I used for my lesson (still working on one...road signs are giving me a lil trouble but hopefully that will be up soon). 

To being my lesson I brought in some cookies for an object lesson. Now these were not just any cookies. They were my favorite recipe for chocolate chip cookies. This recipe makes a huge amount of cookies (like 12 dozen depending on size) so I took a about a 1/4 of the dough and I added half a bottle of curry...followed by half a bottle of cumin, then, not to be out done, I added 1/4 to a 1/2 cup of salt. Yes, I intentionally meant to do this!  Of course I then added some chocolate/white chips to it. 

 Don't these cookies look YUMMY?!? Guess again...it was a good thing I had some glasses and water near by. The looks that my fellow leaders and the girls had were priceless!!! I have been dubbed mean and am no longer trusted with food in my lessons (see the peanut lesson on consecration and sacrifice.. 28 i think).

These cookies were made into an analogy of dating...some guys look good on the outside but on the inside..they are not so great or there are a lot of "cookies" in the world...some good and some bad....which one do you hope to find?

So for some things that I used for my lesson, I used a picture that was circulating a lot on the net lately and came from sugardoodle with the saying "if this ain't your castle...you ain't my prince" and of course the castle being the temple.

Another resource I used was the mormon messages for youth "Chastity: what are the limits?"  For handouts I used a road map (which is the one I hope to have up soon), a talk given by a former bishop in our area (Click HERE for word doc.) and then I gave them a bag with a good cookie that had a treat topper with the saying what kind of cookie do you want?

Click HERE for pdf-4 to a sheet

Sorry for delay....

Been having some internet connection issues so I am posting from my phone...so that is why there is nothing new. Will try again forties and hope to have better luck.

One Of Those Days....

Did you ever have one of those days (OK weeks) when you are trying to put together a lesson that you have to teach THIS coming Sunday? This is where I am...I have to teach the lesson on Dating Decisions...I have been preparing for weeks and have been praying for inspiration but alas I have felt blank. We have only a few girls who are of the age to date and the rest of them are just newly Mia Maids or Beehives (we are a small group so we all meet together). So I am trying to figure out how to bridge that cap so that it is beneficial for everyone who is there. *Sigh* 

Any ideas from those of you that have already taught this lesson? 

*UPDATE* I have finally come up with a handout idea...will be posting it tonight (as soon as I get it created...i have it drawn up just not ready). I am also going to give my girls a handout that I was given when I was in YW's so I don't have a copy of it to share but I will type of the signs that are on it (its a road map) and create a pdf of it as well....Oh and I have also decided to include the article from the additional resource manual of the talk in the Liahona titled "Advice on Dating for Young Women" bu the YW General Presidency...


So I am off to a good start but still am drawing a blank as to my outline...*sigh*

Fun Idea

I just have to share this idea that I found on sugardoodle while I was surfing for some ideas on personal progres (since that is what we are doing for our mutual activity tonight). Anyway, I saw this idea and I am so wanting to make one (at least for myself) since I bought my first sewing machine. *Gasp!* Yes, I know...how can I be a young women's leader and not know how to sew, right? Unfortinately it is true...but I am hoping that since I am now the proud owner of one, I will put it to good use and this idea is perfect for me!

So what is this idea you ask? Its a personal progress book cover...or really holder...you can find this idea and directions HERE.


So I finally made my personal progress book cover and here is what it looks like (the outside fabric is glittery...that is why it looks like there is a bunch of white stuff on it!)