Baby Kate and her babies

Kate has a big imagination.  Sometimes she forgets because she loves TV (and I let her watch too much), but when she plays with her dolls she is so fun to watch.  One night I walked in on her as she was singing to Grace, her birthday doll.  Of course as soon as I began recording her, she got shy, but my mother heart still swoons at her darling voice and the sentimental value of sharing our bedtime ritual with her dollie.

I am not normally wistful about my kids growing up.  I like them as they are and look forward to the stages ahead (number one on my list is for Kate to be diaper free).  But recently something triggered my thought (wish? impression? who knows) that we'd end our family with a little boy.  He is probably a figment of my imagination, but for some reason I've been thinking about that figment a lot lately.  The door to more babies must remain closed (a decision that was rather wrenching for me), but I find myself wishing my body was capable of growing just one more human.  Since it isn't capable, and since it would be irresponsible to try, I am soaking up Kate's cuteness and being happy with the beautiful kids I have here and now.

My current thought is that Kate will grow up and marry the boy in my dreams...and he'll be the boy of her dreams, and we'll all live happily ever after!

Youth Conference

I was lucky enough to attend a youth conference this weekend with the young men and women from my church.  The conference was filled with fun activities and spiritual experiences for youth and adults alike.  I was so impressed with the amazing effort that other leaders provided to make the conference such a success.  I just got to show up and have fun.

On Thursday evening we kicked off the conference with a trip to the LDS Denver Temple so the youth could perform baptisms for the dead.  If you aren't a member of my church, I realize that sounds bizarre.  We believe that the ordinances of baptism and confirmation (as well as others) are essential for eternal life with our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.  Millions of people have died without the opportunity to receive those ordinances, so in temples, worthy members of the church stand in proxy for deceased persons while the ordinances are performed.  The baptisms themselves are just like baptisms for a living person, with white clothing and immersion in a pool of water.  We believe that people who have died live in a spirit world, and they are able to choose whether to accept or reject those ordinances.  (Learn more here.) Youth over age 12 can go to the temple to do this work.  It is a very sacred experience for them, and for all those who participate.  Our youth get to go on scheduled trips with our ward a few times a year but can go on their own at other times.

We had dinner in Denver before our appointment at the temple.  Before we went inside, our youth conference director presented each youth with a booklet explaining the conference theme: Stand in Holy Places.  The booklets each contained a letter personalized for the recipient.  I had a powerful spiritual experience as I wrote the letters for the girls in my class.  It was neat to see them read their letters.

Everyone went home on Thursday night (returning about 10:45 p.m.) but arrived at the church at 9:00 a.m. to depart for a cabin near Hartsel, CO, where we would hold the remainder of our conference. The first thing I did on Friday morning was get lost on the road, but that's a story by itself.

When we arrived at the cabin, the youth claimed their beds and then scattered to enjoy the property and its entertaining features.  There was a merry-go-round and a zip line and a tree house and a hammock, plus room to run and play and just hang out.  My job was to mix with the youth and make sure everyone was enjoying themselves.  How fun is that?

Starting around 1:00 p.m., the youth were divided into groups and rotated through five stations: cooperative games, Q&A with the bishop, Family Home Evening kits, obstacle course, and...one other one.  Haha.  I was at the FHE station with a member of the bishopric.  We talked about finding holy places in our lives, keeping high standards of dress and language and morality, etc.  I also taught some really fun object lessons on how high standards can protect us from Satan's influences.  We had a good time, but also had moments of spiritual power.

That evening, we had a yummy dinner with Dutch oven cobbler for dessert.  We roasted marshmallows for S'mores and also roasted Starburst candies, which I hear taste fantastic but didn't grab some early enough to find out for myself.  We also had a hilarious talent show.  Most kids shared entertaining things with no advance preparation, which made things even more fun.  I shared my ability to make balloon animals and hats.  That was pretty popular.

After that, the girls and boys split up.  The girls spent the night in the cabin, and the boys camped outside (yay for being a girl!).  I led the evening devotional.  We touched on Joseph Smith, the armor of God, and people in the Book of Mormon.  Those 30 minutes were very special.

That night I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. chatting with some of my girls.  We had a fabulous time sharing ridiculous stories.  I had really hoped that would happen.  I shouldn't have waited until lights-out to ask for a French braiding lesson, though.

Saturday morning included a early hike (ahem...casual stroll) and devotional.  We each got to spend time with the scriptures.  We had a delicious pancake breakfast (pancakes are so much better with fresh fruit and whipped cream) and then another great devotional.  There's a Book of Mormon story where a blood-thirsty and war-torn group of people converts to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and as a token of their conversion, they bury their weapons deep in the ground.  An enemy army attacks them but they do not fight.  The story illustrates how true conversion to the Lord manifests through a changed heart and changed behavior.  To help the youth internalize this message, they wrote on a paper sword a "weapon of rebellion" in their own lives that they were ready to bury in the ground.  Instead of digging a hole in the ground, they threw their swords into the fireplace.  Watching them burn was quite symbolic.

The youth conference ended with many of the youth and leaders sharing their feelings and testimonies.  We left the cabin with a beautiful feeling of peace.  We also enjoyed the satisfaction of strengthened friendships and testimonies.  The whole experience made me very excited for our stake girls camp in just three weeks!

Oh, the Places You'll Go!

Last night our youth had a super fun activity to honor the three kids in our ward who are graduating high school this week.  I was in charge of the event, and the evening was practically perfect in every way.

Of course there was a lot of work behind all that perfection.

I borrowed the party theme from Dr. Seuss: "Oh, the Places You'll Go!"  With the help of many Pinterest pages and good friends, here are some snapshots of the party I planned.

There had to be a big poster with the theme.  Tara, a talented artistic friend, designed the poster for me, and then I filled in the dollar-store poster board with acrylic paints.  That was time-consuming but well worth the effort.

Then I made some silly sign posts with details about post-high school plans for each of the seniors (they were personalized, also with dollar store supplies).  Those were fun to make because I watched two episodes of The West Wing while I cut them out.

I emailed surveys to each of the senior's parents.  (That was a most excellent stroke of brilliance.) Their answers were the foundation of the posts and the games we played at the party.   They also sent pictures that made up a slideshow for the party.

The evening began with the Young Men president reading a little poem, which was a collection of phrases from the Dr. Seuss book. It set the tone for our fun night. Then we started group games. The first was a spin on Mad Libs.  If you aren't familiar with the game, here's the gist.  There's a sentence with a blank spot in the middle.  You have to fill in the type of word (verb, noun, adjective, etc.) that is missing. An example is: "Heidi was super {adjective} after planning a big {noun}."  You don't get to read the story before you choose the missing words.  The result is usually a really funny nonsense story.

I wrote three stories, each in the form of a conversation between parents and based on the seniors' accomplishments and future plans.  (Sorry, Karie...I changed my mind at the last minute.)  I divided the attendees (maybe 50 people) into three groups.  Each group had a big list of the parts of speech that would fill in the blanks of the stories.  The youth seemed to love coming up with the words.  Then the sets of parents (we had one senior with three "parents" present because...well, it's complicated) read the conversations using the words the youth chose, and the results were hysterical.  One story said that Austin wanted "infinity children."  Another talked about Tyler's "tall muscles."  And Holly's story had so many silly references to her desire for a big family that we were all roaring with laughter.  That made me very happy.

(holding her sister's baby)

After that, we played a version of The Newlywed Game.  I asked the seniors a bunch of questions and they wrote down their answers.  The parents were in the hall for this part, but I invited them back in when the seniors were done answering my questions.  Then I asked the parents the same questions.  The idea was to see how well the parents knew their children.  Sometimes the answers--the parents' and the seniors'--were extremely funny.  More laughter.  More inner satisfaction for me.

The final group activity was watching a slideshow (Shelly did an amazing job) of the seniors.  The pictures were set to Carrie Underwood's "Whenever You Remember" song, and they were of the seniors as kids, growing up to their current selves. It was quite tender.  If there hadn't been a major technological malfunction right in the middle (totally my fault), that would have been perfect, too.

To round out the evening, there were two more activities.  (Yes, we ran long, in case you were wondering.)  In one corner was a table where kids wrote notes to the seniors.  I will compile them in photo books for each senior.  In the other, Janae set up a "booth" where a photographer/ward member took pictures of the kids in ridiculous outfits.  That was completely awesome.  And of course there was also food.  Each treat was a favorite of the seniors, so we had Texas cake, cookie dough brownies, and ice cream.  Silvia made amazing graduation caps from peanut butter cups and chocolate bars.  Super cute, right?

In the end, I was very happy about the evening.  People made comments about how much fun they had, which was my primary objective.  I'm also thrilled that a friend in another ward will use the big sign for her ward's girls camp.  The ward's theme is "Oh, the Holy Places We Will Go."  I am very pleased that all the hard work on the poster will benefit someone else on another day.  

In my own world, I wish the next place I could go was a quiet room with a bed and a book, but I have company this weekend, youth conference and stake conference next week, Fathers and Sons the week after that, and then I'm gone for two weeks to Canada and girls camp.  Maybe I can rest in July.

Talents shown

The second annual Colorado Springs Ninth Ward talent show (held last Friday evening) was a rip-roaring success! Thanks to my recently-bolstered committee, I enjoyed the role of organizer/facilitator and barely lifted a finger. I did walk too much throughout the evening, but the ensuing contractions dissipated when I got in bed after the show. Little Miss is staying put.

Ward members of all ages performed quite a variety of talents. Among my favorites were a family that offered a hoe-down-style instrumental number called "Orange Blossom Special," a group of teenagers who did swing dancing, a boy who played a virtual drum, and, of course, my own children, whose dancing and pogo numbers were delightful!

Tyler danced to "Upside Down" by Jack Johnson, which is featured on the movie Curious George. Although some of his signature moves didn't appear in his performance, he pulled out some new ones that we just found hysterical. Please be patient with my atrocious camera work and the poor quality video. I shot it with our little digital camera and I was laughing so hard the image is far from steady.

Later in the show, Zachary jumped on his pogo stick to a clip from the "William Tell Overture." It was a great length for the show, but Zach clearly could have jumped for a lot longer! On Thursday when he was practicing he did 350 consecutive jumps!

The next video is of the piano duet I played with Lori Miller, a friend in our ward. We played a piece called "Nola," which I originally learned with my mom way back in the day.

Garry's special talent for the evening was wrangling/entertaining the Gavinator, whose patience for a two-hour show that began at his bedtime waned early. At the end of the evening, an exhausted Daddy moaned, "Do I really have to do church with this child in just two days?" Answer: yes. And he did. It was exhausting. Garry's talents are also responsible for editing the videos for posting here.

The final number of the evening brought the house down. The bishopric (the ecclesiastical leaders of our congregation) sang "I'm a Believer" by the Monkees. These guys were such great sports! Our bishop is the man in the middle with the fabulous hat and sunglasses. What you don't see in the video is that all of their wives were sitting on the edge of the stage, the objects of their husbands adoration.

Talent displays were part of the activity, and our boys participated here, as well. Tyler displayed some of his recent drawing and coloring projects, and Zachary displayed ten paper airplanes from his collection. We were impressed with our boys' creativity!

And so passed the last ward activity before my baby's birth. I'm relieved to have gotten through it. I think it's ironic that, in my relief, I spent Friday night dreaming about the next activity scheduled for June 6! Can't a girl catch a break?

Guests make the party

I love the Russian proverb that says, "The guest has not to thank the host, but the host the guest." Being in charge of ward activities that go well really makes me feel that way.

Last night's High School Reunion was delightful! Ward members provided high school memorabilia for the decor, and adventurous ones also dressed as they did in high school. The letter jackets, poodle skirts, and big bangs came out to play....what fun!

As the guests arrived, they made name tags (to which many added their graduation year) and started completing a "classmate quiz." Each person had to find 20 people who had done specific things, like been in the honor society, skipped classes, drove a truck to school, was a varsity athlete, etc. That definitely got the conversations flowing! It was a very fun mixer activity.

Eating happened next. People either brought a goody to dip in the chocolate fountain or a simple appetizer. Once everyone had a plate, we started playing a game of Family Feud, which was based on surveys about high school that we distributed one Sunday last month. The volunteer contestants were hilarious and our host did a great job. I was a little sloppy with my "survey says" results board, but people helped out in the end. The winning team got 200 points during the speed round, so they went home with a slice of cheesecake and a gift certificate to a local ice cream shop.

For a few minutes after that, guests took turns reading aloud the wacky things people did in high school (these were also gleaned from the surveys). It was fun to learn who dated spouses in high school, who was voted best dressed, who was a scholar-athlete, etc.





And then there was dancing! The DJ we hired was worth every penny just to see the Bishop do the Chicken Dance and a couple of guys bust a move to rockin' 90's tunes. Once the lights when down and the music started pumping, though, I rocketed back in time 15 years and the wallflower in me came out. I hated dancing then and I hate it now, but it was super fun to watch the less inhibited folks enjoy themselves!




Garry took 124 awesome pictures, and there are way too many gems to post here, but I made a new album on my Facebook page if you want to check them out.