Day 2 of the Retreat (and a Day 3 Bonus)

Day two of the retreat started with the girls gathering back at the resort at 9 AM for a breakfast made by our bishopric. We had scrambled eggs, pancakes, ham and orange juice.




After a leisurely breakfast, we hopped into cars and went to Souflez and had our cake decorating class. Each girl got her own 9" round cake. We learned how to frost the cake, then how to decorate it with a shell border and how to do stars, a flowers, leaves and how to write. We filled two pastry bags with frosting and went to town! The girls were quite creative with their designs--ranging from very well done and thought out to crazy! I enjoyed it and learned how to decorate better!






After decorating cakes, we drove back to the resort for our lunch. We had ordered subs from Capriotti's. A family in our last ward owns one of the franchises at 91st and Thomas, so we ordered those. I LOVE their subs. After lunch and giving away more great prizes, Rachel did her bracelet class. She had kitted lots (and lots) of bags with beads that the girls could use to design their own bracelets. Each girl made at least two to three bracelets. They looked great! They had fun doing it, too, and today I heard the moms say their daughters were so proud that they made something they would wear.


During that class, Becky and I headed outside to do a mini photo shoot for each girl. I think that will be fun for each girl to have some pictures of themselves.





To close our big weekend, Aimee Benefield from our ward came and spoke to the girls about the theme "Bloom." She focused more on how we can bloom spiritually. It was a perfect ending to our weekend. Before each girl left, we sent them home with a goodie bag. Inside was a t-shirt (I'll have to take a picture and post later), a couple products Heidi donated, a couple of coupons from a couple of the companies who sent donations and one of my quote books. So many of the girls were so kind and thanked us after for the weekend and stayed to help us get cleaned up. I love those girls!

While I was gone, Brian took our girls up to Flagstaff to see his sister Jenny and her new baby, Elena. They had a great time and had a full day, too! Last night (I was beat!) but Eliza, Libby and I went to Target to get some groceries and to get Ellie's birthday present. She'll be 2 on Thanksgiving day! I CANNOT believe Thanksgiving is this week. Holy cow! I am not ready at all. I mean I am ready for my assignment for our family feast, but once it's Thanksgiving--that means Christmas is soon after. And I am NOT ready for Christmas. But I'll kick it in gear and be ready!

Today was church and it went well. I taught the lesson in laurels on self-discipline. It's always a great reminder to set goals and have the self-control to achieve them! But we had great discussion and sharing. I love that about our class and leaders. After church we had a longer than normal BYC for the youth class presidents. From there it was home, lunch, play, then off to Brian's parents' to drop off three girlies while Brian, Eliza and I went to a fireside. This was the Day 3 Bonus! Sam Payne stayed and did fireside for us tonight. Actually we invited another ward, so there were lots of youth there. It was an AWESOME fireside! I loved it. First he sang a humorous/light-hearted song about kissing. Then he got on with his message. He shared two stores from the Bible--first was about David and how he became King. He was such a faithful/righteous youth, then at the end of his life, he didn't make very good choices. Then he talked about Esther and how she was an ordinary girl, but ended up saving herself and her people. I love the scripture he referred to: "who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for such a time as this?" She was the Queen, but she had that thought so she made good decisions, whereas David said, "I am the King--I can have whatever I want." I am certainly not saying it as well as he did, but then he compared it to decisions we make. Are we like Esther or are like David at the end of his life? He told a story of a girl when he was in high school who was devastated that she wasn't asked to prom (and never had). Then he shared how one boy--who was very popular and "sought after"--after hearing about this girl's sadness, asked her to the prom and saved her so to speak like Esther did her people. Now of course, life doesn't revolve around going to the prom, but this was a time when that boy had a decision. He could have said, "I am the 'King'" so to speak--and I can have what I want. Or (like Esther)say--I am the 'King'...what can I do for you today? Anyway...I am going on and on, but I really enjoyed it. After he shared that, he played the piano and sang a song that he wrote about David and how we see an ordinary boy but the Lord sees a King. I asked Sam later if that song is on any of his CDs and unfortunately it's not! Then he talked for a couple minutes about not believing the untrue things our friends say about us. He ended by playing his guitar and sang a song written by Cherie Call.

It has been a busy, full weekend, but one we won't soon forget!

I did forget to mention our Young Women in Excellence we had on Wednesday night. Our theme was Bloom (we made it our week-long theme). Olivia Montez was in charge and did an amazing job! The room looked fabulous--decorating is her forte and it showed! For the night, I spoke for just a minute about the theme of the night, then each parent (who had previously told us what flower they felt best represented their daughter) got up and told why they chose that flower. It was a neat time for the girls to hear about themselves from their parents. Then the parents gave each girl that flower. The girls also got a CD of songs recorded by a few people in our ward with songs about reaching their fullest potential. Dessert was from Sweets Unlimited and again--yum. They looked beautiful, too!

Here's to maybe a less stressful/crazy week. We'll see!