Sunday Best

In the summertime I am struck by difference between the way the young men in my ward (congregation) and the young women in my ward dress. The young men are administering the sacrament so they have on dress pants, a white shirt, and a tie. On any given Sunday there will be a young woman there in a denim skirt, a t-shirt and flip flops. I don't like to talk about the casual dress of some of the young women in our meetings on Sunday, because I don't want to embarrass anyone. Even when I do say something it doesn't seem to have an impact the next week in how the young women are dressed. Just to be clear: I am not talking about young women who have no other clothing option or who's 'Sunday best' really is a graphic T.

This Tuesday we went to a lake for our mutual activity, so I took the opportunity to talk to the young women about their footwear at church. I asked them what they would do if they were going on a date and had dressed casually, but the boy came to pick them up and he was all dressed up. They agreed that they would ask him to wait while they changed into something more dressy. I then pointed out how the young men are totally out dressing the young women at our Sunday meetings. I think they got the connection. Then I told them that the flip flops they were wearing to go the lake were great for going to the lake, but not for going to church.

I handed out flip flop keychains with a quote from the November 2005 general conference:

"We used to speak of 'best dress' or 'Sunday dress,' and maybe we should do so again. In any case, from ancient times to modern we have always been invited to present our best selves inside and out when entering the house of the Lord—and a dedicated LDS chapel is a “house of the Lord.” Our clothing or footwear need never be expensive, indeed should not be expensive, but neither should it appear that we are on our way to the beach."

Jeffrey R. Holland

I'm waiting to see if I made an impact at all when I go to church this afternoon!

Mother Daughter Party

This weekend was our ward Fathers & Sons camp, and this year I planned a Mother-Daughter activity for the Friday night that the boys were camping. I thought I'd post about the party as soon as I got home, but I was exhausted and I went to bed without even cleaning up all the party stuff that came home with me!

I started with the invitations using my Cricut to cut the flower shape, and I used Festisite to print out the words in a spiral. I'm definitely going to have to use the spiral again, but as a snail shell next time - I just love it.

I put the punch bowl (well actually the punch bucket) inside a plastic flower pot, which turned out super cute, and my Cricut came in handy again to make decorations for the straws.

I scattered those plastic flower pots all over the place. I used them to organize the craft supplies with each pot holding supplies for a different craft.

I had this idea to cut up dollar store lei's and then pop the silk flowers over Christmas tree mini lights to decorate the gym. They turned out alright, but it would have looked better if I'd used brighter colors with no white in the middle of the flower, I think.

This party was mostly aimed at the younger crowd, though I had 5 YW come and they liked the pudding/Oreo crumbs/ gummy worm dessert just as much as the little girls!

We played a couple of games: Mother may I? and Rainbow tag.

One of the crafts we made were those wind chimes Kristi posted about made from fishing line and glass pebbles:

The karaoke machine was popular, and the performances got wilder and bolder as the evening progressed, which is what seems to happen at all karaoke parties.

I brought streamers, balloons, and paper flower shapes for the girls to decorate their bikes or scooters that they brought as well as crowns to wear so that we could have a bike parade in the parking lot. I'd planned the bike parade to be the final event at the party, but when it was over everyone went back inside to craft and karaoke for another hour and a half!

I had to talk to Carmen about her candy throwing technique during the parade. She was throwing the candy AT the moms rather than TO the moms.

Faith is knowing the sun will rise, lighting each new day.

Faith is knowing the Lord will hear my prayers each time I pray.

Faith is like a little seed:

If planted it will grow.

Faith is a swelling within my heart.

When I do right, I know.

I was out shopping with Chloe recently, and while we were at the store she spotted cotton balls and asked, "Can we make faith necklaces again?"

There was a time when I lived and breathed primary, and everything I saw had possible applications to my calling working with the children at church. I've made faith necklaces at stake achievement days (as they were called back then), I've made faith necklaces for sharing time, and I've made them for family home evening. I have a brother in law who is a pharmacist, and he was kind enough to order a bunch of pill containers in bulk for me the first time I made the necklaces. I must have ordered 200 vials, because I'm still using containers from my original order! I saw the idea in Family Fun magazine, and directions are here on the family fun website. The only changes I've made to their instructions are that I use a dry cotton ball in the bottom of each container to soak up the way over drenched cotton ball the kids inevitably put on top. Oh, and I also use 2 seeds between the cotton balls, just in case one doesn't sprout.

I wanted to share this craft because the theme for primary this year is:

I'll Follow Him in Faith

Must See T.V.

Monday and Tuesday evening this week there is a special on PBS titled The Mormons. Click here for the preview.

The official church website.

Another church sponsored site.

Carmen was baptized today. She was so well prepared and so excited for her special day. It was truly a beautiful meeting - I'm still carrying the spirit of it with me. Carmen's sweet spirit and testimony were shining through the baptism and I felt a witness of the gospel in a way that will be a touchstone for me in the future.

I had my sister snap a quick family photo before we left for the baptism. I think we have 2 other family pictures similar to this on the front steps of our home: it's becoming a family classic.

We baptized Carmen on a stake baptism date, and could have been with other families in the stake, but we were the only family that booked March 10th. We had a nice, personal, family baptism.

Carmen: clean and perfect.