Thank You! and Looking Ahead

We had a great time at the Relief Society Meeting last night! A HUGE thank you to our "teachers"!

We will have copies of the handouts available in the binder on Sunday if you missed it.

Looking ahead, it looks like the date for our retreat will be October 22. And we will be at the Bradshaw cabin. Thanks Boyd and Kaylyn for being willing to share!

We are super excited about this activity, and hope that you will try to make arrangements with your husband, etc. so you can come!

*a reminder, check the scripture schedule on the left sidebar for the 3 in 3 challenge!

Oh What a Night!

Oh. My. Goodness! Thank you to all who came to our activity last night! It was better than I ever hoped. We laughed, we cried, we ate ice cream...

It was so fun to get to know some of our sisters just a little better!

Thank you all again. You are all truly unique and wonderful women who have so much to offer. I am grateful for your examples and your testimonies and even for your weaknesses!

Keep checking back for details about our next activity.

June Relief Society Meetings Handouts!

So, I'm finally getting these up! Sorry for the delay.

First of all, thank you to all who came to our activity in June! We had a great turn-out (especially considering it was the day after the Memorial Day weekend...) and had some wonderful food. We also had some fantastic mini classes where we got a lot of ideas about making the most of our summer.

Here are the handouts. If you click on the image, it should show it full size, and you can print from here. If it is having problems, leave a comment, and I will make sure there are copies at church on Sunday. You may have to play with the sizing, so be sure to "print preview" beforehand. I think that will be the easiest way to get the right size to print. **sorry if it's complicated, I'm SOO not computer savvy.

First handout is from Tasia's presentation on low cost/low energy activities for kids or grandkids:
















The next hand out is from Sheralyn's presentation on planning family vacations.


















Then we have Lisa's great calendar with lots of ideas to keep our kids learning over the summer (or at least not losing as much of what they learned over the past school year!)














Thank you so much to you sweet ladies who put so much time and thought into your presentations! I am so grateful!

Keep checking back, I will be posting recipes soon!

Super Service

Ladies, thank you so much for all of you who came to our Birthday Service Activity! I must remember to put my camera on my list of things to bring each month so I can post some fun pics.

We accomplished much.

We tied 2 quilts for the humanitarian center.

We made over 60 card kits for Primary Children's Medical Center.

And we completed all 18 folders that Porter Sorenson brought as part of his Eagle Project.

Nicely done, sisters.

In the next few days, I will be trying to add some links to the sidebar for more service projects that you can do with your families or on your own.

If we look outside ourselves, we will find many opportunities to make a difference. Whether we help one person or many, we are doing the Lord's work, and we will be blessed.

In this life it is easy to feel insignificant and like we don't matter at all; but I know that simply by being a good friend, a diligent mother, a kind person, we can influence more lives than we will ever know.

May we look around us to see {and act upon} opportunities to serve those around us.

"... inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." Matt. 25:40

Report on Feb. R.S. Meeting

Last night's activity was a great success (at least the presentation part! that mod podge was trickier than I thought it'd be - sorry!! but they were still really cute!). Here are a few highlights from our presenters:

Elaine Tuttle:

Totes. Have everything you need for the job in one place. Saves time and energy when you don't have to run back and forth from the job to the closet for this or that. She has totes for cleaning, hair-do's, nail/pedi stuff, etc.

Clean from top to bottom.

Have a sanctuary. Elaine keeps her room clear and bed made so that even if the rest of the house is undone, she can go in her room and close the door and find peace.

Natalie Emmer:

House Of Order Handbook, by Marie Ricks. She has a system using 3x5 index cards to detail what jobs get done each day, week, month, etc. The website for House of Order is www.houseoforder.com.

“It is important to ‘neat’ your house before you ‘clean’ your house, and ‘clean’ your house before you ‘scrub’ your house.” Makes sense to me!

Monika Hopper:

Uses a reward system with a chart of 100 squares, and when each child fills a chart with stickers, they earn a designated amount of money. She also prints a daily chore chart for each child specific to the schedules and needs of each day. If the child does not complete the list, they do not earn the stickers, and if it becomes a habit of not completing the list, they lose friend privileges.

Angela Jensen:

Her children earn points by completing specific chores, and then they can redeem their points for "coupons" for things like movie night, and an outing with mom and dad, and extra tv time. Great ideas for those who dislike "paying" kids to do their chores.

Cindy Cahoon:

Cindy has adapted some of the House Of Order stuff and created cards for her kids which correspond to her jobs for the day. She also had some great ideas for making job time fun! Personally, I love the 30 second job idea (have jobs written on popsicle sticks and have everyone pick one. Set the timer for 30 seconds, and everyone races to get the job done before the timer goes off.)

**a few thoughts from the audience were:

They aren't bribes, they are incentives.

Create a list for multi-step jobs (like the bathroom) and post it in the room where it is done. Like the back of the medicine cabinet. This eliminates the constant "now what??" or "k, I'm done!" and it not really being done.


Finally, just don't give up. Keep trying things until you find what works for you and your family. It's not about having a spotless home. It's about being able to have a tidy home where the Spirit can thrive and your families can feel peace.

We did not have a ton of time for discussion and sharing of more ideas. Please feel free to comment with any tricks/systems that work for you!


*we will work on getting some of the info into a downloadable format. I'll let you know when that is available.