I love Young Women Camp! Here is a little re-cap of our 2016 camp. I love sharing ideas and thought these might be helpful to someone out there! This might be the worlds longest blog post. I…

One of the highlights of our Young Women's Camp this year were our Camp Fire Sing-A-Long's. For the first time in FOREVER we were able to l...

This candy campfire activity is the perfect way to teach how to build a campfire or just a fun activity for a camp themed party!

I was in charge of the activity this week for Young Women. We were welcoming two new girls into the group so I wanted to plan some kind of get-to-know-you game. I found a couple ideas online and decided to combine them. First, I took a bunch of tongue depressors and wrote two words, one on each end, which the girls would have to choose between. Some examples were "Chocolate" or "Vanilla", "Cats" or "Dogs", and "Facebook" or "Instagram". I also took some yarn and wound it into a ball. The container is just a No. 10 can wrapped in washi tape. I tied the end of the yarn to my wrist and picked a stick. I can't remember the exact stick I picked, but lets say it was "Fame" or "Money". I chose "Money". The next step was to ask who agreed with me. Everyone who agreed raised their hands. I then threw the yarn to someone with a raised hand. They put their had down, wrapped the yarn around themselves and threw it to someone else with a raised hand. This continued until no raised hands were left. At that point, the person with the yarn chose another stick and the game continued. Pretty soon, the yarn had woven quite a web illustrating that we are all connected in some way. I was pretty nervous going into the game. I figured everyone would love it or it would be a huge flop. Surprisingly everyone had a blast and really enjoyed themselves. It was great getting to know everyone a little better and it was a perfect introduction for the new girls to the group. P.S. You may want some scissors on hand for the end! 

Another one of my laurels also wanted to do a devotional with the self-worth theme, but she wasn't as excited about the Sneetches. She is g...

Last summer President Russell M. Nelson and his wife Wendy gave the most amazing talks to the youth. This year in seminary we are studying the Doctrine and Covenants. When the scriptures refer to Israel, gathering, or following the prophet I like to remind the youth of the prophet's challenge that he gave to them. I played back portions of his talk. To hear it click here. Here are his challenges to the youth: Then I handed out this printout and we discussed how they were doing. I was thrilled with the answers that I got. Most of the students had taken the challenge seriously and shared their experience. Battalion Bites Candy Here's a fun treat to go with your lesson or activity. I bought these Halloween Peanut m&m's on clearance. Lucky for me the m&m colors also worked well the camouflage colors. This size of m&m is the 3.27 oz share size. I made this print out and glued it over the m&m picture. If you would like to use it right click on the picture. Copy and paste it, or save it into your pictures. Size it to fit a full sheet of paper. I glued it on rubber cement. The regular school glue stick will not hold after it dries. The process I used was cover the print out in glue, especially the edges. Then cover the m&m's in glue, especially the edges. Then put another coat of glue on the print out's edges. Center the print out on the m&m's and press around the edges. Cheap Armor of God Pins If you are like me, I am always looking for a cheap, but nice gift for my 20+ seminary students. Unfortunately Deseret Book does not offer dollar store prices. I found these pins on Oriental Trader for only $7.19 a dozen. The only problem I had with it was the cross. It just made me uncomfortable to give to LDS students. I decided to try to paint over the cross with fingernail polish. The only black polish that I had was gel, so I gave it a try. I put 2 coats of gel polish on each one. Then ended with a clear coat of gel polish over the entire middle area. & In between each coat I put it under the gel light. They came out great. You can't even tell there was ever a cross on the pin. A wonderful and cheap gift for my Seminary Youth Battalion! You could probably do the same thing with regular nail polish, I just didn't have any. Let me know if you try it. Shield of Faith Christmas Ornament I found these cute metal Shield of Faith crests on Oriental Trader for only $6.95 a dozen. I thought that they would make a nice Christmas ornament for Christmas gifts. I bought some ribbon. I tied it in a loop and glued it to the back side of the metal crest with E6000 glue. I didn't want to use a glue gun because I didn't think the glue would hold. After the glue dried I turned it over and used the same glue to add the ribbon. I placed the ribbon so that it was on both the metal and the ribbon. That way it is more secure and hangs straight. I added the picture of Christ over the cross. I got the picture off of google images. I printed it out on my computer with the smallest setting that prints 35 tiny pictures per page. Then I used a heart punch to cut out the face of Christ. I think they turned out really cute! Armor of God Gift Package For Christmas I decided to give my class all the the pin, the ornament and the m&ms into a cute little gift package. I bought some cellophane bags at Walmart. Then I used a piece of my brown cardstock and cut it to fit inside the bag. My bag was 4 inches wide, so I cut the cardstock to be just a little bit under 4 inches. I poked some holes into the cardstock and used the twist tie that came with the bags to hold the ornament. The pin I glue gunned above it to hold it in place. Luckily I kept the little plastic bags that the pin came in so that the pin could be removed easily. I put the m&ms and a little plastic army man on the other side. Once the bag was full I printed out the printout below. I cut them out, folded them in half and stapled them to the top of the bag. As you can see, I have a Christmas version and a non Christmas version. I did the math and the entire package came to about $1.60. Not bad when you have over 20 students to buy for! Click on the image below to make a Missionary Handbook Printable. Here's another printout from my Seminary Missionary Handbook idea For one of my lessons I had my class listen to one of President Russell M. Nelson's last conference talks Becoming Exemplary Latter-day Saints and write down the things that impressed them. Here is the handout that I used: Another fun Prophet idea is You-Know-A to listen to the Prophet Granola. Here are some of my other Doctrine and Covenants ideas:

I wanted (needed) a place to keep track of all my little crafty projects..I do go back and use some of them over and over. So - why not a blog where I can also share them with you!

The girls at camp need a schedule. There was so much going on they needed to know where to be when. We came up with this one with a little h...

I love Young Women Camp! Here is a little re-cap of our 2016 camp. I love sharing ideas and thought these might be helpful to someone out there! This might be the worlds longest blog post. I…

Stopping in for a post that others can reference easily- I have had a few people ask for details about our girl's camp this year- and it turned out great. We had a "Girl On Fire" theme, with the our girl's being on fire with the spirit of their Heavenly Father. The theme turned out to take on a life of it's own (as often happens with these ventures) but here are a few of the details. We had all the girls bring a dark t-shirt, and we we had stencils and cardstock for them to cut out and use as negatives on their shirts. A little bit of bleach....and you are done.... Make sure to put cardboard in the shirt, and lay it flat- this will keep the bleach from soaking through to the other side. Girls cut out their names, used swirls and butterflies, and really made their shirts amazing. This is the front of my t-shirt and the back of my hoodie. I made these without the cute swirly stencils, so the girls could see them before we started, but once the girls saw each other's shirts they really got into this project. It was a huge success. If you know someone with a Cricket cutting machine you could do amazing things with this- just go light on the bleach, lay them in the sun as you spray, and if you carefully lift your stencils they can be used again and again (let them dry a bit in between uses). For more detailed step by step instructions on bleaching, I refer you to fellow blogger and crafty inspo site Burlap and Denim. (Her shirts are so cute- I am impressed!) We also used vinyl stickers with the mockingjay logo and young women's logo and decorated our 'lanterns'. With the stickers on (you can also wrap twine, cut tape, or cover any other way you desire), we sprayed a light coat of spray paint on the jar. When you remove the stickers and vinyl, the paint reveals the 'etched' looking designs. We added a battery powered tea light candle, and with some bent wire they were good to go. The girls carried these out every night, brought them to night devotionals and testimony meeting, and used them in their tents. We didn't have to worry about fire anywhere, and they looked amazing in the dark. One of our crafts was soda tab bracelets. Again, the girls went crazy once they figured out what to do with the craft (I recommend having at least 3 or 4 leaders trained before you go- it isn't hard, but needs to be done right for the bracelet to lay correctly.) I am not going to give you a tutorial here, but you can watch several great ones on You Tube or go to ehow.com for step by steps. Just make a few before hand and be prepared to help them start and finish them off. Even our Beehives just adored these and made several while at the craft table. Start saving tabs now!!! (hint: Progresso soup tabs are large, and they make a great end tab so the other end can toggle through it- so easy to put on and off!) We also had a Hunger Games style activity, with a Tracker Jacker station (teams with colored stickers that were the stings when stuck on eachother) a battle station (pool noodles or other funny swords can be used) and races for bread, etc. In the secret sister mailboxes (a shoe organizer hung at our pavillon) I gave the following goodies: this little parachute themed note containing glow sticks for them to wear at night And a little extra treat One night we had a 10 Virgin faith walk, based on the script and painting by Gayla Prince. This was especially effective in the dark night, through the trees and brush. (The girls made their lanterns that day and were actually given their tea lights by the first virgin). It was awesome to have them come to the 'feast' in the middle of the hills and place their lights at the portrait of Christ. After we were done they enjoyed the fruit and french bread loaves at the table. It was a great night. We had a picture night and devotional on local temple grounds, and our campground was by a lake, so on our final night we closed by singing late into the night with our lanterns on the dock. It was an amazing camp..... and I hope these ideas can help someone else out there! -UPDATE- I am no computer wiz, so officially adding files completely boggles my brain. I am adding photos here, all in just a jpeg format. My hope is that you can click on the picture and at least save it, then insert into your document (I use Microsoft Publisher) and go from there. The sponsor envelope I used on legal size envelopes, then added the glow sticks. Good luck- hope it helps! click here for our next year's camp theme- Brave Girls Only

Handout:

Big Beetle Game: Each beetle needs: 8 short pieces of rope (string) 1 beetle head (cardboard with hole for attaching to body) 2 antennae - 2 pieces of wire in a loop 2 eyes - 2 large circles Players need: A bucket Large dice Tape and glue Long piece of rope Short rope Provide all items for each patrol. Each girl throws a dice in turn. A 6 must be thrown first to get the body (the bucket). Then when a 5 is thrown, the head is attached with a reef knot. Then when a 4 is thrown, the legs are attached with reef knots. At the 3, the tail is attached, which is a short piece of rope tied in a reef knot. When the next player rolls a 2, the antennae are stuck to head with tape. When a 1 is thrown, glue the eyes into place. When the beetle is complete, a long rope is tied around the neck with a bowline and the beetle is dragged across the finishing line some distance away.You could also do this on a smaller level, so each girl is competing alone. (for smaller groups) Handout: (I found this handout on another site) I made up 4x6 handouts for most of the certification items. The idea is that you print them, laminate them and punch a hole in the top. Then with a small metal ring you can attach them to a backpack.

Leading in the Savior's Way Help each young woman learn and practice leadership skills and qualities in the Young Women program with these updated leadership lessons. Included is a downloadable and printable PDF version of each lesson. download lessons

Handout: I made up 4x6 handouts for most of the certification items. The idea is that you print them, laminate them and punch a hole in the top. Then with a small metal ring you can attach them to a backpack.

Handout: I made up 4x6 handouts for most of the certification items. The idea is that you print them, laminate them and punch a hole in the top. Then with a small metal ring you can attach them to a backpack.

Cootie Bedroll Game: (I didn't make this up, but I can't remember where I found it...) Demonstrate a proper bedroll first. Split the group into teams. Each team has a dice (I made big ones out of cubes of foam and put the dots on with Sharpie markers) 1 spot = ground sheet 2 spot = sleeping bag 3 spot = p.j.'s and toque 4 spot = extra blanket/pillow 5 spot = roll up 6 spot = rope & tie-off The girls work as a team and roll the dice. They cannot do a step in bedroll prep until the spot has been rolled i.e. the team MUST roll a one first, then cannot do the next step until a two is rolled, etc. Makes for lots of jumping and screaming when a few teams are trying to win. Of course - acknowledgment of the winner is essential. Then the girls proceed to complete their own if they have brought all the proper gear. Handouts: I made up 4x6 handouts for most of the certification items. The idea is that you print them, laminate them and punch a hole in the top. Then with a small metal ring you can attach them to a backpack. This handout has two sides.

Hi everyone. This is a craft we did in Activity Days, but it works for any youth group. We did a mother daughter activity and we took pict...

Handouts: I made up 4x6 handouts for most of the certification items. The idea is that you print them, laminate them and punch a hole in the top. Then with a small metal ring you can attach them to a backpack. This handout has two sides.

The beginning of every year, I have a YW board meeting with all my YW leaders. We go over leadership training, our calling responsibilities {per the handbook of instruction}, teaching responsibilities, & the Personal Progress program. This year I really wanted to discuss the Handbook Section 3, "Leadership in the Church of Jesus Christ." But also tie the evening into the new 2013 mutual theme of "Stand ye in Holy Places." I wasn't quite sure how I was going to pull it all together but was hoping to figure it out before our meeting. :) As I was studying the handbook, reading talks & watching videos on serving the YW of the church when I came across the talk from conference a few years back by Sister Beck called "Mothers who know..." I had a light bulb moment!!! I thought I could do my leadership instruction & call it "Leaders who know...STAND." I would use each letter of the work STAND & talk about our responsibilities as YW leaders {per the handbook}. Here is what I came up with... I pulled out a section of the handbook to share with my leaders for each letter that we discussed. S-Strengthen-Handbook 10.1.1 & 3.2.3 T-Teach & Testify-Handbook 3.2.4 A-Apply-Handbook 3.2.1 & 10.5 paragraph 3 N-Nurture-Used a portion of Sis. Becks talk "Mothers Who Know...Nurture." D-Do more by doing less-Handbook 3.3.3, 3.3.4, 10.8 Here is the handout that I made for each of my AWESOME leaders to that home that evening so they could remember the 2013 theme. I just printed a picture of the temple out on card stock that I had put the word "STAND" onto & modge podged it onto a 6x6 tile. Thanks again to Mindy Evans Photography. Who has the most beautiful pictures of various temples and allows you to use them for personal use. The evening turned out GREAT!! I am so lucky to be working with the most amazing YW leaders on our board. They are fabulous!! Good luck to all you YW presidents planning your board meetings. UPDATE: I'm adding the BLANK files for this evening for all of you who would like to use them for your own board meetings. You can download by just right clicking on the image and saving the pic to your computer. If you do use it and post it, please just link the file back to my blog. THANKS!!! Hope this is a help to someone, somewhere. :)

A lifestyle blog about crafting, baking, sewing, decorating, and family life.

Edible Campfires: Refer to Page 32 of the YW Camp Manual. I found it works best to have small items in snack ziplock bags and all placed in a big ziplock bag, saves time in distribution as you go. A little goes a long way - only a few of each ingredient is needed Have girls bring a bandana or hair elastic and their water bottle. 1. What are the fire regulations in your area? (find out and discuss with the girls before building any fire) 2. Collect all of your firebuilding supplies before you begin. (distribute baggie of supplies) 3. Cover or tie back hair, while building or working around fires. 4. Open a napkin full and place the three piles for a proper wood pile in order on half of the napkin so that the other half can be folded over the wood pile to keep the wood dry till ready to use. A good camper never has to search for wood after the fire is lit. a. Tinder is no thicker than your pinkie finger. Fine twigs, bundles from tops of bushes and weeds, pieces of pine, thin pieces of bark, dried leaves and grass. (coco-nut or sunflower seeds) b. Kindling is thicker than your pinkie and no thicker than your thumb. Six to twelve inches in length. Should snap when broken. (potato stix or small pretzel sticks) c. Fuel is larger than your thumb. (cheezies, cheese puffs, tootsie rolls, fat pretzels or bread sticks) 5. Get bucket of water and shovel and rake (optional) to keep close to fire for safety. Before you ever start a fire make sure you have the fire fighting equipment on hand. (cup of water, spoon and fork. You can also use a cup of granola for Sand if you want) 6. Clear the ground in a 6-foot radius. The edge of your plate is the boundary of the safety area. Mark the safety area by outlining the edge of the plate with your finger. This is the zone where no one moves faster than a slow walk. Inside the zone no one should ever be running or playing while a fire is being built or burning. Clear away the grass, twigs and pine needles, from a good-sized area until only dirt remains. This is the base of the fire. Place your cookie in the center of the plate. (represented by scraping spoon on 6 in plate to make it safe to build a fire. A big round cookie represents dirt. Use as much detail as you feel you need. Discuss safe places to build fires) 7. Create a fire ring to contain fire. Place a ring of rocks around the edge of the dirt area. This will help keep the fire from drifting into nearby grasses. (tiny marshmallows, Jelly beans, M&M’s, peanuts, corn pops, cereal, raisins, cheerios or large chocolate chips) 8. Now you are ready to lay your fire. Make an “A” or “V” frame of logs, open end facing the wind. (break a large pretzel rod into 2 or 3 pieces) 9. Lay tinder in teepee or lean to fashion in the corner of the A or V, remember tinder is smaller than your pinkie finger. (coco-nut) 10. Add a fire starter to the base of the tinder (Optional if you have enough tinder and kindling). Burns quickly to get fire started. (hershey kisses, gum drops or small pieces of twizzlers) 11. Light the fire. Of course we are using waterproof matches (3 inch pieces of rope licorice or full length twizzlers) Add sparks! (red hots) 12. When a small fire is started add kindling on top of tinder leaving room for air to flow. Remember kindling is larger than your pinkie and no larger than your thumb. (potato stix or small pretzel sticks) 13. Watch as the flames build. (candy corn) 14. Next add fuel on top of kindling. Fuel is larger than your thumb. (cheezies, cheese puffs, tootsie rolls, or fat pretzel rods) 15. Extinguish fire; let the fire die down. (eat fire, drink water) 16. Review the method of extinguishing fires: With dirt - let the fire die down - separate the burning pieces but keep them within the fire ring - pour dirt over coals to smother keep stirring till extinguished - continue till you can’t feel heat when you hold hand over coals With water - wet the area around the fire - sprinkle water on the fire, do not pour water as you may get burned by steam and immediate hot water - spread out coals with a stick - sprinkle again and turn over smoldering sticks or coals, sprinkle again - continue till only soaking wet ashes remain - continue till you can’t feel heat when you hold hand over coals If you have removed sod to make a fire cover the area with dirt, replace the sod, make it look as if no one has been there. 17. Leave no trace! (put plate, spoon, cup in trash) For an alternative you can use healthy items ie: - Salad dressing instead of water - Broccoli florettes for rocks - Shredded cabbage for tinder - Carrot sticks for kindling - Celery sticks for fuel - Cherry tomatoes - Bacon bits - Etc, etc. Ready, Aim, FIRE! Relay You will need matches, pots with lids, grills, water, 1 fire pit area per team. Divide the group into teams of. The object of the relay is to see which team can be the first to boil a quart of water and then douse their fire. Only one member of each team may be away from the group at any one time. and he can perform one task only. On GO the first member of each team runs to collect an armful of firewood. When that player has returned the second player may go and collect an armful of firewood. When all players have had a chance to add to the wood pile, the fire building may begin. Player one can set the first round of kindling. Player two can put the larger pieces of wood down. Player three can light the fire. Player four can set up the grill. The relay proceeds with members taking turns all along the way. Some pours the water in the pot, someone else tends the fire, someone else puts the pot on the grill. Just remember that only one person from the team can be doing a chore at any one time. Share the load and take turns. The first team to boil the water and then safely douse their fire wins. Handouts: I made up 4x6 handouts for most of the certification items. The idea is that you print them, laminate them and punch a hole in the top. Then with a small metal ring you can attach them to a backpack. This handout has two sides.

Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.They that were foolish …

In march of 1856, Heber C. Kimball sent word to my father [John Griffiths], for him and his family to go to Salt Lake City, Utah. We got ready and left Liverpool on the 28th day of May, in the ship called the Horizon. We were eight weeks on the sea. I was very sick. The ship was under the command of Captain Reed. After we anchored in Boston harbor, we held a meeting . . . From Boston we went by rail to Florence, Iowa and camped there four weeks, until our hand carts were ready for us. On the first day of September, we started to cross the plains. During the first part of our journey, we were as happy a set of people as ever crossed the plains. We would sit around the camp fire and sing. . . . After the snow caught us, we suffered terrible and many died. Provisions were limited; we were rationed on four ounces of flour per day for adults and two ounces a day for children. Our meat consisted mainly of buffalo. One morning when I awoke, my brother John, age 15 years, lay dead by my side. He died of starvation and cold. During that night 19 people died. They dug a trench and laid them in it. We had to leave them there and resume our journey. Two weeks later my brother Herbert, age six years, died the same way. One morning my step-mother was baking some griddle cakes on the camp fire and one old lady looked so pitiful my step-mother handed her a cake before she had finished baking all of them. Shortly after she looked at the old lady, who had not moved, and found her to be dead, with the cake in her hand, she had not tasted it. Two weeks before we arrived at Salt Lake City, President Young sent a company to meet us with wagons and provisions. They found us deep in snow and our provisions gone. When they came in sight we all stood up and hailed them with glad rejoicing. When we arrived in Salt Lake my family consisted of my father, step-mother, sister Margret and myself. It was the last of November, making just three months on the road. The hand cart company were taken to the assembly hall, the floor was covered with straw and there was a nice warm fire for us. President Young asked the people to take and care for as many as they could. Bro. Samuel Mulliner took my father and step-mother to his home. My father died the next morning at five o'clock. I was so sick that they did not tell me about it for some weeks. My sister went with Bro. and sister Montague. She was very sick and her heels were badly frozen. Mr. and Mrs. Horne took me to their home, my toes were very badly frozen. I stayed with them for three weeks. . . . Bro. Mulliner came with a wheel-barrow, a quilt and a pillow and took me to his home where his wife cared for me. He hired a doctor but my feet seemed to get worse, then he changed Doctors and in three months my feet were healed, but I lost the first joint of three toes of each foot. There were several young men of our company who had their feet amputated to save their lives. . . . When I was sixteen years old I married.

We LOVE our Missionaries and are thankful for their service! For Mutual, we decided we would send the missionaries from our ward, as well as the full-time missionaries serving in our Stake, a little "Thank You" for all they do, and also to let them know we support and love them. Some of the YW have brothers on missions, so it was especially meaningful to them. I made this sign and printed it onto transfer paper and ironed it onto the pillowcases. We then had the girls write their favorite scriptural reference and their name on it as well as the Elder's favorite scriptural reference (just for filler, we wrote some extra scriptures as well and let the girls doodle a bit). All of the missionary mothers were more than happy to send it to them in their packages anyways, so it saved us on shipping. We asked the mom's ahead of time so they could prepare. For the Full-time missionaries in our Stake, we had a group of girls baking cookies while they weren't signing and at the end of the night, we folded the pillow cases, tied it in a ribbon, and took it to the missionaries with a plate full of hot cookies. Remember, as you write on these, you'll need to put a book or piece of cardboard between the case so the markers don't bleed through. We just used Sharpie markers, but know that they bleed, so it would have been helpful to use fabric markers instead. Click on the link to print out the "Return With Honor" Iron on Transfer. Note: it is backwards so that when you iron it on it will be the right way,

Leesburg Stake 2010 Young Women's Camp Theme: "A Virtuous Path Leading Back To Our Savior" The Young Women in the Leesburg Stake were welcomed to our BAREFOOT PICNIC Pre-Camp with little footprints on the floor which guided them to the following stations. Station One: Our Honoring Your Heritage CRAFT Check In. The Young Women this year at camp will have the chance to make this awesome family history craft put together by my close friend Sister Downer who is a family history nut. The girls were asked to bring a few pictures of their relatives or items that represented their family. Sister Downer scanned the original copies and returned them to the Young Women after the activity so they don't have to bring their nice items to camp where they might have a chance in getting ruined. This craft is going to be one they will never forget. Sister Downer is a missionary in the Family History Center and will also be speaking to the Young Women at camp this year. Can't wait to take pictures of the girls making these!!! Thanks for all of your hard work Sister Downer! Station Two: Welcome Table! The Young Women at the Welcome Table had the chance to say hello to their CRAZY CAMP DIRECTOR (Me!) and to put on their Pre-Camp Name Tag. As they headed to the REGISTRATION TABLE...they followed the footprints and some silly ants that were leading the way down the hall. Station Three: Registration Table! At the Registration Table the Young Women were greeted by our Stake Young Women's Presidency. Each received a great big smile and hug. Our Stake Leaders collected final paperwork and permission slips for horseback riding. Entering our VIRTUE ROOM: I have to tell you this room looked so darling the night prior to Pre-Camp. Unfortunately, the morning of Pre-Camp when I entered the gym all of the helium balloons had dropped to the floor. I was so bummed! We ended up quickly tying them to the chairs and my sister Amy ran off to pick up a dozen new ones. Oh well! Anyway, in the Virtue Room we started by showing a video by Sister Dalton called "Return To Virtue." After this video clip we had an opening prayer, sang our camp theme song, and the recited the Young Women's Theme. Following that portion of the program I had the chance to introduce all of our YCL'S for 2010. Then, the YCL'S introduced all of our leaders. We got everyone organized by camp level and then prepared ourselves to watch the video that was shown at this year's Young Women's General Conference Broadcast called "Be Strong: I Know Who I Am." The spirit was so strong in the room and the Young Women sat so quietly. After the video I pointed out a wall full of VIRTUE QUOTES that our YCL'S had researched and found. I found it interesting that not one of the quotes were the same. BREAKOUT SESSIONS: At this point we broke into groups via camp level into our BREAKOUT SESSIONS. Here's where they traveled to... Breakout Session - Camp Games & Our 21 Day Countdown Craft In this room the Young Women had the chance to listen to one of our YCL'S who had prepared a short message about our 21 Day Countdown to Camp. I posted this craft/countdown idea in an earlier post so be sure to go back and take a look. Then, the Young Women played some camp games that our YCL'S put together. There was everything from a game that they play called Ninja to hula hoop games, etc... I still need to figure out this Ninja Game. It totally looks like they are having way too good of a time playing it. A few of the leaders even jumped in. Prior to exiting this room the girls were able to assemble their camp countdown onto wooden blocks that one of our YCL'S painted and prepared for Pre-Camp. Breakout Session - Camp Levels & Camp First Aid Our camp nurse did a fabulous job instructing our Young Women on some of their camp level first aid requirements. They learned so much on Saturday. This took place in our Young Women's Room and our YCL'S and Camp Director's also had the chance to share a little bit about what to expect this year at camp. Breakout Session - Apple Pie & Promises This breakout session took place outside in the Florida Heat! The Young Women roasted apples over the fire and then dipped them into melted butter and cinnamon sugar. YUMMY! While doing this one of our YCL'S shared remarks about the Promises that our Heavenly Father gives to us and the Promises we make with Him. My husband is the High Councilor over the Young Women in our Stake so I have to thank him for spending the entire day out there by the hot coals with the girls and all of the other leaders that were outside the entire time too. Breakout Session - Flag Ceremonies & Camp Camp Music This year for the first time we have YCL'S that are working with the campers on Certification. They are also in charge of our flag ceremonies. We thought it would be nice to have the Young Women learn more about the American Flag and how to treat it. They learned how to do a proper flag ceremony and how to be respectful when one is being performed. Following this demonstration the Young Women and Leaders headed over to the shade to sign up for our Campfire Sing-A-Long's that will take place at camp and to practice some of the fun camp songs we'll be singing at camp. Our YCL'S did a great job teaching in both of these areas and again thanks to all who were outside in the HEAT for all four rotations. BAREFOOT PICNIC TIME!!! We concluded our Pre-Camp festivities with our BAREFOOT PICNIC. The campers came into the first overflow of the gym, took off their shoes, and enjoyed some time with each other. When I called out each camp level to see if they were present they all shouted with a BIG yes except for our YCL'S. The YCL'S were hiding from our younger campers out in the hallway preparing to come RAID THE PICNIC as ANTS. Each YCL had made their own ANT name tag, antennas, and were introduced one by one. Once all of our ANTS were inside the picnic area they sang their new ANT THEME SONG which they created for the ANT HILLS we'll be having at camp this year. The tune goes with the top 40 hit REPLAY. They sang really well and then ran out of the gym to gather their picnic food items that they drew on cardboard. One by one the ANTS RAIDED THE PICNIC. Our narrator took time to talk about each item the ANTS took from the picnic. Way too much fun! After the picnic raid was over the campers ate lunch which consisted of a small ham and cheese sandwich, a bag of chips, a cookie (my husband made these as a gift from him to the girls), and water to drink. The food was placed into a brown paper bag which was cut in half to make it look more like a mini picnic basket. I would like to personally thank all of our YCL'S and LEADERS for making Saturday a great day for all involved. Now it's time to get ready for CAMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Love You Girls! Sister Hawkins More pictures will be posted once I receive them from our YCL'S! If you would like the PDF files to any of the above...please comment here or email me at [email protected]. Please leave your email address so I can send them to you directly.

Handout:

We were in charge of our 2 ward combined YW/YM activity this week. We decided to do Angry Birds Live! We painted balls, took lots of boxe...

...battles that my mommy plans for me. hehe Some kids can sing about the stories their mom tells them, mine can sing about beating each other with foam swords! This is a waaaaaay after the fact post (this happened a year ago!), but due to popular demand, here are the details of the Stripling Warrior Family Home Evenings and Battle: At Education Week 2007, I took an AWESOME class taught by Richard Robins called RAISING AND PREPARING LATTER-DAY STRIPLING WARRIORS - PARENTING PRINCIPLES IN THE WAR CHAPTERS OF THE BOOK OF MORMON. This class totally changed how I read those chapters and inspired me to be a better mom and gospel teacher in my home. After Ed Week, my sweet friends always have an ed week lunch where we all share notes from the classes we went to. At this lunch we decided to implement this class together through some joint FHE's. Here's the invitation that went out (this thing has been on my fridge for a year, never mind the smudges!): You know the invitation rule of thirds? Only 1/3 of people invited will attend?! Ha! That is how I ended up with over 50 people crammed into my little house for our first meeting - yes, that was almost 100% attendance! Any of you who have been to my house or were stacked on top of someone else that night are cracking up at the thought. Anyway, the first night we talked about why this was important: From Ezra Taft Benson: "The Book of Mormon was written for us today ...God, who knows the end from the beginning, told Mormon what to include in his abridgment that we would need for our day. Therefore, if the Book of Mormon prophets "saw our day and chose those things which would be of greatest worth to us, is not that how we should study the Book of Mormon? We should constantly ask ourselves, "Why did the Lord inspire Mormon (or Mornoni or Alma) to include that in his record? What lesson can I learn from that to help me live in this day and age? In the Book of Mormon we find a pattern for preparing for the Second Coming ...The record of the Nephite history just prior to the Savior's visit reveals many parallels to our day as we anticipate the Savior's second coming." Yea, those war chapters you just breeze through? Guess what?! That was right before Christ came the first time! And that nation, on the brink of destruction is us - on the brink of spiritual destruction. And guess who saved them? A group of covenant keeping, prophet following, valiant, courageous, and obedient YOUTH. Who were taught by their mothers. Who knew their mothers did.not.doubt. And dads, you are totally not off the hook here - We are told 7 times that they were TAUGHT, 4 times it specifically says by mothers. Well, guess where the dads were? If you Stripling Warrior, were too young (younger than 7) to covenant in 80 BC to lay down your weapons, then you are, at the oldest, 23, but probably closer to 16. And your dad is most likely found in Alma 24:22 - willing to die rather than break a covenant with your Heavenly Father. So dads, you count! So our first night together focused on Alma 49-52- Fortifying. Each family had a pan of sand and a variety of sticks and building materials to read together and build and talk amongst themselves what heaps of earth and timbers and pickets and towers were for their family. And thus we find what I think is KEY to successfully studying these chapters. YOUR FAMILY IS DIFFERENT FROM MY FAMILY. I can't tell you what defenses you need, or what tools Satan is most likely to use against you - I can only do that for my family. So we all went home from our first night with suggestions for the next 6 weeks of FHE ON OUR OWN. The 6 suggestions were: 1. Alma 23 - Tell about Anti-Nephites/Lehites. Decide what needs to be buried in your family. Bury it! (We used paper swords that we wrote on and buried them in the backyard) 2. Search/Hunt your house for "weapons" Satan can use. Set family standards. 3. Alma 48 - Search house for signs of who your heroes are. Add/Replace with pictures of worthy heroes. What character traits are you looking for in heroes and friends? 4. Alma 43 - Decide what makes your armor and how you put it on daily. Build some armor! (Ours was made from cardboard and duct tape and we wrote the spiritual "stuff" on it) 5. Decide what weapons you have against Satan. Build some! 6. Alma 45 - Talk about raising your standards as a family. Make a Title of Liberty for your family. At the end of the 6 weeks, we met together again. We had potluck dinner and a BATTLE. We ended up finding foam swords at the dollar store that were PERFECT, so everyone had the same swords, but the armor was all different. We had a testimony meeting too and it was awesome! The kids still talk about the battle part, but I remember most that first night singing Armies of Helaman and feeling so overwhelmed by all these people wanting to strengthen our families together. It was so cool. Lots of battle pictures here. I do have more detailed notes from the class and I would be more than happy to email those to any of you. Just leave a comment. And in case I sound a little too *whacko* about that battle stuff for you - we're not strapping any bomb backpacks on the kids! It is serious stuff though - please read this: "There is another war that has gone on since before the world was created and which is likely to continue for a long time...That war, so bitter, so intense, has gone on and has never ceased. It is the war between truth and error, between agency and compulsion, between the followers of Christ and those who have denied Him...The war is waged across the world ..day in and day out ...in our own lives...in our homes, in our work, in our school associations; it is waged over questions of love and respect, of loyalty and fidelity, of obedience and integrity and we are all involved in it....a great eternal struggle that concerns the very souls of sons and daughters of God." Gordon B. Hinckley

Although the idea of "Girl on Fire" for a New Beginning theme isn't original I think the young women pulled it off brilliantly. One of our Laurels found the idea and did all the research for refreshment and decorating ideas. The rest of the work was delegated between the girls and leaders. I put the invitations together using the official movie poster fonts. The girls created fireball poofs to hang from the ceiling. And a welcome poster…. Our Beehive advisor created the dessert table and created labels for all the food using the font from the books. I was so excited to see she'd done that! Keeping with the color over black theme, each girl painted a value onto black poster board and explained how the value keeps her spiritual flame burning. We used all the appropriate labels for things such as: Values = Districts Girls Explaining the Values = Tributes One of our girls received her Young Woman in Excellence that night = Victor And the songs: The Spirit of God...like a fire is burning... and The Lord is My Light. Of course there were speakers, a skit, and some teaching involved so everyone got to do something. The skit was made up by the girls and was hilarious. The prompt was "Show us what Personal Progress is and how it works." So their skit included introducing PP to a classmate, carrying out a service project with her—raking leaves—and then going to a leader (played by a girl of course) to get it checked off in their books. We let the girls practice the skit a week beforehand—I'm glad because we got a lot of blank faces at first LOL. It was a great evening…the Stake YW Leaders were there and couldn't stop their praising. I LOVE that it was all headed up and started with one of the young women. I enjoy seeing what they want to do and the pleasure (and pride) on their faces when it all turns out. I'm sorry, I do not have a template of the invitation to share at this time. (I think I deleted it by accident ugh.) But here's a .png torch file. Click on it to open it full size, then right click to download it. Note, this is the official logo for the Young Women organization of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It has been modified to fit this theme.

Where the heck have I been?????? Well to tell you the truth up to my eyeballs in planning. Since I've been put in as YW president my time...