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Enrichment
As some of you know, I am the second councelor in the Relief Society (women's organization for my church). That means I am in charge of basically all meetings that happen among the women that don't take place on Sunday (along with several other responsibilities that don't really apply to this post, so they won't be explained...) Every now and then we have a fun get together on the second Thursday of the month called Enrichment Night. These have been both fun and stressful for the ones planning them (aka me and my enrichment leader and the enrichment committee.)
July 9th we had an enrichment night that I put together without the enrichment leader or the committee because it all had to do with the mini-groups that are run through the relief society. Mini-groups are exactly what they sound like, small clubs of women with similar interests. I have started up many mini-groups for our ward... 16 to be exact... and the women wanted to know more about them. We had a small table for each mini-group leader to set up a display for her mini-group. Some of the mini-groups are food storage, outdoor adventure, knitting, book club, sprouting, dessert night, ladies' night out, children's play group, etc. The leaders that showed up did an excellent job, but the ones that didn't really disappointed me, since only one lady told me she wouldn't be there that night and made sure I had something to display for her group. A fair number of ladies showed up and we had a good time just talking and seeing the different displays. I wish it would have been a bigger crowd with more displays, but it all turned out okay. And I am proud of myself since I really did put it together and advertise it all by myself.
Our latest Enrichment Night was a ploy to get the ladies to know and serve each other more. We did this last year and we all had such a wonderful time and got such wonderful compliments on it that the Relief Society president asked us to do it again. We call it a service auction. What happens is the ladies show up and get a paper with a list of things they need to have done to earn points. (Example: If you said your prayers before you went to bed, 10 points. If you fasted last fast Sunday, 20 points.) However many points you have total is the "money" that you have to bid on the items that have been donated by the ladies. I won some yard work from one lady and a fall decoration from another. I donated a large homemade pizza to auction and also a fleece baby carrier cover. It is so much fun just to see how you are doing with all the commandments of the Lord by seeing how many points you get, and then to see how excited people get about the thing you donated, and then getting really excited to bid on everyone else's donations. It's fun afterward also to get to know the people that you are instantly connected with through the auction. We invited the Young Women (the girls 12 to 18 years old in my church) this time and they loved it. I think they were a little surprised to see how rowdy the older ladies can get!! It's fun to see an 80 year old woman coming out of her chair because she's so excited to out bid the 20 year old woman next to her. :D It doesn't get much better than that. And the whole event is fairly easy to plan for the committee because you don't have to come up with a theme or decorations or the money for anything extravagant. It's good all around!! I am just really pumped about it since we just got done with it this last week.
July 9th we had an enrichment night that I put together without the enrichment leader or the committee because it all had to do with the mini-groups that are run through the relief society. Mini-groups are exactly what they sound like, small clubs of women with similar interests. I have started up many mini-groups for our ward... 16 to be exact... and the women wanted to know more about them. We had a small table for each mini-group leader to set up a display for her mini-group. Some of the mini-groups are food storage, outdoor adventure, knitting, book club, sprouting, dessert night, ladies' night out, children's play group, etc. The leaders that showed up did an excellent job, but the ones that didn't really disappointed me, since only one lady told me she wouldn't be there that night and made sure I had something to display for her group. A fair number of ladies showed up and we had a good time just talking and seeing the different displays. I wish it would have been a bigger crowd with more displays, but it all turned out okay. And I am proud of myself since I really did put it together and advertise it all by myself.
Our latest Enrichment Night was a ploy to get the ladies to know and serve each other more. We did this last year and we all had such a wonderful time and got such wonderful compliments on it that the Relief Society president asked us to do it again. We call it a service auction. What happens is the ladies show up and get a paper with a list of things they need to have done to earn points. (Example: If you said your prayers before you went to bed, 10 points. If you fasted last fast Sunday, 20 points.) However many points you have total is the "money" that you have to bid on the items that have been donated by the ladies. I won some yard work from one lady and a fall decoration from another. I donated a large homemade pizza to auction and also a fleece baby carrier cover. It is so much fun just to see how you are doing with all the commandments of the Lord by seeing how many points you get, and then to see how excited people get about the thing you donated, and then getting really excited to bid on everyone else's donations. It's fun afterward also to get to know the people that you are instantly connected with through the auction. We invited the Young Women (the girls 12 to 18 years old in my church) this time and they loved it. I think they were a little surprised to see how rowdy the older ladies can get!! It's fun to see an 80 year old woman coming out of her chair because she's so excited to out bid the 20 year old woman next to her. :D It doesn't get much better than that. And the whole event is fairly easy to plan for the committee because you don't have to come up with a theme or decorations or the money for anything extravagant. It's good all around!! I am just really pumped about it since we just got done with it this last week.
More Up-Date Blogging
So the next big event after the Relief Society Retreat was Father's Day on June 21st. Honestly, there isn't much to write. I made Jason a Father's Day CD and pampered him all day. We aren't doing any gifts this year for holidays and it's made it a very odd year, especially for the holidays you don't really decorate for, like mother's and father's day. Without decorations or gifts, it feels like just another day even if we try to make it special. Does that make me really shallow, that I want either decorations or gifts or both to make it feel like a holiday? Maybe it just makes me lucky that every day is as good as a holiday only without the decorations and gifts.
So on to the 4th of July. I usually love the fourth, but this year it was just aggravating! My back was out because the baby cried all night and didn't let me lay down at all. (I have back problems that I'm not sure all of you know about... anyway...) We went to the parade with my sis and dad and mom. My dad went early and got us good seats so that was good. Unfortunately I was in a terrible mood because I hadn't slept and I was sitting on a folding chair which really hurt and trying to lift my ornery son through the whole thing which hurt even more. We went home for a while and I had my dad try to realign my back all morning, which would help for about 30 minutes before the pain returned. We then went to a sidewalk sale thing in Provo and Jason got really ornery because he hates walking around at those things. It also took forever there. We were there all too long. We went home for a little bit then went to temple hill to watch the fireworks in the Stadium of Fire. (You can see them from all around.) We got there plenty early but Jason ran to the store to get a few things and it took him a really long time to get back due to traffic which was also aggravating. (My back is still KILLING me remember.) Seth had barely slept all day and wasn't sleeping at all at the fireworks. We forgot things to do while we waited for the fireworks to start, so that was kinda boring. Then people kept parking their cars in front of us and I finally went and told one guy to move his vehicle, which I think surprised everyone, including the guy in the vehicle. It then rained on us as we were walking to the van, which was way far away. So Jason took off to get the van to come pick us up, and didn't specify where he was going to pick us up at so we were lost more or less. Then the fireworks started again... YEP! we thought it was over and it was about half way through. So we tried to watch the other half but there were trees in the way where we were standing, but we didn't want to go somewhere else and become even more lost. Jason eventually found us and then the police couldn't figure out which way to send us and sent us INTO the dead end traffic at the stadium. We couldn't even turn around so my dad jumped out and tried to direct Jason to back up, but people kept walking right behind the van. That's when I hit my limit and jumped out also. I through my arms out and stopped a crowd so that Jason could move. I kept directing Jason to back up until he was about a foot from me and a little boy on a bicycle and his parents weren't very happy with me. To say the least, it took us a couple hours to drive the 15 min drive from BYU to our home in Springville. The whole time my back was killing me. It makes it impossible to move my head or my right arm without pain. We finally got home, got the baby down, and fell asleep. Thank goodness that day was over. Obviously my back still hurt the next few days, but at least I wasn't trying to act like it didn't to save a holiday.
So on to the 4th of July. I usually love the fourth, but this year it was just aggravating! My back was out because the baby cried all night and didn't let me lay down at all. (I have back problems that I'm not sure all of you know about... anyway...) We went to the parade with my sis and dad and mom. My dad went early and got us good seats so that was good. Unfortunately I was in a terrible mood because I hadn't slept and I was sitting on a folding chair which really hurt and trying to lift my ornery son through the whole thing which hurt even more. We went home for a while and I had my dad try to realign my back all morning, which would help for about 30 minutes before the pain returned. We then went to a sidewalk sale thing in Provo and Jason got really ornery because he hates walking around at those things. It also took forever there. We were there all too long. We went home for a little bit then went to temple hill to watch the fireworks in the Stadium of Fire. (You can see them from all around.) We got there plenty early but Jason ran to the store to get a few things and it took him a really long time to get back due to traffic which was also aggravating. (My back is still KILLING me remember.) Seth had barely slept all day and wasn't sleeping at all at the fireworks. We forgot things to do while we waited for the fireworks to start, so that was kinda boring. Then people kept parking their cars in front of us and I finally went and told one guy to move his vehicle, which I think surprised everyone, including the guy in the vehicle. It then rained on us as we were walking to the van, which was way far away. So Jason took off to get the van to come pick us up, and didn't specify where he was going to pick us up at so we were lost more or less. Then the fireworks started again... YEP! we thought it was over and it was about half way through. So we tried to watch the other half but there were trees in the way where we were standing, but we didn't want to go somewhere else and become even more lost. Jason eventually found us and then the police couldn't figure out which way to send us and sent us INTO the dead end traffic at the stadium. We couldn't even turn around so my dad jumped out and tried to direct Jason to back up, but people kept walking right behind the van. That's when I hit my limit and jumped out also. I through my arms out and stopped a crowd so that Jason could move. I kept directing Jason to back up until he was about a foot from me and a little boy on a bicycle and his parents weren't very happy with me. To say the least, it took us a couple hours to drive the 15 min drive from BYU to our home in Springville. The whole time my back was killing me. It makes it impossible to move my head or my right arm without pain. We finally got home, got the baby down, and fell asleep. Thank goodness that day was over. Obviously my back still hurt the next few days, but at least I wasn't trying to act like it didn't to save a holiday.
Relief Society Retreat
So you know how I said I would post about the "other" events that took place between the end of May and now? I'm finally doing it! It's going to take me a long while to catch up though, so be patient with me. But here's the first one:
Every year our Stake Relief Society (All the women of our church in this area) go up Hobblecreek Canyon to Jolley's Ranch and spend two days jam packed full of inspirational speakers, crafts, humanitarian aid projects, and food. Last year my mom came with me and this year my mom and sister-in-law, Holly, came with me. It's a blast to be up in Heavenly Father's creations surrounded by women you know and love. It's great to know that everyone is there for the same purpose. It's so much fun to discuss the talks given and to hear all the serious talks and the funny talks and the inspirational talks; Just to absorb all the light from all the people around you is refreshing. We didn't camp out over night like last year. (Yes, I was pregnant last year and camped out anyway, because I knew I wouldn't be able to this year. Call me crazy...) We did go up early the next morning though, so we were there both days. The talks that stand out most to me are these:
1) There was a talk with a man that really knew the scriptures. I think his topic was something along the lines of "Inner Beauty found in the Scriptures" and we did talk about that for most of it, but some of it was just questions from all of us which weren't all on topic because this guy just knows so much. You can bring up a random topic and ask him any question and he can quote you a scriptural reference (in any of the four scriptures, Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, or Pearl of Great Price) that has to do with that topic. It was so great to be able to drink from such a deep well of knowledge. One great thing about this guy is that he got to be so knowledgeable of the scriptures because he used to drink and do other not-so-good things until his life fell apart. Then he put it back together by studying the scriptures so much that he was just immersed in them. It's just such a triumphant story and now he is blessing so many lives with his knowledge.
2) There was an old man that had some wacky ideas about how I should raise my kids. He refused to answer any questions and blew off anyone that tried to get him to clarify what he was saying. He even made the one lady feel like her question wasn't relevant and that she was dumb for asking it. He spoke several times during the two days we were there but I only saw him once. One of my friends and I were talking in line for lunch though and she told me that she completely disagreed with almost everything he said, so I knew it would be an interesting talk when I went to it. I left his talk early, figuring that a good walk through nature would do me more good than his speech. It was so weird to have the spirit interrupted like that. Last year there wasn't one talk or speaker that I felt was just way off base like that, let alone one that insulted people. It's a long two days up there and you get so tired, so my mom and Holly just slept through it! :) That made me laugh.
3) Ranelle Wallace (author of The Burning Within) came and told a condensed version of her story and filled it with wonderful spiritual insight. It was funny and moving and she was easy to listen to.
She was living in California and her and her husband took a trip to Utah (Park City) to try and put their marriage back together. She had several warnings not to go on the trip and especially not to fly home, but she ignored them all and was in a TERRIBLE plane crash. I have the book if anyone wants to borrow it. It is such a great story about how she gets off the mountain she crashed in to, about her death and coming back to this world, and about her recovery afterward. What I found out about the story by listening to her speak was that, after everything that happened, her husband ended up leaving her anyway (this statement is so much more powerful and meaningful when you read the book)for a much younger woman and that she was diagnosed with cancer and found out the day that she was coming to speak to us that the cancer was finally gone. This woman has really been through it in this life, and yet she still has a huge smile on her face. That alone can teach us all something.
I love the way the Retreat is set up. There are several classes offered at the same time so that you can pick which speaker you want to see. It's only $10 and you get almost all your meals for Friday and Saturday, besides the wonderful speakers. I know that everybody that went with me received some sort of answer to prayer while up there. Really, if you can come next year, I would HIGHLY recommend it. Just let me know and I will invite you when it comes closer to having it again.
Every year our Stake Relief Society (All the women of our church in this area) go up Hobblecreek Canyon to Jolley's Ranch and spend two days jam packed full of inspirational speakers, crafts, humanitarian aid projects, and food. Last year my mom came with me and this year my mom and sister-in-law, Holly, came with me. It's a blast to be up in Heavenly Father's creations surrounded by women you know and love. It's great to know that everyone is there for the same purpose. It's so much fun to discuss the talks given and to hear all the serious talks and the funny talks and the inspirational talks; Just to absorb all the light from all the people around you is refreshing. We didn't camp out over night like last year. (Yes, I was pregnant last year and camped out anyway, because I knew I wouldn't be able to this year. Call me crazy...) We did go up early the next morning though, so we were there both days. The talks that stand out most to me are these:
1) There was a talk with a man that really knew the scriptures. I think his topic was something along the lines of "Inner Beauty found in the Scriptures" and we did talk about that for most of it, but some of it was just questions from all of us which weren't all on topic because this guy just knows so much. You can bring up a random topic and ask him any question and he can quote you a scriptural reference (in any of the four scriptures, Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, or Pearl of Great Price) that has to do with that topic. It was so great to be able to drink from such a deep well of knowledge. One great thing about this guy is that he got to be so knowledgeable of the scriptures because he used to drink and do other not-so-good things until his life fell apart. Then he put it back together by studying the scriptures so much that he was just immersed in them. It's just such a triumphant story and now he is blessing so many lives with his knowledge.
2) There was an old man that had some wacky ideas about how I should raise my kids. He refused to answer any questions and blew off anyone that tried to get him to clarify what he was saying. He even made the one lady feel like her question wasn't relevant and that she was dumb for asking it. He spoke several times during the two days we were there but I only saw him once. One of my friends and I were talking in line for lunch though and she told me that she completely disagreed with almost everything he said, so I knew it would be an interesting talk when I went to it. I left his talk early, figuring that a good walk through nature would do me more good than his speech. It was so weird to have the spirit interrupted like that. Last year there wasn't one talk or speaker that I felt was just way off base like that, let alone one that insulted people. It's a long two days up there and you get so tired, so my mom and Holly just slept through it! :) That made me laugh.
3) Ranelle Wallace (author of The Burning Within) came and told a condensed version of her story and filled it with wonderful spiritual insight. It was funny and moving and she was easy to listen to.
She was living in California and her and her husband took a trip to Utah (Park City) to try and put their marriage back together. She had several warnings not to go on the trip and especially not to fly home, but she ignored them all and was in a TERRIBLE plane crash. I have the book if anyone wants to borrow it. It is such a great story about how she gets off the mountain she crashed in to, about her death and coming back to this world, and about her recovery afterward. What I found out about the story by listening to her speak was that, after everything that happened, her husband ended up leaving her anyway (this statement is so much more powerful and meaningful when you read the book)for a much younger woman and that she was diagnosed with cancer and found out the day that she was coming to speak to us that the cancer was finally gone. This woman has really been through it in this life, and yet she still has a huge smile on her face. That alone can teach us all something.
I love the way the Retreat is set up. There are several classes offered at the same time so that you can pick which speaker you want to see. It's only $10 and you get almost all your meals for Friday and Saturday, besides the wonderful speakers. I know that everybody that went with me received some sort of answer to prayer while up there. Really, if you can come next year, I would HIGHLY recommend it. Just let me know and I will invite you when it comes closer to having it again.
Banana Bandit
So I gave Seth some banana chunks for breakfast and he ate them really well for a while. Unfortunately he thought he was done before I thought he should be done, so I left him in the high chair and told him to keep eating. I was eating my bowl of cereal and when I looked over, he was hiding the chunks of the banana in the seat of the high chair. He looked incredibly guilty when I caught him, then he laughed. I think he knew exactly what he was doing...
Fun things I won't post about individually that happened since my last update post (Memorial Day)...
1. Jason and I are scuba certified! We went through Scuba Ted's in Springville and love the people there. Yes, they're salesmen, but they are also incredibly nice and honest. Kinda expensive, but fun.
2. May 29th - My half brother, Aaron Jacob, came to Utah from Japan (where he's stationed with the Marines) and I was able to see him for the first time in many years. We had a good time catching up and Aaron was able to meet Jason and Seth, which was fun. Our schedules only lined up for dinner and going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ras, so our time was short, but I'm really glad we did it. It's nice to see that he's the same guy, way relaxed and fun to talk to.
3. June 2nd - Seth cut his first tooth! Lower left front...
4. June 8th - Seth cut his second tooth! lower right front...
5. June 13th - We toured the Oquirrh Mt. Temple with my fam. Way pretty and calming. It's skinny and tall, which is different than any other temple I've been in.
6. June 27th - We had a family bbq with my mom's side of the family. It was at my Uncle Jim's house and was way funner than I first anticipated. We had a really good time catching up with everyone.
7. June 28th - I sold my first baby carrier covers! I LOVED mine for Seth and now sell them on casecrafts.com which I will blog about one day...
8. June 28th to July 5th - My sis comes to stay with us just for fun, and it was! We took her to an orthodontist appointment and did 4th of July with her and my fam. (More on the 4th to come also...)
9. July 7th - I had a piano recital. Odd... I haven't had a recital for YEARS! I think I did pretty well. I played Minuet by Bach and The Clown by Kabelovsky and For Good from the Wicked Musical, which Jason sung with. He also did an amazing job. My ma and sis came to watch. Ma took pics, which I haven't gotten yet, but will post when I have them in my possession.
10. Seth turned 9 months! He's growing so so so fast. Dr's Measurments: Length is almost 29 inches which is 60% on the chart. Weight is almost 20 pounds which is 36% on the chart. Head Circumference is almost 48 centimeters which is 96% on the chart. Yep, he's got a Case head. :)
11. Pioneer day my sis was up with us again. My mom was going to Indiana because my bro and sis-in-law just had their second baby girl, and my dad works during the day, so we took in my 13 yr old sis for a week which included the 24th of July! We didn't do much, but we did go see some AMAZING fireworks in Mapleton. Really, they're better than you would expect from little Mapleton. Check them out next year! It's totally free, you just run around in a park before hand and listen to some local fiddle bands. It's pretty fun. It rained on us like crazy, but when it stopped we went back and got a good fireworks show. My sis was up for a week after that also, but that's another post...
Except for big things we would post separately about, that's it! We will get the actual exciting stories up soon hopefully. There really are some good stories to be told, but I will leave you in suspense for now.
2. May 29th - My half brother, Aaron Jacob, came to Utah from Japan (where he's stationed with the Marines) and I was able to see him for the first time in many years. We had a good time catching up and Aaron was able to meet Jason and Seth, which was fun. Our schedules only lined up for dinner and going to visit Grandma and Grandpa Ras, so our time was short, but I'm really glad we did it. It's nice to see that he's the same guy, way relaxed and fun to talk to.
3. June 2nd - Seth cut his first tooth! Lower left front...
4. June 8th - Seth cut his second tooth! lower right front...
5. June 13th - We toured the Oquirrh Mt. Temple with my fam. Way pretty and calming. It's skinny and tall, which is different than any other temple I've been in.
6. June 27th - We had a family bbq with my mom's side of the family. It was at my Uncle Jim's house and was way funner than I first anticipated. We had a really good time catching up with everyone.
7. June 28th - I sold my first baby carrier covers! I LOVED mine for Seth and now sell them on casecrafts.com which I will blog about one day...
8. June 28th to July 5th - My sis comes to stay with us just for fun, and it was! We took her to an orthodontist appointment and did 4th of July with her and my fam. (More on the 4th to come also...)
9. July 7th - I had a piano recital. Odd... I haven't had a recital for YEARS! I think I did pretty well. I played Minuet by Bach and The Clown by Kabelovsky and For Good from the Wicked Musical, which Jason sung with. He also did an amazing job. My ma and sis came to watch. Ma took pics, which I haven't gotten yet, but will post when I have them in my possession.
10. Seth turned 9 months! He's growing so so so fast. Dr's Measurments: Length is almost 29 inches which is 60% on the chart. Weight is almost 20 pounds which is 36% on the chart. Head Circumference is almost 48 centimeters which is 96% on the chart. Yep, he's got a Case head. :)
11. Pioneer day my sis was up with us again. My mom was going to Indiana because my bro and sis-in-law just had their second baby girl, and my dad works during the day, so we took in my 13 yr old sis for a week which included the 24th of July! We didn't do much, but we did go see some AMAZING fireworks in Mapleton. Really, they're better than you would expect from little Mapleton. Check them out next year! It's totally free, you just run around in a park before hand and listen to some local fiddle bands. It's pretty fun. It rained on us like crazy, but when it stopped we went back and got a good fireworks show. My sis was up for a week after that also, but that's another post...
Except for big things we would post separately about, that's it! We will get the actual exciting stories up soon hopefully. There really are some good stories to be told, but I will leave you in suspense for now.
Quote Board
We now have an online quote board. Check it out: Quote Board. We have a quote board at home and it keeps filling up with all of the random things that we and our friends say. So instead of deleting them permanently will the board fills up, they will end up on this site. You will be able to find a link at the top of our blog now that will lead to our pictures, which haven't been updated in a long time and our quote board. If you have any recommendations for the page then let me know. Maybe I can implement some of your good ideas.
