Amazing Race Party

Well, we had fun organizing and running another big birthday party for one of our girls.

She really wanted an Amazing Race themed party so that's what she got.

We split the guests into 4 teams of two and off they went.

 

We set up the gym with 12 different stops that had to be completed and signed off.

This one was a puzzle challenge where they had to finish a puzzle in a certain amount of time. 

This was challenging for some teams as they could not finish it in time.

  Counting down the seconds didn't really help, but made for great entertainment.

 

This was a minute to win it challenge where they had to get four pieces of pasta onto a single piece of spaghetti without using their hands.

 

This was a guess how many jelly beans in the jar game. ( Each station had a flag and a clue box with a clue with instructions inside.)  There was one team that was 2 jelly beans away from the correct number.  Truly AMAZING.

 

This station had the girls picking up mini marshmallows with chop sticks.  They could do it any way as long as they didn't skewer them.

There might have been some cheating on this one by some of the groups.

 

This was a memorization game where the girls had to run to one part of the gym look at the sequence and then run back to the table and replicate the order of the cards.  This was hard for those who didn't pay attention to small details, such as the suits of the cards. 

Very funny. 

 

The bean sort was truly the most challenging of the all the stations.  We poured out hundreds of beans into a big pile and the girls had to organized them into their type.  For some this challenge was rewarding and for others they wanted to poke their eyes out.

 

Finally done.

 

We did find this lovely message under one of the piles of beans as we were cleaning up. 

 It made me laugh.

 

This station was a game where they had to select a cup with cereal in it and eat the cereal to see if they could find the cup(s) with a smiley face at the bottom.

 

All the kids didn't mind if they didn't find it on the 1st or 2nd or for that matter 7th try.  We had 90 cups and only 10 of them had a smiley face.

Pretty good odds.

 

The dart station was one where they had to hit a bull's-eye OR other numbers to add up to 200.

The double bull's-eye.....unbelievable!!!

(ok it might have been tampered with)

 

There was a station where the girls had to taste and guess unknown baby food, apparently some tasted better than others.  Ha ha ha.

 

In one of the challenges the girls had to follow instructions on how to make a balloon dog.  At the end of the challenge some of the older kids created a zoo for all of the malformed animals and named them.

(Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.)

 

This station was another minute to win it game where they had to balance 5 dice on the end of a popsicle stick.

Great concentration girls.

 

After 12 gruelling stations (there was a paper airplane station too which I forgot to take pictures of, where they had to make, successfully fly and land onto the amazing race mat) 

these were our winners.

  I have to say they won because they were so good at the bean sort, which killed a lot of the teams.

 

I mean really look at those smiles as they sorted.

Overall a great afternoon of fun. 

Had wonderful helpers too that kept things moving smoothly, couldn't have done it without them.

 

 Happy Birthday sweetie, you are truly

AMAZING.

 

and

EVERYONE got a trophy filled with treats to take home,

 because that's how we roll here in

 Canada.

Winner, winner chicken dinner.

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A little bit of rock n' roll

Had such a fun night at the High Priest Social. 

We got to put on a 50's theme diner dinner (sat that 5x fast). 

Some of the young women were asked to come dressed up and serve at the dinner.

  So we found these cute matching outfits and they got busy.

 Everyone at a table got a menu that they filled out with what choices of food they wanted and the waitresses collected them and then hung them on the banner and yelled, "Order Up".  Then the kitchen staff filled the order and rang a bell for pick.

 

The decorations were so cute too. 

 With everything in black, white and red, 

 with balloons on each table and a giant cut-out of a record in the middle.

There were cut-out silhouette dancers and instruments and hula hoops on the wall as well.

We even had a special guest who might have had a large fan group, and it wasn't just the young girls who crowded the stage to hear him sing.

 Which started a dance party.

There was also a cut-out of an old car that you could get a photo with

Which the girls might have had a little too much fun with.

Sorry this one made me laugh. 

 This is why we don't let kids drive until they're 16.

Road rage anyone.

The Harley was also a great prop for pictures.

Over all a great night for everyone.

  I think these girls were awesome to give up a Friday night to help out with this event.

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Polar Express Christmas Party

Our ward this year put on a

 Polar Express party

 where the children, youth

 and some adults

 came dressed in their pyjamas to the church. 

 

 They were greeted by a

ticket master

 who punched their

golden tickets and then let them onto a train.

 

 The train ride took them to the North Pole.

They had to go past some pretty amazing scenery, but the trip wasn't too long.

 

 

 They then had to exit the train and follow the tracks to enter the north pole.

 

 

 They all got to choose a train and sat down for a turkey dinner and hot chocolate bar.

 

If they wanted to they could build a snowman and add it to the walls

 

Cute little snowmen

 (why is there a green one?)

 

 

We had a brief program where

 a couple of families danced to the

 hot chocolate song

and a young man sang the song believe from the movie

 and our

train conductor read a story about Santa and Jesus

 

  Santa visited and then we had a

 very special family

show up and we all sang silent night.

 

 

Santa handed out a swirly lollipop and a bell that said,

 

"the bell still rings for those who truly
believe"

 Hopefully it was a fun night for both the young and the old.

 I know it was for me and mine.

 

Merry Christmas!!

 

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Be-you-tiful Evening in Excellence

Had a great day with the young women

of our Stake at our

Evening in Excellence.

 

  We got to eat yummy food and see amazing projects that they've been working on.

We had chalkboards signs all around the gym with quotes about inner beauty

and the importance of how our

 Heavenly Father

looks at the inner not the outer beauty.

 

 

 I am always amazed at

 the projects that our young women are doing. 

 They are so wonderful and motivated

 to do what is good and right.

 

 

The food was delicious with 

soups and salads and then these

 gorgeous cheesecakes

 for dessert.

 

 

We set the tables simply with

pom poms and little glass vases.

 

 

Sometimes the simple things can be the most beautiful things.

 

 

 

I loved all the sayings

 



 

 but the one that has touched me the most was the one that said,

 

" If the world was blind, what would you look like?"

 

It has inspired me to make sure my

words and actions

are a true reflection of who I am.

 



 

I also talked with the young women about how we might have pinterest boards that have to do with our outer beauty ( like fashion or hair and makeup), but how many of us have a board that has to do with inner beauty.

 

I didn't have one myself, but I do now and I challenged each of them to start a board that would help them remember their importance to their Heavenly Father and to focus on the things that really matter.

Overall I think it was a great day. 

 

 I love serving in my calling with the youth,

they truly are

 amazing and inspiring

 young women.