Faith in God Stake Activity...Be-You-Tiful You!

Last weekend I gave the Fresno Stake Primary Presidency a hand putting on the Faith In God Girls activity day.  I did a little decorating here and there and generally had a great time with all of the girls, little AND big ones!

 

Here are all of the beautiful little ladies

 

The poster I designed

 

The invite that was handed out to all of the girls

They had the theme selected, I think it's a great one don't you?  This is the T shirt I designed at their request. 

 

Yep, I got my sister involved.  Is anybody surprised?  Cupcakes by Cupcake Stef!

 

Anybody recognize these pennants?  I made them for my niece Ashley's wedding, they've gotten a lot of action over the last few years. 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks to all of the amazing instructors who participated, SO MANY great lessons were taught and the girls got a lot of great advice for navigating the world today. 

Pretty treats, good enough to eat!

I enjoy a good cookie bar every once in awhile...even better when it's a cookie bar full of yummy M&M's!  I love the color of the "M's", I love the taste of milk chocolate with the semi-sweet chips, and I like that they're square!

I wanted to drop off a treat to the lovely ladies I visit teach and I thought I'd dress them up a bit, since they had to be wrapped anyways.  Here's a little step by step on how I put them together...

Pretty as a picture!

Siblings

Jacob and Kiernan play together a lot.  I love it.

When they were younger I worried that without having a same sex sibling that they would be missing out on the kind of super-tight bond that I had with my sisters growing up.  I didn't really think that brothers and sisters did that.  I am happy to say I was wrong.

Those two spend hours together, annoying each other, playing with each other, watching movies together, talking to each other, helping each other...all of the things I had hoped they would have from a sibling!  I have repeatedly heard one of them tell the other "Love you sister/brother!"

I'm thinking about this right now because I have heard them giggling with each other in Kiernan's room for the last hour.  I'm not sure what is so funny, but apparently whatever it is is downright hilarious!  They have been bouncing on the bed, throwing things at each other and generally making a rukus that has been annoying me...up until it wasn't.  Then it made me smile.

I hope this bond sticks.  So far, over the last 10 years it has.  I suppose only time will tell.

The teenage years are coming and I am hopeful that during those inevitable times when they have something going on that they won't feel comfortable sharing with their parents, that they will still rely on each other.  I know my sisters and I did it, and it was a lifesaver many times over.

Shoes, cereal, and more...

After having lived with my in-laws for a few weeks (which was really more pleasant than I'm about to make it sound), I had a few realizations.  Not the least of which is...being a grown up really is okay.  Seriously.

While the occasional desire to curl up into fetal position and suck my thumb will hit during a bad day; like when your business fails, your child gets broken and you come down with pneumonia all at once, I can still accept that generally speaking. grown-up is good.  To prove my point I have created a list of the reasons why.  Feel free to steal them as needed:

1. Parking in the garage.  It is a royal blessing to have your car stay cooler/safer/ice-free and to not have to walk through the rain/snow/apocalyptic Fresno heat to get into it.  While we were teenagers mom and dad always got to park in the garage.  Guess who's the mom now!
2. Sugar cereal.  As I continue to divert my children from the joys breakfast induced sugar comas to start the day, I myself am not opposed to partaking of the occasional gritty bowl of mouth shredding deliciousness that is Froot Loops.  I'm an adult, I know EXACTLY what this stuff is doing to my internal organs.  I just don't care.
3. Buying candy at the check out counter.  Every time I went with my mom to the grocery store, I lived with the vain hope that she would one day take pity on me and notice how desperately I wanted one of those super tasty Hersheys chocolate bars staring at me right over the conveyor belt.  Now it's my money, my shopping trip, my cholesterol that is paying the bill, and when no one is around to see me it's MY candy bar. Any... Kind... I... Want.
4. Watching T.V.  While watching tv was allowed with the in-laws here, when the tv was on EvErYbOdY was watching it together.  All Of Us.  As an adult in my own home I cherish the time I have after the kids are in bed to sink myself in the guilty pleasures of prime time tv.  Vampire Diaries, Project Runway, Bones, New Girl, Big Bang Theory...Some are stupid, some are nerdy, some are gross, and some can really be inappropriate, and no one can say a thing about them.  My time, my decision, my guilty pleasure.
5. No P.E.  I'm sorry, but that alone is worth growing up for.  If you don't understand what I mean by this then you obviously weren't an awkward, overly tall, uncoordinated mess of a girl with no discernible athletic skills.  Even kickball was beyond my ability.
6. Shoe Shopping.  Enough said.

The ups and downs of life...and pretty dresses.

It's been awhile.

The fact that I am blogging means that things are changing for me.  In a good way I hope.

For 5 years now I have worked at a real live paying job while simultaneously working at a time eating, zombie creating, mom-reducing, money sucking small business.  The business was so small that not enough people came.  And now it is over.

I'd like to say I'm devastated.  I'm not.  I feel like that is wrong somehow?  After investing blood, sweat and tears into this endeavor for 5 long years you would think I'd be sadder to see it go.  I am sad to not be able to provide a much needed service in our area, and I'm sad that I won't be meeting more of the amazingly wonderful people that have come into my life through this business.  But that's all.  I am not sad that I'm no longer spending every Saturday in servitude, I am not sad that I'm killing my back and working until 9:00 at night, and I am definitely not sad that I am continuing to do these things while not earning a dime.

I did it for the love.  For the love of beautiful dresses, and of happy brides, and of being told I was a blessing to these girls and their families.  I wanted to help, I wanted to be an answer to somebody's prayers and I did my absolute best to achieve that.  Now however, it's time for me to try to be a blessing in my families lives.  It's been a long time since I have been able to do that, I'm not sure if I remember how.