Look Who Turned 4
Sage had a birthday. She turned 4!
This was her first real party, she had a blast, along with her many young friends.
I am the lamest party thrower, so I just invited the kids and had nothing else planned. Thankfully, my friend Lorraine stayed and became the party planner and saved the day!! The party would have totally bummed without her...
She lead the kids in Red light/Green light
How happy they looked...
They also played Duck Duck Goose
Afterward, the kids rested by eating some birthday cupcakes,
Wow, so easy, even I could whip them up!!
Opening the presents
The present admirer...
Happy birthday Sage! My life wouldn't been the same without you. Thanks for keeping me on my toes all day long...
Mormon Prom - The After Pictures
The theme the youth asked for was "A Night In Italy"
It has been a fun project. Below is the efforts of many talented people, so enjoy.
Entry Way
Look at the gondola !
Grass soften the edge of the stone walkway and stars hanging from above
Entering the Cultural Hall Door
Venice Scene
The Million Dollar Shutter
Double Arch and Half Wall
Check Out the grass!
Garden Trellis and Arch with Fountain
Do you see - An actual working fountain!!
Pizzeria
Brick walls
Check out the awning and the chef!
Job chart
Lay out of the gym and where everything goes
Picture area for photos
Stage with grand columns, look at the marbled effect on the columns!
It was a huge undertaking and now I am sleeping some again!! It was a wonderful experience for me.We had 300 kids showed up, everyone had a great time. It was the most successful dance the stake had EVER!!
From this experience, I think the hardest part was probably working without a committee, so I never know how many people I can get when I need a big crew to help me. But thankfully, I have some really dependable friends. Thank you, Thank you!!
My husband and kids also had 2 nights of chicken nuggets in the last week when I was gone all the time. I didn't think I saw my kids the last 2 Saturdays before the prom. But I am not complaining, I really had a lot of fun.
I was just so pleased that everything was a success. And I feel really proud for how everything turned out!
Mormon Prom
Our stake decided to take on a multi-stake Mormon Prom this year with a whopping budget of $3000! Yep, you've heard it right: Three Thousand Dollars!!
(Don't worry though, we've been careful so far, well under budget)
I have been involved in this project since...wow, it was before Christmas... I can't believe it has been that long. Equally, I can't believe all of it will be over in about 2 weeks...
I think the biggest highlight of this project for me are:
#1. I enjoy projects that can get me messy. So that means fun!
#2. It scared me to death, and I have a thing about challenges- that I always want to beat them. So that means rebellion!
I love both!
I love both!
Last Saturday, we spent the whole day there painting and building sets. It was a great day to just be there and working on something that I always love to do. I would have to say at the end of the day, when I finally sat down, I felt so relieved. So So relieved, seeing the concepts on paper coming together so beautifully. It was an amazing feeling. I have no words to describe it. But through it all, I came away feeling so grateful for the whole experience. I came to see how much God cares about his youth. And I came to understand if we put our best effort into something, he will make up all the difference...I can go on and on about this, if you would like Chaoyi's lengthy spiritual narration, please give me a call. My purpose for blogging about this is because my two girls have been pestering me about posting, and also just to put up some pictures to remember this moment by.
The theme of the prom is "A Night in Italy", these pictures are randomly posted, and not in any particular order. Thanks to the two most amazing brothers in our stake who are also carpenters by trade, the sets came out magnefincient. We will have bridges with water, a gondola with a gondolier, stone garden wall and arches, trellis with vines and a water fountain That Really Works! Everyone's favorite set and the most time consuming to paint is a set of cityscapes that makes Venice so famous. I don't know how to describe it, but it'a row of town homes that will have water under and a bridge that will sort of go across them... The RS room will be transformed into a pizzera with brick walls, and ltalian flag table cloths, banners, I hope it will be a riot.
I was talking to a friend today about serving in Primary, since that is my current calling. I was commenting how I will never "get out" of being a primary teacher all my life as in my patriacal blessing it states something about me teaching kids...And it seems in every ward I was in except for two, I get call to be a primary teacher, sooner or later. After the phone call, I was contemplating myself and my primary callings, and I thought of a few different positions in the RS that I also served in which were definitely emotionally and spiritually taxing. And I thought of all the songs I learned in primary as an adult because I was baptized later in life, how they have helped me so much as a mother to be able to sing along with my kids...
I do love it most of the time in Primary, I love how in primary, I feel a lot of love and not a lot of burden like some RS callings. At the beginning of this year, it was a bit of the struggle for me. But those kids crack me up and on some days, there is an abundance of Spirit in there. Why am I saying this? ... oh yeah, this prom was a nice change of scenery for me, and it was kind of liberating for me last Saturday to come to church and to work and talk with adults!! Hurray!
I always think of these two phrases when a calling gets hard for me, the first one is "Forget yourself and go to work." and the second "Many are called, but few are chosen."
They help shape me up. And I so need it - very frequently!
There is a new song this year in primary, which is becoming my favorite, it's called "I know my Savior loves me." I get teary eyed every time we sing that song in primary. It truly is song that combines the best of all the primary songs. I simply can't get enough of it.
Anyway, I didn't think this was going to be a wordy post, I am just here to post some pictures and write a few notes by each of them. But I guess with me, it's never just a few words...
Jade and Aspen, I will post some more "finished" pictures after the prom.
Oh, yeah, Jade and Aspen came and helped paint, they were troopers and worked really hard. They are great painters. Aspen did the stained glass window all by herself. (which was not part of the design, but Aspen probably thought my design was boring) The picture didn't do it justice. But it was a bang-up job!! Way to go, Aspen!
Note to myself: It was so fun trying to create different texture and tones of colors for the buildings. On one building, I was able to rub off the surface colors to reveal the color underneath, sort of creating the old peeling-paint look of the homes in Venice.
The youth who came had so much fun. I was so glad to see them show up. Thank you also to all the grown ups who came to help. I appreciate you sharing your time and talents!
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