Follow the Yellow Brick Road Enrichment

Our 3rd quarter Enrichment was this past Wednesday. It was such a fun evening! Our theme was becoming better Visiting Teachers. We decided to do a "Wizard of Oz" themed night and called it "Follow the Yellow Brick Road." When we advertised the activity, we didn't tell the girls that the evening was about visiting teaching. I knew that if they knew that's what it was about, turn out would be very low. So, we made these posters to advertise & told the girls that they would have to come to find out what it was all about...


It was a pretty labor-intensive activity. A few of my committee members & I even dressed up as various characters from the Wizard of Oz to add to the theme. Here's me as the Wicked Witch, Jenn Carlson as Glinda, & Alicia Hermosillo as Dorothy...


When the girls first got there, Dorothy welcomed them to her home state of Kansas. We had wagon wheels, tall milk jugs & other farm-looking things at the doorway as they walked in. Each table had a large mason jar with live sunflowers inside it as a centerpiece. Here's the room as people had just started to arrive...

For dinner, we had good ol' hometown food...barbecued pork sandwiches, potato chips, coleslaw, potato salad, etc. Then, after dinner, Dorothy explained what would be happening for the rest of the evening. She told the girls that shortly, a "tornado" would occur & they would find themselves in a new land where they would find a yellow brick road. If they followed the yellow brick road, they would learn how they could become better visiting teachers, using their BRAIN, HEART & COURAGE. You could seriously hear an audible moan as she said the words "visiting teaching." I'm SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad we didn't tell them it was about VT to begin with. Dorothy went on to explain that as they followed the yellow brick road, they would encounter obstacles, distractions & temptations...just as they do with visiting teaching in the real world. So, off they went down the yellow brick road. Here's a picture of it...

As they headed to their first class, I was there as the Wicked Witch to try to get them NOT to attend. I used normal excuses that people use for not visiting teaching. I told them they were too busy to go to the class, I told them that they didn't know the teacher very well so they just shouldn't go, etc. Glinda was there to tell them to ignore me because visiting teaching was a very important responsibility, etc. Anyway, the first class was taught by Ashley Pitcher. The title of her class was "Using your BRAIN to be a good visiting teacher." She basically talked about smart ways to go about visiting teaching (setting a specific day every month, how to use the lesson provided, etc.) We didn't want to make our teachers dress all the way up, so we just had hats for each of them to wear. Here's Ashley in her scarecrow hat...

From there, the girls went to the next class which was "Using your HEART to be a good visiting teacher." This class was taught by Trish Hart. She talked about how to develop Christlike love for the sisters you visit teach. Here she is in her tin man hat (which was a plastic funnel--since they don't make metal funnels anymore--that was spray painted silver and then scratched up a bit)...

From there, they went to their last class, "Using your COURAGE to be a good visiting teacher." This class was about being brave in various situations (coming out of your comfort zone, dealing with awkward situations like when a sister doesn't want visiting teachers, etc.) This class was taught by Christa Kelley. Here she is in her lion mane (a mop that had been dyed yellow with a crown on top)...

While the girls were in their classes, the enrichment committee was busy transforming the cultural hall from "Kansas" to "The Emerald City." We exchanged the white table cloths for green ones, exchanged the sunflower centerpieces for balloon bouquets, scattered M&Ms on each table, made a balloon rainbow over the dessert table, & placed various "Wizard of Oz" memorabilia around the room. It looked pretty awesome when all was said & done...

While in The Emerald City, our president gave a short little talk just summarizing the night & talking about the importance of visiting teaching. Then we ate dessert. When the girls left, they each got one of Glinda's wands to help remind them of the importance of visiting teaching. It was a jumbo pixie stick with a star attached to the top. Then, we tied on a quote about visiting teaching with some ribbon...

Oh, I should also mention that we had a child class during this enrichment & we called it "Munchkinland." Just thought I would throw that in there because I thought it was super cute!

It was such a great night! I don't think I've ever worked so hard on an enrichment before, but it was worth it! I need to give my committee members a HUGE shout out! They all worked their little butts off for this enrichment! Thank you, thank you, thank you to each and every one of them for everything they did! It wouldn't have happened without them & all the hours they put in to this! I have the best committee on the planet! It was such a successful night & I had sooooooooo many girls come up and say what a great time they had & that they got a lot of great ideas from the speakers! And, speaking of speakers, these three girls did a FABULOUS job...

Great job girls! Thank you again to our speakers & to my committee! It wouldn't have been so great without all your help & support! I have the best ward ever! --Lindsay

A Birthday/Labor Day Party

Aiden's birthday fell on Labor Day this year. So, we decided to have a bunch of family over for a Birthday/Labor Day Party. Here's a couple of kiddos who love their Poppy...


Here's our spread before we dug in...


The kids' table...

The adults' table. I still haven't figured out how the kids ended up with the nicer table...

After lunch, the kids played in the little pool...

And then did the slip-n-slide...

Cohen was really jealous of all the kids who were playing in the water. I was being lazy & didn't feel like putting him in his swimming suit. Well he decided that, swimsuit or not, he was going to get in on some of the water fun, so off he went...

Look how good he's standing all by himself lately...

The final result. By the way, he wasn't crying because he was cold...he was crying because I took him away from the water...

After all that fun in the sun, we headed back inside. Aiden & Ty got under a blanket to "warm up" after swimming. Here they are giving each other hugs...

And then it was time for presents...

Do you think he's excited, or what?

Then, it was on to cake...

And candles...

And then Connor read all the boys a story before everyone left...

It was a fun day! Happy birthday Aidenator! Thanks for being my little buddy! Aiden is known for being my "crazy kiddo," but I have to say that he is also my "sweet kiddo" too. He is always the one to make sure he gives me a hug and a kiss before I leave to go somewhere and he's constantly saying "I loves you!" (and yes, he always puts an "s" on the end of "love" and I don't know why...but it sure is cute.) I'm also starting to realize how smart he is! The kid knows all his colors, some of his letters & can count to almost 100 already! Happy birthday Aiden! I LOVES you! --Mom

A Party That is "More Than Meets the Eye"

Aiden's birthday is tomorrow (Labor Day), so we held a party with some of his friends yesterday to celebrate. Aiden wanted to have a Transformer Party & I was pretty happy with how it turned out.


When the kids first showed up, we colored some Transformer coloring pages for the first few minutes while we waited for the other kids to get there...


Once they were all there, we started with the games. First, we played a Transformer version of Pin the Tail on the Donkey. It was "Pin the Autobot Symbol on Bumblebee" or something like that...

After that, the rain stopped for long enough for us to get outside and do our "Obstacle Course." Mike set up an obstacle course throughout the backyard & he also made "the cube" (a.k.a. a box wrapped in tin foil). He told the kids that they had to get through the obstacle course as fast as they could in order to keep the cube away from Megatron. First, they had to ride this little tractor around the table...

Then, they had to bounce up and down on the bouncy ball three times...

Then, it was up the rock wall...

And down the slide...

Then through the tubes...

And, around the chairs...

And then they had to come back to the table and place the cube on top of it...

This was probably the kids favorite game. They wanted to keep doing the obstacle course over and over!

The next game was Autobots v. Decepticons. Each of the kids got a balloon tied to their ankle. Half were red; half were blue. Their balloon color told them whether they were an Autobot or a Decepticon (but now I can't remember which was which). Then, they had to try to pop the opposite teams balloons. It was a lot of fun...

After that, we did a pinata. You HAVE to do a pinata! But, when I was shopping for this party, I couldn't find a Transformers pinata. So, I ended up buying a generic one that had a flat side. We found a picture of Megatron online, blew it up really big, printed it off & then glued it to the flat side of the pinata. Here it is...

The kids thought it was pretty cool that they got to beat up Megatron...

And, when it finally broke (about 15 minutes later), there was candy for all...

Then, it was time for presents...

And then cake...

We put on our Transformers party hats, sang "Happy Birthday" & then Aiden blew out his candles...

Even Cohen got in on the party spirit by sporting a birthday hat...

The cake was actually pretty good! Smith's comes through again! I love that place! Their cakes always taste great...

It was a fun party! Happy birthday Aiden! I can't believe you are TRANSFORMING into a 4-year-old! --Mom

We're Going Green...But Not to Save the Planet

Yes, that's right folks, Mike & I are going green. Call us whatever name you want...environmentalist, conservationist, preservationist, greenies, tree huggers, etc...that's what we're becoming. But, we're not really doing it with the intent to "save the planet" and "stop the human-caused pandemic of global warming," we're actually doing it for very selfish reasons. Let me explain... Earlier this week, we bought this cute thing...

A 2010 Ford Fusion to replace our beloved 2001 Mitsubishi Galant. We have owned our Galant for almost 8 years now! We bought it in Lake Charles, Louisiana when we had been married for less than a year. It was the first major purchase we made together. There are so many good memories with that car. We brought both Connor & Aiden home from the hospital in it. And, it drove us from Lake Charles to Reno (over 2000 miles), and then from Reno to Salt Lake as we made major moves in our lives.

Over the past 5 1/2 years that we have lived in Utah, it has been our trustworthy commuter car...going back and forth to Salt Lake at least SEVEN times a week! It now has almost 170,000 miles on it! So, we decided it was time to finally let it retire.

We thought about doing the "Cash for Clunkers" program, but the Galant didn't qualify because the gas mileage was too good. Well, "Cash for Clunkers" ended last week, and when it did, car sales plummeted & dealers became desperate to keep selling cars. We took advantage of this desperation and bought our car at a killer deal! Yay!

Okay, so now for the part about how we're going green. We are converting our new car to run off of natural gas! It will be the first 2010 Natural Gas Fusion in the state of Utah and one of the first in the nation! The converter kits for them are still in the final testing phases and should be available sometime in the next month.

So, why would we do this? No, not to save the planet (sorry Barbara Boxer)...we are doing it for several very selfish reasons. First of all, MONEY. As I said earlier, we drive to Salt Lake at least SEVEN times a week in this car (that's about 500 miles a week.) As you can imagine, our gas budget is quite high! Well, natural gas only costs about $0.97 per gallon, instead of the $2.60 I paid for regular gas the other day. Obviously, it will save us a ton of money right there!

Second reason, TAX REBATES. Hey, if there's a way to get money back from Uncle Sam, I'll find it. It's like a game to me! Depending on what EPA criteria the new converter kit meets, we will either get a $5000 or $8000 rebate on our tax returns (that amount is both federal & state rebates combined.) If it qualifies for the $8000 in rebates, which most people think it will, it will almost pay for the entire converter kit, so we're getting it for basically pennies!

Third reason, we get one of these...

A CLEAN FUEL, CLEAN AIR LICENCE PLATE. Why is that so cool you ask? Well, there are lots of perks that come from having one of these plates. It allows us to drive in the HOV lane with only one person in the car (which will drastically cut down on Mike's commuting time since he drives home at rush hour) and it allows us to park for free at downtown meters (which cuts down on the amount of money I have to pay for parking when I go to work.)

Fourth reason, the money I use to fill up my car with natural gas will STAY RIGHT HERE IN UTAH. Most of the natural gas we use here in the Beehive State is produced right here! That means that my money will help out the local economy, instead the Middle East's economy. Sorry, but I'm sick of us giving them BILLIONS of dollars a year.

So, there you go. Those are the reasons that Mike & I are going green. You are welcome Pres. Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barbara Boxer & Rocky Anderson...although we're doing it for the green money, rather than a green planet! --Lindsay

Look Who FINALLY Lost a Tooth!!!

Well, Connor FINALLY lost his first tooth this past Sunday! Look at that new smile he's sporting...


Connor has been waiting for this day for a long time! Since he is almost seven-years-old now, he is one of the last of his friends to start losing teeth and it has been AGONIZING for him! I can not tell you how many times he has come to me and said, "Mom! I think my tooth is loose!" I would always try to wiggle the tooth that he said was loose, only to find it still firmly planted in his gums. Wishful thinking on his part, I guess. So, you can imagine our surprise a few weeks ago, when Mike tried to wiggle yet another "loose tooth" and it actually wiggled! We were all so excited about it!

Well, after church on Sunday, the tooth was just hanging by a thread. Mike & I both tried to yank on it, but neither of us could get a good grip on the slippery little thing. So, Mike got out his pliers! Connor wasn't so sure about that, but he trusted Mike and let him do it. The tooth popped right out with one little pull...


Connor was so stinkin' excited! He carried that tooth around with him for the rest of the day! That night, the tooth fairy paid him a visit. She was pretty good to him...

...probably too good to him. I guess the Tooth Fairy (and her husband) are both suckers for a cute toothless grin! --Lindsay