Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Happy 17th Birthday to Joe

 Michael and Joseph

and

Happy 24th Birthday to Adam!

This morning I met the other Young Women leaders at the church at 9am to set up for tonight's New Beginnings.  James came down and made the punch for tonight before leaving for the valley.  He also stopped in Show Low at Center Tire and got two new tires for his truck.

Kaeli Nicoll is in charge of the Premortal Life room for tonight.

Randa was there to help her set up.  

When they were finished they came and helped me in the Earth Life room.

We all gathered in the Relief Society room to help Dianna set up the Celestial Kingdom room.

After we were finsihed I went in to town.  I made a deposit at the bank, shopped for a white blouse at Walmart, and picked up a pizza at Pappa John's on my way home.

At home I relaxed most of the afternoon until it was time to get ready to go to New Beginnings.

We all gathered in the north foyer of the church for the opening prayer and then we moved into the premortal room where Kaeli Nicoll talked about The Plan of Salvation.  

 The Plan of Salvation

Next we moved on to the Earth Life room where the girls explained the eight values and the symbols for each of the classes.  I read a letter from the First Presidency to the young women in the front of the Personal Progress manual.  The young women all recited the Young Women theme.  Alice Wilhelm led them.

Kaeli introduced the new Beehives, Alice Wilhelm, Heaven Lootans, and Khaya Westbrook,  and told a little about each one of them.  Dianna talked about the torch necklace and gave each of the new Beehives one and anyone else who had not yet received them. 

 The Relief Society room or Eternal Life was our last stop.  There was a large picture of Christ in the center of the room with a heart saying "Welcome Home."  The bishop welcomed us all to eternal life and tells the girls how happy our Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ are that they completed the Personal Progress goals, received their YW recognition, obeyed the commandments, and endure until the end.  The young women sing "Come Unto Christ."

Each heart in the background has the

name of a young woman on it.

Kilee, Shelly, Coty, Maddie, Kyah,

Jordyn, Kelly, Hope, Trenda, LeeAnn,

and Heaven is hiding behind LeeAnn.

For refreshments Sister Millie Scott made

a delicious cake and we also had James's

delicious punch!

One of the highlights for me was the fact that Hailey Lootans came.  I felt like when the girls sang "Come Unto Christ", 

they were singing to her.

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

I got up early and made two large batches of brownies for our New Beginnings this evening.  James is here today for a doctor's appointment with his cardiologist, Dr. Memon, and he is going to make his famous punch. 
We left for town around 10 as James's appointment is at 10:30.  Denise came over from the hospital and we made a trade.  She gave me back season 1 and 2 of Downton Abbey and I gave her season 3.  She says she loves it and can hardly wait to watch it although Dennis is a little jealous of her time watching it.
We did some other errands and had lunch at LaCasita.  I had the green chili chicken enchilada as recommended by Kaeli Nicoll and it was delicious!  I think James had it too.
We got stuck in the mud on our own road going home.  There was so much mud in the wheel well that the tire could not go around.

There was only a few hours before I had to be at the church for New Beginnings.  I hiked up to the house (cabin), got a crowbar and began digging the mud out.  Man that stuff is sticky.  Soon James was helping me and we finally got it out.  I am not sure I could have done it without James. 
We went down early to setup and make punch.  Shelly and Brother Applegate came shortly after we got there.  Here is a picture of the refreshment/handout table.

Sock cupcakes.

I guess my picture of the "value" brownies didn't turn out.  I had mini M&M's on each brownie which made the very colorful.  Also we had ice cream and homemade hot fudge sauce.  Yes, Janis Willis finally gave me her recipe!

Shelly was in charge of New Beginning and did an outstanding job.  The program she chose was Personal Progress Airlines.  We moved from room to room and visited four holy places: the home, the temple, the church, and ourselves.  It was a great evening!  And all the girls did a great job with their parts on the program.

James's punch was a big hit but we had lots left over.  He sent the leftovers home with the Applegate's.  Brother Applegate said it was the best punch on the face of the planet.