Daddy Daughter Date

Our Young Women’s activity this week was epic…Daddy Daughter Date! The girls and their dads all came to enjoy dinner, dancing, pictures, and lots and lots of laughing! It was such a fun night and all the girls looked totes adorbs.
This may be fuzzy, but it’s my favorite pic of the night. I was snapping away at them as they danced closer and closer towards me…Love it! 
Groovy, this night was outta sight!!

Yep, she’s old.

We went to high school orientation. For Dakota. Because she’s going to high school. Next year. Did you hear me? NEXT YEAR!!
Annie’s as shocked as I am.
Actually, I’m glad she’ll be with great friends at a great school. We know Alli will show her around. Koko has decided to do the IB program, which is a program that will allow her to earn her associate’s degree by the time she graduates from high school. I’m so proud of her, I know she’ll work hard and accomplish her goals. I’m so grateful for a wonderful school down the street! She had a great time with her friends at orientation, she’ll have a grand adventure!

New Beginnings!!

This is my first New Beginnings as a Young Women’s leader. It was awesome! Our dear President created a knock-off of the t.v. show “The Voice”.
We had our four judges: Adam Divine, Ceelo Mean, Christian Attributa, and Fake Shelton. Our girls, Seo, Koko, Kaitlyn, and Nikki played them, respectively. They were hilarious! Totally in character.
 
Our host, Pray Daily (Emily) kept things going. Each new Beehive was introduced by a current Young Women, then read a quote about the value they were representing. After they finished, the judges (some or all) turned around to give their advice. The new Beehive picked a team (the good guys, Christian and Adam) and joined right side.
We even stopped for this commercial  - take a look.
We continued until each of our 7 new Beehives was introduced! It’s a great group and includes our very own Emma!
We had a beautiful musical number, then heard from a sister in our ward who just got home from her mission in Russia.
Dakota and Nikki both earned several ribbons for their Personal Progress. Yay!
 
Bishop Brady wrapped things up, he is truly a great man, inspired, and close to our Savior. I feel very blessed to have him as our Bishop.

It was an amazing night! Welcome to Young Women’s Emma!!

Christmas Choir Concert

Once again, one of my favorite things of the season…watching my kids sing in their Christmas concert.  They are so cute! Koko and Emma are in different choirs, but sang a few songs together.  Emma’s choir sang some really fun songs, Koko’s choir had some great songs and some interesting choreography.  It was a very fun night!! Every time I go to these performances, I laugh at the Kiva Guy.  The speakers are his eyes and nose, the screen is his mouth.  He looks unimpressed.  Does anyone else see this? 

I’m the mom and I can brag if I want to…

In November, I got the lovely phone call that every parent at our school loves, “Your child has been selected as the Eagle of the Month, don’t tell them, it’s a surprise.  Please come on Monday to our presentation.”  Yay!!  This is Camri’s second time, and she’s in second grade.  I’m proud of this little ray of sunshine!! 
Her teachers, Sra. Abuchaibe and Mrs. Hamilton wrote:
Camri enjoys learning.  She is always trying her best and going the extra mile to help classmates be happy, and feel part of the group.  She is eager to learn Spanish and she promotes the learning environment by actively participating in class discussions and activities.  She is sweet and respectful to teachers and other students.  It is fun to have her in our classes.
That night, we went to Dakota’s piano recital.  She performed beautifully!  She has a gift of music, this one.  I love these recitals, and every time, I am blown away by these kids and their talent.  It doesn’t hurt that they have an amazing teacher…I love Cindy!

I’m a humbly proud of my wonderful kids!

Young Women’s

I am off on a new adventure.  Right before we went to Hawaii, I was released as the secretary in our ward Relief Society.  I absolutely loved working with Luanne, Louise, and Mikel.  We became very close, even though I was the new kid and came in after they had been together for a year.  I love the women in our ward and feel blessed to get to know them better, we really do have a great ward.  We knew this was coming, so getting released wasn’t the big surprise. 
The big surprise came when we got home from Hawaii and the bishop issued a new calling…1st counselor in Young Womens.  I was so excited!  My first thought was “GIRLS CAMP!! With Koko AND Emma!!”
I get to serve with the Mia Maids, which Dakota joined a couple weeks after I was called.  It’s been fun to be with her and the others girls, I really love this new assignment.  I haven’t been in Young Womens since I was one, so times have changed a bit. 
We were thrown into it quickly as we had about 3 weeks to plan and carry out Young Womens in Excellence.  It turned out beautifully, thanks to everyone’s efforts. I even sang a duet with Michelle, which I mostly did to show Koko that I could do hard things. It turned out okay, though.  I also made a slideshow of the girls over the year and how they stood in holy places…girls camp, temple, activities, etc.  The girls spoke about women through time that made an impact on them.  Koko tricked me by making me think she was going to talk about her recently released YW leaders.  She wrote a beautiful poem, and yes, I cried. 
It was a lovely evening, and I am looking forward to many more adventures with this group!

Here is her poem, I’m not quite sure how I deserve such a wonderful daughter as this!

Mom Poem

Tonight my job is to present,

A person that means a lot in my head,

The person I chose as you may know

Is my mother, Marci Joan.

 

She is amazing in word and deed,

Through God’s eyes is how she sees.

She is the most loving and caring mom

My nickname for her is the “bomb”.

 

She’s my best friend, she gave me life

She taught me to deal with problems and strife

She’s always there to lend me a hand,

When I’m with her in Holy Places I stand.

 

Most of all, she loves my dad,

Which makes me feel extremely glad.

They are the most perfect couple ever,

They will always be together, forever.

 

Me and Her, Her and I,

We always see eye to eye.

We are twins inside and out,

We even both like sourkraut!

 

I love my mom, my mom loves me.

She loves my dad and my whole family.

She is my hero from the very start,

She will always have a place deep in my heart.

 

In her I see the light of Christ.

And no thoughts of a heist.

She serves everyone in her midst,

Even though sometimes they make her moods twist.

 

I start loving her more every day,

And now I don’t even know what to say,

Mom, you are my hero!

Happy Birthday, you old lady.

Since Dakota’s birthday fell on our Ward Trunk-or-Treat night (again) and she insisted she wanted to go (again), we did presents the night before.
The kids all gave her fun stuff like a curling iron, blow dryer, hair styling products, and games.  I think she was happy…
     
The next morning, it was official.  My teeny-tiny baby is 14 years old.  What??
Look how cute she is with her breakfast in bed. 
Aaaaand, look how gorgeous she is…she cleans up real nice.
Dad was able to get away, so I checked her and Emma out of school and we went to Café Rio for lunch.  Sweet Dad picked up some dessert on the way, including some GF treats.  This stuff was goooo-oooood.
After school, we got ready for the big party.  Looking good, ‘Riz.
    

We saw some clever costumes…it’s not about the nail.  Ha, ha!!
 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4EDhdAHrOg
     
Since I’m a lucky lady and get to work with the Young Women now, I got to help out with some of the activities.  We had face painting, cake walk, bag decorating, fishing tank, and more.  It was really fun!
  
These guys crack me up.  Jenny is expecting a little boy and Jeff is expecting a little hamburger meal.  Hilarious!

Ella looked so cool. 
Koko and Tessa, Rizzo and Katniss…peas in a pod. 
Happy Birthday Koko Bear!!