Released

Yesterday I handed off all my Young Women binders and information. It's a huge relief, but a little bittersweet at the same time.

I was released in every ward but my own on Sunday, so in some ways it doesn't feel final. But having the 32-section binder out of my care helps. :)

Girls Camp

I could not have asked for a better baby for our week at Girls Camp! She LOVED the trees, and everything there was to see! 

The fun begins.

The Young Women fun begins this weekend! We've had camp meetings, and been attending ward conferences and New Beginnings. But this weekend kicks of the programming that I am more responsible for (techinically I should be over more at ward conferences, but since this baby will come mid-conferences, my counselors are doing most of that work). And so the season of YW begins, with the YW General Broadcast, and a mother daughter activity this Saturday night as we spread sunshine to those who might need a little more in their lives by creating an Easter Card or two.

YW Leadership Training

I know you were all worried. How'd it go? Did the soup turn out? How was the bread? What about the actual training?

Given that I almost died when I taught YW a few weeks ago, you'd think I might die planning a stake dinner/training event. Where I have to do the training.

Oh contrar.

It all went off without a hitch.

Tiffany (My first counselor, AKA right hand lady) as always was a creative genius and did amazing things with flowers from the flower farm she works at, and did other amazing things I can't even begin to imagine with super simple scraps of fabric all sewn together and little flags she made with her six year old.

My second counselor and secretary, also incredible. It's so nice to know that I can delegate things out, and when we all show up together, it's going to great. Everyone does their part, and we all have really different strengths, but we all compliment each other.

So nice.

My biggest contribution (beyond the training) was mastering hard crusted bread. And I did. And since that was the only thing I needed to physically contribute, that is the only thing I actually took a picture of. But isn't it pretty?! I made six of those puppies.

Now only to survive speaking in stake conference on Sunday.

Berries

We've gone Berry-Crazy over here! One of my goals for Personal Progress goals has been to learn to can. (Remember how I work with the Young Women, I'm re-doing Personal Progress. It's so much fun. And Andrew pretty much loves it. Along with learning to can this week, I've been noticing all the nice things my family does for me and telling them how much I appreciate it.)


I went berry picking last week and picked up the last of the blueberries and raspberries for the season, and a whole lot of blackberries. On Sunday we made triple-berry pie. We've been eating them in our cereal and smoothies, and on Monday I canned 24 jars of jam.

To cover the crust so it doesn't burn, I've always tried to string along ridiculously narrow pieces of tin foil over the edge. After years of doing this, it hit me that I could simply cut a large circle in the piece of tin foil, and place the square over the pie. SO MUCH EASIER.

 The tired sous chef. 

Backpacking with the Young Women

Andrew and I took the fourth-year girls backpacking for a few days during Girls Camp. Not going to lie, we had a good time. :)

At the start. Have I mentioned that hiking in Maryland in June is kind of like hiking through the jungle? Not lying, grass/plants up to our armpits at times.

 Midway through. Everyone still seemed to be having a good time. 

I'm proud to say that EVERY one of those tin-foil dinners was done to perfection. Nothing burned, nothing was raw. This could be the first and last time that happens. Especially with that many dinners. 

Seriously, such a fun group of girls. 

Youth Conference Part Two

Tiffany continues to chronicle her creativity here.

Seriously, creative genius.

Youth Conference!

I could reblog, it, but my first counselor has blogged her version of our Youth Conference here. She is our creative director at all times. SERIOUSLY. She is Incredible!

Our theme this year was "Disconnect to Reconnect," encouraging the youth to disconnect from so many of their technilogical distractions, and figure out how they can reconnect with their families, friends, the Lord, and with themselves.

Probably, I'll leave the blogging to Tiff. (Thanks, Tiff!) I didn't take a single picture. I was in charge of the megaphone. She was in charge of the camera.

New Binder

I just got a new binder.

With 32 color-coded tabs.

That say things like, "Stake Youth Fall Activity" and "Regional Youth Dance Information."

Whoa.

Not an expert.

I was sustained as the Stake Young Women's President yesterday.

Talk about in over my head. I felt overwhelmed when I was asked to do this in June. But yesterday when it actually happened, I felt REALLY overwhelmed.

Today I was asked to talk to a group of Young Women this coming Wednesday night about "how to be a good wife."

I'm the wrong person to talk about this. Being a wife is hard. I don't think it is for everyone, but it's really hard for me. And before I got married, no one talked about how hard "wifing" is. Someone really should talk about it. Is that my job tomorrow? To talk about how hard it is?

I'm in WAY over my head. Doesn't it seem like someone with a little more "wife" experience should cover this topic?