May Misc

Weston and Savannah had their back-to-school night in May, so we got to see some of the things they've been working on.

I got to have lunch with my sister-in-law Carrie who was running a nearby race the next morning.  Alex and I got our temple visit in for May.  I made it back that afternoon for a bridal shower for one of my friend's daughters.  Savannah and I had a girls night while the boys were gone camping (or to Scotland). We had BLT's, sweet potato fries, rootbeer, and ice cream.  We watched Tuck Everlasting and Overboard. (The boys need to leave more often.)  

Weston and Owen went on a camp-out to a nearby beach and enjoyed sliding down the dunes.

The youth did a talent show for one of their activities this month. Owen sang a solo that he did for school choir recently.  "Knee Deep" (Zac Brown Band) was Owen's spring final at school.  He was chosen to sing it for the spring concert as well and did a great job.  A few of his friends joined in the song for choreography.  I don't have a copy of that yet - still waiting for them to send me the video.  Owen sang it for the youth talent show too, but he didn't have his friends to join in.  Owen's friend RJ participated in the talent show as well, singing two songs, along with playing the guitar.  He wrote one of the songs - very talented!  All of the youth did well and were very brave to get up there and perform in front of everyone. 

Savannah made sock puppets in her recent Activity Days.  She's been enjoying that, especially since one of her school friends has been going with her as well.  In young women's, I made several lemon and lavender hand soaps to give to the moms.  The girls made the paper lavender flowers and filled out a Mother's Day survey.  

I taught one of the YW lessons this month, on preparing for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.  I started out talking about planning a party and how that could be compared to preparing for the 2nd Coming.  First, you'd need a reason to celebrate, maybe a guest of honor, and then you might need to clean and decorate, gather supplies, and send out invitations. We talked about what would make a successful party (lots of friends there, good food, and lots of fun) and the things that could go wrong (people don't come, not enough food, rained out, people get hurt or sick, guests are bored or don't interact well).  The level of preparation determines whether you'll have a successful party and be prepared for possible things that could happen.  Thinking about the Second Coming and the Millennium, that's the "party".  The guest of honor is Jesus Christ.  We are the guests and we need to invite as many others as possible to attend.  The supplies, cleaning, and decorating are the things we need to do to prepare: read our scriptures, fill our testimony "oil in our lamps", prayer, and keeping the commandments.  Birthday parties usually have gifts, so I made some little gift boxes with bows.  The girls had to sit and look at those during the lesson, wondering what was inside.  Towards the end, I gave them each a box and let them open it.  However, there was nothing in the boxes.  I asked them what the empty boxes could represent.  They were empty because they are the guests bringing the gifts, so it's their responsibility to symbolically fill those boxes and bring gifts to the Savior.  What they give is up to them - maybe they are going to be more kind, more diligent, or stop bad habits or behaviors.  I found a quote that I loved:  "What we are is God's gift to us. What we become is our gift to God."  If we become more like the Savior, that is our gift to Him. Maybe when the girls see those empty boxes, they will be reminded of what they need to work on.  The girls were a little disappointed with the empty boxes, but I did have cupcakes tucked away that I surprised them with at the very end.  So they did walk out with a sweet treat!

The last couple of pictures are from Memorial Day.  Owen and some friends met at the beach to play volleyball, so Weston, Savannah, and I hung out at the beach as well.  It was pretty chilly though.  Savannah had friends over to play during the morning.  We made cookies, talked to Nathan, hung out at the beach, and went to a BBQ in the evening.  I was still "single-mom-ing" it, as Alex was still in Scotland with Jared.  (Weston is carrying around a metal detector at the beach.)