Young Women in Excellence

Last week on Wednesday was our stake Young Women in Excellence. We've been doing them on a ward level, so this was a little different this year but very nice. Each ward was assigned a value to work on. Our ward had Choice and Accountability. The girls had been working on this for several months. They decided to "choose to follow their church leaders and dress modestly". Starting back before summer, they chose to follow the stakes new dress code for girls camp, and each made fun shorts to wear (in previous years it was the trend to wear boxer shorts over leggings) since the new rules stated that no underwear could be worn as outerwear. All the girls picked out fun material and at two sewing nights completed their shorts. It was soo fun to see them wearing them at camp! Another activity they did was to cut out modest styles out of catalogs and made a poster. They wrote thank you letters to stores that had modest clothing. They also took an evening and went to the mall and tried on clothes, creating modest styles. They also had a fashion show where they brought clothes they had fixed to be modest. Another mutual night they created fashions on a model with newspaper. Anyway, at the YW in Excellence, each ward had a display showing what they had done, and each had a turn to come to the front and share what they did. They gave out red hots in baggies with " Modest is Hottest " labels. For our presentation, the girls all came to the front, a couple of them talked about what they had done and learned, did a short modeling of outfits (Melissa modeled Jennifer's prom dress that was made out of 3 dresses), and they sang a song (they had asked me to help them stage this). It was called "A More Modest Girl" (sung to Little Mermaid's "Part of your World") Rachel Densley sang the main part with all the girls joining in a certain phrases, and ooing, and doing motions. They did a good job, and it was very well received.
Here are the words:

Look at these clothes, wow- aren’t they neat?
Wouldn’t you think that my wardrobe’s complete?
Wouldn’t you say I’m the girl,
The girl who has everything?
Look at these jewels, colors so bold.
How many earrings can one earlobe hold?
Look in my drawers and you’d think:
“Sure, she’s got everything”.
I’ve got short skirts and low necks a plenty,
I’ve got sleeveless prom dresses galore.
You want tank tops? You’ve got twenty!
But who cares, no big deal, I want more!
I want to dress more modest!
I want to be where the standards are high.
I want to go to the temple someday.
Walkin’ around in nice dresses with -
What’s the word? Sleeves!
Showin’ my skin I won’t get very far,
Length is required for sitting, bending,
Miniskirts won’t cover -
What’s the word? ME!
I’m at my best, modestly dressed,
And if you’re listening, you will have guessed. . .
Just like me - you’ll want to be . . . A More Modest Girl!

It was a very nice evening. It was great to see what all the girls in the different wards in our stake worked on and see their presentations and displays. What wonderful, beautiful, young women in our church!

Our counselor in the Stake Presidency spoke at the end. He shared with us what Elder Oaks had told the priesthood leaders when he came for the Youth Fireside about California's Prop 8. He said the prophet and apostles had all gone to the temple fasting and praying and knew that it was something they should support. This was the first mention that I had heard from our church leaders here in Oregon. He said that our temple has been told that there will be a demonstration. (It has been interesting to hear stories of goings on from my California family members.) Anyway Pres Goodfellow told the girls that we need to be steadfast and immovable, through these trouble times that we will be facing more than ever. It was a wonderful evening, and we ended by eating cake. Filling evening- both spiritual, and physical.

Marching Season is Now Over, Special Youth Fireside

Well Kevin and Jessica spent all day (8am-1am) Saturday, November 1st, at the Festival of Bands in Eugene held at the University of Oregon. They had a good time, and when we watched the video that was posted this morning they were cheering for themselves as they were very happy with their performance. They placed 4th in their division (AA) in Preliminary Competition, and 11th place in Finals with a score of 82.70. There were 31 bands that competed.
So now what? Winter percussion starts tomorrow!

U OF O FESTIVAL OF BANDS from Westview Band & Performance Ens on Vimeo.

Saturday night was also a special night for our other 3 children. There was a Youth Fireside for 3 stakes in our area. Kevin and Jessica were very sad that they couldn't attend, but Melissa, Rachel, and Jennifer (since she is still 18 she was able to slip in) went. What made it so special? Elder Dallin Oaks came! Our ward youth went an hour early and were able to sit in the benches of the chapel (any adults that came had to sit in "outer darkness" in another room so the youth could all sit in the chapel). Melissa, Rachel, and Jennifer just bounced in the front door afterwards. They were so excited because they got to shake his hand! Rachel went on and on about how her hand touched and apostle! It was so heart warming for them to be so excited about this experience. They all wrote in the journals about the evening. Jennifer promised Jessica that she would take excellent notes so she could share it with her. I am looking forward to hearing their report this evening at FHE!

Halloween Fun

Trick or Treat!
Halloween was a little different this year. The kids were off from school because of teacher's workday, and they were all off doing their own thing. Kevin and Jessica were at band practice- 9-3, then Jessica went to piano lessons then a party, and Kevin hung out at the Smith's house. Rachel went to a party from 12-5, Jennifer worked 5-10pm, Melissa went to a party and trick or treated , and Brian had a Halloween lunch at work, and attended a farewell party for dinner, then took Rachel trick or treating. I made pumpkin cheese bread (yum)- it actually took all day. I started at 10am, but didn't get it in the oven until after 5 because of all the driving kids around, picking up, and helping with costumes etc. The house did smell yummy though. When things settled down and the house was empty, I cooked myself a pot pie in the microwave for my Halloween feast and answered the door and handed out candy. We had a fun visit with Lizzy, Robert, and Eve. Little Eve wore Jennifer's clown costume and looked so cute!

Melissa dressed up in her flapper dress that we had put together for a murder mystery party she went to as Violet. We pulled her hair back in a 20's type roll. Rachel decided the night before the school dress up that she wanted to dress like her Gaia avatar with a pumpkin Barret. So I finished sewing up this pumpkin attached to a head band for her to wear. At first I had it to the side like her pictures, but the weight of the pumpkin made it fall off- so we quickly re attached it to the top of her head. She walked very straight and erect, but looked very stylish with her pumpkin head.