A Little YW Help

Ok so here is the beginning of me racking all of your brains for good ideas. I know you all have great ideas so please please send them my way. Basiclly here is what I need 2 things:
1. I'm giving a little 15-20 minute motivational spotlight for Personal Progress on the 3rd Wednesday this month. Basically they haven't had anyone in there keeping track of what was going on with PP and the girls haven't really had anyone getting them excited to do it. So my purpose on Wednesday is to let them know that we are getting refocused and starting the school year off with getting into PP. I need to get them excited and motivated but also get them to catch the vision of what PP is all about and why it's important. Plus if you have any ideas on some cute handouts to go along with the presentation...send those ideas my way too.
2. I'm in charge of the activity every 5th Wednesday which comes to about once a quarter. This month is Knowledge and I think we're going to focus on accomplishing something within that value. Some of the things "experiences" they can do is
-learn to conduct 2 of their favorite hymns and do it in class, FHE, church, or seminary
-look a gospel topic that interests them and write a 5 minute talk and give it in church, class, or FHE
-look for talents they possess and talents they would like to achieve and learn to do one of those talents
-learn a home arts skill
-find out about a career that interests them and then find someone that does that specific career and talk to them about what they do, schooling, service to society, etc.
-anything else that has to do with learning something new and implementing it in their life

So that's the kind of things that they're geared up for so what kind of fun and fufilling acitivity would be a good idea to do for about hour or 1 1/2 hours. Send me some really really good ideas, no pressure.

Vacation Day 7

Our very last day in paradise was a great one. We decided to just take it easy, sleep in, have a late breakfast, and spend the rest of the day doing whatever we wanted at the resort. I found a comfy chair and a sunny spot to lay out all day. Ryan went out on the catamaran for awhile, snorkeled, and swam. We went out for the buffet for dinner and then took some time in the evening to just sit on the beach and start gearing up for our return home. So as you can tell, we had a wonderful time on our trip, but I was so glad to be home. I have to be honest and say that I was really worried that I wouldn't miss Ethan at all and never want to come back. I had been having a hard time right before we left. I was feeling really burnt out, overtired, my attitude stunk, my patience was at an all time low, and I really wasn't loving motherhood. Plus, to think that I would eventually have another kid just scared me to death because if I felt this bad with just one, what would be like with 2?! So this trip really helped me realize that I am a good mom, I love Ethan to pieces and can't live without him, life is ever changing and I just need to enjoy the stage I'm in, and I need to not feel guilty about taking time for myself. This trip was a great movtivator and it changed my perspective for the better. I just hope this perspective change can help get me through the hard times of motherhood.

Vacation Day 6

Wednesday was shopping day! It was kind of an overcast day so it was perfect to be out and about in the markets and in the malls shopping. Martin's partner picked us up and drove us over to the flea market in down town Cancun. Martin has a contract to bring tourist to this specific store so they have great prices and they even gave us an extra discount since we were friends of Martin. They have great pieces of real silver jewelry which I picked up for myself, sombreros, maracas, and other typical Mexican souvenirs. Here is a picture of one of our friends that we found at the market.
After we did a lot of shopping there we dared to face the real market. You definitely have to barter and walk away at times, but it was really fun. My Spanish really came in handy and I was quite surprised how much I could speak and understand. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school and then I used it when I worked in L&D sometimes but it had been awhile. I picked up 2 really cute ceramic bowls, one big one for chips and one small one for salsa and we got some other fun stuff for our families. After we finished up at the market we headed to the Americanized mall over by our hotel. The prices were way too expensive and we could have found the same exact stuff so much cheaper in the states so we just had fun looking. I tried the whole trip to find Harry Potter since we left the day before it came out, but there was not a bookstore in all of Cancun. I had to wait a whole week! The other sad thing was that I finished all my beach reading that I brought within 3 days! I never thought I could read that fast, but I was basing my judgments on "mommy time" not "vacation time." But at last, I have Harry Potter and started on a few chapters. Anyway...back to vacation, after we went shopping we spent some time on the beach and had a great dinner. A fun day!

New Calling

Sorry to interrupt the great vacation journaling, but I just got a new calling today. It was quite a surprise since we've only been in the ward for 5 months and 3 of those months I have been the Relief Society pianist so I wasn't expecting a change quite yet. Well, they called me to be the new Young Womens secretary and personal progress leader. I have to say I am very excited to work in Young Womens. I've always loved it and the girls are so fun to be with. If you guys have any motivational ways to get girls to do personal progress then pass them my way. I can use all the help I can get.

Cancun Day 5

On Tuesday we went on a snorkeling tour at Porto Morelos called "Reef Exploration." They took us out on a boat and then a guide swam us around the corral reefs and showed us all sorts of underwater wildlife. We saw sea turtles, sting rays, all sorts of fish, lobters, eels, sea cucmbers, and lots of coral reefs. The guide would even pick up a few of the lobters or sea cucmbers and let us touch them. We did 2 dives and it took about 2 hours and then they brought us in our a traditional Mexican lunch. Unfortunately my camera was still not working while we were there so I couldn't get any good pictures, but once we got back it started working. We went out to the Japanese restaurant at our resort and had all sorts of sushi and teriakyi dishes. Yummy. Here are some pictures of the awesome sunset that we watched during dinner.

Cancun Day 4

Day 4 was Monday and it started really early. Martin picked us up around 7 and drove us 2 hours to Chichun Itza, the ruins of a great Mayan civilization. Martin arranged for us to have a tour in English by one of his favorite tour guides, Fernando. Chichun Itza was incredible!
Since we got there early it wasn't too hot and it wasn't too crowded. By the time we left the place was completely packed. Fernando was actually of Mayan decent and spoke their language. He was very knowledgeable about all the archeology facts and even thing that aren't even in the history books. He had all sorts of additional pictures for us to see of skeletal remains and artifacts that were found at Chichun Itza. This picture is a picture of Choc Mool and our tour guide, Fernando. This may be really gross, so if you get squeamish, don't read on. The Mayan people did human sacrifice and when they did, they would lay them on an alter and break their back. By breaking their back it would paralyze them, a so called form of anesthesia I guess. Then while the person was still alive, they would cut out the persons heart and place it on a plate on Choc Mool and offer it to the gods. Gross, I know. Back in high school my Spanish teacher had a little Choc Mool statue that she used to pass out treats on his special plate. Very funny, Senora Lyons!
This is a picture of a warrior with another man's head in his hand. It's after a game of Pok ta Pok, their ancient game of war. They have a huge arena that warriors would play with a 7 pound ball made from the sap of a rubber type tree. Then they'd try to heave it through a small hole up on a wall by only using their feet, elbows, chest, etc. Once someone makes a goal then someone is beheaded. They're not sure if it's the winning or losing captain, but one of them dies.

Well, after we got through the Pok ta Pok arena we were 3/4 of the way done and that is when the jungle rains came through. We were completely soaked and decided to finish up the tour in the rain since we were already wet. There is nothing I hate more than squishy wet tennis shoes and that's what I had the rest of the day. Unfortunately my camera got wet even though it was buried in my bag and it wasn't working for 2 days so I don't have any pictures for the next few days.

After Chichun Itza, Martin took us to a town that was founded by the Spanish Conquistadors. It looks like a typical Spanish Colonial town. We ate at an awesome Mexican restaurant there, oh my goodness! If only people could make meat like that in the states! I so wish I could have had a little cooking lesson.

We got home from our adventures around 5 in the evening and I totally wanted a nice warm shower and some clean clothes and a small nap. I ended up having to wake Ryan up at 7 so he could sleep through the night so we tried a new restaurant at the resort and called it a night.

Vacation Day 3

Day 3 was Sunday so we decided to take it easy for the day. We were going to have Martin take us to church, but there wasn't one in English and he had to run a bus somewhere so he couldn't take us. So we just had a relaxing day. I spent a lot of my time reading and doing my cross stitch. Here is a picture of our room, I was pleasantly surprised how nice it was.
They had a fridge full of free beverages that they refilled daily, great spa lotions and potions to use, and a turn down service that put chocolate mints on your pillow and turned on relaxing music in evening. We had a hammock out on our balcony and our balcony overlooked a lagoon full of dolphins.
You could pay to go swim with the dolphins if you wanted. I just enjoyed seeing them everyday.
Here is a picture of part of the resort. The beach is off behind those little grass hut looking things.
Ryan didn't like that the water was pretty shallow and it didn't have big waves. I didn't mind it a bit since I could just sit in the water and stay cool. They even had little rafts that you could lay on in the water and just tan while you float around. So that was day 3, a day of relaxation.

Vacation Day 2

Day 2
On day 2 we started out with the breakfast buffet (we had it everyday) and then went straight out to the beach. I laid out and swam and Ryan went on a catamaran boat, a kayaking tour, and snorkeled (all of the above were provided by the resort for free).
They had waiters come by and bring you whatever kind of drink you wanted so I sipped pina coladas and mango daquaris until they were coming out of my ears (they were virgin of course). This was the view from my chair. I had a chair in the sun and a chair in the shade so I wouldn't burn the living daylights out of my skin.
After a long day at the beach we met up with Martin again and he took us to see his house and meet his family. Martin has 5 kids and some of them know some English so with my little bit of Spanish and their little bit of English we tried to communicate. Luckily Martin translated for us when we couldn't understand.

Martin took us to a great authentic Mexican restraunt in downtown Cancun and we bought them all dinner. They had a mariachi band walk around and they'd sing you a song for money so we had them sing us a song and Ryan had that song in his head for the rest of the trip. Haha.. I have a video of the song so I'll post that one here when I get a chance. After dinner we walked around a souvenir type mall and then we took them to ice cream. It was quite a fun-filled day!

Vacation Day 1

Day 1
Our plane left at 9:30 am so we had a very early start on the day. We drove down to Ry's parents and switched over the car seat and then his mom dropped us off at the airport. Ethan was not too happy when I shut the car door and he knew he wasn't coming. Cheryl quickly distracted him and he did really well while we were gone. Our flight was only 2 1/2 hours and they even served a sandwich (free). Since when has that happened? We got to Cancun around 12:30 and we had our transportation all reserved through our Travelocity reservations so we didn't have to get a taxi. We checked in to our hotel and had to wait for our room to be finished. We stayed at the Dreams Resort and Spa which is an all-inclusive resort. I think that is definitely the way to go when you're going to Mexico.

We got to our room, took a nap, and then checked out one of the restaurants at our resort. It was a steakhouse that overlooked the beach. Check out the view!

After dinner we met up with our family friend, Martin (pronounced Mar-teen). He runs a tour guide business so he knew exactly where we should go for our trip excursions. He drove us all around Cancun and showed us all the different shopping areas. We set up a little schedule of what we wanted to do during the week and he arranged it all for us. So awesome!

We're Back From Cancun!

Hey everyone! We are finally back! The vacation was great, but I was ready to come home. We figured out that 7 days away from Ethan was too long to be away so if we ever get the chance to do this again it will only be a 4-5 day deal. It felt like the vacation that would never end since I wanted to see Ethan so bad. Ry's mom picked us up from the airport yesterday evening and Ethan was happy to see us, but he acted really shy since he was a little tired. It took him a little time to warm up to us, but once we got him home and got him a little dinner, he was happy as can be. We got home to a house that was hotter than hades! We had to call the A/C guy to come take a look. Luckily he came within an hour of us calling and it was just a blown fuse. He was here less then 20 minutes, but $105.00 later...we had a cool house. UGH! I started a million loads of laundry, thank goodness for a huge front loader washing machine. It only took 4 loads to get it all done. My parents were driving home from Branson so they stopped by to see Ethan since my mom is headed out to Utah tomorrow and she had to come see her boy. I even had a chance to go to the grocery store at 9 at night so we're well stocked. Oh, and my garden looks incredible! Toni (our cousin) watered it for us and I swear my tomato plant has turned into a tomato tree. Not even joking, it is taller than me (I'm 5'5"). Thanks Toni! So are you guys ready for my vacation journaling and pictures? I hope you are, I have a lot to tell.

My Little Model

Here are some pictures that my cousin Toni took of Ethan the other day. I love her style and Ethan is so cute! I swear I could just eat him up. Sorry, I'm just a little gushy since I'm going to be leaving the E-man for a week. That's right, a week! Ry and I are headed out of the country for a little R&R and I'm so excited and so nervous. I've only left E overnight twice, once for girls' camp (Ry was with him) and the other time my parents took him just for fun. So we'll see how it goes. Ethan will be staying with Grandma Cheryl, bless her, bless her, bless her. She has made this whole trip totally possible and has put me at ease about leaving E. Right now I'm knee deep in laundry, suitcases, and travel stuff. I'm trying to pack all of us today since Ry will be pulling an all nighter at work before he leaves. So I'm signing off the blog for a week and I'm headed to some fun in the sun!

Cute Craft Idea

I saw this craft on a blog that I found from blog surfing. I thought it looked like fun so I decided to make some hair elastics and maganets for my fridge. Thanks to the wonderful fabric scraps from Aunt Suzy, I was able to put these together last night. I only bought a few button covers from Hobby Lobby yesterday since I didn't know how they'd turn out, but I think it was quite a success and very simple to do. I have a feeling I will be paying Hobby Lobby another visit very soon.

Funny Boy

Currently I am serving as the Relief Society Pianist in our ward and the Chorister that works with me wanted to choose songs together for the upcoming months. So she came over with her two kids. While they were here Ethan dumped out all of the toys from the red bin, pushed it into the living room, and then parked it in front of the TV to watch a movie. There's nothing better than relaxing in a big red toy tub on a hot afternoon.

Movies

I went with Kaitlyn last night to see the new Harry Potter movie. The last time I went to the movies was in California when Ethan was about 6 months old and I took him to "Baby's Day Out." Basically they had a theater reserved for moms with babies so they could watch real movies and not feel bad if you're baby cried or you had to breastfeed in the middle of the movie. So yes, that was the last time I went to the movies...over a year ago. I wouldn't say I'm a Harry Potter fanatic, but I do like the books and movies so I was excited for the movie to come out and I'm a little sad that the last book is coming out the day after we leave for vacation. I was hoping to read it while I was out on the beach, I guess I'll just have to wait. I got tickets early and picked up some yummy treats at the store so we were garunteed a good movie and good snacks. We ended up getting a front parking spot and the best seats in the house. You know, the seats with railing in front so you can put you're feet up. The movie was good, but Harry Potter movies have gotten quite scary though. I would definitely not take a child to it unless you want them sleeping with you for a really long time. I guess that's why it's PG-13. I didn't get home until 12:30 am so everything was dark in our house so I was trying to be quiet and not turn on any lights. Well, after watching a bunch of wizards and weird creatures pop out of every dark corner all the time, I was a little jumpy. Anyway...the movie was great, the company was fun, and I got out for the night...nothing better!

Diaper Bag Prototype

I saw this really cute thing at a baby botique the other day. It's a bag that holds 2-3 diapers and a package of travel wipes. It's great to have so you're diapers don't get scrunched in your diaper bag or purse. It's really convenient to have everything in one little bag so you can just pull it out and go. Plus, the bags come in all sorts of really cute fabrics so it makes it cute to carry around. So I bought the bag and then took it to my mom since she is the master seamstress of the world. She totally made a great pattern and then constructed the prototype so we can start pumping out some great baby shower gifts. The top photos is the one that I bought in the botique and the bottom one is the one we made. Don't pay attention to the fabric, it was some random stuff my mom had laying around. Let me know what you think.

Garden Update

My garden is getting huge and I am loving it! I have turned into Mrs. Greenthumb! I enjoy watching everything grow and be able to actually eat what I'm growing. This is what's up in the garden: I have 19 tomatoes on my Brandywine plant and about 5 on my Bush plant, my other two are being stingy and are just flowering right now. My herbs are delicious and holding strong. I've been cooking with them all the time and they make my recipes so fresh. I did have to pull out all my cilantro since it was basically done and the guy at the nursery said it's mostly a spring time plant. I replaced it with a cucumber plant that my mom got me. It's got one little cucumber on it, so cute. So that is what's up in the garden department. Someday I would love a huge garden that I could spend a lot of time in and grow lots and lots of different things. That would be my dream, but for now I'll enjoy my raised bed garden.

Latest Cross Stitch Project

I've decided to just go ahead and cross stitch all my kids birth records now while I have the time and energy. If you look back in my archives around November you can see the one that I did for Ethan. It took me such a long time to do his since I was working while I was pregnant and towards the end of my pregnancy I had carpel tunnel so bad that I couldn't even hold a pencil, let alone a needle. So I'm going to just go ahead and do them now. I love to cross stitch and I've been doing all sorts of little projects here and there, but they're mostly to relieve stress, not to display so I figured it would be better to actually work on something that I have planned on doing. Here the one I'm working on right now and my progress so far. I've been working on it for about 1 1/2 weeks now. It's quite a large project so it's going to take quite awhile for me to finish so you'll bee seeing my progress throughout the upcoming weeks.

Top of My Cupboards

I found a few things for my cupboards at Hobby Lobby that were on sale and I just couldn't pass them up! I still have to find a few more things to finish the tops of my other cupboards, but one step at a time. I think it turned out pretty nice.

Catch Up

I have been so reclusive when it comes to blogging lately. I've pretty much been on my own everyday for the past 4 weeks (including weekends) because Ry has been working so much. He usually gets home around 10 at night so it's just been Ethan and me all day long, everyday. Needless to say I've been a little frazzled and just haven't been able to blog much. It would end up just being a vent session. So things have been better this week and I've actually seen my husband for more than 30 minutes before he falls asleep. The past 4 weeks have also been full of rain so no pool time! Boring! You can only go to the library, mall, or grocery store so much. So that is my excuse for not blogging very much.

I Rock!

My good friend Hilarytagged me as one of her "rockin" blogs and I so appreciate the compliment. You have to know that Hilary is the one that inspired me to start a blog and totally helped me get everything going. Thanks Hilary, your blog rocks! Now I get to share the love and list a few of my faves:
First off is Carly. She is so creative and very stylish! I love her headers, photos, and projects. She always has great ideas and fun sites to visit.
Second is my best nursing buddy Barbie. She's currently getting her new house put together and working in the ER so she always has great stories. I love her sense of humor and it really comes through on her blog! I love it! Plus, her little guys Dave is super cute!
Next is my friend
Kaitlyn She's a great scrapbooker and I love what she does! Her kids always have something funny going on and her blog is always fun to read.
And last of all my Aunt Nancy's Family blog. I am so happy they started a blog so I can keep up with all their family happenings. My cousins are so cute!
Well, those are a few of my favorites. Of course there are some of my favorite blogs that I lurk on occasionally but I won't share those here since I can't actually admit that I lurk. Well, enjoy some new blogs, you guys rock!