February

February - Jacob went skiing twice.  On one of the Fridays he had off of school he and Jason went up to Brighton and skied most of the day.  Jason said he is getting better and he seems to really like it.

The second time we went up with Brenda, Chase and Kyle (neighbors) to Alta's ski after 3 p.m.  Again, he really liked it.

While we had snow in February, we also had some "warm" weather (50 degrees). The kids felt no coats and some no shirts was in order when they were playing.

On February 4th Jason and I celebrated our 11th anniversary.  These are some beautiful lilies he brought me.

Jason was in California and Houston, each for a week.  While he was gone Jacob and I went out to dinner.  We sent Dad a photo of us having fun.

This picture was taken after I told Jacob that Jared and Stephanie were going to have a baby boy--after 5 girls.  

 Why did I take this picture of Jacob scrunched up in the stool frame?  Because this is exactly what we used to do as kids with the stool we had!

 Did our monthly lunch with the Julies and Teresa.

 And we had Stake Activity Day.  It was based on the movie Up.  Our theme was: Up! Adventure awaits.

The girls arrived, began their all about me sheet, that would go in the adventure books they were making.

We had a fruit and bagel breakfast and then Corie presented the theme.  It was based on a talk by Pres. Monson in 1999 called: Your Celestial Journey.  In it he has 4 areas:  Gaze Upward, Look Inward, Reach Outward and Press Forward.  Corie showed a clip from Up and then talked about each of these areas briefly before we dismissed for the 3 mini classes.

Paige taught Gaze Upward - Prayer.  She talked about how each of our prayers is like a balloon that lifts us.  She talked about how prayer, protects us, bring peace and help us know we are a daughter of God.

 The next class was Press Forward.  Sherry taught this.  It was on how to learn to get along with others--even if we don't agree.

She had 3 levels and divided the girls into teams with rubber bands on their wrists.  Each team was able to answer questions, one team at level 1, the next team on level 2 and the next team at level 3.  She had them talk about way to solve a problem when we don't agree, how to show love to others we may not always like, etc.

The last game had the girls working together to get from one side of the gym to the other on "stepping stones."  There were just enough stones for the exact number of girls on each team and when the last girl stepped on the floor she had to pick up the paper behind her and the team handed it to the person in front of them so they could keep moving.

This is the Adventure book they made as part of the Look Inward section.  After breakfast they glued in their All About Me sheet and we had taken a Polaroid picture of them.  When they moved to each class they put in a quote that the teacher had come up with for that section.  

How the first 2 pages looked

Prayer quote goes here.

Amy Jex, on my board, knew a girl from her BYU folk dancing.  She was also a former Miss Teen Utah.  Katy Mitari.  She was so good--talked about how we can do simple service by not criticizing, not gossiping, etc.  She had the girls make cards for kids who are at Primary Children's hospital for their lunch trays.  She also had pictures of ice cream cones with a simple act of service on them.  She challenged the girls to do that service and then bring that ice cream cone back to Activity day, in their ward, and trade it with another girl and try to do that service.

 On the back page we had stamps that they could put in each area they had attended.  We had thought about doing it as they left each class, but realized that we wouldn't have time to get them out the door to the next class so we had them do it at the end.

After attending the 3, 20 minute, mini classes they came back to the gym where they could finish their books.  Get the passport stamps, add stickers, decorations, washi tape, we had laying out on their table.  I think it turned out really well!

Door posters

We had the girls stand in front of this poster and hold the
 string for a picture