Mother's Day Vacay

The boys were super sweet to me on Mother's Day. They all made me cards, fed me delicious food, and cleaned up after themselves. However, only two of them would willingly smile with me. 

Actual Mother's Day was short-lived because 1) I had a big YM/YW activity I was planning for the upcoming Wednesday, and 2) I had a weekend getaway with my roommates scheduled, so we were counting that as the ultimate gift of the Mother's Day season. 

My getaway awaited me, but I had to make it through the mental stress of planning an elaborate scavenger hunt first. 

I always hesitate to commit myself to these big activities because it's A LOT of work, but once I really get down to the planning and the preparing, it is usually work I delight in. I volunteered myself to plan an Amazing Race activity. I have done something similar in another ward, but it's not an activity you can just copy and paste for. It takes a lot of brain power to execute!

I had to come up with clues, come up with tasks, and estimate the flow/time estimates of each task. This served as our "Standards Night," so each task had something to do with our standards from The Strength of Youth pamphlet. 

We started in the YW room where I split everyone into teams. We actually sadly had a lot of people out of town, so we had the youth get into teams of two with one adult leader who had a "script" to read to the kids at each location so they would know what to do.

Choice and Accountability:

"Heavenly Father has given you agency, the ability to choose right from wrong and to act for yourself. While here on earth, you are being proven to see if you will use your agency to show your love for God by keeping His commandments. The Holy Ghost can guide you in using your agency righteously. You are responsible for the choices you make. While you are free to choose your course of action, you are not free to choose the consequences. 

Choose either "Vintage" or "Modern" and choose one player from your team to compete in the first challenge. 

Friends and Language: 

"We are taught to be careful about who we spend our time with. The people around us can influence how we think and act. Speak kindly and positively about others. Choose not to insult others or put them down, even in joking. Avoid gossip of any kind, and avoid speaking in anger. When you are tempted to say harsh or hurtful things leave them unsaid. You are on a team and will complete challenges with your teammates. Uplift each other, be kind and considerate as we begin THE AMAZING RACE!

Our race starts with one of the best races of all time -- Mario Kart! The player that you chose to complete the first challenge can now step forward to either our Vintage N64 game, or our modern Nintendo Switch game. 

Your teammate must finish in the top half of the leaderboard to move on to the next challenge. Players can switch after each race if your team has not moved on."

After completing each task, they had to find an envelope with their next clue hidden somewhere in the room. (*I made sure to tell the kids the clues could all be found without opening anything or moving anything around so that they weren't tearing apart the entire church.) Once they found the envelope, they grabbed one piece of paper out of it and went out in the hall to try to figure it out. Every clue directed them to which room they would go to next. 

See if you can solve my riddles:

It was super hard to know what would be a difficult clue and what would be too easy. I gave each of the leaders hints for each clue. If the team took a hint, they got a penalty of having to sit down and wait for one minute before continuing on. I had three hints available per clue. 

If you're a master sleuth, you figured out that the first clue spelled out GYM by counting the letters in the scripture. 

When they got to the gym, they found a bunch of balloons and their leader read this for the Work and Self Reliance/Education sections:

"We are encouraged to work hard so that we can learn, grow, and succeed not only in this life but in the life to come. Between school, work, church, and developing talents, that can feel like a lot to juggle!

Task: Juggle all of your responsibilities. Your team must choose one color of balloon, gather all the balloons of that color, and keep all of those balloons in the air for 30 seconds. Part of being self reliant is having good time management. Make sure you time your team’s successful juggling to complete this challenge. Once you have successfully completed this task, have everyone on your team hold their balloon above their head for your next clue."

(The missionaries joined us for the activity and we loved having them!)

Once they successfully juggled their balloons, they went to a table labeled "BANK" to pick up a bag of 30 pennies that had this clue attached to it: 

PAYDAY! Count your money and remember how much you have...it will burst your bubble later if you don’t keep track of your finances.

If that clue led you to think you should pop the balloons, you'd have been pop-sitively right! There were little papers in each of the balloons that individually listed the steps of the repentance process. This was our Repentance/Sabbath Day Service section.

"We can use Christ’s Atonement in our lives each week as we partake of the Sacrament and repent for the things we need to work on. Put the steps of repentance then as a team."

After their leader verified the steps were in the correct order, they okay-ed their team to look for the next clue hidden in that room. This was the clue:

Family/Gratitude (Room 108)

"We are taught to put effort into our relationships with our family. As we are cheerful, helpful, and considerate of family members, we can be a positive influence in our family.  The Lord wants us to have a spirit of gratitude -- that includes gratitude for our families! As we live with a spirit of thanksgiving, we will have greater happiness and satisfaction in life. 

Task: Each member of your team must write one thank you note to a member of their family. Each note should have at least four sentences. Place your note in an envelope, write the person’s name on the envelope, and place your envelope in the basket to complete this task. (Envelopes will be handed back to you at the end of the activity for you to give to your family member.)"

Dress and Appearance/Physical and Emotional Health (Primary Room)

Your body is a temple, a gift from God. When you are well-groomed and modestly dressed, you invite the companionship of the Spirit and you can be a good influence on others. Your dress and grooming influence the way you and others act.

To care for your body, eat nutritious food, exercise regularly, get enough sleep, and obey the Word of Wisdom. Practice balance and moderation in all aspects of your physical health. 

Task: Memory! Your whole team starts at one side of the room. One person runs over to the memory board and flips two cards over, trying to find a match that represents our standards in dress and appearance. Watch out! Some negative consequences are hidden on the board. Take turns running to the board to try to make a match so that everyone evenly participates. You can move on after you find a match. Flip cards back over after every turn, including your match after it is found. Multiple teams can play at once but only two cards may be visible at once, so take turns with any other teams that are there with you.

Road Block! Time to choose again! Music or TV? They chose which nursery door they wanted to go in, either the Music door or the TV door. Each room had a different paper with fill-in-the-blanks about either Disney movies or Primary songs.

Music (Nursery)

Choose carefully the music you listen to. Pay attention to how you feel when you are listening. Some music can carry evil and destructive messages. Do not listen to music that encourages immorality or glorifies violence through its lyrics, beat, or intensity. Do not listen to music that uses vulgar or offensive language or promotes evil practices. Such music can dull your spiritual sensitivity.

TV (Nursery)

Satan uses media to deceive you by making what is wrong and evil look normal, humorous, or exciting. He tries to mislead you into thinking that breaking God’s commandments is acceptable and has no negative consequences for you or others. Do not attend, view, or participate in anything that is vulgar, immoral, violent, or pornographic in any way. Do not participate in anything that presents immorality or violence as acceptable. Have the courage to walk out of a movie, change your music, or turn off a computer, television, or mobile device if what you see or hear drives away the Spirit.

Road Block! This task will be completed by one teammate. Pick your teammate now.

"A date is a planned activity that allows a young man and a young woman to get to know each other better. In cultures where dating is acceptable, it can help you learn and practice social skills, develop friendships, have wholesome fun, and eventually find an eternal companion.

Task: Once you’re 16, you can drive and date! The teammate who you have chosen to compete will pick a “car” and take a lap around the church. Take a pen and paper with you and answer the questions along the way. If all the answers are correct when you get back, you will receive your next clue. If any are incorrect, another teammate must go around to correct the incorrect answers."

(The adult leader should not tell which answers are incorrect.) *This was my favorite task.*

Next clue:

Tithes and Offerings/Service (Room 103)

"When you pay tithing, you show gratitude for all that God has given you and return to Him a portion of what you have received. Your attitude is important in paying tithing. Pay it because you love the Lord and have faith in Him. Pay it willingly with a thankful heart and pay it before you spend your money on anything else.

Task: Give your leader the amount of money you would pay in tithing on what you have earned tonight."

Finish in Room 115 (Scripture on back of pamphlet gave 115) - Honesty and Integrity 

“We believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men.  If there is anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things.”

Task: At least one of you must recite the quoted section of the Thirteenth Article Of Faith (above) FROM MEMORY to win the game!

It was so fun! I just wish more kids would have been there to experience it. I felt like I had written this elaborate play, so it was super fun for me to see the performance come to life. Everything went perfectly and it was exactly an hour and a half. The hard work and effort proved to be worth it when the girls told me it was one of their favorite activities. Win!

After all that work and after a solid year of distance learning my children, it was time to skip town for a well-deserved girls' weekend! Going on a girls' trip was one of my New Year's Goals, so in that way, this trip wasn't just fun, relaxing, and rejuvenating, it was also productive and an accomplishment! 

I flew out to Salt Lake, got to have a delicious Sunday dinner (on a Friday) with my family, I ran my favorite running loop Saturday morning, and then I hit the city with my 49ers. We lived in Apartment 49 together in college and dubbed ourselves the 49ers. The living arrangements have changed, but the name has stuck. 

Leslie persuaded us to hop on some motorized scooters. I was unsure and slightly hesitant, but we went for it and it turned out to be my favorite part of the whole trip. Three moms cruising the city on scooters is what girls' trip dreams are made of. 

Equally as dreamy was spoiling ourselves at The Grand America. We stayed there overnight and then had a delicious, fancy brunch there the next morning.

We ordered mocktails that we were led to believe were included in the price of our meal, but I have since begun to wonder if they were actually like $10 each. Sad part is they weren't even good, so ex-nay on the mock-tay next time. 

I have never eaten fancy cheese before this brunch. I went a little heavy on the cheese. The meat was A+. I went back for a plate of strictly protein and likely got my daily intake quota in one sitting. Delicious!

We walked through the courtyard because a girls' trip isn't complete without an impromptu photoshoot. 

Let's appreciate that I'm alone. My children have been by my side without reprieve for OVER A YEAR! Like...yeah...I'm a stay-at-home mom and that's kind of my gig to have my kids with me all the time, but it wasn't meant to be like this. It wasn't meant to be so nonstop and constant for so long. My kids do go to school for two hours a day (except Jonah), but that still leaves SO MUCH TIME for them to be home fighting. And then the Zoom calls we've had to ping around on all afternoon and the classwork that maybe sometimes needed to be done at home or maybe was going to be done at school but we never could quite figure out which was which until we were 20 missing assignments deep into confusion. And the food. So much food. Nonstop food. Nonstop cleaning. But everything is still hungry and messy no matter the level of feeding and cleaning. 

It's just been A LOT. Pandemic motherhood caught up to me...again...and I've been spent. So I'm grateful for good friends to vent to through it all who are there to help me pamper myself and take a step away from it all for a refresh. And I'm of course grateful for Jeff who always supports me sneaking away for breaks whenever I can get them. 

And now it's summer with a lot of fun things on the schedule, and a hope for a more normal schoolyear next year! My heart is telling me to be hopeful, but my anxiety (and Tiktok) is telling me to begin singing *Cause I'm hopeful, yes I am, hopeful for today...* while these words pop up around my face:

Her kids continued to fight all summer.

She would go another entire year before finding herself alone again.

The school district would announce continued half days of school with mandatory masks in fall.

*Take this music and use it let it take you away.* 

Baseball Season

We just made it through baseball season! Usually the busy-ness of baseball season overwhelms me, but after last season getting cancelled after just one game and a year of absolutely nothing on the calendar, it was refreshing to have the comradery and schedule of sporting events. 

Eli had a great team this year. He made some cute friends, and he got to try out some new positions on the field...like catcher!

My parents made a special weekend trip out to see Eli play one of his games. After realizing the only reason they chose that weekend to come out was to see him play, Eli's nerves got to him and he said, "That's a lot of pressure." :)

You could say they also came out to catch up on reading stories to their grandboys.

To enjoy the beauty of Nevada in the spring. 

And to spoil us with tasty meals. They took us to a hibachi grill that my boys LOVED. They now routinely grab knives with their lunches to play "Ohjah" (the name of the restaurant). They slice up their food and spin the butter knives around, reliving the experience again and again. 

This is a restaurant we drive by every day to pick up the older boys from school and every time we pass it Jonah says, "When can we see the smiley face lighted on fire again?" So this was a highlight for all. 

Then we loaded up to head to the main event. 

Being trapped in a wind tunnel...err...going to Eli's game! 

Every time someone comes to Vegas they ask if it's always windy in Vegas. I hadn't particularly noticed that it's always windy, but after noticing all the Vegas visitors noticing the wind with each visit, I began to think, you know what, Vegas seems to be a windy place. That was extra confirmed at the game where the wind refused to stop. 

We bought popsicles "for my dad" but these little guys quickly claimed them as their own. 

Jonah went through a time of sneaking into all of Eli's baseball gear as soon as Eli went to school in the morning. He's still a baseball fanatic!

With more things opening up, we decided to try out a new sport -- Taekwondo!

We're on the hunt to figure out what activities spark an interest in the boys and I've been wanting to see how they would like martial arts. I was just going to sign up Eli and Carson, but if you sign two kids up you automatically get a family pass, so now we are all enrolled in karate, including me and Jeff! I've been to two classes and quite enjoyed them. 

We spent many hours at the baseball fields covered in dirt.

And scootering about. 

This season was so funny because the Brewers didn't win very many games until they got to the playoffs and then they couldn't be beat! They were one game shy of making it to the championship and that game was super close. It was a fun season!

We've been soaking up the perfect evenings outside before it gets too hot.

We love riding bikes, throwing around a baseball, and sword fighting with whatever long objects we can dig out of the garage. 

And we've had some lovely evenings at the park practicing our baseball skills. Jonah is always right in the baseball action. It might be time to officially enroll this boy into the sport because it's an obvious passion and he seems to be a natural!