Meridian Temple Site Visit

We are so excited that the Meridian Temple is being built so close to our home. We could literally walk there if we wanted to. I was looking through some pictures on my phone and realized I never blogged about our little excursion to the temple site last month. We decided to take advantage of a day off school and go check out the progress on the temple. They are still in the very early stages, but it was fun to see the tractors :-) We also went to the "visitor's center" and took home "temple rocks".

Tender Mercy

I've tried not to mention it much on this blog, but over the last couple years there seems to have been a lot of negative energy surrounding our relationship with Kylee's mom. There have been quite a few disagreements over both big and little things - from an 8-month long educational custody battle or our ongoing child support case to disagreements about extra-curricular activities and everything in between. A few weeks ago I was talking to Matt about this negativity. We do everything we can to shield Kylee from it, but it was really bothering me. I felt (whether right or wrong) like Kylee's mom looked for things to get upset about or pick a fight about. I didn't understand why someone would want to have such a strained relationship... a relationship we were guaranteed to be in for another 13 years. Why wouldn't you at least try to get along and be nice?

I had been praying about this for a while, hoping things would get better, and trying to keep a positive attitude from my end. Then, a couple weeks ago, I decided to make this the focus of my fast. As I sat in church that morning, listening to the testimonies of others, Tyler pulled my phone out of the side pocket of the diaper bag. I went to put it back in and saw that I had a text. It was from Kylee's mom. It said, "Thank you for being so good to my daughter. For what it's worth I think you're an awesome stepmom." Wow. Talk about timing. I was overcome with the spirit and tears started rolling freely down my cheeks. This text was an answer to prayer and fasting. This simple text once again confirmed to my heart that we have a loving Father who is aware of us and our needs. He cared about me and knew how important it was for me that we have a better relationship with Kylee's mom. I immediately sent a prayer of thanks up to my Father... and sent a thank you email to Kylee's mom that afternoon.

It's only been a couple weeks, so I can't say for certain that things have changed for good, but I can say that things seem much better! In the last two weeks, communication between us has been more positive. Kylee's mom invited us to Kylee's friend party at her house and asked for input if we thought there were other girls Kylee should invite. We worked together to make tutus as party gifts for the girls and I helped with some of the activities at the party. We collaborated on fun snacks for Kylee to take to school on her birthday, each helping to put them together. We have smoothly coordinated changes to Kylee's typical schedule in order for her to be able to attend a couple different birthday parties. Yes, things have definitely been better.

I hope and pray that the focus can remain on Kylee and what is best for her. I don't think we need to be best friends, but I do hope that we can continue to be positive and work together for Kylee's sake. I am thankful for my Father, for his reassurance, and for that sweet tender mercy in the form of a text that I received after much prayer and fasting.

Father's Blessing

Matt gave Kylee a father's blessing today in preparation for her starting school tomorrow. It was so sweet and special. He blessed her that she would be able to adapt to different circumstances, that she would be a good listener and a good learner, and let her know that her Heavenly Father is aware of her and loves her and is pleased with her. After the blessing, I opened my eyes to see Kylee wiping tears away from her eyes. As we walked upstairs to finish getting ready for church, Kylee told me, "I was crying during the blessing and I don't even know why." We talked about how she had felt the Spirit, and how that made her feel so good. We sure do have a special little girl.

I am also thankful for a husband who is a worthy priesthood holder and can give us blessings. I love him so much.

A Piece of My Heart

It's always sad on the days Kylee goes back to her mom's house.  She's been gone for five minutes and I'm already missing her like crazy.  I know it isn't easy for her going back and forth, and it probably will never be.  But I don't think it will ever be easy for me and Matt either.

Kylee has a pretty good internal clock.  She typically wakes up between 6:45 and 7:00 each morning.  She knows that I like to sleep until 7:00 (even though I should probably be getting up by 6:30 to make it to work on time!), and we've had a rule for quite some time that she needs to stay in bed until her clock says 7.  Well lately, Kylee's been getting out of her bed when she wakes up, bringing a blanket, her pillow pet, and her pet cow and laying down on the floor just outside my bedroom door.  She will just wait there for me until I get up to come get her and help her get ready for the day.  I think it's a little precious.  Except for the one time I didn't see her and almost tripped over her!  Regardless, this sight makes me smile.

I've posted before about Kylee missing Jesus.  This isn't an uncommon thing for her to say.  The other day we were driving past a cemetery, and she told me that's where old people go.  We talked about when you die, that you are buried at the cemetery, but that we will get to live with Heavenly Father.  Kylee told me how she couldn't wait until she could live with Heavenly Father again (to which I responded that better not happen anytime soon!)... but a couple minutes later she started crying big crocodile tears.  I asked what was wrong and she said she was really going to miss her animals when she went to live with Heavenly Father.  I asked what animals she was talking about, to which she responded her Twilight Sparkle and her other stuffed animals.  Oh my.  I didn't tell her she probably wouldn't even care about her animals in a couple years, let alone when she dies :-)  I told her I'm sure everything would be okay and that heaven is a happy place, and then we changed the subject!  Tonight Kylee told me that she loves the church and she wishes we could live at the church or that at least it was right next door to us.  I think that's a pretty good sign that she feels happy at church and feels the spirit!

One final thought before I close this post (and start another one!).  Kylee is super independent.  She loves playing in her playroom. By herself.  Or watching Netflix on the iPad. By herself.  If we go into the room to hang out with her, she will ask, "Can I be alone?"  Funny girl.

One of her favorite places to watch Netflix is in the sitting room behind the chair.  I know she is in there when I see the glow of the lamp spilling into the hallway (she never turns on the overhead light).  That and the sound of My Little Ponies coming from the unseen corner of the room!  Kylee also likes to just go into the sitting room and "read".  The funny thing is we don't have any kid books in that room.  In fact, most of the books in the sitting room are church books.  Kylee always picks the same couple books to "read".  I sure love her.

Being a Mom

I sure love being a mom. I know I have said this many times, but I feel so lucky that Kylee is my daughter. I got to spend some extra time with Kylee these last few days, as I had a four day weekend, and we had Kylee extra for the holiday.  It was such a treat.  I wanted to take advantage of every minute with her.

We got our nails done before Jen's wedding.

 Kylee and Matt got much needed haircuts.  Thanks Grandma!

We went to Build-a-Bear and Kylee got Twilight Sparkle.  She used $20 of her own money that she has been saving up.  Funny story... Before we went to Build-a-Bear, Kylee would get excited telling us she was going to "waste" her money on a Build-a-Bear :-)  She doesn't quite know the difference between "waste" and "spend".  Twilight Sparkle hasn't left Kylee's side since we left the store.

We did a craft project in preparation for Kylee's little brother.  We made some cute closet organizers, inspired by this post.

We also went to lunch with my family for my mom's birthday, went shopping, went on several walks, played at the park, had dinner with Matt's family with Michelle in town, and more.

One of my highlights from the weekend was that Kylee gave a talk in church.  She did such a great job!  Her talk was about how Heavenly Father hears and answers her prayers.  We worked on writing the talk together, and after just a few times of practicing (and some cheesy picture hints) she was able to say the entire thing almost all by herself!  After church, Kylee said that she was a little scared to give her talk, but then she felt Heavenly Father's arms around her and she was okay.  I was definitely a proud mama.

One more sweet moment from church... The music leader asked all the kids to close their eyes and think of a place that feels like heaven.  Then she asked the kids to open their eyes and share what place they thought of.  Kylee's answer was the temple.  We had just been to the temple the day before for Jen's wedding, so I'm sure the temple was on her mind, but hearing this made me so happy that she recognized Heavenly Father's spirit.

The Month of May!

I have no idea what happened.  How could I neglect my blog for so long?  With the exception of a quick video post yesterday afternoon, I let the entire month slip by without a single entry.  I feel like such a slacker.  Here's a quick overview of my fairly uneventful month in pictures.

Kylee continues to steal my heart every single day.  Ignore her messy hair, and instead pay attention to the styling of her little friend's hair... she was so proud of herself!

Jen and I got pedicures followed by an afternoon of shooting... the two can go together, right? :-)

We organized a neighbor hotdog and marshmallow roast in the empty lot next door... we had so much fun!  The kids love playing/digging in the dirt.

We were lucky enough to have Kylee on Mother's Day (Kylee will be out of town with her mom on Father's Day, thus the switch).  I was super happy because this might be the only Mother's Day I get to spend with Kylee.  She and Matt made me a special breakfast and I loved listening to/watching her sing in sacrament meeting - Mother I Love You.  Melt my heart.  We also made some pretty cute flower pots for my mom and Matt's mom.

Finally, we taught Kylee about Memorial Day, and Matt helped Kylee put some flags in our yard to honor those who have passed before us.

That's pretty much it... here's to a more eventful June!

"The temple is special. Do you know how I know?"

I had the sweetest moment with Kylee this week.  We were driving to the gym and Kylee pointed out a church that was on the corner of Chinden and Locust Grove.  She said, "Look mom, it's like a castle or a temple!"  I told her it was a church, and she responded by telling me that people get married there.  I told her she was right, but reminded her about the temple and that that's where we want to get married.  She told me, "The temple is special.  Do you know how I know?  Because I can feel Heavenly Father's spirit there.  Heavenly Father has two homes - the temple and the church."  My heart melted, as I looked at my beaming four-year-old.  I am so proud of her and am happy that she loves going to church and learning in primary.  I am happy that she enjoys reading scripture stories with us for Family Home Evenings.  It is fun to see her learn and grow.  I feel so blessed every day to have her in my life.

Easter Sunday

We had a beautiful Easter Sunday... it was beautiful in every way!  We woke up Sunday morning to a little girl who was so happy that the Easter Bunny had come.  She cried out with excitement every time she spotted another egg.  Our lucky only child got to find all forty eggs herself... needless to say, we will be rationing the candy over the next few months :-)  Kylee's favorite eggs though were those with money - smart girl!

Before church we met with a member of our bishopric who extended us callings to be team teachers in the Primary.  I knew we would likely get called to Primary... Have you ever heard of a ward with 250 primary kids???  Crazy, right?  There are three primaries.  I am expecting the ward will be split sometime soon!  I am excited to be able to serve with Matt in this capacity.  We found out today we will be teaching the 8-year-olds.  I am looking forward to it.  It will sure be a change from Young Womens!

Church was lovely.  The choir performed for the sacrament meeting program, and Sunday School and the joint Relief Society/Priesthood meeting was excellent.  It was neat for us to try and teach Kylee why we have Easter and why it's so special.

After church, we had our first family gathering at our home, with both my family and Matt's family.  It was so lovely having everyone over.  And it was amazing how easy dinner was when everyone pitched in.  All we provided was the meat and a fruit tray!

We had beautiful weather all day, so we ended the evening with a walk around the neighborhood and a stop at the park.  A perfect end to a perfect day.

Blog On Hold

Man, I sure have put this blog on hold over the last month!  I can't believe I've only blogged once in the entire month of March!  I have plenty to post about, so I will try to summarize some highlights just to make sure I capture everything.

• The project that I've been managing at work for the last 16 months went live on February 25th.  That meant some long, stressful days, but it was so nice to see all the hard work that my team and I have put in over so many months be successfully rolled out to campus.  Overall, I think the response has been pretty positive!
• After having been in our house for only a week, I spent 5 days at a conference for work in Indianapolis.  It was fun to be able to see my cousins Janelle and Paul on Saturday evening when I arrived - I haven't seen them in years!  I always enjoy my time at this conference, and this year I was even able to present on the project we just finished.  I received some really great compliments from those in attendance... a couple people even mentioned that my presentation was the best they attended during the entire conference.  That made me feel good!  I knew that we had a great project and that I was sharing information that other schools would be really interested in, so it was fun to have that feedback.
• We are continuing to get settled in our home.  Most of the boxes were unpacked within just a couple days after we moved in (I wanted to be mostly settled before my trip)... so that is nice.  We still don't have any pictures on our walls yet - I'm sure we'll start putting things up over the next couple weeks.  I'm trying to nail down a good date for a "housewarming" since so many people want to come see our new digs.
• We are loving our new neighborhood, our new neighbors, and our new ward.  It has been fun to see just how many people we already knew in our ward - one of Matt's coworkers, one of my coworkers, someone Matt has played frisbee with over the last couple years, my friend Melissa that I work out with, several people from old wards, etc.  It has especially been fun to have my friend Sally (we met in graduate school at BSU) move in kitty corner behind us just a week after we moved in.  Fences are scheduled to go up this week, but it has been fun to gather in our backyards and just chat
• Renters were scheduled to move into our old house today!  Thanks to our awesome property managers (my cousin Ashley's property management company), they are moving in in less than a week and a half after I asked Ashley to start showing the house.  We will be happy to start getting rental income even before we have to start paying mortgage payments!  It is kind of weird to think of other people living in the house I love so much, but I'm sure that "weirdness" will fade over time.

Besides that, we are getting excited for Easter (we're having both families over for our first family gathering in our new home) and Matt's birthday... he's turning the Big 3-0.  I told Kylee how old Matt was going to be and she said, "That's kind of like a grandpa!"  Funny girl.  I didn't mention to her how old I was :-)

Anyway, I hope to post more soon... probably about our house... I know you've missed my frequent updates!

Spiritual Enlightenment: Be Happy!

Sorry for the post overload today... but I was just touched by the talks in sacrament meeting today that I felt one more post was in order.  There were three talks - repentance, forgiveness, and being happy.  I enjoyed every one of them.  I felt kind of grouchy this last week, so a lot of what was said hit close to home.  The last speaker shared a list of ways to help us be happy.  I didn't grab a pen (crayon) and paper fast enough to get them all, but here were a few of the suggestions... or at least the gist of them!

1. Live a simpler life and think constructively.
2. Try to see the other person's point of view.
3. Rule your mood.
4. Give generously.
5. Be interested in others.
6. Live one day at a time.
7. Keep close to God.

I would much rather be happy than unhappy!  I pledge to find the happiness in every day.  I will work hard to not "make a mountain out of every little offending molehill of word or deed" (President Hinkley).  I will do my best to forgive quickly and repent often.

Speaking of being happy... I sure love these two.  This is an old pic (from August 2011!), but I love it anyway.

Happy New Year!

"This year, mend a quarrel. Seek out a forgotten friend. Dismiss suspicion and replace it with trust. Write a letter. Give a soft answer. Encourage youth. Manifest your loyalty in word and deed. Keep a promise. Forgo a grudge. Forgive an enemy. Apologize. Try to understand. Examine your demands on others. Think first of someone else. Be kind. Be gentle. Laugh a little more. Express your gratitude. Welcome a stranger. Gladden the heart of a child. Take pleasure in the beauty and wonder of the earth. Speak your love and then speak it again." ~Howard W. Hunter

I saw this quote as a friend's facebook status the other day, and I thought it was fitting as part of a New Year's blog post.  2012 was a pretty wonderful year for me and my family.  Here's a recap:

• I became a wife and a mom.

• Rachel got baptized.

• Matt and I had a beautiful honeymoon in the Bahamas.

• We went on our first family camping trip in Garden Valley, Idaho.

• I spent a couple days with my college roomies in Sun Valley, Idaho.

• Mandi and TJ had a new baby - Blake!

• We decided to build a house.

• My mom turned 60 and we had a great party.

• BJ and Rachel got married.

• Beki graduated from BYU-Idaho.

• My first Christmas as a mom - my favorite Christmas yet!

I'd say 2012 is going to be a hard year to top... but I know some wonderful things are in store for us in 2013!  I'm looking forward to celebrating our first anniversary, wrapping up a large project at work, moving into our beautiful new house, and having more adventures in the Hudson household.  On that note, I have set some goals for the year.  Here are a couple of them that I wanted to make "public" so I can be held accountable :-)

• Run 300 miles during the year.  Jen is going to do this with me too.  I am trying to figure out a good way to keep a running tally on the side of my blog to track my progress.
• Read my scriptures every day including reading the entire Book of Mormon by the end of the year.  Jen and Matt are both doing this one with me.  It was kind of fun to read with Matt last night - I'm looking forward to that time together each day (even if it's only a few minutes!)  It's so much easier for me to complete my goals when I'm working on them with someone else.    Jen and I read the Book of Mormon in 2011 in 3 months, and then we read it again last year too.  We would check up on each other, which really helped.
• Drink at least 48 ounces of water each weekday.  I stink at keeping myself hydrated.  Some days I will go an entire day without drinking anything except my morning protein shake.  I know I'm supposed to drink 64 ounces of water... if I can do 48 ounces this year, then maybe I can work on 64 next year!  Baby steps.

So, welcome 2013.  I'm looking forward to what's in store!

I Have an Idea!

As I'm sitting here preparing my Young Women's lesson for tomorrow (entitled "How can I prepare to establish a Christ-centered home?"), I have been thinking about my sweet girl and about how Matt and I are trying to raise her in righteousness.  It's amazing how much she pays attention to and remembers, so we always have to be on our best behavior :-)  Here are a few stories or sayings that I wanted to capture.  A couple of these I've posted on facebook in the past, but I always get my blog printed into a book, so recording these here will help me have a permanent record.

• Several weeks ago, I asked Kylee to get dressed while I went and took a shower.  She wasn't thrilled about getting ready for the day because she was watching a cartoon on television, so I brought her clothes out to the family room and told her she could change her clothes during the commercials.  The next week when I asked Kylee to get dressed, she excitedly told me, "I have an idea, and it's actually your idea.  How about if you bring my clothes out here and I change during the commercials."  Smart girl.  I couldn't help but chuckle.
• One Sunday morning Kylee was playing with her princess dress up clothes.  She asked me if she could wear them to church.  Hmmmm......

• This summer, Matt took Kylee on a hike up Table Rock. She loved hiking with her dad (and has asked to go several times since - we can't wait until it warms up!).  Well, one day this fall we drove past a church that had a large cross on top.  Kylee pointed to the cross and excitedly exclaimed, "That's where daddy and I hiked to!" 

• Kylee recently sneezed, and then informed us, "I bless you'd in my coat."
• When I was in Ghana last year, I brought home a beautiful carved wooden nativity.  Kylee helped me set it out this year, and we talked about each piece as she put it on the table.  She was really disturbed by one of the wise men, who was carrying something that looked like a machete.  She said, "That's not very nice.  He needs a wand." (the shepherd's "crook" was straight and had a star on the top, and looked like a wand to Kylee).  Every time I came out to look at the nativity, the machete would be missing, and I would find it and put it back.. except for when I packed it up to put it back in storage, I couldn't find it at all!  Maybe I'll find it when we move in the spring :-)

Because Jesus Got Born

We've been teaching Kylee about Christmas.  We had this lesson last Monday, and she still remembers :-)  I love her.

Value Magnets: A Tutorial

Pinterest is great for finding ideas for Young Womens activities... in fact one of my very first pins was of some value magnets that I thought were just adorable.  The problem is the ones I found didn't have a tutorial, so I searched around, brainstormed, did a practice round, and in the end we had a lot of fun making our own magnets.  They definitely don't look as "professional" as the ones I "pinned", but I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

Anyway, here's my little tutorial :-)

Supplies:

• Bottle Caps - without the liners.  The only ones I could find in my local craft stores had the liners, so I purchased these online through Sun and Moon.  You can purchase these individually or in bulk.  I bought them individually for 10 cents each.
• Glue Dots
• Diamond Glaze - I bought Judikins Diamond Glaze from A Cherry on Top for $5.99 a bottle.  I did finally find this at a local craft store for $7.99 a bottle, but even with shipping I ended up saving money by purchasing online.
• Scrapbook Paper - for each value color
• Magnets - I just used self-adhesive sheet magnets that I purchased from Joanns (with a 40% off coupon), but you can probably use any magnets on these.

First I had to print out the values on different colors of paper.  I don't have a color printer, so I printed all the words in bold black, but used a different color of scrapbook paper for each value.  I was trying to save money by not buying new scrapbook paper and just using scraps I had at home.  This took me a while to figure out, so let me explain in detail!  I started by formatting a word doc with each value in a different font as large as I could get them and still fit in a 1" circle punch (I printed out a few practice sheets of paper).  Once I had all the values in the right size, I cut small pieces of scrapbook paper and taped them right over the top of the values on the plain sheet of computer paper I had printed.  I taped just along the edge of the scrapbook paper so the tape wouldn't interfere with my circle hole punch.

Once I had all the colored scraps taped onto my original paper, I ran it back through the printer.

Then I peeled off the scrapbook paper and took off the tape - it didn't matter if the edges of the paper ripped a little because I only wanted the center anyway.  I used my 1" hole punch to cut circles around each value.

I then glued the circles into my bottle caps with a glue dot, and cut out magnets and adhered them to the back of the bottlecaps.

Next, I filled each bottlecap with the diamond glaze.  This was harder than I expected - I couldn't help but getting air bubbles in the glaze in some of my bottlecaps, and they are impossible to pop!  Oh well.

Once the papers were covered with the diamond glaze, they need to dry for about 24-48 hours.  The diamond glaze looks cloudy at first, but they do dry clear!  Note: Don't touch the glaze to see if it's dry... if it isn't it will leave a fingerprint or indentation on the glaze :-)

The one bummer thing about the paper I used is that some of the papers "ran" under the diamond glaze and were discolored from what I had originally intended.  Oh well!

Craft Stick Puzzles

Kylee and I worked on a craft project this morning - we made some puzzles for her to take in her church bag.  I cut the pictures into strips, Kylee put the glue on, and then I attached the strips of paper to the craft sticks.  I think they turned out nicely and Kylee is excited to take them to church with her.  Super easy, cheap, and quick!  I'm already thinking about other pictures this would be fun with.

"I Miss Jesus"

Matt and I are always trying to teach Kylee (as we should, right!?).  One thing we regularly try to talk to her about is her Heavenly Father and Jesus.  Each Sunday after church we talk to her about what she learned in primary.  We have Family Home Evening every Monday night where we read scripture stories. And every single night, before Kylee goes to bed, we kneel together as a family and say prayers.

I know what we are teaching her and what she is learning at church is starting to sink in.  And that makes me happy.  One of the sweetest things I hear come out of Kylee's mouth (besides the fact that she has consistently started calling me mom/mommy!) is when she says, "I love Jesus" or "I miss Jesus."  I think it is so cute when she literally gets a little teary eyed as she talks about how she misses Jesus and we remind her that one day we will get to live with him again.

Recently, when Kylee said she was scared to have her lights off when it was time for bed (this is new... not sure where this comes from?) we talked to her about how she can say a prayer to Heavenly Father to help her to not be so scared.  She was so excited the next morning when she told me how her prayer had worked - that she wasn't scared after she said her prayer... and there have been a couple times since then that she has told me that she said "lots of prayers" so she wasn't scared.  We have talked to her about how Heavenly Father and Jesus are in heaven and can watch over all of us, and Kylee periodically out of the blue will say how Jesus lives in the sky.

I am proud of my little girl and love watching her learn and grow.  I am excited to watch her continue to grow in her testimony and knowledge of what is good and true.

Mighty Mia Maids

I have always said my favorite church calling is working with the Young Women of the ward.  I had some amazing experiences in the two other wards where I had the privilege to serve in Young Womens, and my current calling is no exception.  I am the 1st Counselor in the Young Womens presidency and serve over the Mia Maids (14-15 year old girls).  We have Sunday lessons and Wednesday evening activities.  There are really only three girls who are always there (so much smaller than the last Young Womens organization I served in!) but they are some pretty special girls.  Hayley, Zoe, and Sarah are always so happy and upbeat and get along really well.  I was just going through my camera today and realized I had some fun pictures of our activities that I should share.

We made these super cute paper bag Young Women camp journals.

We visited Brother Keleher in a care facility.  He passed away this last Wednesday... one week after our visit.

A combined Young Women activity - hiking Tablerock!

Primary Prayer

Kylee was assigned the opening prayer in Primary today.  We have been talking about it for a couple weeks, and she seemed excited to go sit on the chair at the front of the room especially marked for the person giving the prayer.  She was so stinkin' cute.  Her prayer went something like this:

Dear Heavenly Father.

Thank you for this day.

Thank you for mommy and daddy.

Thank you for the food.  (oops!)

(Looking over at me for some prompting for the next couple of lines)

Thank you for our teachers.

Thank you for our blessings.

Help us to be good.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

I was one proud mama :-)

Photo Scavenger Hunt

Our Wednesday night Young Womens activity this week was a photo scavenger hunt... and let me tell you, we sure had fun!  We divided into four teams and had about 45 minutes to take pictures, at which point we met back up at another leaders' home to view the pictures and see how creative everyone got.  Kaylee had the idea that, when possible, we would have someone "planking" in the picture, which made our photos even funnier (I thought).  Here is a list of what we had to try and take pictures of within the given time frame, along with some of my favorite pictures from my group.

• Picture with an Elder
• Picture of someone reading the scriptures
• Picture of your group on a slide
• Find or buy a postcard, every team member must sign it and address it to a missionary from a ward
• Picture of a school
• Sign with the population of a city
• Library card
• Human pyramid
• Address with a 1, 2, 3
• Mailbox that is interesting or different
• Bus stop bench with everyone sitting on it
• Team member doing a chin up (extra points for each team member)
• Pink car
• Flower to a senior member of our ward
• Pay phone

• Picture by a store sign
• All team members in a tree
• Riding a kids toy
• A group member carrying a stranger's packages/bags to their car
• Team doing something creative at a kids playground

• Entire team making goofy faces
• A picture of an interesting sign
• Picture of an unusual animal (the more unusual the better)
• Entire team jumping (all must be in the air)
• Create a work of art with sidewalk chalk in a public parking lot
• I can't believe we all fit in here

• An unusual perspective - could be everyone's shoes, or just the top of their heads
• Ride something - the bigger the better
• Entire team playing air guitar
• Get a goofy picture made with one of our Young Women that didn't come and bonus points if they come for the rest of the evening