First of all I'm not going to claim to be an expert at all in this area, but I have reflected recently what has helped our family emotionally prepare.
1. Testimony. By far the thing that I think has helped us in this area is our testimonies. Because we know that we have a Savior that loves us and a loving Heavenly Father with a plan we know that sharing this knowledge is a great way to spend a few months of our lives. 2. Separate: The next thing that I think is most important is sending our children off to things and sending us off to things. From the time they were little we were okay to be apart. Not that we didn't rejoice when the person who was gone returned, but we knew we were okay. This was a baby step process.
3. Technology. Enjoy the new communication methods! With that being said our lives don't revolve solely around that. We don't sit waiting for that call, or that e-mail. Do we look forward to it? Absolutely! However, when my first daughter's e-mail wouldn't come until late in the day I was happy for her because that usually meant that they got to do something fun for P-day that day that was out of the ordinary. They both knew that I would never want them to sacrifice an experience in order to chat. An e-mail from them was good. 4. Change Your Mindset. Rejoice in their experiences. Instead of dwelling on what I miss about them not being here, I think more of what they are getting to do. Who they are helping? What lives they are changing, including their own? Do I miss my talks with them at 2 am? Absolutely! But it would be selfish of me to hold them back and to keep them from teaching others. 5. Live. Live your life and be your best self. They are growing so I figure I should try to grow too. My daughter asked if we were going to Disneyland without her and we said yes. She went to Disneyland, Disneyland Tokyo, and Disney World without us! 6. Independence. Let them make their own decisions and understand consequences. About the time our children turned 16 they stopped asking for permission to go places and we started asking what their plan was. We did this on purpose so that they could get used to managing more of their decisions. This didn't mean that we didn't voice our opinion if we felt cautionary words were needed. By the time they were Seniors they were pretty good at managing their lives, including stressful days, and part of that was knowing that we were there if they needed advice. We also taught them to pray for their own answers and then we supported what they felt. For the mission field they still have us, but they also have a companion, a Mission President, and their Heavenly Father. 7. Rejection. Both of our daughters are performers. Both went to many auditions and in that audition process you learn to deal with rejection, with accepting what role is offered to you, and how to accept constructive criticism. Hear the notes, apply the notes, make yourself a better you. Our son played some sports and entered some art contests so he also learned this lesson. 8. Hover Parent? What can I say, this is not me. Not that the mama bear doesn't come out at some points. Not that I'm not aware of what my children are doing and will stop them IF needed. However, I do teach them to run their lives, advocate for themselves, and deal with those day to day problems that come up. For instance once they hit High School I expect them to take care of most of their things for school. In fact for the first SEP/Parent Teacher Conferences I send an e-mail to their teachers letting them know I can be reached by e-mail, but I expect my children to talk to their teachers. My son recently decided to change schools. He likes his school, but he found an activity that he is really good at and there are more opportunities with that in his new school. Other than us signing him in and out, he took care of it all. He talked to the teachers he was leaving because he really does like them and appreciate what they have taught him. (I'm not a total uninvolved parent - I do volunteer to bring food for rehearsal/practice nights and things like that :) 9. Responsibility. Our children had chores that did not have an allowance attached to it. They also helped raise money for most of their extra-curricular trips. They also got jobs as soon as they turned 16. During the school year they didn't work a lot of hours each week, but enough that they learned how to juggle job, school, church, and social. They also were always a part of a team, or a cast and these groups depended on their commitment. 10. Cry. Just so you know I did cry when both girl's left. I do tear up occasionally when something reminds me of them, but then I try to think about how they are growing and I find something to do. So cry but then move on :) Anyway for what it's worth this is how I think we have emotionally prepared ourselves for missions.
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She Found Her Main Squeeze! That was the theme. Mainly because my kitchen is decorated with lemonade stuff so we had to bring in very little for decorations.
What fun we had! We set up the dessert table with white and yellow tablecloths, plates, etc. Then I used the items from my kitchen for additional decorations. We also had a tripod chalkboard with the theme written on it outside. So this was super simple. Food:
The coolest parts was our lemonade bar area. We had regular lemonade and then we had syrups that they could add into their cup of lemonade. It was a hit. It was an open house style with mainly visiting, advice, and food, but we did open gifts and we did have a video of pictures playing. We also did the game where they asked Jesse questions and filmed his answers to see how many Ashly would get right. They also had a hashtag contest for their wedding page. We had a SUPER SUPER busy summer and our event was up the mountain so logistically a bit more of a challenge.
Okay so here are a few tips that made our wedding event planning easier: #1 know your child. I knew Ashly had a very clear vision of what she wanted so I helped her get as close to that as we could. Keeping these in mind there were never really any arguments. Prepping:
Set-Up
Feed Your Wedding Party Too many times the bridal party doesn't get to eat the day of, or even the day before if you are setting up the day before. See my post that tells how we fixed this. Packing Up After Note we couldn't do this because we ran out of time because of some glitches, but ideally I would have had the boxes and totes ready and tagged for each area so that it was easier for helpers to help. We had soooo much help that we just said put anything where you can, which caused more work for after and wasn't ideal for transporting. Last - go with the flow! Things will glitch, work the problem the best you can, then move on. For us this time it was all about using up what was left from the reception. So that is where we based our planning of the menu from, and the fast that she was going to South America. Here is what we did to easily feed 80 people:
Nacho Bar:
For everything above we didn't have large containers so that we wouldn't have to figure out how to keep it chilled. It was easy to dump more into the containers as needed because almost all of it was in bags, or jars. The following two areas is where we really used leftovers from the reception 2 weeks earlier. Drinks This was something that we did at Ashly's bridal shower. Flavored Lemonade Using:
S'mores - using sternos, sterno wire holders, and wooden skewers. Because of space constraints inside this was outside so the chocolate and marshmallows were in a cooler with ice. We used square appetizer plates that matched the ice cream cups. Then my family brought cut up fruit - thanks bunches to them!: 2 watermelons 2 canteloupes 1 pineapple some grapes Decorations - super simple: We like to use the food as the main decoration so we use boxes to make different levels and then we put a white plastic tablecloth underneath and another one over the boxes. Then we bought the silver containers that you can get at the Dollar Store in the wedding section. That with the bright food made a pretty line. (My husband made me a moveable island last year with beautiful cedar on the sides so the white tablecloths with the cedar looked great!) On the drink table we used a baby blue plastic tablecloth to contrast with the lemonade and it is the main color of the Argentinian flag. We hung up the Argentinian flag, a Called To Serve banner we made, and a couple of the pom pom and other garlands in baby blue and yellow because they are the main colors on the flag. We just bought these at the Dollar Store. Have you ever been a part of a wedding and spent a good chunk of the day hungry? Not that there isn't good food around, you just don't end up getting to have very much, if any. Well, my daughter got married this past weekend and I figured we needed to make sure we all enjoyed the weekend and didn't get hangry. It was actually very easy and very cheap.
Her reception was on mountain property about 45 minutes from our house. It was at our friend's cabin and so we needed to pretty much take everything up, since it's not an event venue. So we started this journey early Friday afternoon. To help the set-up crew's stamina and morale I had washed and wrapped some potatoes and as soon as we arrived I popped them into the oven. 2 hours later, I pulled out a can of chili and a can of cheese sauce and heated them up, set out sour cream, bacon bits, butter, and salt and some rolls and we had food. It was super worth the time and effort and gave us the energy to finish out the last hour. The next day her wedding was at 8 am and then we had a fantastic luncheon at 11 am, however by the time we got up the mountain again at 2:00 and had set up for another 2 hours we were all hungry again. So at 4:00 I put some pre-made meatballs into the oven. 30 minutes later we opened up a bag of chips, sliced some watermelon, and we were all full and ready for the 3 hour reception and the clean-up after! I would highly recommend this to all doing a wedding. Bracelet making! Always a hit any way you do it.
Painting! Always a hit any way you do it. This time we made little tiki's. (coloring also a hit) Games! Always a hit whether it's card games like Uno, or sitting around group games like Mafia. My husbands family sets up a version of horseshoes that is much more compact. It uses washers instead of horseshoes and PVC pipe flush in the ground instead of a post. It is set up just like horseshoes, but only about 1/3rd of the distance is needed. The PVC pipe is big enough that the washer can land inside of it. So it's a little bit like mini gold too . . . You get 3 washers/tries each round. You get 3 points if the washer lands in the PVC pipe, 2 points if it's touching the PVC pipe edge, and 1 point if you are within 1 washer of the PVC pipe and yours is the closest. (cover your holes when you leave) I have other things in the activity tote too like squirt guns, finger darts, waterball slingshots, etc. My family also likes to set up a small mini golf course and/or an ultimate frisbee course. (Do make sure that you cover any holes you dig.) We set up the mini golf course with PVC pipe in holes to land your ball in. Theme: Moana
Place: Beaver High Adventure Camp Itinerary: (This is what did happen NOT necessarily what was planned. I have learned through the years to go with it and that was super important this time!) Wednesday 10:00 am meet 1:30 pm arrive at Beaver High Adventure/check in 2:00 - 4:30 pm lunch, free time, set up camp 4:30 pm camp orientation 5:00 - 7:30 pm kick-off activity/dinner (The girls did a rotation of Moana themed activities in 3 groups. When they weren't in the activities they were eating dinner.) 7:45 - 10:00 pm Value Walk/S'mores/Movie The girls went one at a time through a values station. Once the first girl finished with Faith they went on to Divine Nature and another girl went to Faith and then when that first one moved to Individual Worth, the 2nd girl moved to Divine Nature, and then a 3rd girl entered the walk. 3 returned missionaries a member of the Bishopric, and 4 leaders all ran a station. We had 4 minutes with each girl. We could see and hear the stations on either side of us, but we were also spaced enough apart that it wasn't a bother. While the girls were waiting their turn, or after they got back, they watched The Other Side Of Heaven and made/ate their S'mores. Each station was somewhat of an object lesson/discussion. Example of a station: I had Individual Worth and I had IW description words on Jenga blocks. The girl built a Jenga tower about 7 tiers high with those blocks, looking at the words. I asked them if it was fair to say that Heavenly Father would use those words to describe them. Then I took a piece out. If the word was "welcome," I asked if anyone had ever made them feel not welcome. Most often they said yes. I then pointed to the tower so that they could see that it was still standing. Heavenly Father still knows these are words that describe you. We repeated this 2 more times. Then I talked about how if we went to church, read the scriptures, prayed, etc. we could always remember what Heavenly Father knows we are and I replaced the blocks. Obviously for each girl it went a bit different based on what they said/shared as we did this. Thursday - put in 15,000 steps today walking back and forth! 8:30 - noon COPE course low activities 12:00 - 1:00 pm lunch back at camp 1:00 - 3:00 pm waiting for high COPE course with games (waiting on weather) 3:00 - 5:00 pm free time, various crafts, and games 5:00 - 6:00 pm dinner 6:00 - 7:30 pm waiting for high COPE course with games (waiting on weather again!) 7:30 - 8:00 pm practice our song 8:00 - 9:45 pm cookies and milk and mafia 9:45 pm bedtime story Friday 7:30 am - 3:00 pm away from camp river rafting and hiking (split into two groups) 3:00 - 5:00 pm free time 5:00 - 6:00 pm dinner 6:15 - 8:45 pm HIGH COPE COURSE FINALLY!!! 9:00 - 10:30 pm songs around the campfire, devotional, and testimonies/sharing thoughts/more serious camp awards Saturday 9:30 am pulling out of camp (in the rain I might add!!!) The girls also had a reflection journal that had conference quotes and Moana quotes for each day for them to ponder and think about. Girl's Camp: I was reflecting on gear this time and the very first time that I went to camp as a leader. That first time I had everything and the kitchen sink! I wanted to try and bring EVERYTHING. This time I went much more minimalistic. I discovered a couple of things:
1. We had everything we needed and used pretty much everything we took. 2. Packing up was MUCH easier. 3. We needed a MUCH smaller trailer. 4. Cleaning up was SOOOO MUCH easier. 5. We didn't miss anything of those items. Anyway those are my words of experience. However, with that being said, I would never ever ever skimp on ways to keep dry if rain is in the forecast. Three times I have been on the mountain with MUCH rain and all 3 times our camp has been dry and functioning. The first time was when I was a youth and that has stuck with me as a leader. We knew that this year at Girl's Camp we were going to take advantage of being in a place that was packed with activities so we wanted to spend little to no time cooking and cleaning. This is how we did it:
1. Pre-cook and freeze EVERYTHING that we could. The only thing that had to be cooked that we didn't pre-cook was the sausage links. Everything else was pre-cooked. 2. Use disposable eating goods. So that we weren't wasteful I didn't pack very much extra. You could also get recycled items. I also used what we already had in storage. This was our super simple menu: Wednesday: lunch - own sack lunches dinner - roasted hot dogs over the fire, chips, watermelon, s'mores Thursday: breakfast - breakfast burritos, fruit, cocoa, juice lunch - chicken pitas, grapes, chips dinner - taco salad, mandarin oranges, cookies & milk (provided by a mom) note: we had extra chicken from lunch, Doritos from the night before, and tortillas from breakfast so we put them as an additional option for the taco salads and we found out that making their own burritos was far more popular than a taco salad. Also, they loved the chicken option. Friday: breakfast - sausage links, french toast sticks, juice, fruit, cocoa lunch - sandwiches, chips, apples (cookies provided by a mom) dinner - marinara meatball subs, salad, chips (leftovers too) - the meatballs were pre-cooked and frozen (we made our own so we had to be careful when we were stirring them in the sauce to heat them up) Saturday: breakfast - cereal, granola bars Snack Tote: granola bars, fruit snacks, goldfish crackers, leftovers from meals such as chips & fruit We literally were ready to eat in 15 minutes and cleaned up in 15 minutes for each meal. We literally had a few serving utensils to wash and dutch ovens to wipe out and that was it. So I packed by day - meaning each day had 1 tote and 1 cooler with everything we needed for that day in it. (I did have 1 tote with basic cooking supplies such as oil, salt/pepper, cooking utensils, etc. and 1 snack tote.)
Here is what Thursday's packing looked like: Menu: Breakfast: breakfast burritos with eggs, hash browns, cheese, ground sausage, salsa, juice, cocoa and leftover watermelon from the night before Lunch: chicken pita sandwiches with chips, grapes, juice (PB&J alternate) Dinner: Taco Salad with mandarin oranges Tote Of Supplies: Juice that did not need to be refrigerated initially Tortillas Salsa - enough for two meals Pitas Mayo Cans of beans Taco Seasoning #10 can of mandarin oranges 3 Ziplock baggies of plastic silver wear - 1 set for each meal Plastic cups - 1 1/2 for each person (everyone also had their own refillable water bottle) Cups for cocoa Cocoa Paper Plates - enough for 1 for everyone for every meal plus a few extra Peanut Butter Jam Loaf Of Bread Cooler: Frozen eggs - see my eggs post Frozen hash browns Frozen pre-cooked ground sausage Shredded cheese Frozen pre-cooked shredded chicken Shredded lettuce Sour Cream Frozen pre-cooked ground beef Things that were too big and came up individually: Tortilla chips Box of individual bags of chips Grapes The great thing was that with each meal we cleared space in coolers for things that needed to be refrigerated when opened. As is pretty normal for Girl's Camp, there was someone going back from camp pretty much every day so when we were done with a cooler and tote we would send it back. If there was anything we were transferring to use the next day, we would slip that into the next cooler. When I got home most of the food "stuff" was taken care of! We also sent all of the activity things we didn't need anymore home - such as the technology for the movie. |
AuthorA mom trying her best to make the most out of things on a budget and time constraints. Archives
June 2022
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