Primary January Singing Time Olympics

The Sochi Winter Olympics is coming soon. So I thought of something that I used to do in Primary Singing Time during the Olympics that is always fun.

 Olympic Ribbon Sticks for twirling to music!

Olympic Ribbon Twirling…we can do some of that in Primary Singing Time!

HERE  at Oriental Trading is the set I bought to use for music time and in my classroom. I used it at end of the year musical too to add some pizzaz! Kids love twirling the ribbons to music like they do in the Olympics. But you can make your own twirlers too. 

Make up some ribbons on individual chop sticks and pass them out to 5 or 7 kids in your Primary. They can stand in place and whip the ribbons around to the beat of the song you are singing like they are doing the Gymnastic Artistic Ribbon Dancing.

I just taped the ribbons on to some wooden skewers I had gotten from the Dollar Store.  Or you could use chopsticks. You’d only need 3 pairs. I bet Pei Wei or Panda would give them to you FREE! 

My hubs always says, “That’s stupid, it’s not even a sport, Look Ma, I got a gold medal in ribbon waving!!” lol. He makes me laugh all day long.

This is ribbon I had on hand. You could use curling ribbon or  craft ribbons of any kind. 

Here’s how mine look. I think I made them about 3 feet long with ribbon. 

Use up all your leftover ribbons from packages. Glue gun the end of the ribbon to the pointy tip of the chopstick.

These are the REAL ribbons for gymnasts…..but we could do them in  rainbow colors! 

Then make up a list of songs on the board and choose kids to come up and get a chopstick and choose a song. Then they can pass out the rest to their friends and have them all stand up and wave like crazy while the rest of the group sing their hearts out.

Fun Olympic Ribbon Singing Time Fun! 
These were from ebay. I bought a set for my classroom from Oriental Trading for $20.00 bucks. You could also make
them out of crepe paper but they wouldn’t last but a day. Link HERE to see.
Hey, I thought it was really fun! Kids will too! 

Then you choose the next really great singer to choose another song and pass the other sticks out to his friends. By the time you are done almost everybody will have had a chance to do some Olympic Ribbon Gymnastics. (At least you can call it that!) 😀

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I Hope They Call Me on a Mission

Last year I had my son a 30th birthday “Old Goat” party. We played pin the tail on the goat. It was fun. And it got me to thinking. How could you do this game in primary?

I made this goat poster to play Pin the Tail on the Old Goat….

What if you played, “PIN THE TAG ON THE MISSIONARY” instead?

Here I am playing the game….what a geek, I know what you are thinking…GEEK!
Well, you would be right there…..

The little girls loved the game……Meg confessed after
she won the game (4 year old) that she could see through the blindfold.  So funny! 

Old Goat bundt cake for Jeff’s 30th Birthday Party….tee hee…..

We could do the same thing with Pin the Badge on the Missionary. On the back of each badge could be a song title. Then when kids come up to pick a badge, either have them answer a question, or just have the group sing the song and then let them close their eyes and put on the badge (or get a ski mask and have them put it over their head and eyes) and try to put it on Mike the Missionary.

MISSIONARY SONGS:
I Want To Be a Missionary Now
I Hope They Call Me on a Mission
Army of Helaman

This website  mn crafts has a cute tutorial on how to do a “Pin the Badge on the Missionary” Game. Kids would LOVE this. It is so CUTE!   

Or reverse it and you could ask each child a question to get them to come up and pick a badge. A cute badge downloadable is below.

It works for Bobbi has some DARLING downloadable missionary tags and this cute printable to send home with the kids to help them start being a missionary NOW!  I love this! 

Missionaries are awesome peeps! I just love them! 

Missionary Questions for the Primary Kiddos:
Talk about your favorite Church hymn/song.
Tell something you can do to help your testimony grow.
Give someone a sincere complement.
Who is your favorite person from the scriptures? Why?
Share what you could write in a BoM to give to a friend.
Tell why you appreciate Jesus Christ.
Name two ways you can set an example.
How could you be a friend to someone who seems to be left out?
Name a Church magazine/book you could share with a friend.
Repeat and/or explain an article of faith.
Name a Church activity you can invite a friend to.
Repeat and/or explain your favorite scripture.
Name two ways you can be kind to others.
Name a Church video you could share with a friend.

This was at my son’s missionary homecoming in December a few years back. He is the one on the left, with arms around all his former companions who came to hear him speak.  I love all of these boys. They were a Band of Brothers. 
I Want to Be a Missionary Now! 

I love missionaries. I remember going to pick up my son, Devin, from Armenia. He was an assistant to the president in the MTC and also in Armenia’s mission office which included Georgia. It is near Iran and Turkey, not a mom’s favorite place in the world. But he learned a little Russian, and Armenian and could understand a little Georgian language. I got to see what those missionaries feel for their investigators and converts. Devin was teaching some “Persians” which really means Iranians when we left. I saw their 1/2 size translated Books of Mormon (completely marked up). I thought to myself. “I’m looking at the future leadership of our church in Armenia….these Iranians who have read what they could of the mini bits of translation that they could get.  I still am moved when I think of them studying the gospel in small, humble rooms in homes….being offered baked balls of flour rolled in sugar for cookies and water for refreshments. 

Some of the many missionaries we housed for a year and a half in our home. The one holding our dog is Sister N. from Tonga. I could never really say her name all that well. (Neutupuivaha) 
We had many missionary sisters and about 6 missionary elders over the time we housed them. It was always fun, exciting with news of the work, and meaningful to me and my hubs. 

I would not trade the experience of seeing my son doing the work of the Lord, for anything, for any amount of money, time and all the myriad of details my husband and I had to both overcome in our jobs to get off work for 9 days. It was life changing for me to see the people of his mission and how he had been changed.  

Devin with the missionaries who lived in our home….
Why was our dog Bruce always in our missionary pictures? I guess they loved our dog a lot. Except when he ate Elder Lufe’s beef jerkey he had left on his bed….hehehe….He was from New Zealand (he is 2nd from the left). He was always so polite! You’ll notice I”m holding my doggie’s tennis ball and that’s all he is caring about! lol 

Here is a fun Missionary Craft for kids to make. The legs grow longer as the missionary “grown a foot or two” super cute! Primary kids would LOVE this for sharing time or to take home from Primary Music Time! Check it out HERE. This was originally in The Friend Magazine.

Many months later I was able to host a mission reunion at my house. 70 kids from all over came and packed into our home to hear their former mission president. There is really nothing like it on God’s green earth. The spirit just oozes everywhere. Love is pouring out of everybody. I loved sitting and being a fly on the wall. 

All the Armenian Missionaries in Dev’s Armenian district in the MTC….Lots of them were from Utah. 

Danny being his goofy self….

 8 years ago  we lost our 17 year old senior in high school in a car crash on a rainy October day. His name was Danny. I think of him serving the Lord too….on some kind of mission. Maybe helping all my relatives in some way who have all gone before. I feel him around me from time to time and I know he is about doing good things. And I have hope to someday see him again. Great HOPE!

My Danny (the youngest of my 4 kids) at his brother Jeff’s wedding….
Me and my hubs became Ordinance Workers soon after Danny’s death. It has helped us heal being in the temple each week. It’s a good place to go if you need help on something life has thrown you that you feel you can’t do on your own. 

So….. Sing about missionaries, honor those missionaries of your wards. Keep the goal bright and shiny in the minds of Primary kids you have influence over. It changes lives all over the world, this thing we call being a missionary for the Lord. I’m a convert. I had 2 missionaries I love and remember too. Elder Whitchurch and Elder Thigpen. Wherever you are, thanks for everything. I hope I can be just like you when I grow up. 😀

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January 2013 Goals and Motivation…His Grace Is Sufficient by Brad Wilcox

I can’t tell you how much this talk has buoyed me up this week. Does anybody else get kind of “down in the dumps” after Christmas? Moms all over the country work so hard during the holiday time and it sometimes feels like all that work and you didn’t feel really great after all the hoopla was over. Maybe, like me, you have unrealistic expectations? I know I get that way. I want everybody to just be ecstatic over all my work, gifting, dinners, and sing my praises or something. You know, it’s like when you are trying to keep the house just immaculate, but those toilets don’t scream “thank you!” for shining them up over and over, now do they? Nope.

All my work is done at this point. I was taking a moment to feel my accomplishments…..before the chaos began…..

Cinnamon Rolls doctored up a bit from Rhodes Rolls….

Morning brunch on Christmas Day…..I have made date nut bread, cinnamon rolls, hashbrown sausage casserole and corn pudding. Check them all out HERE at Weekday Chef my other blog. 

And I had out of town company in the form of my little 11 month old darling granddaughter and my son and his wife. And it was so fun to have them around. They are delightful, funny, great company and entertaining to us. But when they left I was kind of sad, you know how that is if you have kids who live around the country. I hate that part where they go and live their own lives! It shouldn’t be allowed I tell ya. 😀

My cute grandkiddos and my son Dev and his cute wife Caitlin.

Lena after eating spaghetti and enjoying it as you can see…..lol  

Then I heard about a really great person whom I have always admired that got excommunicated from the church. I was quite devastated. I just really care about this person and their family. His kids and I were in a play our stake put on called ” City of Joseph” a few years back. I just was very sad about it. And there are other things going on that make me kind of worried and sad about others’ lives in and out of the church and how it will all work out in the end. I hope it works out good for everybody of course. I have a big, bleeding heart and it can get me down at times worrying about everybody I care about.

The 6 grandkiddos all smiling at once!  

So my hubs found this talk for me and I have listened to it multiple times. My hubs is like that. He cares for me so well. And I just love Brad Wilcox. He is a teacher educator at BYU and I’m a teacher. I’ve gone to hear him speak on education and gospel topics (he was a mission president in Brazil and I got to hear him speak before he left) and he gives such a great message to all who are seekers and believers like I am. Maybe it will lift you up this New Year’s eve like it does me. There is so much hope and good in this world. I think if we actively look for it, and keep trying to improve in all the ways we are weak, then we will be made stronger, and we will feel more confident in our own progress on this earth. And when I feel confident and good about myself, I am happier. And when I am happy I can be of greater service to others.

Our goal is to find the JOY in this life, even when we struggle too. Life is still good! 

My newest grandbaby Chelsea and my hubs….I love these guys so much….

As I look forward to 2014 I realize that time and persistence and focus is what I have in my favor. I can choose to improve in small, little ways this year. I can keep focused on my small goals and persist over and over even when I feel I have failed yet again.  And I know the Lord’s grace will cover up my flaws and make all the difference when all is said and done. I know this is true and I testify of it. I feel His presence near me sometimes when I am doing something really good (usually serving others) and I so appreciate that spiritual gift that I’ve been given. I think as I get older, I realize it is rare.

My granddaughter drew this picture and gave it to me. I loved it so much I may have to frame it….

 I hope all my family can grow this year in strength of will, and the ability to serve others in a greater capacity. And I hope and wish for all of you so much LOVE in greater waves in the year to come! God Bless you all in 2014!

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Primary Singing Time January 2013 Snowball Fun!

This is a fun activity I’ve posted about before but since we just had the snowstorm of the century, this snowball activity might be fun! At least here in snowy Utah! It’s a Primary Snowball “toss”. (Don’t call it a snowball fight or you’ll be sorry!) Tell the kids it’s their once a year time when they can pelt you with snowballs! Yipee! They will love that.

Here’s a Link for Ping Pong Balls. These would make fine snowballs…..

Juggle your snowballs using old white socks tied in a knot or white marshmallows…giant sized! 

  My sister-in-law also gave me this fun idea. She was also a chorister for tons of years like me.

You could also use styrofoam balls for snowballs…..

Give each of the kids a piece of white scratch paper. It could have stuff on the back, nothing fancy. Then tell them to write their favorite primary song on it and crumple it up. One class at a time can go and throw the snowballs at you. Then you reach down and pick one up!

My cute “Snowman” table setting. I added a table runner but forgot to take another picture. 

 Whoever’s snowball it is you will then sing their favorite song however you want to. Maybe they could try to “juggle” 3 snowballs while you get everyone to sing. (these could be white beanbags made with old white socks filled with rice or dried beans or popcorn, then tied in a fat knot and cut off. OR they could be some of those giant marshmallows they sell for a dollar at the market!  Or you could use ping pong balls. They are only a few buck at Walmart or Target in the sporting goods section. That is always fun!

Whiffle balls could also be white snowballs! 

Or white whiffle balls would work great too. I’ve bought sets of 4 of those for a dollar at the Dollar store.I thought you could be prepared with a fun little song taken from Primary-to-Go. Let’s do a fun rendition of Popcorn Popping called “Snowflakes Falling”

 Popcorn Popping with a little WINTER TWIST!  

Snowflakes Falling on the Evergreen Trees…..

I LOOKED OUT THE WINDOW AND WHAT DID I SEE?
(Put your hands in round circles like binoculars around your eyes)


SNOWFLAKES FALLING ON THE EVERGREEN TREE.
(wiggle fingers from high to down low like snow falling)


WINTER’S BROUGHT ME SUCH A NICE SURPRISE,
(close both fists, then flick them open on surprise)


SNOWFLAKES FALLING RIGHT BEFORE MY EYES. 
(wiggle your fingers above your head and pass in front of your face)


I CAN MAKE A SNOWBALL, I KNOW I CAN,
(motions of making a snowball with both cupped hands)


THREE SNOWBALLS MAKE A BIG SNOWMAN.
(motion your arms to make the outline of a 3 circled snowman)


I KNOW IT’S REALLY SO, AND I’M GLAD TO SEE,
(nod yes, at the same time you  point to your smiling face)


SNOWFLAKES FALLING ON THE EVERGREEN TREES.
(wiggle your fingers from high to down low like snow falling).

Once There Was a Snowman… Here’s the white sheet snowman I cut up and colored with permanent markers one year. I used it over and over. Just squat down holding him and have him grow with you as you sing “tall, TALL, TALL!” 

Use Xylophones and bells to let kids keep the rhythm of the songs you are singing. check out my store for musicial instrument links. Kids love musical instruments in Primary.

Here are the guitar or autoharp chords if you want to play them instead of piano.  Sometimes I would bring my Auto Harp or Use the xylophone above to get the kids to come up and play notes to the beat as you all sing. That is always motivating! 

  Another good song is Once There Was a Once There was a Snowman. Link to my post with pictures I did last winter.  Snowman Link. My SNOWMAN is made from an old sheet. I choose a child to come up and scrunch down really little with it in their hands. Then when we sing tall, tall, tall, they make it grow. When it melts then they do the opposite of course. They let the snowman shrink back to a puddle again.

My 5 year old granddaughter made this snowman picture and gave it to me. I think I might have to frame it I loved it so much! Whee! 

Here I am at Lindon’s Stringtown Railroad Polar Express with my grandkids. It was lots of fun but super COLD! 

 Have some fun while the weather is wintery again! In the meantime I’ve been discovering how fun it is to go sledding with my 5 and 6 year old granddaughters. It reminded me why life is so fun! Now get out there and enjoy your winter time!

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to all! I am so grateful for all that has been given to me in this life, especially the ultimate gift of the Savior’s birth and his grace. I hope you all have a wonderful and peaceful Christmas Holiday. Enjoy your families!

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December Primary Singing Time

YOU ARE CALLED OF GOD

You are called of God. The Lord knows you. He knows whom He would have serve in every position in His Church. He chose you. He has prepared a way so that He could issue your call.

You are called to represent the Savior. Your voice to testify becomes the same as His voice, your hands to lift the same as His hands. His work is to bless His Father’s spirit children with the opportunity to choose eternal life. So, your calling is to bless lives.

There will be times when you will feel overwhelmed. One of the ways you will be attacked is with the feeling that you are inadequate. But you have access to more than your natural capacities, and you do not work alone. The Lord will magnify what you say and what you do in the eyes of the people you serve.”

Pres. Eyring

This is why Pres. Eyring is my favorite. He was my Ricks College President back in the day when I was in my very first year of college. That was a long time ago!!. He was nice then and he is just as nice now. If you ever feel overwhelmed or inadequate in your calling, come back and read this again. It simply makes me feel joyful.

We did Baptisms at Draper, Utah temple last week…..awesome! 

I just wanted to share that I found a bunch of my relatives on Family Search.com and my hubs and I went to the Draper, Utah temple and did baptisms for them. It was neat to have my hubs baptize me and do the confirmations too. I loved being there. We both used to be temple ordinance workers when that temple first opened and before that were ordinance workers at the Jordan River Temple. I miss it. There is no place like being in that peaceful, otherworldly place.

Christmas Bells are Ringing Flipchart at Sugardoodle!

Anyway, I love the music of the season. I always used to have the kids sing for Sacrament Meeting a week before Christmas. I loved to do CHRISTMAS BELLS ARE RINGING and AWAY IN A MANGER because they were both so easy to learn.
.
Picture a Christmas Song    When Joseph Went to Bethlehem Song

But I’ve also done PICTURE A CHRISTMAS and WHEN JOSEPH WENT TO BETHLEHEM too. They are two of my favorites. It’s not too late! Do a Christmas number. The parents love it and it special music always adds to the spirit of the meeting. mmmmhmmm…

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Thanksgiving Primary Singing Time

Well we just had the missionaries over for a pre-Thanksgiving dinner Wednesday night. I made a ham and cheesy potatoes and some pecan tarts and raspberry jello with cranberries and crushed pineapple in it. Yummy cornbread and corn too. Now I’m going to have so much food tomorrow with our turkey and stuffing and all, that I don’t even want to think about it. I’ll be in a food coma!

 White you are planning your Sunday singing time, enjoy all of this yummy food I’ve eaten and taken pictures of this week, recovering from said food coma! This Sunday I would use turkeys and put a song on each turkey feather. That is always fun! If you haven’t done turkeys yet. If you have, then Put a curl on santa’s beard and songs on each white curled strip on his face. Use a printout of Santa or else just a cardboard cutout.

Here are some of the yummy dishes I ate this week at various harvest parties and get togethers!
These potatoes were DIVINE!

The secret ingredient in the twice baked potatoes is cream! And of course the bacon makes everything betta! 
Chinese Chicken Salad with dried cranberries and mandarin oranges. I added some slivered almonds too. Yum. 
Corn pudding. I’d never tried this before but it was good! Kind of sweet and savory at the same time. I found a recipe at Taste of Home HERE that got a 4.9 rating! It would be a fun, new recipe to try! I loved it! 

I made some cute Thanksgiving cupcakes too…Scarecrows and Turkey Cupcakes with Orange Slice Candy hats and Lemonhead heads and Candycorn feathers and beaks.

I also found these fall colored Reese’s Pieces candies that added a yummy touch to these Peanut Butter Cookies. They looked pretty on my fall brown crockery platter. 
Another one of the teachers made these delectable chocolate turkey cupcakes. Yummo! 

And these pecan tartlets were to die for. I ate two of them! They are like a tiny pecan pie! I found a similar recipe at All Recipes.com, HERE.  It’s my favorite cooking website because everything is rated by like thousands of home cooks. You KNOW it’s gonna be good.

Had to have something healthy too! Everything tasted really great. 
Another yummy thing we had was Cranberry Sprite! It’s NEW and Superbly YUMMY! Try it this holiday! 

I am planning my menu for Thanksgiving Day too. I’m going to do my favs but add some of those pecan tartlets and some Sweet Potato Casserole too.

Little Pinecone Turkey Placecards….check out my previous blog post for the tutorial Here at Weekday Chef.
Besides making some excellent memories with your kids and family this year doing some fun crafts like Gingerbread houses, Little turkeys out of pine cones (above… my granddaughter is modeling them as hair bows lol) or making sugar Christmas cookies or breads….we play Pin the Hat on the Turkey. 
 What side dishes do you plan to go along with your turkey and stuffing? 
Side dishes….besides your obligatory potatoes, gravy and stuffing, WHAT ARE YOUR OTHER FAVORITES? 
WELL….And besides all of the wonderful pies we all make….My daughter-in-law Cait made these cute mini apple pies….So cute….what else do you love on Thanksgiving Day???! 
My favorite salad is one my mom always made…..fresh cranberry….Check out the recipe HERE at Weekday Chef. The fun thing about it is my siblings all make this one too. You make family traditions with all of your side dishes, did you KNOW THAT? Yeah. It’s true! 
My son  Devin made this spinach salad….doesn’t it look yummy? So pretty too! It is seriously one of my very favorite side salads to any meal….with spinach, candied pecans, avocado, strawberries and a sweet raspberry vineagrette. 
My niece Becky made this to die for sweet potato casserole…I found a recipe for it at All Recipes.com HERE. …it is really yummy and tastes almost llike a dessert it’s so good! 
One that I have always made is the French’s Fried Onions Green Bean Casserole with Campbells Cream of Mushroom Soup in it. You just Have to have some green bean casserole! The recipe is on the back of the French’s Onion Can. 

And of course you can’t forget the homemade rolls and real salted butter. I love to have some really good raspberry jam to go with it.

Here is the link at Patties Place. I have lots of Thanksgiving decor I’ve taken pics of.  It’s my other blog. Try a new side dish this Thanksgiving you haven’t tried before. And have fun at YOUR get together this fall holiday! Have a very Happy Thanksgiving from my house to yours!

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November Primary Singing Time Ideas

My favorite Thanksgiving Song is “I Know Heavenly Father Loves Me” the older version. A group of my friend sang it at my baptism when I was an 18 year old new convert. I love this song in 4 part harmony the best, but it’s words make it very special to sing at Thanksgiving time….
It is the one that goes like this….

I KNOW HEAVENLY FATHER LOVES ME

Whenever I hear the song of a bird
Or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face
Or the wind as it rushes by,
Whenever I touch a velvet rose
Or walk by a lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Father created for me.
He gave me my eyes that I might see
The color of butterfly wings.
He gave me my ears that I might hear 
The magical sound of things.
He gave me my life, my mind, my heart: 
I thank him reverently
For all his creations, of which I’m a part.
Yes, I know Heavenly Father loves me.

I remember being a Sunday School Chorister in a University of Utah Institute ward and I had the back row of big burly single adults come up and hold bits of a tree branch, a velvety rose, a silk bird etc. and I pointed to each visual aide as we sang the song through. It was fun. You could simply collect the main icons of the song and do the same thing. Kids will learn it so quickly.

I’ve started decorating for FALL…..the Front entry table is ready for the big day! 

I made a fall arrangement of silks…
I’ve been collecting Thanksgiving decor for ages….It’s an illness…

I’d bring a few decorations with the theme of GIVING THANKS…..

This would also be a great song for the kids or a small ensemble to sing for Thanksgiving Sunday.

This is a great time to count our blessings. Find your favorite primary songs to sing about all that Heavenly Father has given us in this beautiful, bounteous world. In the meantime, find some things in your ward to be grateful for. Maybe somebody in the primary just had a new baby brother or sister. Or maybe you could invite the Bishop in and sing a special song “He’s Our Bishop”.

The kids LOVE that! And I think it would be nice to thank the bishop for all he does! You could also get a quartet of older kids to sing it at the microphone and the primary kids just join in the chorus.

Bring a pilgrim or a turkey or two…

I have always loved this time of year. FALL IS THE BEST SEASON OF ALL! I love the holidays, the scenery, the weather, and the traditions I keep with my family, and for all sorts of other reasons. Here are just a few of them. Here they are! My TOP 10 REASONS why the Fall Season is the BEST!

Maybe a Cornocopia or some Indian corn….

We’ve got a lotta turkeys around my house….hehe…A song on a few turkeys would be fun….

I saw this pretty wreath on pinterest. I’d love to make one of these! Check it out!
We’ve got some Indians…

We’ve got some Pilgrims

Or maybe you could just have the kids raise their hands about things they are thankful for. Then have them pick one of the Thanksgiving decorations you have brought with the name and number of the song taped to the back. I did that almost every holiday at least once. It’s so easy!

We made pine cone turkeys with colorful pipe cleaners….

Here are some cute things I found at the dollar store. They are SOLAR POWERED PILGRIMS!! SO they wiggle if placed under a light. Here is my pilgrim couple and their turkey. My grandkids will love this at their kiddie table.

Solar Dancing Pilgrims and Turkey….so fun! 

He is the funniest of the three. I got the last one! I hope they don’t fight over the turkey!

Fall Picture Wall decorations…the metal cone and rod iron are from RODWORKS in Draper….I love that place! 

Give Thanks….my cute turkey decorations

My grandkids’ table…

I would definitely use scarecrows and cornucopia this week, and maybe save the Pilgrims and Indians for next week, closer to the Thanksgiving holiday.

In the meantime, Happy Fall, Y’all!

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Top 10 Reasons Why Fall is the BEST Season

I have always loved this time of year. FALL IS THE BEST SEASON OF ALL!  I love the holidays, the scenery, the weather, and the traditions I keep with my family, and for all sorts of other reasons. Here are just a few of them. My TOP 10 REASONS why the Fall Season is the BEST! 
               
1. I LOVE GOING BACK TO SCHOOL!  I am a teacher and I just love all the excitement of kids and parents planning for a new school year. Everybody gets new clothes and backpacks and lunch pails (who doesn’t remember their first Barbie or Hot Wheels Lunch Pail?), a new haircut and shoes, and we get to meet our students for the year and decorate up our classrooms. It is a lot of fun for a teacher to do Back to School.

Back to School Buses with some of our school rules….

 We haven’t seen our teacher friends for a few months and it’s fun to reconnect again. I laugh at the Staples commercial where moms and dads are skipping happily through the store with carts full of school supplies while the kids trudge unhappily behind them while they are singing “It’s the MOST wonderful time of the year!”. I concur. 😀

Balloon Festival at the park down the street from us…her’s the hubs taking pics

2.HARVEST FESTIVALS!  I love the harvest time. Up here in Utah at the end of summer there are lots and lots of festivals celebrating the harvest. We have Peach Days, Onion Days, Scarecrow Festival, Lavender Days, Raspberry Days at our Bear Lake cabin and many others. Each  and every festival is unique and lots of fun. Some of them people dress up for too like Swiss Days in Heber and the Witch Scavenger Hunt at Gardner Village.  I love to go to a pumpkin patch or pick cherries or apples from an orchard with family members too. I like to then go make things out of my fruit like cherry crisp or fresh peach pies.  I enjoy going to a pumpkin patch too. Do you have to be a little kid to enjoy it? Nope. You can just smile at little kids enjoying it. 😀

Raspberry Days at Bear Lake where we have a cabin. It’s a blast.

Here are my cute little granddaughters at one of the festival picture booths.

Fall Festivals are so much fun in Utah.  I love them!!

 I love the fall scarecrow festival and the witch scavenger hunt at Gardner Village.

And who doesn’t love getting a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch? We love it! 

3.MY BIRTHDAY is in October. Well you can’t blame me for liking my birthday. You have to go on an adventure as you get older and have some kind of new experience. That much I have learned. Because as you get older your birthdays start to suck. So you have to change it up. Try something scary or new. Go experience a concert, a new sport, go see a wonder of the world. My brother and my nephew and I all share a birthday. So it’s fun to message each other and remember birthdays past that we’ve done together. It’s fun to get 100 likes on Facebook for your birthday too and get new things you buy yourself for a present (like my cool, new laptop I’m writing on right now). Spoil yourself on your birthday no matter what season it happens on. I try to also give presents or a party to somebody else near my birthday so I don’t feel like it’s a sucky day. It makes it lots more fun to give than to get.

The Band Perry Concert – I got tickets for the Hub’s birthday! 
Hiking Dog Lake above Brighten Ski Resort in Utah 
The hubs and I at Mary’s Lake above Brighton Ski Resort. 
Grandpa’s 87th Birthday Party at my house in September.
Hanging out with some of the great-grandkids 
Singing Happy Birthday with about 30 of the family gathered. Family is so fun. 
Here he is with one of his youngest great-grandsons, my only grandson, Dylan. 

4. HALLOWEEN PARTIES AND DECORATIONS! I just love seeing black and orange and purple and lime green decorations all over the stores right now. I love a cute witch or frankie and I love to see Jack o lanterns decorated in all sorts of ways. My favorite time to decorate my house is Halloween time. I have almost more decorations for Halloween than I do for Christmas! EEK! I know, it is an illness. 

Drink station at a Halloween Decorated Dinner Party I had recently. 
Entry table all in orange and black. 
I love me a good Halloween Party. Add some dry ice and bobbing for apples and a pumpking carving contest and a bunch of weirdos in costume and you can’t help but have fun. And add some little smokies pigs-in-a-blanket that look like mummies and some green jello and some kind of meat on a stick  and you’ve got it made! 
My favorite holiday and some of my favorite decorations are at Halloween time. 
Getting ready for trick or treaters. 
Fun treats for the kids made from rice crispie treats and M & Ms.

s.

Ladybug Lady at Halloween. I love dressing up!

And my grandkids coming over in costume to trick or treat grandma is one of the best traditions there ever was. I love those little witches and pirates. And I always plan something fun to give them like trick or treat baskets, stuffed animals, glow in the dark toys or some rice crispie treats on a stick or candy house

Halloween Party in my classroom with my grandkids and I as ladybugs and bees. 
My daughter and her 2 oldest kiddos.
Trick or Treat! My first Granddaughter Marisa. 

5. THANKSGIVING FUN! I love having people over for turkey dinner and eating till I’m stuffed with all of my favorite foods. And everybody is always so happy on Thanksgiving. There are no expectations like there are at Christmas. It’s just a fun holiday to get together.We play games, decorate gingerbread cookie houses and we pin the feather on the turkey. And we always go to the movies in the evening after everybody has gone home happy.

Entry tables and coffee tables are so pretty in the fall! I love the rustic colors. 

  I always have lots of fun pulling out the Thanksgiving Plastic Bins and getting reaquainted with all of my cool Fall decor again. I love the fall colors, the fake leaves, glass pumpkins, and scarecrows!

I love pretty placemats for every season and scented candles and silk flowers too.

I love Thanksgiving almost as much as Halloween Decor. 

 Here’s the family and lots of Autumn decor on an end table in my great room. Every year it looks a little bit different. It’s fun to decorate for each season of the year.

Fall picture wall….I change out the flowers and ribbon color and usually put a new swag of beads along the wrought iron picture holder.
Thanksgiving table decor 

Kitchen counters…..

I have lots of end tables I decorate for each season…..I get carried away….
Pilgrims and Indians….
Thanksgiving decorating 
Kiddie table I decorate for Thanksgiving every year. 

6. HIKES IN UTAH MOUNTAINS in early October. It’s not too hot, not too chilly, and the autumn colors on the mountains are just awe inspiring! I love the mix of orange, yellow, green and red. And the animals are all about too. Just yesterday I saw a young family of deer walk across the street as I was driving home from school. I couldn’t get my camera out fast enough! 5 little deer will just make your day, believe me!

Hiking Minnetonka Caves in Idaho with my sis. 
Hiking around Sundance Ski Resort in Utah. We didn’t see Robert Redford though…sigh….
Bridal Veil Falls hike on a pretty October day with the grandkids…..

Just above ALTA Ski Resort look what we saw hiking….it doesn’t get any better than this! 

Hiking in October is really the very best weather…..
We are surrounded by a dozen lakes and reservoirs to hike around– this was Bell Canyon Reservoir in October. 

7. I LOVE THE FALL SPORTS!  I love watching the World series in Baseball, and the start of Sunday Night Football. It is fun for my hubs and me, and for the guys in the family to get together and talk about our favorite teams while eating great football snacks

Fun Football Snacks
Football starts in the fall….Sunday Night Football is fun to look forward to! 
 
Lots of the kids do fantasy teams and that adds to the fun. I love watching my little grandkids playing sports too. Have you ever watched 4 year olds playing sports? It’s a HOOT.
Love the football snacks too. 
HERE you can check out how to tmake these soft pretzels for Monday Night Football!
 Or some football cookies or Pigs in a Blanket!
.And who doesn’t love a good, rough, hockey game in person? I love to go see the Utah Grizzlies and watch the clown shoot hot dogs up in the stands and stand up to dance to YMCA. And have you ever done “Chuck a Puck”? Well you haven’t lived then. It’s a fun sport, hockey is. My son Danny loved it and we loved watching him play and end up in the penalty box. It makes me smile thinking about it. We’ve got tickets for November already! 
 

 We make little individual pizzas in these cast iron pans They turn out like Pizza Hut deep dish pizzas.Gotta love football snacks! And I LOVE pigs in a blanket!

Football Snack Pizzas

8. FAMILY QUAD RIDING AT THE CABIN in the mountains during the Fall season. It is one of the most fun family outings a family can have. We take the little ones and put them on the back of the 4 wheelers in their own little helmets and go tour the national forests around our cabin. The weather is nice and crisp and breathing fresh air when you are doing something physical and beautiful at the same time is a rush. I love it!

Fall Family photos and quad riding….
The beauty of nature on display…..
Some of the most fun times we’ve had are riding the quads as a family up in the mountains above Bear Lake.
I’m always at the end of the pack…lol….

  I love coming in half warm half cold to get by the fire and drink some hot chocolate and grab some BBQ chips after riding quads or hiking out in the mountains of Utah. It’s just so neat. My hubs is a biker and he loves that too. I love watching the pelaton of bike racers whizzing around a curve at the mountain bike races they have right near our cabin too. But I just take the pictures. I don’t bike.
I love quad riding out in nature. 

9. MY GARDEN  looks good but it’s not as much work as summer gardens are.  I’ve done all the back breaking weeding and hoeing and mulching all summer and everything has slowed down but everything still looks good. It hasn’t all died yet but the workload has shrunk down to nothing but the occasional odd weed or watering. Mostly it is just beautiful and colorful with fall orange and red foliage, a harvest of green, yellow squash and orange pumpkins and red apples from the trees and vines and lovely fall mums and shrubs in shades of orange, yellow and burgundy.

Fall gardening…when the deer don’t eat the lilies I am a happy camper. 

It just makes me happy. Every year I put down a new door mat in fall colors for my front door and add a beautiful fall wreath with some Hobby Lobby Doo Dads of some sort.

It is just inviting to walk up my front path in the fall seeing the green pine trees, the aspens and the fall leaves changing colors on our other trees and shrubs. Fall is the best season for beauty in nature, I think.

I have 4 fruit trees and lots of veggie gardens……and 2 ponds. 

Some of the fruits of my labor…..

10. FALL FASHIONS  I love when all the new fall sweaters and scarves can come out and I can cover up with some of my favorite boots and overshirts and sweaters and scarves. I love the new fall looks in magazines and trying new fall colors of jewelry and nail polish. It all feels new like a new school year.

Even though I love Christmas in the winter and Easter in the Spring, and a good, long, summer vacation, I’ve always loved fall the best. I remember skating down my street, my cheeks flushed and pink, panting and happy with my new, red, birthday skates, loving the weather and being outdoors. And here I am 50 years later and I still feel exactly the same way. FALL ROCKS!

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Primary Music Time Games with Skittles

I Got this idea from another website HERE called PrimarySingingTime.  She uses a bag of Skittles and pulls names out of a cup for kids to come to the front. They have to close their eyes and put a Skittle in their mouth and try to guess the color/flavor. If they are right they get to pick the next song! But if they are wrong, the music director picks. That would be a great and fun way on a day when you don’t HAVE to teach a certain song, like in October when most of the Primary Presentations are done. 

Skittles games for Primary Singing Time 


You could do a similar game  on a whiteboard using Skittles (or M&Ms). Write the words to a song with the SKITTLES  variety of colors with markers. Then pick a child to come up and turn their backs away from the board. The pianist plays the song and  the students sing until you hold up the stop sign. They have to sing the next 2 words to get 2 skittles. If they can say/sing the next 2 words let them pick 2 SKITTLES! They will LOVE IT! 

Fun Singing Time Games using Skittles 

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OCTOBER PRIMARY PRESENTATIONS AND SINGING TIME

I just couldn’t resist putting these cute cupcakes up here. They turned out so ghoulishly cute! Plus we had our primary presentation last Sunday and it was really good. It’s time to take a break and rehash an old game and favorite songs you’ve done in the past. Or check out one of my old blog posts for ideas. In the meantime here is some fun treats to make for HALLOWEEN YUMMINESS!

Halloween Cupcakes; pumpkin cupcakes and vampire cupcakes too!
In the meantime, I hope your PRIMARY PRESENTATION goes well after all of your hard work!  And during your
downtime, make some fun CUPCAKES OR BROWNIES FOR HALLOWEEN FUN!
I had about 7 different designs on my Halloween Cupcake treats AND some Halloween Skeleton Brownies too! 

        It was fun to make the “Purple People Eater” cupcakes with little eyeball superballs.

Halloween brownies made to look like skeletons were made from white chocolate covered pretzels. 

 My favorite Halloween treats were these brownie skeletons made from white chocolate disks for the heads and yogurt covered pretzels for the bodies. I had to put chocolate icing on the walnut brownies too.I added pretzels and white chocolate candy melts for the faces. The rest of the body I used just white buttercream icing and made the legs and hands with a pastry bag and a decorator icing tip.

Halloween Cupcakes…the spiderweb cupcakes and pumpkin cupcakes were super easy! 

Here is a plate of my finished cupcakes. Love the chocolate vampire cupcakes with M & M eyes and candy corn teeth. The bloody smiles are made from red fruit snacks cut into strips.

I had some spider rings at school I added to the spiderweb cupcakes but forgot to take pics afterwards. The mummy cupcake was super easy with M & M eyes

 I added a small box of vanilla pudding, 3/4 cup of sour cream and some butterscotch chips to the batter of the cupcakes. I also added half melted butter, instead of 1/2 the oil. It just tastes better. I hate cupcakes where I can taste the oil! Yuck!

 Finished Halloween cupcakes and treats on top. They were very colorful and very yummy too.

Cute Pumpkin Halloween Cupcakes

 The easiest Halloween cupcakes were the spiderwebs and pumpkins. Just chocolate chips for the jack-o-lantern faces. I  just added chocolate chips for the face and some pretty sprinkles over the orange and green icing.

Creepy Vampire Cupcakes for Halloween….super CUTE! 

This vampire cupcake was so cute. I thought it turned out cute with the brown sprinkles for the chocolate iced hair, and the M & M eyes. I made some eyes brown chocolate chip eyes  too. I couldn’t decide which one looked better.

Halloween Cupcakes! Lots of mummies, ghouls and spiderwebs! 

Notice the 2 colors of spiderweb cupcakes too. I think they both look really pretty. It would be a cute plate to just have the 2 flavors of spiderweb cupcakes for a party.

Gotta love a purple people eater cupcakes! 

 I also made a pan of brownies too. They were skeleton brownies. I added candy corn to the square brownies.

Skeleton Brownies were my favorite, and super easy too! 

 Check out all the sweet treat fun! I got a lot of inspiration from looking on Pinterest at cute treat ideas I could try. I love peanut butter cookies. I’d do the pumpkin kisses with peanut butter cookies instead of brownies.

Pumpkin Kiss Brownies at Daily Food Buzz are cute. 
At Food.Daily Buzz is the recipe for these cute yummy things. 

These Halloween Brownies are super cute. And they were super easy.  I love a mint flavoring for the icing and then I would tint the icing mint green. It looks so fun  like cute little Frankenstein and jack-o-lantern faces!

Here at Tidymom.net is a bunch of really sweet cookies to decorate for Halloween. I love the Spiderwebs and Candy corn coothe best! But it is the assortment that really makes the white serving plate look special!  
Here are my 2 little pirates at the Halloween Party. Argh! Matey! Have a Happy Halloween!

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