YW Halloween Face Paint

For YW- the MiaMaids did Halloween face painting and ate mini ghosts in hot cocoa. 

Aimee, Hannah, Liberty & Mikal

Liberty also did her face for Pep Band on Friday. Scary but fun!

Ann, Liberty & Wyatt?

YW 4th Year Float Trip

Liberty got to participate in the 4th Year Hike. Only this year-- they decided to do a Float Trip instead. They left early this morning and headed up to Wolf Creek for a fun day on the river.
Liberty was actually way excited because she finally talked us into letting her have a sleepover with her friend, Kandra. Kandra spent the night so that we could take her to the float trip. They had a good time! And this time- they remembered sunscreen. Good job, girls!
They had big rafts as well as a couple kayaks. They got to switch half way through. Plus they stopped and had lunch along the way. And did a little cliff jumping. Fun time!

P.S. I found this picture of a Youth Activity that they did at the Rock Wall here in Helena. I love Liberty's face. She's in a pretty pouty stage and this exactly what she look like most of the time at our house. LOL (She's the 3rd from the left hiding behind Aimee.)

Liberty's YW Medallion

A couple years ago, we decided that a rule in our home is--- that in order to have parent help financially with a driver license & driver's ed & a car & insurance & gas, etc- each child has to receive a YW Medallion or Eagle Scout. Driving and all that gets you ready is expensive!!!! (we're learning that the hard way! LOL) So we hope it's a nice incentive to get our kids motivated to accomplish some of these worthy goals!

Liberty finally got accepted into a Driver's Ed class for this Summer. [Driver's Ed in MT is insanely time consuming, expensive and hard to get in to] She's been working hard the last year to get all her YW goals done but time really got away from her. There was several warnings about time getting close where she would have to become responsible for the payment of her drivers ed class if her goals weren't done. The last couple weeks have been tons of work and we have had our share of "Teenage Cardio" going on around our home. {Liberty got a T-shirt recently that says- Eye Rolling is my Cardio. It's a family favorite to tease her about now!}
As of last Sunday. she had one final goal to finish up. Working hard as this weekend approached, it looked like she might actually make it. So, we made a couple phone calls to the Young Women's President and the Bishop to set up interviews. She didn't finish reading the Book of Mormon and recording her thoughts until late Saturday night. But hallelujah! she is done!!!! She met with the Bishop Sunday morning and got her certificate and medallion during Sacrament Meeting. She starts Drivers Ed tomorrow! ;)
We are super proud of Liberty for finishing up her YW Personal Progress Program. It is A LOT of work!!!! It shows she is capable of great things. Way to go, Sis!!!

As part of her program, she made and accomplished 6 experiences/goals for every value. Then she set a 10 hour goal for each value as well. Wowzers! That's a lot of time!

Here's a little brief look at the 10 hour Value Projects she did!

FAITH

She participated in our Youth Trail of Faith program to prepare for Trek. 

Every month before Trek, she read stories and scriptures and 

did some walking to prepare her for Trek experience. 

Then she survived Trek! Yeah!

DIVINE NATURE

She grew her hair really long. She did some research about Locks of Love. 

Then she had her hair cut and donated it!

INDIVIDUAL WORTH

She developed her musical talent. 

She joined the Band. She has done lots of practicing and several concerts!

KNOWLEDGE

She picked favorite recipes. She typed them up and made a recipe book. 

Then she made several of them for our family. Yum!

CHOICE & ACCOUNTABILITY

Liberty spent over 10 hours helping Mom & Dad make choices for 

our our new home would be organized. 

She helped drywall some of the basement and help with electrical wiring. 

She was a big help!

GOOD WORKS

Liberty spent almost her entire 8th grade year, going into school early. 

She learned a BelAVisEx program to help out younger students.

INTEGRITY

She helped design, cut out, pin, sew and cut a purple, Tardis blanket.

 It was a lot of work but she loves it!

 VIRTUE

She read the entire Book of Mormon. She kept a journal of her thoughts. 

Liberty and Mikal Fife had a little competition going on! They wanted to see who could be the 1st girl to earn her Medallion with the new Bishop. Mikal finished up her goals a couple weeks ago but then was out of town for several weeks. So it was super fun that they both received them today!! Awesome job girls!!!! Here they both are with their necklaces and Bishop Lynch:

CERTIFICATE 

will be here when the YW President signs it!!!

Youth Float Trip

Our Ward Youth Leaders took the kids on a Float Trip in Glacier today. They had an amazing time!

Here's the bus ride to the river:

Here's the whole group:

Justice's Boat with Josh, Bryson, Caleb, Walt Tubbs, Bishop Lynch, Josiah, Justice & Colton

Liberty's Boat with Marcus Strange, Aimee, McKenzie, her boyfriend, 

Nick Seedall, Samantha, Anna Strange, Liberty & Stacey Rae Lynch

YW Girls' Camp

Liberty went to YW Girls Camp this week. I didn't hear about much except some silly Anti-Superhero skit she and her friends put on. She was tired and a little sunburned but she survived! The lake and scenery look amazing though! (Thanks to some of the leaders who sent me some pics)

View of the Lake

Liberty participating in some games

Liberty with Kandra Lay

 The 3rd Ward Young Women (with Bishop & member of Stake Presidency)

Keepers of the Light: YW in Excellence

Brett & I joined our Ward YW in celebrating the young ladies and their accomplishments this year. Their theme was Keepers of the Light. They had songs, speakers, the girls shared and of course, treats! Fun night!

I helped Liberty put together a basket of the goals she's been working on this year. (You can kind of see it behind her) This year she has been working on several Young Women 10 hour Projects. She's completed:

Faith: She did the Trail of Faith Project to prepare for Trek

Divine Nature: She grew her hair really long. She researched Locks of Love. She donated 12" of her hair.

Individual Worth: She practice with her Band class and did 2 concerts.

Choice & Accountablility: She helped us move and organzie our new home including her room, the Holiday room, the Food Storage room and hanging sheetrock.

Good Works: She participated in a Bel-A-Vis-Ex Prgram at school. She volunteered every morning to help out younger kids.

She is about 70% done with all her goals. We are way proud of her!!! 

{And we will be super grateful when it's complete since she's resisting it every step of the way!! This teenage girl may be the death of her mother! ;}

Multi-Stake Youth Conference

Liberty got to participate in a Mulit-Stake Youth Conference in Great Falls this weekend. I helped drive some of the youth up there. I should have taken a pictures while I was there but I didn't And apparently, neither did my teenager ALL weekend. So this is to document that she was in attendance. Oh. my. Child!!!

MONTANA MULTI-STAKE

YOUTH CONFERENCE 2015

GREAT FALLS, MT

JUNE 25-27, 2015

BOZEMAN, BUTTE, GREAT FALLS, GREAT FALLS EAST, HELENA

Young men and young women ages 14 to 18 are invited to participate together in youth conference.  The purpose is to build faith in Jesus Christ, strengthen testimonies, develop talents, make new friends, and have fun with youth who share similar beliefs and standards

WORKSHOPS

Scripture Passages to prepare for youth conference:

·      The Iron Rod – 1 Nephi 8 & 11

·      Nephi builds a boat 1 Nephi 17-18

·      King Benjamin’s Address -  Mosiah 2-5

·      Waters of Mormon – Mosiah 18

·      Captain Moroni – Alma 46:11-25

·      War preparations – Alma 49:1-23, 28-30

·      Army of Helaman – Alma 56 & 57

·      Sameul the Lamanite – Helaman 13-16:1-9

·      Christ visiting the Nephites – 3 Nephi 11

·      Moroni’s promise – Moroni 10


1.   Samuel the Lamanite - Bow and arrow obstacle course

2.   Waters of Mormon - Ropes course/team building activities 

3.   Service Projects - Clean flower beds at fairgrounds-bring trowel or spade
                                      Clean horse stalls at fairgrounds-bring rakes and shovels
                                      Clean around fence line at the fairgrounds 
                                      Clean grandstand area at  the fairgrounds
                                      Painting speed bumps and rails
4.   Lehi's Dream - Iron rod experience 

5.   War Prep  - Construct shields, choreograph and practice swordplay

Liberty's Locks of Love

For part of Liberty's young Woman's goals- she has been doing some research about Locks of Love.

What is Locks of Love?

Locks of Love is a public non-profit organization that provides hairpieces to financially disadvantaged children in the United States and Canada under age 21 suffering from long-term medical hair loss from any diagnosis. We meet a unique need for children by using donated hair to create the highest quality hair prosthetics. Most of the children helped by Locks of Love have lost their hair due to a medical condition called alopecia areata, which has no known cause or cure. The prostheses we provide help to restore their self-esteem and their confidence, enabling them to face the world and their peers.

Liberty made sure she met the guidelines for donating. She found several salons that supposedly participate in the program. We made phone calls to them all. We found out that some did not participate and other charge tons for a haircut. So Liberty decided that she just wanted Mom to cut it for her. We cut off 12 inches!!!!!! Then she packaged it like they instructed and sent it off. What a brave kid!

 Before:

After:

Donated Ponytail:

Trek Kickoff

We are super excited (well- the parents are) about being able to participate in our Stake Youth Trek this Summer! Brett & I have never gone on one before and now we get to go as a Ma & Pa and also experience it with 2 of our children. Super neat! Tonight was a Trek Kickoff for the Youth & their parents. They gave out info, shared some musical and dancing talent, and had Pioneer games for the trekkers. Hopefully we will all have an amazing, unforgettable experience.

Formal Stake Youth Dance

With Liberty being 14, she had the opportunity to participate in the Stake Prom this weekend. Our Stake has a fancy formal dance once a year. Most of her friends aren't old enough but we have some awesome friends in a different ward that offered to let Liberty join them. Their daughter, Heather just turned 14 as well. Perfect for them to have someone to hang out with the whole night.
It was so fun to get Liberty all dolled up. Sister Payne (her new YW leader) let her borrow some fancy black and diamond jewelry. It was perfect! Liberty is such a beautiful young woman. Blow me away! Her Dad almost didn't let her out the door. I loved that she let me do up her hair and wore a little make up. Where did my baby go?

When the Nelson came to pick her up- they brought both the girls corsages and had their Dads pin them on. How sweet is that!?

The darling girls and their Daddys.

Brett gave her a few tips on what to do if anyone tried to kiss her. LOL

What gorgeous girls!

The Nelsons (Glen & Becky) took the girls out to a fancy restaurant {Lydia's Supper Club} in Butte before they went to the dance. It took them forever but they left stuffed! ;)

The girls were super brave and had a great time at the dance. Brett had told some of his Senior Seminary Students  to look out for Liberty so she got quite a few slow dances in. Way to go, Sis! Funny sidenote- She had taken her high heels as well as some flats. She wore her high heels the 1st half. She said all the boys that asked her were pretty short. When she switched into her flats- it was all the super tall boys that asked her to dance. Go figure! What a perfect 1st dance! Super special THANK YOU to the Nelsons for letting her tag along. You are awesome!

Ahoy Mates! New Beginnings

We dragged Liberty away early from rehearsals to attend New Beginnings, Liberty got to conduct the songs we sang. They even highlighted her because she is new to the Ward since last year. What a cute group of Beehives they have! Love these girls!

YW Flour Fight

For Young Womens tonight- Liberty & the girls did some kind of Flour Fight. Oh man was she covered!

P.S. One of her friend in East Helena started this "Moose" pose in pictures. Liberty thinks it's cool. So pretty much every picture I take these days is with her tongue out and her hands up. Oh joy!