Follow the Prophet(ess)

I am the music leader at church for our children's program, and I love it!

This month we are teaching about prophets, and there's a fun 9-verse song about prophets from the Bible. To teach the verses, I used the cool visuals found here.

But, the feminist I am, I wanted to showcase some prophetesses from the Bible, too. I was going to make up my own, but luckily my friends sent me this link to The Exponent, where they've already written three verses!

So I made my own visuals to fit with the song verse introductions and the game.








I didn't know about female prophets until adulthood, so I want to make sure those fabulous women are remembered, revered, and discussed.

I have PDF copies of the above images; leave a comment and I'll email them to you.

Super Empowering New Beginnings

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we have a youth group for the young women (titled Young Women, incidentally) ages 12 to 18. Each year, we have a program in which we welcome the new Young Women who will be turning 12 that year. This is called New Beginnings.

We had our New Beginnings program last week, and it was such a success.

The theme was superheroes, and we specifically talked about how the Young Women are empowered now by the Personal Progress Values. 

My wonderful friend made the valid point that most of what we talk about in Young Women prepares them for some future time--marriage in the temple, college, motherhood, a mission, etc. 

But we wanted to show them they have power in their lives right now, and they can be empowered by living the Values in their lives this moment, not for some future purpose.

I found absolutely amazing graphics here. We used her logos (which are SO COOL!) as individual toppers for our cupcakes, and bigger versions to explain each Value.

I used her very cool Values superheroes on our invitations.

For the new Young Women entering the group this year, I created a questionnaire, which I gave to them (and got back!) a few Sundays before New Beginnings. I loved this questionnaire, because it let us get a feeling of their personalities, while also being sassy and fun. The Wonder Woman silhouette is found here.

I made comic book exclamations for each of the incoming Young Women, and used those as decorations until we introduced the new YW; then we let them hold and take home their names.

(I generated the font here, using 'Itromatic Bold'. I can't vouch for the safety of this site, so please don't download their fonts. I didn't download the font; I created the exclamation and the name, then screen captured the resulting texts [using the Print Screen button]. Then using Microsoft Paint, I cropped the two words. I copied those words into Publisher and adjusted the size of the text. It was time intensive, but better than the possibility of a virus).

We made masks for each value color, masks based on this post. I just used hot glue to attach the ribbon to the foam. I also burned the edges of the ribbon so they wouldn't fray.

Here's how the night worked:

We invited all the current YW and their parents, the YW leaders, the Bishop, and the incoming YW and their parents.We put the chairs in a circle; we had about 35 people in attendance, and I wanted them to be able to see each other. 

We gave masks to all the current YW, and we leaders also had masks. 

We began with some words from our YW President, and then we had the current Young Women talk about the Values. I LOVED this part. We had two or three YW per Value; we gave them masks in the color of their Value, and also had them hold the superhero logo for their Value. Again, we wanted them to think about how each Value empowers them in their current lives, so I gave them a bit of a script.

I used the definition and scripture from the Church web site, and each YW either gave the definition or the scripture. I updated the definitions to make them applicable now (if it said, "I will," I changed it to "I do," or something along those lines).

Then I had them discuss how the Value empowers them in their lives right now. These YW were wonderful, and I loved the spirit they brought to the room.

We then had everyone in the circle introduce themselves. I used this idea. Instead of introducing themselves using their names, I had everyone stand and say a positive trait about her/himself, or something she/he wanted to believe. It was so wonderful! I found it very empowering to think of ourselves as being a positive trait, instead of "just" our names.

Then it was time to introduce the new YW. The best part of the night!!! We had a current YW read the answers of each new YW. Because I have a November birthday and I always feel slighted (cue violins), we started at the end of the calendar for each YW. We gave each new YW a mask, her comic name, and a few minutes in the spotlight. It was great.

We ended with some words from our Bishop, then had our yummy cupcakes. We also set up a photo booth exactly like this. And it was such a hit! I'm so glad we did it. I have very few original crafty bones in my body, so I was so grateful to be able to copy the adorable houses from the original post.

********** I made this post because I found nearly every idea on Pinterest, and I want to give others the chance to more easily plan these very huge activities. I have Microsoft Publisher versions of my handouts and the questionnaire; please leave a comment and I'm happy to email those to you.

Kids these days

While in Yellowstone in June...

Jen (far too excited, shrieking): "Nadine!!! Do you see the bison PASSING IN FRONT OF OUR CAR?!"

Nadine, barely looks up from the game she's playing on the tablet, "Oh, cool."

Seriously?




**************
Earlier that day...

"Nadine, do you want to be in a picture with us?"

Nadine pouts.

"Fine. We'll take it without you."

AND WE DID.

p.s. How quintessentially Yellowstone is it that a bison crossed in front of us?! (buffalo? whatever). It was SO cool.

Pictures!

The Nani blog has been updated. It shows our February dichotomy, where we started the month in snow and ended it in the sun (it helped that we were in California for the sun).

The 12th man of 700,000

Yesterday was the Seahawks Super Bowl celebration parade in Seattle. Last year, my wonderful friend Nicole took her kids into Baltimore for the Ravens parade, and I had parenting envy (I get that a lot where she is concerned). So I decided Nadine and I wouldn't miss this chance of a lifetime, to cheer a Super Bowl-winning team in their home city.

Todd was on call, so there was no way he could request the day off.  I figured the crowds would be crazy, but I was really excited to go, even solo with Nadine, so I planned it. (I must insert, I have finally detoxed off my antidepressant, which also regulated my anxiety, so I was a bit worried how this outing would go for the newly unmedicated me. There was some divine intervention in my ability to view the entire process as an adventure. I'm never able to do that.)

To deal with the cold, and give us some needed Seahawks gear, I made really cute Seahawks hats and scarves. I'm quite proud of them.

The parade started at 11. My plan was to drive to SeaTac airport, which is about 50 mins from Olympia, and catch the light rail near the airport. Then a short 39 projected minutes later, we would be in Seattle.

Ha.

I wasn't thinking, and we left the house at 7:50. Um, someone forgot to factor rush hour into the equation. It took us about an hour to get to the Tukwila train station. It took a half hour to find an off-site parking spot, then 15 minutes to walk to the station. We got to the station about 9:45, and waited in line to buy tickets.

The area was utter pandemonium. Happy, pleasant, excited, "Yay Seahawks!" pandemonium, but still. We waited in a mass of people for about 45 minutes just to get our tickets. 

Here's the crowd ahead of us as we arrived at the station. The crowd behind us quickly grew to this size and doubled.

When we were about 10 people from the kiosks, a transit worker told us they decided to make the ride free, so we should go straight to the train. More pandemonium!

We waited in a huge mass of people for about 10 minutes, missing 3 trains that were completely full. Completely full, and we were only the 2nd stop on the line!

At this point Nadine was cold (did I mention it was below freezing here?) and crying, so when the next train arrived, I shoved our way onto a train. The people inside said it was full, but I told them tough. I needed that train!

To make a long story short (too late), every step of the process was packed with Seahawks fans. We finally disembarked in Seattle and found a spot surrounded by grass, on which we could see the parade route. This came after we waded through an intersection of people literally packed shoulder to shoulder. 

Do you see how there are two BLOCKS of wall-to-wall people?!

This is the mass of people waiting to get onto transit, after the parade. 

The city was expecting between 200,000 and 500,000 fans, and they estimate 700,000 were there yesterday. 700,000 fans in a city that only has about 634,000 residents. I'm telling you, Seahawks fans are nuts.

Photographic proof--we were there!

It was such a fun day. I'm so glad we went, and that despite all the lines and the people and the shoving, we had a good time and enjoyed the adventure. Today at breakfast, Nadine said, "We're a Seahawks family." Apparently we are.

My sweet little Hawk.

When in Rome....

I grew up near Las Vegas, which doesn't have any professional sports teams. However, I was a die-hard UNLV Runnin' Rebel fan, and I loved the Vegas atmosphere when the Rebels were doing well. UNLV colors and shirts everywhere. Everyone talking about the games.

Turns out that was nothing. I have never before witnessed the craze that is professional sports fans.

We live in Olympia, which is 60 miles south of Seattle. For me, that's a decent distance and I don't at all associate with Seattle or its teams. But that shows my lack of a pro team upbringing.

We are in full Seahawks 12th Man* mode down here. I can see why the Seahawks fans are known for their fervor. These fans are crazy! And I kinda love it.

We lived within 17 miles of the Baltimore Ravens stadium last year, and I thought it was fun to be around the fans of a Super Bowl-winning team. But, they have nothing to Seahawks fans.

And it's so fun! I'm getting caught up in the hype, and I don't even like the NFL. We may even watch the game this Sunday.

Every available marquee is devoted to the Seahawks. Seriously. Every. Single. One.
I love this sign.

(I don't consider myself a fair-weather fan. I don't give a crap about the Seahawks, win or lose. But I enjoy fervor. I'm a fair-fervor fan.)



*I didn't even know what a 12th Man was until a month ago.

We wish you a merry Christmas....

Drat, this should have been our Christmas card. :)

I created these props with felt and stiffening spray. I am ridiculously proud of them. Especially the elf ears (that's on the Nani blog).

I also have a few Christmas pictures on the Nani blog.

Merry

This picture warms my heart. It is so idyllic, and perfectly captures the relationship between Todd and Nani. I am so grateful for my wonderful husband.

Nadine turned 4. And Halloween.

Grandparents, I am so so so so sorry for the lateness of this post. I suck, and I kept forgetting.

Nadine's birthday is the end of October, and then we also had Halloween. Pictures are on the Nani blog. Our Family Costume is nerdy and fantastic and worth a look.

Also, I made Nadine a minion cake for her birthday. It turned out AWESOME. Seriously;
best. cake. ever.

It was surprisingly easy, but very time-consuming (they had me harden the frosting in the fridge, between layers/colors. SUCH a good tip). If you follow the link, you'll be amazed at what are all those edible parts of the cake.

Girls in engineering

I was never really into feminism, Girl Power, etc. I didn't pay it much attention, I figured women had made significant headway, and it wasn't an issue in my life.

Then I became the mother of a daughter.

Now, I am all about female empowerment.

I'm not anti-pink, anti-princess (we watch, and enjoy, a SIGNIFICANT amount of Disney in this household). But I am definitely anti- 'girls-should-be-cute-but-not-heard', and anti- 'a-female's-only-roles-are-teacher-and-mother' (disclaimer: I am a fortunate stay-at-home mom).

Enter GoldieBlox. These are engineering toys for girls. Designed by a female engineer. Sweet!

The company is a finalist to have a commercial in the Super Bowl. Watch the below video, which is hilarious and awesome (I love the line that says,"You like to buy us pink toys...and everything else is for boys.").

Vote for GoldieBlox to win an ad in the Super Bowl.

Vote daily and on multiple platforms, so this great company will get even more exposure.

And tell others!

A rant. A rant-rant-rant-itty rant, Ranty McRants A Lot.

I am calling for an anti-boycott.

If you liked the book "Ender's Game", you should see the movie in theaters this weekend. And you should spend as much money as possible on the movie (IMAX, late-night, 3-D combo). Actually, if you haven't read the book, (1) shame on you, and (2) see the movie anyway, because the entire story will be new to you.

Why should you spend your hard-earned cash on expensive movie add-ons?

Because Orson Scott Card, the author of "Ender's Game," has come under fire for his personal views, none of which are reflected in either his book or this movie. There have been calls to boycott the movie. Boycotts because of the personal views of an artist. Outrageous. It is especially galling because the book is about an outsider who rises to his own potential in his own way.

In response to the issue over Card's views on traditional marriage, the studio has been distancing itself from the author of what I believe is one of the best books ever written. The author of the movie they're producing. Ugh.

I understand about not agreeing with others' personal views and ideas.

• Angelina Jolie is a homewrecker (yup, still an issue), but I watch her movies because she's generally a phenomenal actress.
• James Cameron has environmental views with which I don't agree and find quite kooky. But I still sometimes watch his movies.
• I don't share Joss Whedon's religious views (though I support his right to have those views), but I admire, enjoy, and support his shows and movies because his work is great and because he specifically creates strong female characters. 
• Tom Cruise questioned the merits of depression meds for post-partum women(!!!!!!!!)! But he's still allowed to make movies, and "Mission Impossible Ghost Protocol" was quite good.
• Giselle Bundchen makes some of the most indulged, out-of-touch, high-society, rich-know-it-all-celebrity, douchey comments of any woman in the news, but she's still a great model who should continue to receive jobs.
• I strongly disagree with the political views of the CEO of Amazon, but Amazon is the best online retailer and I enjoy the level and quality of service I receive from them. Also, it is the right of the Amazon CEO, just as it is the right of all citizens of the USA, to use his private funds in whatever way he sees fit.

Just as it is the right of Orson Scott Card to express his personal views and not be lambasted for it. I am especially upset because he is being lambasted by groups that always, always, always call for "tolerance" of their lifestyles. Apparently that is not a two-way street for them; you only receive tolerance if you share their views. Which is despicable.

When a boycott* of Chick-fil-A was planned (which, again, was called because of the PERSONAL views of its President, not because of how the company treated individuals), I began frequenting the restaurant to show support.

Along those lines, we are going to see Ender's Game opening weekend and we're going to spend as much money as possible to give the movie a boost in the box office. An anti-boycott, if you will.

We are doing this to show we support the right of free speech, no matter the views of the speaker. Which I believe was espoused somewhere important by some fairly influential people.

I think my rant is over. In conclusion, if you support free speech and despise hypocrisy, see "Ender's Game" this weekend. And tell others!


* I was quite pleased to read in the July 26, 2013, issue of Entertainment Weekly that after the boycott of Chick-fil-A, "(s)ales for the chain climbed 14 percent in 2012." Hooray for the anti-boycott!

"Two hearts beating wildly..."

I was 12 when my youngest sister was born. She was the 5th of five girls, and I was the mother hen. I love the special connection that comes with sisters, and Kelsey and I had a great bond because of all the time I spent mothering her.

She was six when I went to college. I graduated college and moved back home for a bit, but I haven't lived at home in more than 10 years. And I spent all of my twenties enjoying friends and being gone a lot. Which means, I didn't get to really know Kelsey, and she was stuck in a time-warp as a tween.

This summer, Kelsey graciously volunteered to drive across the country with me and Nadine. That's right, my busy senior-year-in-college sister, who spent the summer on two (two!) foreign music internships, gave up two weeks of her life for me and my family. To help her frantic sister pack frantically. To drive from Maryland to Las Vegas. To help with a 3-year-old. Driving mostly sitting in the passenger seat.

She is a champ.

I very much enjoyed those two weeks with Kelsey, and I especially enjoyed our four days in the car. She is a remarkably good traveling buddy. I loved getting to connect with her as adults; I know she has felt separated from us other siblings. Whitney, my next youngest sibling, is five years older than Kelsey. It can't have been a fun position to hold, to watch all your siblings grow and not be at that point yet; then to reach that point, and have your siblings (or at least Jen) think you're still 12.

To make a long story short (too late), I am very grateful for our four long days stuck in a car, driving eight or nine or 14 hours a day. I feel it cemented my bond with my sister Kelsey.

(Non sequitur) And now she's getting married! I am so excited for her and Daniel. Truth be told, I have been secretly hoping for this event for five years. Kelsey and Daniel were friends in high school, then dated the last bit of high school and their first year of college. Daniel was gone for two years serving a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints; he recently returned and they're getting married in December.

I began this post with my recollections of young Kelsey, because I was blown away how old (in all the good ways) she looks in these pictures. And how happy they both are. I love watching the interactions of couples in love.

Kelsey asked me to take their engagement pictures, and I was excited to use them as guinea pigs. I am not a terrific photographer, but it's a hobby I greatly enjoy, and I have a nice camera and good photo editing software (that I can't fully comprehend yet...). I am really proud of these pictures, though their success is largely due to the subjects.

We took the pictures at my parents' cabin in southern Utah, which is my Happy Place (I think that goes for all my siblings as well). It has many wonderful places for pictures.

They're such a great couple.

Our mom designed the railings. I've always thought that was cool.

Aren't they cute?!

She's beautiful.

Have you ever been photo-bombed by a horse? I have. (There's a horse butt behind Kelsey's shoulder. It cracked me up. I was distracting.)

 Ahhhhhhhh, love.

***************************************
I also made my family guinea pigs for my photography. We found a great place for family pictures, so I decided to experiment. The lighting wasn't great (curse you, shadows! Though also, hooray for shadow-creating-sun in Washington!) but I am happy with the result. We could re-do the pictures, but I am lazy and I don't want to get dressed up and drive out there again. LAZY.

I do love this picture. Hellooooo, Puget Sound!

The rest of the pictures are on the Nani blog.

That's all. Whew.

Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow!

Have you watched the What Does the Fox Say video? It's hilarious, and the song is far too catchy. It's also weird.

These two men apparently have a talk show in Norway, and this is a promo for their new season. Best. Promo. EVER. I'm a new fan. I hope their show is in English.

I loved and subsequently showed the video to Nadine. She also loves it, but only after the first half. The first time, she got about halfway through with a "what the crap?" expression, until I laughed. Apparently that told her it is silly.

She has learned the song and the moves very quickly. We posted a video of her on the Nani blog. And it's awesome.

I think I need to learn this dance for any future wedding receptions. I'll be a hit!

Blatant (and sadly un-sponsored) product endorsement

This is a random post, but I am nerdily excited so here you go.

The theme of unloading our new house has been 'organize.' I've unloaded and organized specifically with this theme in mind, and am really happy with how the house has come together. We have shelves in every closet, bins on our kitchen shelves, and the coolest spice racks I have ever seen. Seriously. It saves so much space! And is organized! And labeled!

I bought the MiniStack through RueLaLa (a group savings site from which I've subsequently had to ban myself), from YouCopia. The below picture shows my spice racks that hold 44 spices, and I can easily identify and reach every one of those 44 spices. I love it.

They come with blank labels, that can either be hand-written or printed. I have way more labels than shelves, so I am (embarrassingly) excited this will adapt with my spice needs. (Heh, I recognize the nerdiness of this post, but I just have to gush and share the joy.)

The best part, besides the LABELING,

is that the drawers slide down and then catch themselves, so you can reach all the bottles. Seriously, this is a genius spice rack.

Do you see how the shelf just hovers???!!!! Love it.

Everyone should own some. Go buy them. Or put them on your Christmas list.

Seriously. Do it now.

This post will make all the other posts wet their pants!

Alrightie, this post is about The Move. Where we drove 3,780 miles across the country, basically coast to coast.

We had two 14-hour + drives; I pushed my luck because Nadine did ridiculously well on the drive. I was so pleasantly and gratefully surprised.

My wonderful sister Kelsey allowed us to fly her out to drive across the country with me and Nadine (Todd drove his car). We drove caravan-style until Nebraska; then Todd drove to Salt Lake and we drove to Las Vegas. Todd took his anesthesia boards on the 29th, so Nani and I spent time away from Washington so he could devote his time to studying.

We were supposed to spend Independence Day apart, which was sad, but then Todd surprised us by making a less-than-24-hour trip down to Vegas. What a great guy.

Here's our Maryland house while I was being Crazy Packer Woman. The Army couldn't schedule movers for us (grrrrrr to them, and for waiting until two weeks before our move to finally tell us the truth), so I packed the house, with the help of my wonderful friends and Kelsey.

We're still fighting with the military to try to get this all reimbursed, and it looks like we won't, because of a weight miscalculation on our movers' part; so the moving saga continues. Arrrgh, Army!

Here's our huge ABF truck. We packed 27 linear feet. Holy crap. My wonderful father-in-law flew out to help, and we are so grateful, especially because he was so great at fitting everything tightly together in the truck.

We have been very happy with ABF, except for the weight problem. (The Army reimburses based on weight, but ABF charged us based on how much space we took up in the truck. So instead of the Army reimbursing us the entire amount we paid to ABF, on a last-minute move because of the Army's incompetence, they will only pay us what ABF mistakenly said was half the real weight.) But I digress....

Our last night on the road, we stayed in North Platte, NE. It's basically in the middle of nowhere, but it happens to be the headquarters of Cabela's, so they had astonishingly nice hotels (yay!). It also had this hilarious sign on their gas station.

While I was in Nevada, all four of my sisters happened to be there too (for a blissful week window). We haven't all been together in nearly three years, so of course we had a Ripp Girls night. Unfortunately Mary and Ashley weren't able to join us, but we had Maren, Kelsey, Maggie, Whitney, me, and Lindsay. Beautiful women, and some of my favorite people.

I didn't contact anyone while I was in Nevada, and I apologize, but the women above are my excuse for not seeing anyone else.

I have many other pictures from our time with my family, but they're on the Nani blog.

But before you click over, here's our house in Washington!

I really enjoy this house. I like the layout, I'm so grateful for the backyard, and I love having a garage. And surprisingly, I really enjoy Washington so far. That's easy to say in the gorgeous summer, but still. I like it more than I thought.

I'll attempt to show the layout, for those who haven't seen the house (which is most of you).

Here's our front door. (I took this in the kitchen.)

Facing the front door: to the left is the stairs, to the right is the family room.

The family room is still a work in progress, but I have our curtains up, the TV works, and all the furniture is in the right spot. Phew.

Randomly, one of my favorite things about the house are the wide stairs. Well, that and the fact there's only one set of stairs in the entire house, and no stairs to climb to get into the house (again, garage!!!!!).

I'm now a bit embarrassed to be posting a picture of our stairs. Ah well.

The kitchen is HUGE. And it has a gas stove. And it's my dumping ground for boxes. BUT, all the boxes are out of the garage!!! Now it's time to organize the house. As you'll see in a few pictures.

We have a wall of shelves. We didn't have nearly enough shelving space in our MD kitchen, and I've apparently been traumatized by it.

On the left is the valence material that was in the house before, and their opaque window covering; on the right is my fabric choice, and thermal curtains to block the sunset-facing windows (we don't have AC, and though the mornings are gloriously temperate, that direct sun bakes the house).

The dining room is in a walkway between the kitchen and the family room, in a corner. One window faces east, the other west (with thermal curtains), so I got these fantastic curtains to tie the room together. I LOVE LOVE LOVE these curtains. Love. They sold as only one panel, so I cut the panels in half and then sewed the cut side. I am so thankful I can do that kind of sewing.

Next to the main stars, down three steps, is the living room, a hall pantry, a 4th room, a bathroom, and the garage entrance. (The hallway to the 4th room, the pantry hallway, is straight ahead. The door in the far right is to the bathroom. Next to that door is the door to the garage.)

The living room has the computer, treadmill, and a couch. Right now it's a catchall, but soon it'll be nice and sparse. For Nadine's toys, I'm sure.

The pantry is basically two shelved closets, and it's AWESOME.

This 4th bedroom will be the toy room/sewing room. I don't want to think about organizing it.

The picture below was taken in the living room, with my back to the hallway (the exact opposite of that first picture of this room). To the right is the living room, and to the left is the kitchen and further through that is the dining room.

Upstairs are the three bedrooms AND the laundry. Upstairs laundry was one of the top three renting points of this house.

Our room is a nice light blue, though I'm afraid of how dark I'll feel in the winters, so I got fun yellow curtains for our window. It brings out the yellow in our quilt and I love the look. I also cut these curtains and resewed them.

Here's the guest room. I try not to think about this room yet.

 Aaaaaaaaaand now, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for.... ;)

THE GARAGE

 I know, I know. It looks like . . a garage.

But we haven't had a garage in four years, and I've missed it greatly.

The other major renting point of this house is the huge backyard. Seriously huge. We also haven't had a real backyard in four years, so we're trying to remember to use it.