So many blessings....

Just so you all know I am totally putting off finishing packing for our trip for this post...this message is brought to you courtesy of PROCRASTINATION! :)

A FEW CHRISTMAS CRAFTS!
This Holiday Season we knew we were going to be on a shoe string so I started early in October crafting most of our Christmas gifts. Here are a few!

FELT BOARDS

I used one of those tri-fold boards you can purchase for kids school projects. I think it was $2.50 or so.


I bought some white felt in bulk at a discount fabric store in Tempe (SAS if you are in AZ).
I traced where I needed to cut it to match the board.


Then hot glue the felt to the board.


When your done you should have a felt covered board like this!


I decorated mine with ric-rac and ribbon.


Looking good!


See how it folds up so nicely to store?


Yes. I know sideways...but remember, I have packing to do...
Cute ribbon to tie it together.


Next I used Kate Hatfield's Nativity Doodles. I enlarged them in photoshop to the size I wanted and then printed off sheets of them and had them laminated (you could use heavy card stock too)


Then cut them out (that part was a pain!)


Cut out strips of felt and hot glue them to the backs of all your nativity pieces. In case you are new to the workings of felt boards - felt sticks to felt so the little ones can make a story board.


See? Like this!


Oh Holy Night!


Super cute nativity board to let your babes play with!


I love using the story board to help my boys understand the true meaning of Christmas. I made more for gifts too!


I tucked the nativity pieces into a zip lock bag under the ribbon!

A QUICKIE DECORATION
I needed a little something for my dry sink decorations. I knew I had a box of old frames in the garage. The frame, some ribbon, and a little vinyl from Remarkable Walls and viola! You can place special orders for your own crafts at my etsy store as well!


A shabby old frame I bought at a garage sale for 10 cents. I took out everything but the glass.


Glue the glass into the wood frame and pull out the little staples that used to hold it in place.


I used "For unto us a Child in born...." in vinyl.


Apply the vinyl to the glass.


Then I glued a floppy bow to the top of the frame and presto! A cute Christmas decoration!

SUPER FAST AND CHEAP ADVENT CALENDAR

I bought this cookie sheet at the dollar store and then applied a Chirstmas Tree shaped vinyl rub to it! Over in the baggie there are mini ornaments that children can rub over the passing days until Christmas is here!

I made a couple extra of these too to give to neighbors with cookies!

FOR FAMILY

The quilts I made for my sisters and sisters-in-law and a Christmas Tile I made for Grammie!

ON THE ROAD FOR THANKSGIVING, THE TEMPLE TOUR, AND DISNEYLAND!
We are leaving for our Trip to Nevada tomorrow and we are all so excited! We will be stopping at the Las Vegas Temple on the way up. Tuesday night, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning will be spent at Auntie Robin's for Thanksgiving.

Saturday Morning (which also happens to to be Mr. Wresh's birthday) we will head to Los Angeles for the weekend. On the way there we will visit the Sacramento Temple, The Fresno Temple, and finally the Los Angeles Temple.



Over the weekend we will also be visiting the UCLA campus (where Mr. Wresh graduated from), Hollywood and Rodeo Drive! Clearly there will not be any shopping going on. I am guessing there are no Targets in Beverly Hills, but I am hoping for some fun pictures!

On Monday we are going to Disneyland for the day and the kids are all so excited! I think Mr. Wresh and I are a teensy bit more excited than they are though!



Personally, I think I love going to Disneyland more than my kids do! Here we come Mickey!


Special note to any would be robbers reading this: If you are thinking, "Aha! I am totally going to rob them while they are away!" Let me save you the frustration. We don't have anything worth stealing. Anything good we have like cameras and laptops are coming with us so we've got nothing for you. Seriously...nada.

LOVE FROM THE WRESH'S
Here is how I found Mr. Wresh and the little boys on Saturday afternoon downstairs. I thought it was a little too quiet!

How cute is that?


Ryan and Mama ready for church.

WANNA WIN SOME VINYL FROM REMARKABLE WALLS?
For every $1 spent on my products at TheDigiChick while we are out of town you will be entered in a drawing to win a $25 credit to my etsy store (a custom order or anything currently in the store). No need to let me know you made a purchase. It will be tracked automatically. Get to shopping Chicks!

Any purchases made on the blog while we are away will qualify for entries too! So if you purchase The Wild Hair Collection or anything else on the blog you get one entry for each dollar spent as well!

Scroll through past posts for other blog item available.
Please note that no links (FROM BLOG SALES) will be sent out until December 2nd!

BLOG TREAT
A little something for you!


We hope that you all enjoy all the blessings that this special holiday has to offer. We have hearts full of gratitude for all the many blessings we enjoy and for our Savior who takes such tender care of us. Love to you all - be sure to eat WAY TOO MUCH! It's Thanksgiving for Pete's sake!

Love,
Kim

Youth Conference

YOUTH CONFERENCE
The Maricopa Stake Youth Conference was this weekend was awesome!

We started at the conference at The Heard Pueblo Scout Camp near South Mountain in Phoenix. It was a gorgeous night. When we arrived there was dinner waiting for us. All the kids ate and then there was a series of team building activities that they participated in as assigned groups. It was pretty funny!


Ali and Stacy having a little supper. Ali looks a little concerned.


Miss Hillary and Joel having supper together. I was on them like white on rice all weekend. I am fairly certain they were hating it.


Youth Leaders Kasia and Candace. They did such an awesome job! The theme of the Conference was SOS (Seek Our Saviour) thus the nautical theme! :)


Fellas having fun during the team building exercises!


A portion of the Youth seated during the fireside.

After the team building exercises there was an excellent fireside. I cannot remember the brothers name who came but his service to the Lord has been extensive! He served as a Bishop, Stake President, Mission President in L.A., and is currently the Patriarch in his Stake. He and his wife also managed to raise 10 (TEN???) children!

His message was about anchoring ourselves to the Lord. He used an anchor and a rope to objectify his lesson. He had an area of the stage that had caution signs in it (worldly things like drinking, drugs, premarital sex, etc.).

He asked a Young Man to tie this rope around his waist and showed him how securely the anchor was hooked to a big rock. The anchor would not be moved...just like Jesus Christ will never move away from us.

Then he showed the Young Man how there was a length of rope and it was up to him to decide how much he would give himself. When he gave himself too much he ended up on the side of the stage where the temptations of the world were (the caution signs). Jesus Christ (the anchor) had stood firm and was anchored to him like He always had been...the Young Man had made the choice to move away too far. Jesus Christ will always be there for us. It is up to us to choose to stay close to Him too!

Funny how this lesson intended for the teenagers could be applied to all of us adults. How often do we give ourselves too much rope? I realized mine needs to be tightened up!

After the fireside all the kids headed to the host homes where they were staying for the weekend.

In the morning there were workshops and a morning side. The Bishop who spoke at the morning side talked to the kids about the difference between a Prospector and an Investor. He challenged the youth to decide what they were when it comes to The Gospel of Jesus Christ. Would they be prospectors or investors. Awesome analogy.

After the morning activities there was lunch and a service project, which was to deep clean the church house. That building is cleeeeeeeaaaaaan!


Mimi, Kasia, and Candace


Dallin and Sister Snow!


A group of youth waiting for their cleaning assignments!


Sister Turley awaiting further instruction!


Kassidi, Cody, and Sierra. They are all cousins.


Miss Hillary and Joel...again...sigh


Brother Wresh with Miss Hillary and Joel. Mark and I made sure to spend *lots* of time with these too lest they get bored without us! :)

After the service project all the kids went back to their host homes to shower and get ready for the dinner and dance.

I forgot my camera at home at this point so I will have to wait for Sister Val to get me the pictures from the rest of the conference.

Brother Wresh came with me to the dinner and we parked ourselves right next to Miss Hillary and Joel. I am fairly certain our presence totally ruined their dinner. Luckily for Joel he has parents who are totally in his business and completely willing to embarrass and harass him in public. I think it goes a long way towards keeping him in line!

After dinner there was a game show that was used to determine partners for the first dance for all the contestants. Joel was a contestant and taken out of the cultural hall so he could not see who the prospective dance partners were.

The leaders running the game asked me if I wanted to be one of the secret contestants for Joel...of course I did!

They played the game like it was the dating game. Joel asked questions and we (myself and two other lovely Young Women) had to answer his questions. When it was time for him to decide who to pick the entire audience started yelling "NUMBER TWO!!!!" (that was me). When I came from behind the curtain I gave him a big smooch on the lips. I know that he wanted to die...just a little.

Eventually Brother Wresh (AKA Mr. Wresh) and I left and Joel and Hillary could relax and enjoy themselves.

Sunday Morning after a dedicated Sacrament Meeting there was a testimony meeting. The Spirit was so strong there. I wished I could bottle it up and bring it home. Some of the highlights of the meeting included Sister Hall's talk in Sacrament. She likened prayer and the way we pray to our Heavenly Father to using cell phones and texting. Pretty clever for talking to a congregation of teens dontcha think?

Her message was fantastic. She asked the Youth if they were abbreviating their prayers in the same way they abbreviate text messages. She pointed out the importance of truly taking the time to speak to our Father in Heaven when we pray and not be in a hurry to click send.

Another wonderful analogy was given by Brother York. He talked about how he tried to apply Gospel Principles to Disney Movies. He gave a few examples but my favorite was when he talked about Toy Story and the Cowboy Toy "Woody". Woody knew he belonged to Andy. He had no doubt because Andy's name was written on the bottom of his boot.

Brother York likened that to each of us when we take the Sacrament on Sunday. That when we take the Sacrament it is like writing Christ's name on ourselves...and we know who we belong to.

The most moving of all the testimonies was that of Cody Figueroa and Kassidi Figueroa. Kassidi's brother Shane was killed on October 25th by a drunk driver who is also in the country illegally.

Shane was a police officer and was responding to a call of shots fired when his patrol car was hit and he died. Shane left behind a beautiful young wife and baby daughter. You can view Shane's memorial here.

I was so moved by the selfless act of these two young people sharing their testimony when the pain of the loss of a brother and a cousin was so fresh. They each talked about the peace knowing that families are forever brought them. They talked about how these past few weeks had been bearable only because of their faith in The Lords plan of salvation for us all. Despite their grief these two young people knew...and shared...their certainty that they would be with Shane again someday.

I am so thankful for this new calling. I love being with the Youth of the church so much. They strengthen me and I have so much love and admiration for them. I am grateful that this time was spent tending to their young testimonies. I know mine was strengthened this weekend too.

BLOG TREAT WORD ART
A little word art to commemorate the weekend and the coming season.

Madam Secretary....

MADAM SECRETARY
I am so excited! I was called to be the Secretary in the Stake Young Women's Presidency and I am over the moon excited.

I love the Young Women's program and everything about it so much!

This coming weekend it our Stakes Youth Conference and there are three days worth of activities to attend so I will have lots of pictures!

Yay!!!

HALLOWEEN
Halloween this year was super duper fun. We went to our friends the Farabee's house. They had a big old BBQ Pot Luck in the backyard and all of Ryan's best buddies were there. We ate and visited and even managed to take the kids out for a little bit of trick or treating! Here are some pictures of the fun we had!


Our host Erick cooking up some grub for us!


Kaden, Nicholas, and Ryan


The boys at a particularly spooky stop!


My very serious little dragon.


Our friend Jake - he was the Oxy Clean Man...hysterical.
That's Molly behind him with her face painted like Nemo the fish!


Gailine - she really is an angel!


Ryan - the knight and his fire breathing dragon Matty!

RAWHIDE - DOOMSTOWN!
The Saturday night after Halloween we headed to Rawhide (an old west town) and went to the Halloween event there called Dooms Town!

We went with our boys and Joel's girl Miss Hillary. A whole bunch of their friends all came too...good times!


Mr. Wresh and his new buddy the sheriff


Joel and Miss Hillary looking tres chic in little girl sized pink cowboys hats!


My handsome little cowpoke


On a spooky carriage ride! Miss Hillary, Joel, and Cameron


Cute little Wreshlings


Old fashioned candy? Peeese Mom???


Waiting for a burro ride!


Matty was too little to go on a burro ride but he took it like a man!


Joel's friends.


More of the kiddos in line for the haunted house!


Panning for gold!


Pesky little brother? Priceless!

When Mark saw Joel with his arm around Miss Hillary right in front of us I might add...he dang near fell apart...as open minded as Mr. Wresh wants to think he is...Joel is still our little boy and seeing him with his arm around his girls shoulder was just a little more than he could take...Poor thing.

NEW BLOGS!
I have a couple of new blogs for you to check out!

Sister Wresh in the Kitchen
This is just a groovy little pad where I am going to post my culinary creations...good and bad!

Remarkable Remnants
If you like vinyl lettering be sure to stop in here! Rock bottom priced vinyl lettering that is over stock or unclaimed. All prices include shipping in the Continental US. Offerings will change regularly so check back often! Great for making holiday gifts!

As always you can custom order vinyl lettering at www.remarkablewalls.com.

DON'T MISS THIS DEAL ON ALL THESE TEMPLATES!
I had a few people email me asking about The Wild Hair Collection so I decided to offer it for a few more days (if the paypal button is there you can order it).

Right now get The Wild Hair Collection and my November Grab Bag all for just $14. There is over $100 worth of templates if sold individually and all the contents are OK for professional use when altered and flattened.

You can see the contents of both collections at http://mrswreshgrabbags.blogspot.com/

$14

HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Happy Birthday shout out to my nephew Chase...we all love you and miss you so much! We cannot wait to see you at Christmas!

Coincidentally Chase also shares a birthday with our Honda Odyssey. Her name is "Van-essa" and she is one year old today!

BLOG TREAT
Thanks for stopping by. Here is a little something to keep you scrapping!