New Beginnings 2016

New Beginnings has officially been checked off my to-do list! Maybe one day I'll handle the stress of this calling a little bit better. Phew. I had the exact opposite problem as my last event, I had SO many girls show up, I didn't have enough gifts for all of them. I had a whopping 18 girls there! Plus, a few brought some in-active friends that aren't in the ward. And we were even missing 2 active girls. It was amazing, and we had to keep adding seats in the back of the room. Amazing, but talk about nerve racking! I've definitely had to get more comfortable speaking in front of people. I thought I was getting used to it...until people didn't stop walking in. Yikes!

The night went pretty smooth except for one little hiccup...I spent hours and hours making a video of the girls talking about their favorite things in YW, and then it didn't even play...I think it might have been the wifi connection, or too many people attending had their phones connected to the wifi. Bummer! At least our YW has a Facebook page that I was able to post it on for everyone to watch later. It was embarrassing! Now I know not to rely on the internet!

We decided to do a Dr. Seuss theme to go around this years mutual theme 'Press Forward with a steadfastness in Christ.' We thought it went pretty well with the book 'Oh the Places You'll Go.' Luckily enough, there are so many clever ideas on Pinterest, and I was able to find a blog that had completely re-written the book to go along with Young Women's including the values. I had to tweak it a little to make it flow with the theme this year, but it was simple! I introduced the theme, and had the other leaders talk on camp, personal progress, and introduce the new beehives. Each girl took home a cute pair of socks to remember to 'press forward.'The girls all made the giant trufflula trees, and a few of the leaders and I made the arrow signs. We had a cookie/candy bar for refreshments, and then bright colors and dr. Suess books made it easy to decorate beyond that. One of my counselors is amazing at doing the invitations and programs, she does such a cute job! Here are a few pictures:

AHHH! Still shocked I had this good of a turn out!

And next up.....CAMP!