Cupcakes for Whitney

What a great fund raising idea!
The Activity Day girls of the Oakwood Ward (led by Briana Dommer) are having a fundraiser for Whitney Montgomery and family.

You can show up on that day, but it would be so helpful if you would
Please call Briana and pre-order! 623-256-7999!

Briana - I am in for a dozen - Karina's birthday is the day before... Thanks!

Gardening Class

I am excited to announce that we will be having a gardening class next month!
This will be a two part event.
The first part will occur on
Thursday, September 9th at 7:00 p.m. in the Relief Society Room.
There will be planting guides, suggestions for soil preparation, and other information provided.

Part two will occur on Saturday, Sept. 11th at 7 a.m. just before the Stake Emergency Preparedness Fair.
It will begin at the home of the Andrews.
6830 West Aster Rd.
They are so generous that they are offering to serve breakfast! We will tour their garden and then proceed to other gardens in the ward.
There will be ideas for all, especially since it is FALL PLANTING TIME!

This would be a good time to mention the Stake Activity as well.
The Stake Emergency Preparedness Fair will take place on
Saturday Sept. 11th from 9 am - 12 pm in the cultural hall of the Stake Center.
Topics include:
Emergency auto repairs
Canning techniques
Maps, mirrors, and GPS
Winter gardens
Water purification/storage
72 hour kits
Emergency communications
First aid kits
Bread making
Home and fire safety
Tortilla making
Food dehydration
Money management seminars (9:30 and 11:00)

Utah Peaches

Hi Ladies

The following is a message from Shirley Brown, a dear Sister in our Stake who is kind enough to provide this amazing service. (I have gotten the peaches before, and they are amazing!)

I just got word that there will be two dates for peaches, Sept. 10 and Oct. 1. They will be $26 for a 32 pound box. With almost a month between delivery dates, you can order early and again in a month if you want. Please, please pay attention to the dates. I had more trouble this last time with the cherries when people were out of town and did not make arrangements to pick up their fruit. I do keep the fruit in my house, but my life does not revolve around your schedule. I do this as a service and my only compensation is a few free boxes of fruit. I just about decided last go around that I wouldn't do this any more because the inconvenience was just too great. But, I am a sucker for good fruit and I know you all are too. Please be considerate of my time and when you sign up for a date, make arrangements ahead of time if you can't be over to pick your fruit in a timely manner.

You are getting this email because I thought you might be interested in getting fruit. If you don't want to continue to get this info, please let me know. Also, be so kind as to spread this around in your area so that others are made aware of this opportunity and give them my phone number, 623-486-8101, or email. Thank you!

Shirley Brown

Farewell Elder and Sister Clark

The Monterrey Mexico Temple

So sad, I could hardly bear it, but I am so pleased to announce...
This is our farewell to Elder and Sister Clark.
We are so pleased that they will be serving the Lord as our neighbors in Mexico.
There will be an opportunity to bid them a fond and brief farewell...
Where:
The Clark's Home
7126 W Windrose
Peoria, Arizona 85381
When:
This Sunday, August 29th.
an Open House from 6 - 7 p.m.

The following is a video of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir singing "Called To Serve". It actually gave me chills!

oh, and p.s. - I heard Sister Clark's Spanish - what an amazing job she is doing!! very impressive!

Parenting: Touching the Hearts of Our Youth

This message is so timely after our lessons yesterday. It is a bit of Robert D. Hale's talk in General Conference.
I always feel inspired by these videos. I hope that you do, too.
Please don't hesitate to post a comment, sharing your ideas for Family Home Evening tonight.

Book Club for October

HERE IS A BIG ONE, Girls!!

We have never tried this before, but there is a first time for everything!
Since I shamefully had to miss the last book club meeting, I was informed of our next book club selection. It is a very exciting choice, indeed.
So what is the big surprise?!? We are going to read an entire trilogy before our next meeting!
We are reading, "The Uglies", "The Pretties" and "The Specials" by Scott Westerfeld. There should be plenty of time to complete this assignment as the reading is quick and Young Adult, and the next meeting will take place in October... on a date to be determined (by Renee Skidmore as she will be our lovely hostess with the most-ess)
I have already begun reading, and I am really enjoying these picks. Thanks Ladies for making our book club the most entertaining... and enlightening!

Highly Requested Recipes From the Auction

Special Thanks to both of these wonderful Sisters for sharing these amazing recipes with us!

Laura Owsley's Awesome Chicken Salad

4 cups cooked chicken or turkey (white meat)
4 cups celery - chopped
2 tbsp grated onion
1 cup toasted, sliced almonds
1 cup grapes - cut in half
1 cup pineapple chunks
2 cups mayonnaise
salt and pepper to taste

Margo Busch's Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

1 cup butter, melted
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 cup and 4 tbsp peanut butter, divided
1 and 1/2 cups chocolate chips

in a medium bowl, mix together the butter, graham cracker crumbs, confectioner's sugar and 1 cup peanut butter until well blended. Press evenly into the bottom of an ungreased 9 x 13 inch pan.

Microwave the chocolate chips with 4 tablespoons peanut butter on high for 1 minute. Stir. Continue microwaving and stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Spread over the prepared crust. Refrigerate for at least one hour before cutting into squares. Store bars in airtight container in refrigerator. Yields 20 bars.

Tip: Kids will love to help make this easy no-bake dessert. You can put them to work crushing graham crackers, mixing ingredients and even pouring the chocolate!

Thank you Sisters, for making this auction AWESOME! I look forward to doing it again next year!

Hi, I'm Joy I grew up in Hawaii, was the Women's Longboarding World Cham...

Hi, I'm Jane. I am a mother, step-mother, journalist, writer. And I am a...

Hi, I'm Rochelle, I am a follower of Jesus Christ and I'm a Mormon

September Enrichment Activity

Hi All,

For our September Enrichment meeting (Thursday, Sept. 16th, 6:30 p.m. in the cultural hall) we will be teaming up with our friends in the Centennial Ward for another great service project!

We will be putting together boxes for the Service Men and Women in our Stake. We understand that there are not very many, so we want to have enough items in each box for them to share with their units.

We will be having dinner that evening, so this will be a great opportunity to bring friends and socialize while we perform this lovely service.

This list should give you some ideas for what you can bring on that night:

Military Service Project

• shelf stable food items. such as cookies, crackers, but nothing that will melt in a hot climate
• no chocolate or gummy items
• Pringles, corn nuts, beef jerky, sugar free gum, peanuts
• hard candies like Werthers, Jolly Ranchers, Bit O' Honeys, Lifesavers
• Magazines like Popular Science, Travel Magazines, National Geographic, Car or Sports Magazines
• DVD's - family friendly selections or classics
• Crossword puzzle books, word search, Soduku
• Toiletries - Gold Bond powder, baby powder, Shaving cream, toothbrush, toothpaste, mouthwash
• Card Games like Uno or Rook
• Travel Sized games like checkers or chess or dominoes
• Pictures or postcards or Arizona, or parks
• paperback books
• small seasonal items that could be used for decorating barracks for Halloween, Thanksgiving or Christmas
• you can also donate money that will be used to cover the cost of shipping these boxes.
  

We so appreciate your help in making this a very special project for some of our most beloved members of our Stake and Country... our very own Service Men and Women

Oakwood Ward RS Service Auction

The Service Auction of the Oakwood Ward will take place on
August 12th at 6:30 p.m.
There will be a dinner served and nursery provided for those that absolutely need it.
The auction is a huge opportunity!!

We have requested a very special (very hilarious) auctioneer.
I promise that you will laugh, have a nice dinner with good friends, and go home with a fun little prize. What could be better?
This is an excellent opportunity to invite friends, neighbors or less active Sisters that you visit teach!

How it works:
Bring an item or an idea with you that you are willing to donate (at the end of this post, I will give you some ideas!).
When you arrive, you will be given a questionnaire to fill out. I cannot tell you the nature of the questions as that would be cheating, but for each answer given there will be a points value assigned.
(the math will not be hard, I promise!)
Once you total up your points, you will have the amount of currency that you can "spend".
The auctioneer will hold up each of the items brought, and take bids...
The bidding can be hilariously intense.
When your points are gone... you are done spending! The goal is for everybody to go home with something fun!

what should I bring?:
some of the most popular items are small handmade items or baked goods.
You can also bring an IOU for a service that you are willing to provide.
window cleaning? ironing? FHE treats?
do you have a talent that you are willing to share?
family history research? dance instruction? voice lessons?
The most ferocious bidding that I have ever witnessed was on "free babysitting"!

What has Nicole brought?
I usually bring small items that I have crocheted or homemade soaps.
What has Nicole won?
One year I won an awesome handmade scripture bag.
Another year I won "dinner in a box". It was a wrapped box - inside was a jar of (homemade) canned meat, canned veg, canned fruit and some biscuits. I thought that was a very creative idea!

We would really like this to be the beginning of a great tradition in the Oakwood Ward!
Please email me and let me know how many will be attending (we need to plan dinner!)

my email: guero(underscore)nikki@cox.net

Forgiveness: My Burden Was Made Light

just a warning: I am rating this video: "two tissues and a sleeve"