Stake Young Women Recognition Night

My new calling in my ward is that I am the Young Women Personal Progress Specialist.  I have very strong feelings about Personal Progress.  Here is a definition of the program taken from another blog: "Personal Progress is a program designed for young women ages 12-18 by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The primary goal of the Personal Progress program is to draw closer to Jesus Christ by learning about and applying the doctrines and principles of His gospel, and to recognize and fulfill your potential by developing worthwhile attributes and skills that will help you become a strong, faithful woman in the world today. Personal Progress is completed by finishing 6 experiences and one 10-hour project under each of the eight Young Women values (with the exception of Virtue, with 4 experiences), which can be adapted to fit the needs and interests of each young woman working on the program. The eight values are, in order: Faith, Divine Nature, Individual Worth, Knowledge, Choice and Accountability, Good Works, Integrity, and Virtue." 

The Young Women Recognition Award is given to young women: "When they complete the Personal Progress program, they will be eligible to receive the Young Womanhood Recognition. To receive this award: Attend sacrament meeting regularly (where possible), live the standards in For the Strength of Youth, Complete the value experiences and value project for each of the eight values, Keep a personal journal, Attend seminary or participate in independent study (where available), Read the Book of Mormon regularly, Record your testimony of the Savior Jesus Christ." 

I have very strong feelings about this program.  I truly believe this program is what Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ want our young women to do.  If they truly do this program they will learn how to set goals and strengthen their testimonies.  They will become strong spiritual women. They will have a greater direction in their lives,  be better college students, missionaries, and someday be better mothers!  I know this to be true.  Unfortunately our world has sends some confusing and the wrong messages to our young women, making them believe that their worth is measured by what society tells them.  I believe this programs helps them develop righteous self worth!  It helps them to develop into the strong women they are meant to be and learn how the Lord views them!  I love it!

So this year we had four girls receive the medallion and one girl receive her Honor Bee.  An Honor Bee is earned after their Medallion.  You have to do 40 hours of service and read the Book of Mormon again.  I love these girls and it was fun to work with them.

I am so glad Tonya came.  She was their Young Women's President for awhile!

Lacrosse Update

The regular season is over!!!  The team ended the season on a good note!  They killed it!!!  They won the last three games and Ian even made a goal today!  Now we wait to see if we made the playoffs.

Dance Festival

This week Aubrey participated in the CCSD Solor and Ensemble Dance Festival.  Mrs. Dunn, Aubrey's high school dance teacher is in charge of putting it one.  Dance teams from around our valley come to our high school and perform dance routines in front of judges who then rate their dances.  Then a couple of weeks later they perform those dances at Ham Hall at UNLV.  There is also a $500 scholarship that a girl can win to help further her dance education.  They have to write an essay.  Aubrey applied for it last year and didn't win.  This year she applied for it again and didn't think she would win because she was going to use it for college because her major is dance education at BYU-I.  Well, she won it.  We were so proud of her.

I love going to this showcase.  It is so much fun to see all the different high schools perform.  We have so much talent in our valley!  It blows my mind!  Our girls performed their lyrical routine.  I love this one!  It is by far my favorite one from this year!  It is the won that scored the highest and won first place every competition.  At this festival, they had the second highest score, behind LVA!  I love watching them perform this! 

For this Solo and Ensemble Dance Festival Aubrey got three superiors, for her solo, senior dance, and this lyrical!  It was awesome!

Her dance essay that won the scholarship:

Dance: an art form that is used to express oneself and realize ones individual potential. Throughout my four years of participation in CCSD dance classes and my 14 years of dancing, I have learned new lessons about life. One lesson I learned is to give a hundred percent to everything I do, if I have a goal I need to do anything to achieve it. Dance has taught me that no matter what comes my way I need to put my whole heart into it to see positive results. I cannot just get by in life by partially trying and saying whatever. I need to set goals and work hard to achieve them. To do that, I need patience and endurance. In dance it does not take one hour to get a triple pirouette or to master a jump. It takes lots of practice, patience, and enduring towards the end. Due to dance, I have learned all these lessons and understood that in order to succeed in something; I must give my whole heart to it.            

If I earn this scholarship, all money will go towards my college education. In college, I have plans to become a dance education major so I can work in local high schools and inspire teenagers to dance. It has always been my dream to teach and choreograph for students. I hope that one day I can touch students life and show them how no matter what comes your way in life, you can use dance to help you cope. The money would also go towards the dance company at my college, BYU Idaho, which I will audition for. I want to keep performing and keep showing people this beautiful art form. All the money would go straight to further my dance career in college. 

Prom! The Last One!

It was time for prom this weekend.  Aubrey and her girlfriends started prom weekend by going to the temple.  Now, how many girls do you know start their prom weekend spiritually.  I was so proud of them!  Then they came over to our house for a spa night.  I spent the night doing a lot of the girl's nails.  I really enjoyed spending time with the girls and talking to them.  It was great to see them have fun doing facials and watching movies.  They sang songs and goofed off.  It was wonderful and sad at the same time to think this is the last time these girls will be together like this.  I loved watching them.  It was wonderful.

The next day, Aubrey spent time getting ready for the dance.  She got her hair done by Brakell at Spa West.  It came out so good!  By the time that was done we had enough time to get a smoothie and get home to get ready.  We had Rachel and her brother this weekend, because the Albrights were taking their other daughter Allie up to school.  It was great having Rachel around.  Aubrey is so close to her and it was good they had this moment together. 

Rachel went and took some of the members of Dance Fusion's prom pictures. So Syann came over to get Rachel.  I was quick to get a couple of pictures of Syann and Aubrey.  It was good to get a picture of the Dance Fusion Captains!

Then the night began.  Alex looked wonderful.  They went over to their seminary teacher to take their pictures at her wonderful house.

The girls looked so good and modest!  I was so impressed with how elegant they all looked!  They boys took them to dinner and then they had to go to the dance where Blake won Prom King!  (Blake was in their group.)  Then they went to the Venetian to ride the gondolas and the Paris where they went in the Vegas Eiffel Tower.  Aubrey said she loved it and it was the best night ever.  It is hard to believe that some of these girls went to elementary school together and even were in the same playgroup and here they are going to her senior prom!  After I took these pictures, I got in the car and cried.  She is all grown up, and high school life is coming to the end.  Time is going by too fast!