Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Ever since I was called into Young Women's I've wanted to do a fun dinner/ etiquette/ dating activity and involve the young men. When I saw Valentines Day 2018 would fall on a Wednesday night~ a Mutual night, plus our scheduled Joint activity... how could we not do it? My presidency was in. The bishop approved of the pricier evening. It was on.
Amidst all the excitement and planning, I had to make sure it was celebrated properly at home.

Valentine boxes were made! I cannot believe we are down to only two babies creating Valentine boxes!

Paisley's darling giant piece of candy box.

Zeke found an already made Star Wars box the night before- which is totally against my personal policy, but desperate times call for already-made Star Wars boxes.

 The Breakfast Spread!

 Everyone even got up together and had breakfast together. Oh, the love!

 I love Paisley's red velvet blazer.

  I also love that Paisley wanted to wear these little mouse ears for some reason, and covered them in her matching wrapping paper. Whatevs, ya know?

Then, I swapped everything out for the after school festivities... like Caramel Apples

and cookies for days!!

(All of this has nothing to do with me abandoning my family on Valentines evening. And when I say my family, I mean little Zeke who was the only one not involved in the youth activity~ which meant neither was Jon.)

I was cooking chicken like a crazy person all day long. So much chicken! Enough to feed 87 people! Every single youth was attending~ free dinner! ~No Valentine plans! ~ Plus leaders, plus spouses- because it's Valentines Day!
My presidency and advisors rocked this day! We all did! We worked sooooo hard, and it was so much fun!
The Mia Maids wanted to be in charge of decorations because technically, this was their activity. I thought they did a beautiful job.

The Mia Maids hand made those red petals on the twigs and sprinkled on the table out of folded paper.

Doesn't it look so festive?

The guests were invited to wear dressy attire- as dressy as they wanted! Some wore Sunday dress, some wore formals, some in shirt and tie, some in tuxedos. It was fun to see! We served a three-course meal. The guests arrived to their salads on the table. For the main course we served baked Italian chicken tenders, green beans, steamed carrots, roasted potatoes and rolls. Each place setting had one glass of ice water and one glass of sparkling apple juice. For dessert we served fresh strawberries and cream over homemade angel food cake. Everything was delicious. 
I recruited Paisley and friends to help roll the trays of food out and place on the tables. A Young Men leader helped direct them. (They received proper serving training beforehand.) It was cute because those little girls wore their choir outfits (white shirts, black bottoms) so they looked coordinated and profesh. And they did! Those girls worked so hard all night long! They were collapsed in the hallway at the end of the night, shoes kicked off their sore feet, almost too tired to eat their plates of dinner, bless their sweet little, life-saving hearts. But my goodness, we needed them!
I asked my friends in the ward, the Whites to do a presentation on dinner and dating etiquette, how to keep a conversation going, phone etiquette, all sorts of good stuff. I asked them because I knew they would deliver. And they did! I really wished I could have sat in on it, but the peeks I made into the room and from the laughter I heard and the power point presentation they had prepared, I knew they were knocking it out of the park.

 
My team of Young Women leaders were amazing! They made this night happen, truly. We were hustling in that kitchen to get all that food plated, loaded up on the carts, ready to roll out. We wanted everyone at a table served at the same time, no waiting time. Everyone fell into a job that needed to be done and did it. It was so fun and so amazing to work shoulder to shoulder in the kitchen, laughing and joking with my dear friends, who were willing to forfeit their Valentines evening to make this fun night happen for the youth we love! There was not one minute of down time the whole night.

Sweet Dan Miser worked right along side us all evening. This is his second Valentines Day without his wife, Roxanne, whom we all loved dearly. She passed away very quickly barely a year ago from cancer.

 I think we dirtied every single dish, fork, knife and spoon in that kitchen. I wish I took a pic of the trays piled high with dirty silverware! My goodness! Luckily, our church kitchen has many top of the line dishwashers. (He-he.)

Look at those stacks of plates! I joked this is probably the second time those dishes have ever been used or washed.

Here's me, all gussied up before the sweaty evening. We all should have worn our Nike's and sweat pants, really.

Happy Day of Service and LOVE!