Weekend Update

I spent many, many hours last week gathering and creating decorations for our ward's Boy Scout fundraiser/ward activity on Friday night. The night included a silent auction in the back, a court of honor, a spaghetti dinner, some entertainment, and a service auction for each individual boy to offer their lawncare/babysitting/pet watching services. It was a jungle theme, which I was totally excited about. Especially when the perfect motto came to my mind, "Be Prepared...It's a Jungle Out There!" (In case you don't know, "Be Prepared" is the Boy Scout motto.) I wanted to decorate as cheaply as possible (since the whole point was to make money for scout camp, not spend money on decorations), so I had to get creative. I spent lots of time picking bamboo leaves, cutting down bamboo stalks, and searching for vines to cut. The incredible part is that when I went out in my backyard one day to look at my beautiful tulips I noticed something in the bushes by the fence....a VINE!!! I couldn't believe it, but the more I have thought about it the more I can believe it. Of course Heavenly Father could grow a vine for me in my own backyard. It was PERFECT!! I wanted to use lots of real greenery and I also wanted to have vines hanging from the "bridge". They wanted the boys to walk on the "cat walk" when their services were being auctioned off. Since I assumed that boys would probably not feel so comfortable with walking a cat walk, I decided to make it look like a bridge instead. Anyways, it is hard to capture the whole gym in just a couple small pictures with my phone, but here was the finished product.

[FYI...I am posting these pics because my mom, mother-in-law, and sisters want me to, but I also want to because when I went online to search for Boy Scout jungle themed decorating ideas I got absolutely no help. So, maybe I can bring some ideas to someone else out there or even just get their own ideas flowing]








The rest of the weekend was of course AMAZING because of General Conference! I think I cried in almost every talk. Yes, I'm pregnant and my emotions are super sensitive, but I also just felt so immersed in the spirit. There is just nothing that compares to that feeling!! More on conference to come....