Princess Four Straight Long Hair Photo Shoot - Top Ten

I have done the top then for all the single girls after this post. It will be nice to be able to do that for Princess and Prince One when the baby is born as I am SURE I will have LOTS of pictures and be able to post those then. 

Princess Four wanted senior pictures with her hair long and straight and then long and curled before she got it cut and colored. It just took us three months to take the time to get her hair curled and find time to go and take some pictures.  

She has enjoyed being able to fix up her hair without as much time. Take a foot off and it shaves a few minutes off of straightening time. 

1 - Princess Four is a great leader. She has been in school leadership and group leadership regularly. She keeps track of everything that needs to be done and is great at delegating. Here is a link to her running for Student Body President.   

2- She will do something if she is asked to do it. Out of all the girls, when it is her dish night, she will do them even if she gets home late and it is midnight. Most of the other girls will wait and do them the next day. I have always felt grateful that she holds up her end of the responsibility. This is probably why she is so good at "drill down" which is taking orders and following them. Here is a link to one of  gold medal wins.

3 - She is self motivated. She has done more in the past two years than several of my girls put together. Going to girls state, mission to Thailand, community choir, National Honor Society, City Youth Council, Church youth leader, Rotary Youth Leadership, Hugh O'Brian Youth Leadership and Jr. Counselor for both those activities the following year along with School Leadership each year and dance team for four years.. If she needed me to get her to all those events and many more I am sure I am forgetting, it wouldn't happen. She keeps on top of when and where she need to be. It amazes me.

4 - She is smart. There are only so many ways I can say that one. Several of the girls have skipped a grade when their age and birthday were within a month of the cut off for the school year. She however, skipped a full grade and is graduating the month after she turns 17. She was listed as first in her class of 141 in this post here.  I am excited to see where college will take her.... 

5 - She can be a "team" player. She has been on the dance team for four years at school and for most of her life in performing dance teams. She has been in her choir for three years now. If you read about her sister yesterday and followed the links, some of her dancing and singing is on those links. However, I will add some links here so you can enjoy her singing and pictures of her dancing as well. Here is a link to some posts of her dancing. Here is a link to a post of her singing. Here is another link to them performing at the US's biggest fourth festival.


6- She is not only good at team performing, she is an amazing actress and singer as well. She has been in many community plays and just landed a main role for a school play. Here is a link to her singing a solo at the fair.  Here is a link to her performing in "Oliver."  Her life dream is to be a Disney Princess. She would LOVE it if she ever got to play one or be one at their parks.

7 - She is kind, thoughtful and service oriented. Her service missions to Peru with our family along with her service mission to Thailand this summer along with other numerous services to family, friends and neighbors have me thinking faster that I can type. I have so many I want to list. Singing at the nursing home is one of my favorites, I am not sure it is one of hers as the smells are a bit different but she goes smiling. She rubs my feet and back OFTEN. Of course, I should have that one at the top as it is my favorite but she truly shows me love by doing it almost daily. Her 100 hours of service to the food bank also come to mind. What sixteen year old does that much service? Oh, I almost forgot, she has made hats for charity for years. Here is one I just found and had completely forgotten about. Making dolls for hospitals. Here is a link to that. Anyway, you get the idea.  

8 - She isn't afraid to try new things. Last year, her friend wanted to be on the golf team. Princess has a hard time playing sports because her dance team with the school conflicts with every sport. She tried to talk the coach into letting her be on the tennis team (which she has also never played) but that didn't work out so she was excited to find out that they could make it work for her to be on the golf team. Here is a link to her getting lessons from Grandpa. Here is a link to them riding the fire truck down main at midnight after her team took first at state. She is considering being on the team again this year even though she isn't as good as the other members, she loves to learn. That is what matters.

  

9 - If she doesn't understand or know how to work something, she will figure it out. Since she was VERY little, she has LOVED electronics. She asked for a lap top at a very early age and had one even before me I think. Her dad gave her a used one and it was older and in rough shape but she LOVED it. She always wanted the next electronic game etc. She would go to her friends houses and play their electronic games and toys. She LOVED Zoo Tycoon and other computer games where she could figure things out and build and add onto things. She knows how to download things and upload things and just took a college selling class and got an "A" after putting together a sales plan on computer etc. She also puts together slideshows and other features that I am a bit embarrassed to say, I have never done.On one of the links above you will see her giving a video slideshow at Rotary after her Thailand trip. Another link shows her performing in front of the student body where she did a mix up of songs for her skit. Check them out. 

10 - She can motivate people and entertain them at the same time. She is a WONDERFUL public speaker.   She has spoken many times at our church during services but she gave a great speech when running for Student Body President. She also gave a good speech when she spoke at the Rotary thanking them for their donation to her Service mission to Peru. My favorite speech was the one she gave out at the HOBY dinner where she was awarded the $10,000 scholarship for her many hours of service and leadership. Here is a link to that post. Here is a post where she had speakers from all over come and she spoke as well and then had the youth do service at the food bank.


I guess these past few days have given me reason to brag but the reality is I want the girls to know what qualities I admire in them. The lists were easy to make but it has taken me hours for each post searching for the post to go with the lists. I was a bit surprised by how many posts I did have on the younger girls and their accomplishments as I didn't blog when the older girls were doing all their similarly wonderful things during High School. 

Sorry if it is boring to anyone but me but I bet my girls will each love reading the post about them. I need to go back and add links to Princess Five's list as I didn't add links on hers. I think it will be fun for them to see so much listed in one post. 

I LOVE YOU and WANT you PRINCESS FOUR! (inside joke there) After writing all these, I realize just how blessed I am. I am truly grateful!

Photo Shoot - Princess Three and Ten Things I Love

As I review the girls pictures, I am so grateful how healthy and beautiful my girls are. It makes me count my blessings continually having them in my life.

Princess Three is so busy and doing well at college. It was VERY enjoyable having her home over the holidays. We didn't see much of her as she visited people in other cities for much of the break so every day we did have her was enjoyed.

She was great to go through her stuff and help her sisters get their bedrooms together.

Here are ten reasons why I LOVE Princess Three.

1 - She never backs down from an assignment. If I ask her to do something, she doesn't try and tell me why I shouldn't do what I asked her or tell me we can "do it later," or round up her sisters so it is "fair" before she does anything,  she just asks how I want it done and by when. Here is a post about a dinner someone asked her to plan. 
Here she is "taking orders" in Drill down winning the gold medal.

2 - She is a GREAT Leader. She was Student Body President and leader in many clubs and, is now the Vice President of the youth leaders at college. I've only ever heard praise about her leadership experiences from those she has worked with.

3 - When she speaks, people listen. She is a woman of few words. She had two older sisters to talk for her when she was young so unless she felt strongly about something, she just kept quite. When she speaks, we know it is something worth listening to. Here she is speaking at graduation.

4 - She is quick witted. She has a very quick sense of humor and sometimes it can be quite dry. Many people miss her jokes as she says them so straight faced but we "get" her most of the time.

5 - She is BRILLIANT. My father tried to talk her into going to Harvard last week. She is so smart that she graduated at the top of her class and has maintained her full scholarship and will be finishing up her associates degree this spring. I know she could get into Harvard but she is so "real" that she doesn't care about that type of thing.

6 - She is herself. She starts trends just by being herself. She would wear sweats to school and not even comb her hair and get compliments on her looks. She rarely wears make-up and her clothes are simple and inexpensive. She doesn't care about name brands. If she likes something, she will wear it. I used to get upset that she would wear sweats and basketball shorts with t-shirts almost daily. She "is who she is" because she is beautiful inside. Here is a post about her at college.

7 - She has a quiet wisdom. When others get upset about thing, she is calm and speaks quietly and explains all sides of an issue. She won't agree with you just to agree. She give you her true feelings and thoughts and you never have to wonder if she is "sugar coating" things. She just says it in a kinder way.

8 - She is low maintenance. She is happy with any situation. This probably comes from being a middle child. She will have fun no matter what someone plans. She will usually go along with the crowd and have fun doing whatever anyone suggests. She is one of those people who will make any situation fun.  .

9 - She is a problem solver. When she isn't sure about something, it may take her awhile to sort out what she wants to do but she looks at the situation examining it from all sides before acting. If she takes action on something and it doesn't go well, she takes responsibility for her choices and figures out a way to make things right. It take a mature person to admit they made a mistake and fix it.

10 - She makes great decisions and is extremely mature and responsible in her choices. I don't have to worry about her. She has consistently made such good choices that I really don't worry about her. If she has a question about something, she will call and ask about the options and get my "take" on what she should do but I have always taken care to not make the decision for her.

Some of my girls have hated that about me, wanting me to make the choice so they would have someone to blame if the choice didn't work out, but I give them the options of all the choices and the consequences or blessings of each choice the way I see it and then let them make the choice. She has always made her choice and been OK with the outcome even if it wasn't what she wanted or thought it would be. Here is a post about her choice to do a service mission to Kenya that has links to all the posts for that trip. .

I got ready to publish this and realized I didn't write anything about how talented she is as a singer and a dancer. Uh, if you have read this blog for very long, you will KNOW what an amazing singer and dancer she is. Here is a link to her singing "the national anthem" A'Capella with her sister at a game. Here is a link to one of the many dance posts.

Who could ask for more; I am truly blessed. Proverbs 31:28 states, "Her children rise up and call her blessed" I think that it is true. I am BLESSED.

Princess Two Photo Shoot and Ten Things I Love

Princess Two was home when we did our photo shoot a few months ago and  I never got around to putting her photos up as well as some of the other girls individual shots.  

We had some fun taking the pictures and I said I was going to use the photos to list the top ten things I love about my Princess.  

1 - Everyone loves her. If they don't love her when they meet her, they are quickly won over by her enthusiasm and vigor for life. 
 
2 - She is EXTREMELY organized. She LOVES to help organize things and is always helping her sisters go through their rooms and clothes getting rid of what they don't need. Here is a post about her sorting things and selling them to help her sister. 

3 - She reminds me when to take a break. She will help me work for an hour and then tells me I need to take a break and have some "down time" and then will start me up again and stay with me until the job is finished not matter how long it takes. Even when we are having fun, she reminds us we need breaks. This is a post about what happens if I don't follow that advice. 
 
4 - She is bright and quick to learn. She finished college early and continues to enjoy learning. She researches information daily through news etc.Since I didn't blog when she graduated, I have a link to another post where she helped me here. 

5 -  She is one of the most quick witted people I know. She has a line for everything and a quote. She is usually one step ahead of everyone in the room with her comments and it may take a minute for everyone else to catch up. "You know why!" Here is a link to a post with a funny video she shot of herself when she got her wisdom teeth out. 
 
6 - She is very creative. She writes music and poetry. She is a clever writer and has shared her writing with many people and uses it during others times of need to give them comfort. Here she is creating a quilt. 

7 - Since she was able to walk, she has been the "care taker" and "Watcher" of others. She would see a need and immediately take action to help. If I fell asleep on the couch, even at two she would put a blanket over me. Always seeing what she can do to help others.Here is a post where she is helping by watching others.

8 - She has the light of Christ in her. Others see her actions and want to be like her. The other day, my nephew was talking to my niece and said, "(Her name here) will change the world." My niece said, "Do you think I could change the world?" He said, "No." Everyone that has ever spent time with her knows how dynamic she is and that she IS capable of changing the world. Here is a post about her leaving to change people in Taiwan.

9 - She is always looking how to help others. She will see someone in need and do what she can to help them in the way they need the help. This may sound like some of the other numbers but it stands on its own that it isn't just family and friends that she helps. At her work, she has gotten three people hired. She helped a friend find a place to live and another a job elsewhere. This is in the last month or so. Here is a link to one of her missionary posts.

10 - She is her own person. She never lets others judgments or negative comments get her down. She was oddly thin growing up and got some unkind treatment because of it. It is just how she was made but others judged her for it. She DOESN'T care what others say or do, she is strong and doesn't allow it to affect her. Even if she ends up alone because of it, she just spends her time creating or in some other positive way. 

Here is a link to some funny stories about Princess two

Here is a link to the second part of that post. She does make me laugh. I still don't know where she gets it. ;-) Wherever she gets it from, I am grateful for her and all she is. I am Blessed!

Hand Cart For Third World - Amazing Invention

I read a magazine the other day about amazing inventions and I was impressed at this one.

When we were in Peru, I saw people living with carts to haul their food or products to sell. The carts can be set up as a little store on the street.

The cost of the carts was a bit more than some can afford and for those that are barely surviving day to day, a cart could be a boon to their income.

This couple invented a cart made out of one sheet of plywood. It is an incredible idea and can be such a blessing in the lives of the poor.

I have many family members who run service organizations in developing countries and thought I would share the link to this couples video with them and you.

I think if you have have some funds that you are willing to donate to a great idea, this one would be one worth donating to. Here is a link to their video I found online.

Isn't it amazing what people can come up with when they see a need?

Gratigories - Gratitude through Scattergories

I had a woman ask me to go to her church youth class one Sunday to speak to her class about my "Gratitude" stories and blessings.

I talked for a few minutes and after I finished speaking, she handed out a paper with "Gratigories" on the top.

She had numbers on the papers and gave everyone 2 minutes to write down all the things they could think of that they were grateful for.

At the end of the two minutes, she asked one person to read off the number one on their list.

Lets say that person wrote 1- My parents. If anyone in the room had "Parents" on the list, they would cross it off their list and the person who had it for number one would cross it off their list as well.

If someone read something off their list and no one else had that list, they would not cross it off their list.

We each took turns listing off something on our list and when everyone had finished reading everything on their list, we counted up the items we had on our list that weren't crossed off.

The person with the most items not crossed off their list won a prize.

Her lesson was obviously on gratitude and I thought it was a fun way to help youth appreciate their blessings. It would be a nice family game as well.

I am grateful for amazing youth teachers and everything else on my list.

More Ideas and Suggestions for Family Reunions - Photos, Trading Post - Service

I didn't want to take the time on the other post to go into detail on the games, activities or service projects that I mentioned but will go into them a little bit more here.

The Walking Stick - Everyone can find their own long straight sticks or you an assign someone who may have land in a forest etc to pick some out and bring them. Let everyone know that you will be making walking sticks and if they would like to carve one, they will need to bring carving tools.

I made these with my children one year and I took colored markers, string, feathers, pipe cleaners, bells and little decorative beads such as pony beads for them to decorate the sticks. I haven't scanned those photos yet so I don't have a picture of those to post but we used them several times to go hiking before they "out grew" those sticks.

For the bottom of the stick, cut off round sections of tire retread that you can pick up off the side of the highway or go to a tire store and see if they would cut off some. You can use a round drill bit about 1/2 in size across and make it easy on yourself. It does stink when you are cutting out the rubber but these will make great rubber grippers for the bottom of your sticks. You can use small screws to attach it to the bottom of the stick and use super glue on the bottom of the stick before you screw the screw into the bottom. It will give the stick some grip. Once you have the tire bottom on securely, you can use a file to file off any excess of the sides so the tire doesn't show except on the bottom where it should.

On the top of the stick, bring some kind of cording or leather string to wrap around the top to give it a grip. You can offer feathers, beads or charms for people to "hang" off the leather etc 

You could have a contest for the carved sticks and a contest for the kids decorated one's. You can also take a few different colors of stain and spray on varnish to protect the stick when it is finished. Make sure you take some photos of everyone with their sticks and smiles. Maybe even plan a small hike for everyone to "try out" their new sticks on the last day.

Blankets - For the Fleece blanket service project, you can see if a local store will donate the fleece if you are going to be doing the work and can show where the blankets will end up as "charity." The woman I know contacted the sheriff's office in the city of the reunion and asked what they could do to hep. Sometimes the woman shelters or local hospitals get lots of help. She did contact several places asking what they could do to help but this was the one that was best suited for a larger group. Here is a post how to tie the ends of the blankets. You don't have to have two together, you can just tie the ends of one to make it decorative. Since they may be used to cover children or adults in accidents, you would want a variety of fabrics. If some place isn't willing to donate the fabric, perhaps a local business would be willing to donate funds to purchase the fabric since you will be willing to make them. There are lots of options. make sure to tell people to bring scissors or perhaps a store will donate some for the cause. Otherwise, buy the three packs at ACE dollar days sale where you can get three for $2 or so.

Neck or travel pillows - could be a service project as well if the police think they could use them for younger accident victims. Highway patrol would probably use those more than city officers. Here is a link to the neck pillow and here is a link to the travel pillow.  I guess I never described how to make the square pillows. I thought we had. Basically sew a square and leave a little opening of the sides. Sew it in about 1 1/2 inches in on the sides once you have turned it out. Cut strips every 1/2 inch on the sides making sure not to cut the side seams and then tie them off once you have stuffed the pillow.

You can have "donation" tags made and sew them on the blankets or pillows stating that the "Crafty" (your name here) made and donated these items.

 Games -"Penny" get to know you game. You can pass around a bag with pennies in it. Everyone takes one and then has to go to the microphone and give something about them selves that happened the year of the penny. You may need a "kids" bag so the pennies aren't too old for them. Something like, "I got a penny that was made in 1999. I have my youngest child that year. Now your turn is over.

Fun Fact info - Or, a variation. You have to give facts about you, one for each year. At each activity or group meal, have one person get up and give their facts. For example, Suzie is 16 so she would get up and say, Dance, sing, play guitar, love cheesecake, broke my ankle, Capricorn, Never kissed, Can't drive, etc up to 16 facts. It would take about 30 seconds for most people if they list quickly and you have them fill in the blanks ahead of time and just read them once they have them all listed.

Bouncy Ball game - I have a bag of small to large rubber bouncy balls. When we were over scouts, we would throw the balls into the large room and let them bounce all over. Whoever collected the most balls, got a treat. There is another option to use it as a get to know you name. If you can get into a gym type building. You have everyone write their name on a bouncy ball. Put them all in a bucket after that and throw them out into the room. Each person has to find the ball with their own name or you can do a version where they have to find the person that has their name and hold their hand

The "Name" game - is a good get to know you game most kids and adults can play. Here is a link to that post.

Kids Treasure Hunt - For the kids to get to know cousins etc, each person can bring a treat to use in this game. Have each person think up a question or two that they can have the children ask them and one or two, they can ask the children that are "get to know you" type questions. Maybe if they are a singer, you can have them sing for their treat. Kind of like "Trunk or Treating" but for family information.

My friend did one where they got to know the campground better. They had icee pops at one stop, treats, little toys and at the last stop, they got small coins. She said the kids were entertained for some time and enjoyed their games.

Country Stores - I think I explained this fairly well in the other post but people can donated services, games, prizes, toys, crafts etc for the store. The store also sold candy bars, baked goods and everyone could view the auction items before the big event. The auction is held to cover costs of the camp ground, printing,  prizes, game supplies, name tags etc

Photos - Hiring someone or paying a friend to come take a group picture may be worth it if people have come in from out of town. Our family had a picture last June at our reunion and sat on the hill for the picture hoping we could see everyone. It was really hard in the summer sun to see everyone. Dusk or dawn is better in the summer for these type pictures so no one has the sun in their face but it can take a few minutes to get group pictures. You can schedule people for a "Family photo" where you take one just of their spouse and kids. My fathers last big reunion I went around and took pictures of each family just to show where they were at with their kids and ages etc. It may be 20 years before I get the next picture of them. Pick a nice background for the group. If you are at a lodge, take it under the big sign or in the center of the driveway / dirt road or in a field with flowers etc.

Themed pictures can be cute as well. In this Tee Pee one, we all have on those cheap crazy glasses you can purchase by the gross online. Having everyone dressing western or wearing different colored tee shirts for each family group. You can assign the color they should wear before hand. Or, get t-shirts printed with your family name and the date with your "theme" design on the front and just order different colors for each different family line. That can be a fun way to get to know which child belongs to which parent quickly. There are so many options for pictures as well.  

Catered food for a few meals makes it nice for all involved to enjoy the reunion and not have to clean up. It can very expensive if you have a large group. If you assign out meals to family groups, it can be a better way to work it or our family likes to do our own meals during the day and have different families take dinner on our summer camp out.

We enjoy camping and our reunions but they can be lots of work. This was just to add to the other reunion posts I have done before in hopes that something will work out for your family and mine making getting together a wonderful experience. You can theme them anyway you like but who doesn't like Western? Taking a big Tee Pee can be fun. Perhaps the auction and store could be in there. Wouldn't that be a fun "trading post!"

Family Reunion Schedule Suggestions, Games and Themes

My friend had a several day reunion last year and I asked her about the schedule she used and she gave me a print out of her schedule. Our family does reunions but this is more for an extended family reunion. I added in my suggestion and games I thought would be fun.

She had a "Western" theme.

"Your" Family Round Up

Friday Schedule

Check in 5:00 - Round up Headquarters
           Register/Raffle Tickets/Name Tags
           Decorate Family Flags
           Name on Pedigree Sheet (literally write your names in on the wall sheets)
           Pioneer Bingo/Get acquainted (bunko works here as well - Click here for that Post 1 Post 2)

6:00-7:30 - Dinner at the Center (name of family assigned if group meal)
7:30 - Family Skits at Commons - Bring lawn chairs (Have every family bring a bag of weird items that
          can be used in a skit. Each family trades out bags using someone elses items to make up a skit )
10:00 - Community Quiet Hours Begin/ Campfires stories and S'mores

Saturday Schedule

7:30 - 8:30 Breakfast (name of family assigned if group meal)
9:30 - Parade of Family banners
10:00 - Service Projects
            Fleece Lap Quilts
            Walking sticks/ Woodcarving (they can bring their own stick or you can have someone bring some)
            Kids crafts and Treasure Hunt (you can purchase kits for crafts or assign someone) For
            treasure hunts you can send kids to different family members and ask a question to that person to
            get that "prize".
12:30 - 1:30 - Lunch (name of family assigned if group meal)
1:30 - Presentation of Blankets to County Sheriff Dept or other needy organization
          Family Store Opens and Auction Items look over (Have people donate items and sell candy etc)
2:00 - The Competition - Let the competition begin!
          Round'em up - Big kick Ball into hoola hoops, who ever gets closest
          Buffalo Chip Challenge -Frisbee Golf into hoola hoops
          Corn Bag Toss - Bean bag toss bought or made
          Hoop and Stick Races - You can make these or buy them
          Calf Ropin' - Cow horns on Hay you'll also need roping ropes (IFA is a good source for these)
          Twister - Used spray paint on the lawn.Use spinner from real game.
          Barrel Races - Potato sack races
          Needle in the Haystack - sawdust search for prizes but use hay instead

Free Time

6:00 - 7:00 Dinner (name of family assigned if group meal)
7:30 - Family Store closes and Auction begins (Have people donate items and the money goes to help pay for the reunion site and expenses)
8:00 - Music and Dancing
10:00 - Quiet hour begins/ Family campfire stories and S'mores (assign a different family member to give a story each night. Several different people will give a nice variety of stories.)

Sunday Schedule

7:30 - 9:00 - Breakfast (name of family assigned if group meal)
9:00 - Sunday Service / Central Area
           Memorial Tribute to central ancestors
           Patriotic Songs
10:00 - A Fond Farewell 

I hope this is helpful for you planning your next reunion. We enjoyed this reunion a few years ago to a lake and river run. We did flower hair bow crafts. Zip line and camp fires.