Monthly Relief Society Meeting

We want to help keep your New Year's resolution. We will be doing yoga (so dress accordingly and bring a mat if you have one but it's not needed) taught by our very own Jamie C - she describes herself as a non-yoga person. She wants to show you that anyone can do yoga and it's a good form of exercise. We also hope to get sisters talking about when and where they're going to go walking/jogging/running to help us through these winter months. We will also be munching on healthy snacks. Nursery will be provided for children 18 months and older. 6:30 pm at the Church bldg.

Monthly Relief Society Meeting

We will be going to Bridgeport Place Assisted Living (5250 Bridgeport Way West in University Place) and provide a Christmas program. All you need to bring is your singing voices and spending time with wonderful seniors. We will be handing out candy canes and cards.

Directions: Taking I-5 North, exit 125. Turn left on Bridgeport Way SE. The building is 5 miles from the freeway.

Alternate route: Taking DuPont- Steilacoom Rd, turn right on Lafayette Rd, continue (Name changes to Chambers Creek Rd) for about 3 miles. Turn right to stay on Chambers Creek Rd. Turn left on Bridgeport Way and the building is about .5 miles away.

Bishop's Christmas

Only 1 week left to bring your generous donations for the Bishop's Christmas! Here's some ideas....

4 board games 4 DVDs 4 headphones 4 posters 4 cologne/perfume 4 toiletry sets 4 make up 4 blow dryers 4 curling irons 4 iTunes gift cards 4 movie theater tickets 4 watches 4 sweatshirts 4 hats 4 sports memorabilia 4 clothing 4 jewelry 4 balls (football,soccer, basketball) 4 handheld electronic games 4 name brand socks (Adidas, Nike, Reebok, etc.)

Remember these items need to be new and unwrapped…just put them in the donation gift bags (or if it doesn’t fit- near the bag) found in each auxiliary

Progressive Dinner

Oct 13, 6 pm with appetizers at Collette D.

Approximate timeline:

Appetizers at Collette D.

6:00 - 6:30 pm

Main Course at Jenny M.

6:35 - 7:05 pm

Dessert at Amy S.

7:10- 7:40 pm

Directions: From I-5, take exit 119, turn right on Steilacoom Rd (heading towards Steilacoom). Turn left in .5 miles to Bell Hill Place. At the top of the hill, turn left. Look for the red balloons and walk down the driveway.

International Night

Sept 15, 6:30 pm, Church building. We are spotlighting a few sisters that have served a mission in another country. We will be sampling foods from those countries and previewing Super Saturday crafts.

Park Play Date

Aug 31, 11 am, Lattin's Country Cider Mill and Farm. This is a great farm with lots of fresh produce, pies, and donuts available to purchase. There are animals for the kids to see and a maze to run through. The address is 9402 Rich Road SE in Olympia. For more information including directions, click here.

Park Play Date

Aug 24 - Park Play Date, 11 am, Picking blueberries in Tacoma at the Blueberry Park. It is a 20 acre park that has 4,000 mature blueberry bushes maintained by volunteers. The best part --it's free. Just bring some containers.. Click here for directions.

Park Play Date

Aug 17, 11 am, "Splash Park" on Ft Lewis (near bowling arena). There is a playground in conjunction with the splash park. There's a nice pavillion and a few benches around the parameter. So come and have lunch and let the kids play....

Directions: From the Main Gate, head south on 41th Division Dr S. Turn right on Liggett Ave. (it's at a stoplight). Splash Park is on the left (behind the skating rink)

Monthly Relief Society Meeting

"Have you ever suffered from dinner dilemmas or cookie catastrophes?" If so, join us on Aug 10th, 6:30 pm, at the church building for a live cookie making demonstration on how to make Rachel Westhoff's almost famous, definitely delicious chocolate chip cookies (complete with fresh baked samples for all!!) as well as a discussion on sure fire tips and techniques to rescue you from the dreaded dinner doldrums. We have ways to save your sanity, tempt your tastebuds and stretch your budget! As an added bonus, bring a copy of your very favorite "go to" dinner time recipe; the one thing you can throw together in a pinch that your family loves to eat. We will compile and copy them for an on the spot "Dinner Dilemma Solved" cookbook for you to take home!

Nursery will be provided for children 18 months and older

Park Play Date

Aug 10, 11 am, Jamie Combs' house. Her house backs into American Lake so bring life jackets if needed to enjoy the day in the sun (hopefully??!!) Address is 8807 N. Thorne Lane in Tillicum. Directions: Heading north on I-5 take exit 123 for Thorne Ln. Turn left. Turn right on N. Thorne Ln and another right onto N. Thorne Lane.

Park Play Date

Thurston County Sports Complex Park, 11 am. Directions: To get to the park take I-5 South and get off exit #111 (Marvin/Martin Rd). Turn left at the light onto Marvin. Continue past the shopping centers (for about 2 miles) and turn left onto Steilacoom Rd (it's a light). The park is on your right. As you pull in you will go through the turn-about, follow it to the left. There are lots of baseball fields, drive past them and you will see the park on your right.

Park Play Date

Park Play Date is this Tuesday at Fort Steilacoom Park at 11 AM. Feel free to pack a lunch and stay for a while. Drive east on Steilacoom Blvd and turn right on 87th Ave. SW. Take the next right into the park and follow the road until you see the playground.

Park Play Date

Spanaway Lake Park at 11 am on July 20th. There is a great walking trail that goes around the lake, a huge playground, and picnic facilities! There is a $3 parking fee.

Directions: For driving directions click here. This is the back way but you could also take 512 to Pacific Ave.

Park Play Date

July 13th at Sunnyside Beach at 11 am. The lowest tide days of the year are July 10-13, so it should be a great day to do some beach combing. We may have to change this day because we have RS meeting that night. Let us know if you want to do both or move this one to another day.

Directions: To get to the beach take Steilacoom - Dupont Rd (exit 119 take a right onto Steilacoom - Dupont Rd). Take a right on Lafayette and continue to the park which is on your left. You will see the parking lot ($5 fee) before the park. You can't miss it, it's right on the beach! Make sure you have the exact change because there is just a box to push money into it.

Monthly Enrichment Activity

Have you ever wondered what there is to done/see in the area and it's free. Look no longer. We have some sisters in our very own ward that "are in the know". If you haven't already signed up, Mindi W. is looking for sisters that can provide finger foods, fruits, or lemonade/punch. If you have any fun lawn games to play, Mindi would love your help/suggestions. We will be meeting by the pavillions (weather permitting) behind the church building at 6:30 - 8 pm. Childcare will be provided.

Park Play Date

We are meeting at the Thurston County Sports Complex Park at 11 am. There are picnic tables and a pavilion and plenty of grass so bring a lunch and stay a while. To get to the park take I-5 South and get off exit #111 (Marvin/Martin Rd). Turn left at the light onto Marvin. Continue past the shopping centers and turn left onto Steilacoom Rd (it's a light). The park is on your right. As you pull in you will go through the turn-about, follow it to the left. There are lots of baseball fields, drive past them and you will see the park on your right. It's a big playground and it has a walking path if you want to bring your stroller and stroll the park.

Park Play Date

Our awesome Sister Alexis N. knows some great parks that the kids can run and play while we get a chance to talk with our friends. It will be every Tuesday - close enough to Sunday to remember to go!! June 22 is at the Powderworks Park in DuPont. Across the street from Pioneer Middle School on Bob's Hollow Ln.

Eat and Greet

Come and meet the new Relief Society Presidency.

Enjoy a message about women, and why we need to stick together!

And don't forget about dessert!! (We're providing the dessert, you just need to come and eat it!!)

Tuesday, June 8, 6:30 PM at Church bldg. Childcare available.

Welcome...

Sunday our new Relief Society Presidency was called...

President-- Rachel Westhoff
First Counselor -- Jamie C.
Second Counselor -- Mindi W.
Third Counselor -- Jamie P.
Secretary -- Amy S.

Please take a minute to introduce yourself to these wonderful sisters if you haven't had the chance to get to know them yet. They are anxious to serve the sisters of our ward. Let's all find ways to help them. Hey, I know... let's make June a 100% visiting teaching month!!!

Seriously, Just Try This

Have you seen the helps available for memorizing the scripture mastery scriptures? Check this out. Click on one of the Book of Mormon scriptures. You can take out sections, you can listen to it, you can have it give you hints. Really. If you haven't memorized the scripture mastery scriptures yet, just try this. See how many you can pass off by the deadline.

Not only do we have amazing ways to assist us in memorization but the bishopric is giving us an extra week!! The new date for the pizza feast is Saturday, June 12. It will be at noon behind the church building. As long as at least one member of the family has memorized the scripture mastery scriptures, the whole family can come. (I've heard rumors of it being even more lenient than this.) Just make a sincere effort to memorize as many as you can. I absolutely believe that when we have scriptures memorized, the Holy Ghost can use them to guide us at any time. Just read 2 Nephi 32:3.

Feast Upon the Word

Time is running out! Our Ward pizza feast is on June 4. Do you have your scripture mastery scriptures memorized? If you need a list of them you can find them on the Book of Mormon bookmark found here. You can also pick one up from a bishopric member or a member of the RS presidency. Listed here are a few suggestions of ways to memorize, understand, and apply these scriptures. You can turn it into a game and make it fun!

Save & Swap

Are your closets filled with stuff you won't use anymore? Clothes your kids have grown out of but are still in great shape, that bread machine that never gets used because you'd really rather make bread by hand ;) Bring it to our Save and Swap night Tuesday, May 11 at 6:30 PM. You can dump your stuff on the tables in the cultural hall and after a lesson and discussion on couponing and ways to save money, we'll be able to look through all the things we each brought and find the thing you were planning on buying next week. Who can complain about getting free stuff?

If you have a furniture item or something that would be difficult to tote to the building, bring a picture of it and we can set that out to see if it's something someone could use.

Here's another reason to bring your things--to support the Young Women. How would we be doing that, you ask? All of the remaining items will be used for the Young Women yard sale/fundraiser.

There will be childcare available to those who need it. And of course refreshments!

April Relief Society Meeting

Instead of have several RS meetings a month, we are consolidating. Our RS meeting night will typically be the second Tuesday of the month. This month we will be taught a Love and Logic parenting class by Esther S. on April 13 at 6:30 PM. This will be held in our church building in the RS room. There will be childcare available to those who need it.

This Sunday in RS there will be a jar available where you may submit parenting questions--anonymously if you'd like--or you may email them to the RS presidency through the link in the sidebar. Haven't we all experienced this at one time or another? (I did while chasing one kid through Target with a pregnancy test in the other hand. Nice.)

Please come and get to know your RS sisters better along with picking up a few tips on parenting. Who can't use that?

Happy Birthday Relief Society!

We will be celebrating the organization of the RS on March 16 at 6:30 PM with a service auction. Please donate anything you'd like--artwork, dinners, babysitting hours, tutorial on something you know a lot about, anything you can think of. It's a fun way to get to know each other too.

Hey, something just occurred to me. When we had a service auction years ago, Sarah A. donated her time in helping me set up my first blog. That was worth every bean I earned! And look where that went. Now we have a fabulous RS blog that you all enjoy checking at least weekly! Right?

So after arriving you'll earn beans for various things (having read your scriptures, having completed your visiting teaching, stuff like that) and that's what you'll use to buy different services. This activity is sure to be a success.

Childcare will be provided. This activity is at the Bridgeport Building. You can find the map here. It's actually a couple of minutes closer to home than our usual church building. See you there!

Fort Lewis Ward Eggstravaganza

Egg hunt.

Egg roll.
Egg races.
Egg relays.
Egg toss.

Easter crafts.

Eggceptional potluck brunch.
Saturday, March 27 at 10 AM at the church.

Fairy Tales and Fantasy

Looking for a fun evening out? How about this...

Brigham Yound University Theatre Ballet presents Fairy Tales and Fantasy, March 19 at 7:30 PM at Lakes High School. Tickets are $14 and may be obtained by sending a self addressed stamped enveloped with checks made payable to:

BYU Theatre Ballet

P.O. Box 97273

Lakewood, WA 98497

Deployed Spouses Potluck

It's time for the Deployed Spouses Potluck dinner again. It will be Sunday at 4 PM at Amy S.'s house. This time we will be having pizza. Please bring any toppings you would like other than cheese and pepperoni, or you may bring a salad, drink, or dessert.

New Member Fireside

Elder Joseph W. Sitati believes that happiness comes by doing the simple things of the gospel over and over again. "I don't second-guess the counsel of our Church leaders," he says. "When I do what they ask, things always work out fine." Doing those simple things is what unites us with our Savior, he says, and "the essence of that unity begins with our families."

Elder Sitati of the Seventy will be speaking at a fireside on Friday, March 5 at 7 PM at the Tacoma Stake Center on 12th and Pearl. Due to limited seating this fireside is only for new members, investigators, and those who accompany them.

Truffles!

Need I say more? Yum! Cooking Group is tonight at Courtney M.'s house at 7 PM. Courtney is going to share her truffle secrets. Hope to see you there!

How Full is Your Pantry?

It's time for another Food Storage class taught by our wonderfully motivating Donna H. It will be Tuesday, February 16 at 10 AM at the church. Donna is going to try to have some fun give-aways so don't miss it! Thank you Donna!

Break the Fast

The deployed spouses group will now be meeting on Fast Sundays at 4 PM at Amy S.'s house for a potluck dinner. The first one is this Sunday. Any questions, please call Amy S. or Sara S.

Who Needs Electricity?

This activity has been postponed. Please watch for new date and time.
We are going to make emergency cooking stoves out of cans. I've seen Donna do this. It's incredibly easy and effective! Those interested please bring a clean #10 can and empty clean tuna fish cans and a box of paraffin wax which can be found at the commissary or Walmart.

See you there!

"Helping Families Live Virtuously"

We have been invited by the Puyallup South Stake Relief Society to attend a fireside for women. The guest speaker is Brother Shawn Gillies, a licensed Marriage and Family therapist specializing in the treatment of sexual addictions. The fireside will be on Sunday February 7, 7pm at the Puyallup South Stake Center which is located at 13420 94th Ave E , Puyallup, 98373.

This fireside is designed to
-Help battle the moral challenges that confront our families in the world today
-Strengthen, uplift, and encourage women in their efforts to teach and protect their families
-Find hope in our Savior and feel his love encircling us daily

This type of addiction is far too common. If it doesn't affect you personally chances are you know someone who is silently battling it. Please come so we can be more of a support to one another and learn ways to help our youth fight the challenges ahead.

Red Velvet Cake

Did that get your attention? Well if you want to learn how to make it, come to cooking group on February 3 at 7 PM at Alexis's house. Marie Z. will be giving us some tips on how to make this scrumptous cake and delicious frosting from scratch. We will also be given a demonstration on simple cake decorating tips! If you want to bring your favorite cake recipe, or you like to cake decorate and would like to teach us something new, please contact Alexis.

Valentines for Daddy

Friday, January 29 at 6:30 the Deployed Spouses Group will be meeting at Sara's house. Kids will be making valentines for their dads. And of course he needs cookies too! Please bring card making supplies if you have any. Contact Sara S. if you have any questions.

"Go Bring Them In From The Plains"

The risk of the Green River Valley flooding this year is real. Our church has agreed to assist the Red Cross in the preparations for such an event. If serious flooding occurs, the Red Cross will have teams of trained shelter workers come but it may take 3-4 days for them to arrive. During these critical first days, they need help from citizens to staff the shelters. Here's where we come in. Please contact the Red Cross directly by calling (206)709-4522 to sign up for one of three upcoming training sessions. All are on Saturdays from 9am-5pm.

--Jan. 23; United Church of Christ, Queen Anne, Seattle
--Feb. 6; Federal Way Stake Center
--Feb. 20 Renton Stake Center

All sessions are now full. No more volunteers needed at this time. Thanks.

What's in Your Freezer?

Donna is at it again. I love her Food Storage classes! The next one is this Thursday at 10:30 AM at the church. She's going to teach us ways to maximize our freezer space. See you there!

A Gift

Saturday there were several of us that were able to attend the funeral services of the husband of our sweet sister Lou. Lou--we love you and mourn with you. We pray for you daily.

During the service, I couldn't help but regret that I didn't get to know Dane more personally. It got me thinking. Will I be saying that about a lot of people that pass in and out of my life? Will you? Let's make more of an effort to love, support, and get to know those around us. You never know what kind of an impact someone can make in your life or what impact you can make in theirs. We are all here for each other.

Scripture Mastery Challenge

We have a challenge from our bishopric to memorize the Book of Mormon Scripture Mastery scriptures by June. After feasting upon the word and completing this challenge, we will gather to feast upon some pizza! This challenge is for all members of the family. If you don't have a scripture mastery list you can get one from a member of the bishopric or RS presidency. Check the column to the right each week for memorizing a new scripture and by the time June rolls around, you'll be done!

Cookies!

Cooking Group will be Wednesday at 7 PM at Sara S.'s house. This month we will be sharing our favorite overseas treats! If you have a great recipe that you like to send your loved one while they are overseas...bring it and come join in the fun. If you want to bring a batch of the recipe, we will have a food saver available and we will put together some packages to send to the members of our ward that are currently deployed. We will also be having a demonstration of two different cake mix recipes, that are easy to make and keep well! So come enjoy some great conversation, get some tips on overseas treats, how to use a food saver, and get some new fun recipes!! Hope to see you there.

Scripture Reading Challenge

We have been challenged by our Stake Relief Society Presidency to read all of the Pearl of Great Price, Joseph Smith History, and the Doctrine and Covenants by April Conference. How is this going? After our lesson on Sunday, I hope you are all excited about making scripture study a more important part of your day. If you are just starting with this challenge you will need to read roughly 4 pages a day to complete it (if my math is right.)

Here's another reason to read...

"The spirit of reverence will increase; mutual respect and consideration for each other will grow. The spirit of contention will depart. Parents will counsel their children in greater love and wisdom. Children will be more responsive and submissive to the counsel of their parents. Righteousness will increase. Faith, hope, and charity—the pure love of Christ—will abound in our homes and lives, bringing in their wake peace, joy, and happiness” -Marion G. Romney

Here is a link to a website that can assist you in your reading. Give it a try.