Cruising Sea Days

Part of the wonderfulness of taking a cruise is just enjoying the sea days. You're waited on, lavished, entertained, or you can do absolutely nothing. I did all of those things. I love eating on the ship. The food is so fantastic. I could eat all day if I wanted. And I almost did, hence the fact that I gained a lot of weight over the 2 weeks. But I will work it off just as I did before and every pound was worth how much I enjoyed myself.

I've always felt that I could do with out a balcony in order for us to afford doing more cruises and take an inside cabin. But one of the things I enjoyed the most was relaxing on my balcony just enjoying the breeze, the fresh air,  the sun, and the smells. I loved opened our cabin door letting those things enter our cabin. Its so relaxing. I love to cruise. Here are some of the wonderful pictures we took our first two days out at sea on the waters of the Mediterranean where boats have sailed as long as man has known how.

I just also wanted to say that I think we were so finely dressed for our formal nights. My husband's tux was very similar to the tux he wore on our wedding day. He looked so good! My dress, I made it. Making it had some hit-ups, so it didn't turn out exactly what I had envisioned. My sister made my hair accessory for me. We had a fantastic time.

Scraping Arizona Girl

Over the past year I become a digital scrapbooking addict. And that is saying something for a girl that dislikes paper scraps. 
I started a new blog to feed my addiction, scrapingarizonagirl.blogspot.com. Yes I'm a bit silly. But I wanted a way to share my most favorite LOs I do each week with those of my friends who don't digital scrapbook. I figured doing a blog might be the best way to do that. It was that or facebook, but I have a number of friends who still don't do facebook. So I thought this might be best.

So check it out and bookmark it. I plan on putting a few each week up. 
Thanks

First Stop- Rome

We flew into Rome and stayed in a hotel in town, Residenza Antica, it was smack in the middle of the Spanish Steps, the Triton Fountain, and the Trevi Fountain. Great location.

Upon arriving we unpacked a bit and then went right out (to try to beat our jet lag). We took a tour from Vas Tours called 'Christian Rome'. They took us to see the Catacombs, the churches Santa Maria Major and Santa Giovanni Laterano. The Catacombs were cool but at the same time slightly disappointing because we were unable to take pictures and there wasn't as much early Christian art as I thought I'd see. The two churches were big, beautiful, and ornate.

Day 2: We used the same tour company as the day before and did their tour, 'Cesar's Rome'. This took us to the Colosseum, the Forum, and to the church Saint Peter in Chains (where Michelangelo's famous Moses is). Both days we had the same tour guide. Her name was Sandra. We enjoyed her knowledge a lot. What did I think of the Colosseum, it must have been beautiful in its day. But I was surprised that it is said to of seated up to 60,000. It seems so small compared to a modern stadium, yet seats almost as many. I find myself skeptical of its ability to do so.

What remains of Hadrian's Temple

Day 3: We walked to the Vatican. On our way we stopped at the Trevi Fountain, the Pantheon, and the Four Rivers Fountain. Seeing the city and how the old and the new have been intertwined was awesome. Our favorite example of this is in the Piazza di Pietra, where a newer building has been built upon the foundation of the Temple of Hadrian, incorporating the columns from the temple into the side of the building. I was also impressed with the grand feeling of the Pantheon. It is no wonder that that building has continued to be used for 2100 years. Our path then continued to pass by the Castel Sant'Angelo then to the Vatican. We had 

arranged to do a tour through the Vatican's official tours. Our tour guide said that she lives in the Vatican state and is married to a Swiss Guard. We love the Sistine Chapel and the Raphael Rooms, but it was sad how much more there is to see and how little we were taken to see. It all felt so rushed, and our tour was 4 hours from being to end (said it was only going to be 3 but it took longer). I enjoyed what we did get to see. I liked that everywhere (with the exception of the Sistine Chapel) you were allowed to take pictures as long as your flash was off. After this day were were so tired. I had blisters from my shoes.
Day 4: Sunday. We would have loved to attend an LDS service in Rome, but after looking where the ward's meet and the schedule we had to keep we knew that it wasn't going to be possible. Instead of missing church completely we decided to honor the sabbath by attending mass at a church near our hotel. We had asked our guild, Sandra, from earlier if she knew of churches in the area that offered mass in English. She recommended Santa Susanna, the American church in Rome. This was very near our hotel and we walked there for their first service and had time to walk back to check out in time. We checked out of hotel and traveled to the ship. Ah finally on the ship. I love cruising. I loved Rome. Wish I bought a shirt that said "I heart Gelato" 

Season's Greetings Boutique- Saturday

Plugging my sister's business here. My sister, Kristy, and her sister-in-law, Marilyn make the most fabulous hair accessories. Its this Saturday, Nov 13th!! If you're in the Phoenix Metro area go by and see all the cool stuff at this boutique. 

Our Fantastic Vacation (Italy, Egypt, Turkey, Greece)

I'm sorry that I've been back from our vacation since..... the 29th (back in Arizona) and 31st we actually got home. Getting back into the groove of things has proven to be difficult. Between that, Super Saturday, and NDSD (national Digital Scrapbooking Day), I just haven't gotten everything caught up.


I'm going to to a post for each place we stopped on our trip but to start here is the link to my facebook photo album page. Hope you enjoy them. October Vacation Photos

Halloween Primary

I am going to use my maze. and place these Halloween pictures in the maze. The children will move their marker thought the maze, when to the next picture. On the back of the picture is a Primary song for the group to sing.
I made these visuals and decided to share with ya'll. I only put them together on the page the artwork belongs to Karen Hunts Designs' kit "Spooktacular" and Connie Prince Designs' kit "Jeepers Creepers"

Music Sooths the Soul

Music Sooths the Soul-
This has been a long time in the making. I want the children to learn that they can use music in their lives to control their thoughts and feeling. It can push away their fears and comfort them.

I'm going to use my "Scary House" that I made a couple of years ago now. I'm going to mount it to a dark poster board and cut it up. like a puzzle. Behind it will be a picture of a "Beautiful Peaceful Place" such as the mountains or the Temple.
Here is how the lesson will go. 
Talk about what "scares you".  I'm going to use D&C 25:12 and President Packer's talk "The Spirit of Revelation" from the 1999 November Ensign (Conference Oct 99). I plan on telling it like this....
President Packer served in the Air Force during WWII (this is important to our children, most of their fathers are Army), while in the Air Force he had a friend who told  him how he handled when he was scared by enemy gun fire. "He told me how he was able to hold himself together under fire. He said, “I have a favorite hymn”—and he named it—“and when things got rough I would sing it silently to myself, and there would come a faith and an assurance that kept me on course.”" President Packer then shared in his story about being in combat with the Japanese, and finding himself scared. He learned that prayer and singing sacred songs bring peace and comfort, and helped chase away his fear, and that you can sing and pray without making a noise. The Lord taught us in John 14: 18  “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you."He comes and comforts us through the Holy Ghost. We invite the Holy Ghost to come and push away our fears through prayer and singing.  Then we are going to dismantle the "Scary House" by singing the song that is going to be on each puzzle piece. As we sing more the "Scary House" will go away and the "Beautiful Peaceful Place" will be relieved. 

General Conference Prep Singing Time

I came up with a great idea for Singing time to prepare the children for General Conference. (This alternative could be done the Sunday after, but you'll have to do your own prep work). This is perfect for us because it will be our primary program and so this will be something totally different for them from practicing for the program.


How will it work?
Have 3 columns. One for pictures of the Quorum of the Twelve and First Presidency.  Second for topic that talks were given on. And Third Primary Songs.


Since I couldn't even remember which topic was talked on by which apostle, I don't suggest trying to get the children to remember. Instead I suggest taping the three pages together that will go together and then cutting them apart into the three sections on on the tape so they are like puzzle pieces. When the child matches the talk to the apostle it will fit to the apostle like a puzzle, same with the song to the talk.


I have made up .jpgs of the apostles with their names under their pictures. But it will be up to you to take a sheet of paper and write the topics and then another with the songs (it could be done as only two puzzle pieces if you are trying to save time and paper. For the songs I first went though and tried to match the songs from the program with topics then filled in where I could with other primary songs. You can use any songs that you think your Primary children will connect with.  The topics I have next to their names are the topics of their talks at the April 2010 General Conference. 
I hope these files work for each of you.
          name (not in order)topicsong suggestions

• Pres Monson -He is Risen-"He Sent His Son"
• Pres Eyring -Missionary work - "I Am a Child of God"
• Pres Uchtdorf -Patience- "Reverently Quietly", "Keep the Commandments", "Love One Another"
• Pres Packer -Priesthood & families- "Families Can be Together Forever", "Love is Spoken Here"
• Elder Perry -Women in the Church-  "The Church of Jesus Christ"
• Elder Bednar - Be Prepared- "Saturday" p196, "I Hope They call Me on a Mission" 
• Elder Holland -Pure Hearts- "4th Art. of Faith", "When I Am Baptized"
• Elder Oaks -Priesthood -"The Holy Ghost"
• Elder Scott -Christ Lives- "I Feel My Savior's Love", "Beautiful Savior"
• Elder Cook -Follow Christ- "Come Follow Me"
• Elder Christofferson -Scriptures- "Follow the Prophet"
• Elder Ballard -Motherhood- "Happy Family", "Love is Spoken Here", "Family is of God"
• Elder Hales -Teach the Children- "I Know That My Savior Loves Me", "Tell Me the Stories of Jesus"
• Elder Anderson - Faith- "I Lived in Heaven", "I Feel My Savior's Love", "4th Art of Faith", "I Know My Father Lives"
• Elder Nelson -Family History- "I Love to See the Temple"

My goal in this is to help the children recognize that the songs we sing teach us the same lessons that the Prophets today are teaching us, because everyone, of all ages need to learn them. Also to help them get to know the Apostles a little better. 

The End of the Troop

NO Joke all these bugs were together on my back porch. I did push them a little more together to get them all in one shot. All I need are two pill bugs and a lady bug and I'd have a complete set (although the spider isn't a Black widdow, its a jumping spider, and I don't think the flyish is the right type either).  It was too cool to pass up taking a picture. You try to collect them all.