Simply Exhasuted...

Last week we had our annual Beehive Conference. It is always such a great night and a fun event to put on for our 12 and 13 year old girls. This activity is Joelle's baby. She always comes up with great ideas and does a fabulous job speaking. This year our theme was "Simply the Best" Shelley made invitations that looked like this.

She also made heart shaped cookies, all day long, on sticks, that we wrapped and tied into ribbon and placed into flowerpots that looked like this.

We set up tables and chairs and set the tables in darling colors. We set up a craft area with several tables and chairs and set out the cute picture frames that Shelley had painted, all 80 of them, for the girls to decorate.

I was asked to teach a class on helping the girls learn to appreciate who they are and to make the most of the skin they are in, by teaching them about wearing what is best for their own body type and and which colors to choose. On Tuesday I took a few senior girls shopping with me and took pictures of them in things that worked for them. On Thursday when I taught the class it looked like this.

What you are so glad you don't see is the 22lbs of ground beef I purchased on Wednesday, or the way it looked before Kristen and I added seasonings and mixed it all up and formed over 110 mini burgers for 3 hours on Thursday. You won't see the 2 watermelons we chopped, the 110 rolls we sliced open, or the salad Stephanie made, or the 10 bags of curly fries that Joelle cooked.

Another thing you won't see is how crazy Stephanie and I looked one hour before start time, when I was dropping off all of the food I had prepared and she was finishing up decorating the foyer of the church and the classroom she was teaching how to be organized in your personal space (clean your rooms!). She had made folders and several pages of handouts for each girl and her class room looked like this.

Unfortunately you will also not see here how stinking creative Jana was as she taught the girls a few "practical solutions to everyday problems". You will not see how she attached feminine hygiene products to the insides of her clothing showing how to be discreet, or hear how she suggested that the best thing to fix greasy hair is a good old fashioned shower. You will also not hear the laughter that was flowing continuously as she laid it all on the line with some of the most awkward topics most girls need to hear. You will not even know how much the girls loved her class. You will just have to imagine the fun by seeing the twinkle in her eyes.

You will not see here how scary the kitchen looked as dinner was over and Stephanie and Shelley and I rushed off to attend to our classes. You will not see two of our sweet senior girls who stayed until the bitter end washing dish after dish. You won't see me fill my entire car with the decorations and food things after we are done. And you will not see how I drove strait to McDonald's and bought a diet Coke and a hot fudge sundae or how I left all of it in my car while I stared at the TV for an hour before finally getting up to put it all away.

What you will see though, are four dear friends, grateful for the opportunity to serve these girls, completely exhausted, still smiling at the end of a long night. The crazy thing is, none of us would trade it for the world. It is SIMPLY THE BEST!