1st Day of School

I started my "first" day of school at Fresno Pacific University this past Wednesday. It was a refresher course of high school math. I had to take this class because apparently by "D" in Pre-Calculus doesn't count and they couldn't accept my "C" in Trigonometry. It was really disappointing to be told that I would have to take a math class because if my husband could tell you, I'm really bad with math. I'm taking this class for six weeks, once a week for four hours a day after work. I trying to get into the Liberal Arts cohort Degree Completion Program in the spring of 2010 so I'm having to complete some short-term classes.

So, it was reallly interesting because the instructor started with a short devotional and prayer. At first it felt kind of strange because that's not really something I'm used to at school, but this is a private christian college that I'm talking about and they did let me know that instructor do start their classes by doing this. Overall, the class was somewhat enjoyable (being a math class in all I have to enjoy it somehow).

Book of Mormon Cruise

We had a Book of Mormon cruise for the Primary kids this last Saturday and I am really glad that it's done. It was a lot of fun, but unfortunately, we only had a small number of kids show up.

One of my Primary teacher's, Noemi Sor, was kind enough to make this huge poster board for the Primary. I was really impressed, but she's the type that can do anything awesome.

This is most of the group. L to R: Bryce McGhie, Myself, Tammy McIntyre (my 1st counselor), Karen Davis, Melissa Campbell (my 2nd counselor), Brian Davis and Matt Davis in front of the Tree of Life. I am so thankful for all the help from Bryce and the Davis'. We couldn't have done it without you.

I took this picture when it was really dark in the room, but obviously the flash from my camera totally lit up the room. We used the overflow room between the chapel and the cultural hall as our "ship". Brent was our "Cruise Director" and told the story of how we got the Book of Mormon. We used creaking boat and water sound effects to make it sound as though we were in a boat. It was awesome.

Here's Nephi (aka Bryce McGhie) telling the story of how he got the brass plates from Laban. He brought a real sword, which was awesome.

Book of Mormon Cruise

Here's Lehi and Sariah (aka Brian & Karen Davis, Melissa Campbell's parents). They told the story of Lehi's dream about the Tree of Life. It was really cute. As you can see, they put lights on a paper tree that they taped to the wall and used sugar cookies as the fruit of the tree and passed that out to the kids. On the far right hand side you can see the "Iron Rod" and the path they are supposed to walk. They were awesome. THANK YOU DAVIS'!

Here's Captain Moroni (aka Matt Davis, Melissa Campbell's brother). He had told the story of the Title of Liberty and had the kids wave flags in the room. That was also a lot of fun.

Here's Helaman (aka Kevin Swann). He told the story of the people of Ammon and the Stripling Warriors. The kids buried swords outside in a pool full of sand to demonstrate the story.

AND GUESS WHO THIS IS...my hubby King Benjamin (aka Brent). As you can see by the picture below, we used the tables in the church and covered them with table cloths to represent the tents that faced King Benjamin when he addressed his people.

Book of Mormon Cruise Costumes/Miscellaneous Items

I made this banner for the cruise to make it look like the Royal Caribbean cruiselines logo. I think it worked.

I made "Sea Passes", which is something that cruiselines do give to passengers to make sure they are who they say they are.

I made the below costumes completely out of cardboard, toilet paper rolls and gift wrap rolls. I had a lot of fun putting this together.

Book of Mormon Cruise crafts

We passed out copies of the Book of Mormon to the kids so each of them will have a copy. We also provided tote bags.

I made a "Liahona" for the Primary. I got burned a couple of times and now have a permanent scar on my leg. This is just a hamster ball that I spray painted gold and glued on some jewels. I added a compass to the very bottom of it.

This was for the kids to make their own Liahona. I painted styrofoam balls gold and had them hot glue the jewels on.

Here's a sample of the "Title of Liberty" flag we had the kids crumble and glue onto a wooden dowel. Next to that is a paper doll of the Armor of God.

Super Saturday

A couple of weeks ago my ward had a "Super Saturday" craft day. I was fortunate enough to go and have fun with my friends and my mom, Maria. My mom lives in the Bay area and I see her only about once a month so it was really nice to have her come and do the crafts that were planned.

This first picture is really bad of me, but I just wanted to show some of the things that we did. The picture I'm holding that says "The Cutts Family Established in 2003" was provided by a friend of mine (Channa Pender). She cut the vinyl for me and I was able to buy the frame from my other good friend, Melissa Bird. Thank you to both Channa and Melissa. I think it came out really good. Obviously I'm not going to to leave the backing on the frame, I just had it on so the frame wouldn't pop out.



This is the "Family Proclamation" that Beth Swann was in charge of. Although it was a lot more work than I thought it would be, it was totally worth it. I haven't put any pictures in it, but that will be a project in itself for later.

My mom with her sign that says "Life is a Homeward Journey" and her "Family Proclamation" booklet below.

Countdown to Cruise #5

Okay, so its pretty obvious that Brent & I are addicted to cruises. We absolutely LOVE them.

In mid-January we will be going on a cruise with Matt & Melissa Bird. We are so excited. We are not only excited that we will be going on our 5th cruise, but going on a cruise with one of our closest friends. It's so awesome. We will be going down to Catalina Island and Ensenada, Mexico. We've been there several times, but it really comes down to just enjoying each others company and not having to cook or clean. Usually we only go on Royal Caribbean, but we couldn't pass up such a good and cheap deal on Carnival. We'll see what happens. Obviously I already put a countdown on my blog.