Sister Spotlight: Bethany G

My name is: 
Bethany Erin Gardner 

My favorite dinner is: 
yummy soups and bread

My favorite dessert is: 
cherry cheesecake

My favorite flower is: 
gerbera daisies

My favorite hobby is: 
quilting

My favorite restaurant is: 
Los Hermanos or Zupa's

A game I like to play is: 
Ticket to Ride

The music I listen to most is: 
classic rock or indie folk

My favorite thing to buy is: 
Anything at Target :).

A book I highly recommend is: 
Persuasion by Jane Austen

A movie I watch over and over is: 
North & South

A smell that makes me pause is: 
Bath and Body Works' Warm Vanilla Sugar

The city I would most like to visit is: 
Lyme Regis, England 

My favorite thing to do on a date is: 
I love when we go iceskating...though I fall down more often than not

The best vacation I ever had was: 
Disneyland in the pouring rain with my family

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? 
Sleeping Beauty :)

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be?  
I would learn to not be so afraid of everyone and everything.

What chore do you absolutely hate doing? 
Taking out the trash, it never ends!

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time? 
Planning first grade lessons or perusing Pinterest :)

What do you think is your very best feature or characteristic? 
I like to improve and become better.

What is the "thing" you are most grateful for?  
Milk.  I can't get enough.

What is your dream vacation?  
I would love to go to the United Kingdom or visit my husband's mission in Ukraine.

What's the coolest thing you've ever done?  
Walked through a door held open for me by President Uchtdorf :)

How did you meet your husband? How did he propose?  
We met in our 10th grade Hebrew class and have had the same friends for years.  He proposed in his sailboat at sunset :).

The best thing about being married is:  
Always having a buddy when you need someone to talk to. 

What do you and your husband like to do together?  
Go on adventures!

What would be your perfect day? 
I'm not sure, but it would probably include a lot of good books, a windy beach, and chocolate.

What was the best advice you got/would give on marriage?  
It takes time to get it right.  Don't feel bad when it isn't perfect.

What story does your family always tell about you? 
The time I swallowed an open safety pin and fell asleep with it stuck in my throat.

Upcoming Sunday Lesson

Hello Sisters!

This Sunday's lesson will be taught by the fabulous Meggie Highland! Her lesson will be taken from October 2012's General Conference address by Elder Holland, "The First Great Commandment". She has requested that you watch or listen to this talk to get the full effect :) 

As always, please take time to ponder the message and to come to class prepared to ask questions, comment, and be taught by the Spirit. Remember, the depth of our preparation determines the depth of our understanding!

We love you and have a great week!

The RS Presidency 

Letter from Our Stake RS Presidency

Dear Sisters,

Greetings from the Stake Relief Society presidency! We love you and hope you and your families are doing well.

We wanted to extend to you an invitation to attend the Provo Married Student 1^st Stake Relief Society Conference which is this Saturday, March 2^nd. We are blessed to have the General Relief Society President, Sister Linda K. Burton, as our special keynote speaker. 

The conference will be held at the new Stake Center at 300 N. 900 E. Provo (the large Stake Center located near Little Ceaser’s). Breakfast will be served buffet style from 8:00 – 9:30 AM. The Conference will be held from 10:00 – 11:30 AM. Come early, get some breakfast, and get a good seat!

Please note, President Burton requested that other stakes be invited to the Conference. We will be joined by women from four other stakes. Parking will be limited, organizing carpools is highly recommended.

We love you and look forward to seeing you soon!

PUMS 1^st Stake Relief Society Presidency

Recipe: Nacho Grande Soup

Nacho Grande Soup

Six Sisters Stuff

Submitted by Mary Harris

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 (1 oz) package taco seasoning (I used low sodium)

1 (10.75 oz) can condensed cheddar cheese soup

1 (10 oz) can diced tomatoes and green chilis, undrained (I used a can of diced tomatoes and another can of green chilis)

1 1/2 cups milk

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

In a skillet, cook ground beef, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked; drain.

Spray slow cooker with non-stick cooking spray. Place cooked meat mixture in slow cooker. Add taco seasoning, cheddar cheese soup, tomatoes, milk, and shredded cheese. Stir together and cook on low for 3-4 hours. This soup can also be kept on a warm setting for an additional 4 hours (I have a digital clock on my slow cooker and as soon as it is done cooking for the set amount of time, it automatically switches to the warm setting).

Stir before serving. Top individual servings with crushed tortilla chips, shredded cheese, and any other toppings you want.

**You can also make this just on your stove top. Brown the beef, onion, and garlic over medium-high heat until thoroughly cooked. Then in a large pot, add all ingredients and heat over medium-high heat for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir well before serving.

Serves 4-5 people.

RS Activity: Service Skills!

We had an amazing activity this past Saturday - learning skills for better serving our husbands. We discovered some new tips for stain removal (lemon and aspirin, who knew?), learned tips for haircutting and massaging, and ate some delicious treats. Plus it's always fun to get together with our sisters to get to know each other better!

To start us off, Meggie soaked some very stained pieces of fabric in different Pinterest stain removal solutions so we could see what really works and what is just Pinterest fiction.

While we waited for the stains to disappear, Christy Christensen showed us how to cut men's hair like a pro... and Bro. Harris was a very good sport.

Becca Davis also gave us some excellent massage tips... though most of us wished our husbands were there to hear them, too. :)

Finally, we looked to see which of our stain removers had worked. Actually, most of them did!

We had a great time and are grateful to all the sisters who came. If you weren't able to make it, we'll look forward to seeing you next time!!

Stake RS Conference This Saturday

Our Stake Relief Society Conference is coming up this Saturday, and we will be privileged to hear from our General Relief Society President, Sister Linda K. Burton! Here are the conference details:

Saturday, March 2

Breakfast: 8-9:30 a.m.

Program: 10-11:30 a.m.

Stake Center on 900 E and 300 N 

(The giant one near Gold's Gym)

This conference is the first of three smaller conferences this year, each focusing on one of the three purposes of Relief Society. We will not have break-out sessions at this conference as it will only be Sister Burton’s address (to help us increase faith and personal righteousness!) Pres. Runia and Sister Borget will also have small talks and there will be a special choir number.

The pre-conference breakfast scheduled from 8-9:30 is only for our stake, and it will be buffet style in hopes that sisters may arrive early to get a good seat and then enjoy some yummy food.

Also there is not a nursery provided so please make arrangements for your children or you are welcome to bring them.

So it sounds like the breakfast is only for our stake but the Sister Burton part will be for multiple stakes so come early to get a good seat and parking!

Invite the sisters you visit, new sisters, anyone and everyone in the 8th Ward Relief Society to come! We hope to see you there!

Upcoming Lesson: February 23

This week's RS lesson will be from the October 2012 General Conference address by Elder L. Tom Perry, "Becoming Goodly Parents". The instructor will be our very own Relief Society President, Mary Harris! Please read over the talk (or watch/listen to it) and come with questions, comments, and insights you have gained as you studied this topic.

Activity This Week: Skills for Service

This is a reminder that will be having a Relief Society activity this Saturday at 11:30 am in the MultiPurpose Building. Since February is the month of L-O-V-E why not show our love a little extra? And who better to show our love to than to our spouses? So for this activity, we'll be taught by a couple of expert sisters in the ward how to do some "serviceable" things for our husbands. (And they're definitely useful for us too.)

We'll hear from sister Christy Christensen about some tips for cutting mens (or boys) hair. And then from sister Becca Davis we'll learn some basics about massaging. And we'll also be doing a little experiment together: we'll be testing some stain-removal techniques (a la pinterest and the internet) to see what really works for those spaghetti stains on white Sunday shirts and the like.

So with that, we hope many can come! Please bring something to take notes on (if you want) and a friend! Ask your neighbor or the sisters you visit teach. We're really looking forward to this activity and hope you can make it!

(Oh and we'll be having some "man-approved" treats too. But instead of giving these to our husbands, we'll just eat them ourselves :)

Lesson Recap: Continuing to Advance in the Principles of Truth

Our lesson yesterday was from the Lorenzo Snow manual and taught by the lovely Morgan Heyland on lifelong conversion. We had a great discussion on things we can do to stay converted throughout our lives. Good ideas to do this included not just reading, but pondering our scriptures; praying for our own testimony of the gospel; and building on that testimony through our works, including by service and fulfilling our callings.

You can find the lesson in the online manual, here. 

Recipe: Yogurt Bread

Submitted by Mariana Fisher

2 c warm water

2 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp yeast

1 tbsp salt

8 oz vanilla yogurt (<-- that's usually just 1 yogurt cup, Western Family worked great for me)

5-6 c flour (I added 1/2 cup extra to account for the elevation- which may or may not be necessary, it's up to you) 

Hydrate the yeast (put water, sugar and yeast in a mixer, let is sit for 5 minutes. you know the yeast is good if the mixture looks frothy after the 5 min) Mix in salt and yogurt. Knead in approximately 6 cups flour until dough cleans the side but is still a little sticky. Knead for 5+minutes total. Shape into two loaf pans. Let rise until double*. Bake 350 for 30 minutes. cool for 10 mins and remove from pans. Cool completely on a rack or towel. 

* since I bought the wrong kind of yeast, I let it double rise: once in the mixer (for an hour) and once more time in the loaf pans (for another hour, so 2 hours total) 

Introducing...

We are so excited to welcome the Roueches' new baby, Eloise, into the ward! She is a doll!

Recipe: Cheesy Vegetable Chowder

http://luluthebaker.blogspot.com/2011/09/cheesy-vegetable-chowder.html

Submitted by Mary Harris

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons butter

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup finely chopped carrot

1 celery stick, finely chopped (feel free to add more celery if you like celery; I don't, so I don't add much)

1 Tablespoon minced garlic

4 cups chicken broth (I usually use a mixture of low-sodium chicken broth and broth made with chicken soup base because it gives it such nice flavor)

2 large baking potatoes, peeled and chopped

1 Tablespoon flour

1/2 cup water

2/3 cup milk

2 cups chopped broccoli

2 heaping cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

Melt the butter in a large soup pot.  Add onions, carrots, and celery and saute over medium heat until tender.  Add garlic and cook 1 or 2 additional minutes.  Add chicken broth and potatoes, bring to a boil, and cook until potatoes are tender.  Mix flour with water, add, and simmer until soup is slightly thickened.  Add milk and broccoli and cook until broccoli is just tender and soup is heated through.  Stir in cheese, allow to melt, and serve.

Sister Spotlight: Bonnie C

My name is: Bonnie C

My favorite dinner is: Mexican food
My favorite dessert is: Anything chocolate
My favorite flower is: Roses
My favorite hobby is: cooking
My favorite restaurant is: Garcias
A game I like to play is: Farkle
The music I listen to most is: Classical
My favorite thing to buy is: makeup, clothes, shoes, jewelry...
A book I highly recommend is: Silas Marner
A movie I watch over and over is: Gone With the Wind
A smell that makes me pause is: Any dessert that is in the oven baking
The city I would most like to visit is: Paris
My favorite thing to do on a date is: laugh with my husband
The best vacation I ever had was: Just an overnight trip to Salt Lake for our anniversary. It was good to have a babysitter and get away for awhile

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? Scarlett O'Hara

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? Play the violin

What chore do you absolutely hate doing? Doing laundry at Wymount. It's not so bad if you have your own washer and dryer.

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time? A nap. A nap is always good.

What do you think is your very best feature or characteristic? Sense of humor

What is the "thing" you are most grateful for? Hot running water

What is your dream vacation? A tour of Europe

What's the coolest thing you've ever done? Gave birth. I should have been given a blue ribbon for it.

How did you meet your husband? How did he propose? We met at a college ward. He proposed on my front porch with a pop ring.

The best thing about being married is: Always having someone there through the tough moments and the good moments.

What do you and your husband like to do together? We like to talk or read poetry together.
What would be your perfect day? It would start out at the spa and end with dinner with my husband. And a nap. A nice, long, uninterrupted nap.
What was the best advice you got/would give on marriage? Don't micromanage your husband. Let him do things his own way. If it isn't how you would do it, get over it. Don't re-do it.

What story does your family always tell about you? Kempton always talks about how I was impatient for him to propose. What can I say? I knew something good when I saw it...

RS Lesson - February 17

This week's Relief Society lesson will be on Chapter 3 from the Lorenzo Snow manual-- Lifelong Conversion: Continuing to Advance in the Principles of Truth. Our teacher for this lesson will be Morgan Heyland. She has requested that you read over the lesson and ponder on these questions:

1. Think back on your life. When/how did you gain a testimony of the truthfulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ?
2. President Snow said that gaining a testimony is "a very good starting point for a Latter-day Saint". Why is a testimony only a starting point--not a final destination?
3. What does it mean to become converted?

Please take time to read the lesson, ponder on these questions, and come ready to share thoughts and promptings you received while studying. See you on Sunday!

Sister Spotlight: Allison W.

My favorite dinner is: Homeade Cafe Rio

My favorite dessert is: Cheesecake or straight up candy

My favorite flower is: Gerber Daisy

My favorite hobby is: Playing soccer or any other competitive activity

My favorite restaurant is: Mexicali (in CA)- I like any halfway decent Mexican restaurant though

A game I like to play is: Settlers of Catan

The music I listen to most is: Whatever comes on Pandora. But I'd rather listen to talk radio.

My favorite thing to buy is: Clothes! Doesn't happen often though.

A book I highly recommend is: Where the Red Fern Grows...gets me every time

A movie I watch over and over is: Mean Girls, She's the Man, Baby Mama

A smell that makes me pause is: my son's poopy diaper....hold up!

The city I would most like to visit is: St. Petersburg, Russia

My favorite thing to do on a date is: Play laser tag!

The best vacation I ever had was: The Caribbean cruise my husband and I went on two summers ago.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? Hermoine Granger

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? Sew

What chore do you absolutely hate doing? Cleaning the bathroom and emptying out the vacuum

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time? Blog/read blogs

What do you think is your very best feature or characteristic? I have been told my eyes

What is the "thing" you are most grateful for? My iPhone

What is your dream vacation? Trip to Europe (not backpacking...I want fancy hotels, people!)

What's the coolest thing you've ever done? Went skydiving in Hawaii

How did you meet your husband? How did he propose? We met in high school. He proposed at the Quarry in Provo while we were rock climbing. He went first and put the ring up on the very top, and popped the question when I came back down.

The best thing about being married is: Always having someone to hang out with and being able to be completely yourself.

What do you and your husband like to do together? Go out to eat, play with our baby, play games, watch our favorite TV shows
What would be your perfect day? Sleep in, have a big restaurant breakfast, go to an amusement park with no lines, come home and soak in the hot tub while eating cheesecake and skittles. (with my family of course)
What was the best advice you got/would give on marriage? Marriage takes work, service, and compromise.

What story does your family always tell about you? There is a family home video my family also quotes me from. I was about 8, and we were playing the game Don't Eat Pete. My little brother was doing really well, and I said "He's really sharp at this game!"