Combined Priesthood/RS This Sunday

Brethren and Sisters,

This coming Sunday we will have a combined Priesthood and Relief Society lesson. In order to prepare yourselves for the lesson, we would like you to ponder the following statement and questions:

In the temple we learn how to overcome the veil and enter the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. And in case you may be thinking that it refers to some future day in the next life, remember that the blessings are for us and our posterity through all generations of *time* and throughout all eternity.

- How important is it to me that I prepare to receive these blessings? Am I willing to do what I have covenanted to do to receive these blessings in this life?
- What does Elder Eyring's talk "Where is the Pavilion?" teach about this process?

Thank-you in advance for your preparation. We look forward to seeing you on Sunday.

The Bishopric

Upcoming Lesson: March 24

Hello Sisters!

This Sunday's lesson will be taught by the amazing Ashley Wood! Her lesson will be based on the General Conference talk by Elder Bednar: Converted Unto the Lord (October 2012). She has asked that you read over the talk and ponder on these two questions:

1. What are the differences between testimony and conversion?

2. What are some experiences that helped you become converted to the Gospel?

Please take the time to read and ponder over this message and come prepared to teach and be taught by the Spirit, by our wonderful sisters, and instructor! :) We love you!

The RS Presidency

Recipe: Guatemalan Black Bean Soup

Submitted by Debora Mijangos

Ingredients:

1 lb. of black beans previously cooked or 3 cans of black beans

2tbs of mince onions

1tsp of mince garlic

6tbs of finely chopped cilantro

3 tbs. of olive oil

1 tbs. of butter

Salt to taste

To serve:

White cooked rice

Avocado in cubes

Cotija cheese

Sour cream

Preparation:

In a blender place two cans of black beans and add an extra cup of water for each can you blend. If you are using fresh beans then you can use its own broth and add as much water as needed (the soup can be as thick as you want it to be).  In a pan sauté the onions, 3 tbs. of cilantro  and  the garlic with the olive oil and butter and when the onions are clear pour the blended beans in the pan. Then blend the other can of beans and again add a cup of water and when it is blended add it to the pan.  Stir and let it boil for 10 minutes.  Remove it from the burner and add the rest of the cilantro and stir well.

To serve: In a bowl put some white rice, then the black bean soup, avocado in cubes, sour cream and cotija cheese.   

Upcoming Lesson: March 17

Hello Dear Sisters!

We hope you are enjoying the fabulous weather! This is a reminder that this week's lesson will be Chapter 4: Strengthened by the Power of the Holy Ghost. Our teacher this week will be the lovely Bonnie Cox! In preparation for this lesson she has requested that you ponder this question:

How have you been able to learn the difference between the voice of the Spirit and your own thoughts?

Please take time to read the lesson and ponder on this question and come prepared to share your thoughts, feelings, and testimony. As always, remember that the depth of our preparation will determine the depth of our understanding!

We love you!

The RS Presidency

Recipe: Homemade Crescent Rolls

If you were at Soup Group today, you got to discover first-hand how delicious Morgan Heyland's homemade crescent rolls were! If you want to try them at home, here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast (one packet)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 cup lukewarm water

1/2 cup butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Mix yeast, sugar, eggs, water, butter and salt together in a large bowl, all at once.  Add 4 cups of all-purpose flour.  Mix well with a spoon, cover bowl with plastic wrap and allow dough to rise 4-6 hours or overnight in the refrigerator.  Do not knead the dough.  Turn out dough on a lightly floured surface and divide in half.   Roll each half of dough into a circle.  Brush with additional melted butter and cut into 16 pieces, like a pizza.   Roll up each piece from the large end to the point.  Place rolls on a cookie sheet and let rise 30-60 minutes.  Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

Sister Spotlight: BriElle D

My name is: 
BriElle Lorraine Davis

My favorite dinner is: 
Anything my husband makes – he's an AWESOME cook!

My favorite dessert is: 
German Chocolate Cake

My favorite flower is: 
Casablanca Lillies

My favorite hobby is: 
Crafting and singing

My favorite restaurant is: 
Zupas

A game I like to play is: 
Curses

The music I listen to most is: 
my Pandora Imagine Dragons station

My favorite thing to buy is:
decorative pillows. I just love them.

A book I highly recommend is: 
The Kite Runner.

A movie I watch over and over is: 
A Walk to Remember … Like every other girl on the planet

A smell that makes me pause is: 
The smell of gasoline. I know, it sounds really weird, but all the men in my family are mechanics, so I grew up around the smell of gasoline, and I love it, even though it's kinda toxic…

The city I would most like to visit is: 
Brielle, New Jersey.

My favorite thing to do on a date is: 
try new things!

The best vacation I ever had was: 
I went on a cruise to the Caribbean with my mom, uncle, brother, and two cousins. We went zip lining, snorkeling, and ATVing. Super fun!

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? 
Katniss!

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? 
I would really like to learn how to sew a straight line. For some reason, whenever I do it, it always comes out crooked! 

What chore do you absolutely hate doing?
Cleaning the toilet.

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time? 
Call my mom or my grandma.

What do you think is your very best feature or characteristic? 
My hair. :)

What is the "thing" you are most grateful for? 
Shoes. Not that I love shoes a lot, but I don't know what I'd do without them covering my feet. I hate walking around barefoot outside.

What is your dream vacation? 
Backpacking in Europe!

What's the coolest thing you've ever done? 
Scuba diving in Mexico

How did you meet your husband? How did he propose?
Over the summer, Josh was up in Seattle (where I'm from) working at Microsoft and living with his brother's family. His brother's family lived in my ward, so I knew them a little. One day they invited me to come over to their house to do a Cutco demonstration (I was selling knives over the summer), and there Josh was standing in the kitchen. His first words to me were, "Hey, don't I know you from singles ward?" when in reality, I had only been to singles ward once and did not meet him there. But I guess I caught his eye.

We started dating right once he got to BYU, and he proposed on Dec 7th, 2012. The night that he proposed, he was supposed to be at a bachelor party, and I was at the bride's bachellorette party (which was a pajama party, by the way). He picked me up because we hadn't seen each other all day and said, "I don't think I'm ready to take you home yet," so he drove out to the Riverwoods, which was where we went on our first date at BYU. Somehow, he convinced me to get out of the car because it was almost 10 pm, freezing, and I was in my pajamas. We walked over to the place where we sat on our first date, and he pulled out a bouquet of roses that his friend hid. We started to walk back to the car, when he said, "BriElle, I just want you to know how much you have changed my life. And the fact that we are here is very fitting because this is the place I want to ask you to be my wife." And he got on one knee. :)

The best thing about being married is: 
Not having to part ways at the end of the night, and how many more inside jokes you get to share. :)

What do you and your husband like to do together? 
Rock out in the car on long drives :)

What would be your perfect day? 
Any day that starts with banana pancakes and ends with my hubby is a perfect day in my book. :)

What was the best advice you got/would give on marriage?
Look for the bad things and you will find them; so look for the good things.

What story does your family always tell about you? 
When I was going into my sophomore year of high school, I was on the youth conference planning committee for my stake. We planned a day camp for kids who have special needs in our community. It was there that I fell in love with serving in the special needs community, and I continued to work with the special needs community throughout high school.

Sister Spotlight: Bethie N

My name is:  
Elizabeth Newey (but everyone calls me Bethie) 

My favorite dinner is:  
Anything Italian or Mexican

My favorite dessert is:  
Cheesecake 

My favorite flower is: 
I love Cala Lilies, and roses 

My favorite hobby is:  
Watching movies, or playing Lacrosse

My favorite restaurant is:  
Los Hermanos

A game I like to play is:  
Ticket to Ride, or anything on the Wii

The music I listen to most is: 
Coldplay

My favorite thing to buy is: 
Definitely Shoes!!! (it is a weakness of mine)

A book I highly recommend is: 
Fire of the Covenant 

A movie I watch over and over is:  
Pirates of the Caribbean

A smell that makes me pause is:  
brownies that are in the oven, or really good flowers

The city I would most like to visit is: 
London or Rome

My favorite thing to do on a date is: 
Something active like playing sports, laser tag, or anything where we can talk a lot

The best vacation I ever had was: 
Touring historical sites in Washington D.C., Virginia, and Pennsylvania 

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? 
A Jedi from Star Wars

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? 
Learning how to speak another language fluently would be really cool.    

What chore do you absolutely hate doing?  
I am beginning to dislike washing dishes. I miss having a dishwasher 

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time?  
I am quite the perfectionist so I clean my apartment quite a lot, or I watch a Dr. Quinn (it is a TV show from the 90 about a female doctor on the frontier during the 1800's) 

What do you think is your very best feature or characteristic?  
I am really loyal and extremely honest 

What is the "thing" you are most grateful for? 
I am grateful for many many things.  I am very grateful for a patient husband who deals with my imperfections, I am grateful for being an aunt and the example that my nieces and nephews are to me of loving the gospel, I am grateful for rain showers, white double stuff Oreos, and surprises. 

What is your dream vacation?  
Touring Europe would be amazing!

What's the coolest thing you've ever done?  
I was in the video they showed at the General Young Women's broadcast a couple of years ago because I was a part of the ward that walked from the Draper Temple to the Salt Lake Temple.

 How did you meet your husband? 
How did he propose?  I met my husband at our home singles ward.  On our first date my husband got pulled over for speeding so to propose he had a police officer (who knew one of my roommates)  pull us over on the same road where he interrogated, handcuffed, and placed my husband in the back of the police car.  The officer then approached me and told me that my husband had 5 warrants out for his arrest.  Freaking out I asked him what for and his response was that he couldn't tell me tell me and that my husband would have to tell me.  So my now husband walked towards me looking very guilty (he is a very good actor ;) ) looked at me and said, "I didn't want you to find out this way", a smile then broke out on his face and he got down on one knee and asked me to marry him :).  Definitely something I will never forget!  The only problem is I am deathly afraid of police officers now ;).   

The best thing about being married is:  
Not having to say goodbye at night  

What do you and your husband like to do together?  
We love watching movies and playing sports together.

What would be your perfect day?  
Spending time with my family, especially with my husband, makes me happy, so doing anything with them would be perfect 

What was the best advice you got/would give on marriage?  
Never go to bed angry 

What story does your family always tell about you?  
I am more than 14 years younger than both of my siblings, so I was pretty young when they both got married.  The first time I met my sisters future husband (they had just stated dating at that point) was at my fifth birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese  after spending a couple of hours with him I apparently said, "Czar you can not marry my sister" the funny thing is that they got married that summer.  Don't worry they got their revenge.      

Recipe: Corn Chowder

Submitted by Lauren Beckett

1/2 lb thick cut bacon (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)

1/2 c onion (diced)

1/2 c celery (sliced)

1 c carrots (sliced)

3 c potatoes (diced)

1 c boiling water

1 c chicken broth

1 16oz can creamed corn

1 15oz can whole corn

1 pint (2 cups) half & half

2 Tbsp butter

1/4 c potato flakes (or any other thickening agent)

Cook bacon in a stock pot until almost crisp. Remove bacon and set aside. Drain off most of the grease. Add onion, celery and carrots to the pot.  Cook until onions are translucent.  Add potatoes, water and broth.  Cover and bring to a boil.  Turn down to medium low and gently cook until the potatoes are soft.  Add remaining ingredients and heat through.  Do not let it come to a boil.

Sister Spotlight: Cami R

My name is: 
Cami R 

My favorite dinner is: 
Chicken souvlaki with saffron rice and pita bread 

My favorite dessert is: 
Cookies

My favorite flower is: 
Ranunculus

My favorite hobby is: 
Hanging around with my fam 

My favorite restaurant is: 
Olive Garden

A game I like to play is: 
Scrabble (because I can beat Cody at it every time ha) 

The music I listen to most is: 
Lately I've been rockin out to One Direction (shout out to my boy Niall) 

My favorite thing to buy is: 
Clothes or surprises for people

A book I highly recommend is: 
Ender's Game 

A movie I watch over and over is: 
Remember the Titans ("Left side! Strong side!") 

A smell that makes me pause is: 
Anything with almond extract in it. Yum. 

The city I would most like to visit is: 
I've always wanted to go to Nashville. I'm convinced I'd meet Dolly Parton there or be asked to star in a hit TV show based on a country singer's life. 

My favorite thing to do on a date is: 
Just talk and laugh with Cody

The best vacation I ever had was: 
My honeymoon

If you could be any fictional character, who would you choose? 
Willy Wonka (who wouldn't want to live in a candy factory, amiright?) 

If you could learn to do anything, what would it be? 
I would love to learn how to sew

What chore do you absolutely hate doing? 
Taking out the garbage 

When you have 30 minutes of free-time, how do you pass the time? 
Take a nap, call family, hang out with Cody 

What do you think is your very best feature or characteristic?
I'm a very empathetic person

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

What is your dream vacation? 
Europe 

What's the coolest thing you've ever done? 
Got married and had a cute little baby

How did you meet your husband? How did he propose? 
We were in the same ward. I noticed him the first week because I thought he had great hair. However, I saw he was engaged so I moved my man hunt right along. A month or two later he tried talking to me at church. Assuming he was still engaged, I did my best to be unfriendly to him. Once I was informed his engagement had been broken off though, it was all over. Of course there are more fun details but those are the basics. 

The best thing about being married is: 
Having a constant best friend to experience all of life's ups and downs with me 

What do you and your husband like to do together? 
We're mostly just homebodies ha

What would be your perfect day? 
Sleeping in, shopping, movie marathon, being with family 

What was the best advice you got/would give on marriage? 
Marriage can be one of the hardest things but also one of the most rewarding things.  Enjoy every part of marriage, the good and the bad, because both help you and your husband become closer. 

What story does your family always tell about you? 
I'm a twin, so any story they tell always involves me and my sister being crazy together. 

Tips and Tricks Massage Class Videos

Several weeks ago, a few of us at Tips and Tricks were privileged to get our own massage tips class taught by the most awesome Becca Davis. Since not everyone could make it, we filmed it and have posted the videos below for your viewing pleasure. :) (See why you should come to Tips and Tricks? We all got to be "massage models!")

Infant Massage


Prenatal Massage


Headache Massage


Back Massage


Foot Massage

Recipe: Chicken Veggie Soup

Submitted by Yessenia Ornelas

Ingredients:

8 cups of water

2 Chicken breasts

3 chopped stocks of Celery

2 chopped carrots

½ of yellow onion, chopped

2 Potatoes, chopped into cubes

1 tbs of olive oil

2 bouillon cubes of chicken flavor

1 tbs of dried parsley flakes

Pepper (to desired flavor)

Salt (if more is needed)

Instructions:

Add the chicken bouillon cubes to water.  Boil chicken in water until tender, remove from water and set aside to cool.  In a big pot, sauté chopped vegetables with olive oil but leave out the potatoes.  Add chicken water (stock) to the vegetables in the big pot.  Chop chicken into cubes and set aside with the potatoes.   Add parsley flakes, pepper and more salt (if needed) to soup.  Let boil and then add chicken and potatoes.  Done when potatoes are soft.