Happy Birthday Relief Society!

This year the Relief Society lessons and meetings will be focused on the history of the Relief Society. This past Tuesday, we had our RS Birthday dinner. We talked about the past General RS Presidents and the story of the very first RS meeting.

I gathered all things old, or at least old looking, and rummaged through my house until I found enough 8x10 frames to put all the past RS President's pictures in.

This is an adorable VT handout about how the Relief Society was organized after the "pattern of the priesthood". Here's the blog I found it on and here's the actual printable. It's so cute. I made up several for my VT ladies.

The menu that evening was lasagna, salad, bread and birthday cake.

Simple, but yummy.

The sisters had plenty of time to eat and visit...

as we desperately tried to get the technical part of the program working.

After about 40 minutes, we decided to continue... video or not.

For our program, we had Emma Smith come talk to us. She shared some of her experiences and stories of being the first RS president.

Next, we wanted to play this video, ("Live Up to Your Privileges")but with our technical difficulties (getting the computer to talk to the projector) we ended up sharing it as an audio.

I thought this was a funny picture..... the past interfacing with the present. :)

In closing, Jessica Whiting (Emma) shared her personal history and testimony of the Relief Society. She talked about how when she turned 18, she was thrilled and excited to come into the program. She also talked about her early RS college experiences, her RS experiences as a young wife and as a mother. She moved around A LOT and the connecting factor in all of their moves was the Relief Society. The Relief Society was always there to welcome, to be-friend and to provide relief.

I loved hearing Jessica's testimony and history. I can attest to the things she shared. I too am thankful for the Relief Society program. I have been on the receiving end of much "relief" at times. I am proud to be a part of a world-wide sisterhood. I love the Relief Society!

Relief Society Birthday Dinner

Tuesday was our Relief Society Birthday dinner. We planned, decorated, and prepared food from 10am to about 4:45pm. Then we quickly ran home and showered and were back by 5:15-5:30 for our 6:30 meeting!

Does this flower balloon look familiar? Yes, of course it does...it's my party decoration go-to. Notice how many their are.... I think like 15. Each flower takes 7 balloons and yes, I blew up up all of them all by myself.... plus a few extras for the kids that were hanging around us. My lips were a little chapped and I was slightly light-headed for a bit. :)

Keri made this smaller banner to put by the food table. So cute!

"Charity Never Failith"

Our fabulous "floating" birthday sign.

Each table had an assigned color. Each name tag had a colored dot. We asked the ladies to sit at the table that coordinated with their name tag dot... trying to mix things up a bit. Not completely successful, but still a lot of fun.
Each chair had a "get to know you" question attached with a magnet. The ladies were to ask each other their questions and hopefully learn something new about the person they sat next to.
The magnets were gifts to each sister, along with the Relief Society declaration.

Keri also made Relief Society trivia questions and put them at each table. Do you know the original name of the Relief Society?

A variety of cupcakes were our centerpieces (and dessert). We attached a single helium balloon to each cupcake holder.

Everyone enjoying their Hawaiian Haystacks for dinner.

We had a musical number.....

...and 3 women, from 3 stages of life, talk about what R.S. has meant to them over the years.

There was a quilt to tie...

...and a Hawaiian hula dance to be learned.

Our evening ended close to 10:00pm with clean up.

Whew! A long, but nice day. :0)

Happy Birthday Relief Society!!!