huber family

Garden Party... Planting seeds of Faith and Friendship

For our Relief Society Birthday party we had a garden party. We are all so tired of winter and thought this might lift everyone's spirits. We had a delicious catered dinner...chicken crepes, crisp green sald, fruit kabobs, fluffy pink fruit dip and strawberry lemonade. It was delicious! We had a special speaker come and she was amazing... She speaks at Women's conferences and does firesides. She spoke about all the things that we felt would be perfect for our theme and the needs of the sisters in our ward!! Some of my favorite points that she made were... we as sisters in the church are a lot like the flowers that our Heavenly Father created. she talked about how the earth is so beautiful and when you see a flower garden there are many varieties and colors and all of them combined are what make the garden so pretty. Just like all of his daughters that he created- we are all different but when put together, just right!!" She spoke about what it means to be sisters... that we should be happy for each others successes and sad for each others failures, that we should see the good and when maybe there is bad... because we love each other we love the good and the bad and we try to help each other be the best daughter of Heavenly Father that we can be. She shared lots of heartbreaking stories about her life and how having a sense of humor helped. she said when hard things happen there are two things you can do -laugh or cry... and laughing is what can get you through those times... laughter and faith! it was just a really uplifting talk and a reminder that there are so many people around us who are struggling and we may not even know it and that maybe our own trials are not so bad and that it is all in our attitude!! I loved her and we had so many comments from sisters that said they felt that she was speaking just to them... very personal and straight from the heart! After the speaker, we had a musical number "Consider the Lilies" it was beautiful. Then we did a "flower/plant swap" where all of the sister who came brought their favorite flower or plant to give away. We had each of them stand and tell why it was their favorite and through this we learned a lot about each other. We heard funny stories and heartfelt stories. Some ladies brought starts from their garden that were special to them. Others brought a flower from their wedding bouquet, a few brought whatever was on sale at walmart, or a plastic plant because it was easy to care for!! there was a huge variety and it was the perfect ending to a wonderful night!! I love being the Enrichment leader and feel so blessed to work so closely with the second counselor in the Relief Society presidency, my dear friend- Emily! We are M&M!! We have the BEST girls on our committee and the most supportive husbands and we even used our extended families for this one!! We needed our husbands for some heavy duty set up and take down and my parents came down from Logan to help (thank you!!) and I know Emily's parents watched her kids for her too so that her husband could help us!! It is always a relief when things like this are over... but this time there has been sort of a sad twinge to it!! We did so much work and put in lots of time preparing, had lots of meetings, phone calls, emails and as a committee and leaders we just really bonded... part of me is having withdrawls because my phone is no longer ringing off the hook!!! Thank you to the many people who helped make this night a huge success!! From letting us borrow your stuff to set up, clean up, support and especially to those who came and felt the true spirit of Relief Society!! (I feel like I just gave an academy award speech or something... but my heart is so full of thanks! I love my ward!!)

Glen spent a few days and many hours in the garage rigging up the props for the fence pieces and the posts for the lights...not to mention being a good dad and taking care of the kids during all my planning and even putting up with no dinner some nights!! Thanks to my hubby!! the lights were the perfect touch!!

We talked to every one we know and used every resource in gathering our garden scene. I am not going to share to what extend we went... because it's a little embarrassing! ...You know it's bad when your driving down the road and counting front porch benches to borrow and everytime you step into someone's home you are seeing things that "would be perfect for a garden party" We just had this "vision"

and wanted it to be perfect!!

Our colors (No this is not a wedding... just a bunch of crazy girls planning a Relief Society function!) were purple and green. We were "inspired" one late night while looking through scrapbook paper... but that's another story! Somebody... I think it was Heather... had the cute idea to tie toole around the chairs... "because those metal folding chairs are just "so not cute" so we did!! And it was my favorite "touch" of the night... I think...


Our centerpieces... thanks to Sunny Jo. We had NO IDEA what to do for weeks and she just showed up at my door one day and had the perfect thing flower topiaries

Not only did she give us the idea, she shopped the sales and got all the supplies and made them all look perfect! I love ya Sunny!

the overall look... it was so warm and inviting and of course... springy!!!

The dessert table... mini fresh fruit tarts and ecclairs to die for!!! seriously delicious!

these are my girls... (aren't they cute!) we served dinner in matching aprons (a gift from Emily... see I told you she's amazing!!!) We have the best of times together. We rely on each other and this evening was totally a group effort. We love each other and we love the sisters who we serve!

Back row: Korine, Heather, Laura, me and Renee

front row: Emily, Nikki, Sunny

Happy Birthday to the Relief Society... an inspired organization!!