Relief Society Birthday Dinner

Last month we had our Relief Society birthday party. I kinda feel like having pulled it off was a personal triumph because our RS president had been gone since the day after Christmas, and it was up to me and our second counselor to get everything done. Don't get me wrong, I love planning parties as much as the next gal, but for some reason, I was a bit stressed about this one.

 

We had decided to do a pioneer theme, so we wanted to serve stew, salad, bread and pie for dinner, have "wildflowers" on the tables and pioneer items for decorations, and we wanted sisters to tell pioneer stories about their families. I was in charge of the pies, the flowers, begging people for their family stories, and the salad.

 I made blueberry, peach, strawberry-rhubarb, and blueberry pies. They turned out so pretty--and they tasted great too!

 I was really pleased with the way the cultural hall turned out once we got all the decorations up.

 Each table had pie, bread, flowers and a quilted center "runner" made by our senior missionary sister.

 

 

 This table makes me laugh a little. I brought the bonnet I made for the pioneer treks I attended in my Mutual days. I also wanted to bring a picture of some of my pioneer ancestors, but unfortunately I don't have any. So I found this picture in a magazine and burned the edges so it would look old. Whatever works, right? I was thrilled about the way the flowers turned out. I love doing flowers and specifically tried to get these to look like wildflowers. I heard one sister say to her daughter "Where do you suppose they found wildflowers this time of year?" Success!

 We brought lots of quilts and afghans to cover up the room divider and had some old pioneer implements as well.

 My favorite was the little green milking stool. So cute.

 We had some great help getting everything set up. My dear friend and sweet visiting teacher Sue made gorgeous salads.

Here's our 2nd counselor, Tasha, who made the beautiful bread. I love Tasha and couldn't have made it through the night without her!

I wanted to get more pictures of our good turnout (26!) and show all the fun we had. But, of course, my camera batteries ran out. Which is probably good because I cried all through my presentation about the pioneers. Anyway, it was a good night and a terrific success. And I really owe Dave a huge thanks for dealing with all the planning I had to do and being such a good dad and putting the boys to bed as usual. I couldn't fulfill my calling without him!