I like sports. A lot. When I was a teen I remember couples having issues over how much sports the husband watched. I determined that I didn't want to be one of those couples so I learned about sports. The game, rules, how to play. I loved racquetball, softball, and volleyball and have a pretty competitive streak. (But, not as much as the boyfriend, but that's another story.)

The thing is, though my husband is great at sports, he doesn't get into watching them that much. I learned all that to be the one who stays up and watches the games. By myself. Go figure. 

I only commit to watch 1 or 2 teams because I wouldn't do anything except sit in front of the tv otherwise. When a game comes on I tell my children, "I'm not your mother right now" do not bother me. I do have a couple of friends who come over and watch the games with me sometimes. There's a lot of noise making when we watch. 


My sport of choice is football and my team of choice is BYU. Going to the games in Provo was so much fun and I've missed that. (We have tickets to the game in November in Kansas City)


In honor of the coming season here is a printable that I've done.

I've also done this print for my husband who wakes up the kids by singing, "Rise & Shout the Cougars are out!" Needless to say the kids aren't thrilled with the song. But I hope you're thrilled with the watercolor printable. Click the image below or here.

Share this with a sports fan you know.

Sometimes it's nice to do a little extra or give a reminder. Here are candy bar or gum wrappers with the 2015 YWYM Theme for your upcoming activities. Youth Conference? YW Camp? Young Women In Excellence (YWIE)? These free YWYM Embark Candy & Gum Wrappers can be downloaded here.

There's busy good and there's busy bad. I consider learning to be one of the busy goods and I've been on a streak lately. 

• I've learned how to do editable PDFs (still working on being quick at it) which many of you have asked about and will be very cool to add to some of my future downloads. 

• I've learned some and continue to learn about surface design. They're a couple of fabric projects that I did months ago that I'm so excited about sharing with you. (I'll post soon)

• Being an artist as well, I'm learning how to take my hand drawings and make it into digital artwork. Then I can use it for so many things, some of which will make it here to LDS NEST. Plus I've gone a totally new creative direction with Shannon's Studio which has caused me to rework my brand and website. All the new things will be up in about a month. Sooner I hope. 

• Plus I'm doing a little website housecleaning here too. (Which I would love to know what you like best about LDS NEST. Or maybe you'd like to see.) 

• Then the best good busy news for us as a family is that our youngest son Wade got his mission call yesterday. We love Utah and lived there for 15 years. In fact, until about 5 years ago the St. George Mission used to be in the Provo Mission where we lived. (We moved to Missouri about 7 years ago.) Being born and raised in Provo Wade said it feels like coming home. 

Because of all my new learning I haven't finished anything for LDS NEST lately so I went back through my files and found a camp craft I haven't shared with you. It's a flower clip and the gift download is here. You'll find photo instructions and supplies list. We gave this to the YCLs and they taught it to the girls.

As I was looking through things I couldn't find another camp craft that I thought I posted. I'm sure I posted it but figured if I couldn't find it then maybe you wouldn't be able to either. So, I'm re-posting that too. That gift download is here.

Well, that's just a little update of my good busy life. How's yours going?

Today I put my first editable PDF online for you Nesties. Happy dance. I know it's not a big deal to some of you but it feels like a big deal to me. Other Nesties have been asking me about editable (means you can write your own text in certain places) PDFs. I just didn't know exactly how to do them but now I've figured it out. I've been working on several (Hundred?) projects and many will include the editable feature from here on out. This one just has a few check boxes and one place for writing but that's all this needed. Now on to what 'this' is.

The Nested Family - Collected Bits to Build Unity. This series will include 40ish tips on how to build family unity. Today is only the first tip, COMMITMENT, but it's pretty necessary. Maybe you might want to discuss the level of commitment needed for an eternal family for FHE tonight. Read it below or you can get our gift download for later reading here. 

Here's the third page that gives you space to write your Personal Commitment Pledge. Then you can put it on your Ring Thing for handy referencing. (Download our Nestie gift to you here.) 

This is part of my RESET One Word Resolution which leads to taking my family COMMITMENT to the next level. 

Does family unity come easy to you? 
Happy FHE tonight.

The Family • A Proclamation to the World turns 20 this year. All grown up. 

Its birthday makes me think of when it was announced and the subsequent comments from some people. At the time they said it was so "vanilla". Meaning that it was an ordinary. A common knowledge flavored document. 

Well, prophets being what they are weren't exactly intending it for the generation it was given to. Of course it was meant to guide the 1995 generation but it was given then, when it was so "vanilla", so it would have time to sink in before today's full frontal assault on its principles began. It gave us time as a people to prepare our minds and hearts to really understand God's mind.

It also makes me evaluate how I've passed on those principles to my kids. They're the ones that are really going to have to get out there and articulate the Proclamation's point of view. We've tackled some of the tough subjects - gender, same sex attraction and marriage, gender roles - but we'll continue to talk. 

This little download is a Family Proc summary at your finger tips. Puts it in kind of a fun format. Usually I make downloads for My Ring Thing but this one was a special request for a particular purpose and needed to fit inside the scriptures (5" x 7"). Maybe you can use it in yours. Go to our download page here for your gift copy.

I'm in heavy like with Valentine's Day. The Boyfriend usually isn't home for it. (Works on an oil rig) But, this year he will be. So I'm pretty excited to celebrate. This is for him. (He doesn't read the posts regularly, usually all in one sitting, so I think he won't see this. If this is you Boyfriend, DON'T continue reading) 

I was totally inspired by this pin on my Graphic Love board.

I made it into a Valentine's Day Countdown. Give one test tube treat a day. I think I'm going to do love notes instead of candy. Sometimes we don't say enough to those we love the most. 

So, another Valentine's Day for those of you who are in heavy like too. 

About 15 years ago, before chalkboards were hip, I made an Anniversary Chalkboard Word Search for my Perfect Match. It took a couple of versions before I got it right and was a lot of work. This Valentine's Day I decided to offer an easy version to download. Print, cut, frame, and give. Way less work than I originally went through. You can find it here. Our shop is here.

If framed with glass then it can be used with a dry erase marker and reused. 

For your Perfect Match get our download or make one of your own. 
Happy Love Month.

When serving in the Stake YW we focus our efforts to help Ward YW leaders. They have so much to do and that's not an exaggeration. Last year for our Ward leaders we presented them with a planner. It was given to help them ease their burden in planning then in turn they could focus more on their young women. Many of them liked what we had. Here's a version for this year in our Etsy Shop.

We tried to think of how each month would look for a ward leader and then incorporated it into a calendar. It helps that we've been ward leaders so we know what it's like to plan and carry out. Here's an example of one month.

 Some choices are already matched and made. For example -

• Come Follow Me principles are listed on each month (CFM = Come Follow Me)
• Sunday Lessons section to list who and what will be taught
• Personal Progress Values are assigned to a month (coordinates with Come Follow Me)
• Strength of Youth standards are assigned monthly (use for mutual opening exercises, talks, etc) 
• Leadership Lesson Topics from Church Handbook are assigned monthly (optional topics too)
• Bishopric Interviews space is listed each month to track YW interviews 
• PP Project Evaluation times are scheduled into certain months
• Presidency Meetings purpose summaries are listed and space for notes
• Conducting for Sunday and Mutual (space for names is included)
• Mutual Activities space is provided for organizing 
• List Lines for extra dates, notes, needs, info, or other reminders
• Infographic summaries for Class Presidencies, Agendas, and Personal Progress
• Reminders of things to do are put throughout the year (Camp, Conferences, etc)
• Notes pages that are blank are included
• Newsletter template to send out to parents is included too

Compact and concise. So much information in so simple a format. But there's more too.

Everything's here to get you started and make your life easier in 2015. (It may even help you with the rest of 2014) Go to our Etsy Shop if you're interested.

Reading an article this month in BYU Magazine made me think of this little kit I did for some of my fam. It's the Compliment Kit and it's been downloaded over 4000 times between the 2 files. It seems we all want to write random compliments. They call them "praise notes" in this article. Call them whatever you like just write them. That's the important thing. Read this if you need more convincing. 

Hello, Lovely people! So I've been busy with school stuff--I had to write down instructions for proper hand-washing and diaper-changing. Seems a little boring and tedious because, like, as moms we do this all the time. Anyway, I decided to make my instructions cute and you can download them for free here. I'm trying out a new download place since our previous downloader has been super sketch. Just enter $0 in the payment option. 

These can spruce up your bathroom or changing table area. They would also be great for early childhood educators or in day-care centers. Enjoy!

There's a lot of talk about women, priesthood, and excommunication lately. Plenty of commentary on it as well. Some of it good, some not so much. Since the recent issues deal with Latter-day Saints directly we at LDS NEST had to think about what to say. Or not say in the discussion.

Personally, I always have plenty to say. Very opinionated in fact. But, I have a little motto -

Having lots of opinions I've realized that it's likely not all of them are good. So, I like to think about things a little before I venture opening my mouth. What should LDS NEST share? What's the message out of recent events? What discussions really help people? How does one help people stay on spiritual track? My thinking lead me to the scriptures and Alma sums it up for me.

I feel for the families who are struggling with these issues and I think of my own. Any one of us can, and often does, error. But what keeps bringing us back around is the word of God. Plain and simple.

So... Do we read it? Do we know it? Do we teach it?

In answer to how we should approach current events I came to the conclusion that the best use of my time and effort for my family and LDS NEST would be to make sure we share pure doctrine (Something that is "more powerful on minds than anything else".)  With that idea we had a FHE lesson about the Priesthood - Priesthood Power. I thought I'd share what I came up with, with you.

I read through Elder Oaks recent talk, Keys and Authority of the Priesthood, other talks and scripture. The information can be tricky to understand and I wanted it to be clear to my kids so I summarized it all out in a way that made sense to me. It made sense to them. Maybe it will make sense to you too.  There is a free download Ring Thing here.

Besides the Ring Thing Lesson there is a Lesson Outline to go with it and Power Bar wrappers. It's just a little added bonus for fun that you can purchase here (it includes all the Priesthood Power handouts.) Next on my mind to teach my kids about is Apostasy. What do you think about the subject?

We've been having a terrible time with our download site (ge.tt). It's a free service so we can't complain much but it's frustrating. For you and us. It's been down on and off for the past month and many of you have tried to download our nestibles and haven't been able to. Some of you have emailed us to ask for files and we try to get back to all of you. (Sorry if we've missed someone.)

The nice thing about the download mess is that we get to meet some of you, Nesties, through email. One such person is Janelle J. She emailed about some files and said she was doing them for YW. She had a great idea that we have to share.

If you've been around LDS NEST you know about our Compliment Kits. The first file had over 3000 downloads and the new one put up a couple of weeks ago has a few hundred. A few of you like it.

Janelle liked it and did the Compliment Kits with her YW. But, the fabric covering was going to be trickier than she wanted to do so she came up with an alternative. Duct Tape Covered Tins. Genius easy. I asked for a photo and her's turned out so cute that I asked if I could share it with you. She kindly said yes.

Do you have any photos of your Compliment Kits you want to share? Share them on our Facebook page.

Our YW Camp and 4th Year Adventure are done for the year. (On to Youth Conference!) Camp always requires so many people's effort. And it's all volunteer as you know. Our Stake likes to show a little love and appreciation even for the smallest of services. This is a little Thank You Gift that we gave out this year. It was super fast and super easy. (Think of me, my paper cutter and double-sided tape standing at the back of my car.) 

I've changed up the version above to be camp generic for your use. Download here if you need a little YW Camp help. Share some of the thank you gifts you've given (or received) for service.

It's been camp, camp, camp on my brain. And I have a few things to share with you about that. But, for today, I've got a print in our Esty shop that I did before the camp rush.

The Boyfriend and my anniversary is next month (we're celebrating 32 years) so marriage has been on my mind. I kept seeing "all you need is love" or "love is all you need" everywhere on Pinterest when I was doing a little research. Anyone who's been married any length of time (or even for shorter periods) knows it takes more than love. Sure it's the basis, but if it were all up to love we wouldn't have any broken relationships. Married or otherwise.

"Love is all you need" is such an over simplification. Love is the start and the driver but it better get some other passengers on board (forgiveness, patience, fidelity, kindness, etc.) if it wants the fuel to go anywhere for any length of time. Can you tell I have strong opinions about this? Do you?

Well I didn't want anyone in this house thinking that all they had to do was have a little love for a strong relationship so I put my thoughts to paper. And tried to make it handsome. You can find it here.

What are 3 qualities besides love that you think a relationship, any relationship, needs?

PS • You might want to give it as a wedding gift. Just a thought.

There are always activities in the church and we generally get information out with flyers. In the past few months we've had a couple of stake youth activities that we needed flyers for. (BTW - These were GREAT activities!) Usually we have youth do the flyers but with the timing we had I ended up doing them. We figured you might be able to use them in some way for your activities.

Soooooo.... you can download blank ones to use. If someone asks you to do a flyer you can just add your own wording to change it up. Wham. Bam. Done.

Does your ward/stake use flyers or is it just us?