Putt-putting with the partners

I wanted to come up with something fun to do as couples in February for the Relief society weekday meeting.  This is one activity that my mother-in-law said was one of her favorites from her ward- indoor golf.  I asked several ladies or groups of ladies and their husband's- if they had husband's around (some were deployed) to come up with a golf hole.  We had 9 holes in various rooms of the building and they were all completely different.    Here are just some of the holes that people came up with.  

This one was about getting to the temple despite the road blocks.

Besides making the Swiss chalet, she painted that background picture!

Just one of the holes that the President came up with in case someone didn't show up with theirs!  I know, gorgeous, right??

Her second hole- so cute!

This one was killing everyone- I only know of one person that made it through one of the two openings, the rest of us smacked it hard and got it over the pipes instead!

Part of our team- that up and down was wicked!

These guys actually had a green.  

Most of the people didn't have golf clubs, or if they do, they didn't bring them over to Europe with them, so we brought Rob's whole set and put a different club at each of the holes, which made it even more challenging- imagine putting with a 9 iron.  Yah- it made no difference to me!! Ha ha!

Robert did a talk on communication in marriage and then we golfed in teams and had root beer floats.  The YM/YW did the babysitting for us.  It was one of the best attended activities we have had and lots of fun.

Before the day came, though, I had a complete melt down.  My leader and my committee were all taken away and those who were supposed to get the babysitting things done, didn't- so in the end I did the entire thing.  I did movies, a craft (candy necklaces), a game (soccer with a blow up ball and chalkboards as goals) and snacks for the little ones.  The YM/YW were fabulous at keeping them happy and occupied.  

I also thought no one was coming, because everyone I talked to said they weren't!  I thought I had asked the YM/YW to come to something that no one was going to show up at.  One of the bus stop moms on hearing me freak out, said, "why don't you just let them play with you, then."  Hmm.. after I thought about it, I realized that was a good idea.  That way, I stopped worrying about what ifs.  In the end, they didn't get to golf, because there were too many people that showed up.  Even though it was a big success we have decided to cut the number of activities.

We are sort of in a unique situations.  We are in Europe, so at the least opportunity people are traveling and seeing the sites.  In fact, I left the very next morning for Poland and would have left the day before if it hadn't been for the activity I was in charge of.  The area is large and traffic congested, so getting to the church in under 45 minutes at that time of night, is a score.  Besides traveling, there are tons of things going on with the military community- husband's are frequently gone, or busy until all hours, there are committees and events that have to be attended, there are office parties and military balls and teas with the General's wife.  People get tired of so many commitments.  With the church a little drive away, having to go up twice a week is too much, but sometimes you have to go 3 or more. With all the other stuff going on, it just ends up being too much.

This activity was a lot of fun, but in the end, we decided that although many of the sisters need to get together for fellowship, especially those whose husband's are deployed, that coming to the church one more day a week, just isn't fulfilling that need.  We have some reworking to do.  But thankfully, I have a committee again to help me do just that!