A Whale of a Tale

Nathan is fully engaged in his ward. Which is good. When I was in college, I was all in too, making sure to set aside time for weekly family home evenings and ward prayers and all the ward activities. Not only do you get to meet lots of people that way, but it can be super fun. This week his FHE activity was a photos scavenger hunt. And his team won, with the prize being a bag of Otter Pops for each person in his group. Which he was super happy about. He shared one of the photos that led them to victory and it made me laugh. 

He is definitely not above acting a bit silly when Otter Pops are on the line…or really any time. 😂

The Gospel Goes Hollywood

Family home evening looks very different for us nowadays. We don’t pull out the flannel board anymore. We don’t scour the Friend magazine looking for coloring pages. And we don’t sing the same song every week. No, with only two kids left at home and both of them teenagers, things are different. We still talk about the gospel and teach gospel principles, but those kinds of conversations happen as a part of our normal day to day interactions. These discussions come up over dinner or as a result of something that happened to the kids or something we read about in the news. And honestly, that seems like the better way to approach gospel teaching at this age. Incorporating these important topics into normal everyday life is how we want to live the gospel anyway. We want it to permeate our lives all the time and not just at those regularly scheduled moments. So we’re rolling with it. 

That means that sometimes we have to think outside the box when it comes to our actual FHE. Today thinking outside the box meant going out to dinner and then to a big screen showing of the movie “The Goonies.” It’s an old 80’s flick, one that we’ve all seen before, but seeing movies in the actual theater is a much different experience from watching at home, so when fun ones are showing, we like to catch them if we can. We had a good time, and Malia is old enough now to get the jokes, so she was entertained. And since we were in Astoria, Oregon two years ago, we recognized a variety of the locations that were in the movie, which was also fun.

And the best part? We actually had a gospel tie in for this activity! When we got home, Kevin geared up to share a spiritual thought about the movie. But Malia stole his thunder by saying that in the movie, they all work together even though they all make mistakes. I am so proud that Malia offered up that insight! Plus, having her outsmart Kev is always fun. 😉 He did add his two cents though, pointing out that they all have different strengths and skills and as they cooperate, all their different strengths and skills are needed. And that is what we are here to do. In this mortal life, we all need to learn to work together, meshing all our different strengths, skills, and talents.

So yeah. Like I said, gospel conversations are triggered by the most ordinary events and experiences around here. And I love it.

This is definitely not the movie we saw, but it was a fun photo op we came across at the theater.

First Pie of the Season

Last year we ate pie for FHE throughout the month of November rather than only eating pie on Thanksgiving. Our reasoning was that we could enjoy all the flavors of pie we like the most without feeling like we needed to eat our way through a dozen pies in one weekend. We enjoyed that change in routine so much that we are repeating the experience again this year and I suspect it is here to stay. Malia had the honor of choosing the first flavor of pie which means that the top of our apple pie was adorned with dragons. It looks lovely. FYI-cookie stamps work great on pie crust!

 

C is for Cookie

I was browsing Pinterest recently and discovered a recipe for one BIG cookie. I tried it and while the cookie itself was mediocre, the kiddies thought it was a great idea. So we used our regular cookie recipe and made head sized cookies for FHE. The kids thought it was great! I still prefer normal sized cookies as I think the texture is better, but I can see a variety of situations in which a gigantic cookie could be fun. Note to self: remember how to do this because one day soon one of my sons is going to want to ask a girl to a dance (eek!) and a face sized cookie could come in handy...

Further Proof That I’ve Messed Up My Kids

Tonight as part of our family home evening lesson, Kev sent the boys to locate a pencil and notebook. All the boys jumped up and dashed out to get their supplies. Malia watched them go and then the following conversation occurred:

Malia :“Where’d everybody go?”

Me: “Crazy. Are you coming?”

Malia: “Allll-righty.”

All This For Ten Bucks!

For family home evening today we went to pick out our Halloween pumpkins. We have been seeing signs for a pumpkin patch that is close to our house, so we decided to give it a try. And besides, choosing pumpkins from a patch is way more fun than selecting them at the Walmart. They had wheelbarrows available at the patch so you could cart your pumpkins in from the field and Nathan and Matthew thought the kid sized ones were the best. Of course, Matthew couldn't put any pumpkins in his because as soon as he did he discovered he isn't strong enough to keep it upright, but he had fun and Kev and I are there to carry pumpkins anyway, right?

Second perk to the pumpkin patch? Ten pumpkins for $10. None of them are really huge, but it's still a much better price than you can get at the Walmart.


The third perk was the free hay ride we got. The man who owns the patch drove us around the farm. It's not huge like Wheeler Farm, but the boys were suitable impressed by the barns, fields, sheds, and the goose. And I love that it was free!

Perk number four came in the form of a little corn maze. It was tiny and there is no possible way an adult with any brains could ever get lost in it, but it was perfect for my little first timers. And it was free. (Sound byte of the evening-- Daniel: "I don't know where we are." Nathan: "We're in a corn maze, Daniel!")

The boys were pleased with the pumpkins we scored and are already planning how to decorate them. And we had so much fun we are definitely planning to go back next year!

(I have no idea why Daniel was holding his pumpkins like this, but it made me laugh. At least they weren't melons.)

The Gospel For Little Children

Last night Nathan was in charge of the lesson for family home evening. He choose the lesson "A Child of God-No Matter What!" from this month's Friend. After telling the story, the boys got to make a crown to remind them that they are all princes because they are children of God. They had a grand old time.

Matthew took the whole lesson one step further and put on the whole armor of God.