FHE

Good times.  We had FHE around the firepit on Monday night.  It was Afty's night to be in charge, and she and Dad schemed the plan.  It was simple, but perfect.  Scriptures, smores and lots of smiles.  A little grand canyon revelling, a little vaca planning, school updates.  But mostly just good family bonding time.  These are the simple things that memories are made of.

Top 3 iPhone Pics of the Week

My little man loves to help me out at home, especially when I'm cooking. One of his specialties is shucking corn, so I try to let him do it whenever possible. He feels so grown up. Look at that grin! I was smiling behind the camera too.

Rowan was thrilled with her last Valentine's Day gift from her dad: a set of walkie talkies. All afternoon on Sunday the kids played with them. They wanted "code names" for the airways, and after a bit of brainstorming, decided on Heartbreaker 1, Lovergirl, Roxy, & Romeo. I think Cupid and Juliette were in the running too. Too funny. Anyway, it was Rowan's turn to be in charge of FHE on Monday night, so she asked if I could help. Of course. But she pretty much had it all planned out already. She wanted to use her new walkie talkies and go on a scavenger hunt in teams. So she and I came up with a super fun scavenger hunt that sent the fam on a hunt around the house (all centered around the family - read a paragraph from The Family Proclamation on the wall, read a certain scripture on families that pray together, sing a verse of I Love to See the Temple, tell Rowan something they love about her, etc.), and ended in the living room for family prayer. Afterwards, we loaded up in the suburban and headed to Golden Spoon (picture above) to use our 13th day of Valentines gift cards that Dad had left on each of our beds. What a great night that was!

Ahhhh...and this is last night at 8:30. I was busy making some thank you gifts while multitasking with the Half Pipe Event in Vancouver, Barrett was finishing her homework, Ryan was on his way to softball, and Easton & Afton were sneaking in some TV upstairs. And here lay Rowan...fast asleep on the chair next to me, complete with her blackout mask and cheetah blanket. So Rowan. Wish that was me!

Light

Over the weekend, Easton had a great time opening and enjoying all the gifts he received for his birthday. New toys are always a hit. I had anticipated that he'd receive a bunch of fun new toys from his cousins, siblings, and grandparents, which he did, so we decided to go another route. Ryan and I put together a carry tote packed with a hodge podge of good old "man" stuff that every boy should have. You know, flashlights, duct tape, carribeaners, a measuring tape, head lamp...

Well, I'm not exactly sure that every man needs a head lamp, but I'd been wanting to get one for Easton for a while. Ryan picked it up for us at Harbor Freight (a great store by the way). Easton is pretty much obsessed with flashlights, so I figured this would be a real winner. And it was. When he woke up on Sunday morning, he came walking in with his jammies on and his head lamp strapped to his head. He wanted to wear it to bed Saturday night, but I suggested he might be a little more comfortable leaving it on the dresser for first-thing-in-the-morning easy access. He obliged.

So on Sunday night as we were calendaring the upcoming week's events with the crew, Ryan asked whose turn it was to give the FHE lesson on Monday night. As I looked around the room at our peeps, I couldn't help but smile at Easton, who again, was wearing his head lamp proudly along with his green bug jammies. And then it hit me. I had a great idea for FHE.

My kids can vouch that Monday was one memorable night. I looked up a number of scriptures that talked about "light" and printed them out on strips of paper. Then on the back of each one, I wrote a clue that led to the next scripture. Each of the scriptures/clues was placed in an envelope and strategically hidden around the house. Basically, it was a "light" scavenger hunt. The really fun part about it was that we turned off every single light inside and outside the house, closed the blinds to block out the street lights, and manned each child with their own flashlight. All the navigation was done in the dark. As we deciphered the clues and read each scripture, we sat together and discussed them, asking questions about what each one meant and how those scriptures could apply to our lives. It was a good experience and one that I think our kids will always remember. The last clue instructed them to strap on their shoes and head to the "blue light", which the kids quickly figured out was the blue light surrounding our in-ceiling TV screen inside the suburban.

As we all got inside the suburban, they found the last clue congratulating them on their success and telling them that we were going somewhere that would surely bring out their "brightest" smiles. Since the kids were already bathed and wearing their jammies before we started, it made our little outing even more crazy and fun. We drove to one of our family's quick treat favorites, Water & Ice, and enjoyed some Thrifty ice cream together (yes, all wearing pajamas). We had so much fun! Of course, in typical mom fashion, I had to take a couple of pics to memorialize the evening. So I grabbed my iphone and snapped these. Barrett was a little embarrassed that she had her "short shorts" on that she sleeps in, but other than that, the kids couldn't have cared less about being in their jammies. We ran into another family from school as well as some of our neighbors from church. Good times.

(Nice blue teeth, Barrett!)

For reference, the scriptures that we found and discussed were:

1) D&C 93: 2 “And that I am the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world;”

2) D&C 10: 70 “And now, remember the words of him who is the life and light of the world, your Redeemer, your Lord and your God. Amen.”

3) Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

4) D&C 93: 36 “The glory of God is intelligence, or, in other words, light and truth.”

5) Luke 11:33 “No man, when he hath lighted a candle, putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick, that they which come in may see the light.”

6) John 3: 20-21 “ For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. "