A Date with Mom and Dad

I enjoy watching the TV show Jon and Kate Plus 8. They have two twin girls who are around 6-7 years old and then sextuplets that are three years old. I don't really know how they do it. Some days I can't even handle five kid; they have 8 and I can't imagine having 6 kids the same age as Cameron. Anyway, I recently noticed that they make a point of taking each of their 8 children out on dates for one on one time. I thought this was a great idea so we started it in our family. We assigned each child a month in which they'll be able to go on a date with Mom and Dad that month. Each child will get at least two dates a year. We started with Cameron in March and Kylie in April. For Cameron's date we took him to a really nice McDonald's playland. He loves the firetruck he can climb inside there. He got a Happy Meal with chocolate milk. He really enjoyed the attention he got from Mom and Dad. We didn't take our camera to McDonald's , but here's a picture of him with the pirate toy from his Happy Meal.

Kylie wanted to go to a brand new park for her date. Courtney was nice enough to watch the other kids so Kylie had Mom and Dad all to herself. She loved it. We played with her on the playground and went on the swing together.

Afterwards, we went out to ice cream. Lloyd and I really enjoyed spending that time alone with that one child. We are looking forward to a date with Katelyn in May and Courtney in June. We hope this is a tradition that lasts. It's hard to compete for attention in a large family and this will be a special time we can all look forward to. I think Lloyd and I are going to enjoy it as much as the kids do!

A Month of Family Home Evenings

We used to have a family journal where we would record family events, experiences, etc. In this family journal, we would also record our Family Home Evening lessons and activities. Well, I haven't really kept up with the family journal since I started this blog so I thought I'd record our Family Home Evenings on the blog. It may be boring for you few readers I have, but I hope you bare with it. When I make a record of what our lessons are about, it makes our family more accountable for what we are teaching at Family Home Evening. I hope to make a short post each Monday night after FHE, but since I got really behind when our computer was broken an entire month of FHEs is included in this post.

*March 10 - Katelyn (9 years old) did the lesson all by herself. She wanted us to get in the right spirit about Easter. She asked us the following multiple choice questions she wrote herself:

1. On Easter, is it about candy or Jesus? a) candy b) Jesus c) none

2. Is it better to take candy and be selfish or share and be kind? a) share and be kind b) none c) taken candy and be selfish (Katelyn spelled "selfish" like "shellfish")

3. Should you think about Jesus on Easter or chow down on candy? a) none b) chow down on candy c) think about Jesus

4. Should you be kind to others on Easter or brag about your candy? a) be kind to others b) brag about your candy c) none

5. What's more important Jesus or candy? a) none b) Jesus c) candy

Katelyn also hid clues in Easter eggs to find a candy treasure. Here are the clues:

1. Great Job! You found #1. Is this fun? Now find #2. It is tricky, but don't be picky.

2. Now you found two! To look for three, look next to the letter "E."

3. Great, you found three. To find four, look on the floor.

4. Wow! You found four a dinosaur couldn't find four. To find five, here's a hint, it's in something.

5. You stayed alive to find five! Now the treasure is buried! You have to dig for it.

We all enjoyed Katelyn's FHE. The multiple choice questions and treasure hunt clues were very cute.

*March 17 - Kylie had the lesson this day. It was St. Patrick's Day! We had a nice dinner with corned beef, green mashed potatoes, lime jello, green beans, Irish bread, and green Kool Aid. Then we went on a treasure hunt to find a pot of gold. The kids tied it in to FHE by likening each step on the hunt to a step we take here in life (ie birth, baptism, mission, married in the temple, etc.) We had to find different objects that went along with St. Patrick's Day - a leprechaun, a shamrock, a green hat, etc. My mom always made holidays fun and we try to continue the tradition.

The pot of "gold" and other objects from the hunt.

*March 24 - Courtney had the lesson this day. It was actually the day after Easter, but she wanted to do an Easter FHE we do every year. Many of you probably have this one too. If any on you would like a copy let me know. We really like it. Inside Easter eggs are various objects that represent the Savior's last week of His life, His death, and His resurrection. Some of the objects in the eggs are a sacrament cup, nails, a tiny cross, thorns, a red robe, spices, etc. There are 12 eggs and the last one is empty to represent the empty tomb. Each egg also has a scripture in it. The children love handling all the objects and it's a great way to teach about Jesus.

*March 30 - I had the lesson and felt like we needed to focus on having more love and harmony in our home. I read the book I'll Love You Forever by Robert Munsch. We talked about being more kind to each other even when we are frustrated. Each of us made a goal on how we could create more peace in our family. We didn't write the goals down, which we probably should have. I made a goal to not raise my voice at the kids. I don't think I yell too much, but I'd like to do better.

*April 7 - We decided the first Monday of each month would be a FHE devoted to food storage/emergency prep. Lloyd had the lesson. He shared with us some stuff from the pamphlet "All Is Safely Gathered In." We set some goals to accomplish by next month. They are to use $10 from every pay check to get a cash reserve at home. to get a water pump for our water storage, to get a trash can on wheels to store our 72 hour kits, and to order a food storage starter kit from the church website. We are trying to do better in this area. I hope we can accomplish these goals by next month.

*April 14 - We had a group FHE with some families from our ward. We had a bunch of taco salad left from our ward Family Temple Day (will describe in another post) so it was an easy dinner for all of us. We started at the park, but it was too windy so we ended up at the church.

A Surprise Party in Arizona

On March 28 my mother turned the big 60! She'd probably rather me not comment on what number birthday it was, but doesn't she look fabulous for being sixty or is it sixty and still sexy? Anyway, although my mom lives in San Jose she was in Arizona on her birthday because she was there to help my sister with her new baby. My brother Brad also lives in Arizona, so my brother, Bryce, his wife, my stepfather and I decided to come out to Arizona for a surprise birthday party. I left Friday afternoon and came back on Sunday morning. It was a very quick trip, but it was great to get away all by myself. I wish Lloyd could have come, but he was kind enough to stay behind with the kids. We celebrated my mom's birthday at one of her favorite Mexican restaurants in Mesa. We all yelled "Surprise" when she walked in. She looked excited!

My sister made my mom wear a tiara with "60" on it and a birthday queen sash. What a beauty!

The party wasn't huge, our family, a very close friend, Pat, whom my mom met from when she was in the Singles Program, and a cousin of Jay's.

Pat, my mom, Bryce and Chareen

Cayden (Brad's son), Jay, and Jay's cousin

Brad, Anahi, and their baby, Dylan


Matt, Karen, Ethan, and me

A group shot in front of the restaurant.

After the party, we went back to my sister's house to give my mom her presents. Her most special gift was a video made by the whole family. The video included photos of my mom throughout her life and messages from her kids, grandkids, and husband. We loved sharing memories and looking at all the old photos. I won't post it online because it's an hour long. My brother, Bryce, made the video and he did a fantastic job!

On Saturday I got to sleep in really late, read a book by the pool, and we had a family barbecue. I loved seeing my sister's new little baby. She was born on March 14 and is named Adelaide Kathleen (same middle name as my mom). She was a couple weeks early, she weighed 7 pounds 2 ounces. She was two weeks old when I got to see her for the first time. She was so tiny and precious; she mostly sleeps, but is so sweet to hold. I also got to play with Karen's son, Ethan, who is about 20 months old. I told Karen I'm trying to be a fun Aunt like she has always been to my kids.

Baby "Addie" - what a little angel!

I

I feel so blessed I got to go to Arizona for my mom's birthday and to see my new niece (she's actually my first niece). I really needed a little break from my kids, especially Cameron. I look forward to a time when Lloyd and I can get away together. It's amazing what a little vacation can do!

Computer Fixed - More Posts to Come

Well, a few weeks and $250 later our computer is fixed. It's a long story I'd rather not describe. Anyway, now I can catch up on my blogging. I wanted to get more done tonight, but it takes a while to upload the photos. I did want to make one comment about my posts. When I compose my posts, I arrange my photos in a particular way and when they are published to the blog, they all get moved around. It's very frustrating. For the Easter post below, I had all the photos lined up next to each other looking so nice and now they're not like that. I think the composing window is larger than the space where the posts are put on the blog. I guess it doesn't matter that much, but I do try to make it look nice. I'll have to admit and most of you know, I'm not the best with computers. I should just be glad I actually can publish on a blog at all. Well, I'm glad to be back. I have at least five more posts to publish so stay tuned!

Happy Easter

We don't have a ward Activities Chairman so I planned a simple egg hunt for the children in the ward on the Saturday before Easter. I think everyone who came had a good time. It's always fun to see the kids get so excited. Here's a few pictures from the egg hunt.

After the egg hunt we went on a family field trip to Jamestown Railtown Park. We rode on a train there and had ice cream. A lot of the trains in Jamestown were used in movies and TV shoes. This caboose is from Back to the Future 3.

On Easter Sunday the girls wore matching pink and brown skirts with pink tops. Yes, I couldn't resist the matching outfits, but this time instead of dresses, they wore skirts which seemed to be a bit more mature. The little boys wore matching green and tan outfits. Easter and Christmas are really the only times I get all my kids new church clothes. I really enjoy picking their outfits out. This year I even got a new pink and brown dress for myself to match the girls.

The kids all got Easter "buckets" filled with a swimsuit and beach towel. We are trying to limit the candy at our house.

After church we met Grandma and Grandpa at a park for lunch and another egg hunt! These kids are so lucky.

Well, as you can see we had a great Easter. It was nice having it so early this year because that meant the kids' spring break was early. I was really ready for a week off from carpooling and other activities. But really, we tried to remind our children that Easter is really about Jesus Christ, His atonement, and His resurrection. We had a couple of Family Home Evenings about this which I will describe in another post. I am so grateful for the life and example of Jesus Christ. We strive to make Him the center of our lives.