WARNING: This is a long post, but if you do read the whole thing (or even just part of it), I'd love to hear your best experiences/ideas!
There are many things about family night that I enjoy. I like that Sam indulges me in allowing me to try various hymns and primary songs on the guitar (or occasionally, the ukulele--Sam plays both as well) and that he'll join with me in trying to sing the different parts. We don't always sound very good, but it's fun to try and sometimes we improve. :) Occasionally, I am laughing too hard at our pathetic attempts to harmonize (mostly mine) or Sam is turning a lively song into a really lively song, for it to be considered reverent or spiritually edifying in preparation for the lesson, but it’s always enjoyable. Every once in a while, we even sound really good!
I also appreciate taking a moment from our busy week to hear each other's thoughts, insights, aspirations, and motivations on a spiritual topic for the lesson. I have been reminded of and learned a lot from Sam and we've worked on several goals inspired by these discussions. I also enjoy taking the time to prepare these short lessons, though I admit, sometimes that are pretty last minute. (Sam thinks I should add that sometimes I cheat and use a short video clip from MormonMessages. Hey, what can I say? They're good! And just for the record, I've only done it once, but I am in charge of the lesson this time. . .)
Another of my favorite parts about FHE is that I can often convince Sam to do things he probably wouldn't do otherwise. On a recent Monday I got him to let me teach him a folk dance that I still remember from my class at BYU. (This is the same dance that my very cool little brother let me teach him as well, and it always made me happy that he'd want to do it when I'd come home for a visit.) It was hilariously fun and even a good workout. Sam's a quick learner.
Another time, we were both really busy and were struggling to fit in a time to cut Sam's hair. Being opportunistic, I suggested that we could cut his hair for our FHE activity if he would let me cut and style a mohawk first. (He was wanting to shave it all of anyway.) Not his favorite activity, but it was definitely one of mine. I further begged him to let me post a picture of my hair cutting expertise, to which he begrudgingly finally consented. But maybe I shouldn't push so hard. . . I'll leave it off.
Here are a few of the other activities I've really enjoyed:
- Seeing who could balance and walk the furthest on the metal parking lot rail before falling off. (We'd gone to a park to play Frisbee, but it had gotten dark too quickly.)
- Hopscotch (as noted in one of my earliest posts)
- Frisbee golf (Sam always creams me. I don't think I even keep count of my throws anymore.) Or any sport in the park--soccer, football, etc.
Carving pumpkins--We invited another couple to carve with us. One of the carvings had a striking resemblance to Sam.- Riding our bikes to some forested camping area that freaked me out to be at after dark (but I wanted to come back later because there were blackberry bushes). And once we got out of that freaky place, having to go back to find the bike lock we'd dropped somewhere. Have I mentioned that it was freaky?
- Playing with a croquet set we were given for our wedding (usually with other couples, which has been really fun too)
- Playing basketball (bump) when I was 8 1/2+ months pregnant. For once, Sam was able to beat me. (Kidding--he usually wins.)
- Trying out the wheat grinders we received as gifts from my mom. We had a contest--Sam on the manual; me on the electric. Let's just say I hope we never have to go long without power.
- Watching How Rare a Possession and Pete's Dragon on YouTube. And BYU's classic The Phone Call DVD (thanks, Winks!).
- Making playdo for the five-year old kids we taught in Sunday School,the whole time wincing and squealing from the salt stinging our dry hands! (At least I was squealing. Sam was making some other manly noises.)
Okay, I should probably stop. This post is probably already way longer than anyone wants to read, but I’d love to hear your ideas or about anything that has worked well for you in your Family Home Evenings (or other family traditions/activities).
2 comments:
I love FHE! Okay, well now Andrew and I are in charge of the YSA FHE group, so we don't have just us FHE nights anymore. But one thing that we did was after General Conference, we went over the talks and divided them up into different topics, especially ones we felt we needed to work on. Then, I did a spreadsheet and assigned a night to the different topic, and we put the page numbers from the ensign so it was easy to know what lessons to study. We loved doing that. But, even reading an article in the Ensign is always good. And for the activity...um, we totally made play dough too one night. So fun! And also, have you ever played backgammon? or Mancala? Both fun. We love to go to thrift stores to find a cheap game, sometimes one we've never heard of and bring it home. Also, you can make donuts! So good...but just have some people over or you will make yourself sick.
Fun Ambs! So great that you are getting into a regular habit already. We always look forward to FHE. Usually, I would come up with the lesson, but as of late, Mark has been using some great object lessons from his seminary teaching. The kids also really get into teaching it as well, and it helps them to pass off their Faith in God. Give them a white board and they go to town! Natalie told us about ldssplash.com and there are a bunch of other really cool websites with creative, fun ideas. I know you want to know WHAT those ideas are... but they are pretty involved to simply write down here. Much of the time, we draw lessons from things pertaining to what our children need to improve on, or things impressed on our minds during that week, where we feel need strong emphasis. Love all your ideas! Keep it up!!
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