Family Home Evening

We had a great Stake Conference this past weekend, although we didn't make it to the Saturday night sessions since we were at Talin's Choir Concert... but that's for another blog. Anywho, my point is (and yes, there really is a point here), that I learned much. One of the things I learned was from Ellen Hadfield's talk about FHE. I learned I need to "chilax" as my kids would say and go with the flow more. Usually I'm okay but a few weeks ago I gave a lesson out of Mosiah that I was really excited about, but the boys couldn't seem to focus enough to listen and I got pretty frustrated. There was just toooo much 'Jedi Knight' activity going on for my peace of mind. So, having been reminded of what I already knew, which was to change things up a bit every once in awhile so everyone can relax and have fun, we had a bit of an activity based FHE last night. It went pretty well, too. I went to the office supply in Price and bought some cheap calligraphy pens and printed some sample and practice pages off the web and Voilà! We had a great time learning the basics of Calligraphy. Surprisingly, Tom especially enjoyed it. Jaron used regular colored markers since I didn't think he'd get the whole angled-tip thing and he did a fabulous job copying the fancy letters. I was surprised how he jumped in and went to town. They all did quite well, we all had a fun time coming up with funny words and phrases to copy down. Then we had pie for desert. A good time was had by all with very little prep and pain. Who knows? Maybe now that they've had to slow down and consciously think about it, maybe they'll all take a little more care with their regular day-to-day writing and maybe we'll see some improvement there as well. Hmmm... Maybe...

¿Hablàs Español?

We had our first Relief Society Homemaking meeting in the 'Spanish Group' last night and although I was stressed, it went well. We had a better turnout than I thought we would but I was easily distracted by the kids running all over the place, one of whom was my own since Tom was coaching wrestling practice and the older boys were at YM/scouts. Anywho, We tied a quilt and I was surprised at how many of the ladies had never done that before. But we made good time and did a queen sized quilt, from start to finish, in about two hours. Now I'm off the hook for a few weeks. They really like to do crafty things for their homes, more so than instructional-type stuff. It was mentioned that maybe they would like to do vinyl lettering on tile and so if anyone knows of a good, but short, saying that I can translate into Spanish, please let me know. In the meantime, portense bien, y nos vemos mas tarde.

I'm Melting... melting...

And a happy new year to all!
Yes, I'm back at it, but slowly still... I'm working up to efficiency. It's been warm the last few days here, and the snow and ice are melting. It goes something like this... ready? Drip... drip....(wait for it)... Drip! This is nothing unusual for us as we normally get a January thaw before the snow strikes again. Now that the Holidays are over the weather just likes to play with our emotions. Sad, but true. Talin has been chosen to go represent his school to the State Honor's Choir in Salt Lake City next weekend, and he's pretty excited. A two day rehearsal event and then a performance on Saturday evening. If you're a lover of teen-choral music and want additional details, let me know. We have Monday out of School for Martin Luther King Day and so, of course, I'll have ALL the guys home, including Tom. One of the advantages of being a school teacher... you get a day off when the kids do. A sleep-in day! Woo-hoo!

Comments!

Okay, so I'm learning... obviously not very quickly, but hey, that's the way it goes with trial and error, right? So hopefully now you'll be able to comment to your hearts content as long as I continue to post when I update.