Getting Mom and Dad to the Temple

My kids gave Alan and I a great gift of service last Friday.  It took some sacrifice on their part, but they all pitched in and made it so Alan and I could go to the temple with my parents.  It is about a two hour drive to Portland each way, so it makes it a full day trip.  It was stake conference for us, so they were having the stake temple night and chapel session at 7pm.  We wanted to go up early, though, so we could go to a session before the chapel session and also do some family sealings.  My dad also wanted to visit his brother on the way.  So that meant we needed to leave about 11:30 am.

When Alan first mentioned going to me, I didn't think there was any way that it was going to happen.  I needed to go to Battle of the Books at the elementary school, Elisabeth had a half day, Ben needed to be picked up at 3 pm, and then the kids had dance and gymnastics.  With my family all in the same stake, I couldn't really have any of them help me out.  But Alan really wanted to go, because he hadn't gone to the temple for a while, and we hadn't gone together for even longer.  So, I asked the kids what they would think about missing their activities.  They were surprisingly congenial about it.  Then the two older girls stepped up and were willing to go out of their way to make it easy for us to go.  Emily went to the school and did my Battle of the Books practice for me.  Then she walked from the elementary school to the middle school and walked Elisabeth home.  Not an incredibly long walk, probably under two miles, but it was raining, and my kids don't usually walk much, so it was a sacrifice.  Leilani stayed home and put Robert down for a nap.  Later that afternoon, they put the dog on a leash, Robert in the stroller, and all walked in the rain to the elementary school to pick up Benjamin and then home again.  It takes me about 15 minutes to drive it round trip, so I imagine they were pretty wet when they got home from walking there and back (apparently only Emily brought an umbrella and rain coat).  But they didn't complain.  I don't know what they did the rest of the day, but when we got home at 10 pm that night, school work was done, chores were done, the kids were all alive, the animals were taken care of, and the three younger kids were asleep in bed.  I was such a proud mama!

Meanwhile, we had a great day at the temple.  We made it to an early session, and Alan and I were asked to be the witness couple.  There were quite a few members of our stake in the session with us, including the stake president and his wife.  Afterwards we were able to get our family sealings done.  It was a very spiritual experience to have Alan and I be proxy for my great-grandparents and my dad to be a proxy for his dad, and get that family sealed together.  We had time afterwards to eat in the cafeteria before we went to the stake chapel session.  I really enjoyed spending the time in the temple and getting away from the world for a while.  It would be nice if we could get there more often.  Who knows.  Maybe we will now that we have older kids who can cover for us. 

Memorizing Scriptures As A Family - March

We are still going strong with the scripture memorizing each month.  I forgot to print out the ones for March, and the kids reminded me tonight that I needed to do that.  For March we have:

 

They can be downloaded from here:  http://www.kristendukephotography.com/memorize-a-scripture-a-month-march/

 

I am going to try two scriptures again this month, since I think both scriptures should be familiar to the kids.  We will see how that goes, and maybe adjust again next month.

A Musical Plot Summation of Les Miserables

If you haven't seen the original video of the song "Scream and Shout" by Britney and Will.i.am, you won't understand that they are mimicking the dance moves in this video. (but don't watch the original - it is not a clean version)

But I was amused at how well they took the song and substituted the plot summary of Les Miserables.  So, since I can't seem to figure out how to download it, I am saving it to my blog so I can watch it again.  If you don't enjoy it as much as I did....sorry!

Youth Standards Night - EFY Medley

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/96927049@N02/22498115718/in/dateposted/

 

My girls performed in a stake youth choir at Standards night last night.  They sang the EFY medley of Sisters in Zion and Army of Helaman.  It was really nice, and the spirit was so strong!  Here is a video of the song that someone made at the rehearsal.  Emily and Leilani are both on the left side (Sisters in Zion side), but Emily is in front and Leilani is in the back closer to the boys.

https://www.facebook.com/RachAHansen/videos/t.571400097/10152979593421281/?type=2

Memorizing Scriptures as a Family - February

Well, our memorizing scriptures as a family for January worked well.  All of my children did it.  However, I think two scriptures was two much.  Only one of my kids did both scriptures.  But they all did one!  The incentive was that they could have their own liter of pop from the Sodastream machine that I got for Christmas.  (They chose the reward themselves)

So, now we have moved on to February's scripture.

It can be found here:  http://www.kristendukephotography.com/memorize-scripture-month-january/#_a5y_p=3128848   Her blog is called "Capturing Joy"

CTR Primary 3 Lesson 2 - Heavenly Father Trusts Us to Follow His Plan

I am still a primary teacher of the CTR 7 class.  I didn't do very well posting my handouts each week last year, but the ones I did post seemed to get a lot of hits.  So I will try and be better about it this year...because I know I am grateful for the ideas other people share with me!

For this lesson I didn't want to do the badge suggested in the manual, because we just wore a name badge in the last lesson.  I found this fun handout to color and fill out instead.  I think it will be a lot more appealing for my class.

 

I found these as a free download at this site:  http://www.cknscratch.com/primary-3/heavenly-father-trusts-us-to-follow-his-plan  She always has a lot of resources available.

 

I also made them CTR crowns to go along with the story of the prince and the poem about being a prince/princess as a child of God.  I am going to hook string to them so they can wear them.

 

 

I found these crowns as a free download at this site:  http://www.laughingandlosingit.net/primary-3-lesson-2-heavenly-father-trusts-us-follow-plan/  She has prince and princess ones, as well as blank CTR crowns.  She creates a lot of cute handout ideas.

 

I also wanted to give them something to take home that illustrated the Plan of Salvation.  I found a cute little printable book from a 2005 friend.  It didn't take very long to cut, fold and glue, and it has scriptures that can be looked up with each picture.  My 9 year old asked me if he could have one if I had any extra, so I think my kids in my class will like them. 

 

  

 The link is here: https://www.lds.org/liahona/2005/01/sharing-time-the-plan-of-happiness?lang=eng

 

I am actually pretty excited about this lesson.  I think the kids will really enjoy it!

Memorizing Scriptures As A Family

I found this awesome blog today, which inspired me to try memorizing scriptures with my family.  She started memorizing one scripture a month with her family last year, and she said it had all sorts of positive results.  So, she is doing it again this year, and she has partnered with a friend to make 8x10 sheets with pictures and words to use with your family as you memorize the scripture she posts each month.  Talk about making it easy for me to start!  I just have to print and go!  I guess the only bad thing is that I have to do whatever scriptures she chooses, but I like the ones she has up for January.  She chose one from the Bible and one from the Book of Mormon, so people could choose what they want to learn from.  I think we are going to do both, since I am an overachiever.  :) 

Here is the link to her blog:   http://www.kristendukephotography.com/memorize-scripture-month-january/#_a5y_p=3128848   Her blog is called "Capturing Joy"

These are the two scriptures she chose for January 2015:

 

She is going to try and post the ones for the next month on the last Sunday of the month.
 I am going to start this with my family tomorrow.  I hope they are as excited as I am!  Wish me luck!