Valentine FHE and Birthday and Super Bowl Celebrations

Last Monday night Bryce was in charge of Family Home Evening.  He found an article in the February New Era titled "Five Ways to Feel Good in 5 Minutes".  We read it for Family Home Evening.  It taught us that even with busy lives we still need to take time each day to find joy even if its for 5 minutes.  Heavenly Father wants us to find joy each day.  He created us to have joy. (2nd Nephi 2:25). There was a great quote in the article from President Uchtdorf that said, "if life and its rushed pace and many stresses have made it difficult for you to feel like rejoicing, then perhaps now is a good time to refocus on what matters most." The challenge in the article was to start with 5 minutes a day and you will find more joy no matter what our schedules look like.  Here were the 5 ideas in the article to get each of us started:

1. PONDER-Take a few minutes to step back from everything. Take the time to see God's creations around you. Take the time to "be still and know that He is".
2. SHARE A SCRIPTURE- Read a conference talk or search the scriptures for an inspiring quote. Share it with a family member or friend or through social media.
3. EXPRESS GRATITUDE-Keep a little notebook and write down things you are thankful for each day, especially when it's hard to find joy in what you are doing. 
4. GIVE APPRECIATION-Think about the people in your life who encourage and support you-Take time to call or text one of them or write them a letter.  Better yet, do it in person.
5. SECRET SERVICE-There are plenty of 5 minute secret acts of service you can perform around your house or your neighborhood. Do a chore for them, write a note to someone who is feeling down, serve them in some way!

Remember joy and enjoying are two different things. To enjoy something is temporary. Joy is lasting. Joy can be eternal.  Try to find joy each day!

I loved this article because it can be used for any age of children and good for adults as well.  We talked about it and then decided to make these mailboxes to keep up in our home until Valentine's Day.

We were challenged to take a few minutes each day to find joy.  Part of doing that is starting in our own family.  We could do little acts of service for one another. In the mailboxes family members can leave quick notes of love or encouragement, little treats, or something homemade.  

We put our mailboxes on the bar to help us remember to focus on others and to serve. That is where true joy comes.  

And the last thing we did was our hearts to one another that we have done for the last few years for an FHE before Valentine's Day.  This is one of my favorites because we hang them on the door in our home and it reminds each of us why we love one another.  We each take a heart for each person in our family and write one or two things we love about each family member on each heart!  

Oh the joy this activity brings as I listen to each of our kids and my spouse read aloud the thing they wrote about each person! There were even a couple that made my heart so happy that I was close to tears. Conner wrote about how Malorie is his best friend!  (That brings JOY to a mother as she hears her kids say those words to one another!) Malorie wrote how she loves how Kallie will listen to her stories until she falls asleep. (I love thinking my kids are talking and sharing things with one another!) Kallie said Conner is a great example and good at sports.  Malorie wrote Bryce has the best dance moves anyone has seen!  We all got a chuckle out of that one and a few others wrote about Bryce's dance moves.  If any of you have seen Bryce at a South Fremont basketball game, you know what we are talking about!

I could go on and on, but that is one of our favorite FHE activities!  I think it is nice to see the good in others and share it with them!

This weekend was full of birthday celebrations.  It started off with Saturday night.  Dad's birthday was Saturday so some of my siblings and their spouses took him out to dinner.  Of course we let our waitress know it was his birthday and they brought out a big sombrero for him to wear as we all sang happy birthday.

Yesterday we had more birthday celebrations.  It was my Grandma Grace's birthday and the Super Bowl.  We combined the two and had one big celebration.  We also celebrated Dad's birthday again with some of the grandkids and added Conner's birthday too since it's his birthday tomorrow.  

Grandma and Dad came over early and enjoyed the afternoon.  Dad caught her up on pictures of family members on Facebook and shared some funny videos and posts he likes.

The kids were all great to help in the kitchen to get food preparations ready for the party.  I didn't get pics of all of them, but Conner had to make the cream cheese filling to go on his cake.  He didn't want to get his shirt dirty...so I loaned him my apron!  

He was a sport to wear it, and I caught him in it!

We love having family in our home.  We always have to have a birthday picture with any cousins that are present.  We put the 3 birthday people on the couch and had the cousins gather round.

Brett had also invited a guy that doesn't have family around to come over to our home for the evening.  Brett asked him to bring his banjo with him, and he shared his talent as he played some songs on it and then played a few more on Malorie's guitar!  

The kids were mesmerized!

Family is great!  Couldn't think of anything else in this world that makes me more happy than family! And the Broncos even won the Super Bowl which made the whole household happy!