Family Home Evening

"We cannot afford to neglect this heaven-inspired program. It can bring spiritual growth to each member of the family, helping him or her to withstand the temptations which are everywhere. The lessons learned in the home are those that last the longest.”

-President Thomas S. Monson

In our church, Monday nights are set aside from other activities to spend time with our families and to learn more about the gospel. We call it Family Home Evening, or F.H.E. 

Our family loves it!! We have two young boys with a very tiny attention span, so we keep our lessons simple. 

I also have lessons ready...you know, for those nights when I can't get it together! (Which happens more often than I would like to admit!!)

I keep them, in alphabetical order, in a file box with a handle. 

LOVE it! So easy to find a topic we want to work on!

Then, we always do something together! Whether it's playing a board game or feeding the ducks!

It's such a treasured night and the blessings that it brings is worth all the greatest efforts!!

Family: Wholesome Recreational Activities

"Successful marriages and families are established and maintained on principles of faith, prayer, repentance, forgiveness, respect, love, compassion, work, and wholesome recreational activities." 

The Family: A Proclamation to the World

I love planning things to do with my family. I love seeing all of us together and having fun. One of our favorite activities to do is play baseball. Every Memorial Day and Labor Day, we've made a tradition of going to the nearest ball field and playing until we can't play anymore! 

We even made fun t-shirts! My family is so large that we are able to split into two teams! One of the teams is fluorescent yellow and the other is fluorescent orange!!! We seriously have the best time and our family looks forward to it sooo very much!    

Below is my brother Bill, getting ready to hit his third or fourth home run! Some of the spectators think we are some kind of pro-team! Haha! We all wish!

Below is my "little" brother Joe, helping my almost-niece Tori hit the ball!

Here's my Aaron, who I think may be the BIGGEST baseball enthusiast! He loves it!

And then there's Mike...he'd rather play basketball!!!! ;)

Then there's my momma! She is the kid wrangler, and one of the best players on the team!!! She has my sweet niece Saiya with her! 

My niece Kara is pretty good herself! Though she isn't keen on sweating!! 

Finding something for our family to do is rough. We don't all have the same values or even the same religious beliefs (My mom and I along with two of my nephews and one niece are the only members of the church in our family of about 20!!) but we love to be together, which is the absolute most important thing!! So finding something that we are all willing to do is awesome! I love spending time with them!! Makes my heart smile and I know it is important to Heavenly Father! Double bonus!!

Can't wait for Memorial Day! It's too far away! Maybe football for Thanksgiving?!?! Maybe we'll give it a shot! 

Family Photos 2013

In September, we decided to take a shot at taking our own family photos and we love them!

 

Here's one of our little family!!!

 

 

Here's me and Mike! He loves his momma (and he likes taking pictures; Aaron, not so much!!)!

 

 

Brotherly love!! My little Aaron and Mike!

 

This is my favorite pose of the day : "The Uncle Rico". I wanted to make this our family picture, but Adam was resistant. ;)

 

Just a fun one of Aaron!

 

We had a fun time taking pics and every time we do, I see how FAST my boys are growing!! Aaron just entered Kindergarten and Mike's in THIRD grade!! Time goes too fast!!! But life is good and we are blessed and I can't ask for anything more than that!!

Backyard Campout!!!

This past Saturday night, we had our first family, backyard campout of 2013!! It was SOOO fun! We watched Napoloen Dynamite until it got dark out (our families favorite movie right now!) and then we went out to do the glow-in-the-dark sand they got for Christmas!!

 

Ain't it cool!?!? The pictures are a little blurry but cool nonetheless!!

The orange and blue were Aaron's colors!

The green and blue were Mike's colors!

 

Then just a pic inside the tent with Dad!!

 

And one with me! Oh Aaron is always being silly!

 

If you couldn't tell, I can't wait for the fun of summer to be in full swing! The warm nights, lightning bugs, cook outs, swimming at the lake, long days and days off school! Oh summer should come more than once a year!!

We Made It!!!

We made it to the temple! It was PERFECT! The weather was gorgeous, the tulips were in full bloom and the Spirit was felt so strongly! It was the best experience going through with my mom for her first time!

 

Aunt Lauren watched the boys while we went in! Below is a pic (sorry it's sideways!) of Adam, Lauren, Mike and Aaron.

 

The next picture is of the couple missionaries who went with us. They are amazing people!

 

The last picture is my family! We had a great time!

 

 

With all that happened leading up to our trip, I honestly didn't think we would make it! But we did and I am happy! I just hope my momma's poor arm will heal and that we will make it back very soon!

Happy Easter

Easter was a great time for us this year! We celebrated a lot and made wonderful memories!

 

Below is a picture taken at my oldest brothers house the Sunday before Easter, which is when we celebrated with my family. My niece and nephew spent Easter day with their mom so we made our celebration early!! I LOVED my dress (my mom made it!!!!)! And me and all my boys wore purple! My hubby was a little concerned, but he looked great!

 

 

 

On Wednesday, March 27, we were the hosts to a missionary who was making his way home! He stayed with his mom and stepdad and we had a nice visit! He helped teach my mom the missionary discussions! He's awesome!

 

On Easter Sunday, we had the privilege of hosting all four of the missionaries and the senior missionary's daughter, husband and son. We had a BLAST!!! Laughing and making memories! That's what it's all about!!

 

I am hoping for spring here in PA and from the looks of the next two weeks, I may get my wish!!

 

 

Eight is Great!!!!!

On Januray 12, 2013, these two special little boys were baptized members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints!!

Brody (left) and Micahel turned 8 at the end of last year and couldn't wait for the big day!!!

 

Below is a picture of my mom, who was baptized last February, with her two grandsons!

 

As you can see, she is a proud grandma!!



The next picture is of Michael's other grandma, her friend, my husband Adam and Michael!

 

 

Below is a picture of most of the kiddos that attended their baptism!

 

 

The next is my husband getting ready to baptize the boys and I snuck in this pic!!

 

 

 

Here is Michael's Aunt Lauren, Pap, my husband and Mike, again!

 

 

The last picture is my favorite! I walked into where they were filling up the font, and this is what I saw. These innocent precious children, watching in anticipation for the font to fill. Don't know why, but it brought me to tears!

 

 

 

We had a fun day, filled with friends and family! I wish I would have taken a picture of the food table and decorations! I don't know what I was thinking!!!

 

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day, wherever you are! (Because in PA, it's FREEZING!!!!!!)

Dear Summer,

You came and went!!!!!! What happened!!!

Yesterday was a wonderfully hot day here in Pennsylvania so we decided to take a swim! Hold on to summer just a little longer!!

 Above is little Aaron, a water baby from the start!! A little too fearless for this mama, but he had a blast no matter what

Aaron and Mike, splishin' and splashin'!!!

The last one is of Mike, hanging out, lovin' one of our last days of warm weather!! Today is is RAINING! And raining and raining!!!! And today's high is only going to be 68 degrees!!!!!!!!!! So we are trying to soak up as much of summer that is left!!!!!!!!

Happy LAST Day of School!!!

So, Wednesday was the last official day of school for my niece and nephews so we decided to throw a little last day of school party!!!

Below is a picture of my oldest nephew Brian being a goofball!! He was the most suprised!! He ran up to me and jumped up and down!! I love him to pieces!

The next picture is of my niece Kara Sue! She is such a hamball!! She is as fearless as they get!! Beautiful and goofy is a wonderful combo for any little girl!

And then there is my little Aaron!! He is as fearless as his cousin! He jumps from tall places, dives into any activity head on, no holding back!!

Below is my other nephew Brody. He is a wonderful sweet little guy! He can have his moments, but is all around a nice kiddo!!! And he LOVED the doughnuts!!

Then there is my Mike! He truly has a heart of gold. He would give you ANYTHING just to see you smile! And he also loved the doughnuts!!

This next pic is very telling of who these kiddos are: silly, goofy, happy-go-lucky kiddos! I'm not sure what any of them are doing in this picture!! But I think it's funny!

We did waterballoons,

Sat on the gigantic rock pile,

Rode quads with cousin Markie and ran through the sprinklers!!!

We had good ole' almost free fun!!!

Did you do anything fun for the last day of school??

As always, thanks for stopping by!!!

Mirror re-do and EASTER fun!

Been crazy busy lately! The blog is always negelected when that happens!!

Anywho... below is a mirror my brother was going to throw away...gasp!! I know! i had to save it from the dump!! So i sanded it..

And painted it brown!!! It's not completely done yet, but I like it a lot!!

And now for more exciting pics!! Below is my Little A, Easter morning, all ready for church! I love this picture because I never get a good pic of him!!

I'm also excited because I made the vest and tie! Little ole me! My very FIRST attempt at sewing anything but a straight line!! Very exciting stuff!

Then there's my M! Looking as dashing as ever!! All ready for church!!

Also made his vest and tie! Yeah me!



Here is a pic of most of the kiddos! Look how lovely, all excited after church! 

And the pic below is from the Saturday before Easter when we had our egg hunt! All the kids were accounted for! Some of their heads got chopped off taking this pic, but it's the best we could do!!

I hope everyone had a great Easter! I love any excuse to get all of the kiddos together and have some fun!