Family Home Evening

I don't know when it finally happened, but sometime in the last few months we actually started having Family Home Evening on a weekly basis as opposed to our former sporadic attempts which usually revolved around a trip to Dairy Queen.

I must say, I am loving family nights. They usually bring about feelings of tenderness and are filled with comedy simultaneously.

Tonight for instance...

We used pictures from this months Friend magazine to talk about missionary work. Ty said he wants to go on a mission when he's big, but he wants to go with his dad. When he saw the picture of a baptism, he let us know we should all be baptized together and we can't forget to wear our goggles.

He asked if we could sing Praise to the Man for the closing song, his usual request. He and Brooke marched around the living room in circles as we sang. He knows the chorus best and sang with conviction. Brooke chose the next song, I Am a Child of God, and sang her little heart out as well. She has made a few minor changes to the lyrics, but they are quite cute to listen to.

When Ty offered the family prayer, Trent and I had a hard time holding back grins. He follows a simple routine fairly well, but always throws in a few extra requests to spice things up. I know they are heartfelt from his perspective, but definitely amusing to us. Here are a few things he asked for tonight:

Brooke not listen to dad and get spankings and go to her room.
Mom be happy to me and get my Ironman costume down...that be so cool.

A few days ago it he included:

Bless dad to get more money to take us on big boats (referring to Sea World).

And not so long ago:

Bless us play Candyland 3 times and I go first.

I love his prayers.

Last week Trent was reading scriptures to the kids during breakfast and Brooke wasn't paying attention to him, but was reading one of her books instead. When he finished, he asked her what he just read about. Without missing a beat (or looking up from her book) she replied, "Jesus." And promptly started singing "Hail to the prophet..." Hmmm. Sassy.

I love that we've established these inspired routines and that our children look forward to the time we spend together learning about the gospel.