The Ressurection: Spirit and Body

This is a lesson my husband taught to our children. The object of this lesson is to help your children understand a bit more about the spirit, body, soul, and Resurrection.

SONG IDEAS:

• Christ The Lord Hymn 200
• He Is Risen! Hymn 199
• Did Jesus Really Live Again? Children's Songbook page 64
• He Died That We Might Live Again Children's Songbook page 65
• Easter Hosanna Children's Songbook page 68
• Jesus Has Risen Children's Songbook page 70

SCRIPTURE: Alma 40:23

"The soul shall be restored to the body, and the body to the soul; yea, and every limb and joint shall be restored to its body; yea, even a hair of the head shall not be lost; but all things shall be restored to their proper and perfect frame."

LESSON:
First, read the scripture. Then put on a glove. You might get better focus if everyone in the family has a glove on their hand and plays along. Wiggle your fingers in the glove and talk about how your hand is making the glove move.

Then, take your hand out of the glove. Talk about how the glove can no longer move.

Then put the glove back on and point out that the glove can once again move.

Now talk about the application for your body. Explain that your spirit (the hand) is in your body (the glove). When you die, your spirit leaves the body. Because of Jesus Christ, you will be resurrected and able to enter your body again. Jesus was able to enter his body again after he died.

Ask your child(ren) if she can move her hands. She should say yes. Ask her to show you. Then have her move different parts of her body. Explain she can move her body because her spirit is in there.

Follow up with explaining that this is part of the reason we celebrate Easter. We celebrate that Jesus was Resurrected. You might get a comment about candy and Easter at this point. Yes, candy is fun, but bring it back that we celebrate Easter because of the Resurrection.

Bear testimony and have a closing prayer.

The Ressurection: Spirit and Body

Giving Thanks to Heavenly Father

Topic:
We should express thanks to God for all the many things he gives us.

Preparation:
With older children you can have them find pictures of things they are thankful for from the materials listed below. You can also have older children help you make round sugar cookies and frosting.

Materials:

• Scriptures
• Children's Song Book
• Pictures of things we are thankful for. These can be pictures from the gospel art kit/book, primary visual aids cutouts, church magazines etc. You can also find pictures in the LDS image library.
• Sugar cookies and frosting (optional)

Song Suggestions:

• Thanks to Our Father (Children's Songbook, 20)
• A Song of Thanks (Children's Songbook, 20)
• For Health and Strength (Children's Songbook, 21)
• I Thank Thee, Dear Father verse 1 (Children's Songbook, 7)

Scripture:
D&C 59:7 ("Thou Shalt Thank the Lord they God in all things")

Lesson:
Tell your child(ren) that Heavenly Father has given us many blessings. Show the pictures you have gathered beforehand of things that we are thankful for. Have each member of the family take turns looking at a picture and saying what it is. Mention that all these pictures show things that Heavenly Father has given us. We can show our love for Him by saying "thank you". We often say "thank you" to Him in prayer.

Activity Ideas:
1) Remind your child(ren) that Heavenly Father has given us our bodies. Have your child(ren) stand and do the following activity verse with you. Do actions with the words.
Touch your eyes, touch your nose,
Touch your ears, touch your toes
Stretch your hands way up high,
Even higher, toward the sky.
Put your hands on your hair.
Sit down quietly on your chair.

2) Have your child(ren) stand and repeat and follow after you as you point to different body parts and say that you are thankful for them.

3) Have your child(ren) color a picture of something they are thankful for.

4) Walk around your house and have your child(ren) point out things they are thankful for.

Closing Remarks:
With younger children, have them practice saying "thank you". With older children remind them
the importance of saying thank you to Heavenly Father. Share your feelings of gratitude for Heavenly Father and Jesus and how you are so thankful for all that they have given you. Encourage your children to try to remember to say thank you for the things that we have when praying the next week.

Treat Time: Decorate a round sugar cookie to look like a face. While doing this, point out to your child(ren) that Heavenly Father gave us our faces and bodies and that we should be thankful for them.

Giving Thanks to Heavenly Father

The Priesthood

Topic: The Priesthood

Song: The Fifth Article of Faith (page 125, Children’s Song Book)

Lesson: Display pictures from the Gospel Art kit that show the priesthood in action

(#601: Baptism, #602: Gift of the Holy Ghost, #603: Sacrament, #407: Restoration of the Aaronic Priesthood)

What is the Priesthood? The priesthood is the power of God given to men on the earth.

John the Baptist restored the priesthood to Joseph Smith.

With the priesthood, men can baptize, give others the Gift of the Holy Ghost, and bless and pass the sacrament.

Daddy has the priesthood so he can give you blessings when you are sick to help you feel better.

Bear testimony that the priesthood is a gift from God and we are blessed to have the priesthood on the earth today.

Closing: Sing Love is Spoken Here (page 190).

The Priesthood

The Life of Jesus Christ

Objective:

To help your children learn the basics about the life of Jesus Christ

Prep:

Prepare the booklet The Story of Jesus Christ (Go to page 30 of the magazine). Some of this could be completed as part of the activity, but you will need to print it out and have it all ready with the necessary supplies.

Materials:

• Picture of Jesus Christ
• Scriptures
• Printed booklet
• scissors
• cardstock
• hole punch
• yarn

Song Suggestions:

Tell Me the Stories of Jesus (Children's Songbook, 55), Jesus Once Was a Little Child (CSB, 53), Or any other song about the Savior's life

Lesson:

1. Show your children a picture of Jesus Christ. Ask, "Who is this? What do you know about Him?" Talk through their responses. If you have older children, write down what they know. For babies, just tell them that this is Jesus Christ.
2. Tell them that you are going to read this short book about Jesus Christ. If you have already prepared the booklet, hand it to your child and help them look at the pictures while you read it. If you are preparing the booklet for your activity, show them the pictures and read it.
3. Explain words they may not understand (ie. crucified)
4. Talk about Jesus and bear your testimony.

Activity Ideas:

Your activity could be putting together the book (this works better for the older kids), or you could do something to help your child learn to recognize the Savior. You can play a Jesus Scavenger hunt where you put pictures of Jesus around the house and your child(ren) find them. You can also looked through the Gospel Art book and found pictures of the Savior, and referenced them to pictures in the booklet. You can read other age appropriate books about the Savior.

Adaptations:

This lesson is geared mainly towards the toddler and preschoolers. For babies, just show them the pictures in the booket and read it to them. Constantly point and say, "This is Jesus." If you have older children, you can have them look up the scripture references in the booklet, or go more into depth about the life of the Savior.

The Story of Jesus Christ is found in the March 2008 Friend magazine, page 30.

The Life of Jesus Christ

The Godhead

I enjoy doing family home evening lessons that correlate with holidays. This lessons works great around St. Patrick's Day.

Object: The object of this lesson is to teach your children about the Godhead.

Song Ideas: Joseph Smith's First Prayer (Hymn 26), Praise God From Whom All Blessings Flow (Hymn 242), I Know My Father Lives (Children's Songbook page 5), He Sent His Son (Children's Songbook page 34), This Is My Beloved Son (Children's Songbook page 76)

Scripture: 2 Nephi 31:21 "And now, behold, my beloved brethren, this is the way; and there is none other way nor name given under heaven whereby man can be saved in the kingdom of God. And now, behold, this is the doctrine of Christ, and the only and true doctrine of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, which is one God, without end. Amen."

Lesson
Teach your children about some of the symbolism of St. Patrick's Day. We celebrate this day on March 17 each year. This holiday is a holy day and national holiday in Ireland. The purpose is to honor Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

According to the story, Saint Patrick was born to wealthy parents in England. When he was 16, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold as a slave. He worked as a shepherd in Northern Ireland. While doing so, he decided to devote his life to Christ and teach others about his faith.

Saint Patrick eventually escaped and fled to France. He soon returned to Ireland. He taught people to read and write. He also taught them about the Christian faith.

One tradition with this holiday is to wear green. Green is a reminder of the green countryside of Ireland. This island is often called "Emerald Isle." Green is also the color of the Shamrock, which is the national flower of Ireland.

The story goes that the Shamrock was used by Patrick to teach about God. This small green plant looks like a clover. It has three leaves on each stem.

The Shamrock is like the idea of the Godhead. It is one Godhead, but has three different persons.

Lesson Application
Baby: If all you have is a baby, tell the story briefly. Then hold up a picture of a Shamrock. Point to each leaf and tell who each leaf represents.

Toddler and Preschooler: For the toddler and preschooler crowd, you can do a bit more. Tell the story--don't read it. Become familiar enough with it that you can tell the story to them. If you really want to read it, create a little book (draw or pull images from the Internet) so the children can look at pictures as you read it. It will hold their interest much better.

Earlier in the day, you can have your children who are old enough prepare to help with the lesson. Print off a picture of a shamrock (I put one at the end of this lesson. Simply click on it. It will open the picture on its own page. Then print from that page) or make your own for your children to color and/or decorate. You can also make them using paint and potatoes. Tell them you will need them to help with the lesson that night. Children love to help.

During the lesson, ask the children to hold up their picture as you talk about what it represents.

Optional: Have green treats after the lesson.

This lesson inspired by Bright Impressions Family Home Evening Volume 1

The Godhead

Natalie

(I just realized that I don't have any pictures of our whole family together! Time to get some pictures taken I guess.)
My name is Natalie. I currently reside in Logan, UT. I majored in Social Work in 2004 the same year Mark and I were married. My husband and I met in his dad's institute class up at Utah State University. I always say that I loved his parents before I knew him. I had to see if they had a son...and lucky me! They only had one. I made sure to snatch him up! We've been married almost 6 years and have 2 precious (most of the time) little boys. Caden (3) and Conner (4 mo).
I currently work part-time from home via the internet since I had Caden. I enjoy many things such as being with my family, cooking, sewing, scrapbooking, and exercising. I also love the outdoors and am really looking forward to the warmer months being here in Logan.
Since our kids are very young, our FHE's consist of a short scripture or usually something we need to "discuss" like why we don't hit or why we share, etc. We always sing songs and have a treat. Short and sweet, but we try. I'm looking forward to this blog and the different ideas that are being offered. I'm also looking forward to getting to know each of you.

Natalie

Around the Room BOM Stories

Goal:To familiarize young children with Book of Mormon stories and prophets.

Lesson: Hang the following pictures in obvious places at children's eye level around the room: Abinadi (Gospel Art Picture Kit 308), Ammon (GAK 310), Helaman and 2000 Warriors (GAK 313), and Jesus Healing the Nephites (GAK 317). These pictures can also be printed from Google images.

Sing the first two verses of Book of Mormon Stories for the opening song. After the prayer, hold up a copy of the Book of Mormon and explain that tonight we will be talking about some of the stories in the book. Let children take turns picking a picture. When the whole family is sitting around the chosen picture, tell the story associated with the picture. For toddlers, repeat the prophet's name a few times and tell a few sentences about the picture. Let older children tell the story if they are familiar with it. Then, sing the verse from Book of Mormon Stories that corresponds with the picture.

Activity: Gather everyone in the middle of the room and take turns calling out the name of one of the prophets. The first one to the picture wins.

Challenge: Keep the pictures out during the week where children can become familiar with them and review the stories periodically.

Around the Room BOM Stories

Let Your Light So Shine

Topic: Jesus said that we should set an example by doing good works all the time
Scripture: Matthew 5:16

Lesson: (Out of yellow construction paper cut out circle for sun then 8 "sun rays" with different ways we can let our light shine from the following lesson)

Jesus said that we should let our light shine for other to see (put up picture of sun.) Then people will know where to look for happiness.

I can let me light shine by bearing my testimony, being honest, saying my prayers, reading scriptures, being reverent, obeying my parents, showing kindness towards others, and by going to church (as you say each one put up the different rays of the sun that relate to each – fun to have each child take a turn.)

Just like the sun helps living things to grow, we can help others grow in the gospel by letting our light shine!!

Activity: Relate a story of how you were able to LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE. Then have other family members relate a story of his/her own.

Challenge: Challenge your children to find a way the next week to let their light shine. Talk about ways they can do this and then discuss this each night at dinner time.

Song Suggestions: Kindness begins with me (CSB 145) & Let Us Oft speak Kind Words to Each Other (hymns 232)

Let Your Light So Shine

Reverence During the Sacrament

Goal: Learn how to be reverent during the Sacrament.

Lesson: Start the lesson by only speaking in a whisper. Ask the children why we take the Sacrament. Explain that the Sacrament helps us to take upon His name, meaning we want to be like Him and serve others. We also take the Sacrament to remember Jesus, the commandments, and keep the Spirit with us. The Sacrament reminds us that Jesus died and Atoned for us. He died for us so we can live with Him again. The Bread represents His body, and the water represents His blood. Ask the children what kinds of things we should think about during Sacrament. Tell them that we should be thinking about the Savior and His example and how we can be more like Him. Finally, discuss ways to be reverent during the meeting. Talk about how it’s inappropriate to climb over furniture, make messes, etc. Finally, tell them that you were speaking in a whisper so the Spirit could be heard just like we should only whisper during Sacrament Meeting.

Activity:You’ll need: A small photo album for each child, old church magazines and/or small pictures of Jesus, scissors, a bag, various quiet books, and toys.
Go through the magazines and find pictures that will help the children remember to be reverent and think about Jesus. Cut out the pictures and put them in the album. In the bag, have children put special books and toys reserved just for Sacrament Meeting.
Explain to the kids that this bag is reserved just for Sacrament Meeting. They can only play with these things during Sacrament meeting, and that during the Sacrament they must get out the album and look at the pictures so they can concentrate on Jesus.

Closing: Read D&C 20:75 and challenge the kids to think about Jesus during Sacrament next Sunday.

Reverence During the Sacrament

Reading Scriptures

Goal: The goal of this lesson is to teach children they can read the scriptures to help them figure the answers to life's many questions. Including how to make cookies!

Lesson: You can use personal examples of reading the scriptures to receive personal answers or you can tell the story of Joseph Smith reading in James 1:5 when asking which church to join. Ask the children if they can think of any questions they believe the scriptures could help them answer in their own lives. Explain that Heavenly Father cares and loves us so much that he wants to help us answer even the smallest of questions we might have. Even if it's simply the ingredients to make Scripture Cookies!

Activities: To make the activity faster you can already have the ingredients out in the correct measurements so after reading the scripture they can help pour the ingredients into the bowl. Here is the recipe:

Beat Together:
3/4 c. Psalms 55:21 (butter) 1/3 c. 2 Nephi 26:25 (milk)
1 1/2 c. Jeremiah 6:20 (sugar) 2 Isaiah 10:14 (eggs)

Add:
2 c. 1 Kings 4:22 (flour) 1 t. D&C 101:39 (salt)
3 c. D&C 89:17 (oats) 1 c. 1 Samuel 30:12 (Raisins)
1 t. Songs of Solomon 4:14 (Cinnamon)
1/2 t. 1 Corinthians 4:6 (baking soda)

Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 for 8-10 min.

Closing: Read first sentence of JS 1:37 and first sentence of D&C 133:11 then ENJOY!

Reading Scriptures

A House of God

Topic: This lesson is about making our homes like the temple.

Scripture: In D&C 88:119 we read "Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God."

Lesson: Start by holding up a picture of the temple and talking about how it is a special place where we go to learn about our Heavenly Father and try become more like him. We want our homes to be like the temple. Read D&C 88:119 and talk about the attributes of the temple. You could write them on a white board or a piece of paper, or just list them out loud (we just listed them out loud). We focused on three things: prayer, learning, and order. We had a short activity to practice each of those three things.

Activities: To practice having a house prayer, we let each child say a prayer. We had them repeat a very short prayer one word at a time. My boys (18 months) don't talk much, so most of the words didn't sound like what they were. You could pretty much only understand "Jesus" and "amen." But they both looked very pleased with themselves, and Mommy and Daddy were very proud. These were their very first prayers. :)

To practice having a house of learning, we read two books together and talked about what we saw on each page. We did a picture bible and a story book to show that we can get learning and knowledge from all good books. :)

To practice having a house of order, we dumped out some blocks and practiced putting them back away in the bucket. We played a couple times. :) While we practiced, we sang "Picking up blocks is fun to do." :)

Closing: We closed by going back to the picture of the temple and restating how it is a holy place and want our homes to be holy too.

A House of God

Katie

My name is Katie and before I had children, I was the perfect parent. I was a children's case manager teaching behavior management, social skills and parenting after I graduated from Utah State University. I couldn't wait to have my own kids and try all my theories out on them. Scott (6 yrs old) was born after a long wait and his Aspergers/Savant personality saw me tossing all my carefully planned theories out the window! Jane (3 yrs old) has some neurological issues and delays, so planning Family Home Evening for both of them is an exercise in creativity and seeking inspiration. Challenging as they are, I wouldn't trade my two unique, hilarious and loving kids for the world.

My husband and I met at Utah State (same student ward, fhe group) and have been married for eleven years. Our family enjoys camping, hiking, planning weekend trips, playing games, telling jokes, and reading together. Scott loves any kind of contest and wants to be a game show host when he grows up. Jane loves to laugh, do anything outside and make sure she gets everything Scott does. :) I digest several books a week and I love to eat, talk about my favorite shows and movies with my siblings and sing (off key) to my favorite songs at the top of my lungs. I am learning to knit, coupon shop, and speak Spanish.

I hope that by joining this blog I will be able to avoid my "Monday Afternoon FHE Scramble."

Katie

Michelle

My name is Michelle and I am a stay-at-home-mom to Lydia (3 1/2) and Claire (almost 2). They are sweet, but very independent little girls! I love them so much! (Although there are some days where I wonder where my sanity is!)

I will have been married for 5 years this June to my wonderful husband, Jeff. We are high school sweethearts, and have a long history together, dating back to when we were 4 years old and in Joy School. We don't really remember each other until High School, but we do have pictures from those younger years of us together. He is currently pursuing his PhD at Arizona State University, and I am looking forward to the day when he is no longer a student.

I grew up all over the place due to my father's service in the military, but call Washington State "home." Maybe one day that will change, I guess we'll see where life takes us. I love to read, scrapbook, make crafts, read blogs, hike, travel, and spend time with my family.

I majored in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Early Childhood at BYU, and taught Kindergarten and Reading Recovery for a year, and then just Reading Recovery for another year once Lydia was born. I love to teach, and you would think that I would be really good at getting everything ready for a Family Home Evening lesson, but not so much! My issues have been planning (it seems like there are so many other things to do that it gets pushed to the side), and actually holding a lesson that will be worthwhile to my children, rather than throwing it together at the last minute or just having an activity. We recently have been better about holding family home evening, and I am excited for this blog to be able to help with ideas for what to teach and how to present it. (I am looking at it from a teacher standpoint, we always shared our lesson ideas with others for their benefit and that of their students, but now it is a mom/child thing). I am realizing more and more how important Family Home Evening is for my children to learn gospel principles and to feel the Spirit in our home.

Michelle

Erin

Hi! My name is Erin. I am the mom to two of the silliest girls, Kaitlyn (3) and Hailey (10months). It’s all pink, princesses, and Tinkerbell around our house. After a year-long courtship my husband, Brian, and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple and have been married for 5 ½ years. My husband works hard so that I can stay home and take care of the house and our girls - although if you ask Brian he’ll tell you I stay home so I can jump on the bed and have dance parties each day…which is only partly true!

I am a major book nerd. Even on my busiest days I find my sanity in finding time each day to pick up whatever book I’m reading. I love it! I’m also a news junkie and usually have cable news or talk radio on in the background of my day. I also enjoy sewing, dancing, cooking, snowboarding, and spending my summers on the lake.

Once dad gets home, Kaitlyn is so excited the rest of the night that its sometimes hard to get her to settle down enough to really have a “lesson” so we try and play little “teaching games”. I’m excited for this blog so that I can get more ideas and for the opportunity to get my creative juices flowing outside of a different way to make hotdogs for my girls!

Erin

Diana

Hi! I'm Diana! I have been married to a doctor for five and half years, we've been together for maybe five minutes of those years, or so it seems. In those five minutes, we've managed to have the two most adorable little boys in the world. They are four and two, and they keep me busy. The second I sit down, they demand something from me, so up I go again!
In my spare time (what's that, right?), I enjoy substitute teaching, reading, cooking, exercising, finding amazing deals, hanging out with friends and family, and just getting out and going somewhere, anywhere! I majored in Liberal Arts and Sciences, so I basically got to take classes on what I was interested in, which was everything. I met my husband Matt at Utah State University, we lived in Iowa for three years for medical school, and now we're back in Utah in an actual HOUSE! We have been having a blast decorating and furnishing our house, and we can't wait to put our yard in when winter is over.
For Family Home Evening, we usually read one scripture and talk about it for a few minutes, say a prayer, and have a treat. There's not much to it when you have two very active little boys. I have some FHE kits that I try to use at least once a month, but sometimes they take too long for my boys' attention span. The best thing we've learned to set the tone for the evening is to have the boys go around and shake our hands and say, "Welcome to Family Home Evening." Of course, it sounds more like "Welcome to family do leavy." They love it, and it helps them feel they have an important role in the evening.

Diana

Jennifer

My name is Jennifer and I am a stay at home mom of two girls--Ellen just turned two and Rachel is 4 months old. My husband and I have been friends since second grade and grew up in the same ward in Oregon, but didn't start dating until we were both in graduate school at BYU. We were married in the Portland Oregon temple 3 years ago and now live in Orange County, California. We love the warm weather, the beach, and our annual passes to Disneyland. We also love to visit our families in Oregon. Our parents still live 1/2 mile from each other so it is easy to see everyone in one trip! We don't have any family anywhere near where we live now and have really learned how important a ward family can be.

I studied Math Education at BYU and I enjoy tutoring in my home a few hours a week. Between finishing my bachelor's degree and starting my master's degree, I served a mission in Taiwan. My creative outlets are sewing and cross stitching and I love to bake! Buying and selling things (particularly baby items) on Craigslist has become a hobby of mine since having kids. The selection of used items in this area is amazing and we've hardly had to purchase anything new for our girls.

As I mentioned above, I majored in secondary education. That was on purpose--I've never felt like I was very good with kids. Teenagers? No problem. Toddlers? No clue. This past year has been a learning experience for me as I've done my best to play with, teach, and discipline my oldest daughter. We started including Ellen in FHE when she started nursery and so far have just done short lessons out of the nursery manual. I'm really excited for this blog to give me the opportunity to come up with fun FHE lessons for my family and also to learn from all of your great ideas.

Jennifer

Rachel

My name is Rachel although you'll often see Stella trailing my name since that is my middle name. You actually say the "ch" in Rachel like "sh" (as in "racial"), but seeing as how we are talking via the internet I don't think that will be much of a problem :)

My husband James and I have been married for 6 years and have a 2 year old son named Joshua and another boy due in June. We met at BYU and were married in the Provo temple 6 months later. My husband finished up his computer science degree shortly before we were married and I got my nursing degree a couple years later. I worked full time as a RN until my son was born and then started working around 1 night a week after that. My husband is an entrepreneur and works from home. It took a while to get used to him being home all the time but now I love it (especially because I can go do errands during nap time)!

My mom was extremely creative (she even wrote a couple activity books for children) but was extremely stingy when it came to passing this gene onto me! Most of my creativity comes from googling :) Because of this, most of my FHE lessons are very simple and usually involve the nursery book and a bunch of picture cut outs. Luckily, since my son is only 2 and has a 1 minute attention span, this isn't much of a problem yet!

My hobbies including eating, sleeping, watching sitcoms and movies, gardening, cooking, reading and blogging (http://www.mybabysleepguide.com/, http://www.rowellfam.com/ etc.). Oh, and my favorite thing to do is spend time with my family. I'm lucky enough to have 7 of my siblings and 1 of my husband's siblings living nearby.

P.S. The picture above of my family is over a year old. I really need to get a more current one!

Rachel

Kristi

My name is Kristi, and I am a stay at home mom to my wonderful twin boys. David and Erik are 18 months old, and I just love them to pieces. Yes they are a handful, but the joy they bring to my life outweighs all of their messes. :)

My husband and I will celebrate our 6th wedding anniversary this April. We were high school sweethearts, and we've been in love for over ten years. We were married in the Mesa, Arizona temple, and we hope to call Arizona our home again someday soon. :)

I have a BS in elementary education from Brigham Young University, and I taught first grade for three years before I had my boys. My husband has BA in history from BYU, and he is currently in his first year of law school at Texas Wesleyan University in Fort Worth, Texas.

To be honest, I have a hard time coming up with ideas for family home evening lessons with really small children. That is one of the main reasons we decided to start this blog. I need ideas. :) Most of my lesson and activity ideas are silly and fun. I may put on a proper, no-nonsense front, but really, I'm just full of silly. :)

I love to take and post pictures and videos on our family blog. I also enjoy baking and eating cookies. Oh, and I have a habit of ending everything I type with a smiley face. I guess I just want everyone to know that I'm smiling. :)

Kristi

Valerie AKA "Plowmanators"

Hello, my name is Valerie. I am a stay at home mom to three beautiful (of course!) children. They are Brayden (4), Kaitlyn (2), and McKenna (11 months). I have been married to my husband for the last 6 years. I have a BS in English with an Emphasis on Technical Writing and a minor in Communications.

My husband is the creative one between to the two of us. He is the one who comes up with the best FHE lessons for our children. I am kind of more "Maxwell" style where I hand over lots of information that is quite full of doctrine. I talk to my children like I would talk to any adult. My husband often gets a good laugh about it, but seems to think it is good to have a mix from both of us :). That may be, but I think you will find most of the lessons ideas I share actually come from his head.

My husband and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple. We met in college. We dated a bit before his mission, wrote as friends while he was on his mission, then got married about seven months after he got home. We live in Cache Valley, Utah and plan to stay put until we someday serve a mission together. Life has way of changing your plans, but that is where we stand right now.

I have too many hobbies, including sewing, scrapbooking, making jewelry, and crocheting (new for me). Somehow I manage to be creative with my linear, logical mind. I also love to read and enjoy dancing. My love is music and I love to sing. I also have a fun time blogging. Some of my public blogs include Val's Creations (a site to show friends and family my things I make), Children's Learning Activities (written with two other mommies, a blog full of fun learning activities for babies through preschoolers), and the most popular is Chronicles of a Babywise Mom (a parenting advice blog).

Valerie AKA "Plowmanators"