November Ninth... Family fun day!

I know I did not get this done in time, but I had good reason (probably not GOOD reason, but good enough for me) I could not get the videos to download last night and I fell asleep (after 2 sleepless nights I think I really needed it!).

Yesterday was the first time we have gotten to spend a whole day as a family for a while, so we decided we would make it a family fun day! We all got to choose one thing we wanted to do, and poor Don was the only one who did not get to do what he wanted (but he got a nap instead so that was good right?).

Conner said he wanted to kiss mommy all day (aww and eww)... when I did not go for that he really wanted to show off his swinging skills to dad and sister so we spent some time at the play ground (actually, we spent A LOT of time at the playground... the aforementioned nap meant that mommy was out playing with the kiddos... see why I fell asleep?). We had so much fun and Conner surprised us again by learning how to skip bars on the monkey bars... this kid astounds me!

For Leigha's birthday my sister Juli gave her a ring making kit and she really wanted to do that. Mommy and Leigha made 12 rings and daddy and Conner played Mario party... A good time was had by all and the rings turned out WAY cute! We also ended up painting her jewelry box.

Next we did what I wanted to do... go shooting. The weather was perfect and we have decided (mainly since we are not HUGE Thanksgiving fans) that this will be our yearly November activity. We took our jack-o-lanterns to the shooting range, blew up some balloons threw around some clays and had a great time! I am so excited to see how this tradition will progress through the years... We are already talking that we need a pumpkin catapult, and at some point we want to try explosives (probably when the kids are teenagers... nothing says worlds coolest parent like a jack-o-lantern stuffed with some c-4).

Conner and Leigha both got to shoot a gun for the first time and they followed all the rules! And Conner pegged a balloon his first shot out! Leigha also did fabulously and once she got the hang of it was unstoppable! Here are some pics:

Here are some videos:

It was so funny... as we were leaving Don was asking the kids what they had learned about guns and gun safety and they said things like: Guns are not a toy, We do not touch guns if mom and dad are not with us, If we see red then the safety is not on and we step away and tell a parent, Don't aim a gun at anyone, Stay behind the shooter, and so on. Don said there are only 3 times where we should ever touch a gun what are they? I helped the kids by saying: What if we are hungry? Leigha said, then we could shoot an animal, but only if we are hungry because they are God's creation (I was so proud of her) Then we talked about practicing, and if we have to as a form of defense. Leigha then asks: What about animal sacrifices? It was so funny, she has been reading the Book of Mormon on her own and last week asked me what a burnt offering was and we talked about how before Christ was born they would offer the best animal as sacrifice. I reminded her that now we offer a broken heart and a contrite spirit, meaning that we will follow the commandments and Jesus, and be humble and love others as Jesus would love them.

At first I was worried about shooting the pumpkins because we had used them as an object lesson to talk about the light of Christ and the gift of the Holy Ghost, but I don't think the kids found any correlation with shooting them to smithereens (phew! that could have been really awkward). 

The thing that Don wanted to do was go to the gym. He has set some really awesome and serious goals about his health, and I am ecstatic that he is sharing those with us! I am excited for him and the progress we will see. Instead we went grocery shopping and it was a less than pleasant experience so family fun day ended.

Day #9: I am grateful for our new family tradition and that we got to spend time together!