William, quit throwing things in the fire!

Today I'm grateful for 2 things...campfires and Family Home Evening. I wanted to have a campfire for Family Home Evening tonight but it threatened to rain outside. So instead I made tin foil dinners and cooked them in the oven. Then we used some flameless candles (you know, the kind you can switch on and it flickers like a real flame) under some orange grocery bags. We threw on some real sticks for good measure and voila--instant indoor campfire. So we all sat on the floor around it and ate our tin foil dinners off styrofoam plates. William would put a bite of his food on his fork and hold it over the "fire" like he was roasting a hot dog. Then, of course, the girls had to join in. When they started roasting their corn I told them they'd end up with popcorn and that really got them going!

After dinner we had a lesson on how and why our bodies are a temple. We sat around the "campfire" talking and while the message was simple, the Spirit was still there. Then we played charades and had hot cocoa (mixed with french vanilla coffee creamer...yummy!)

These kind of Family Home Evenings are rare at our house. Usually its a scripture story and a snack. And while I know it's more about the consistency than the substance, this has reinforced to me how much better it can be if I put just a little more effort into it.


(Here we are around the campfire. We had almost all the lights off, you just can't tell in this picture. As you can see, the kids are each "roasting" something over the "fire". And, sorry it's a little blurry!)

And yes, I did have to tell William to quit throwing things in the fire while Tony was giving the lesson. It makes me glad it wasn't a real fire!