Nephite Archery Club

Today I took the kids to see the latest Shrek movie. I know, we've been seeing lots of movies lately, but I've discovered the only way I get to sit down down during the day is if I go to the movies. 1 1/2-2 hours of sitting down with Mason on my lap and lots of candy. What a great deal. On the way into the KMCC, Mason told me his requirements: "I want a drink. And popcorn. I want a drink and popcorn. AND candy. I want a drink and candy. AND popcorn. AND a drink. AND candy."
"Ok, I think I got it. Drink. Popcorn. Candy."
"Yeah" he said, then he added, "How about you Mommy? What would you like to get? A diet Coke?"
Ok, isn't that so sweet? After spending two minutes repeating the items he needed for a happy movie experience, he asked me if I needed anything. I think that is pretty nice. And funny that he thought of diet coke. I really don't like the stuff too much, but this past week since I've been sick, water tastes gross to me so I've been drinking lots of any diet soda I can find, and he must have noticed. So yes, I got me a big one and we all enjoyed the movie. Afterwards, I asked Mason how he liked the movie, and he said with a big smile on his face, "NO monsters!!!" Which is kinda funny, since the whole movie was about ogres, which apparently in his book don't make the grade of monsters, but as long as he liked the movie and it didn't fall into the 'scary' category for him, I'm happy too.
After the movie and dinner, Jaxon took Ella outside for some more practice with his long bow. He brought her out the other day and taught her how to shoot it. The girl is pretty good, too. Tonight they practiced some more, and it wasn't long before Mason got in the action. Mason LOVED shooting the cross bow the best. He giggled each time the arrow shot out of it. Then he'd ask,
"I do it again?"
So, I thought since we were all outside enjoying the nice evening, let's just turn this into FHE. I talked about how we've been reading in the Book Of Mormon about the Nephite and Lamanite battles and I reminded them about all the weapons they would use in their wars. The Nephites would often use bows, arrows, swords, shields, cimeters, spears, etc. Just like the kids were playing with Jaxon's long bow and cross bow, the Nephites used similar weapons for real battles. So, in our day and age, we don't need to arm ourselves with real MK 47's, but be prepared with our spiritual armory. We have the Holy Ghost, our CTR 'shield', the power of prayer, and the Savior on our side. So the kids shot some arrows, we ate some ice cream, and talked about how we can be spiritually prepared for today's battles.










And last but not least, I snuck this picture of my cool landlord priming my wintergarten so he can repaint it. He worked about 5 hours on it yesterday. Awesome guy. Now I just need some cool garden furniture for in here...