FHE

I don't know about your house, but Family Home Evening is anything but typical at the Nielson home. Very rarely do we have it on the designated Monday night because of the girls dance schedules. And very, very rarely is it quiet. It often ends with Samuel being shipped off somewhere so that the other two younger boys can listen without Sammy trying to wrestle or ninja kick them. Despite the chaos that typically erupts, the spirit somehow always manages to be present (even for a few minutes) and we are edified in the process. At least that's what what we keep reminding ourselves when we go at it again, week after week.

A few months ago, I got an e-mail from Sarah's agent asking if we had a cute 3 year old boy that looked somewhat ethnic. Even though he has a 100% Hispanic mommy, if you saw him or any of my kids at the playground you probably wouldn't identify them as ethnic. I submitted a picture of him anyway and received a letter stating that his curls stole the show and they were interested in using our family for a church publication video. Because our family of 8 was not the "norm" as far as typical LDS families go, they asked if they could use just the younger half of the fam. Four is the new six I guess. Anyway, we were excited to even be considered and headed down to the LDS motion picture studio in Provo.

I don't think they knew what they were in for when they invited Sammy along. What was I thinking!? If he could barely sit still at home during Family Night, how in the world was he going to do take, after take, after take, in front of grown men holding lights and cameras? We filmed for about 3 hours with lots of snack breaks in between. The first takes were always the best. Their errand person made several trips to the store for candy and tricks to keep Sammy happy. If you look close enough you can probably see sweat beads on my forehead. There was one instance where they had Matthew teaching a lesson and they asked him to pick on one of his siblings for an answer to his question. All of the kids hands shot up as they typically do during a lesson and when Matthew chose Joseph instead of Samuel, a true melt down was caught on film as the whole stage crew burst out in laughter. Want a glimpse of Family Night at the Nielson's? You got it! Tears, falling to the ground, wailing, gnashing of teeth, you get the picture. Unfortunately, it didn't make the cut. Darn it! Through the magic of editing they pieced together a fun little 3 minute training video. We are in the last 30 seconds. Here it is for your viewing pleasure. By the way, the Nursery Manuel we are promoting is fabulous for families with kids of any age. Enjoy!