Preparing for General Conference, our Conference Tradition

Less than a week away before we get to participate in General Conference.  I'm excited!  This has become an anticipated event for me and for the most part, I think the rest of my family too. 

When the children were younger they would do conference bingo or coloring-type activities as they watched and listened.  Doesn't mean the kids were angels, because some of these activities worked only for a short time (even if M&Ms or Skittles were involved for the Bingo markers). Yep, we had our fair share of weeping and wailing, and quite often from my husband and me.  It was hard to get everyone to listen and be quiet for that many hours.  But we just kept at it each year, conference by conference.  Our efforts are beginning to pay off. 

I have tried to make conference time enjoyable and memorable for our family, but it does require some preparation.  Besides making, copying, or putting together little packets of activities (please see additional website links at the end of this post for more activity ideas), we have always displayed large photos of the Prophets and Apostles on our wall.  Which were easily purchased at the Church Distribution Center. Sometimes a child would put sticky notes on the picture after the apostle/prophet spoke - keeping track of who spoke and who was yet to speak.  A few times I would jot down little notes on the post-it about what their message was about and later review as a family at Family Home Evening.  Displaying the pictures, I feel, is a nice way to get younger children familiar with the names and faces of the apostles.  Each of the pictures is in its own page protector.  So after conference, the blue adhesive putty is removed from the back and the pictures are all placed back in a 3-ring binder ready for the next conference.  Additionally, over the years I have cut out articles about the prophet's and apostles’ personal life, which have appeared in some church magazines, then stored that too in the page protector along with the picture. This has allowed us to learn more about our leaders and to better relate to them and their conference messages.  These days, this information is easily available and can be researched on LDS.org.  Another entertaining way we've learned the names of the apostles and the order of them being called to serve, is by watching and listening to the Prophet and Apostles Song; not necessarily Church approved, but helpful and fun.  

A few years ago, I saw on KSL-TV a fabulous idea a family shared for their General Conference tradition.  I loved it!  You can view it here and get a better idea of what I'm about to explain.  The idea involves food and there is some preparation that goes into it, but it is well worth it, trust me.  We assign a certain food item that is to be eaten when each of the apostles speak.  For example, when Elder Scott speaks we suck on butter"scot"ch candies.  President Monson enjoyed fishing, so we eat gold fish crackers.  We drink individual containers of chocolate milk when Elder Anderson speaks, because he grew up on a dairy farm milking cows.  And the list goes on.  All of the snacks are gathered and placed in a basket, unless it requires refrigeration of course.  Attaching a tag to the food item and a similar tag on the apostle picture posted on our wall, has become helpful so everyone knows what the next treat will be.  It's a lot about the food, right? But there is a catch, in our home you have to be watching or listening to get the snack.  This has become a really fun tradition and it's been great for our entire family to think of snack items to coordinate with each prophet and apostle.  It’s great to shake it up, so we don't necessarily do the same food items each time.  I mentioned earlier the additional bio information that is added to the prophet and apostle pictures; for researching and finding good food ideas to go along with each apostle, the info has come in very handy. This snack idea is an enjoyable tradition and seems to work great for our family, but if it's too much, I also found a scaled down snack idea another family uses for their conference tradition and you can find it here.

I recently found that the Church has a whole web page on how to prepare ourselves and our families for General Conference.  Addressing important topics such as: why we need prophets, or the blessing of General Conference, or how General Conference addresses individual circumstances, preparing children for conference, and more.  Great subjects for a Family Night discussion!  

Now that our children are older, conference time has become a true joy. Something to rejoice in!  I look forward to it and hope my children do too.  It’s the tradition I love.  General Conference at our home is not only spiritually uplifting, but a lot of fun - pajamas, conference bingo, yummy breakfast, air mattresses and blankets, silly snacks, note taking and just being together as a family listening to living prophets is a joy!  

I welcome your comments sharing what you do in your home for General Conference.  Below are additional web sites with creative General Conference ideas I have gathered over the years.  This is all making me think I should create a Pinterest account, so I can have a General Conference board. :)

http://preparednotscared.blogspot.com/2011_03_01_archive.html

http://www.jennyphillips.com/gc/

http://blogmyheartandhome.wordpress.com/2011/04/01/general-conference-questions-answers/

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/children?lang=eng

http://blogmyheartandhome.wordpress.com/2011/03/28/the-first-presidency-and-the-12-apostles/ 

http://nathanrichardson.com/2012/03/general-conference-notes-worksheet/

http://beinglds.blogspot.com/2012/03/general-conference-reverence-stations.html

http://beehivemessages.blogspot.com/2009/09/general-conference-memory-game.html

A few days after the original posting, I found a few more websites with more General Conference ideas!  I am so grateful that there are so many creative people willing to share their ideas and creations.  Thank you!!!

http://www.ldsliving.com/story/75387-100-conference-activities-for-kids (This is a link to 53+ ideas)
http://www.simplyfreshdesigns.com/2012/01/quiet-book-apostles-prophets/
https://www.theredheadedhostess.com/teach/general-conference-teach/general-conference-trivia-game/
https://www.theredheadedhostess.com/teach/general-conference-teach/make-your-own-general-conference-review-game/
http://www.ldsliving.com/story/75395-fhe-following-the-prophet

Saint Patrick's Day Family Tradition

Family traditions - something to rejoice about, record and hope to remember!  I want to share our St. Patrick's Day tradition.  This March holiday is on Monday this year (2014) so we decided to celebrate a day earlier so our daughter did not miss out on our family fun before ending her spring break and returning to college.  I'm not sure when we started this, but we have been eating green on St. Patty's day for a long while.  This is our family tradition, to prepare and eat green foods.  For our Sunday St. Patty's Day dinner we had roast beef and gravy, and these two items were not green.  But we did enjoy green grapes; green jell-o with fruit in sundae dishes; green rolls; green milk; asparagus; green mashed potatoes; and dessert was green ice cream with mashed thin mint cookies (Girl Scout cookies, of course).  Pretty nutritious, very delicious, and lots of fun!  I try to get the whole family involved in the preparation.  So a few days before, I ask each of them what they would to like eat and would be willing to prepare for the meal that is green.  I gather a list and then I know what items need to be purchased from the store and need to be on hand and ready for preparation.  Our dinner table is decorated festively with green plates and napkins.  Along with our clover garland, this year we even had sprinkled down the center of the table green Hershey kisses and green M&M's.  This was easy to do, because after Christmas I separated our Hershey kisses and M&M's and used the red and silver kisses along with the red M&Ms for Valentine's Day.  All the green treats were stashed away for St. Patty's Day.  Does my family know much about why the holiday is celebrated Probably not, I don't really know.  But they do know our family will gather around the table and have a big, some-what fancy, green meal together.

Tonight I also want to remember that as our meal was ending and dessert was being prepared, our children were happily singing songs they remembered from music they sang and listened to as youngsters.  It was great to hear them singing together and remembering, laughing and getting along. Now that's something else to rejoice in and remember.  :)

In years past, the kids have woken up to green water in the toilet; lucky love notes on the mirror; green milk in the refrigerator; we've eaten Lucky Charms for breakfast; and school lunches have been packed with green items.  Which have included green apples, green wrapped granola bar, green grapes, a juice box with green labeling, and celery sticks or cucumber slices.  

I know that if I ever want to do more to make this holiday fun, I have found a creative and very helpful website, thedatingdivas.com. They have St. Patrick's Day all planned - ideas, printables, and great suggestions to make the day memorable.  Always a wonderful holiday resource!  

  

How Did This All Come to Be?

I will never do a blog!  That’s what I said years ago.  I didn't have the time, see the need, and I certainly didn't want to share my personal life with the world.  Besides, at that time my life didn't seem so joyful. 

However, the last year or so I've been thinking that I may want to do a blog as a way to record or keep a journal.  At least it would be a place to put and preserve some of the many pictures I take and tell the story behind the photo.  Because, I certainly don’t scrapbook!  [As a side note, I've decided, or rather have learned about myself, that I take pictures that seem significant and memorable to me, but probably meaningless to others without the story to go along with it.  When it is time to take the photos from my phone or unload the camera memory card, I often don’t know what type of category or file to put the photos in.  I don’t want to delete the picture, but where do I put it?  Perhaps a blog may be part of the answer.]

The past month or so the impression to begin a blog has become increasingly stronger.  I suppose there is not one main reason that the time is right, but many. 

1.  My in laws are planning to leave soon for a six-month temple mission and I've thought a blog would be a nice and easy way for them to keep up with what is happening with my family.

2.  I do have a desire and feel a need to write down, preserve and share meaningful events and experiences with my family.  Realizing, that while they may not be fully interested now, at least it would be somewhere and could be read in the future.  This is a way to preserve the Lance and LuAnn family history! 

3.  I don’t  feel I am very eloquent with my speaking, and sharing my feelings or thoughts vocally with others.  So this may be a fun and easier way to express and record the thoughts in my head and the feelings of my heart. Perhaps something I write will be a blessing to someone else, an answer to a prayer, or a word of encouragement to keep going. 

4.  My church leaders continue to encourage its members to share our lives.  To share with the world the day-to-day, normal, everyday happenings as well as our beliefs and feelings through on-line media.  I desire to be obedient and do my part and feel now is the time.  There have been things that have been thrown in my path, such as articles and quotes that I've read that have cheered me on in my decision.  So many thoughts and ideas have spoken to my heart and have seemed reasonable and clear in my mind.   I know that God wants me to do this, the impressions have been strong at times and the spirit has helped confirm my decision.  I cannot deny the power of personal revelation, I know I've been shown how to do this and why. 

For example, a few weeks ago as I was reading the scriptures, a particular passage stuck out so very strongly to me.  I had to read it again.  The words of Jacob, written so long ago, were expressing how I was feeling about beginning a blog.  So reading it a third time, I decided to personalize the scripture to fit me and my particular desire at the time and this is what I came up with:

"Now...I...know that the things which [I] write upon [this blog] must remain;
                ...but [I] can write a few words upon [this blog], which will give [my] children, and also [my] beloved [husband, family, and friends], a small degree of knowledge concerning [me]...
                Now in this thing [I] do rejoice; and [I] labor diligently to [write] these words upon [this blog], hoping that [my] beloved [husband, family, and friends] and [my] children will receive them with thankful hearts, and look upon them that they may learn with joy and not with sorrow, neither with contempt, concerning their [mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend.]
                For, for this intent have [I] written these things, that they may know that [I know] of Christ, and [I have] a hope of his glory..."  (Jacob 4:1-4, The Book of Mormon)

This was the final witness I needed to confirm my decision that beginning a blog is the right thing for me and now is the time. 

Perhaps in time I'll discover other reasons why doing this blog is important.  But for now, I'm excited and a bit nervous to create and start.  My life seems busy enough and I don't want this consuming my life or take away too much from my family.  But here I go.  I'd be lying if I said I didn't have worries and some concerns, but I'm going to move forward with faith and the good thoughts and impressions I've had. 

A Blog is Born!

Our lives, our days are made up of moments.  At the end of the day it’s nice to recall the events, those good and perhaps not so good moments.  Happenings that truly were happy, or events that might cause us to feel gratitude and appreciation, or helped us to improve.  Moments that can cause our hearts to rejoice because we can see God’s hand in our lives and the tender mercies He extends to us.  It’s moments like these that I want to “write down” or record, and always remember.  But I also want to be able to share things that I do, or my family and I do, to make our lives better.  As I make record of such events, I do so to share but also to grow into a history for my family to always remember and rejoice in.