General Conference

We had a wonderful opportunity this weekend to just shut out the world, snuggle together and listen to our Church leaders for General Conference. I've always enjoyed General Conference and looked forward to being enlightened and uplifted. But I think it's taken on more meaning to me in recent years as I've become more of an adult and faced more grown-up trials. Now that I have my own family, I find myself listening intently for ways I can become a better wife and mother and invite the Spirit more into our home. I especially loved Elder Perry's and Pres. Uchtdorf's talks this time!

I also decided last spring that I was really going to focus on Madison this time and try to create some activities and traditions that would help her get something out of the weekend and start to develop a love of General Conference. It didn't all go perfectly, but I definitely felt by the end that she paid attention a little bit and got to know our Church leaders better! For my own future reference, here's what I did:

- Matching Game: I printed out two sets of pictures of the apostles and First Presidency and taped them onto some playing cards. Then, starting with FHE last Monday and continuing throughout the week, we played a matching game with them where I would hand her a card and she had to find the matching face and say his name. She already knew President Monson but this game made her more familiar with the other faces and names, and she really liked it. She even turned the tables and made me play it a few times! I'm going to continue playing this with her so we're ready to go in six months.
- Treat bags: I found a great tutorial here - http://www.craftcritters.blogspot.com/2012/03/general-conference-activity-bags.html - for felt treat bags! They were so easy to make, and that's coming from someone who is still deathly afraid of the sewing machine! In fact, I enjoyed this project a lot because it gave me more confidence with the sewing machine! All 15 bags took me less than two hours from start to finish, and I already have other ideas how I can use them in everyday life! The post author put little games and activities in hers, but I decided to do treats because I already had something else in mind for Madison to be doing during the talks and we have a LOT of trouble getting her to eat anything so I thought this might make eating fun. She got some real treats like M&Ms and dum-dums but she also got things like granola bars and bananas. Each time one of the apostles or First Presidency members spoke, she got to find the matching treat bag and chow down. This was a huge success! I'll admit that by the end she had already rifled through all the bags and knew what treat was in each one, but she really loved getting them. Everything in them became "special" i.e. "a special banana" and she ate great!! I might have to do something like this every day if it gets her to eat this well! For the next conference, I might make a few extra with the number 70 or a little clipart drawing of a woman. It was a little confusing to her why she didn't get a bag for every speaker.
- Sticker pictures: To get her to actually listen to the talks a little bit, I printed off some very basic pictures of common words said in General Conference - prayer, Jesus, temple, family and Joseph Smith - and hung them right under the tv. Then each time she heard one of those words, she got to put a sticker on the picture. She's obsessed with pictures so this also went fairly well. It was sometimes a little difficult for her to pick up on the words if the speaker was going at a faster pace, but she did pretty good and she'll only get better at it as she gets older. There were also more than a few times that she would just suddenly turn to us excitedly, gasp and insist she heard one of the words despite neither of us hearing them! But it was cute so we gave her a sticker anyway. At least she grasped the idea :)
- Coloring pages: I printed several coloring pages with General Conference themes from the Friend online and gave a new one to her for each speaker. This kept her busy and quiet while also directing her mind to church stuff.

We were also going to make and decorate tie-shaped pancakes on Sunday morning but Jordan wasn't feeling well so everything got a little more lax that day as I had my hands full taking care of all three of my babes! All in all, I think it was a very successful and enjoyable weekend! I can't wait to reread the talks and get ready for next time!

General Conference Treat Bags

Thanks for modeling, President Monson!

Cute happy girl!

She LOVES this elephant (thanks Aunt Jenna!)

Ready for conference

Sticker pictures

Big smiles for Dad!

Seriously cute :)

This girl is SOOO much fun! I fall more in love with her every day!

Enjoying her treat for Elder Nelson

Snuggling with Dad and sharing another treat

Between sessions ... These two definitely have something special!