{ Some thoughts on General Conference }

I can say without reservation that General Conference around our house is one of my favorite times-even though things don’t go as smooth and bicker-free as I would like, there is this immensely peaceful spirit that just takes over the whole house. I look around at my kids furiously taking notes, happily coloring pictures, or just thoughtfully taking in the spirit they feel, and my heart almost bursts with joy. It makes all those other really hard mothering times SO worth it.

This last weekend was General Conference again, and last week working up to it was quite a doozy. From Sunday on, it felt like everything was going wrong, insanely busy, or just downright ripping apart at the seems. By Day 2 of the week, we knelt down for family prayer, and I announced that I had figured out our problem. I’m sure my kids did a half eye roll at that one-positive that I would mention how they were fighting too much, or on devices for far too many hours in the day, or maybe how they should all help out a little more. I wish they were wrong at all those thoughts-because at one time or another I certainly have thought of those. But that night was different.

I was positive that our problem wasn’t really a problem at all, but just a clear sign that this weekend’s conference was about to be amazing. The one person (Satan) that didn’t want us to hear true words of wisdom from up above, delivered so eloquently by our beloved Prophet and Apostles was trying to do everything in his power to make us be tired, grumpy, fighting, annoyed, weary and just plain frustrated that we would want to do anything but sit for 8 hours and feel of the Spirit. Luckily, my family agreed, and the rest of the week went worse than the beginning, but each time we just looked at each other and said, “This weekend is going to be AMAZING!” And amazing it was.

As each talk was so beautifully delivered we would look over at each other and say, “That was awesome!” It was just the things we needed to hear. When conference was over we felt so uplifted and more importantly energized to make changes. Though to some the changes seemed little, it was just the reminder to get back to basics and do a lot better at doing those basics to the best of our ability. Sunday night we had a great family council and talked for a couple hours about how we were going to make our family scripture time and personal prayer and scripture times happen more effectively. If we were going through all the effort to just be “going through the motions” we felt like that was a bit of wasting our time. We all wanted to make that time count towards strengthening our testimonies. We decided that morning prayer can be the hardest-we discussed some of the talks that had addressed that. Brianna had a great idea to all meet up in the playroom at 5:45am before family scripture time. By all meeting there and waking up a little we could then go off to our own quiet places and prayer and then meet downstairs for scripture time. There is something about being accountable to someone else that makes it work. I was so grateful for Brianna’s insight and wisdom in coming up with that.

We also used the time to discuss how our jobs around here were kind of suffering. We brainstormed ideas about how we could do it differently, and I had mentioned switching to zones rather than having smaller individual jobs. I know other families do that and it seems to work okay. Austin ran with it and suggested that they have zones and each have a “team” to do them with. They were happy to be divided up by our “Straight, Curly, and Mediums” groups and felt actually excited to do jobs again. I would be kidding myself to say that they were done perfect and everyday now, but they sure are doing amazing compared to how we were doing before. I am so proud of them!

They love their little teams, and encourage each other to get the stuff done. Brianna and Abby are in our “Curly group”. They decided that after school they are both so tired, so they were going to work on their zone then while listening to music to get them awake more. So far it has worked great!

Austin, Erika, and Ryan are in our “Medium” group. They are just the two to encourage Ryan and make sure that he feels important by helping out. He is my super dishwasher unstacker, and loves to help with the laundry. It has been nice to have them encourage him to sit more quietly during prayer time and at dinner. It makes a difference to have one of the siblings ask instead of mom and dad.

Our “Straights” are Brooke and Scott. They are doing great, but Scott is having a little harder time getting motivated. Money isn’t very motivating to him these days. I know it will at some point, but for now all I can do is help Brooke encourage him and help him see what an important part he plays in our home.

We used our Conference board again and then I just printed out packets and had them stapled inside cute file folders. We had bags with snacks like we usually do, but other than that we were all just excited to listen, especially after the week we had had. In all of our intense listening this conference I really didn’t take any pictures. This one from the General Women’s Conference the week before is all I have. So fun to have all of my girls now old enough to go with me to it.

Brianna-16  Brooke-11  Erika-9  Abby-8

The little girls took notes on packets they had gotten from their Activity Day Girls leader and Brianna took notes on her iPad. I was happy to just sit and listen, especially since Aaron got home at the last minute and was able to keep Ethan home with him. It was a nice “All girls” night out. We ended out the night with our usual IHOP and Longhorn Steakhouse chocolate stampede dessert run. I was happy to donate mine to my babysitters so I could go and be with my girls and fully listen. Such a fun couple weeks of Conference. It feels so good to be motivated again.

{ General Conference Is A Party! }

We LOVE General Conference time at our house. Our family fun priority list is Christmas, Birthdays, General Conference-it really is that big of a deal around here. I love that we have two times a year to spend time together as a family listening to the words of the Prophet and Apostles, feeling spiritually uplifted, and having FUN! As I am trying to prepare for General Conference that is coming up this next weekend, I was trying to remember all the things we have done in the past so I could think up something new and maybe combine some of our old favorites. Here are some of the fun things we have done for our family in the last few years on General Conference Weekend.

2013 October-Social Media Fun

April-Aaron and I and our two oldest were in Europe at the time, but the rest of the kids used our General Conference Center board with the grandparents

2012 October-Our own General Conference Center Board

April-Conference Baskets and Easter Egg Hunt

2011-I don’t have any pictures of this year April or October. This was the year we were in the rental house while building our house so I am pretty sure that we did packets and had a few treats but that was about it. Crazy moving/building a house/life kind of took over and my creativity went by the wayside for awhile. I think I had gotten little clipboards from Target and a box of their own crayons that they used to write notes with?

2010 October-General Conference Trick-Or-Treating Fun

April-I didn’t have any pictures of this Weekend either-I was pregnant with Ryan at the time-enough said.

2009 October-Family Home Evening before Conference with Lego Lesson

April-King Benjamin Family Home Evening before Conference, Quiet free Conference Zone, and Special Breakfast

I am excited to finalize my ideas for this weekend-I am thinking of doing some kind of packet/notebook combination with maybe treats and things that are all BABY sized since we just had a new baby? We’ll see what this sleep deprived brain can come up with-either way I know that it will be a super fun filled weekend!

{ General Conference-Social Media Fun }

In my ongoing efforts to keep General Conference fun and lively around this place, we decided to make the theme for this go around revolve all around social media. We still printed out packets for everyone (because when I don’t I hear a lot of complaints from everyone-okay maybe not Austin, he’s a “listen” kind of guy), but in addition to that we had these four containers set up on the table.

Everyone got their own pack of sticky notes-that in and of itself was excitement enough for some, and then they could choose to write or draw something for one of the containers.

Facebook-A question about one of the talks. The church uses Facebook a lot these days as a great missionary tool to answer questions that people may have about the church and Jesus Christ.

Twitter-A statement (140 characters or less or course) about one of the talks.

Pinterest-Something that one of the speakers talked about that they wanted you to try and do in your life.

Instagram-A picture that they drew about something that was talked about. You can see that this jar is packed full! This was only after the first session-Scott and Ryan were our top Instagramers for this General Conference.

At the end of all the sessions on Sunday we went through the questions/pictures/statements and people took turns answering them for some additional treats. We also had some big family treats that we would open up for each of the 12 apostles and First Presidency. We tried to make them match up-like treat bread for Elder “Breadnar” (Bednar).Ha Ha!  Aren’t we so clever? It did keep things lively though. Even Mitch, was one of the first ones to run to the kitchen and see which treat was up when a new speaker spoke.

Ryan was completely into the first session. He would carefully draw out his little pictures for the jars, and had his packet almost all the way colored after about 30 minutes.

        

Aaron’s parents came to visit for the week leading up to conference-fun to get to have your Dad, Grandpa, and Uncle come to watch the Priesthood session with you Austin. From left to right-my brother Mitch (we missed my sister-in-law Michelli who was in Brazil visiting family), Grandad Starbuck-Aaron’s dad, Aaron, and Austin.

We made crepes on Sunday morning for our special conference breakfast, ate way too many yummy treats all weekend long, and had a lot of crazy conference fun! It was a fun weekend to share with extended family around.

{ General Conference }

As General Conference rolled around this year, I was pretty excited to explore some new ideas for our watching pleasure. I have loved the packets we have done in the past, but after a few times, the draw to keep the kids actively engaged was started to wear off. In my need to step it up a bit, I scoured Pinterest (my favorite place-a whole blog post in and of itself) in search of some great ideas to implement for our family. My search resulted in this:

Drum roll please….

Okay, I know that drum roll was just for me, but I am SO excited about this!

Our very own Conference Center!! What I love best about this, is that it is fully interactive for the kids! Love that!

Of course, I can’t take credit for this pretty little masterpiece too much-some pretty talented ladies out in blogland were the original creators of it. We tweaked it to make it work for our family, and it ended up being a huge success. A quick search on Pinterest for General Conference ideas will pull up some of the original creators if anyone wants to know more about the details.

I had found this idea several weeks before General Conference, but like usual “Monae style", it was last minute preparations to actually pull it together. I just work better under pressure-I remind myself of that often just to keep it true.=) I worked steadily the night before- laminating and gluing it all together. The main part is a foam core tri-board and almost all of the parts I downloaded off the internet from the original creators sites, and then laminated to make them extra sturdy for conferences to come.

Starting at the upper left we have our music section.

Along with a picture of the Conference Center itself, we have a little icon for men, women, and the word both for the kids to move the arrow to who was singing at the time. There is also pictures of the various conductors, and organists so they can switch those each session as well.

Under that is where all the pictures of all the people are housed.

I simply printed out labels for each envelope, stapled the envelopes together, and glued them on to the main board. Each picture has a piece of stick on Velcro on the back to make them really easy to move around on the board. With all the Velcro pieces on the back of the pictures, some of the pockets were getting a bit tight, but it’s doable for now.

The middle section consists of all of the red chairs down below where the people that have spoken are placed. There is also a section for the member of the First Presidency who is conducting that session of conference to be placed, and different pictures that a picture of the Salt Lake Temple is moved around on to show which session we are currently watching. The clock  I purchased at Wal-mart in the office supply section, and the kids would take turns changing it around during the session or showing what time the next session would be starting at. The pulpit had room for the speaker to be Velcroed on, and a spot for four topics to be placed in the speakers talk bubble.

The red chairs for the speakers I made a pattern for in Word, and then printed them off on thick scrapbook cardstock paper. The three chairs for the First Presidency were made out of a soft velvety paper that I printed on as well. There are 24 chairs on the bottom and the three for the First Presidency on the top. It is enough chairs for all of the four main sessions of General Conference.

The right side of the board is completely dedicated to a whole list of possible topics. I printed out two copies, one that I glued down in full sheets to the board, and the other copy I cut apart and laminated. They have Velcro on the back as well, so the kids can move them around when a speaker is talking. We found out afterwards, that sometimes there were much more than four topics that they each talked about, so we might need to add a few extra Velcro strips to the talk bubble.

We still used some packets that I prepared, but with our fun new board the kids were super dedicated to writing in them. We had a basket full of treats, and when one of the members of the Twelve Apostles or First Presidency would speak, we would open up that treat and share it.

We moved our big table over in the front room to watch conference this time again-it’s great to have a place for the kids to spread out if they want. At times like this, I remember why I LOVE my kitchen so much-I love how it is open to the front room, and I can be getting lunch ready (since conference starts here in Georgia at noon-right around lunch time) and not miss a beat of Conference.

Aaron catching a quick nap before the Sunday morning session.

A few days before conference we were driving around and Brianna was talking to a friend about doing something Saturday when she realized that it was General Conference weekend. I loved how she didn’t even miss a beat, but quickly answered, “Oh, no I can’t go, it’s conference on Saturday.” I tried to hold back my big grin, but inside my heart was overflowing with gratitude that she GOT it. I can openly admit that I can go pretty overboard in preparations for things, General Conference included, but to me the effort is worth it-and at that moment, it felt really worth it. I loved how she turned to me then, and said, “ I like Conference weekend, it fun.” Big words from a 14 year old! I was glad to see her gaining a testimony of the importance and unique opportunity we have to hear the words of a living prophet. And yes, it is fun, I agree.

I love our little tent in the background. We tried to set up some fun quiet play zones for the little boys to play in. I think this must have been at the beginning of conference because, it wasn’t left standing for too long after. Ryan thinks it’s fun to just knock it down and run away laughing.

Brooke working hard to keep up with all the writing in her packet.

The kids would take turns each talk, choosing the topics and moving them around on the board. You can see by Erika’s arm, an empty looking card that we used for a member of the Seventy or other special speaker that we didn’t have pictured. We ran out of a few of those cards too-mental note to self for next time to make some more.

Ryan was eager to help too, but mostly had fun trying to take down the cards we put up. I had to add this picture because it is so Ryan right now-binkie in his mouth (yep, almost two years old and still a binkie, and I am totally okay with that. Seven kids later and not one has managed to go to kindergarten, much less college with it yet, so we’re good). He also loves to carry around his “big boy” backpack with all of his stuff in it. He follows around Scott all day long, letting him load it up for him with whatever he finds interesting. Yes, and this boy is in need of a haircut-he always seems to be. Ryan’s hair is becoming quite a challenge for me to deal with, and it shows. Oh, and red marker on his hands and arms (and probably somewhere else I don’t know about yet, like on a wall somewhere in the house)-so typical Ryan. We love it!

Abby finding the speaker, and seeing how different some of them looked now.

Aaron is this amazing note taker. And me? I love the thought of it, but I just like to sit and soak it all in. I like to listen or read them again later when the kids need less of my attention, and remember those deep spiritual feelings I felt while watching it-it’s then that I make my notes. But, Aaron, he’s always my shining example of being a great note taker. Love that guy!

When I see this picture, I chuckle inside a little when I think of what a friend said to me. She had come over to pick her daughter up, and asked where all of our clutter was, she mentioned her husband would have those shelves filled up with all sorts of things by now. Yes, one year later, and those built ins I was dying to have are still empty. Uncluttered in her world is secretly undecorated in mine. Someday they will float to the top of my list. And I am finding that I really would like two separate couches in this room instead of one big sectional, so I occasional just pull them apart and try it out for a few weeks, and then move them back. This evidently was one of those weeks.

By the end of conference the girls got quite creative in there note taking spots, and resorting to making “dog” beds to be in while they watched. I don’t think playing dog will ever get old here.

And occasionally after nap time in between sessions, some of us get up a little grumpy…

…I like to refer to it as “just taking a little longer to acclimate back to our surroundings”, which is why I am behind the camera and not having my picture taken at that moment. Me and him, we are great nap buddies for a reason. We like to wake up SLOWLY from our naps.

By the end of conference, our chart was full, and I felt so spiritually uplifted. I always feel buoyed up, and ready to move forward in my role as a wife and mother and friend. My plan is to be able to pull this out throughout the next six months so when can talk about these talks, and how they can help our family…

…and hopefully have some fun with it too!

{ General Conference }

I love General Conference. I love the timeliness of all the talks, and messages. It’s always a sweet reminder how much the Lord is aware of us and what we are going through and feeling at all times in our life. Saturday morning session spoke to my heart especially, as well as Sunday mornings session and President Uchtdorf’s talk. I love these worthy Priesthood holders who love the Lord and us so much.

It was a wonderful experience to be in our house and enjoy conference for the first time since being here. I can’t believe we have already lived here for almost 6 months. Time does fly. The best part was having our new iMac and being able to move it over to the front room and get to all watch together with spots for everyone to sit. I don’t think I heard one complaint the entire time about someone not being able to see or having a comfortable place to sit. It was nice.

Brianna eating her huge 2 foot Twizzlers-with braces mind you. We will be REALLY happy when those things are off.

We moved our makeshift dining room table/huge fold up table behind the couch for the kids to sit at while they watched. We taped a large piece of paper from a paper roll across the top for them to draw on and take notes. I bought a new huge pack of crayons (96 pack) just for the occasion-a serious treat since I pitched all the broken and random crayons when we moved.

We had a waffle breakfast Saturday morning with Aaron’s sister Cathy and her husband Jason and their kids. They have been living here for the last 3 months as Jason has been doing training at Ft. Benning. They were on their way out of town moving to Virginia. We ate yummy waffles and said our goodbyes to cousins. I made little conference baskets for each of the kids with all kinds of snacks and treats for the two days. They were a big hit, and I didn’t have to worry about constantly pulling outs snacks. Something I will definitely be doing again next time. In each of the baskets the kids had:

• water bottle
• juice box
• box of raisins
• peanut butter crackers
• goldfish
• bugles
• cheese and crackers
• mentoes
• Twix candy bars
• 2 foot long twizzlers
• fruit by the foot

We didn’t do packets this time.  I love packets, but I am little bit burnt out of them. I think I need to take the time between now and next conference to come us with something of my own. I usually just print some of of the internet, which have always been fabulous-so much talent from others. I was always grateful they were willing to share their creativity. I just need something new for next time. For this time I gave everyone their own pack of post it notes and we had them write down questions from the talks. We folded them up and put them in  a large bottle until the end of each day.

Saturday night before the Priesthood session, we took Easter eggs and put a piece of candy and a question in each one. We did an Easter egg hunt in the front room, and then took turns opening the eggs and if they knew the answer to the questions then they got the candy.

Sunday the kids were much more into taking notes about all the talks, and writing questions. We still haven’t got to all the questions, but we’ll work through them slowly during dinners in the coming month. It was such a uplifting weekend to feel our testimonies strengthened.

{ General Conference Trick-or-Treating }

Every General Conference we try to think of fun family traditions that will not only keep the kids attention during conference, but also help them to gain a love of listening to our beloved Prophet and Apostles. For the last few years we have used Conference Packets that I found on line and tweaked to my liking. Last Conference, I was so sick that we opted for a quick small notebook with everyone's name printed on the front and their own pack of crayons. Simple, but they still loved it. This year I looked at the packets again and just knew that they weren’t going to work out. I needed something new and different to capture the attention of all, young and old.

That is how General Conference Trick-or-Treating was born. I loved the idea I had seen online of doing a Conference Wall-basically after every talk taping up a picture of who spoke and maybe writing a short little bit about what they talked about. I knew that would be fun, but I wanted my kids to still take some notes or remember some specifics or each talk.

Fast forward to Saturday morning and here is what is waiting for my anxious and excited kids:

Conference folders for everyone. I couldn’t resist printing off some of the pages. The color the tie sheet is still a favorite around our house. Brianna had a more “adult” version of her packet this time around since she has entered into Young Women’s.

  Treat bags/boxes for everyone. Treat bags? “ Why do we need treat bags mom?” Oh, you’ll see!

Trick or treat buckets…

pumpkins galore… and what is this…

Treats…

Treats…

and more treats!!! (Chorus of “Mom, you’re the best” to follow)

Fun little papers to play a little game during conference..

..and a neighborhood? “Hey, that’s our neighborhood! There’s our house! Are we going trick or treating right now?! “ More squeals of delight to follow.

So, here’s how our fun little General Conference game played out. We started with the pumpkin at our house, and after every talk we would tape the picture of the General Authority on that house, write a few words below of what they talked about, and then move our pumpkin to the next house. If there was someone from the Seventy or other General Auxiliary who spoke we had a blank picture they could draw and write the person’s name on. When there was a song sung, the kids would take turns picking a non-house object out of the envelope, writing the song on it, and hanging it somewhere in our neighborhood to fancy it up. There was a fire hydrant, flowers, mailboxes, and trees. At the end of the session we would put a stop sign next to that house so we would know who all spoke at that particular session.

During the talks the kids would take the little papers and write either a TRICK, which would be a question about that talk for others to answer, or a TREAT, which would be something they learned from the talk. They would circle either the word trick or treat on their paper and then fold them up and put them in the correct bucket until that session was over. Our buckets were overflowing!

After the session we read all the questions and the kids got to pick out a treat for each one they wrote or answered. It was so fun! The kids paid attention for all 8 hours of conference and I was so surprised how much they remembered. We had quite a few tricks after the first session of what color tie was so and so wearing, but by the last session their questions were so thoughtful and deep. I just love General Conference! The best part was that Aaron and I got to actually listen too and didn’t have to remind the kids to be quiet or to try and pay attention.

I made the board out of two foam core sheets that can be folded in half and stuck behind the TV cabinet. Every month for our General Conference family home evening we can take it out and review what one of the speakers talked about. Hopefully by next conference we will be able to know, remember, and have incorporated the great counsel from our prophet and other general authorities.