General Conference April 2014

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we are blessed to have General Conference the first weekend of every April and every October. I remember as a child liking it because it meant I didn't have to put on a dress and go to the church building. Living in Utah, we got to watch it on the TV. Curtis, growing up outside Utah still had to get dressed up and go sit at the Church. I also liked it because my dad would let us pull out the electric race car set. I don't remember playing with it at any other time. As I grew older, I found it hard to sit and listen and didn't see the importance of it. I often had to work on those Saturdays and most likely slept through it on Sundays. After I married, I began to appreciate it more. It was a time of gathering with family and 'sitting' at the feet of the prophets and apostles. As the kids came, I longed to be able to sit quietly and listen, taking notes, but mostly that never happened. We have tried lots of things through the years to try to make it a special time, to make it something to look forward to, to entice them to want to sit and listen. Conference Bingo? Yup. Coloring in the apostles ties? Yup. Loads of sugary treats? Yup.
Some worked better than others. Some we don't do anymore and some we do. I think its just been the consistency of making it a priority in our family, of making it a special time, that has finally worked in getting all of us to be anxious for Conference. We all look forward to it with excitement, for whatever reason.

This year I made a Conference is Awesome chart. I didn't quite get it done before Conference due to printer issues, but the kids had fun putting the correct speaker at the pulpit and picking out the topics spoken about, etc. I'm hoping it will help them focus and pay a bit more attention so they'll know what pieces to put up.
Idea and downloadable parts found here.

James relaxing in Hannah's bean bag with a stuffed animal bigger than he is!
You can see my abbreviated 2-page Conference notes paper here. I loved it!
I found it here.

It's a lounge-fest while we watch Conference on the computer. We all look so lovely with our bedheads and pjs.

Good Things:

Goldfish crackers

Fruit snacks

Live streaming Conference on the internet