General Conference

I look forward to General Conference every six months. This is ironic because when I was a child, I dreaded General Conference. Rob and I have made an effort to make General Conference something that our kids enjoy and look forward to. Sometimes we are successful, and other times not so much. We always do a family home evening the Monday before Conference to discuss General Conferece, what it is, etc. We talk about King Benjamin and how the people had to come listen to their prophet speak from a tall tower and stay in tents. The kids think this is a great idea. We end with a matching game with the General Authorities. This is all in hopes that it helps prepared them for conference.

This past General Conference, we had a really fun time with the kids. It helped that the weather wasn't great outside so we were forced to stay inside on Saturday. That morning, I was trying to work on a poster for one of Cayden's teachers. Of course, I immediately had 4 "helpers" wanting to color on the posterboard, etc. It got very chaotic very quickly. And then I had a moment of sheer genious! (I can say that because trust me, it rarely happens!) I ran and got out roll of white butcher paper, grabbed the big box of crayons, and rolled out the paper. I told the kids they were going to make a general conference mural. Any time they heard a word or a topic that they could draw, they should draw it. I was amazed at how well this went over. They actually did this through all of the first session and well into the second! It was fun to see their artwork and interpretation of what they were hearing. For instance, when one of the speakers was talking about temptation, Ashlee started drawing these brown squares. We finally asked her what those were and she said, "That man is talking about temptation. So I am drawing chocolate...chocolate is temptation, you know!?" McKell followed suit with her temptation of bubble gum. Cayden thought he was quite clever by drawing a picture of me on my cell phone during church. Something that never happens, but he heard one of the speakers talking about it. We just kep unrolling more and more paper and they loved it. This will for sure be a new conference tradition.

Every conference, we do an ice cream sundae party at our house after Priesthood Conference. The girls usually just hang out and let the kids play and then when the men get there, we have ice cream, homemade hot fudge, etc. It is yummy and a fun tradition.

On Sunday, we followed our normal tradition and set up our "General Conference Tents" - just like the people of King Benjamin...although I doubt those people had Winnie the Pooh or My Little Pony on their tents like we do. I printed them off their conference bingo and they did a great job sitting in their tents listening to conference.

So we made it through another General Conference and I dare say that my kids actually listened and learned a few things this time around. Amazing.