Aaah! General Conference!

{photo by More Good Foundation}

General Conference! It's soon!

That's what went through my head yesterday.

[Here's more info on the General Conference of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.]

So I've been gathering ideas to keep The Boy busy and at least a little bit engaged. Aaand...I've been thinking I should share my favorite resources for General Conference kid stuff. There are tons of awesome ideas out there. These are just some that I think will work well for The Boy.

Let's start with my favorite favorites:

Moms Have Questions Too has several posts with super-original General Conference activities for toddlers and preschoolers.

Katie's Blogness has a note-taking activity that I think will be perfect for The Boy, since he loves wheeled things.

More sites that were helpful:

Food Storage and Beyond has her own activities, as well as links to others.

Sugardoodle has new packets up for this conference, of course.

Lady Create-a-Lot's activities are good for the whole family.

Here are some activities for different age levels, plus snack ideas.

About.com's LDS page has some of the usual ideas--bingo, matching games, that kind of thing.

And LDS.org has activities for getting your kids ready for General Conference, which I think is a really good idea. I also like their Games & Activities page--it's got fun stuff that you can do anytime.

Are you guys getting ready yet? What are some of the best General Conference resources that you've found?

General Conference Is Coming Up!

[Image by Knut, via Wikimedia Commons]

"The living prophet is more important to us than a dead prophet. The living prophet has the power of 'TNT.' By that I mean 'Today's News Today.' God's revelations to Adam did not instruct Noah how to build the ark. Noah needed his own revelation. Therefore, the most important prophet, so far as you and I are concerned, is the one living in our day and age to whom the Lord is currently revealing His will for us."

-President Ezra Taft Benson

Just To You

{image source}

"If we teach by the Spirit and you listen by the Spirit, some one of us will touch on your circumstance, sending a personal prophetic epistle just to you."

-Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, speaking about General Conference

181st LDS General Conference

{Note: If you have questions about LDS General Conference, go here to learn more about it, here for a link to watch or listen to it, or here to read about the history and whatnot. Or, y'know, you could ask me.}

So...General Conference. Y'know how, every time, everyone says it was the best! conference! ever!? Of course it was. Every session of conference is tailored for right now. I like that.

I could go on and on about it, but I know you don't have time for that kind of thing. (You're welcome.) So here's just two things that inspired me:

1. Orson F. Whitney was quoted by both Elder Richards (of the Seventy) and Elder Johnson (also a Seventy):

"No pain that we suffer, no trial that we experience is wasted. It ministers to our education, to the development of such qualities as patience, faith, fortitude and humility. All that we suffer and all that we endure, especially when we endure it patiently, builds up our characters, purifies our hearts, expands our souls, and makes us more tender and charitable, more worthy to be called the children of God . . . and it is through sorrow and suffering, toil and tribulation, that we gain the education that we come here to acquire and which will make us more like our Father and Mother in heaven."

I like the reminder that everything we go through is for our education--to learn to be better. And who doesn't want to be better?

2. I was really moved by what Sister Stevens (from the Primary presidency) said about beholding your little ones. She was talking about 3 Nephi 17:21-23:

"And when he had said these words, he wept, and the multitude bare record of it, and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept again; And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones."

Between having a four-year-old at home and being the Primary secretary in my ward, I spend a lot of time with little ones. It's hard to remember to really look at them and listen to them sometimes--to behold them. They can teach us just as much as we teach them, if we don't tune them out.

So what do you think? Was it the best conference ever?

Look, I went to Conference once! In October '08. Little Boy stayed home with his grandma.

It Hasn't Even Been Two Weeks Yet!

If you've read my blog for awhile, you know that I have a bad habit of not posting pictures until at least two weeks after the fact. I'd like to point out right now that Easter was only nine days ago, and I'm already posting. Wooo!

Anyway, Easter is my favorite holiday. And this Easter didn't disappoint.


We played Easter-y games. (Printable Build-A-Bunny game from Homeschool Creations)


And dyed eggs. I saw a cool tip online about putting an egg inside a wire whisk for little kids, instead of using a spoon. More control, less mess.


We went a little crazy with the rubber bands.


And we made Easter-y treats. Unfortunately, these came out looking more like raw ground beef than like Rice Krispy eggs, but they were still tasty.


And we "hid" eggs. A three-year-old can have trouble finding an Easter egg that's in plain sight. Pretty funny, actually.


And, of course, we watched General Conference. Nothing makes Easter better than General Conference falling on the same weekend.

So that's my late early Easter recap. Maybe from now on I'll be better about posting in a timely manner. 

Or...probably not.