General Conference Store!

 Hey everybody!  I hope you all had a great weekend!

Today I wanted to share what we did last year to make the most out of our General Conference experience with our children.  I have to say...I got this wonderful idea from my sister-in-law, so ALL the credit goes to her!  I have tried a bunch of different things to keep my kids quiet and attentive during conference and so far, this has been the best!  They don't end up all hyped up on candy, and they are listening with intent...win-win for everyone!

Last April we opened up our very own General Conference Store!

To get started I found 4 buckets I had laying around, and using chalkboard signs I labeled them with individual topics.  I let my older kids pick out a subject that they were hoping they would hear about and filled in the rest.  Then I filled each bucket with tickets I got at the dollar store.

As we listened to conference each time the kids would hear one of our words, they could get one ticket out of the bucket.  I loved this so much more than getting candy...we tried that the year before and they got a little wild by the end ;)

By the end of conference all the kids had buckets full of tickets and couldn't wait to spend them!  I loved my sisters idea of having her kids wait to use their tickets until Family Home Evening the next night, so we did the same thing.

The next night I set out our same buckets, but this time filled them with different items I had purchased earlier in the week.  Each bucket had a different ticket value on it depending on what was in the bucket.  I went to some local stores like Seagull Book and Deseret Book and picked out a bunch of things for the kids to choose from.  Some of the things we had were:

Scripture Pencils

CTR rings

Coloring Books

Article of Faith Cards

Matching Games

Gum

Fruit Snacks

I loved that the prizes they were able to buy were things that (mostly) would encourage them to continue to grow in the gospel.

I am so grateful to my sister Camille for this wonderful idea!  The kids are so excited for our conference store this year, and I could not be more ready to receive counsel and guidance from our latter day Prophets! :)

Gift of Marriage Printable {General Conference!}

 

What a wonderful Conference weekend we had!!  I was so inspired by the many messages shared and personally received inspiration and guidance that was a direct answer to my prayers.

One talk that I especially loved was from L. Whitney Clayton all about marriage.

I find that I am ALWAYS praying and searching for ways I can be a better mother.  I'm embarrassed to say I don't always devote that same attention to being a better wife to my amazing husband.  I was so inspired with the counsel given on ways we can have a better marriage, and this particular quote really stuck out to me...

I am so inspired to re-dedicate myself to doing everything in ability to strengthen our marriage...and in turn become a better mother as well :)  

Did you have a chance to check out General Conference this weekend?  If so, what stuck out to YOU?  What are you inspired to work on in your life?

General Conference Ideas {Re-cap!}

Hello friends!!  I can't believe its already time for General Conference!  This year I haven't been able to do my prep as early as I usually do...I blame it all on this little face ;)

SO worth it!!

However, I did want to share some of the fun things we have done in years past if you are new to Blue Skies Ahead.  Conference weekend is something we look forward to all year long.  I love spending the weekend with my family and listening to the words of our modern day prophets.  I also love finding different ways to get my kids excited for conference....

 

THIS is a fun treat to leave out for your kids a few days before conference...also great for YW"s or primary classes too!

A fun spin on Conference Baskets...Don't let one minute of Conference go to WASTE!

A fun idea for post-Conference FHE...General Conference UN-Wrap Up!

Finally, one of our favorite family traditios...Conference Socks!!

I got some great ideas from different family members for things to do this year...hopefully I will have to time to share them with you all tomorrow!  Thanks so much for stopping by Blue Skies Ahead!!

General Conference 2012!

We had an AMAZING conference weekend!

It probably wouldn't have looked that special to anyone else...but to me it was exactly what my spirit needed.

All day Saturday and Sunday, snuggled up with blankets, pillows and the people I love the very most. Dinner and dessert with extended family that I love dearly and count among my greatest blessings.

And OH the messages shared! I couldn't help but cry as I heard words over and over that felt like they were meant for me alone. I feel encouraged, inspired, repentant and renewed. I felt sad as President Monson closed the final Sunday session...I didn't want it to end! There were too many highlights to name them all, but some of the lessons I won't soon forget: (and I am TOTALLY paraphrasing here!:)

* When it comes to judging, holding on to grudges, envy and causing hurt....STOP IT.

* Look for every day moments to teach our children important gospel principles

* There IS a difference between the church and the gospel

* There is enough pain in life that will cause us misery...we don't need to go looking for it by being upset and envious anytime anyone has something GOOD happen in their life.

* Sacrifices are a beautiful thing. They refine us and our priorities...they are necessary to becoming the people we want to be.

And SO, so much more!!

I have already listened to a bunch of the talks again online, and cannot WAIT for my Ensign to come so I can really study and read the words again.

What a gift it is to have a living prophet on the earth. What a gift it is to KNOW of a loving Savior, His Atonement, and His Resurrection. My heart has been full these last few days. Full of gratitude, LOVE for my family, and a desire to be better.

So how about you?! Did everyone love conference as much as I did? And hey...if you aren't even quite sure what all this "conference" stuff I'm going ON and ON about is...check it out! :)

http://www.lds.org/general-conference/watch/2012/04?lang=eng&vid=1541950013001&cid=4

This was one of my favorite talks...I think it applies to everyone everywhere! :)

We will be back tomorrow with a fun, simple craft to do with your kids to get in the Easter spirit...and maybe some fun homemade Easter Basket filler ideas too!

Don't let one minute of Conference go to "WASTE!"

Every year like so many of you I love to put together Conference Baskets for my kids. I always include a Conference Activity Packet, new crayons and some yummy treats that we very rarely have in our house (partially due to trying to be healthier, but also because I am really cheap!:)

This year I happened to be at Target and found some super cute waste baskets on clearance for .75 each! I thought they would be perfect for this year's baskets.

Don't you just love the look of that blue mesh waste basket??

This is the little printable I made up....Don't let one minute of Conference go to "WASTE!"

I love how these turned out and I KNOW my kids are going to be excited to get them (I know, because they came down while I was taking pictures and started freaking out :)

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend, thank you so much for stopping by!

Conference Socks

I wanted to share with you today a fun tradition we started in our family last year that was really easy and inexpensive to do, but that the kids absolutely loved. It also ties in a wonderful spiritual message for the litte ones and makes General Conference just a little bit more fun!

Every year I try to come up with ways to help my little ones not only listen and pay attention during conference, but also get excited about it! It really is a beautiful thing, an entire weekend dedicated to hearing the words of our latter-day prophets, hearing the things our Father in Heaven needs us to be better in....but also renewing our love and dedication to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. I want to share my love of General Conference and thought up this simple way to make it a little more special for them.

I blogged this idea last year but made up a printable this year and got much cuter pictures (my most fantastic hubby got me a new camera for my birthday....I am a little obsessed with it!:).

All you need to start this fun tradition with your family are a new pair of socks for each family member, a container to put them in, and our little Conference Socks poem :)

My girls LOVE anything Hello Kitty, and my little man is crazy about monkeys, so when I found these socks in the Dollar Spot at Target I knew it was my lucky day! I grabbed the container at the dollar store, it came in a pack of 2 so only .50 for that cute bucket.

Then I quickly threw together this printable today. Honestly, I wrote the poem and it is not my best work. If there are any poets out there, feel free to revamp it and send it over to me...I need all the help I can get. If not, this one works just fine and does a good job of expressing what exactly Conference Socks are :)

Once I printed the poem off I just backed it with some fun scrapbook paper like so:

And here is your finished product!!

I love our Conference Socks tradition, it is a simple way to try and help my kids understand feeling the Spirit just a little bit better.

Thank you SO much for stopping by this little blog of mine, and please share...what are some ways you make conference special for YOUR family?? :)

General Conference "UN"Wrap-up Family Home Evening

Ok, the "UN"Wrap-up part will all make sense in a minute :)

For Fhe tomorrow I really wanted to focus on the messages we heard in conference this weekend. I don't know if your home is like mine, but no matter how hard I try its tough to get my kids to pay really good attention for that long (I mean, they are 5, 3, and 1!:) I wanted to make sure we focused on a few talks that had messages that my young ones could understand. Here is what I have come up with:

First we are going to say several times together the 6th Article of Faith. Feel free to copy and print off the printable I made for it...I laminated mine so we will have it for future use.

Then we are going to talk about how lucky we are to have a modern day Prophet that speaks with Heavenly Father and Jesus and then talks to us. Then we will talk about things we remember from conference and how Heavenly Father gives us little “gifts” of truth and knowledge when we listen to the prophets and apostles. ACTIVITY: In a basket we will have several items wrapped up in wrapping paper. These are items that represent different topics we heard about in General Conference. The kids will take turns unwrapping each gift one at a time and we will discuss who spoke about the topic and one or two key points they mentioned. These are the speakers, their topic, and what I am wrapping up.

President Monson / Temples / Picture of a Temple

President Eyring / Serving Others / Completed Hygiene Kits

Elder Scott / Love to spouse and children / Heart-shaped Box

Elder Pratt / Tithing / Tithing Slip and Envelope

Elder Perry / Keep the Sabbath Day Holy / Sunday Books and Activities

In with the packages that I wrapped I have included these cards below. They just have a small picture of the speaker and one line from their talk that summed up the topic or that I wanted the kids to hear again.

Get it?! General Conference "UN"Wrap-up?! Oh my goodness, I am such a dork :) But I hope you can use this idea and some of the printables to reinforce some of the WONDERFUL messages that we heard this weekend :)

General Conference is coming...

and I am so excited!! I love love love this time of year! I think I was inspired before I was put on bedrest to prepare some things for my kids for the upcoming events in our lives that I knew I would probably be down for (conference, Easter, birthdays, etc!) I almost forgot that I threw these simple little things together a few weeks ago, but remembered last night and thought it was a fun way to get your kids excited about conference. Not only that, but these would be great if you are in Primary, Activity Days, or Young Women's as well. They were super easy, cheap and I think the kids will love them :)

One thing I have found with my children is how important it is to make things like Family Home Evening and General Conference fun and something they look forward too. They are still so young they are not always capable of getting the spiritual "meat" that comes from these things...but I am thrilled when my kids get excited because they know its Monday night or they know we are soon going to be hearing the words of our Prophet. I think this excitement will translate in older years to truly enjoying the real reasons we have these things...not just for the fun treats. But hey, who am I kidding?? I am 28 years old with almost 4 kids and I STILL love the fun treats :) Anyway, last October I tried to make conference a little more special by doing a fun poem with some fuzzy socks that tied into feeling the Spirit. You can read all about it HERE.

This year I wanted to do something simple to get the kids excited for conference and looking forward to it. Here is what I came up with :)

All you need for this is some cute ribbon, Otter Pops, and a little note. I have posted the one I made here, please feel free to use it and let me know in the comments if you have any troubles gettting it, I would love to email it to anyone.

Once I printed off the note, I simply tied 3 Otter Pops together with the ribbon, taped on the note and there you have it! "General Conference is coming....COOL!!"

I think I will have these out for the kids on Friday morning to get them excited for Saturday. I hope you all have a wonderful General Conference weekend and enjoy those Otter Pops!! :)

What do socks, french toast, and joy all have in common?

They are all things that were in abundance at our home this conference weekend! :) I really love General Conference, I think it is a beautiful time to not only hear the words of our Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, but to forge stronger family bonds and create lasting memories and traditions.

I am a big lover of traditional foods, you know, the foods you only have on special occasions a few times a year. Our absolute favorite family breakfast is Creme Brulee French Toast. My sister-in-law made this for me right after I had Britton, and it is now tradition for Sunday Conference and Christmas breakfast. Here is the recipe (warning: it is VERY rich and VERY high in calories!!:):

Creme Brulee French Toast

A new tradition we started this year was our "Conference Socks". I always print off the conference packets you find online and put them in a binder with markers, crayons, and a matching game of pictures of the apostles. I also have little buckets filled with treats, amazing what kids will sit through with some crayons and fruit snacks! :) But in all seriousness, I love these packets, they help familiarize my little ones with all the Apostles and the reasons we have conference. ANYWAY...back to the conference socks! :)

This morning sitting next to the treat buckets and binders were pairs of fuzzy Halloween socks for everyone in the family. Every morning when the kids wake up they talk about how cold their feet are on the tile. I thought this would be a fun way to illustrate a principle I want to instill in the children: Feeling and recognizing the Spirit! So to tie it all together here is the poem I came up with (take it easy on me, I wrote it at 7 this morning, not my best work ;)

Conference Socks

On cold fall mornings, it can get a little chilly,

Walking around on the cold tile, it just seems a little silly!

So here are some warm fuzzy socks, to put on your little feet,

But when you put these on, I want you to think of something even more sweet.

Today we listen to Conference and feel the Spirit of the Lord,

We listen to President Monson, he tells us of Heavenly Father's words.

Just like the socks make our feet feel warm, the Spirit can warm our hearts too,

And when you get that warm fuzzy feeling inside, you know what you hear is true!

So every time you put your socks on, I want you to remember what you feel,

President Monson is a prophet, and Heavenly Father and Jesus' love for us is real!

Cheesy....YES! Did the kids get a kick out of it....YES!!!

I am so grateful for General Conference. I have been praying for guidance lately, and the things I heard this weekend reminded me of the covenants I have made, the things that are truly important, and areas in my life I need to be more vigilant in following after my Savior. It was a wonderful weekend :)