This weekend our church holds a General Conference for all members all over the world. Saturday and Sunday meetings will be held in a huge Conference Center in Salt Lake City. These meetings will be broadcast throughout the world over the internet (see lds.org), via television broadcasts, and at meeting houses around the globe.
At these meetings, we have a chance to hear directly from the living Prophet on the earth today and from members of the quorum of the Twelve Apostles. I always love this special weekend when we can gather in our homes and listen to a prophets voice. There always seems to be one or two talks that speak directly to me.
These conferences are held twice a year--once in the fall and once in the spring. To make the occasion more memorable for the kids, we have a few traditions that we do each conference time.
First, I always make rolls. Sometimes they are cinnamon rolls. This time I am doing orange rolls. I will make the dough tonight and then roll them out and bake them tomorrow. It is great to have yummy food to eat while we watch.
I also try to have activity packets for the kids to do while they listen. If I get too busy to get these together for the kids, I just pull out paper and crayons. Then I ask them to draw a picture for each talk of something that person talked about. Luckily my kids love drawing so this works well for us.
If you are not a member of our church, but have any interest in finding out more about if there is really a prophet today on the earth like there was in scripture times, I invite you to tune in to this conference and give a listen. Conference sessions will be from 9-11 am and 1-3 pm PST both Saturday and Sunday. You can watch on the internet HERE anytime during or after the live broadcast.
The Prophet's name is Thomas S. Monson. While he will likely not speak at every session, you can be fairly sure to hear him if you tune in Sunday morning.
And if you listen to conference regularly, what are some of your favorite conference traditions? I am always looking for new ideas to make this weekend special.
19 comments:
gosh ... I think I just might have to make me some rolls this weekend now that you mention it! :D
i love staying in my jammies all day long... and cuddling with my childern while watching.
I always make cinnamon rolls Sunday morning also. That is our only conference tradition. But I think tomorrow we are going to go have a picnic in between the sessions to get us out of the house.
In the fall we always have varsity chowder. Definitely cinnamon rolls and danishes. Growing up we invited the missionaries over to watch and that was always neat.
Family activities are so big on Saturdays for us. My dad was Bishop while I was growing up and we would shop for the ice cream and go to the ward meeting house and set up for the ice cream social he did for the priesthood members who went.
My parents would always take us to get an ice cream cone Saturday after the last session. We would get a scoop for each session that we saw that day so if we saw both we would get a double scoop.
We started a new tradition just this year. Monday night for family home evening, using the poster from the previous conference edition of the Ensign, we talked about the prophets and apostles. I shared how excited I was to hear them speak. We then hung the poster in the living room at kid eye level so that we could refer to it all week in preparation. We decided that each night at dinner I will ask "Who do we get to listen to this weekend?" (To keep the excitement up.) We made plans to get all of our chores done on Friday so we could dedicate the weekend to conference. And lastly we made plans to have a picnic in between Saturday sessions. I love your idea of the rolls!!! I think I will do something like that for Sunday. Oh and for priesthood session we have a family tradition where all the girls get together while the men attend priesthood session...we make rolls while they are gone and share them when they return!
A big breakfast on Sunday morning is always the tradition for us but an extra one comes during conference in the fall. We live in Salt Lake so for us, the route was the Alpine Loop but it would work wherever you are. On Sunday afternoon, we take a drive and listen to the session while we see all of the leaves changing colors in the canyon. It was my favorite thing to do with my family and growing up and I love that it is becoming a new tradition in my own little family. After the session, we usually take a family photo in the trees. Conference is just magical.
I love conference weekend! Here is a conference packet your kids may enjoy, if you still need one. Have a great weekend!
http://d.scribd.com/docs/1y8qkrk113z9gvo5cbsu.pdf
We always get together with cousins for the Sunday sessions. The morning always begins with a big breakfast. Last fall it was Scones with Buttermilk Syrup (Heaven, I tell ya!) This weekend, it's going to be waffles with all the fixins.
We usually have the conference packets for the kids too. I love those!
Lunch on Conference Sunday always consists of BLTA's on croissants. (the A is for Avocado...Mmmmmm)
After reading this comment, you'd think that Conference weekend is all about the food huh? I promise, I DO enjoy the actual conference too ;)
A tradition I've heard about and will try for the first time this Conference is mimicking the Nephites listening to King Benjamin and putting up tents in front of the TV for the kids to sit in and watch conference/do their conference packets in. We are just finishing King Benjamin's sermon in the Book of Mormon this week and so we have been talking at night about how we get to listen to our very own prophet this weekend.
Hi Stephanie!
The times depend on where you live. :) In Utah, it is 10 a.m. to noon, and 2 to 4 p.m. MST. (OK. My husband is here telling me it's actually MDT-Mountain Daylight-Savings Time).
Anyway, if you're interested, adjust for your time zone. ;)
I love conference as well! Every Saturday session all "the girls" paint there fingers and toes. So much fun. My daughters (6 yr old & 9 yr old) love it! Have a great weekend!
when at home in vegas we like to call other families and take a picnic lunch to the park between sessions to give ourselves and our kids some stretching time. we also do the conference packet. and sometimes we go to our cool friends' amazing cabin near brianhead to watch. (ha ha ha)
My kids are grown and gone now, so I just like to get in my comfortable chair with a pen and journal and make notes for myself. I actually love doing this, the whole time listening for those little tidbits that are "just for me."
=)
It is so comforting to know how aware of each of us the Lord is. I wish I was sitting with you now during Elder Pino's talk. Your Heavenly Father loves you so much.
He could have been talking about you and your strong family in regards to how strengthened you are by your faith in Christ. What a tender mercy.
Listening as I scroll through the blogs. Listening right now about eternal life and temples. How fitting to read your blog at the same time.
We always did Conference Bingo growing up. We would each have different cards with common words, or pictures that would most likely be heard during the talks (Joseph Smith, testimony, Book of Mormon, primary, etc). We would use buttons for our markers and when we got a bingo we would get a Starburst. And once we got blackout we got a bigger treat (ie snack size of M&M's) and could start all over again. We always tried to see who could get the most blackouts and even if we didn't get the content of the talks, we were quietly listening for our "words."
And tonight I am making my cinnamon rolls to take to my in-laws house tomorrow morning.
I just finished preparing our "conference" stew that we make for each Sunday session and eat with all the fam. I get it all prepped and in the fridge, then I just put the crock pot in the oven in the morning.
We also usually have everyone come over for a yummy potluck breakfast in the morning and have some sort of packet or conference bingo to try to keep the kids attention.
We usually try to get a nap in between sessions {the adults sleep and the kids destroy the house}.
I LOVE having DVR so if we aren't all here yet, we can just start it when everyone is ready to go.
Stephanie, thank you so much for your beautiful, uplifting blog! You are such an amazing person. I wanted to thank you for posting about Jami's blog, thoughtsofanldsaddict.blogspot.com
I have been incredibly blessed through reading her blog and it has helped my husband and I so much. My husband has struggled with addictions to pornography and gambling (mostly pornography) for years and reading Jami's blog has truly touched both of us so much. My husband (though Jami's example) has started a blog as well (I really still can't believe he is doing this),
recoveringfromaddictions.blogspot.com and I wondered if you wouldn't mind sharing his as well. I don't want you to think that we think of your blog as "advertisment", the only reason I ask is because I know how many people come to your blog for inspiration and to be uplifted. I know that there are thousands of other couples out there that are struggling with the same trials that we are. It is our goal that as my husband and I try to overcome these things that through his blog we can help others in the process.
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