Conference Ideas and Activities for your kids/Family

         Ok, Hoots.... I am Sorry this post is the night before Conference, but you can still get ready tonight and I am sure most of you have a printer. For those of you Non-LDS viewers.....Conference for my church is a Semiannual event where our Prophet and Apostles broadcast messages to help us strengthen ourselves, families and each other.

I am posting links to:   1) fun, printable activity books for all ages  2) a yummy Cinnamon Roll Recipe and 3) a cute idea for family or for your girls you Visit Teach.

1 -----fun, printable activity books for all ages
         So, FYI......I have a 8, 5, 4, and 7 month old owletts. Keeping kids still can be a challenge and  besides I want to listen. So the past few years I have done the conference bingo. It was fun, I enjoyed getting the candy for the Bingo cards.... BUT I am bored with it (so are my kids). SoI have been looking for new ideas. My favorite packets so far have come from Sugardoodle.net  This is a great church website for many things. Here is the link to get you to the October Conference packets and other ideas

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=8786%3Aoctober-2012-general-conference-packets&catid=3834&Itemid=200001

2) a yummy Cinnamon Roll Recipe

I saw a great idea about taking cinnamon rolls to the girls you visit teach the Friday Night before Conference so they could bake them in the morning and get the house all yummy smelling and lively. So, I decided I wanted to do that this year, but I really haven't ever made Cinamon Rolls before. NOTE: I don't eat cinnamon rolls unless they are super moist and chewy. I like to make things from scratch and I found a great recipe at the Pioneer Woman. PLUS you can refrigerate them OR freeze them. HOOT HOOT!!!

http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2007/06/cinammon_rolls_/   Original Recipe
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2010/10/notes-on-cinnamon-rolls/    This link has additional notes for the recipe

They turned out YUMMMY. I personally thought it needed less sugar when rolling them, but chewy and moist yes, yes, yes. The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup of brewed coffee.....weird, but I didn't use that. The second link I posted above has alternatives. I used those deep throw away metal pans. This recipe did 3 1/2 pans of 12 rolls per pan.

 3) a cute idea for family or for your girls you Visit Teach.

One of the girls I visit teach just moved into a new house and I knew she would not have stuff ready for her kids for conference. SOOOOOO,  I made a package for her.

The activity packets are from the sugardoodle site I mentioned, the cinnamon rolls are from the above recipe and the jars are an activity for her kids. Each jar has 2 "Keywords" hanging on a tag. Everytime they hear one of the Keywords during conference they get to pick a treat from the jar. This is a great instant gratification activity for anyone.....even adults.

The KeyWords are: Repentance, Scriptures, Prophet, Temple, Holy Ghost, Commandment, Prayer, Testimony, Faith and Priesthood. Hee Hee Hee I love how I found the devil cinnamon heads. I put Repentance and Priesthood on that jar. These jars I found at Walmart for .50 cents each. You could use mason jars...but just make sure it is a wide mouth top so it is easy to get the candy out. I used twine and actually hot glued a dot on the front and back as I was wrapping it. I added the tags before I knotted it. The tags are just printed out avery 5160 labels and I just put them on a design paper. I did make a stencil tag and used it to trace out all the other tags them punched a hole. HOOT HOOT. Easy and no machine needed.

I also did another fun spin off this idea for my family. The "Conference Store".

You use the same "keyword" tags, but I used 2 jars with 100 pennies each ( I didn' have enough pennies to fill it up) and each time a keyword is said during conference they pick a penny out of the jar. At the end of each session they go to the "Conference Store" and buy stuff. Each item will have a price tag on it. I used things like stickers, pop tarts, mini oreos, Animal Crackers, mini hand soaps, bubblegum and such. I used

the garage sale stickers you can buy at the store....Note: they say $ on them but it is cents for this game.

I am excited to see how it goes. I will post a follow up on any tweaks or suggestions I would make after doing it live with owletts.

Enjoy your weekend!!!

BRINGING HOMEMADE BACK