{ Rejoice! }

I love that my kids are always SO excited for General Conference weekend! I made monkey bread on Friday for breakfast. Zane said, "Let's save some for conference tomorrow and when we hear the word family we can eat some." He's on to me.

I decided to change it up this time. I created a bag for each of the members of the 1st presidency and the quorum of the 12. Each bag contained an activity or treat but could only be opened when that person spoke. Not knowing the order of the speakers made this a little tricky.

Amazingly, they spoke in an order that provided a good balance of activities and snacks. I had two big activities (playdough and Legos) and I feared the speakers would be back to back. Miraculously, one spoke on Saturday and one on Sunday. Perfect!

I've printed off packets for the kids in the past but Zane would complete all the coloring and puzzles by the end of the 1st session. Separating the activities by speaker helped to pace him and gave him something to look forward to. Morgan still had her packet that she worked on in addition to the other activities.

I also printed an Easter basket, which they decorated, and I created Easter eggs with possible topics written on them. They listened carefully for the key words and by the end of conference their baskets were full!

We were also blessed with temps in the 80s so we got to run off some energy outside between sessions. We chased pheasants with the dog, shot BB guns, and made a trip in to the park. We are SO ready for summer!

I even managed to make a couple cards. What a busy weekend!
I also took 5 1/2 pages of notes. Wow! I have lots to work on. All of the talks were so good and I want to remember every word.

I loved how President Monson opened the conference by encouraging us to have the courage to make the changes in our lives that we need to. Sometimes we KNOW what the right thing is but it's hard to have the courage to DO it. And then at the end of conference he encouraged us to become better than we were when conference began. What a blessing it is to have Prophets and Apostles to provide guidance and stability in a turbulent world!