General Conference Packet

I am so excited about this post! I have seen so many adorable pages that I really wanted to compile the best and include a few unique ones of my own to create a really fun packet to get children involved in General Conference. Unfortunately I've gotten really busy with work and family things going on, so I wasn't able to get everything together. I wasn't able to create a few unique pages like I wanted, just one. I'm going to start working now on April's and maybe I'll have it done in time. :) 

I have also spoken to a few moms to see what their kids liked and didn't like to try and weed out the ones that seem like a great idea, but maybe aren't. I've decided to list links to each of the pages individually in case you would rather not include one in your packet you won't have to waste any ink or paper.

The first one that I like is the one I've heard the most positive reviews about. This one has a picture of the prophet/apostles and a blank tie underneath so that they can color the tie to match what tie the prophet/apostle is wearing that day.This one is in the sugardoodle packet for this conference, which is really great through and through. I ended up printing out the whole thing for my Primary kids. They also have a cute maze that says "Follow the Prophet." So stinking cute.

This one is really neat because it is a chart of to guess the number of missionaries, branches, etc. there are, and then an area to fill in the actual number. I didn't find anything else like it, so check it out!

http://ladycreate-a-lot.blogspot.com/2011/04/general-conference-games-and-activity.html

Kids love getting new crayons. They're super cheap. Great mix? I think so. This one was really cute packaging that I think would really take it up a notch and get them even more excited about it.

http://fluffybunnyfeetdesigns.blogspot.com/2011/09/general-conference-packets-for-my.html

This is some coloring pages from sugardoodle.

http://www.sugardoodle.net/joomla/index.php?id=8546&option=com_content&view=article

Also, check out my coloring page my husband made of  Thomas S. Monson!

Child Scripture Set DIY

Okay, I know these are not authentic scripture sets, but as I mentioned here, I wanted to create a little scripture "set" I could give my son to carry around, knowing fully that they will get destroyed. The purpose of this is to teach him that they are special. This way, he has his own he can learn from until he gets a nice set for his eighth birthday. After giving them to him I had him hug them and tell them he loved them. I told him they were special and we took care of them.

For this you will need:
Index Cards (or card stock)
A ring to put it on (I used one you would put keys on)
Stickers to decorate (optional)
 Hole puncher

Cost wise, it really couldn't be any better. I bought the cards at Wal Mart for .48, the hole puncher for .97, the ring I already had (Wal Mart had 6 of them for 2.00), and 2 packs of stickers at 1.00 each. I probably had stickers I could use but I didn't feel like digging around for them. I would HIGHLY recommend laminating these. Especially if you are giving this to a young child. My son is 20 months old and will probably destroy these in 5 minutes. He's a little crazy though. I don't have a laminater, but after seeing how easy it is for him, I will be using my mom's next time I am over her house. Until then, close supervision! I don't care if he messes them up in general, but 5 minutes is too short for it to last in my opinion. If you don't have someone who has one you can borrow or use, you could go to Kinko's or Staple's. I believe they do it there cheaply.

The first thing I did was pick what I wanted to be on there. I chose the story of Noah's Ark (Because I could animal stickers), Daniel and the Lion's Den (Again, all about the stickers), my favorite scripture, and my husband's favorite scripture. I wrote a sentence or two on each one until the story was told. I punched a whole in it and let him put stickers on. I did have to rearrange some of the stickers so they weren't covering up words. Then I put them on the ring, voila! 

If you laminate them (again, highly recommended), do it before putting them on the ring. Maybe even before stickers depending on the kind of stickers you use too. I used puffy one's that probably won't go through a laminater. So I will have to peel them off or chose different ones. 

These were pretty easy, but in case you have issues shortening the stories, I will write out what I did, to at least get you on the right track. I love the idea of putting their favorite stories, or one's you've talked about recently in there. My son is too little to have this work for us, but maybe it'll work for someone else. The joy of this too, is you can always add on to it. 


Noah's Ark:

The Lord told Noah to build a big boat because a flood was coming. Noah built the boat and everyone told him he was crazy. After he built the boat he put two animals of every species in it. So two turtles, two cats, two puppies, two elephants. The flood came just like the Lord promised.

 Daniel and the Lion's Den:

Daniel was a prophet who refused to stop praying. The King threw him in the lion's den. Angels calmed the lions and Daniel was saved.

 Let me know what you do with yours! This would be great for Sunbeams, Nursery, or FHE.

Nursery Behold Your Little Ones Lesson 23: I Love the Scriptures

My son is in nursery and he has a really great Nursery Leader. He gets to take home his coloring pages every week discussing showing what he learned. Normally I would just stick it up on the fridge or file it away in his "baby book," but I got the idea today, while I was struggling with what to do tonight for FHE, what if we revisit his Sunday lesson tonight? The more I think about it, the more I like it. It reinforces the lessons and gives him a second exposure to it. Plus, there aren't a ton of things to do for FHE that keep a 20 month old's attention. Anyway, the more I started researching different ideas to reinforce these lessons, the more I realized there isn't a ton of helps out there for our Nursery Leaders. It's sad because it really can be a fun calling. You have the opportunity to make so many fun crafts and cute snacks, but sometimes it's hard to get brainstorming. I figured if I was going to be doing it anyways, I would put up any thoughts or ideas I had to help.

The lesson they taught yesterday was Lesson 23, I Love the Scriptures. I'm not sure if there is an official church wide schedule to be on, or what other areas are doing, but this is what they taught.

The lesson can be found here. There should be a link there for a puppet project that they can do. I like that idea, but I would probably print it out on card stock and laminate it before hand. Little ones can be hard on regular paper. ;)

The idea I had that was a little bit different is to make a little scripture thing for them. This would be theirs. They could protect it and keep it safe. It would be a good practice for having their own set of scriptures one day. My original thought was maybe 4 or 5 pages with a few scriptures and pictures to coordinate on it. I still like that idea but I think I found a better finished product here. I think I am going to get some index cards, write a few scriptures on a few different ones, poke a whole in them and put a ring in it. If you have a laminater that is probably a brilliant idea, I don't so I'm not going to worry about. To me, this is going to be the set he can practice on. He can get used to bringing them to church, learn not to put them on the kitchen table, etc. I'm going to teach him that they're special and he needs to take care of them, and that's true. But between you and me, I won't shed any tears if they get too messed up, because they're cheap and easy to replace, unlike the set he'll receive when he's 8.

When I go home and make them, I'll take pictures so you can see how I did them. I'll link it up when it's finished.


UPDATE: I just finished the tutorial on the practice scriptures. You can find it here. I hope you guys like it!

October 2012 Visiting Teaching Printable

Can you believe October is almost here? I mean, we're days away at this point. I still haven't accepted that fall is here, and now we're almost to Halloween. A couple days ago I posted the September VTing message, shamefully late. In there I said I wanted to post up the October one by October 7th, well I didn't realize that October message was already out. So now I'm early! I figured I would put this up for all the super awesome ladies that want a head start.  I really loved this quote from the message and decided to make a picture to frame with it. This month we're talking about Honoring our Covenants. Whether it is temple covenants or baptism, we all have covenants to honor. You can find the message for this month here. I have the picture I mentioned below with a link to print it out.

Picture to print here.

Let me know if you have any issues printing, I'm new to all this. :)

Sharing Time October 2012 Week 1: Worthy Young Men Recieve the Priesthood When they are 12 Years Old

I know this week is General Conference, but maybe you guys were able to fit in for Week 5 of September, or you are combining it with week 2 this month. Either way I thought it was a good lesson and I wanted to share some thoughts.

I really like the "Identify Doctrine" part of the churches outline, found here. I don't want to stray too much from this because I think it's the perfect way to introduce what we're talking about. To me, any opportunity to show what Christ did during his life should be taken advantage of.  I think it's important to reiterate to the children that we are following Christ's example when we partake of the sacrament. We are doing something that Christ has asked us to do. All of September we talked about the commandments and how we should follow them.

To identify the age young men receive the preisthood at, I will probably just ask an older child. After they answer correctly, I will ask them if all young men can get it or if it is something only some can get. This is where we will dive into the worthiness aspect of this week.  In the official guideline they suggest using the "My Gospel Standards" to go over what makes someone worthy and not worthy. I would print out a copy ahead of time to make copies of.

For an activity I'm going to break the kids into a few groups. You can see how many you have and just go off of that. I'm going to ask each group to prepare a skit illustrating a gospel standard from the list. I'm going to give each group a few options, maybe three, to choose from to do their skit. This way there will be no duplicates of skits and the kids will love feeling like they have a choice. Their skit will just have to illustrate what that aspect of Gospel Standards is. For example, to illustrate a one about modesty a child clothes shopping and choose a modest outfit over an immodest one. I think it'll be fun to bring some props in too. You could bring in some good things to read and maybe some worldly things (sabbath day), modest clothes and wild clothes (it doesn't have to be revealing, just maybe a little crazy or extreme. Or a smaller childs shirt that would be immodest on an older child), an apple or some other fruit and maybe some candy and junk food (partake of good things for your body. You could get more into drugs, alcohol, cigerettes. I would explain candy is okay in moderation), etc. I will explain to them that these standards are not only for the boys, this is something that all of us should do. I don't want the girls to think this lesson isn't applicable for them. Even though they will not be able to hold the priesthood, they can still benefit from it. They can marry a worthy man and have it in their homes their whole life. The priesthood is such a special gift for all of us, we should encourage young men to be worthy to receive it.

After the children perform their skits I would just close by bearing my testimony of the priesthood and gratitude for it.

You can get a coloring page for them to bring home here. This would be something good for them to do to keep the sabbath day holy!

7 Step Carmel Apple Recipe

Why hello, Fall! Last weekend I went with my sister in law Apple picking for her daughters first birthday. We got some Fuji Apples and I pretty soon after getting them I knew I wanted to do Caramel Apples. I've never tried these before, but I figured, how hard can it be? Well, it isn't bad. I had heard that people had issues getting the caramel to stick but soon after researching them I found out you have to wash the apples good to get the wax off to get the caramel to stick. My first batch didn't have this issue because I got them straight from the orchard. My second batch I washed really good so I didn't really have a hard time with that either. 

Okay lets get started!

What you need:

6 Medium Apples (Any variety, honestly I don't think you can go wrong. So far I've used Gala and Fuji. Both turned out good. I've read to use more tart flavors though. It's up to you. Also, please note my number and sizing of the apples may be off. This is purely from my experience and just a guess on what you'll be able to get out of a bag.)

1 Bag Caramel (I have used Brach's and Kraft, both tasted great and worked well. In the Brach's I had to unwrap them, the Kraft were already unwrapped and it was about the same price.)

Chocolate Coating (I used Plymouth Pantry from WalMart. This is pretty cheap and it tasted great with it. If you want to splurge for higher end chocolate, great, but if you don't, I don't think it's necessary. Again with this, break off maybe 3 or 4 squares which is approx. 8 oz. You may need more, but you can always melt it if needed.)

Popsicle sticks or wooden dowels

Lined cookie sheet or baking pan. I lined mine with aluminum foil, but I kept thinking wax paper may work better. I didn't have any though, so if you do it try it with wax paper, let me know how it goes!

Peanuts or other garnish. I have seen people use M&Ms or Oreos, lots of different things. I bought Dry Roasted Peanuts.

Steps:

1. Wash the apples well. Dry them off completely. 

2. Insert the popsicle sticks or wooden dowels into the middle of the apples. Make sure you remove the stem first. 

3. Melt the caramel. I used a double broiler method and added about 1.5 to 2 TBS of water in. I put it on med-high, this will take a little bit. Just stir occasionally and be patient!

{It doesn't look so great. But this is how it's supposed to look, scared me for a few minutes though!}

 

 {Still looking good}

{Almost there}

 

 {And ready! You can see here I tilted the bowl a little bit}

4. Next is dipping the apples. I tilted the bowl to be a little crooked, this helped to get the apple covered in caramel. Remember you can be creative. You can go half way up the apple, go on an angle, or go high up like I did. You can't go wrong! After you are happy with the amount of caramel, place it on the lined cookie sheet.

 {Caramel is on them! You could stop here if you want, but you won't regret continuing ;)}

 5. Begin melting the chocolate. This can be done while they are setting and the caramel is cooling. Once they are cooled dip them like you did the caramel. Again, remember you can be creative! Do all 6 or so apples before adding on the toppings. The chocolate will not harden that quickly. I know this is nerve racking, and I did it one at a time the first time, but it got messy and it was a lot easier to wait a minute to add the peanuts. 

 {Chocolate is melting}

6. To add the peanuts or other toppings just roll the apple on a plate of toppings. I used my hands to make sure it got where I needed it to be. 

7. When you are finished, set it the fridge for about 15 minutes and slice up to eat! I have found trying to bite into these is next to impossible. So just slice parts off and enjoy!

 {Finished!!}

These apples are so good. My husband told me I was the best homemaker tonight, boy I fooled him! And they're so easy! You can slice these up and give them away for treats, or just stick them in a goodie bag for a neighbor. Or you can eat them all yourself, I won't judge you. Let me know what you ended up doing with yours! Get creative!

September 2012 Visiting Teaching Message

I just wanted to briefly explain what Visiting Teaching is, since this is my first post regarding it. This is a church program that encourages the women to get to know each other better, a few at a time, through acts of kindness and service. Each woman (or sister as we refer to each other) is assigned a few other sisters to check in with once a month, see if they have anything going on that they can help with, and to offer a simple thought or spiritual message. The message is assigned for each month so it makes it really simple. This is also really great because every so often the women you are assigned to get switched around, so you get to know everyone a little better. 

If you are anything like me, you wait until the last minute to do any Visiting Teaching. That is exactly what I'm doing tonight, waiting until the last minute. The woman I'm visiting with tonight is actually assigned to me so we get to kill two birds with one stone! I also work with her in Primary so I know her pretty well. Anyways, as I was preparing to share the message this month with her, I thought I would write down a few thoughts on it here, in case anyone else was preparing to go out the last week in September (whoops!).

When I was reading this I couldn't help but think of a lesson I'd been taught my whole life; want to love someone? Serve them. I have had my fair share of difficult people in my life. I have not always followed this advice, but I have found that when I do serve people, especially ones that are difficult, I have a newfound love and respect for them. This has helped me to develope better relationships at work, within my family, and when I was at school. I think that there are always people in our lives (as much as we don't want to admit it) that we don't get along with, or we would rather not see. Through listening and applying this lesson into our lives for this month, we can overcome these feelings. I am not saying that these people will be our new best friends, but maybe we can understand why they are the way they are, and I think that brings a certain level of acceptance and appreciation.

In the VTing message for this month it says, "As visiting teachers we can sincerely come to know and love each sister we visit." I think the key word here is "can." If we do not go out and visit these sisters, we will not get to know them. We will not know when there is a need or an opportunity for service. We will not know when someone is struggling. They will not feel comfortable enough with us to confide when they need to.

I know that I can do better as a Visiting Teacher. So I'm making a goal to be better and I want to challenge all of you do the same. If you visit everyone every month, awesome! Kudos to you! But even then, lets try to have more of a listening ear, to take more time and prepare our lessons, to put more thought into our handouts, be mindful of birthdays and special days in their lives. Lets just do better. There is always room for improvement. So next month, instead of posting a VTing thought on the 26th, I will try and have one up by the 7th. And on that note, here are some great printables I found to do for fun handouts.

This is the VTing message from the church.

This is a really cute handout from Latter Day Chatter. I would print it out on cardstock and maybe attach it to a baggie of cookies, or lotion or something.

This is probably my favorite and what I plan on doing for the lady I'm visiting tonight. I'm going to stop off at the dollar store and by a frame, stick this in there and voila! I think this is just adorable and so cute to go on a shelf to remind us all the time to do more service. I might even print one out for me ;)

Let me know if you come up with any fun ideas! I would love to hear about what you did this month or any tips you have on being a better Visiting Teacher.