Conference weekend = Our very 1st "CONFERENCE STORE"

ITS FINALLY HERE!! The weekend we've been talking about all week!!:) I thought I was fully prepared for this years conference sessions, but after the Saturday morning session I new I needed to make some changes before the Sunday sessions. The kids weren't necessarily bad during the first session but they didn't really listen either. My goal was to help find ways to motivate the kids to listen to the speakers not just to be quiet.

Last year we came up with a few words we wanted to listen for during the talks.. Whenever you heard one of the word we chose you got to eat the correlating treat.. (we used starbursts, M&M's, skittles, and tootsie rolls... .BAD IDEA).. As you can imagine feeding the kids a CRAZY amount of sugar and then asking them to sit still for 2 hours just didn't go over very well. So this year I decided to use fruit in our baskets instead of candy and it went ok but the kids still weren't overly excited about it.. I knew I needed to do SOMETHING to get them PUMPED for the Sunday sessions:)

Since Kaj had to go to the store to pick up a few items for Sunday nights dinner, I had him stop off and pick up a few things to create our very 1st "CONFERENCE STORE" ;) I didn't know if this would work but thanks to the WONDERFUL Tonii Johnson, I thought it would be worth a try! and YEP.... IT WAS A TOTAL HIT!!! We set up 3 baskets (i felt like if I did any more than that the kids get to overwhelmed),  each filled with "tickets" and then we thought of 3 new words we wanted to listen for during the morning session... Briyler chose Family, Dad chose Missionaries, and Ryker chose Jesus. The words were perfect for the morning session and the kids heard them quite a bit! It took Bri a little while to warm up to the "ticket, idea" but once he did, him and Ryker would get SOO EXCITED when they heard their words and they couldn't wait to get there tickets and put them in their baskets. At the end of the 1st session the kids got to buy some items out of the "conference store" and they couldn't have been MORE EXCITED!! It was soo nice to be able to listen to conference and to see the boys get excited about listening to the speakers (even if it was so they could earn there tickets) .. :)

The afternoon session was EVEN BETTER since all 3 younger kids were down for nap, we got to sit and snuggle with the older boys. I asked the boys if they wanted to pick new words for the afternoon session but they wanted to stick with the same words (probably cause they were such a big hit during the 1st session.. To add a little more excitement we played conference bingo (and because its a little easier to play those games without the babies stealing the "game pieces, aka M&M's)... For the most part the boys did really well. By the second half of the afternoon session the boys were getting a little tired, Ryker asked if he could take a nap and I told him if he did he would miss out on more tickets and he'd have to pay me 5 tickets of the ones he had already earned as a consequence, poor kid hung on as long as he could and ended up falling asleep only for the last few talks.. I was tempted to not take away any tickets since he tried so hard but I wanted to stick to my guns and when all was said and done he actually was able to buy the 2 toys he wanted anyway:) 

With the kids being so good Kaj and I were actually able to listen to most of the talks (more so during the afternoon sessions) but we caught bits and pieces of the morning sessions too... I feel like I have so many favorite talks right now!! There was something in almost every talk that was "meant" for me or at least for someone in our home.. I am soo grateful for a Modern day Prophet and for the restored gospel on the earth. I feel so lucky to know who I am, where I'm going, and what my purpose is on this earth. I cant imagine going through life and not KNOWING the answers to those questions...... Yay for having my spiritual cup filled today:)

our Ticket baskets

this is how the boys started off the morning.. (we thought for sure it wasn't going to work)

Ryker wasn't to happy about it either

But after they started listening.....

it quickly changed into excitement every time they got to go get a ticket

Ryker helping Dugi get his tickets

YAY I got one!

Kynlie didn't care one bit about the tickets :)

If you cant tell Bri's favorite color is still GREEN :)

Ryker being silly and enjoying his little snack.

Little does she know its almost time for NAP :)

YAYAY FOR THE CONFERENCE STORE

the boys loved the CTR rings and bracelets

                                    
                                      one of my favorite talks and LOVE this printable
get this printable here: http://www.mormonmommyblogs.com/2013/04/saturday-morning-general-conference.html

                 
                       Love that these amazing women share there talents with everyone else ;)
get these printables here: http://mycomputerismycanvas.blogspot.com/2013/04/lds-conference-printables-saturday.html