Christmas Appreciation for Church Teachers and Leaders

We usually remember to thank our kids school teachers, but what about our kids church leaders?  Grab a fun treat and attach this cute tag to show them you are grateful for their efforts!

Come, Follow Me

(Formatted to be a 4x6)

 "Come, follow me," the Savior said.

Then let us in his footsteps tread,

For thus alone can we be one

With God's own loved, begotten Son.

 "Come, follow me," a simple phrase,

Yet truth's sublime, effulgent rays

Are in these simple words combined

To urge, inspire the human mind

Is it enough alone to know

That we must follow him below,

While trav'ling thru this vale of tears?

No, this extends to holier spheres.

Not only shall we emulate

His course while in this earthly state,

But when we're freed from present cares,

If with our Lord we would be heirs.

 We must the onward path pursue

As wider fields expand to view,

And follow him unceasingly,

Whate'er our lot or sphere may be.

For thrones, dominions, kingdoms, pow'rs,

And glory great and bliss are ours,

If we, throughout eternity,

Obey his words, "Come, follow me."

Come, Follow Me

I cling to these promises made by our dear prophet President Nelson.  I also cling to the words OVER TIME... it has not been an easy transition at our house, but I hope with time things will run more smoothly and these promises will come about for our family!  In case you need encouragement too, here are some printables for you to display to keep you motivated!  We can do this!  

Sized to be an 8x10

Sized to be an 8x10- Black and White

Sized to be a 5x7- Black and White

President Nelson Quote about our Youth

I absolutely love this quote.  I think every youth should have a copy of it in their rooms!  These are meant to be printed as a 4x6, perfect size to slip into a dollar IKEA frame! 

General Conference Preparation

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Semi-Annual General Conference  are my two favorite weekends of the year!  I've loved Conference weekend since I can remember.  My parents always made it a special weekend filled with great anticipation!  Now I try to do the same for my kids.  I'm going to share some ideas.  REMEMBER: Do what works best for your family.  Do what will bring you and your family JOY!   Don't become overwhelmed.  Pick one idea you like and do it!    

PREPERATION

-Have your kids learn the Apostles Names.  "Some might say it is not the leaders who are important, but the message they bring. Yet, if our children do not know the names of the members of the First Presidency and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, they most likely will not know their messages either."

-Where will the family watch conference?  Do we need additional tables/chairs brought in?

- Make a plan for Saturday and Sunday.
Plan your meals.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner.  Plan your snacks. (Growing up we always had super fun food during conference, which added so much to making it a special weekend!  Did someone say cinnamon  rolls!) Plan a fun family activity for the afternoon break.  Something that is active after all that sitting!!! (fly kites, go to a park, go on a bike ride)  -Plan to get a good amount of sleep both Friday and Saturday nights, and try to get any household chores/yard work done ahead of time.

- What supplies/ activities do I want to have ready.  I try super hard to have everything we are going to need in the room ready to go.  Snacks, drinks, pens, pencils, glue, tissues....

-Activities for the kids.  I have found that my kids only have so much attention span for coloring type pages, and Conference bingo.  I print my favorites from the links below, and then I also collect all the "quiet" activity things in our house to have ready and available.  Legos (build a temple!), construction paper/glue/scissors, puzzles, chalkboards, dry erase boards, paint with water books, etcha-sketch, magnadoddle, stringing beads, lacing cards, playdoe, or the latest favorite is to crochet a super long chain.  Then I hit the dollar store/ target dollar spots to see what fun new cheap activities I can find.  At the dollar store I usually pick up pipe-cleaners and beads to string on them, felt stickers, a new puzzle or two, and whatever else looks fun and quiet.

   
**Pick the Apostle (Don't Eat Pete) 

LDS.org Conference Ideas (CONFERENCE BINGO!)

**Friend Magazine- Connect the Topic to the Apostle 

LDS.org Book of Mormon Coloring Pages 

**Modern Coloring Pages 

**Modern Coloring Pages 

Free Printables

LDS Word Searches

Dot to Dot Pages

**Conference Packet 

**Ultimate Conference Packet 

Conference Wall

**Conference Worksheet for Youth or Primary 

**Conference Bingo and Activity Page

**Apostle Bingo/Matching 

**Apostle Matching Game 

**Apostle Matching Game to Baby Picture 

**Conference I Spy Game 

**Conference I Spy Game 

**Scripture Lego Building Ideas 

**Apostle Go Fish 

**Gospel Puzzles 

Fruit Loop Necklaces

Dot Sticker Printable (Not updated, but can still use the 1^st presidency and several apostles)  you can use bingo markers, or dot stickers!

Treat Buckets  - Or snack buckets so its not as sugary!

Most importantly BE EXCITED!  Your excitement rubs off and your kids will learn to love conference just as much as you do!!!  Does everything run perfectly smooth and quiet for our conference weekends.  NO. But we try our best.    

General Conference Preparation Game!

And I'm so excited to share with you my creation of "Pick The Apostle!"  Played just like "Don't Eat Pete!"  I found the pictures of the apostles HERE. 

Simply click on the link below the picture, and download it to your computer.  OR click on the picture below.  When it enlarges, right click and save.  Print on card stock at your favorite copy store!  8 1/2 X 11 regular size paper!  Make sure to laminate it, so it will last!  

8 1/2 X 11 - With Names

8 1/2 X 11 - No Names for more of a challenge!

How to play: Place a piece of candy or cereal on top of each Apostle.  Have one player go out of the room.  All the other players choose which apostle will be "IT." (Say they choose Elder Cook!)  The player comes back in the room and one by one takes off the candy/cereal until he picks up "IT," then all the players shout the name of the apostle. (In this case ELDER COOK!)  The players turn is then over, and another player gets to leave the room.  This is such a fun game to help kids learn the apostles names!!  My kiddos LOVE it!

3 New Printable Quotes

We had a wonderful Stake Conference this weekend.  Here are 3 of my favorite quotes that were shared! These are made to be 5X7 printables.  Enjoy! 

(Simply left click on the picture.  When it is big, right click on it and save it to your computer!  Print at your favorite place!)

New Printable Quotes

Here are some of the most recent printables I'm excited to share! 

4X6

5X7

PC: My Mom Doris

5X7

The next two are from my new favorite song from Tim McGraw 

5X7

5X7

8X10

8X10

8X10

Relief "Sole" Society Activity - High Heel Cupcakes

I had to throw together a Relief Society Activity super fast, and this is what we did.  It turned out AWESOME!!!  I took my ideas from these two blogs;
http://pininspired.blogspot.com/2012/05/walk-day-in-my-shoes-rs-activity.html

http://www.somewhatplanned.com/2015/09/lds-church-in-her-shoes-relief-society-night/

This was our fun invitation to get the sisters excited!  Our stake at that time was gathering donations for Safety Net so we encouraged the sisters to bring a pair of shoes to donate, and any other donations they had. We received a ton of great donations!   

The dessert for this event was just WAY to fun!  We made high heel cupcakes!  

I am a huge fan of NOFADE cupcake liners.  Totally worth the extra cents.  You can find these at Walmart, Hobby Lobby, Party stores...  

  I decided to make 2 kinds of cupcakes.  Chocolate Oreo and 

Strawberry Lemonade.  So easy.  Just make the cake like normal, but add a pudding mix!  YUM!

Oreo Frosting:

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter

Pinch of Salt

5 Tbsp of milk

1 tsp vanilla

5 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup Karo corn syrup

Cream together shortening and butter.  Add pinch of salt and vanilla.  Gradually add powdered sugar and milk.  Blend well.  And corn syrup last, beating an additional 3-4 minutes. Then add finely crushed oreos.  Add to your taste!  Spread or pipe onto cupcakes. 

Strawberry Lemonade Frosting 

1 cup real butter
1/2 cup seedless Strawberry Jam (You can use seeds, totally a preference)
3-4 cups powdered sugar
Mix all ingredients together until fluffy.  Spread or pipe onto cupcakes.  Add lemon zest to the top of cupcakes for the lemon flavor!    

We put them together at the church on the table they would be displayed on, because they are fragile.  You don't want to have to move them a bunch.  

Simply frost a simple edge around a Milano Cookie .  Found at most grocery stores.

cut your Pirouette Waffers in half but at a 45 degree angle.

Simply frost the cupcake to your liking.  Then place the Milano cookie in the back at an angle, then put some frosting on the 45 degree angle of the  Pirouette Waffer and stick that to the bottom of the Milano cookie.  It really is so simple, and so cute, and everyone LOVED them!

The night of the event, we set up two rows of chairs in a semi-circle, had a few fun high heels next to the shoe quotes, and then the fun high heel cupcake display.    

We gathered together, sang "Faith in Every Footstep" I gave a little tiny talk about not judging others, walking a mile in their shoes, "what if her story, were my story."  Then everyone came up and shared their own shoe story.  (Those that wanted to.  Most people did!)  Then we ate fruit, and high heel cupcakes!!!  I thought it turned out to be a super fun night.  Some of the stories brought the spirit, others just made you laugh.  Stories of shoe being worn for temple service, river rafting trips, a husband buying them after noticing a wife admiring them... so many fun stories.  A fun fun night!  

Here are some of the printables I made to use that night;

General Women's Conference Printables

This past Saturday night I was able to go with the ladies in my family and attend LDS General Women's Conference!    What a wonderful, inspiring evening it was.  I wanted to share 2 of my favorite quotes from the night!  Enjoy!