Happy conference!

I was really really excited for conference this year because I had prepared some really fun activities and games ahead of time for Ethan so hopefully Mark and I could get something out of it. I was so excited to see the article in the Ensign about how to keep the kids occupied during general conference and used most of the ideas. We reviewed the story of King Benjamin and set up our tent to watch. We had pictures taped up on the wall of things like prayer, baptism, Jesus Christ, family, heaven, etc. and whenever he heard someone say one of those words he got a piece of candy. Well, that plan kind of backfired. When he did listen, he listened well and overdosed on candy big time (didn't even eat lunch or dinner both days because he ate so much- whoops). Before eating each candy, he had to make sure and get our approval. "Mom, Dad, he just said temple! Can I have a candy?!?" This happened EVERY time he heard a word. Fun, fun! We tried to ignore his questions at first hoping they would stop but they just got louder and more frequent. At other times, he was very desperate for candy- he didn't want to listen because he was too busy playing so he used his very active imagination. This is how he did it: "Something inside my tummy said something. They said Jesus Christ." We did NOT give him a candy for his tummy saying one of the words. If he wasn't listening and wasn't playing VERY LOUDLY, he was asking us questions about the conference and speakers. One of his questions that he very persistently asked until we answered was, "Why does he have a circle face?" referring to President Eyering. Not sure where he got that one from. So between the 2 sessions on Saturday, we heard all of about 2 talks. Sunday was a little better. Heard about 1 talk in the morning session and then heard almost all of the talks on Sunday afternoon. We were shocked and amazed!
This was pre conference before the hopes of hearing some talks were dashed. :) He refused to eat the apple and instead ate some candy. Also made some homemade pretzels which we devoured and stuffed ourselves to bursting.

In a desperate attempt to be able to listen, Mark and I made this garage for his cars made out of a shoebox. That kept him occupied for about 30 minutes during which time he made very loud car sounds so we couldn't hear anyways.

Between conference festivities. We played shark and pirate.

Thanks for the skirt Grandma!
And this beauty I'm very proud of. Mark and I usually like to do something during sessions... Mark draws and I usually do bows or some other girly thing. For some reason it helps us listen better if our hands are busy then if we're just sitting there. So I made this during the last session of conference. It only took me about an hour and a half. Recovering perfectionist.

We sure do love our sweet kids. Mark and I mostly just laughed together at how loud the kids were being. We will definetly be enjoying the conference issue of the Ensign. Anyone have any better ideas for keeping kids occupied during conference? Please share for next time!