General Conference

All my childhood memories of Conference are very black and white.  General Conference was a black-and-white, desperately boring weekend.  As a new mom, I decided to be way cooler than my own parents and teach my daughter to enjoy Conference...through bribery.  I settled on ziplock containers with pictures of the apostles glued to them, filled with prizes.  When the apostle spoke, hooray! There's a prize.

But then my daughter was disappointed every time there was a non-apostle speaker.  So I doubled the amount of containers.  Then she was disappointed when President Monson got up to speak more than once.  So I made three for President Monson.  Then she was disappointed at the audit report.  So I bought bags of candy to make up the difference.  Then I had another daughter, and they fought over the prizes.  So I made another set.  Then I had another daughter.  And another.

Everyone always talks about the commercialization of Christmas, but I think it's possible that I have successfully commercialized General Conference.  If my kids don't have a new toy or treat every twenty minutes for all eight hours of conference, you would think that the world is ending in blood and terror.  Ziplock containers pasted with smiling pictures of David A. Bednar and Dieter F. Uchtdorf are constantly cycling through my dishwasher.  The girls spend the time between speakers protecting their hoard.

Maybe this year I'll just sit and listen.

Anyway, here's a picture of President Monson for my friend Britta --she's putting together a General Conference packet for October, you should check it out.

Jesus Christ Restored the Fulness of the Gospel through Joseph Smith

An attempt at a Joseph Smith picture for April's primary theme:

Child of God

Here's your basic, "Hi, I'm a child of God" graphic.  I'm having a little bit too much fun figuring out how to use pixlr.com.

Maybe I'll do a few more of these.  Here's my four-year-old's rendition:

Chip off the old block, that one.  

"...See that ye serve Him...," D&C 4:2

I think this could go nicely at the bottom edge of a Young Women flyer.

I honestly don't know where the other leg went.  If you look at it too long, it kind of makes you dizzy.  Here's the black & white:

Girl with Sign

Here's a girl with a sign (inspired by Mormon Channel's "I pray when..." photos).

I don't know what I'm going to use it for yet.  I imagine there's a lot of things you can write on a sign like this.  If it were my kids, it would probably say:

But I'll probably make something like this General Conference reminder.  Any other ideas?

LDS Prophet Clipart (It's supposed to be Lehi, can you tell?)

I was just thinking, as everyone does now and again, "I should start a blog."  And then I realized, just as most everyone does now and again, "I already have a blog."  So, without further fanfare, I reintroduce the world to "The Warren Smith Family."

In celebration I am posting this clipart I drew (based on the painting "Lehi and his Family") for next month's primary theme, "God Speaks Through Prophets."  I benefit so much from other people's blogged illustrations, I thought I could add another free image on the internet (besides, it is my first clip art, and I'm tickled with how it turned out).

I will be putting this in our March Primary Newsletter.  You may do what you like.  Just celebrate the fact that I drew a picture not covered in children's scribbles.  I will also be doing that.  I may also eat some chocolate.

Cheers,

Emily

Tuesday 1:15pm

Tuesday 1:15pm. That means Maile Helen needs to be in her car seat, Diana too. We need three diapers, two blankets, two books, a full book bag, diaper wipes, socks, and shoes. The stroller is already in the car. What about the baby bjorn? It's already there.

"Emily? What else do we need?" A common, sometimes useful, often lazy/annoying question.

"I'm getting a bottle of juice." The lids are never quite handy, and she is already burdened with a bag too big for a human with straps too small for a shoulder that requires an all-precious elbow to keep it from falling.

Diana: "I want to feed the baby! I want the bottle." This used to be nap time. Hopefully, she'll just sleep in the car a little. But she's starting to melt.

"My bottle! I want the baby bottle!" Apparently, we didn't get it the first time, so she adds decibels.

Emily responds, "Not now Diana. We're going to the zoo!" The zoo is a big selling point. It may work.

"No! No! I want the BABY BOTTLE!!! NOOOOOOOOOO!" She's melting. Rationality is just about gone. Tears flow.

Emily gives up. "Diana, we have to go to school now." She takes Maile to the car.

"Nooo! NO school! Baby bottle!!!" She's melted, on the floor.

I say,"Diana," she says, "Baby Bottle."

I say, "You want the baby bottle."

She responds, "No! I want the bottle!" Whining. Yelling. Crying.

I keep at it. "The bottle. You want the bottle." Diana pauses for a moment. Just a moment. That's the sign that she heard it.

"I want to bottle," she explains through tears.

"You want the bottle," I understand at eye level.

"I want the bottle," her voice cracks.

"You want to feed Maile."

"Yes."

"You want the bottle to feed Maile."

It's a different cry. Less angry. More sad.

"Can I help you?" I'm almost excited, but not too cheerleader. "I want to help you get the bottle, so you can feed Maile. Can I help you?"

"... yes ..." (with tears)

"First, car. Second, zoo. Third, bottle." (I'm the map, I'm the map, I'm the map. I'm the map! Can you sing it?)

"Where next Boots?" We've switched to some helpful Dora the Explorer scripting.

"The car."

She responds, "okay." And without fuss, she climbs into her car seat and lets me buckle her in.

Within the last few weeks/months we have seen a huge difference in Diana's ability to delay gratification; to wait for a prize in the future, and to see the steps required to get there. This particular interaction blew me away. I think about how difficult it is for me to put aside something I desperately want. Diana was consoled with a plan that wouldn't give her what she wanted for over half an hour. And the first step in the plan was get in the car, which is something she struggles with. We're proud of our Super Girl.