I love General Conference. Conference brings me a flood of wonderful feelings. I am reminded of the love, comfort, and security that I felt watching Conference together with my family for so many years. I fondly think back to the many times that I sat in the Conference Center with my parents and siblings and felt the Spirit testify to me that Gordon B. Hinckley was a prophet of God. I met Kay at General Conference and I will be forever grateful that our relationship began with both of us seeking the Lord’s direction to us through our living prophet. Consequently, I look forward every six months to the opportunity to participate in General Conference.

Still, I confess that for the past several years Conference has not been quite the same for me. Wrestling two toddlers makes it difficult, at best, to engage with each speaker’s message. Between breaking up fights, dealing with tantrums, and becoming a human jungle gym, there isn’t much energy left to ponder and seek inspiration during Conference itself. Sometimes, I’ll admit, I wasn’t sure if I would ever be able to enjoy Conference in the same way again.

But things changed this year. For the first time, my kids actually paid attention during parts of Conference. I’m sure that they didn’t get anything specific out of the talks, but I believe that they did feel how important (to Mom and Dad, anyway) it is to pay attention to our prophets. On Sunday morning, I had printed out Conference coloring pages. This kept them busy for a while.

When they finished coloring, I started “Conference Bingo”. I printed off these bingo cards from The Friend‘s website.

I was amazed at how captivated the kids were. Oliver would listen intently to each talk and say things like, “Dad, I heard him say faith. I’m going to mark off faith,” or “He was talking about the priesthood. Do I have a square for the priesthood?” At one point Kay leaned over to make a comment to me about one of the talks and Oliver turned to her and said, “Shhhh! Mom, I’m trying to listen to the talks. You’re interrupting me!” Priceless, I say.

After each bingo, I let them have a couple of jelly beans. It kept them busy for the entire Sunday morning session. Not only that, but my kids were at least listening for the “buzz words” associated with the gospel. Conference was good this year.