Cache Valley Meet-Up Report

Well, I was able to spend about 4 hours (out of the total of 8) at the meet up on Saturday evening. It was a lot of fun! There were maybe 20 people or so who came and went during the whole day. The following games were played (for more info on each game click their title to go to the boardgamegeek entry):

Arkham Horror
Armor of God
Blokus Duo
Dominion
Dominion: Intrigue
Kingburg
Last Night on Earth
Saint Peterburg
Thurn & Taxis
Ticket to Ride
Tigris & Euphrates

I was able to play several that I had never played before. It's always good to learn new games, even when I pretty much lose every single time. I lost every game I played this weekend, but I did come in second one time.

I hope that this gathering can happen at least once a year and that it can grow. It's a lot of fun getting together with others and playing games!! Thanks to Jason (tuttleboy) for setting the whole thing up.

Cache Valley Board Game Meet-Up

On Saturday, November 14th here in Logan a gaming day will be happening. It will take place in the public library building in the North East Meeting room. It will run from 10:30 am to 5:30 pm. (Here's a flier)



I'm looking forward to this. It should be a lot of fun! There will be plenty of games to choose from and hopefully plenty of people with which to play those games!

The Book of Mormon Game

A new online Book of Mormon game called, appropriately, The Book of Mormon Game has recently been released (here). The premise is that a passage from the Book of Mormon is read out loud and it is your job to identify where the passage is located in the Book of Mormon (book and chapter), as quickly as you can.

Eric Poulin is the man behind the game. He mentions playing the game as a missionary. From the About section of the site:

While serving our missions in San Fernando, California, we'd play this game during interviews with our President, as we waited for our turn.

The first time I played this as a new missionary, I was amazed at how fast the other missionaries seemed to be able to find the right place. I love this game because it inspired me to study and learn the scriptures and become like those other missionaries. Now we present it to you. We hope it will also inspire you to become very familiar with this great book.

Eric Poulin (Ontario, Canada)
Shane Hartley (Washington, USA)

You can log in (via the site or using your Facebook account) and your times will be recorded. He has also created a Facebook app (here).

I think that this idea does have the potential of getting people to become more familiar with the scriptures, as was Eric's goal with putting it out. He's also working on a New Testament version (here), but says it needs a little more work before it is completely ready to go.

Lastly, Eric shared with me another game he's put together (it was qualified with a "needs graphic work and some further development"). It's called Don't Forget the Lyrics! and can be found here.

General Conference Activities

We will have the opportunity of listening to the Prophet's voice (and other servants of the Lord) this weekend. So I figured it'd be a great time to highlight some of the activities that people have devised for helping children "pay attention" during General Conference.


I remember when I was young at home with my parents, the one thing they would give me to help me pay attention to what was being said was the classic BINGO page. You know the one, it's got the grid filled with pictures that are labeled with words such as Prayer, Temple, and so on. As you hear the words you place a Cheerio or M&M on the space. Once you have 5 in a row, well, you eat your "treat." One place to find these is at the theideadoor.com (here). About.com also has a page with BINGO pages (here).

The Church has put out a 10 page notebook for children (here). It contains ideas for things to do before, during, and after General Conference.

Deseret Book also has an offering: the My Conference Booklet. You can get a copy here.

Suite101 has a page listing some ideas for children to do during General Conference (here). The list includes things like coloring pages, picture books, and one called Paste the Prophets. You give your children small pictures of the Prophet and Apostles. The kids glue the pictures into a notebook or onto a piece of paper as they listen to the talk given by that person.

Lastly, I wanted to share a post on the Mormon Momma, a blog written by several mothers. This post relates some of the traditions that they have started with their families in an effort to make General Conference a more memorable experience for their families (here). The post is appropriately titled: Making General Conference Memorable.

They break up their ideas into 4 categories: Preparation (things that help you think about Conference and get ready for it, like Pray for the Prophet), Provisions (this category includes mainly food and things that can be done, like picnicking, between Conference sessions), Participation (including things that can be done during the Conference sessions; one of the ideas from this category that I like and will use with my children is Art Book, where kids draw pictures of who is speaking, write the person's name and a little about the message they gave), and Post-Conference Evaluation (things that can be done after Conference is over to help everyone ponder on the messages given and make them more meaningful).

Additionally, they include a nice list of links (at the bottom of the post) where you can find other activities related to General Conference. All in all, this is a great post with lots of good insights into ways of making General Conference a more meaningful experience for your family.

Hopefully we can all be prepared for and learn what we should be learning from General Conference. And hopefully we can help our children learn the importance of General Conference and hearing the words of the Prophet.