Visiting Teaching Message {The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: The Only Begotten Son}

This month’s Visiting Teaching message continues the series of lessons focusing on the Savior.  “As we come to understand what it means for Jesus to be the Only Begotten Son of the Father, our faith in Christ will increase.”

Having faith in Jesus Christ is believing that He was the Only Begotten of the Father, that he paid for our sins with the Atonement, and that he will be Resurrected.

As we study the Savior’s life this Christmas season, let’s exercise and expand our faith in Him, by keeping our covenants and living as He did.

For the handout this month, I found this great tree pattern here.  Print and cut out the template, tape the two pieces together and trace it onto some festive thicker 12x12 paper. 

Cut it out, and then fold where indicated.  I used a bone folder and straight edge for easier folding.    Affix tape on the edge {I used double-stick} and assemble the tree.

Print the message, cut it into a square and fold it so that it fits inside the tree.

Here’s how I folded the message so it would fit:

When you are done folding the message, add a treat and secure the bottom shut with tape.

Feel free to decorate your tree with ribbon, washi tape or string like in the sample.  I left mine plain, because I liked them just how they were.

Print, cut and affix the tag and deliver!

  Happy Visiting Teaching!

P.S.  These are also available for purchase at the Country Loft {288 E. Main Street} in Lehi, Utah.  If you go in to purchase some, will you please mention that you saw them here?  Thanks!

Our Thankful Turkey

This time of year, it seems like the kids are gearing up for Christmas and the “I wants” start taking over our conversations.  So each year in November, our family makes a Thankful Turkey. 

We cut out a bunch of feathers, write what we are thankful for on them, and attach them to the naked turkey. 

We let the kids write whatever they want.  Some of the things are serious, and some are not. 

By the time we are done, the turkey tail is huge, and we all feel a little more gratitude for the things that we have, and seem to focus a little less on the things that we want.

Chocolate-Covered Caramel Apples!

I’ve been wanting to do some chocolate-covered caramel apples for awhile, now, but kept talking myself out of it.  It sounds stupid, but the thing that was holding me back was unwrapping all of those dang caramels.  I hate that part so very much.  To avoid the unwrapping in the past, I’ve tried to do make caramel from scratch or have tried bottled caramel with little success.  So I was back to the unwrapping. 

Then I remembered that I have kids.

Turns out, my children quite enjoy unwrapping caramels, and the caramel collateral damage wasn’t too bad.

So we prepped the apples, melted the caramel, and then came another hurdle.  Keeping the caramel on the apple.  If you set it right down after dipping, most of the caramel falls right off, so we opened a window and slowly turned the apples rotisserie-style until the caramel had set up enough that it wouldn’t puddle at the bottom when we set it down.

However, this took FOREVER.

Again, I grabbed the kids to do the manual labor, and after some training, they did a pretty good job.  After they had turned them for a while, we put them in the fridge to continue to set.

After the caramel had set came the fun part.

We melted milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and dipped the caramel apples, then rolled them in mini chocolate chips or toffee bits, and returned them to the fridge to set.

They turned out so yummy and most of them were pretty, too, which was awesome.

Making caramel apples was pretty labor intensive and messy, and after finally finishing them I vowed that I would never make them again. 

Until next year.

November VT Message {Conference Preserves}

What a great General Conference we had in October!  I loved every minute and drew such strength from each of the speakers.  I preserved a few of my favorite thoughts and quotes to share with my Visiting Teaching sisters, and you are welcome to use them, too.

To make some Conference Preserves to share with your sisters, you will need 3 sheets of paper—I used a regular weight paper with a cute print on one side and white on the back.  I printed on the white side.

   Click here, here, and here for the quotes.

Next I cut them along the dotted lines, folded them, and put them in a quart jar with some extra treats.

To make the tag, click on the link below to print, then cut around or use a punch to cut them out.

The tag is large enough to put on your lid if you are using a wide-mouth jar, or, you can tie it around the neck of the jar with some ribbon.

Click here for the tag.

I hope that you had a great conference, too!

Happy Visiting Teaching!

P.S.  If you are in the North Utah County area and would rather purchase some Conference Preserves to share with your sisters this month, there are limited quantities available at The Country Loft {288 E. Main Street} in Lehi. 

Spookified

I always restrain myself from putting up my Halloween decorations till it is officially October.  I usually do most of the decorating while the kids are at school, because they love coming home to see it up.  This year however, they have helped me put up most of it and it has been so fun to see their vision of Halloween decorating come to life.Letting them help has been an adjustment for me.  I think one reason I like to do it while they are gone is so that I can do it MY way.Not everything is exactly where I would put it, but it’s been fun to see their imaginations at work as they place things.This is a brain that my son is growing from a science kit he got at school.  We need to find some more creepy things for the other beakers…any suggestions?      It’s also been fun to see it evolve over time.  This spider web just keeps getting scarier :)

How do you do Halloween at your house?

October Visiting Teaching Message

Hi Friends,

This month’s message is “The Divine Mission of Jesus Christ: Creator”

President Dieter F. Uchtdorf said, “We are the reason He created the universe!  This is a paradox of man: compared to God, man is nothing; yet we are everything to God.”

How wonderful it is that women have been created with the gifts to create.  I find that when I am feeling overwhelmed as a woman that if I take a minute to create something beautiful, I feel calmer and happier. 

For my sisters this month, I put together the message with a lump of clay, so that they can create a beautiful sculpture, and help the clay reach its full potential.   As I was putting them together, I realized that it would be just as effective {or more so} to add fabric, or yarn, or paints, or anything that your sisters could create something beautiful with.

To put together this handout, you will need some fun paper, the message, and tag.

Print the message and trim sides to the size of your bag.  Fold in half and affix the tag to the front.

Next, I put the clay in a 5x12 cellophane bag, then stapled the message to the top.

 

Happy Visiting Teaching!