General Conference

In our church (the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints), we have this thing called General Conference.  It's kind of like church but it's on TV and it's two days - on Saturday and Sunday - and four hours each day.  They just have it two times a year and we get to stay home from regular church and watch it on our TV.  Our prophet and the other leaders of our church speak and tell us what Jesus wants us to know and what we should do.  They say a lot of good stories.

Conference can be a really fun thing if you know some good things to do while you're listening.  Here are some things that I like to do:

• A really fun thing to do so you can focus on what they're talking about is that you can get a paper and write down some words that have to do with church stuff - like temple, Jesus, love, family, Heavenly Father, helping others.  Then you put a tally mark by each word when someone says it in Conference.
• Another thing is that you can draw a picture of the person that's talking and you can write a few notes right by the picture of what he or she was talking about.  Here's a picture of the notes I did like this for conference last week (sorry it won't turn the right way):

Conference is more interesting when you take notes.  The speakers really do say some good stuff!  And I like being able to just watch church in my pajamas sometimes!

Alia's Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I wanted to make a treat for my family and I wanted to make it healthy. I hope you enjoy making it! :-) Ingredients: 1 ½ cups of brown sugar 2 egg whites 2 teaspoons of vanilla 2 cups of flour (I prefer wheat flour) 1 teaspoon of baking soda 1 teaspoon of salt 1 or 2 cups of chocolate chips (you choose). APPLESAUCE!! (there is NO oil to hold the cookies together!) Directions: Preheat oven to 350° (have a parent help you!). Mix the brown sugar and egg whites until they are very well mixed in. Add the vanilla and the flour as well. Then put the baking soda and salt in the mixture. Put the chocolate chips in—as much as you desire. If the mixture does not stick together, I would suggest putting applesauce in until it all forms together. Grease the pan VERY well --there isn’t any oil or butter in this recipe to help it not stick. Put it in the oven (again--let an adult help you). Cook it for 8 to 10 minutes. I use convect bake and it usually takes 4 to 6. Let them cool before you eat them (with a parent's help)!

New video on the channel!

Hey guys! We made an awesome commercial for The Power of Kids on our YouTube channel!




CHALLENGE:  With a parent's help, make a video response to this with your own commercial for a website, game, etc.

Creativity Is SO Awesome!

Creativity is very important in life. Here are some pictures that might give you ideas on how to be creative.

First, you can make many different snacks by using items you have around your house. These are Tic-Tac-Toe Crackers, using chopped celery, peanut butter, sliced carrots, and crackers.



Next is a Panda-Turkey Masterpiece. I got a slice of turkey, cut the panda's facial features out of it, and then sliced apples and put them on the outside of the plate. We have an apple slicer that makes it simple to cut the apple into wedges. You might want to ask a parent to help you.




Drawing is also a creative thing to do. I asked my family members what they like, their two favorite colors, and about other interesting things they would like included on the picture. It was a true work of art when it was finished.






My brother had a smoothie umbrella, and he decided to have his action figures relax under it. You can turn ordinary things into fun adventures when you're creative.

Going on a family bike ride is an exciting opportunity for your family to get creative. You can pack a picnic lunch, play "I Spy" while you're riding bikes, and stop every once in awhile to look around and enjoy the scenery.

CHALLENGE: Think of something you can do in your family with your own creativity. Then come and tell us all about it in the Comments section here. Good luck!

How to handle a bully

When anyone is picking on you or hurting you they are being a bully.

Here are some ways to stop a bully:

• Say "sorry you feel that way" when they say something mean about you.
• Say "thanks for sharing that with me" instead of getting mad when they say something you don't really want to hear.
• Tell an adult if they keep bothering you.
• Use your cool look.[Your cool look is when you look cool so a bully thinks "she's cool I should not pick on her".]
• Give a complement.
• Try to make friends with the bully. Be nice to the bully.
• Sometimes a bully is picking on you because they are jealous of what you have.
• If you say nice things to a bully they might feel good about themselves and stop picking on you.

How to get over a bad mood

Eliza (Isaac and Ashton's little sister) just turned eight so she's now an official member of our Power of Kids Team!  Welcome Eliza!  Here's her first post.

Sometimes I wake up in a bad mood.  Do you ever wake up in a bad mood?  I think everyone does sometimes. Or if you didn't wake up in a bad mood, you might get in a bad mood from something bad happening.  Then everything seems bad all day.

So how do you get out of a bad mood?

Here are some things that help me when I'm in a bad mood:

• Give someone a hug or get a hug from someone.
• Sing or hum a happy tune.
• Think about the good things in your life.
• Smile - even if you really don't feel like it.
• Read a happy book.
• Just be by yourself for a little while - sort like a time out but you just choose to do it.
• Go to sleep on time so you don't get more grumpy.
• Think of happy things.
• Realize it's just a mood and change it.  My grammie says "there's lots of things you can't change but you can always change your mind."

If none of these things work, just get your homework done and do what you're supposed to be doing and ignore the bad mood and it'll usually just go away.  

I'm going to work on this stuff a lot myself!

Honesty is Great!

What does honesty mean to you? To me it means telling the truth even if you think it won't matter that much, to not cheat, and not to steal anything.

In our Church, we have a magazine with different articles that relate to church. Some of them are submitted by people who want to share their experiences. I think this one goes really well with this topic. Since I'm not very good at retelling things, I am going to include it here so you can read it.


Unwavering Honesty
Jordan P., California,

Each day at the beginning of my film class the teacher gave us a writing prompt. After letting us write for about 10 minutes he randomly picked five people, who could choose whether to share what they had written. Whenever he picked me, I’d decline.

One day the prompt was “Are there certain kinds of stealing or borrowing without permission that are OK? What’s the difference? When was the last time you stole something?”

I wrote an answer to the prompt and didn’t think much of it. After a few minutes the teacher started calling on people to share. I noticed that the first four people each had a story of what they had stolen and how they stole it. Then he called my name. Even though I usually said no, I got a feeling to share what I wrote. I started talking about how I didn’t think there was any good kind of stealing. Then I answered the part about the last time you stole something: I’ve never stolen anything in my life. Right away my teacher didn’t believe me and everyone in the class thought I was lying. I insisted that I was telling the truth. After about five minutes of my being called a liar, the teacher said, “I’m going to call your mom and ask if you’ve ever been caught stealing.” I told him to go ahead and do it. Then he left the classroom to call my mom. While he was out of the room, most of the kids in the class kept saying I was lying, and I didn’t understand what the big deal was.

The teacher came back into the class and everyone asked him what my mom had said. He announced to the class that my mom had verified that I had never stolen anything. Some of the kids weren’t convinced, but most of them were just shocked. My teacher was impressed and actually said, “You’re a better human than I am.”

I’m grateful to my mom for teaching me the importance of being honest. Until that day in film class I never thought that honesty was that rare. I’m glad that I took the opportunity to share with the class what I wrote and that my mom was there to back me up. With the help of my mother, I’ve become a trustworthy person.

The original link is here.

I hope that you enjoy it!

This post is by me (Alia), and I'm helping Ashton with the post because he will be on vacation next week.