LDS Archives - Life With My Littles

How to Involve Your Preschooler in Family History Work

Chelsea Johnson — Wed, 13 Jul 2016 11:00:34 +0000

Involving your preschooler in family history work can be fun, simple, and very rewarding! Here are three simple ways to involve your preschooler in family history!

Thank you to BonCom Influencers and FamilySearch International for sponsoring this post.

Growing up, my mom was always very involved in family history work. If you aren’t sure what that is, family history is exactly what it sounds like; the history of your family. It is searching for the records and stories of your family members who have passed on, and then recording that information so others can find it, too. For my mom, this meant lots of hours on the computer and in libraries looking at microfilm, and for us, long road trips to old cemeteries so my mom could find graves of long-lost ancestors.

I never really “got it” until I got older and realized how important my own family is, and how much fun it is to learn about your ancestors. My grandparents all passed away before my children were born, but my husband’s grandparents are all still alive and have been able to spend time with our kids. I want to start teaching my kids about the family members they never got to meet now so that they will always have a desire to learn more about their ancestors who have passed on.

Today I want to share three ways to involve your preschooler in family history work, as well as talk about a very special worldwide event that is taking place this weekend that you can all get involved with, too.

First, let’s talk about involving your preschooler in family history work. It definitely doesn’t have to be complicated and obviously your preschooler isn’t going to be doing any researching on the computer, so what can they do to get involved? Here are three ideas of things you can do with them:

1. Create a family tree. I’m not talking about a family tree with names and dates and lots of words. I’m talking about a simple picture family tree! I decided to put together this fun little printable for you guys (personal use only). All you have to do is put pictures of your own family members in the squares.

Download the family tree printable

I wanted my son to see how big his family really was, and talk about parents and grandparents, including ones who have passed on. He loved looking at the pictures and following the lines to see who was connected and what moms and dads went with what kids. It’s a very simple thing to make, but it is a great way to show your preschooler a basic family tree that they’ll understand.

2. Show them pictures of family members who have passed on. Like I said, my grandparents all passed away before my kids were born. My son knows all of his paternal great-grandparents, but none of his maternal great-grandparents. So my mom kindly sent over a bunch of pictures and my son and I looked at all of them together and talked about each person. I showed him my dad’s parents and my mom’s parents, and let him really study the pictures. It was sweet to see him looking at the pictures because some of the people he had never seen pictures of before! And it helped him to see that he has a lot of great-grandparents who love him, even if they aren’t alive today!

3. Tell them stories about their ancestors. The activity I enjoyed doing the most with my son was telling him stories about the great-grandparents and one great-great-grandma he hadn’t met. He loved hearing that his Great-Grandpa Allred was a bus driver and loved baseball and that his Great-Grandma Allred was a painter. He also loved that his Great-Grandpa Clement used to lay bricks and build windows and that his Great-Grandma Clement loved to read books and was a nurse. I also told him about his Great-Great-Grandma Sampson who used to let my sister and I eat whipped cream out of the container by the spoonful. Telling him about each family member helped him to connect to them more, even if it was just a little bit.

Getting your preschooler involved in family history work can really be a lot of fun. I know it sounds kind of intimidating and maybe even boring, but it was a really sweet experience and I can’t wait to do more of it with him as he gets older.

Since FamilySearch was introduced in 2008, volunteers have made over one billion historic records searchable online, and the demand for indexed records continues to grow as millions of historical records are added every year. If you’re looking for a way to make a difference, something to do for a few hours, or even a fun date night idea, join 72,000 teammates in saving the world’s records. You won’t regret it, and you might even find you have a knack for indexing records!

To learn more or to get started, visit https://familysearch.org/worldsrecords today!

And don’t forget to start getting your preschooler involved with family history now!

The post How to Involve Your Preschooler in Family History Work appeared first on Life With My Littles.

How to Teach Your Child to Pray

Chelsea Johnson — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 12:00:35 +0000

Great tips on how to teach your child to pray. It might seem like a daunting task, but these tips will definitely help! It’s never too early to start! And I love the book she includes!

I received free product in exchange for this post.

The first time my son ever folded his arms when we said family prayer melted my little heart. As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we try to say family prayers every night before bed. And when he saw us folding our arms and he crossed his, too, I was so proud.

Teaching your child to pray can seem like a daunting task, but it’s really not. There are lots of little things you can do to teach them how, when, and why we pray. And the sooner you start, the better off you’ll be!

1. Let your child see you pray. Obviously, if you aren’t praying, your child isn’t going to have an example to look to. Being an example is one of the best ways you can get your child interested in prayer. I guarantee they’ll ask you what you’re doing if they don’t know, and it’s a great way to spark up a conversation where you can teach him about prayer. So if you need to say a prayer during the day, let your child watch. It’s a great learning experience!

2. Pray with him. We like to let our son pray (when he is in a good mood!). Since he is still little, we usually have to help him a little bit. Tell him the words, and then let him add some of his own. Little J’s prayers usually include long lists of things he’s grateful for. “Thank you for milk, and for this cereal, and for that picture, and for my birthday, and for my mom, and for my dad…..” You get the idea. But letting them say prayers while you help is going to help them gain confidence and one day they won’t need help any more.

3. Pray in the morning, at meals, and before bed. The more you pray, the faster your child is going to learn. So bless your food before you eat, and start and end your days with family prayers. Your child will start to learn when we pray, and listening to your prayers will help teach him what to say when he prays on his own.

4. Talk about prayer. Tell him what you pray for, why you’re praying, and that you know Heavenly Father will hear you and answer your prayers. Tell him why we pray, and when your prayers get answered, point it out to him. My dad had a seizure last Christmas, and even though Little J was only 21 months, he said a prayer for my dad while we were playing. It was the sweetest thing, and when my dad got better, we talked about how his prayer had helped him. Don’t be afraid to talk about it with him, because if he doesn’t talk about it with you, he probably won’t talk about it with anyone else.

5. Read books about prayer. My favorite book about prayer is called “I Can Pray Every Day” by Catherine Christensen. It is the sweetest book, it has beautiful pictures, and it talks about all the different times we can pray. I have loved reading it to Little J, and even to Little A. She’s only 14 months, but like I said it’s never to early to start teaching your children.

The book talks about all the different times you can pray, and things you can say in your prayers. It’s perfect for kids learning how to pray, and it’s perfect for kids who have been praying for years, too. The pictures are simple, but they fit the story perfectly. The book teaches a powerful lesson about prayer.

“I Can Pray Every Day” goes through praying in the morning and evenings, with your family, to help people, to do hard things, and praying wherever you are (even the pool!). The simple rhyme also talks about blessing your food, saying thanks for things, and asking for forgiveness. It covers so many different things that you can pray about, and it’s a great way to spark a discussion about prayer with your kids, no matter how young they are.

The book ends by talking about how Heavenly Father hears our prayers and how he cares for us. I love the sweet spirit we feel when we read this book together, and I know that it is helping teach my children how, why, and where we pray.

Teaching your child how to pray is not hard. You’re probably already doing most of these things anyway! I know that if we teach important principles like prayer to our children when they are young, they will stay with them for the rest of their lives, and we’ll have to worry a little bit less as parents. Good luck teaching your little person how to pray, and remember, praying for help yourself definitely won’t hurt!

The post How to Teach Your Child to Pray appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Things to Do With Your Wedding Dress: DIY Wedding Dress Bead Bracelet

Chelsea Johnson — Mon, 26 Jan 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Here’s another way to repurpose your wedding dress: make a bracelet with the beads for your daughter!

In our church, babies are given a name and a blessing after they are born. When I was in college at BYU, I took a religion in the home class. Our final project was to make something religious for your home that dealt with something we had learned with in class. I had been playing around with the idea of cutting up my wedding dress to make a baby blessing dress, and this finally gave me the courage to do it. It turned out perfect, and after three years of it hanging in a closet, we were able to use it when we blessed Little A in November.

I also made myself a necklace out of some of the lace from my wedding dress. It is special because when I wear it I am reminded of the special promises and covenants I made on my wedding day.

As if that wasn’t enough, I decided I wanted to make something else out of my wedding dress. My dress had some nice beading and sequin work on the bodice and along the bottom, and after I cut up my dress to make the blessing dress, I had plenty left over. So I decided to remove the beads and make a really simple baby bracelet using the beads from my wedding dress!

Okay so this is a crazy easy tutorial, and I mostly made it so I could show you another thing you can do with your wedding dress!

All you need are:
Beaded piece of your wedding dress
Seam ripper
Stretchy string (I used Stretch Magic)

First you have to remove the beads from your wedding dress. To do this, use a seam ripper and cut the strings holding them on. I highly recommend having a cup or something to put them in once you take them off, because you do not want these little things rolling all over the place.

Second, cut a piece of stretch magic (it doesn’t matter if it’s too long, it’s actually better that way for when you tie it). Tie a big fatty knot onto the end so your beads won’t slide off. Leave some extra after the knot so you can tie the two ends together easily.

Third, start stringing on beads! Keep going until you have enough to fit around your wrist (or in my case, your baby’s wrist).

Fourth, fit bracelet to wrist and then tie the two ends together using a surgeon’s knot. Apparently, this is the best way to tie stretchy string. If you want to see how easy it is (and follow along with someone when you do it) you can watch this video I found.

And you are all done! Now you have the perfect little wedding dress bead bracelet for yourself, your baby girl, or anyone else special you may want to make one for.

Do you have any other ideas for things to do with your wedding dress?

The post Things to Do With Your Wedding Dress: DIY Wedding Dress Bead Bracelet appeared first on Life With My Littles.

DIY Missionary Tag Display

Chelsea Johnson — Mon, 26 May 2014 06:00:00 +0000

DIY Missionary Tag Display: An easy way to display your missionary’s tag along with a picture to help them remember their mission! The perfect Father’s Day gift!

For Father’s Day this year, I wanted to make the Mister something special. In January, my father-in-law passed away unexpectedly, so we have been dealing with the grief and healing that came with his death for the past few months. Something my husband inherited from him were his old scriptures and missionary tag from his mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He loved to talk about his mission among the Navajo people, and he especially loved the red rocks of the American Southwest. To make this Father’s Day special and as a tribute to the Mister’s father, I decided to make him a way to display his father’s missionary tag.

This was a really easy project that has a lot of special meaning for our family, as it would for any father who has served a mission, I’m sure. I love that by displaying the tag with the picture of my father-in-law, we will have something in our home that our children can ask about both their grandpa and his mission.

It wasn’t an expensive project either, which made it even better! Here is what you need:

a 12×12″ shadow box
an 8×10″ picture from their mission
a missionary tag
a 12×12″ white piece of cardstock
a small piece of white cardstock
glue

I got my shadow box from Jo-Ann (on sale for $12.49), and then I printed my picture at Costco for $1.52. The two pieces of cardstock were 69 cents each, so total, this project cost me just barely over $15.

First, you will want to trim down your 8×10″ picture to an 8×8″ picture. I used my friend’s paper cutter because I didn’t trust myself to trim the picture in a straight line.

I just cut an inch off the top and bottom so that the main part of the picture was still there.

Next, you will want to cut a little piece of white cardstock to cover the back of your missionary tag. If you have a tag with a pin, you can just pin it through the paper exactly where you want it, but my father-in-law’s tag was one for a pocket. I cut my paper so it would fit over the back and then give me a little room to glue the edges down. I think it was about 3 1/3″ x 2 1/2″, but you will want to measure yours before you cut it.

Then, with your picture centered (but not glued) on your 12×12″ paper, you will want to figure out where you want your missionary tag. Then put a tiny amount of glue down on the bottom and side edges of the small white paper and glue it down where you want your tag.

Press firmly, and before the glue is completely dry (but not immediately), slide the missionary tag into the pocket. You want a snug fit so it won’t move around.

Next, glue down your picture so that it is centered on the page. I discovered that it was very helpful to put a heavy book down over the picture while it was drying so it didn’t bubble up and all the edges got glued down flat.

Once your picture is dry, put it in your shadow box and admire!

Good job! Now you have a lovely way to display a mission photo along with your missionary tag, and a great symbol of your husband/father/brother’s mission that will be a great talking point to help teach your children!

If you want to learn more about an LDS mission and why our young men, young women, and senior couples leave their families to teach about what we believe, click here.

The post DIY Missionary Tag Display appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Easy DIY Family Proclamation Picture

Chelsea Johnson — Wed, 05 Mar 2014 06:30:00 +0000

Easy DIY Family Proclamation Picture: a super fast beautiful project that costs less than $4! Perfect for wedding and anniversary presents!

When my husband and I got married, his lovely aunt made us a beautiful picture of us with “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” printed on top. I have had so many people compliment it when they come over, that I thought I would make a tutorial on how to make one! It really is super simple and doesn’t require any computer skills except printing!

One of the best parts about this project was that excluding the frame (because the price can vary depending on your frame), this cost me less than $4. The transparent paper was $1.99 from Jo-Ann, and I printed my 8×10 family picture for $1.52 at Costco. So without the frame, less than $4! I got the frame in the picture from Michael’s (they always have coupons and sales for frames!) and I love how it looks in there. Perfect.

Anyway, this also was incredibly easy. The whole thing took me about 5 minutes to put together. All you have to do is trim your paper, print the Proclamation, and then put it all in a frame! Anyone can do it!

So the only two things you need are a piece of transparent paper (usually 12×12″) and then your 8×10″ picture that you are going to use. I recommend using a picture that is up close and darker rather than super light, because otherwise it won’t show up super well underneath the Proclamation paper.

Once you have your materials, cut the transparent paper down to 8×10″. Use a ruler, a pen, and scissors. Not hard.

Once your paper is cut, take it to your printer and print this onto it. It is a PDF file of the Proclamation in an 8×10″ size. To print it, you will have to take all your other printer paper out of your printer and then squeeze the little sides in so the 8×10″ paper fits, otherwise it won’t print in the center.

So now you have a lovely 8×10″ Proclamation printed on your transparent paper, and a 8×10″ family photograph to go behind it!

The next step is super hard. Put them in a frame. Okay, not super hard (or hard at all). But then you are done!

See, I told you that was super simple! This makes a great gift for weddings and anniversaries and is also just a great project for you to make for your own home. Enjoy!

The post Easy DIY Family Proclamation Picture appeared first on Life With My Littles.

Scripture Cover Tutorial

Chelsea Johnson — Tue, 22 May 2012 02:32:00 +0000

A quick and easy scripture cover tutorial! Now you can read your scriptures and match them, too! Such a fun, easy way to motivate you to read your scriptures more.

So a while ago I saw a set of scripture covers on Pinterest that I thought were super cute and that I wanted to make. Unfortunately, it was just a picture on a blog because the girl never made a tutorial. That’s okay though, because I made my own and am here to share it with you! And I took a ton of pictures to help you along the way!

It didn’t take that long, and it wasn’t very hard, so if you need a quick afternoon craft this is a great one.

DIY Scripture Cover Tutorial

Active Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes

A quick and easy scripture cover tutorial! Now you can read your scriptures and match them, too! Such a fun, easy way to motivate you to read your scriptures more.

Materials

Thread
1/8 yard fabric
Scriptures
Velcro

Tools

Pins
Scissors
Measuring Tape
Sewing Machine

Instructions

1. Gather your materials.

2. Wash and iron your fabric.

3. Measure and cut your fabric for the main piece. My scriptures are a quad, so if you want to do a Book of Mormon or Bible separately, you will need to measure a little differently. I did mine 22 1/4″ by 9 1/4″. This allows for 5/8″ seam allowances. The way I got this is that I pretty much measured the width of my scriptures opened up, and the length of them from top to bottom. This came to 13″ by 7 1/2″. Then I added 4″ for each flap, plus the 5/8″ seam allowances to the width, and 5/8″ seam allowances to the top and bottom and then an extra 1/4″ for each the top and bottom so that when you sew the flaps down, you have room to do so (it’ll make sense later if it doesn’t now)

4. Measure your 5/8″ seams along them top and bottom, pin them, and iron them down. Before you sew them down, make sure your fabric measures 8″ from top to bottom so you have room to sew the flaps. Then sew both the top and bottom seams down. I lined them both up with the edge of my presser foot.

5. Fold the two sides at 5/8″, pin them, iron them, and sew them at the same distance as the top and bottom.

6. Fold sides over 4″ and pin along the top and bottom. Iron and sew them at the tops with a 1/4″ seam. Before you sew both sides at 4″, fit them onto your scriptures to make sure 4″ on each side will be snug. I’m not sure what happened along the way, but mine needed to be 4 1/2″ on one of the sides.

7. Fit onto scriptures to make sure the cover fits. If you would like, you can be done at this point (it still looks super cute without the strap).

8. If you would like the strap, continue on! Measure how long you need the strap to be. For a quad, I did 7″ by 3 1/4″, but I ended up cutting some off the length so it’s up to you. Cut your piece out and iron it in half long ways, wrong side out.

9. Sew on long side with a 5/8″ seam. Iron seam and press out.

10. Turn inside out and iron flat with the seam in the middle. Turning it inside out is a bit tricky since it’s only about an inch wide, but if you use a pen it helps.

11. Turn ends under 5/8″ and sew them shut. After I did one end, I made sure it was going to be the proper length for the case by putting the case back on my scriptures and holding the strap where I wanted it to be. This is where I ended up cutting a bit off of one end. But it’s up to you how far in or out you want the velcro to be on the flaps.

12. Cut a small square of velcro (both the fuzzy and pokey sides). Sew one of the sides onto the top of the strap. Make sure you put it on the top of the strap where you can’t see the seam or you’ll end up having to take it off and put it back on like I did so the seam wouldn’t show on the final product.

13. Put the case on your scriptures and pin the strap (the end that doesn’t have velcro on it) where you want it to be. Again, make sure you put the strap the right way or you’ll have to redo it like me! Sew the strap on. And be careful sewing the strap on because it’s tricky not to sew both layers of the cover.

14. Almost done! With your cover on your scriptures, pull the strap to the inside and see where you need the other piece of velcro to go so that the closure actually will fit your scriptures. Pin and sew.

15. And voila! You are finished and have a very nice new scripture cover. You can even make multiples to match different church outfits. Have fun!

If you’re looking for an easy activity to teach youth or Primary children to sew, this is a great one! Or even as an activity for personal development in the new Children and Youth program!

And sidenote, if you’re wondering why my scriptures are so big, or what the heck a quad is, you can learn more about what I believe here.

Update 2020: I’ve been using my scripture cover for eight years now, and it’s still in great condition! I love the way it dresses up my scriptures, and I love showing them off!

The post Scripture Cover Tutorial appeared first on Life With My Littles.