Mother's Day

The girls came home from school on Friday and insisted that I open their Mother's Day presents.  Ally's had a paper that she filled out about me.  Here is what it said.

Q. What is your Mother's full name?

A. Sarah Marie Grunig

Q. She is the mother of?

A. 4 kids.

Q. How old is she?

A. 31.

Q. How tall is she?

A. 5 feet.

Q. How much does she weigh?

A. 100.2

Q. What color is her hair?

A. Brown.

Q. My mother says of me?

A. I'm funny.

Q. What does she do around the house?

A. Clean.

Q. What is her favorite thing to eat?

A. Pizza.

Q. What is her favorite tv show?

A. Dancing with the Stars.

Q. Where does she like to go?

A. Stores.

Q. What is her favorite hobby?

A. Cook.

Q. My mother is a lover of?

A. My Dad.

Q. My mother is special to me and I lvoe her so much because?

A. She is very fun.

New dresses

Temple Square

Last weekend Charlie had a funeral in Springville plus it was his weekend off so it was the perfect weekend to make a family trip to Utah.  After his funeral on Friday we headed up to Salt Lake.  Madison has been watching videos on lds.org and some of them are of the sites around Temple Square.  We haven't been to the Church History Museum in a really long time and I don't know that we've ever taken the girls there.  This was one of the spots that Madison really wanted to make it to.  It was actually really interesting and I'm glad we went there first.

Madison and Ally learning to dance:

Emily, Ally, Madison, and Lydia:

Matthew was incredibly hard to get a picture of because he wouldn't sit still for more than 30 seconds.  We really needed to go in the morning so he could nap, but it didn't work out that way this time.

 Log cabin:  Ally, Charlie, Emily and Madison

 We walked south of Temple Square because they had some neat fountains going off.  It might have been a little cool to get wet, but the kids loved it.

Ally at the Salt Lake Temple:

Charlie, Sarah and Matthew:

I wanted a picture with Charlie and it turned into an everybody picture.  We must have looked crazy to people.

If we crop the picture we only look semi-crazy.

Jesus talked to me loud

Yesterday as I was driving to Walmart, Emily and I had a very interesting conversation.

Emily: When I prayed, Jesus talked to me loud.

Me: He did? What did he say?

Emily: He was loud in my ears.

Me: What did he say to you?

Emily: I'm a good girl and I can be big like my sisters.

Me: Do you know Heavenly Father and Jesus love you very much?

Emily: Yeah, I know.

It was such a simple conversation, but so meaningful. Emily just stated nonchalantly, as if it happens everyday. Who knows, maybe it does. No wonder we are supposed to become like a little child.

Conference

I loved conference this year, as I have most other years. It was nice not having things to run to on Saturday this year, especially since Saturday was my favorite day.
The M&Ms was a huge hit. The girls were listening for everything including the songs and prayers. They also cleaned out the candy the first session. They ended up putting it in a bag and saving it for later or, like Emily, to share with our neighbors.  I'm okay with them getting it in one session because they listened and were excited about it.

General conference-spring 2012

Every year it seems like we struggle getting the kids to sit still during general conference. We have tried packets and tents and nothing (which turned out to be less than productive, aka a nightmare). This year I am trying something a little different. I let Madison and Ally pick out there flavors of M&Ms. They have to listen to the talks and every time one of the words are said they get to have one M&M. I don't remember who told me about this idea. I think it might have been Suzannah.

The girls picked out coconut and pretzel M&Ms so I needed to have what I thought were the most common words be either green, white, or brown.  If this works well I will adjust the colors with the words next time. What we are listening for:

Prophet - Green
Christ - Red
Love - Purple
Temple - White
Family - Blue
Faith - Brown
Tithing - Yellow
Hope - Orange

RIP Little Treadmill

 

After 5 years, our treadmill died yesterday.  I went to run yesterday and it was like the belt wasn't catching--kind of like it was chugging.  We've had problems with the belt lately and I think that it was getting stretched out.  I picked up the end and there was a pile of black powder was on the carpet.  Then I noticed the end bar was bent a little bit.  We looked it up and we could replace the belt and the end bar, but it would be a lot of money and I don't know that the treadmill is worth it right now.  So now if I want to run, I get to get up early or do it late at night. Oh, goodness.  I think I can ... I think I can ...