Visitors

Our week was filled with grandparent time. Duane works from home now so he was able to work this week at our house and pop down from the guest bedroom to say hello during the day and walk Eli to and from the bus. He bought ice cream for dessert one evening. Check out Eleanor's hair after she pulled out her pigtails. Her evening hair styles crack us up.

Austin turned into a bat at gymnastics. His teacher said this is not easy to do. He's gotten stronger and stronger each class!

Tuesday night it worked out for Aaron and I to attend the temple together. This is the first time we've gone together since we moved here. We've gone to the temple separately, but this time was the best since we could attend together. 

Wednesday morning LeeAnn flew in and we went and picked her up from the airport and spent the day together. 

Thursday morning we went to story time at the library. Eleanor kept saying, "Story time!" 

After our library stop, we decided to explore a new park. There are sooo many parks around us and we haven't even seen them all yet!

I had a coupon for a free sandwich at Chick-fil-a so we stopped for lunch. I tear up thinking about Austin growing up so quickly. I say this every journal entry, but I cherish the time we get to spend together. He's a kind friend to Eleanor. 

These two were all smiles as they came down the slide together. 

And here are some pictures of Austin's chalk art. He wrote MOM on top of the pink one!

Grandma Volk taught the boys how to play garbage with cards and the boys played it together each day after school. I love that they have each other as brothers and friends. 

Friday evening we made a quick run to Wal-mart and Eleanor looked like this - no shoes, her hair tie broke and her hair was all over the place. She wanted to dance for a quick second so I got her out of the cart and obviously had to take a picture. 

Our hearts were happy to have grandparents in our home for a week! Eleanor kept saying, "Grandpa" and would run to the guest bedroom and interrupt him during his work hours. They each taught a lesson during the week for our Come Follow Me study and the kids loved hearing them share their testimonies. The final lesson was on "Sowing and Reaping" and Grandma gave them each a John Deere hat as well as a garden kit. They were thrilled!! We gave them lots and lots of hugs as they left Saturday morning. Aaron and I had a nice conversation with Duane and LeeAnn about raising children. I was in tears as they reminded us that the small efforts we make each day to pray together, read our scriptures, have gospel discussions, attend church and the temple, will bless our children's life and help them be prepared for their future. 

Aaron ran 12 miles on Saturday and I ran 11. We're three weeks away from our half marathon and we're getting excited and ready for the big run!! Aaron and I went to the adult session of Stake Conference on Saturday evening. The best part was being together! The talks were focused on missionary work and we both felt inspired to do our part to openly talk about our faith with others. One of the best things about living in our neighborhood is that when we talk to neighbors about where we go to church, we can point over by the temple and let them know we attend church so close!

Stake Conference was today and even though it's a long two hours with our little ones, we survived and enjoyed sustaining our stake leaders. Our stake president was called as the stake president just 6 months after moving to this area. The visiting area 70 talked about how our stake president is called of God. 

We're all excited for General Conference next weekend!