Lake trip.

My most favorite picture of ALL time!

Our friends invited us to the lake with them on Good Friday. Jeremy's office was open (of course) so he was nervous to miss, but committed to spend the day with us since he knew how excited the kids were. But then sadly, had a mandatory meeting at the last minute. We were sad that the lake might not happen, but luckily, Jason and Jamie still let us come, which was so  nice since I know another man would have been extremely helpful! Jason was nice not to be bothered by an extra wife for the day, and Jamie was crazy impressive with her boat backing out skills, boat driving skills, and boat pulling in skills. Those are all things that Jeremy should have been doing, but she took it on. There is nothing she can't do. Kosty surprised me with wanting to get out not he tube first, and that top picture could not make me happier. He was cracking us up with his facial expressions. So glad Jamie has a good camera and caught it. Brayden was begging to jump in the (freezing) water right from the get go, and then he could not get enough of the tubes. Faster, longer, crazier rides, we couldn't seem to satisfy him! I really had no intentions on getting on the tube because it was so cold, but I couldn't resist his request. Brayden even did a little cliff jump too. He surprises me with his adventurous side, and although it kinda freaks me out, I also really love it about him. I always wished I was one of those kids when I was his age. When we got off the boat, and loaded up to go home, Brayden said, "that goes in the top 3 funnest days of my whole life!!!" 

He asks if he can give me piggy back rides and carries me all over the yard, but yet he's still a little boy who requests to be carried to his bed when he's "too tired"...Oh, my sweet little (giant) man cub, slow it down some? 

snow day in gilbert.

 

I love these completely random hail storms in the spring here. I remember the last time we had one like this, was in May 2 years ago. I only remember that because it was also the day of Aunt Cede's graduation and they had to move it inside. We had just gotten home from church and the weather got totally crazy. This time the hail was really soft, and so it looked and felt more like snow. Brayden was elated and spent as much time as possible (with no shoes on) before his feet were nearly frostbitten. I felt it was only right to make 4 mugs of hot cocoa and snuggle on the couch with all the doors and windows open and be lazy the rest of the afternoon. 

school 5k.

The boys school hosted their first "family wellness 5k" and I happily signed us up. Their school is really good about not over doing fundraisers. They only have two per year and the other is a Read a thon. I am happy to sign up for a fun family day like this that involves fresh air and exercise and not obnoxious cookie dough selling. Only bummer was that it happened to be on the same day that Jer's brother Zach was going through the temple, and so jer needed to be with him instead. Brayden was super excited at the starting line, it was cute to watch his anticipation as they counted down and blared the horn. Right before that happened, he said, "Sorry, but is it ok if I leave you guys in the dust?!" YES! Kosty was apprehensive about the whole thing and I was worried he would hate it, so I was really happily surprised when he took off running fast and excited. Sadly, after about 5 minutes, he came to a complete halt. Brayden was in the lead as far as I could see him. I was sad when he was no longer in view, but happy he was running. He told me later that he never took a break or slowed down, I'm curious how quickly he was finished. That will forever remain a mystery though, because for the next 5 hours, I was about to rip my hair out with impatience for Kosty. He not only stopped jogging, he slowed down to about crawl speed. He would never even walk that slow in real life. It was torture. Any time I asked him to pick up the pace, just a little, he would stop and then walk even sloooower. He would not let me pick him up either. There were babies and seniors passing us up. He stopped to pick up every piece of "treasure" (broken glass) and even picked up a real bone and carried it the whole way. I could not believe it was a 5k route. It felt like 26 miles. I don't remember exactly how long it took, but all I know is that we were the last people to cross the finish line out of hundreds. 


Brayden insisted we stay until all the raffle prize winners were announced. He was SURE he would win out of his class because there were only 6 names in the basket and 3 of them were his. His teacher's raffle was the LAST to be announced out of the entire school. We were the very last people remaining, and when the PTO president announced the last prize winner, she looked at us with such pity. Brayden was not the winner, and boy, was he disappointed. He was SO SURE he would win. Moments like that make me think, coooome on. 


All in all, a good experience, I think....Brayden caught the race bug, and he asked me if he could sign up for more 5ks and work his way up. Oh, I must mention Kosty's bone. When he was holding it, it was covered in dirt and I wasn't even sure if it was real or not. When we got back, he washed the bone with soap and dried it with a paper towel and asked me to hold it. About 10 minutes later, I got a whiff of complete stench. When I took a closer look, it still had animal hair on it, and the smell was horrific. Kosty was sad when I told him I needed to throw it away, but when I let him get a sniff to prove my point, he was more than happy to toss it. Fun day. 

jer's 32nd birthday.

6pm bedtime

Jer has been talking about getting an iPad since they first came out. He has been saving Apple gift cards from Christmas & birthdays since then too. It was pretty convenient that the new iPad was scheduled to release on his actual birthday, and he and Brayden made plans to camp out in front of the apple store. I thought it was just a little crazy and unnecessary, but I wasn't going to stop them. Brayden was thrilled about it, and made a strict bedtime for himself at 6pm so that he would be ready to go at 5 am. The kid does not mess around when it comes to getting his full nights sleep. He was a man of his word...I went in to check on him and he was snoring by 6pm. Later that night, Jer found out that people had started lining up at midnight, and he panicked. I was sure that 5 am would be plenty early enough but he didn't want to gamble. So, he woke Brayden up at 3 am and told him that he decided to go earlier and that he understood if he wanted to stay and sleep longer. But nope, Brayden popped right up, excited & raring to go. They brought blankets and snacks and watched videos and played games on jer's phone to pass time. Surprisingly, they both said there was not a minute of boredom. At 8 am, they were finally able to get their hands on the much anticipated iPad! Such a fun memory for them both. 


Oh, and I must mention that Kosty woke up so giddy that you would have thought it was his own birthday. He was smiling and bouncing around the house talking about Daddy's birthday and then he whipped out the cutest card all before 8 am. I don't even think I've seen him this excited on his own birthday, or Disneyland, or legoland for that matter. I tried so hard to capture his priceless smile but since he couldn't hold still, all the pics turned out blurry. You can see it well enough though, and I would like that face burned in my memory forever. When Jer and Brayden got home, Kosty presented his card and gave him the best hug ever. What a lucky guy, that Daddy.

discovery park.

Its always so much fun to go back outside when Spring weather hits. I've decided Spring dosen't get as much credit as it deserves! We took the kids to discovery park and they rode their scooters all over. There are huge hills and a strip of about 5 mini hills in a row which they thought was super cool to go up and down. Brayden begged me to try riding his scooter from the top of the hill, which they had been doing with no hesitation. I got up to the top and was too scared! I have become the biggest wuss ever since having babies. 

Brayden's new (80's) desk.

One of our neighbors had this lovely desk on their curb. Brayden spotted it & next thing I knew he was knocking at their door. Welp, here she is. He was committed. Helped load it in the car, hauled it inside, scrubbed every nook and cranny, then he loaded up with all his art supplies, and happily sat there for the rest of the day. Sadly, once we moved it into a new location (aka not the middle of the living room) he hasn't used it since. Guess she's going back to the curb. It was fun while it lasted.

Zach's mission call.

Jer's little brother Zach, got his mission call to Spokane, Washington. We are so excited for him for his adventure and of course for making the decision to serve! I'm especially happy for the example he is setting for the boys. He is our first missionary from both sides of our family. He was supposed to leave April 11, but has since broken his foot and so now he will leave in May (we think)...It was a sweet moment watching him so filled with emotion as he read his call, and then hugged his mom, sobbing, in front of (practically his entire) high school who were there watching. Those Figgins boys. Softies, through and through. 

Valentines day.

Valentine's day is SO not a lover's holiday around this place. The kids get so excited for their bag of goodies, favorite breakfast, favorite dinner, class parties, their favorite dessert and family games. That's the way we like it though, so no complaints. We played musical chairs and cupids arrow...where you have to shoot a q tip (arrow) through a straw and land it on your teams' heart. Simple games are my favorite games.