grandma figgins.

great grandma judd (jers mom's mom)

his favorite magnet on the fridge

cousins in grandma figgins backyard

in front of grandma figgins house: she raised 6 kids in this cute little house and lived here all her life.

jers favorite place to stop and eat: the junction. Fry sauce, chicken strips, marshmallow shakes, green chile burritos, and soda with soft ice, you can't go wrong ;)

We took the quickest trip ever up to Fredonia to go to Grandma Figgins' funeral. She was a really sweet and special lady who we were happy to know was reunited with her husband. Something cool we learned about Grandma Figgins was that she never missed a single day of reading her scriptures after her husband passed away. There was a Book of Mormon with reading glasses carved into each corner of her casket.  I'm sad we don't have more pictures with her, so this is the last one we had from Cede's wedding a few years ago. We stayed at Grandma Judd's house and the kids loved her house and yard, and toys and trinkets, and magnet collection on the fridge. Life is pretty dang simple in Fredonia, its nice to take a breath there. Even if it was only for a two days. 

happy little moments.

-7 am on a Saturday morning, we awoke to the sound of Napolean Dyonomite at the loudest possible volume. The nonstop giggling helped with the lack of sleeping in.
- I can't help it, I just want to take a picture every time I catch Kosty reading and highlighting his scrips
- scootering and kicking the yellow ball around the neighborhood, always always.
- When Brayden saw the clipboards I had gotten for their teachers during teacher appreciation week, he almost blew up the gratitiude meter. I had to take a picture to remember it. He was squeezing me and thanking me profusely, as if I had just given HIM an awesome gift. But it was a clipboard. For his teacher. 
- Some mornings go as planned, and the boys are dressed and ready reading scriptures like little angels, and we even get a family prayer in. Not all mornings go like that, but its always my goal. 
- Speed stacks and a family game of Clue for the 99th time.

phoenix childrens museum.

I was really lucky and got to go on another first grade field trip to the Children's Museum of Phoenix. The district accidentally double booked the yellow busses, so we got to ride in brand new charter busses. Comfortable seats and air conditioning make a world of difference. Kosty's class is always asked to wear navy shirts which explains why he's always wearing the same shirt on every trip; guess I should buy more navy. He kind of ignored me on the ride up, so his classmate Cody sat next to me instead, and talked my ear off. I learned a lot about Cody that day, he was a such a sweet and talkative kid! And I learned that first graders are the best kind of people. Something so special about that age. Then on the way home, Kosty decided he wanted to claim me. And claim me, he did. He even took a picture with me and smiled without me telling him to, and curled up on my lap and fell asleep. Dreamy day.

just a handful of kosty pics.

I'm still getting used to how different raising two boys with polar opposite personalities. Kosty loves to be outside, and I realized I had a heap of pictures of him, being him, outside. He can be so hard when he's hard, but so sweet, sensitive, helpful, so obedient, and so hilarious at times. There are many different sides of this boy. He is athletic, and loves anything to do with sports, but yet he fought us to the death on signing up for soccer (or any sport at all). Unfortunately, he gets so nervous about trying new things, but we knew we would just have to force him once and he would fall in love. He played for the "Killer Whales" in soccer this spring, and he could hardly wait for practice and game time. Hooray! Whenever he scored a goal, he DID NOT want praise or cheering. And he always looked down and tried not to crack a smile at all. After the game, he didn't want any attention or praise either. Hopefully someday he will grow out of this thing, cause, wow! it must be hard not to be able to show excitement or emotion!  

Other things: Take him to Chick Fila and he will love you forever (or just that night). He loves taking baths, but only in our tub. His favorite movie lately is Napolean Dynomite and he can quote every single line. I took this picture of him after dinner one night laughing hysterically as we all quoted the movie. He loves our bed, and makes himself look so sweet and cozy looking that its HARD not to let him nuzzle on in. Here he was being sweet, taking a pause in shootin hoops, and helping me cut out a stack of hands for primary. And last, another day of playing hookie. He has admitted on several occasions that he prefers being sick so that he can lay around and watch cartoons all day. This was right at the end of the school year and it seemed like classic schoolitis, but he told me his stomach hurt and the only thing that didn't make it worse was sucking on suckers. 

31.

-The young women surprised me with the sweetest book for my birhtday that all the leaders and girls signed. For sure one of the very most thoughtful gifts I've gotten. 

-Jer actually made this cake by himself. If calling me 14 times to ask questions along the way counts as by himself :)

-Lunch with my two greatest friends from my new ward. It feels like I've known Amanda and Karen my whole life and its crazy to think they lived a mile away but I would have never met them if we hadn't moved to this ward. 

-Brayden brought me breakfast in bed. Texas Toast with bananas and peanut butter. Wowzas.

-My mom, sister, and niece took me to brunch at Brio 

-The Deli with my greatest ever friends from my old ward

-Pita Jungle with my sweet friend Brooke and her new baby girl

The nicest friends, food, shopping, pedicure. I really don't hate getting older.