My special, long-time friends

When I went back to Missouri for Jared and Shelby's wedding, I got to see a couple of my childhood friends. We haven't all been together since graduation, more than 13 years ago. One lives nearby, but one was only in town while her husband finished basic training. These are friends who I know will always stand by me, no matter what, or how long it's been since we saw each other, or how far away we are. I love them!

My boys were just starting their drive from California, so they didn't get to come hang out with us, but Janey's cute boys were there, and Teri's adorable son and daughter. Here are a few pics from our fast-food picnic at the park.

Clay: almost 2!

Little Levi: just turned 4!

Emily: gonna be in kindergarten!

Spencer: big 3rd grader!

Emily, Teri, Spencer, Clay, me, Janey, and Levi

Friends are so special. So glad we got together.

MONOPOLY!!!

Yesterday, me and Levi made the board game "Monopoly". We started at about 1:30 yesterday. We stopped to go to bed at about 8:30. then, we started back up today at around 2:00. We only had the money left to do, and we finished at 2:30. It looks great, and here it is:

I told you it looks great! well, see you in my next post.


A.J.

Baseball...have you missed it?

Yes, the boys both played baseball this spring. It was very busy, and not terribly notable for most of the season, so there weren't many posts about it. But, now that Levi is done with his tournaments, lets look at some pictures!

In one of the last games of the season, A.J. hit his first real home run. No, it didn't go over the fence, that's a really big field they're on, but you can see that the ball hasn't even been thrown to the cutoff man yet, and he's rounding 3rd. He was very happy. :)

In their second playoff game (everyone makes the playoffs, double-elimination), they went up 12-1, but barely won 13-12. Yikes. A.J.'s buddy Nate Dog (they all had nicknames on their jerseys, it was very confusing) got his "daily home run." Nate's not the most natural player out there, but when he connects, the ball goes a long, long way.

A.J. loves catching. I took a few pics of some good stops. The pitching was mediocre, at best, so he had some nasty stuff to try to stop. Lots of balls in the dirt, and some way over his head. He got to most of them, though. I must say, he's pretty good. :)

On to Levi: he is a very scrappy little player, and loves to get dirty. He dives for anything, even if he has no chance at all to get to the ball. This won't serve him terribly well as he gets older, but for now it just means he's aggressive. And his coach liked that a lot. He played pitcher and 3rd base, even as a lefty, and made lots of outs. He even caught some fly balls!

He is one of the most encouraging kids I know. He pats the other team on the back when they make it to 1st. He applauds foul balls, and good effort. He can turn around and tell you that you messed up, but we're trying to stay positive. :)

He's really fast. I don't see him run very often, we just don't have that much room in our yard. But when he lets loose, he flies. As for his number, no, he's not 00. He's 99, but the jerseys were enormous, so most of the numbers were tucked in to their pants.

We had good seasons, with a lot of learning going on. The biggest accomplishment: A.J. has improved dramatically at controlling his emotions, and not taking a loss so hard. It's still not fun, but he's usually not devastated anymore. Hooray, baseball!

The Best Couple Ever...Jared and Shelby

My adorable brother Jared married sweet Shelby on June 18, and then had a ring ceremony and reception on the 25th. I knew she was a keeper after my Grandma's funeral in December. She sailed through that stressful time, and then through Christmas with us, too. Our family quirks (cause every family has some...some families have more than others) didn't scare her away, and she fit right in. Can you tell that I love her? :)

They asked me to take pictures for them at the temple, and I gladly did. Here are some of my favorites.

The super cute couple. They giggled through most of the pics. :)

Smiling faces, and the beauty of the temple all in one photo.

Simply love this photo. They clearly love each other an awful lot.

Meet Mr. Nubman. Jared lost part of his finger in a work accident a couple of years ago. He occasionally draws a face on the stub and calls it "Mr. Nubman." What a goof.

Shelby's great family that drove out for California to be there for her. That's her brother in the back, her mom in blue and her aunt on the right.

These are all the Sudholts that made it. Somehow we finally managed to get a nice picture. After Aunt Karen stopped making faces.  Left to right: cousin Emily, my mom Jan, my sister Hallie, Shelby, my brother "Uncle Jon," Jared, me, my dad Bob, and Aunt Karen.

Jared's sweet son Gavin, ring bearer for the ceremony at the reception.

Shelby's pretty little Jasmine, the flower girl.

I am so excited to have such a great sister-in-law. Their new family is beautiful, and I can't wait to watch them bloom and grow together.

Lots to catch up on

I think I'll do this in a more or less random order. I'm not organized enough in my brain right now to do it any other way.

First up, we have a contract on a house! A gorgeous house, even. Never thought I'd have one so nice, especially that I can move right into. A couple of pictures for the curious, but no interior shots yet. It's still not mine, after all.

It's a 2-story house. The boys were thrilled. They've been begging for one for a couple of years now.

And, it has a nice, long backyard. There's room for a big garden, and lots and lots of baseball.















There's a shed in the back. Nothing terribly fancy, but the girls that live there now have been allowed to spray paint one end to their hearts' content. They're actually quite good.

Up next, my brother Jared's wedding to the best girl ever.