Mother's Day

I totally recognize that without this guy, I wouldn't be a mother.  Thank you Kimball!

Look at this ADORABLE PILE OF BOYS!  I am so so in love with them.  I cherish each one of them more than I can tell them.  Without them, I wouldn't be a mother.  They amaze me every day.  Last Monday Benson and Andrew bore their testimonies during family home evening.  It took my breath away.  They are unbelievable.  I am the luckiest luckiest mama ever.  They are little sweet hearts.  I love being home with them, watching them play, hearing what they say, observing their wild imaginations, chasing them around, taking care of them, toting them all over the place, teaching them, reading to them, snuggling them.  Being a mother to them is in my eyes, the highest honor.

Benson 6, Andrew 4, Talmage 2 (on his birthday), McKay 6 mo.

Yet, they give me gifts and pictures and cards.  Thank you.

 me hugging Benson

 These are just a few of the moms in my life on mothers day.  What good examples they are to me.  I watch them, observe them, and learn from them.  

And this is my mom.  She has been a lifesaver this year.  She shared her home with us.  Did SO SO much babysitting so that we could work on our home.  Has been there for me with a new baby. She has served me nearly everyday and at this stage in my life, I don't know what I'd do without her.  I need her, and love her.  She adores my littles and they love her too.  She is always teaching them (she's taught Andrew 20 state capitols just while driving him to preschool - another way she helps me so much.)  

I love you mom.  Thank you for doing endless amounts of work and sacrifice for me and my family.

Talmage the Courageous

We had a little moment this morning I never want to forget. I was getting ready for my day and went to put my shoes on in the sitting chair in our bedroom. Talmage was messing around with a pillow on the chair so I picked it up and lightly smashed him with the pillow. It was a one sided pillow fight and after a few blows I knocked him to the ground! Talmage stood up from defeat and walked out of the bedroom.

I said to Erica, "he's going to get a sword." Sure enough, Talmage came back with a noodle sword and proceeded to fight blow for blow with me. (All while smiling and grunting with every thrust). It was so much fun. I played hurt and he pulled my leg to get up. I got up and he beat me again. I played dead and he kissed my cheek to wake up... so he could beat me more.

Even as I write this he is still beating me with the sword. I love this little boy and I learned something very valuable about him. He is:

TALMAGE THE COURAGEOUS

Viva Las Vegas

I gave Erica tickets to MUSE in Las Vegas for Chirstmas. We stayed with my Grandma Ardene the first night, then stayed at the Mandalay Bay (where the concert was) the second night. We had so much fun, just the two of us since it was the first time in 6 years we have been more than one night without our wonderful children.

Erica drove most of the way because I had to work and got better gas mileage in the S4 than I have ever achieved: 23.4 mpg.


We stopped at the WELCOME to Fabulous Las Vegas Nevada sign

We played in the Pool

We got a sweet Suite room that was big and spacious

I splurged and bought a VIP Package. I thought it was worth it becuase we saw a GREAT rock concert, from our seats on the 3rd row!

Here's a sampling of this incredible band MUSE.

When we checked in to the VIP booth, they gave us extra tickets because "the stage was taller than they anticipated." I felt like a real life Monopoly Chance Card just occurred: 'Error in your favor, extra tickets awarded.' So we found some other hopefuls that bought our extra tickets from us which made our trip a little cheaper.

Here we are happy as can be and ever madly in love after more than 7 years of marriage.

ACL #14

It has been a long time coming... to realize the dream of our whole family FINALLY skiing together, at the same time!

On our last run of the afternoon, we went down a cat track to show off the boys skills, Benson went first, then Andrew, then Kimball and last Erica. She started to go, was feeling confident but hit a whoop, got turned sideways and twisted her knees as she fell forward. The bindings did not release and she heard a POP in her knee. She called after me and I pretty much knew what happened, but hoped it wasn't true.

Erica tore the ACL in her right knee. This makes the 14th ACL injury in her family. They are all very sympathetic to her misfortune and have lots of advice and instruction.

Erica and I decided to go to the Alta Clinic and have them check out her knee. Dr. Ken and the great staff there did an awesome job evaluating her injury and served Erica very well. They boys loved the dog they had on staff and I loved that they gave us the "locals" deal and took $500 off the bill. We talked all about the days when I used to work up at Alta and were feelin' the love of Alta.

Unfortunately Erica isn't feeling the Alta love, she instructed me to put her boots in the DI pile. I'm hopeful that with couples therapy and lots of time we can revisit my dream. Even if that dream is modified and Erica spends the afternoon at the Alta Spa.

I love you Erica for trying new things and mostly for trying to make me happy.

Talmage goes skiing

High Family Rules: If you can run, you can ski.

Talmage is almost two, and he can definitely run, BUT he's not very excited about skiing. When you ask him if he wants to go skiing he'll say, "Nope. Nope."

We didn't have the best first time out as you can see by the sideways sleet blizzard we found ourselves in. I waited until the last Saturday of the ski season so we'd have beautiful spring skiing weather; 45 degrees, sunny and views for miles. Instead of the weather we planned for, we got a nuking dump of a storm and Tage, well, the boots are too heavy for him to run away. So today he had no choice but to ski. 

Talmage reinvented the scream ski technique. Ultimately it was worth it because we were all alone, just dad and Talmage; and we ate treats on the way down the canyon. Will we ski next year? Nope? Nope? Chances are pretty good his memory is shorter than 8 months ;).

Earth Day

Today is Earth day.  We planted a Flowering Pear tree for Family Home Evening.  Kimball had already done almost all of the digging (because it took almost an hour) when the boys came to join the fun and we all watched dad put the first tree at our new home into the ground.  We added some water, then started filling it back in with the dirt.  Let's hope this thing takes well so we won't have to do it again.  

 Here's the first hole Kimball dug.  After he finished, he came inside and started searching the internet for someone else to hire, machinery, Better way, easier way, etc... The earth there is very rocky!!

 Such great helper boys!

The boys and I worked in the backyard weeding until it was time to place the tree in its new home.

 Only 5 left to go.  We're planting them on the side of our home to help with shading the backyard, noise blocking, and beautification.  We were so excited when we spotted these trees at Costco.  My mom (bless here heart) used my dad's truck to get them to our home.  It took almost three hours from start to finish!  The trees were so tall that they kept falling over until Kimball got out of his meeting at work and rescued her by tying them down.

Even after baths I caught Andrew sitting in the living room trying to watch Kimball finish up.

I learned something new

Kimball and I try to think of things to tell each other that are new- or unknown. We're running out of things to tell each other.  We've been married for 7 1/2 years now!

Tonight at family dinner I learned something new.  Kimball and his older and only brother Nathan played badminton for hour after hour in their backyard in their early teen years- 13, 14 ish.  When Nathan got to High school he had a gym teacher, Mr. Noble, who was quite the pro at badminton.  He prided himself on the fact that no one at East had ever beaten him at the game.  Nathan took those bragging rights away and was the only one to have beaten Mr. Noble.  Nathan warned him that he wasn't the only High, and that he had a younger brother that was even better than he was.

Along came Kimball to East High.  He beat Mr. Noble at badminton.  At least Kimball had manners and sportsmanship not to tell Mr. Noble that he'd also beat Nate.

Benson's 6th Birthday Party

Erica did an awesome job on Benson's birthday party. Just check out all these great details. Can you guess the theme?

  

  

 

 

 

 

 

Date with Grandma and Grandpa

This week Grandma and Grandpa High came to get Benson and Andrew to take them to a museum exhibition in Park City- the art was done with Legos!! They also brought their cousin Carter.  The boys and grandparents had a great time together and the art was so awesome and creative.  Afterwards, we all met up at Chick-fil-a and let the kids eat and play together some more.