Cooper's T- Ball game

This little ball player was the reason we all gathered this evening at the park. Cooper had a t-ball game, and we came to watch him, but then got a bit distracted with the playground.

This is Benson climbing, but not without Dad right there to catch, just in case

3...2....1.... Go.........okay, now Go!

Dad...are you being serious?

Audrey and Chase

Austin

Luke...what a smile!

Jackson

Benson adores Audrey. This is just one of the million times that Audrey played with Benson. She had two sleepovers at our house while she visited Utah and I really want to keep her. The problem is, so do her parents.

Sisters- Erica, Steph, and Jenn (where was Angie and Laura?)

Benson and Uncle Clark

The moment I've been waiting for

My sister lives in Tucson. It's bad enough that I don't get to see her as much as I want to, but she also has four adorable kids, and a pretty great hubby. She comes to visit in the summer, and no matter how long she stays, it's never enough. I'm trying to be grateful that she comes, but I truthfully wish that she'd just move here.

She sacrificed, and drove the 13 hour trip on her BIRTHDAY! When she arrived, we were all there in my parents circle waving sparklers for her. When she came in the house, I had made her this birthday cupcake platter. Of course her stay proved to be a blast, and the kids left believing that I'm still the favorite aunt.

Father's Day

We had a great Father's Day! I made biscuits and gravy with sausage for Kimball for breakfast, and he wore his new shirt to Church. The boys and I were excited to give Kimball his card because Benson knew that he had helped to make it for dad to tell him that we love him. Later, that day, we went to Grandma Knight's to have dinner with the extended family on Kimball's side. It was wonderful, and good to see everyone.

After dinner, we did a 'drive by' at my house to wish my dad a happy father's day. We ate Haagen Daz Bars outside and my dad loved all over my little guys. Benson was really cute to tell both bompas, "Happy father's day". I hope Kimball knows how much we love and appreciate him everyday.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

To my amazing husband who is a father of two.... I knew that Kimball would be a great dad, but he has proved to be an outstanding, extraordinary dad. He loves his boys, and his boys love him! I catch him sneaking into the nursery to steal Andrew so that he can hold him while he is asleep. When it comes to kids, he doesn't back down from a challenge - he does diapers, medicine, naps, baths, feedings, messes, bottles, carseats, teeth- brushing, comforting, reading, playing, playing, and more playing.

He was there to support me through my two pregnancies and was there to welcome our children into the world. He has shown such sacrifice, patience, and compassion as a husband and father. When Benson was in the NICU as a preemie, he visited Benson and was involved with every aspect of his new life. He told him stories as he slept in his little crib, just so that Benson would know he was there. Benson squeals with delight when "Daddy comes home" and sings him a song. He even will wait on the balcony for him to come if I tell him that daddy's coming home. Kimball will play catch, kicking the ball, golf, and baseball with Benson til they lose track of time. Today in the car I said, "Isn't that amazing Benson?" and he replied in these exact words, "Actually, daddy is amazing". Wow! Benson, wants to be just like dad and do what he's doing. He has his own tools that he plays "fixing things" with because he has seen Kimball fix things. Benson couldn't have a better role model and father.

My wonderful father, Wil Jones. We love you Bompa, and your motorcycle, and hugs!

Kimball's amazing father, Darryl High. We thank you for spending so much time with us! You make us feel so loved.

Andrew loves his daddy. He came with a stamp on his chin that said, " I want to be just like my dad". Kimball gets Andrew so excited and gets great giggles out of him. Kimball sings to Andrew, and he loves it. Andrew is known at our house as the poop factory. We haven't cracked the cause yet, but just about every day, he poops out of his diaper. Kimball is so helpful when this happens, not even giving it a second thought to start bath water, get the Spray n'Wash, and a new set of clothes. How grateful I am that I don't have to do it by myself all of the time. Kimball is the father that loves, cuddles, and soothes. He is patient with the boys and teaches them everyday. I hope that our boys will turn out like their daddy- adding their own twist of course.

I am so grateful for an involved and loving husband. I appreciate all the support that he is to me. Kimball works so hard so that I can stay home to raise our boys full-time, and for that there are no words great enough to say THANK YOU! Thank you for being a worthy father who has blessed me and our children so many times. I admire you and cherish you! I just want to let you know that WE ARE THE LUCKIEST!

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY KIMBALL! WE LOVE YOU!!!

"Foo-free"

Benson loves his aunt Carlie and Uncle Jeffrey. He loves Carlie enough to give her "doggie kisses", or actually, Carlie loves him enough to let him give her "doggie kisses". The first time Benson did doggie kisses I thought it was really cute, and we laughed our heads off. Now, well, let's just say that I prefer Benson kisses.
Benson loves "foo-free". Benson started out calling him Foo-free, but now calls him Jeffrey. The nickname stuck and we all call him Foo-free now. Jeffrey is a really great uncle and so cute with Benson.

Playing games with the Barrus family! Uno Spin was a fun twist of Uno, you never know who's going to inherit 20+ cards.

Summer Solstice

It's the longest day of the year, but it hasn't felt much like summer today. Rain...lots of rain. Since our water supply for the year has been supplied in the last two weeks of rain, does that mean that I can take longer showers?

We made the most of the day by going to the Gateway and seeing the awesome sidewalk chalk art. There was some serious talent. It was great to be out and about, even if it was a bit cold.

Boys - locked and loaded.

Benson in the bouncing gym with dad looking on. He was definately unsure about being so unstable in there.

Kristina's (Kimball's brother Nate's, sister-in-law) awesome sidewalk art. You almost can't tell except for the cracks in the pavement at the bottom.

New for this year was the "Wild Things" Category. 2 entries to choose from.

One of Kimball's favorites. The colors were unique and fun for such a drowsy day.

From the professional artists, this was our best in show. This looks like wall art, not sidewalk art.

Finally, out of the carseat and free to play. -Don't mind my stream of drool

Hope you had a great "longest day of the year"!

Life with Swine Flu

This morning I text'd my boss to let him know that I was sick and wouldn't be coming to work today. He replied by telling me that he was sick too, not going to work too, and btw, his daughter has the Swine Flu. I started to ask him his symptoms. Fever. Check. Coughing. Check. Headache. Check. General Malaise & Fatige. Check. Sore Throat. Check. Oh boy. I got what he's got. Since I have a doting wife, 2 kids under 2 1/2 and spent Sunday evening hanging out with my entire family, including 80 year old grandma I decided I needed to get tested so I could warn the masses.

I made an appointment this morning and was told that the CDC is not "confirming" swine flu cases anymore unless you are hospitalized. SO they did test me for Flu A. Since there are no other flu strains that are active this time of year there is a 95% chance that I have the H1N1 Strain aka: Swine Flu. OH MY GOSH I'M GOING TO DIE I CAN'T BELIEVE IT HONEY WE'RE GOING TO HAWAI'I TOMORROW AND WE'RE SPENDING ALL OUR MONEY HURRY TAKE OUT LIFE INSURANCE CAN I GO SKYDIVING MAYBE IT'S TOO LATE WHAT ABOUT HELI SKIING? CAN I HELI SKI IN JUNE AND I'VE NEVER SEEN THE NORTHERN LIGHTS OR BLACK SAND BEACHES OR WHITE SAND BEACHES OR MACHU PICHU WHAT HAVE I DONE WITH MY LIFE AAAAARRRRRGGGGGHHHHHH I HAVE SWINE FLU I MIGHT DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

WRONG.

I'm not going to die from Swine flu, and neither will you. Here's how it went down for me. My boss had it worse than me I think but our experience has been somewhat similar from a symptoms and timing standpoint.

Friday morning I did an assessment for work that had me running around for 4 hours and afterwards I was telling Erica how sore I was from it. She basically called me a Nancy for being sore from sitting in a chair. Then Friday afternoon I felt like i had zero energy while I struggled to finished out the day.

Saturday I got out to some golf with a ward friend but felt phlem and sore throat in the morning and greater fatigue, achy bones, sore muscles, constant runny nose as the day went on.

Then came Sunday. I got hit by a Mack truck! I stayed in bed all day pretty debilitated. It felt like my muscles had atrophied completely. The headache from Friday and Saturday turned Migraine on Sunday was calmed by a helpful drug. Besides that, the Tylenol, Advil & Tussin wouldn't touch the symptoms. By Sunday evening I had slept enough and was feeling better so we went to regular Sunday dinner. I woke up this morning and again was blasted by the Peterbuilt but am feeling better in the evening again with residual runny nose and incesent caughing. If it weren't for Vaseline my nose would be raw and I've writtin Charmin for a sponsorship since I've used their toilet tissue exclusively. We'll see what tomorrow brings.

A LITTLE ABOUT THE PANDEMIC
Frmo the Center for Disease Control or CDC: The World Health Organization (WHO) called H1N1 a PANDEMIC du-dun-duh (scary sound here). It is now found in 70 countries across the world. "WHO’s decision to raise the pandemic alert level to Phase 6 is a reflection of the spread of the virus, not the severity of illness caused by the virus."
Talking about the severity of the influenza, across 50 states, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico are these statistics: TOTAL 17,855 cases with 45 deaths. That means you have a .00252 % chance of dying from H1N1 Swine Flu. If that scares you, don't get in your car or stand in an open field in a lightning storm. As Happy Gilmore said, more people die each year falling off their toilet.

WHAT TO DO NOW?
My Dr. prescribed me Tamiflu. This drug can be taken if you have the symptoms or preventatively if a family member has symptoms and you don't want it. The drawback is that Tamiflu is VERY expensive. 10 pills cost $103 total, $60 of which was my copay. OUCH! I got the 10 pills for Erica and 2 bottles of the liquid for the boys which the incompetent Wal-Mart Rx staff did not mix for me but were supposed to. Please people, don't shop Wal-Mart. It's just not worth it. Save your soul and hit up a local Joe.

I'm most contageous during days 2-3. The disease is spread when a particulate that I sneeze or cough lands on a hand and the hand contacts an eye or mouth. It is not spread in the air. The incubation period is 1-3 days, so If you are going to get sick it will be 1-3 days after coming in contact with someone. Consequently I'm wearing a mask wherever I go in public for 7 days or til I exhibit no symptoms for 24 hours. But I'm really trying not to go and do for that term because wearing a mask really sucks.

Final probing question you all wanted answered. I have not been kissing pigs. That would be another popular pandemic known as swine mono. Terrible, just terrible.

Air Force Week

After hearing some low flying airplanes going over the office on Monday my boss informed me that it was Air Force Week in Salt Lake City last week. For the loyal blog readers you know that Benson is all about the "Airplane!!!" lately so the Air Force couldn't have better timing.

We began the week at the Ball Park. Grandpa High treated us to a great time. We saw 4 parachuters jump from a DC-3 onto the field. Benson will randomly say, "Jump. Airplane. Flag." after watching these four hit their mark. We then saw a group of new cadets get sworn in. And for the finale we got a flyover from a in-air-refueler KC-135 and four F-16's. Turns out that I was far more excited than Benson was with the flyover.

Here we are at Hill Field in the masses awaiting the Thunderbirds. Precious family.

Even though this was an Air Force gig this here is a Navy plane. The VAQ tag on the intake cover signifies the squadron this plane belongs to which happens to be the same squadron that my dad worked on. So here is my dad reunited with a bird he worked on more than 30 years ago. Pretty cool. I've now been with my dad at similar reunions in Seattle, WA, Dayton, OH and Washington DC.

Laura, Dan as Luke sleeps through the Thunderbirds.

Making a mess before........... THE THUNDERBIRDS!

These things were LOUD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So amazing.

Benson did okay with the noise but Andrew wasn't so excited. Sorry kiddo.

Amazing precision. They really do fly as close as it looks.

That was an excellent demonstration of our fine tax dollars at work. Nothing like seeing multi million dollar aircraft on demonstration. Each F-16C costs aproximately $17 million each. Better yet, we saw the Navy's FA-18 demonstration which is only a $55 million dollar airplane. Best yet, there was an F-22 sitting on the tarmac that costs a cool $154 million EACH! Wow. I hope you get a massaging backrest and Dr. Pepper dispenser with that.