Photography by Mason

When I went to download all the pictures we took on Saturday of our new play set, I found about 40 pictures taken by a little boy about 3 1/2 feet tall with blonde hair and blue eyes. Here is a sampling of his photography skills.the "dirt box"
one side of the yard
the beginnings of the picnic table on play set
wood
box of screws

tools

he said there was a plane in the sky

Garden 2009

Some of those 40 pictures taken by Mason were of our garden. I was just thinking yesterday that I should really take so pictures of the garden, now I don't need to, thanks to Mason. In the bottom left corner is the pumpkins, then the zucchini squash and cucumbers behind the pumpkins.
Cucumbers
Zucchini squash
Corn
Strawberries
Raspberries

Both my strawberries and raspberries were starts from other people, so I don't think I will get much from either of them this year.

What you get when...

the camera falls into the wrong hands!

The best medicine...

laughter.

I love to hear little kids laugh, espically mine. The both have the best laughs ever!

Fun on the 4th.

With everyone else posting about the fun filled 4th they had, I now feel obligated to blog about our 4th.

We were going to have a backyard camp out with Jared, Michelle, and Ethan, roast some marshmallows, sing campfire songs, and share fond memories of one another. But with my recent ER visit and throat dilation procedure, I really didn't feel up to planning a camp out. Sorry Jared and Michelle, maybe we can plan another one before you leave for good ol' Utah.

We started out our day by going out looking for a swing set. My Dad saw a "For Sale" sign for one in the valley, so we decided to go have a look. The swing set was very disappointing. Old. Homemade. Needs lots of work. No Thanks. Then it was off to Walley World to check out their selection. Disappointment yet again. Chincey. Over priced. No Thanks.

By the time we were done looking at swings, it was time for lunch and nap, so we swung though the fun and exciting drive through of our local Taco Bell. Cooper fell asleep on the way home, we tried to get him to sleep some more once we got home. He wasn't having it. He thought yelling, laughing, and keeping Mason awake was way more fun.

So after an hour of this, we got them up and went to Jeff's parents for a BBQ. Sorry no pictures, forgot the camera. I seem to be forgetting a lot lately, I wonder if something is wrong with me....

We got home from the BBQ around 5:45pm. Cooper was REALLY feeling the consequences of deciding to play earlier in the day instead of sleeping, so he retired to his crib at 6:15. Mason followed by 7:30.

As for Jeff and I, well, my mind is drawing a blank as to what we did with the rest of our evening, must have been real exciting, something like watching TV.

So there you have it, our 4th. Not too exciting, really, just another day in the life of the Borders.

Update

I thought I would take a moment to update everyone on how my recovering is going.

As yesterday progressed my pain got much better. I was able to eat some noodles last night and only had a little pain swallowing, as long as I chewed each bite fifty million times.

Today has be a 360 degree turn around! The pain is much better! It feels like I just have a soar throat now. I didn't eat much until dinner though because I was so sick of eating yogurt and applesauce for every meal. I was absolutely STARVING by the time dinner came so I loaded up my plate with some of my yummy home-made pizza, salad, and fresh fruit. It probably took me over 45 minutes to eat it all, but it was well worth it.

ER Visit

I have a pocket in my throat just above my esophagus. I found out that I had this pocket on Jeff's baptism day (September 29, 2001). We went to Golden Corral afterward to celebrate. I ate one piece of pork and it got stuck. The pork was so stuck that I couldn't even swallow my own saliva. We ended up in the ER that night having an endoscope put down my throat to push the pork down the rest of the way. After letting my throat heal for a month or so, I went in to have my throat dilated.

Then in 2005 I started to feel like food was having a harder time going down my throat, so I went in and had my throat dilated again.

Tuesday night we were signed up to feed our missionaries dinner. I made BBQ chicken, mashed potatoes, and zucchini squash. We sat down to eat about 6:30pm. I cut up my chicken into small pieces and took one bite. I soon noticed that the chicken wasn't going down, so I got up from the table and went upstairs to my bathroom to try to push down the chicken with some water. Usually I can gulp some water and whatever is stuck will be forced down. Not this time, just like the time at Golden Corral, I couldn't even get my saliva down. So when I tryed to swallow the water, and it wouldn't go down, I would have to puke it back up. Fun. Fun. Let me tell you! After trying this for about a half hour, with no success, I went down stairs and asked Jeff and the missionaries to give me a Priesthood blessing. I then went back upstairs and continued trying to get the chicken unstuck. I was finally able to get the chicken to move a little so I could swallow my saliva. At around 10:30pm I drank about 6ozs. of milk, this took me about 30 minutes just to get in down.

After that I decided to go to bed in hopes that my throat muscles would relax enough for the chicken to get unstuck and go down. I woke up Wednesday morning and the chicken was still stuck. Jeff called in sick to work, we dropped the boys off at some friends of ours, and we were off to SHMC ER. Luckily there wasn't anyone in the waiting room so we got right in.

My nurse got right to work on plan A: she put in an IV and put some medicine in the IV that is suppose to relax my throat muscles enough for the stuck chicken to be able to go down on its own. The medicine is suppose to work within 45 minutes. (They tried this the last time in 2001 and it didn't work.) If, after 45 minutes, the food was still stuck, it would be onto plan B. Well plan A did not work, so plan B it was. A gastroentologist (sp) was called in. I was taken to endoscopy and put to sleep. The Dr. put an endoscope down my throat and pushed the chicken down into my stomach. During the procedure he also dilated my throat.

This time has been way different that the two times before. I am in SO much more pain! Because the chicken was stuck for a longer period of time, and they pushed the chicken down and dilated my throat in the same procedure, my throat hurts way more. It also hurts all the way down to the top of my stomach any time I have to swallow. I don't remember having any pain past my throat the last time. I also can't take deep breaths with out it hurting really bad.

Yesterday I could literally feel everything going down until it would reach my stomach. It hurt so bad that I would usually be in a hunched over position until it reached my stomach. (it even hurt to swallow my saliva) So, I was basically in a hunched over position all day. From Tuesday at 12:30 until now (Thursday morning) I have only been able to eat probably about a cup and a half of soft food (yogurt, applesauce, and ice cream). And I have only been able to drink a few ounces of water. (The bite of chicken that got stuck at 6:30 Tuesday night was my first bite of food)

Since I can't eat anything but soft foods, I also can't swallow any pain pills. The hospital didn't give me any prescriptions or anything and Target pharmacy didn't have anything over the counter in adult strength. So I am stuck taking the Children's strengths, but they don't make the pain go away, they just make it so I am not hunched over in pain every time I swallow.

Oh and unfortunately for me, the dilation procedure is not a permanent fix. My throat will go back down to its normal size after about one year. I have heard that there is a new procedure that is suppose to basically dilate the throat permanently. The last I heard, it was still in its trail phase, not an accredited procedure. I don't want to be a Genia pig and have the procedure go wrong and end up with a feeding tube the rest of my life.

Kisses

You will NEVER see me kissing a cat good-bye; Cooper on the other hand, must have felt the cat was being left out of the good-bye kisses and hugs.

Fire station

I just found this picture from about ten days ago. Jeff took Mason, my brother Jared and my nephew Ethan down to his fire station so Ethan could see the fire truck. Mason has been to the fire station a few times, but has never sat in the fire engine by himself.

Also probably about six weeks ago our friend Corrine was at our house with her two boys. Jeff suggested that we take the boys down to the station so Allen and Carter could see the engine. When we got there one of Jeff's fellow firefighters was there. He asked the boys if they wanted to take a ride in the engine. Mason was a bit leery of getting in, but he did get in and enjoyed the ride. Mason said his favorite part was being able to talk to his daddy through the head phones. Cooper on the other hand did not like having the big bulky head phones on, he kept trying to take them off.

Father's Day

We had a pretty quiet Father's Day this year. We went to church, like always. The Primary kids sang to their dads. Mason went up to the front of the chapel, with some help from our friend Crystal who is in the Primary Presidency. Mason stood in front of Crystal the whole time with a somber look on his face. I wasn't sure if he would even go up to the front but I was sure that if he did, he wouldn't sing. I am proud of him for just going up.

After church we went to my parents for root beer floats. We were going to go to the park, but the weather was yucky.

I got Jeff Glenn Beck's new book, Common Sense. It should arrive sometime between today and Thursday. I know, I know, I should have thought about ordering it sooner, and I did, but that thought didn't become action until abut two days before Father's Day. Jeff knows I am like this, every year I don't do any Christmas shopping for him until just a few days before Christmas, while he's had all his shopping for me done well before Thanksgiving. It's just the way I am, Jeff knows this and loves me anyway.

We love you daddy and are so proud of everything you have accomplished.

My dad with Cooper

Jeff's dad with Mason

Words

Mason's favorite word right now is "skunk". Everything is skunk, you are a skunk, skunk this and skunk that.

Cooper's favorite word right now is "poop". He is constantly saying it. Ask him where something is and his response will be "poop". He will randomly come up to us and say "poop".

Our house is full of skunks and poop, hopefully this will change. And soon.

D.O.N.E.

I don't want to speak too soon, and technically I am not speaking, I am writing, so hopefully that won't count, and I won't jinks Jeff in saying that he is all done with what has become six months of training with the fire department! First it was EMT school, then it was the fire academy, and last it was wild land fire training. I say I don't want to jinks him because after the academy, we both sighed a HUGE sigh of relief that he was all done. Then a few days later Jeff got a letter in the mail from the district informing him that they enrolled him in the wild land fire training and that his attendance was mandatory.

Now Jeff will receive his "red card" which means that if we have any wildfires in our area (like the Dishman Hills fire last year) Jeff could go help fight the fire if the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) takes over control of fighting the fire.

Helping the Homeless

So my Father-in-Law sent this email to us. I thought it was pretty funny, and thought I would post it before my husband had a chance to post it to his opinionated blog. Waaaahhaaaaa.

Recently Michelle Obama went to serve food to the homeless at a government funded soup kitchen .

Cost of a bowl of soup at homeless shelter: zero dollars.

Having Michelle Obama Serve you your soup: zero dollars.

Having a homeless person who is receiving government funded meal while taking a picture of the first lady using his $500 Black Berry cell phone: Priceless

Yeah...they call me skunk!

Tonight at dinner, we (Jeff, Mason, and me) were having a conversation about Mason and all his friends. We asked him what his friends names were. He said something that sounded like a Chinese, baby babble, mumble jumble mix. At this point Jeff looked at me, and I looked at Jeff with of course nothing less than a puzzled, trying not to laugh, kinda look on our faces. Then Mason said, "Yeah, they call me skunk!"

New Moon Trailer

I have to be honest and say that after seeing Twilight and the non-existing editing, I wasn't too excited for New Moon. But, after seeing this trailer, I am excited for November!