Sumo Porter's First Halloween

We went to trunk or treat to show off our little chunk. He was a hit. He had two costumes...one was for when he got too cold. Mom and Dad went as Tacky Hawaii Tourists. Enjoy. Please post your kids costumes.

chimney demolition

I thought many of you may appreciate a picture or two of our project this week: that of demolishing our chimney. We scheduled a wood stove insert to be put into our existing fireplace chimney, but when they came to do it, they discovered that the chimney was falling away from the house and was unstable and unsafe. We were told we needed to tear it down. We have a gaping hole in the side of our house now and are not sure what to do next! But I thought you would enjoy the pictures. In addition, our oven went out. We purchased a new one of those already, but to our alarm the breaker just flips when plugged in. We are dumbfounded. Why would that be. Everything seems to go wrong at once!
Love you all

I won an IPOD!

So, a couple of weeks ago I entered a drawing here at work put on by a vendor of lab equipment. The drawing was for a new 60gb apple video ipod. Yes, a little device that lets me listen to music, save and display pictures and videos... up to 15,000 songs 25,000 pictures, or 150 hours of video. Well, I won. I'm kinda excited. Actually, I'm listening to it now.

40

Thank you for the kind expressions on my (gulp) 40th birthday, and thank you for the very fun surprise birthday party. It was good to see and hear from so many I love. And, I promise to play my drums at least as often as I write in my journal. (Oo. That was a spineless commitment. They really will be used!) Again, thank you all!

Our Family Pictures.

Thank You Darcee!

Hello Darcee! This is Cherrie. Thank you for the card! IM PROUD TO BE AN AMERICAN! Ilove you and i miss you. -Cherrie-

please comment

so, i guess we are good at looking at the pictures, but not READING the blog (except, of course, Dave). so, in my last entry, i mentioned a family reunion in the winter in phoenix. anyone up for it? dave suggested in January. i'd really like to know if you guys would all try to come. i could find people to let family members stay with, or yards to camp in....or maybe find a place for us all to go camping. i could see if i could find a heated pool to use, etc. let me know if you think you'd want to get out of the snow....and when. let's discuss it. (that is what the blog is for, right?) love you!!!

Cherrie is now a U.S. Citizen

I just wnated to make it known that Cherrie participated in an Oath-Taking ceremony last week and is now a full-flegded American citizen! Now she can legally VOTE, GET WELFARE, FOOD STAMPS, AND MEDICAID. So I guess I can quit my job now if I want.

schlenske info

Thanks Dave for putting the pictures on for me!
I wanted to let everyone finally know our new address and phone number. Things have been so crazily busy that I forgot completely about letting people know our new info. sorry. I'm going to try to send a picture of the house, just one of the outside for now. It is definitely in need of TLC. We have done much work and have much much more to do. It is not the mold house though, Kirk. That didn't work out, but we're hoping this home will prove to be improved and a good investment for us. Love to all.

Photos of Benjamin

Update on Porter/Reunion?

Just thought I'd send some updated pictures of our little man. He's doing great! He was blessed on Sunday by his daddy and joining them were Grandpas Benge and Johnson and both of Daryl's grandfathers. It was nice. And the big news (for any mom) is that he sleeps from 11:30 or 12:00 at night until 5 am now. What a good boy!!! (Of course, he's only actually done that twice, so we will see if it keeps happening.)
I am finally completely well and now just need to lose a whole lot of weight. Daryl is a wonderful husband and dad. He is constantly working....no lazy bones in that boy anywhere! He helps with dishes and laundry, makes shelves for porter, doors for the shed, plants new grass and mows what is there, fixes cars, and then works on bicycles when he gets a chance.....by the way....He opened his own business called "Gears to You" and is now a mobile bicycle repairman. If you know anyone who needs a bike fixed or tuned up....just bring it to phoenix (cuz he's not THAT mobile).
So, Mom and Dad stayed here over the weekend. Mom flew out yesterday to go see Krissy, and Dad just left here this morning to go help Tara load up the van and drive to Utah. We sure are going to miss her tons! She had a wonderful turn out last night to help load up the moving truck! I don't even know how many people showed up. It was amazing!
I'm thinking maybe we should have a Wes Benge reunion this winter. What do you think? During the Christmas break. You can all come to Phoenix and we can swim and stuff. I think I could make arrangements with just a few different ward members and family members to find homes for everyone to stay in. Daryl's parents already said Dave & Susan can have their guest room and their kids can camp in the back yard. And Daryl's grandparents could put someone up....and we have camping space in our yard, and I know there are quite a few old ladies in our ward who probably have some room too! In fact, if we plan early enough, Daryl's dad said they could try to leave town and let us take over their whole house. So, let me know what you think. If most people wanted to try to come, I would start looking around at our options.

What's up with the pictures not showing

I don't know why it didn't show the pictures. Try again.
sorry, for some reason it is not uploading my pictures. I'll try again later, or just send them to you all in personal emails.

Baby Info

Yes! Benjamin Walker Schlenske is definitely a boy (we keep checking to make sure) ! Dave was right, August 5, is his birthday. He was born at 17:54 hours, which for all of you civilians is 5:54 P.M. He weighed 8#7 oz. and 20 1/2 inches. He is beautiful and well. Here are some pictures for your enjoyment.

Benjamin Walker Schlenske

Welcome to the world, young man! Congratulations to the Schlenskes'. Yes, you probably already heard and you heard correctly, Kristin's little girl is a boy. I believe he was born August 5, Mom & Dad's anniversary--correct? Hopefully Kristin will post more information soon, and I hope she sends pictures too (although I bet he looks just a like a blend of his brothers--same style, different texture).

You know, my nephew Jimmy (Susan's side of the family) was supposed to be girl, too. Our little girl-but-maybe-really-a-boy is due in November. By the way, Andrew (pure boy) turned 4 last week and he will tell you everything there is to know about it at 100 mph and 100 decibels if you give him a second. You should let him. It is very entertaining.

From the Totally Weird department, we just had a family move into our ward with an 8 year-old boy named Gideon. What are the odds of having two Gideons the same age in your ward?

While I'm here, let me tell you that we just painted the living room and hallway and will be getting new carpet soon. I will be doing base boards this week. I think it will look nice, but I am already tired of trying to get everything to look good.

Also, I am now doing "something else" again for work, but I hope this will be more permanent. I have successfully navigated through a series of interviews--my last one today--and I am now part of the GA Team. GA is for Genereal Authority. I am excited and a little nervous, especially since my duties take me to the Admin Building a lot. But, I think I may be through moving from project to project without doing anything. I hope so.

Oh, and you missed a fun Franklin Walker family reunion a few weeks back. I wish everyone could have come. See ya!

some pictures

bretjeep
Originally uploaded by Kirk & Cherrie.

I found some old pictures of me and bret camping and stuff, I am slowly trying to get some of them online. This is one of my favorites. Bret in the middle of nowhere with the old jeepster. This is near the Dirty Devil River, out by Robbers Roost.

DIRTY BABY

KC was caught sneakily eating this chocolate spread... You can see more pictures on our blog.... scroll down to the link on the right.

Hi everyone, if you haven't heard, we are in the process of buying a home. If all goes well, we will close on the 19th and moving right away. Hopefully the baby will not want to come eary so that we will have time to unpack. I have been wanting to write and send pictures more, but things are very crazy right now. In fact, they sent Ben on a 6 day alert while I'm here trying to finalize and pack everything myself! I will not complain however, because I am so glad we have people willing to protect our country, even if it is a 70 ft. below ground deterent. Love you all.
Kristin

before & after

porter is looking good & mommy is feeling much better. he's gaining weight quickly and not looking quite so yellow anymore. here are some before and after photos

Porter Scott Johnson

I am sure you all know about Porter Scott and Darcee. But, why not post it anyway? We are excited for the Johnsons and hope all is well. Here is the email Mom and Dad sent:

Announcing the birth of Porter Scott Johnson to Darcee and Daryl. He was born 3 June 2006 in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. Baby was not due until early July, but mom was having problems and an ultra sound showed the baby to be around 7 pounds, so doctors did a C-section. Baby was 7lbs 15oz and doctor is trying to figure out why the baby was so big and what is causing Darcee's problems. Baby doing well and is breathing on his own, but not eating on his own yet. Darcee's problems: extreme water retention and then she started throwing up. Doctors were concerned that she may have fluid on the brain. We will probably be heading to Phoenix in a day or two, but will wait until she is out of the hospital.

This really did start out as just an announcement of Porter's birth, but I ended up added a few details. Hope all is well with you.

KC's Birthday

Yesterday was KC's first birthday, and I got to celebrate it with kidney stones! Actually, my kidney stone problems began Sunday afternoon when I was struck by the extreme and debilitating pain that only a misplaced rock can cause. Cherrie drove me to the LDS hospital emergency room, where after a mere half-hour of consent forms, insurance forms, emergency contact forms, next of kin forms, etc, etc, etc, I was FINALLY given some much needed pain medicine! In addition to the wonderful benefits of relieving my pain, the medicine also made me feel joyful, exuberant, and energetic, and sort of made everything feel a bit wavy and two-dimensional. I was very happy; Just ask Cherrie.
After a CT scan and other tests, it was determined that I was indeed suffering from a stone in my kidney. How did it get in there you ask? Well, my personal theory is that someone who obviously dislikes me very much must have hired a witch to cast a spell on me. This spell somehow involved the magical relocation of a very rough and pointy stone out of my garden and into my kidney. That is the only logical explanation I can think of.
I thought I was fine though after the pain medicine wore off, and I had no further problems until Tuesday afternoon, when the pain hit once again. This time however I was prepared. I immediately took TWO Oxy-somthin-or-ruther pills that the doctor had prescribed, and within just a few minutes I once again found myself in the pain-free, floating happy world of La-La Land.
Grandma and Grandpa stopped by later to wish KC a happy birthday, and we all went out to eat at our favorite little Vietnamese restaurant. I think they enjoyed a minty, vegetable-filled treat. Devin too stopped by even later, and we stayed up late watching Twister with him and THEN he slept at our house.
I guess that is the news from the K and C Benge family.