My Boy Mitchell

Mitchell had a birthday; he's seven. I can hardly believe he's growing up so fast. It seems like just yesterday that I was in the hospital for that very, very long day (eighteen hours from start to finish) waiting for him to come into this world. I think he was very ready to come, it was just my body that didn't function so well that made it difficult for him to arrive. Well, that and maybe a doctor who made me try for hours to deliver a baby that couldn't come naturally because my body wasn't able simply because he wanted to finish writing letters to his missionary son and take care of few other things before performing the necessary c-section. But Mitchell arrived, perfect.



He was such an easy baby. He slept well, he nursed well, he had a happy temperament. He was such a joy. And he still is.


Oh, how I love Mitchell. He is such a happy soul. William likes to call Mitchell our "virtuous child" because he truly embodies the mantra "early to bed, early to rise," he doesn't like to eat too much sugar or anything that's not very good for him (with the exception of corn dogs, I think he would eat those exclusively if given the chance), he really has no vices and he's such a nice, happy, gentle kid. Mitchell works hard to improve himself and lucky him, he is really smart. Schooling comes very easily.

My favorite quote from Mitchell today was "Mom, can Luke and I go outside and play football? Its a nice day and we need to practice so when we're teenagers we'll be really good at playing!"


Last year was a really tough year for Mitch. We had had some scares with him during the previous year when he had two seizures that we saw but his tests at Primary Children's Hospital had shown only small brain spikes, not enough to warrant treatment. However, as time progressed his pallor turned more and more pale and he was having frequent headaches. Needless to say, we were very concerned.

But on a social level he was doing great! He was having a great time in Kindergarten. He loved his teacher, he had good friends, and he had a fabulous, winning soccer team. He was riding a wave; it was great. And then we moved and his world seemed to turn to turmoil. While we were moving he had another seizure. At the Mcdonald's playland. We started heading back and forth from the tundra to Utah every week to two weeks for the next two months for tests and check-ups. Mitchell has epilepsy. He thought his brain was broken. But its not; he's perfect. And with medication he's doing really well.

It took a while for him to feel alright about himself; to feel he was normal. And it took even longer for him to feel happy about our move. His first soccer team here really struggled. The school our kids go to didn't have space in kindergarten so he had to be "overflowed;" he was sent to another school in the district so his classmates lived in another part of town. There were no boys in his Primary class at church, his one friend in the neighborhood moved and there was only other boy on his little league team. To top it off, the medication he was on made him a bit depressed. Life was kind of tough for a while. But things have really started to look up. He's now at our neighborhood school and has made some good friends. A new boy is in his Primary class and will soon be moving in right behind us. His body is getting used to his medication and, for now, we've finally got a dose right. He's feeling better and he doesn't think he's broken anymore, at least he doesn't focus on that. Life is looking up.


For Mitchell's birthday this year he had a swimming party. One of the kids was really concerned that it would be outside and it is really cold here. But for two hours the kids splashed and played (indoors) and Mitchell is finding that he has a place.

Happy Birthday, bud. I love you so much.

A Small Exhibit

The First Thanksgiving: The Athay Family Upon Arrival in the Tundra

In 2008 the Athay family left the bustling city of Salt Lake and headed north for a new adventure in an unknown wilderness. The first year was filled with many challenges common to homesteaders, however they looked on the experiences as ones that would prove beneficial for their family. And indeed they were, in many respects. Although they had left family and friends behind they were able to realize the joys of family togetherness as William Athay embarked on a new stage in his legal career which granted him more time away from the office.

Although the education system offered challenges and the health of one child presented initial difficulties, the family settled into the community and began to find their stride. The days were filled with many activities and the family grew strong in their new environment. They had weathered the first year and they felt it was time to give thanks for their blessings.



In years past this family had participated in large family gatherings celebrating the harvest and season of Thankfulness. But this was a new year and a new season. William's adventurous sister, Deborah, made the trek from her home to celebrate with the small family. However small the group, Carrie still felt the need to make a large feast. The menu included some recipes familiar to Carrie and the family but a time of change called for a little experimenting.

Herb Roasted Turkey
Star Anise Cranberry and Pear Chutney
Mushroom Gravy
Sour Cream Mashed Potatoes
Spiced Maple Sweet Potato Fries
Apple and Sausage Dressing
Blue Cheese Pomegranate Salad
Whole Wheat Rolls
Jane's Dramatic Green Jello Salad
Banana Cream Pie
Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
Apple Pie
Lemon Meringue Pie

The meal was a success and the transition to a beautiful new home was considered a blessing. This family, as many homesteaders, had much to look forward to in coming years.

The Mystery of the Lost Underwear

These are the facts:

Luke went to the bathroom, fully dressed and emerged with his shirt on and his pants, socks and shoes laying on the bathroom floor.

He queried:

Mom, where are my undies? I assumed, as one might, that they must be lying on the bathroom floor near the scattered clothing that must be shed for him to accomplish what he must when he enters the bathroom for any significant amount of time. However, after much searching, they were not to be found.

The conclusion:

I'm left scratching my head because the only conclusion I can come to is that he must have flushed them down the toilet. He's very small and so are his underwear. He walked into the bathroom with them on and walked out with them missing. However, he assures me that they were not flushed. So we are left in a quandary.

Why?

But why Mom? Last week we took a little trip to Utah for my nephew David's wedding. I thought the trip was fairly routine, I mean, its become fairly common place over the last year for us to pack up and make the not-so-difficult trip to see family in that part of the country. So it came as somewhat of a surprise that Luke seemed to have serious difficulty internalizing the fact that we were taking this little trip.

For several days he repeatedly asked me "why are we going to Utah?" and then seemed to have a very puzzled look on his face. These incessant "why's" became even more persistent once our trip finally commenced. It seemed that nearly every few minutes he quizzed us yet again why we were going to Utah and more pointedly why we were NOT going straight to Aunt Cindy's house, which certainly was difficult to comprehend because why would we go anywhere before going to the Mecca of all things wonderful which is Aunt Cindy's house? It took a while for it to dawn on me that when I answered that we were going to his cousin's wedding he really had no idea what that meant.

Okay, I get it that when I glance at my nine year-old daughter and see that she is mesmerized by the beautiful bride and realize that all the years of playing with Barbie dolls have really just been the beginning phase of her planning her own great and glorious day as a bride, I'm not happy about that realization, but I get it. It just hadn't occurred to me that my boys are wired so differently that through all the years of being ordered to play house by their sister that they still might not understand what it means to get married and frankly I didn't want to really have that conversation with them just yet. So when Luke asked for the twenty fourth time why we were going to David's wedding and I asked him if he knew what it means to be married and he said no I decided it was time to ask him if he knew that his mom and dad were married. Well, no in fact, he didn't know that but apparently now, after our conversation, he does know that you get married so you can be a mom and dad. I expect that the next time he sees David he will ask him if he's a dad yet.

But the why's have not ended. No, in fact they might have increased in their frequency. Why are we going here? Why do I have to go to bed? Why do I have to brush my teeth? Why is Aunt Debbie coming for Thanksgiving? Why are we having Thanksgiving? Why is it almost Mitchell's birthday? Why is it not my birthday? Why do I have to eat my dinner? Why can't I stick my finger in nose? Now they have elevated to the following conversation:

Luke: Mom, can I color?
Me: Yes, of course.
Luke: Can I color in a coloring book?
Me: Sure (and in my head I'm thinking as long as you're happily occupied and not coloring on the walls coloring on almost anything is fine.)
Luke: Can I get the crayons out?
Me: Yes.
Luke:Why?
Me: Um.....because you asked.

Seriously.....Why?

But in all of this I think that William has begun to question why about a few things in his life. Well, only one thing really. You see, Mitchell is about to turn seven and we are having a birthday party. Only, Mitchell's birthday happens to fall on a weekday that is a really busy day for us this year. We have basketball and singing class and church responsibilities and on and on. So we decided that we would have his "friend" party on Saturday and I was all ready to fit it in after his actual birthday but the lady doing the scheduling at the pool (ahh the pool, yes this year because of a happy little thing called joining the gym we were given three free pool parties) suggested maybe the Saturday before his birthday would be a good day. Several times I asked William if this would be okay because, after all, it was the day of the big game, the holy war, the BYU-Utah game. And he assured me that Saturday would be great. The party would be over a couple hours before the game and he would have time to settle in with his clam dip and even enjoy the pre-game because we don't have tickets to actually go to the game this year.

And then he was offered the company tickets to the game.

I imagine he's wondering why? Why couldn't he just go and leave the party thing to me? Why couldn't the tickets have been offered before we planned this party? Why did he have to be a good father on this one day? Why does life have to be so unfair? Sort of like with Luke, I don't really want to have that conversation.

The Jazz game, a guest blog by William Athay

Two roads diverged in a tundra land,
And sorry I could not travel both
…etc., etc….

and I--
I got lucky,
And that has made all the difference.

There are times in life when you toil and ultimately achieve some goal or reward. Other times, you are just in the right place at the right time.

A little while ago I was sitting at my desk when the call came that our department was being given tickets to the Jazz game. This typically happens only once or twice a year and this time there were only a couple of us who could go. I was one of them. Justin grabbed another and brought his son Andrew and Jeff Boag grabbed the last.

As it turns out, these were not just any tickets. This year they are the courtside seats next to Jazz coach Jerry Sloan. As you can see below, from our vantage I was sorely tempted to "pants" the Rockets Ariza, Battier, etc. on every inbounds play. Other times I wondered if I was supposed to be giving 5 to Boozer, William, or Kirilenko as they walked by. Overall, this has to go down as the one of the coolest experiences of my life - one I never expected to come along.

The view left:

The view right:

And, the view straight ahead:

Reflections on the Fall

Luke has really been very sick for several days now, you know that lovely little thing called the swine flu, at least we think so because they say that's the only flu going on in our community and they're not testing for it anymore but he's had very high fevers, a sore throat, a little febrile seizure and a bit of throwing up so we seem fairly confident with our home-diagnosis. At any rate he's getting a little tired of hanging out and watching movies so we have had to find new things to do. So today we sat at the computer and went through all the photos we took this year and I realized that I have been a truly negligent blogger. I forgot to record a couple of very important events from this past fall.


Mitchell played soccer, again. He loves it, especially since William coaches his teams. My favorite thing from this season was watching him guard his opponents like they were playing basketball. He got right in there in front of the other kid and put his arms out and shuffled around and the kid would just kind of stare at Mitchell with a look that said "what in this crazy world are you doing, kid?" Maybe its a good thing he's actually started playing basketball; now he can put his guarding where it belongs.



Instead of playing soccer, Jane decided to branch out and try having a completely new experience. She started Irish dance a couple of months ago and she loves it! It is wonderful to see her so happy and confident in an activity. She dances and jigs and jumps around the house and the grocery store and church and really everywhere we go. And she has even had her first performance: at the CommUnity Fest (very fancy for our little town).


But I would be terribly remiss if I didn't mention one of the biggest events of the fall. William went hunting. Yes, he seems to have finally found his inner Idaho and he headed out to the wild for an adventure with his dad communing with nature but not so much fellow Idahoans. No, they seemed to all come back animals stacked in their big burly trucks while William and Ron came back with McDonald's wrappers stacked in their not so burly vehicle. And too bad for William, he can't be truly an Idaho boy because there is no way I'm going to let guns come anywhere near my house. Besides a gun rack in a Nissan Altima doesn't really seem very macho.

Unfortunately, these weren't on the menu so they didn't come home.

My Little Experiment

Lucky me! William decided that photoshop would be a great birthday gift for (us) me and I have to admit that at first I was very, very intimidated. However, a quiet Sunday afternoon spent home bound because of sick kids has left me with a little time on my hands to gather my courage and start experimenting. After tinkering with a few photos I thought it was time to delve into other aspects of what must make photoshop great: cool projects. While I don't think I'll ever turn into a great digital scrapbooker, I am trying my hand at creating my very own Christmas card this year instead of using Costco's prefab layouts. And my reason for this particular blog post is to figure out how to post all my little creations in my effort at journaling. Although none of these layouts will land in your mailbox I present:

Christmas Card effort 1 made with a slightly tweaked stock photoshop background.


Christmas Card effort 2 is my own design made with stock flourishes. Simple but I've figured a few things on this one.


Christmas Card effort 3 is getting much fancier and with this I'm starting to figure out that this isn't going to be all that difficult.


So now I just need to figure out how to chop William's head off (in the pictures only) and replace it with one where he took his transitional lens glasses off so he doesn't look like the only cool kid in the picture with his sunglasses on. I know you're on pins and needles wondering what creation will actually land in your hands this Christmas! We'll just have to see if I actually have enough steam to finish the project.

Halloween.....the year of the black

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I sat somewhat weary,

tired from birthdays and Halloween celebrations galore

I sat and nodded, nearly napping, when suddenly there came a tapping,

As of someone gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.

"'Tis some visitor," I muttered, "tapping at my chamber door--

Only this, and nothing more."

And on and on it endlessly came, a steady, constant not so heavy stream
Twas true reality and nothing like a dream
Theses visitors that came tapping, tapping, tapping at my door

wanting candy and nothing more
No tricks for these who planted their feet to my front porch floor
chanting, chanting, chanting "trick-or-treat" but really only wanting candy, nothing more

This was our year of the black, our homemade black. For whatever reason the boys decided they both needed to be vampire bats. And their wings were quite successful, but the ears flopped....quite literally. But no matter, they ran through the neighborhood flapping their wings and making rather weird noises that they claimed were exact imitations of the noises that come from bats when they are hunting their prey. I have no way to verify that. And I also have no way to verify where they might have come up with such information.

The other blackness came in the form of a not-so-black-hearted witch. She never claimed to be a good witch, but she also refused to display a green face because that connotes an evil witch (apparently she hasn't read "Wicked" and since she's only 9 I think it will be quite a while before that particular book lands in her hands). Whatever the intent of her heart, Her Loveliness quite enjoyed her bat boys swirling around her as they rapped and tapped on neighbors doors.


The result of the chanting and celebratory glee was pounds upon pounds of candy which multiplied the pounds we already had from William's office Halloween extravaganza. Many of these pounds have now been safely stowed away and await reuse in a pinata at future birthday parties. The bat costumes, however safely they may have stowed away, might never make a reappearance. We're hoping at some point the bat noises will go the way of the wings.

Its a Beautiful Day!

It is super windy outside and I should be sleeping but frankly the wind is freakin' me out just a little bit so instead I thought I'd put fingers to keyboard (doesn't pen to paper sound so much better?) and jot a little note about our fabulous weekend. Now I realize that this post may seem a bit like I'm gloating but I live in Idaho and sometimes I deserve to get out of here and have a little fun, right?! So this past weekend we, as in only the adults in our family, namely William and myself, spent the weekend with friends in Las Vegas. Normally, not my favorite city except that one of my favorite friends is a local and when I visit we usually don't do the Vegas thing but this particular weekend it was all about the Vegas thing because U2 was in town and it was sunny and there was good shopping and its almost my birthday so it was time to celebrate! Particularly because last year at this exact time I was not entirely happily moving to our new tundra town so this year deserved a little bit of fun.

We left a very chilly Idaho and arrived in a very lovely, warm Nevada in time to head to Sam Boyd stadium to see U2 with friends. And it was a fantastic concert, only made better by a great performance by the Black Eyed Peas. I can't complain, that made for a great birthday. Oh, if only that were the end of the weekend. But it wasn't. We shopped, we basked in the sun, we hung out, enjoyed a little Spago's and loved Cirque de Soleil's Mystere. What more could I ask for?! Nothing! It was a great weekend! And I'm ready to go again.





So, thanks to the Powells for the great tickets for U2 and thanks to Megan for our "extras" at Spago and our locals price to Cirque....and thanks to Will for a happy birthday for me!

An interpretation of the birds and the bees

This was the conversation in our car a few days ago -

Luke (very loudly because lately Luke only has one volume which is the "I must be heard at the top of my lungs" volume) : When I grow up I'm going to be a dad and then a grandpa!

Mitchell: No Luke, that isn't the way it goes. First you have to go to high school and then you go on your mission and when you come back you go to college and you find girls you think are cute and you go on dates with them to see if they are the perfect match for you to marry. Then when you find your perfect match you fall in love and get married and you go on a honeymoon. (I should insert here that the honeymoon discussion occurred in William's car a few days previously. It went like this- Mitchell: Dad what is a honeymoon? William: Um....um.....um....its when you go on a vacation after you get married. Mitchell: oh, ok, that sounds fun.) Then you and your wife decide its the perfect time to have children and then you're a dad.

Luke (again at the top of his lungs because he's the third child and feels that he's not really loud enough): But when are you a grandpa?!!!!

Mitchell: You know, Luke! After your kids grow up!

Luke (volume - high): Well I'm going to be a grandpa someday!


Jane, who was in the car with us, sat mute for this particular conversation, which is rather a rare thing for her. I'm not sure she's quite ready to talk so openly about those next stages in her life, or maybe its all the playground talk about who has a crush on who in the 4th grade. Perhaps its becoming a little too real for her? I'd like to think the thought of all that grown up stuff makes her nervous.....but more than likely she's just doesn't want to talk about it with her mother. As for the boys, I guess they've got it all figured out at ages 6 and 3.

Adventure Boy

The first day of school began benignly enough. The kids were sitting at breakfast looking adorable, chatting, laughing, enjoying one another while feeling a little nervous perhaps but mostly just anticipating the excitement of a new year. And then it happened. The innocent introduction of an idea so simple and yet so utterly all- consuming I could not possibly hope to come out on top.

Yes, they seem to laugh about this little idea....constantly. All that happened was that Jane, so sweetly, turned to Luke and asked "So Lukey, what adventure are you and mom going to have today?" And there is was: my demise. Or perhaps just the bane of each and every day since because I cannot possibly hope to be successful in creating daily adventures that measure up to the adventure ideas festering in Luke's brain. Luke turned to me and said "I don't know mom, what's our adventure?"


Oh, I created quite an adventure. We packed a lunch in Luke's new "Cars" lunchbox and we headed to the greatest park around.


We chatted. We played on the swings. We lunched. We swayed on the "rocking ship." We played the musical instruments. We explored the ins and outs of every crevice and slide and monkey bar and swaying bridge and suddenly it happened: Adventure Boy was born.

And he rears his head every single morning wondering, quite vehemently, what adventures the day will hold.

The fading vestiges of summer

The leaves have begun to turn and school has started and it has snowed in our tundra town so I thought I'd turn my attention once again to reminisce on the lovely days of summer. And I must say that once summer finally came to this area, it was delightful. Never too hot, perfect summer evenings just right for bike rides along the river, and even a day or two at the pool. Occasionally we got a little fancy:


And sometimes we tried to be fierce:


But generally speaking we just kept our summer mild....except for the occasional rock session when we really rocked the house:


So with the final vestiges of summer quickly fading it seems only appropriate that mention the other momentous events of the summer.

Girls Camp - Without the fabulous assistance of Gramma Sarah, there would have been no way for me to have had the pleasure of spending five day, sans shower and bed and flushing toilets, with the fantastic girls and YW leaders in our ward. The kids probably had a much better week with Gramma than they ever would have had with me because they made a huge list of things to do and except for the zoo they did everything on the list which included among other things a trip to ToysR'Us, multiple trips to the craft store, lunches at McDonalds, getting lost and getting found.


Our Athay family reunion on the Oregon Coast - Now this was a fabulous adventure near the end of summer. We decided that it would not really be much longer for us to drive to the coast than to fly to Portland and drive down to the reunion in Florence and since this would likely save us some cash we found ourselves driving across the vast expanse of relative emptiness comprising, let's be honest, most of Idaho and eastern and middle and really most of Oregon until you reach the coast. With a few stops along the way and two exhausting days of driving we made it to Florence. The following picture is one of many stops. This was a shot at one of our state's significant landmarks, which we felt we really should see in case we never make it back to Twin Falls. Of course, we didn't really want to pay the entrance fee to the park to actually get up close and personal with Shoshone Falls for just a brief view and picture so we viewed it from a distance. The falls are, more or less, behind Mitchell's head. Perhaps we'll go back for a picnic one day........


We stayed in Bend our first night out. It was a nice place but we moved on early the next morning closely following the directions on our GPS unit and soon we were on tiny mountain roads that very nearly turned to gravel trails winding through a lunar landscape unlike any we've really seen before. This was Mckenzie summit in Willamette National Forest and the site of an ancient lava flow.

Needless to say, I don't think the GPS took into account the small size or rigorous nature of the roads we traversed but eventually we made it to the Florence and what a great time awaited us there when we met up with Gramma Sarah, Grandpa Ron, the Athay siblings and all the cousins. We rode trains...
and drove go-karts...



We rode dune buggies on the massive Florence dunes...


And what a roller coaster ride that was.....particularly for Luke who spent over half an hour with his hands in the air, even when we weren't cruising down the dunes. And Grandpa Ron really did find himself questioning if he wanted to claim this grandkid...


But that was only the first morning. We spent the afternoon at Haceda Head lighthouse and playing in the ocean....







And what family reunion is complete without a princess party? Thanks to Lauren the little girls, well not the babies, but the rest of the little girls, ok Nina isn't such a little girl so the girls, had a princess party wearing Lauren's prom/dance dresses and becoming very very fancy.




But alas our camera didn't seem to take too many pictures beyond the family photo shots.....


Suffice it to say that we did have a few more undocumented, or unphotographed rather, adventures when we visited the sand dunes again to try our hand at sandboarding and sandsledding. It was "AWESOME" except for the wind that rivaled anything we have in Idaho. So we ended with sand covering us and being consumed by us but it was pretty fun and Mitchell has decided that he absolutely must try snowboarding now! But the days events couldn't possibly outshine the evening. No, we held the first annual Athay Olympics and of course the utra competitive "Flaming Tigers" (really? that was their name?) or Davis family took the prize. But after bidding a fond farewell to those we love so much our little family headed back home with several stops but by a definitely shorter route which took us up the coast.