Star Wars: Episode III House In the Tundra

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away......

Episode III
House in the Tundra

Turmoil has engulfed the Athay Republic. Although the surface may look somewhat put together,boxes still line the walls of many closets and storage rooms in the outlying house in the tundra. Many cookies have been overcooked due to lack of understanding the way the double oven cooks. Organization is slow to come to Princess Jane who wants to set her room up on her own. And two Jedi Knights are constantly battling forces that are willing them to settle down and stop smashing each other and the walls.......



On this day it appears things are calm but an uneasy feeling is in the air as the Jedi patrol the house in the tundra.





The Patrol reveals that Princess Jane is busy working to increase her knowledge and excel at her schooling by keeping up to speed on intergalactic mathematics.


But suddenly calm gives way to an epic battle between Obi-Wan Luke Kanobe and Anakin Mitchell for control over the tiny stickerbook forces they have been playing with much of the day.

This battle is sure to end as battles of old......with a chipped tooth.

Vanity has not kept Obi-Wan Luke Kanobe from smiling, or maybe its just that he doesn't realize he should care just yet. And the Athay Empire hopes it has squelched the rebellion by posting pictures of the outlying house in the tundra.

The End

A whole lotta bull

(photo credit: Lisa Powell)

So maybe I've acclimated to my new home a little too soon or a little too much or a little too whole-heartedly but last week we had a fantastic Idaho adventure. Now I know that some of you will think that I'm being sarcastic but truth be told there is not one bit of sarcasm in this when I tell that you that we went to a bull auction at the Riverbend Ranch and it was one of the most fascinating events I have ever been to. There were over 700 bulls auctioned off and I have never in my life seen someone with so much verbal talent (no disrepsect to all my lawyer friends and husband) as the autioneer. Really, in my next life, I think I want that talent or maybe I really just want to be one of the bidders. After watching a "real" cowboy bidding on bull after bull after bull I think I finally got the hang of how the bidding works so next year William had better watch out because I might just register for a number and we may become the proud owners of a bull. I wonder how that would go over with our homeowners association? Anyway, the kids thought it was amazing that we saw "real" cowboys because Mitchell swears he had no idea they existed anymore except that he did tell me that he saw a tumbleweed and that was a sign we lived in the wild west so there must be real cowboys somewhere and he was so relieved he finally saw them. So who knows but maybe we'll become "real" cowboys or bull owners or potato farmers while we live in Idaho but whatever we become we're having quite an adventure finding our way.

Finally Home

Tonight I might finish a post. I might not, we'll see. And there probably won't be any photos which is sure to make some of my family very unhappy because many a request has come my way to see our new house, not pictures of us in the house mind you, which should actually make it a whole lot easier because we seem to be running off in so many different directions, but just the house. However, as so many other nights over the past several weeks, I am just too tired. Don't worry, I'm not pregnant. Whew! Just tired. It could have to do with the fact that I finally spent an entire week in Idaho Falls without driving down to Salt Lake at least once and because I spent this whole week here I was determined that I was finally going to move in which means that I didn't just rid my home of boxes sitting in the middle of the floor but rather I moved them to closets. And then I hung up pictures and painting and wall hangings and all of a sudden it feels like my house.

So I had these great intentions of writing a poem about what "home" really means and truly it might have been great. It was there, in my mind, while I was scrubbing and scouring and polishing our old house for the last time after it was emptied of all the things that made it ours but my pencils and paper were all packed and moved away and it didn't feel like my house anymore, except when I looked around and remembered the first time William and I saw it and knew it was the place for us and the first time the kids ran around the empty house on that awful teal carpet and then all the things that had happened there over the past few years and I knew that house was no longer my home but I would always carry with me those things, those memories, that would help make my new house our home. So I've found meaning in home but expressing it in some kind of wonderful, meaningful poem just hasn't found an outlet in me. I think I'm only meant for trite, flippant poetry. So in light of that I offer this:

Home is great
Home is good
Home is made of more than wood
It's happy laughs and lots of love
And kids who scream and push and shove

Like I said, trite. But really we are making this our home and its beginning to feel comfortable and nice and like it ours. Which is also kind of nice considering the limbo we found ourselves in for so many months. Our trips to Salt Lake have been a little tough on Mitchell transitioning to our new home, but I think he is finally starting to feel normal and happy and even content at times in our new digs. And now when we drive to Salt Lake it doesn't feel like our town anymore. Which seems a little strange since Mitchell and Luke and I have spent so much time in Salt Lake lately and we weren't doing anything fun, just taking care of business so to speak so that should seem normal. But really when I think about our trips we did have some fun seeing how fast we could make the trip and we did have our excellent visit to the Dinosaur Park and I do have pictures from that excursion and Mitchell really wants those posted so we'll put those up really soon. But the good news from our Salt Lake visits is that even though Mitchell had a couple of unpleasant tests he's OK and he's being treated and we shouldn't have to worry on the same level anymore. But I still worry, because I'm a mother and now I'm settled so I actually have time to research and think and read and wonder and worry. But I can do that in my own house so that's comforting and now this adds to memories we're forming here, making this our home. And even though I don't have pictures to post tonight, I am sitting on my sofa hanging out with the man I love so much, looking around at the things we have accumulated over the years and thinking of the memories I carry with me that help me settle in to my new place, but a place that makes me feel right at home.

Flippin' Frogs

Some of you might think that we've dropped of the face of the earth. I mention this only because I have, in fact, been accused of this due to the lack of blogging going on. So today I write simply to reassure one or two of you that we, indeed, are still kicking and screaming and making our way through life in transition.

So in my update efforts I offer this as evidence that we are actively enjoying life:

Yes, that is a plastic frog and Luke and I have spent countless hours flipping the frog back and forth to one another. We are certainly living! And what an exciting life it is! In reality, Luke is adjusting to life without Jane and Mitch for much of the day because we have now finished our homeschool experiment and they have been enrolled in school, albeit different schools, but that is an issue for an entirely different time when I decide to rant about the difficulties of moving and a somewhat unwelcoming school system that readily splits families into different schools and offers few, well really zero, alternatives. But, yes, homeschool has finished and I don't really think that anyone except Luke misses it.

But if I think for a moment I guess I can actually offer a few glimpses into other activities that have occupied our time in the cold, snowy tundra while we wait to move into our new home which thankfully will finally happen next week. With the cold and snow have come some fun times sledding. We discovered the perfect hill for our little adventurers and Luke even decided that maybe the second day we headed out for this adventure he would sled, too. And after he finally tried it he never wanted to stop. Instead, he cried on the drive home that we were quite mean parents to cut his fun short. After all, we only sledded for over two hours.






And of course we have ventured to the newest exhibit at the Museum of Idaho: "Wheels... Are We There Yet?"


And with this visit finally we could actually take pictures in the museum. Mitchell was thrilled, in fact he may have been more pleased with this than with the actual exhibit which he, and really all the kids, just ran through so they could make their way to the children's area. I'm not sure I'm doing such a great job instilling a love of museums and exhibits, just children's play areas. What happened? Oh, I stopped homeschooling and now they think they only need to learn at school which I suppose makes life easier for me as a parent if I simply shift all responsibility to shoulders of the public schools. But somehow I'm just not sure that's entirely in my nature.

And so with this little glimpse I will simply leave you eagerly awaiting more installments.......

News?

Did you know every year there is a potato conference? OK so really that's not so crazy since I do live in Idaho, but this was big news tonight. And the real news was that a Prefessor of Nematology (huh?) is very concerned about nematodes in potatoes. You think I'm making up one of my rhymes right? No. Anyway, the good news is that they have a way to combat these nematodes. Thank heavens, I was worried about that one.

The other big news? Red Robin opened. This was acutally the leading story on the news two nights ago. And you might think that we would spend some time talking about our new President, but Obaba made it on the list only after the bit after the guy who sells Dish Network services. I feel so in tune with my community! CNN, you've got nothing on Channel 8 in Idaho Falls!

A Year In Review

January

A Good Month For....10 Years! Yes, on January 3 it was ten years of wedded bliss for us.

A Bad Month For....Vacations. We celebrated our anniversary in November with a trip to Cancun, so January left us sitting in the cold.


February

A Good Month For....Keeping Busy because as I look back at my calendar I can't remember anything that would make February stand out except for the fact that there is not one single day that wasn't filled to the brim with things to do; all good things, like swimming lessons, piano lessons, basketball, church activities and obligations, school things, family get-togethers, it goes on and on because it was truly an active month.

A Bad Month For....Reading a Book, because it was so busy, but then as I look back at the calendar I see that it was the read-a-thon at Jane's school so I'm sure there must have been reading in our home, but I'm not sure much of it was done by me.



March

A Good Month For.... Stolen Identities when my sister-in-law stole my name and bib number and posed as Carrie Athay so she could run the Moab half-marathon. The lengths people will go to for a run! I was a little surprised she didn't go so far as to bleach her hair, but she made up for it with the fabulous shorts she wore. Wow! I would only love to have the confidence and the legs to pull that off!

A Bad Month For....Perspective, as I look back and realize that wonderful trip to Moab was the last trip I would take with my dad.

April

A Good Month For....Perspective, when I realized that the reason we were at Primary Children's Hospital was not so bad in comparison with many others. Mitchell had a couple of seizures, so we had to have him tested with EEGs and EKGs and other tests and it all came out inconclusive, so for now that is good and we were able to get on with our month full of soccer and karate and piano and celebrating LUKE's second birthday! Yes, he made it to two and by this time he no longer slept in a crib because of nose dives onto the floor and he shared a room with his big brother because he will sort of sleep that way and he loves that everyone dotes on him.

A Bad Month For....Oprah. I had to cancel my trip with my gals because of Mitchell's tests and then what did Oprah do? She went and actually canceled on us! But it all worked out because I was able to be at home when my new dishwasher was installed...the third dishwasher in the two years we had lived in that home.


May

A Good Month For....Spending Time With My Family, my brothers and my sisters and my mom. It was good to be together for so many days, even though it was under the saddest of circumstances.

A Bad Month For....Understanding Mortality. My dad died unexpectedly on May 19 of a heart attack after he had ridden his bike to the gym and worked out. Thankfully, they tell us he wasn't aware of anything after he fell. I'm really glad I was able to have such a nice lunch with my sister Cindy and niece Caroline earlier in the day, but I will never forget the moment my mom told me the news, and I wonder if the ache in my heart will ever grow less or if you just get more used to it.

It was also a bad month for William to have a birthday because his birthday fell the day after the funeral in Colorado and internment service at the Air Force Academy. Before we left for Colorado, I told William that his present was going to be a new Garmin GPS for his car and we were going to take him on a camping excursion with his new toy. Needless to say, that didn't happen. Instead I told him to go choose his own GPS and we'd go camping in the summer, which we never did. In fact, the only person who really remembered William's birthday on his birthday was my wonderful sister-in-law Geri who is always mindful of others.



June

A Good Month For....Jane! My Jane turned 8! I can't believe she has grown so old and I was so proud of her that she made the decision to be baptized as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (although that didn't happen until the next month). It was quite a month for Jane. She received the Outstanding Student Award for Ms. Garber's 2nd Grade class. She had a great piano recital and was very relieved to be able to have the summer free of practicing. We vacationed in one of her favorite places, Vail, where the kids kayaked, rock climbed, hiked and lived it up. We celebrated her birthday in style with a "late-over" birthday where all her friends came for fun pillow decorating, pillow fights, pizza and treats, spa-style facials, yoga on the front lawn and, of course, late night movies. She started attending Activity Days. She had a great check-up at the Dentist which meant that she could get her ears pierced, which we did, but that ended badly two weeks later when one stud fell out and it was too traumatizing to get it back in so Jane's ears are no longer pierced. Oh well, she felt pretty special for most of the month.

A Bad Month For....T-ball; not that Mitchell didn't have a great time, he did, it was just too hot to have to be out on those baseball fields in that kind of weather. Who would ever guess that as I'm writing this from the cold Idaho tundra I would actually be complaining about heat! But Mitchell loved the game, nonetheless, and thinks he might have a future as a baseball player.



July

A Good Month For....Being Jane, Again. Really, I think she must have a great life! Jane was baptized on July 5th. And what a great day it was. I was afraid that she might be a little too tired to truly enjoy the day because we didn't get home from the Stadium of Fire and seeing Miley Cyrus in concert the night before until after 1 in the morning and then she had to be up and to the stake center for her baptism fairly early. Fairly early in my book was 9:30 in this case, but Jane assured me she had plenty of sleep and that actually 9:30 is pretty late in day. At any rate, William baptized and confirmed Jane, Jane's Aunt Cindy gave a talk on baptism and her friends from her Primary class sang a special musical number.

Jane also was able to go to a week long art camp at the University of Utah, the class was called "From Monet to Picasso" and the kids had the chance to go into the galleries everyday to view the special exhibit and sketch the art, then they would head to the classroom to learn new styles and techniques and produce various works of art that they exhibited on the last day of class. Like I said, it was a good month to be Jane.

A Bad Month For....Feeding Fish when William and I went snorkeling in the Florida Keys and for whatever reason (I have my theories, like I had influenza in July or really if I'm honest, it could just be that I can't handle being in the ocean, but I don't want that to be the reason because I really want to go on a cruise) I threw up, while in the water, four times. So I guess the fish were fairly happy, but I was pretty miserable. But we saw some great things, like an absolutely enormous ray and the Christ of the Deep and some beautiful fish and then I can't remember many others because I was trying desperately to stay away from everyone....

But the rest of our trip to the Keys was really great, except our last day when my initial plans had changed a bit and William and I didn't communicate very well and we really don't need to remember anything else except it was a great trip!




August

A Good Month For....This and That: My niece Kelly and nephew David returned from their missions, soccer began....again, Jane started the 3rd grade and Mitchell prepared to start Kindergarten.


A Bad Month For....Feeling Old because on August 31st my nephew and his wife had a baby, which makes me a Great Aunt. And my sister-in-law loves the Twilight book series so for her birthday we made "Edward" and "Jacob" cupcakes, gave her a vampire safety kit and stayed up well past midnight so we could go get the new Stephanie Meyer release "Breaking Dawn." And, I knew I was getting quite old when my teeth started falling apart and I had to have my first cavity in over twenty years filled.


September

A Good Month For....Being 5! Mitchell started kindergarten in Mrs. LaBelle's class and he loved it! That could partly have to do with the fact that Mrs. LaBelle loved Mitchell, or because almost all of his buddies had started school the year before or because he just loves to be busy and learn and he really is really a perfectionist so doing well in school really suits him.

A Bad Month For....Receiving Revelation. As I was sitting in Sacrament Meeting one day I was struck by a song we were singing where we are admonished to obey the Lord's will so I thought "OK, what am I missing in Primary?" because I was the Primary President at the time and, of course, all revelation must have to do with that, right? Wrong. A couple of days later William came home and told me that he had been mulling something over for a while and he wasn't sure how I would respond, but what would I think of going with him to Idaho Falls to check out the city while he interviewed for a position as in-house council for a corporation, Melaleuca. I knew right then that Lord was trying to prepare me for this and I also knew, without a doubt, he would get the job. I didn't really want to move to Idaho. But I also knew it was an answer to prayer because William was miserable in a law firm and we were miserable with the hours he was putting in.




October

A Good Month For....Shocking the Neighbors when we put a for sale sign up outside our home. I think there was speculation that I might have kicked out my bum of a husband who was never home and we probably should have run with that and had a fight on the lawn and thrown his clothes out a window, but we didn't. And I think we've convinced them all we're still hanging together as a family.

A Bad Month For....Updating the Fence. Really, I should have finished staining the fence when I did the deck in the spring, but I didn't. And then I should have finished it sometime during the long days of summer, but I didn't. Instead I spent two very frantic weeks trying to make the fence look presentable to hopefully help the sale of our house (which as of this writing has yet to happen). And thanks to my friend Brenda telling me that Shabby Chic is not a good look for a fence, I didn't do bad a job. Also, thanks to Brenda, I thought my heart was going to break everyday because she reminded me I was moving some distance away from our Utopian neighborhood to the quite unknown. And speaking of updating, I think I could use some updating because this was the month I turned 35, quite an un-momentous birthday, it just means you're kind of middle aged. Blah! So I guess it was a good thing we had a quick trip to Yellowstone, Luke could feed the ducks outside everyday, and we had a great Halloween to overshadow things a bit.


November

A Good Month For....OPRAH!!! We finally made it! I went to Chicago with my good friends Megan Jones, Lindsey Samahon and Stephanie Ainsworth and what a time we had! I think I will owe my mom for years to come for watching the kids so I could go on this trip. The girls and I shopped, and ate, and talked, and walked, and went to OPRAH and blushed and laughed because of the subject matter and the mature content rating. How about that? Four Mormon gals sitting in the third row front and center while Oprah talks about a mature subject! Quite an experience and we had tons of fun!

A Bad Month For....Staying in Idaho. We went to Utah three times during the month, I went to Chicago, and we all went to Vancouver, WA for a fabulous Thanksgiving with the Athay clan and a great birthday celebration for Mitchell (though that technically fell on the 1st of December, but we celebrated a couple days early). It had been far too long since a trip to Vancouver and we were so happy to be there. Our trip was filled with lots of family, lots of fun and a little strep throat. The kids are ready to go back next month.



December

A Bad Month For....Staying Warm because the weather in Idaho has turned into winter and the temperatures were sub zero and dropping. It is cold here in the tundra.

A Good Month For....Feeling the Love of Our Savior. Christmas was wonderful. It was good to be with family and to think about Christ and His love for us. This certainly has been a year to reflect on. One filled with many things I will never forget. How grateful I am for my family and for our Savior's tender love and watchful care.

Happy New Year.