The Missing month?

For Christmas William and I invested in a fancy new camera, so you might think that I was so excited to put up a few pictures from the great day that I would be blogging daily! But for whatever reason my blog has been remarkably silent since Mitchell turned seven. I suppose its time to post a few things. But I find that my thoughts are turned a bit inward lately and I don't really have great and profound thoughts that I want to share and certainly the poetry has dried up for a the time. So instead, a few images of Christmas:

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.