It was way too quiet!

Every mother knows that feeling of dread when you know that something must be wrong, because it is just way too quiet.  This is what I just found.  The bottle of hairspray is completely empty.  The mirror is also coated with hairspray.  His hair is not wet from water.  Isn't he pretty?  He is very proud of himself, and told me that he is ready to go to school.

My terrible awful flight to Denver

I am on my way home from DC; I am sitting at the Denver airport right now waiting to board my flight to Spokane. The flight to Denver was packed, and I was all the way in the back in a window seat. The guy next to me smelled BAD. He leaned into me the whole trip. His elbow was digging into me. I was trapped. To make matters worse, we were delayed and sat on the ground for almost an hour.  I did my best to ignore the smells, the space violation, and enjoy my book and then... He pulled out a giant sausage and a plastic knife and started slicing off pieces of disgusting meat product and chomped away. I nearly lost my mind and my lunch!

For those of you who know me, you can understand that being that close to a log of meat would be enough to send me into hysterics.  I can't stand the smell of it, and the sound of him chewing.  Oh my!  I thought I would die. (At least he left his shoes on.  What if I had to see his feet too?  I seriously might have been on the news.  Lady goes phyco on airplane...)

I was in DC to meet with the US Marine Corps who are implenting our software.  I flew in Wednesday night, had meetings on Thursday, and returned Thursday night.  Every single one of my flights were delayed.  It was a long 48 hours and it took me a few days to recover.  I didn't get a chance to see anything but the inside of a hotel and an office.

While visiting with my clients, most of whom work at the Pentagon, we all were drawn back to our memories of 9/11.  When I got home, I had an email from my nephew interviewing me about 9/11.  I thought I would share for those of you that did not know my experience on that day.
1.Where were you on September 11, 2001? Boston Massachusetts and Washington DC
2.What were you doing on that day? I was leaving Boston to go to Washington DC to meet with the Air Force and SAP (business trip). I was on an American Airlines flight that was only one gate away from the flight that was the first to hit the twin towers. I left within 20 minutes of the flight and we were in the air when it happened. When we landed in DC, we still did not know what had happened. We were lucky to get our luggage and get out of the airport. The airports were later evacuated and people had to leave their luggage. We (a collegue and I) found out while we were listening to the radio in a cab on our way to the hotel. We drove past the pentagon and only 10 minutes or so later, it was hit. We were stuck in DC for the rest of the week. We had meetings in the Reagan building the next day, but we had to evacuate after a bomb threat. When planes finally started to fly again, I was only able to get to Phoenix, AZ and Tyler drove from Utah to pick me up. I could not wait several more days to get to SLC. I wanted to get home.
3.What is your most vivid memory of that day or the days that followed? I never felt like I was in danger, because I would find out what happened after I was safe, but I couldn't get my cell phone to work, and it was scary not to be able to get a hold of my family to tell them I was OK. It was 4 hours until I was able to call my husband. I had to stop watching the news. It was too upsetting to watch what had happened over and over again.
4.Did you visit any of the above sites prior to September 11? Yes, I had been to the pentagon several times, visited the twin towers once earlier that year, and had been to Pennsylvania several times.
5.Describe what it was like. Have you visited any of the memorials that have been erected since that day? I love being in the pentagon. It is very formal compared to other military bases. Almost everyone who works there is in uniform. Even the guys who get coffee for the generals are officers. It is really easy to get lost in the pentagon. I only spent a few minutes at the twin towers, but it was amazing. I have never been back to NYC, but I have been to the Pentagon several times since. It is the same. I just left Washington this week. We met off-site, but the people I met with were all working at the Pentagon when 9/11 occurred. We talked about the experience and the people they knew that were killed that day.
6.What feelings did you feel when you visited them? Being at the pentagon 10 years after 9/11 was actually kind of scary for me. I was glad that my flight home was on 9/8 this time. I would not feel comfortable flying on 9/11/11.
7.What feelings did you experience on that day and over the days that followed? I felt very alone stuck in DC without my family, but when I would go to the lobby of the hotel, we were all there watching the news together and it felt like we all knew each other. The people that worked at the hotel were amazing and tried to help us with anything we needed. I wanted to go home so badly, and I got really sick. There was only one restaurant in walking distance of my hotel, and I didn't have a rental car. It was a little Chinese restaurant, but the owner made me chicken noodle soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. A few weeks later, I found out that I was pregnant which was why I was so sick. The other people I had travelled with were in another hotel across town. I was also frustrated, because I had only planned to be away from home for two days, so I ran out of clothes and underwear. I had to wash in the sink and I wore my PJs a lot that week.
8.What feelings do you experience when you think about the attacks today? It makes me angry to think that a lot of people like me went to work that day and while I was lucky to be safe, they were not and they had to leave their families. The only difference between us was that my plane had less fuel.
9.Did you personally know anyone who was affected by the attacks? Yes, several of my clients work at the Pentagon and were in the office during the attack. They were injured, but not killed. One of my clients lost his friend who he drove to work with every day.
10.Do you do anything to commemorate this day (hang a flag, say a prayer, volunteer, etc.)? Nothing formal, but I always think about what happened on the anniversary.
11.How did you feel when the American government found Osama bin Ladin? I don’t like war or violence, so I don't believe in celebrating the death of any human being. I don't agree with what Osama bin Ladin stood for or did, but I worry about what it means for humanity to celebrate the death of a person, and I worry about the effects this has had on the Muslim people who live in America. I hate racism in all forms. I don’t like it when people justify hate and racism with the events of 9/11.
12.In the ten years since September 11, how has your life changed? Professionally, I was traveling several weeks a month back in 2001. It was hard for me to travel after the attacks; I would get really anxious. I slowed down a lot. It caused a logistics problem for me and my company because, as contractors, it became very difficult to get onto a military site. For the rest of 2001, we were very limited in our visits. To this day, we do not have the same clearance that we had. It also became so much more difficult to travel with the added security, even though I understand the need. Personally, I have had 3 children, lived in 3 different states, and put my husband through law school. I don’t know how to explain 9/11 to my kids. I worry about the world that they are growing up in.

A visit to Shriners, and finally a diagnosis

Our long awaited Shriner's appointment was yesterday.  Sam, Tyler, and I went to Spokane and left the other boys with a babysitter.  We can not remember when  or if ever we have both spent that much time alone with Sam.  He is a lot of fun to have on his own.  He was pretty nervous about going to the doctor, so he was a bit silly.

When we pulled into the parking garage, he asked if this is the place where they are going to shine his feet.  It took a minute to figure out that he thought we were going to "Shiners" hospital.  We all laughed and laughed about that.

Sam has had issues with his ankles, feet, and legs since birth.  When he still wasn't walking at 18 months, he ended up going to physical therapy and wearing orthotics until he was 2.  They worked wonders.  Since then, we have noticed that his feet are turning in more and more when he runs, he still sits in a W, and he is not keeping up with other kids his age.  We have been to physical therapists, doctors, surgeons, etc with differing opinions as to what should be done.  They ranged from nothing, orthotics, physical therapy to surgery.  Our pediatrician finally recommended that we go to Shriner's to get the answers once and for all.  I was very nervous, but it is hard watching him struggle to keep up with kids his age, and he is turning in his feet and knees more and more which is bringing comments from outsiders - lovely.

The official diagnosis is femoral antiversion.  The best explanation I found is on the Johns Hopkins website.  Basically, his thighbones are rotated inward which makes his knees knock and toes point in when he walks and runs.  It also explains why he sits in a "W" rather than criss-cross.  The doctor said that it might correct itself, but that in some patients it does not.  They will evaluate him when he is 8 or 9 if it is causing an interruption in his life.  At that point, they can do surgery where the bone is cut, rotated, and set.  We are praying for the auto correction option.  We have to go back in 6 months for a repeat xray of his right foot, because his arch is higher than his left, and they want to make sure that does not change.  He was also diagnosed with loose ligaments which makes his ankles bend all over the place.  He will probably be a clumsy little boy all growing up. 

This does not answer any questions as to why he was delayed in walking as an infant, as it was primarily caused by low core muscle strength which is typically neurological.  She said we could see a neurologist and a geneticist to test for syndromes and such, but that the outcome would not affect the way we treat him moving forward.  Since he is maintaining a normal life, there seems to be no reason to go through extra tests that may never show anything.

For now, the doctor said that the best treatment is to let him be a normal 5 year old.

We are grateful to have some answers, and I feel very blessed that this is not something serious.  Being at Shriner's is a humbling experience.  It makes me re-evaluate challenges in my life and just to be thankful for what I have.

Jack's coolest day of his life

Jack just completed a two and half week science camp.  It was something he looked forward to all summer long, and it did not disappoint.  When I picked him up on Monday, he was outside experimenting with all of the gadgets that the Science Bus had to offer.  One of them was a robot named Disco.  He was amazed that Disco knew his name, and commented on his Austin shirt.  He asked Disco if he had ever met R2D2 and said if he ever does to tell him hello.  I only had my phone, so the picture is not that great.

During his time in camp, he made gak, a compass, a weather vain, anemometer, two boats that they raced,  miniature rocket, and regular sized rocket which they launched on the final day.  They also learned about magnets and polarity, and all sorts of chemical reactions.  On the last few days, the Science Bus came with all sorts of cool things to play with, and the robot.  When I picked him up, he said it was probably the coolest day of his whole life.  He wasn't sure which was his favorite, the robot or watching them dip things like hot dogs into liquid nitrogen and throwing them on the ground to watch them shatter.  He was also very excited that his regular size rocket had several successful launches.  He worked very hard on it.  Here are some great quotes from the last few weeks:

(acting like I must be a complete idiot)  It's an anemometer, it measures wind speed. (eyes roll)
According to my calculations...
I am pretty sure I figured out how to change the polarity of a magnet (insert long theory)
I am not a farmer, but I know a thing or two about crops.
It seems like the smartest kids I know are all going to science camp.  (I told him that some of the other kids might not think it would be very fun)  His response:  They are soooo wrong.
His nightly prayers:  Please bless that my rocket will have a successful launch.  Please bless that my rocket cone will not get damaged today.
Mom, I didn't want to give Disco a high-five, because he is made of metal, but I realized that he was just holding his hand up; not hurting people.
Mom, I really want a robot, can we go to Walmart.
Do you think some day, people will have robots in their houses?
I don't think you should stop at Sonic on the way home again today, you stopped drinking coke, but you are still too addicted to sugar.

Amazingly, this was offered by the school district and totally free.  I had to send him with a notebook, an empty two liter bottle, duct tape, cereal box, and some stickers.

A Wirick Weekend

Last week for family night, we came up with a plan for our summer including fun activities we could do together on the weekends.  Tyler had to file a case by Midnight on Saturday, so we had to work around his schedule, but we were able to fit in a movie night (Cars 2 with Jack, Sam, and Mom).  It was 3d and we were the only ones in the theater; probably because the movie started at 9:30 at night.  The kids stayed up until midnight.  Tyler and Logan hung out at home and went to bed on time.  After Tyler had finished his work Saturday, we went to Green Bluff Washington to pick strawberries.  Green bluff is a cool area with a coop of farms.  We go there to pick pumpkins, peaches, and now strawberries.  We will keep our ears open for other fun foods that we can get fresh from the farms.  The farm we ended up at this time was Knapp's.

The drive to the farms is beautiful.  There are rolling hills planted with all sorts of great things.  The farms are off-set with the beautiful Ponderosa pines found in this area.  It smells wonderful.  The actual picking went fast, because I had to remind the boys that we could only eat so many strawberries.  Tyler was the funniest; he could hardly stand to leave any behind.  Each boy had a different personality for picking.  Tyler = pick one, eat one, grin, keep head down and keep picking.  Jack = pick one strawberry from each bush, bounce through the field, declare over and over that he had the most strawberries.  Sam =  look in other peoples buckets to find the best strawberries, and steal them for your own.  Logan = pick and taste, as soon as mom isn't holding on, take off running through the fields as fast as possible.  None of them would stop and let me take a cute picture.  They also LOVED riding the golf carts back to the barn.

Once we were done picking, we stopped to get the big boy's a haircut.  Jack's was growing out, and Sam decided he wanted to get a haircut like Jack's.  He looks so much different to me. 

A day in the office

I love working from home! I went to the backyard to take a call without interruptions, and it was too nice to leave. I am in my pjs at 2:15 working from my back deck. I can hear birds, squirrels, and the boats down on the river. Blessings to the creators of the wireless network!

How many more days until we aren't in Utah?

We have been in Utah since last Friday.  Sam has asked me several times each day, "How many more days until we aren't in Utah?"  He really doesn't want to go back.  Good news for Sam, we got to stay four extra days.  When we come to Utah, I always schedule a day in the office in SLC.  It is good to see people face to face.  While I was there, I found out that I needed to make a quick trip to DC the following Tuesday.  We had planned on going home on Saturday. 

I will back up a little bit, as soon as we got here, Tyler received an email from the court saying that he needed to appear on Monday, so we spent the first day of the trip scrambling to change flights home, so he could be in court.  He went to his 20 year high school reunion Friday and Saturday, and then flew home on Sunday.  He had court Monday (surprise) and Tuesday (planned).  Then he missed his flight Tuesday night and ended up coming back here Wednesday just in time to take me out for my B-day.  Hooray!

OK, back to the DC plans.  We were trying to get things worked out, and it seemed crazy to drive home Saturday just to unpack and fly out Monday morning, so we figured out a way to stay in Utah.  Tyler is going to work, and my mom will help him with the kids.  I will fly out tomorrow (Monday), give my presentation Tuesday morning, and fly back home Tuesday afternoon.  We will wake up Wednesday and make the long drive back to Post Falls.  Sound fun?

It has been a lot of fun being here with my family.  Here are some highlights.  Cousin sleep overs! Bike rides, crafts with Lucy (b-day), B-day lunch at Sonora, B-day dinner at Taste of India, toe nails painted with glitter by Angela, white trash BBQ at Steve's :), more Sonora, X-men, movie with the cousins, playing with cousins a lot, aquarium in SLC, planetarium, boyscout office visit with Grandpa, new iPad, shopping, hanging out with grown-ups, meeting people from Tyler's mission, playing pig with Gracie, Rachel, and Lucy, winning every game of pig by shooting from the foul line, waterfall spotting, sunshine!, team Ballard shirts, Father's day dinner with the whole Ballard clan, and more...

I better get to sleep.  Early morning, early flight.