Jack of All Trades

This evening was Matthew’s last band concert of the school year as well as his last band concert at the middle school. He has been highly involved in a number of different ways during his tenure at the middle school, and this evening he got to participate in most of them. 

Matthew plays in the advanced band and one of their numbers included a trumpet trio of which Matthew was a participant. He played the first trumpet part and those boys all sounded great! The band teacher presented several awards between numbers. Two ninth grade students are selected as outstanding students in each subject, and Matthew was selected as one of those students in band. He will receive a plaque at the official freshmen awards ceremony but was presented a certificate tonight. His name will also go on the plaque that is hanging in the band room. Matthew didn’t know about this beforehand and was surprised but not surprised, meaning that he didn’t know it was coming but wasn’t overly surprised that he was selected. I’m very proud of him for giving his all in the bands. He loves to play and has made a lot of progress in the past three years.

Advanced band was followed by a slide show, after which Matthew got to book it up to the tech booth to help stage crew solve some lighting issues. It seemed as if they could not get the lights to turn back on and after spending a few minutes in the booth, he jaunted backstage to work the problem from that end. He has been on stage crew for two years and during that time, he has worked very hard and proven that he is smart and responsible. Matthew is pretty much the head of the stage crew this year and more than once he has lamented the fact that once he leaves, the kids left behind are going to have a hard time keeping everything up and running. He has spent a lot of time and effort trying to get the younger kids up to snuff before he leaves but is at the point where he thinks things are going to be very rough next year. 

Once the lights were back in working order, the jazz band played. One of the first things we noticed is that Matthew is looks like the tallest trumpet player in the jazz band. (He said there is one kid taller than he is, but that kid plays kind of slouched over so he looks shorter than he really is.) When he was in seventh grade, he had to stand on a chair to be able to see over the sax players seated in front of the trumpet section, so that is proof of just how much he has grown! Matthew had several solos and although he was not particularly pleased with how he played (he got his braces off three weeks ago and is having a harder time adjusting than any of us thought he would), I felt like he did ok. The jazz band baritone sax player was fantastic though, and after the concert, Matthew shared with us the fact that he was the one who taught the bari sax player the music theory part of improvising a jazz solo. Matthew was really pleased that he had been instrumental in helping his classmate develop such a great skill. Matthew also sang a vocal solo for one of the jazz numbers. It was a Michael Buble song entitled “Everything” and I felt like he did a fantastic job. His face is incredibly expressive when he sings, and he was not afraid to let all the emotion of the music play on his face. Matthew is not one to overshare, so I had no idea that he would be singing this evening. That was a pleasant surprise for me. Of late, he has been singing non-stop, belting out showtunes as he goes about his activities here at home. And I love it. He sang all the time when he was tiny but stopped singing for a while as his focus was on other things, so I love that singing has made its way back into his life. He told us he was also supposed to play trumpet solos in the vocal breaks, but his lips were so dry that he was having trouble playing. It was bad enough that his lips just hurt. He is regretting getting his braces off right before all his end of year performances, but like I mentioned before, none of us knew it would be so tough for him to adjust.

It was a fun concert. Mentally, Matthew is completely done at the middle school and can hardly wait to move on to the high school, but I’m glad he has been so involved where he is and has taken advantage of so many opportunities. He wears a lot of different hats as school and each one has helped him learn and grow in fantastic ways.

Lofty Goals

Way back in January, both Kevin and Nathan gave me balloons on my birthday. They lasted about as long as most balloons last, about a day for the latex balloons and a couple of weeks for the mylar ones. As each balloon gasped its last, it was discarded. After about three weeks, just one balloon remained. As we had done with the others, we planned to let it hang around until it reached its natural end of life, which ended up being much longer than expected. As the weeks and then the months passed, we kept that last balloon around just to see how long it would hang on. In the past two days, it finally began to lose altitude. It rose high and proud for five full months before it could no longer stay aloft. So now, we bid a fond farewell to the balloon that has lasted longer than any other.

So long, mylar buddy. You have honorably adorned our home for nearly half a year. May all other balloons aspire to rise to such long lasting heights as you have done.

Our Very Own Horse Whisperer

There is a family-owned farm not far from us. They run a farm market year-round, selling their own produce and a variety of other locally grown foods and locally produced products as well. In fact, we won’t buy corn on the cob from the grocery store anymore. We wait until we can get it fresh from the farm. They have bred their own variety of sweet corn and it is well worth the wait. We eat is as often as we can while it is in season. In addition to their produce, they run a preschool, host a yearly pumpkin patch with hayrides, sell Fresh Christmas trees in the holiday season, host a food truck event each Friday during the summer, and a number of other things. In short, they have made their farm into a lucrative business. One of the newer things they offer is a variety of farm experiences. They have seasonal experiences where patrons can come in and see what is growing in each season and what the farming looks like at different times of the year. They have ones just at strawberry harvesting time that focus on the sweet little berries. They have an experience where people can get up close and personal with their goats and see what caring for a goat would be like. And they have a similar experience with horses. 

When I got the email announcing their four-week “Life of a Horse” experience, I thought it would be a perfect fit for Malia. She had a few horse riding lessons last year, but she got bored with that pretty quickly because they didn’t move fast enough for her. After six weeks, she was just riding around in big, slow circles and she wanted more hands-on time with the horse. The local farm doesn’t focus on riding, it focuses on how horses think, their “herd behavior,” and how to care for and communicate with them.  Malia was sick last week and missed her first hour with the horses, but the teacher was amazingly accommodating and gave her two hours today to make up for the lost lesson. And Malia was in heaven. They learned how to put a halter and lead line on the horses and she had all three horses haltered in about five minutes. The instructor told Kevin that she has had adults who spent the entire hour trying to halter one horse. But apparently Malia has a really good demeanor for working with these animals because she had them eating out of the palm of her hand…literally. There was one that was following her around by the end of her time. She also learned how to clean out their hooves and how to brush them. 

When Malia got home, she was extremely happy. She had missed a birthday party to go spend time with the horses and although she had been sad about that in the morning, by the time she got home she was incredibly glad she had gone to the farm instead. She has two more weeks so spend hanging out with the horses and she is excited for next Saturday.

The Sky’s the Limit

As I’ve mentioned before, our experience gifts for the kids have been a bit on the fly the past couple of years. As things have really started to normalize post-COVID shut down, there have been more and more opportunities presenting themselves and there are things we have been able to arrange for the kids that we didn’t know about until close to the actual date. In fact, today ended up being an amazing experience gift for both Daniel and Matthew, one that Kev didn’t know was going to happen until they arrived at what they expected to be simply a viewing of a fantastic historic airplane. They had planned to drive to Wendover to see a visiting B-29 but didn’t know there would be two smaller historic planes in attendance as well. When the opportunity presented itself for the boys to actually fly one of those planes, Kev made a spur of the moment decision and gave both boys an unforgettable day. I would have done the same thing.

I wasn’t there and all I can tell you is that they came home giddy with excitement, so I’ve invited Daniel and Matthew to be my guest bloggers to tell us about their experiences. 

DANIEL: We have been watching for years to see when one of two remaining B-29 Superfortresses would be coming to someplace reasonably close to us so we could go see it fly. Because there are only two left in the world that are airworthy, it was a huge deal to discover that the B-29 named Doc would be coming to Wendover, Utah. Matthew, Dad, and I were all ecstatic to find it was coming to someplace within reasonable driving range, so we made the arrangements we needed to make so that we could drive to Wendover Wednesday. After waking up at O-Dark-Thirty (for me, at least) we drove two hours to see it.

When we arrived in Wendover around 8:15, we drove down to the hangar where the B-29 was stored overnight and saw that it had been pulled out of the hanger and was being prepared for taxiing over to the flightline where it would pick up the people who had paid for flights. We got to see and hear them start the engines. We were standing behind the aircraft at this point. As they started each engine, the air around us went from still to very turbulent as the propwash from the four massive engines washed over us. It wasn’t a little prop wash, either. It felt like a hard wind was gusting steadily towards us! And the sound was glorious. Nothing sounds like four high powered radial engines working in unison. After getting too cold to keep standing in the prop wash, we went over to the main gate of the airfield to watch it taxi up to the flight line. We watched and heard it taxi up and shut down for a while. The flight crew began preparing and briefing the passengers on the 9:00 flight. At this point, we had 5 cameras between the 3 of us all taking pictures and video of the B-29. Afterall, it was big, shiny, exciting, and unbelievably cool! Once the passengers were situated, they started the plane again. Hearing each engine start never gets old! Once it was started and the pre-flight checks were done, we watched it taxi to the runway and take off. The sight of a flying B-29 is the epitome of “they don’t make them like they used to.” We watched the take off and the flyover with rapture. Throughout the whole takeoff sequence, we were taking pictures. 

We waited a little bit while it flew around, and we watched it land. By this point we were allowed to walk much further onto the flight line, and so we got into a spot where we would be able to see the landing and taxiing back to the start. We watched as the B-29 landed, and then taxied towards us. We definitely took pictures of this as it moved towards us and turned around in front of us. It was quite the sight! At this point, we watched them brief the 11:00 flight. Matthew and I climbed to the top of the 60 ft historic control tower to watch the second take off, which was much the same in procedure, although the different perspective of being 60 ft above the flightline made it a separate experience once again! We watched the take off, and I had the chance to talk to a really nice old man briefly about how it is important to keep these historic machines in full operation so that we can learn about history from them. These historic airplanes are reminders of a bygone era shaped by a global war that we need to remember and keeping the warbirds flying is a fantastic hands-on way to teach history. Funny enough, while we were taking about this, we saw an elementary school arrive to look at and learn about the B-29. If I had a field trip like that when I was in elementary school, it would have been extremely memorable.

After the B-29 landed the second time, they had it pointing towards the meager crowd, and they opened it up for cockpit tours. We purchased the pass for that and got in line. We entered via ducking into the forward bomb bay, where we were told more about the specifications and design requirements for the B-29 and the instrumental role it had in ending WWII. After that we were let into the cockpit cabin proper. We were able to stand upright, which was shocking as most aircraft of early 40s vintage we can’t actually stand up all the way. One of the mechanics was in the cockpit telling us a little bit about the specific airplane. Most of the stuff inside was original hardware, with exception the radio and flight gear that helped make it meet current flight regulations. Me wanting reference photos for when I build a model of the B-29 proceeded to take a number of pictures of the panels and the equipment. After experiencing the interior, we stepped out and began to prepare for the next part of our adventure.

The Commemorative Air Force wing out of Heber City had brought two WWII trainer aircraft out to the same event, a Stearman bi-plane and an AT-6 Texan trainer. Matthew and I had the chance to fly in one of them, and we both chose the AT-6. The Stearman was the beginning trainer of WWII where all pilots started, but the AT-6 was the trainer that pilots flew when they were training to fly single engine fighters. I figured that the AT-6 was about as close to some of my favorite single seat aircraft as I was going to get. And I think I was right! Matthew and I got a 30-minute flight in it each, and I will say that those 30 minutes were something that I will never forget! Matthew went up first and looked like he had a grand old time! I got into the back seat of the AT-6 behind our pilot, Skip. After getting all strapped in and had the headset ready to go, Skip started the engine and we started taxiing. The way that this worked was that it was our flight, in that we could decide what we wanted. I said that I wanted to try some aerobatics out along with his standard control showing. We took off, and after he got the plane all trimmed out and flying steady, we climbed to about 8,000 ft. He then proceeded to talk me through what the controls did and demonstrate some slow lazy turns. He then said that I could do some of those nice lazy turns and gave me control of the aircraft. That was when I knew I would never forget this! Not only was I in a plane from 1943, but I was in control. I looked past Skip’s head at the horizon and was in complete control to keep it level and then do slow left and right turns. Let me just say this; An actual airplane is much easier to control than any flight simulator I have ever played. It was surprisingly easy to keep it flying in a gently turn. I realized why the AT-6 was such a good trainer. It was an incredibly forgiving and stable airplane! After some slow lazy turns, he started into his aerobatic portion. We started by doing wing-overs, which is when you put the wings vertical and let the plane swing back to level like a forward moving pendulum. After that, we started pulling some Gs (the force of gravity on Earth is 1 G). We started with a 2 G turn, and then did a 3 G turn. I think we were between 3 and 3.5 Gs at one point, and that is a wild feeling! After the G turns, Skip did a few barrel rolls to the left and right. Not all at once, but we did probably 3 barrel rolls. Seeing the world spin but not really feeling a huge difference in my stomach was a crazy moment! After the barrel rolls, we did one more lazy turn in my control. After that, Skip landed the plane. I had a smile on my face the whole time because there is no feeling like flying a vintage aircraft like that. The simple joy of being separated from the world by 7,000 to 9,000 ft of air in a little airplane that is easy to control on your own was easily the best thing I have done for a long time! After I was unstrapped, Skip told us and Dad that we were some of the easier people he has taken flying in the AT-6. We knew to keep our movement smooth and controlled, whereas the guy who flew before both of us was really choppy and Skip had to fight the controls a bit to keep the plane steady. Long story short, Skip enjoyed flying with us as much we did him!

It made for a long day, as we didn’t leave Wendover until 4:00 pm, but it was a day well spent. Seeing and hearing a rare bomber fly and flying a vintage aircraft over the Salt Flats created a day I will long remember with fondness and joy!

MATTHEW: It was really cool. Starting the day standing in the prop wash of a WWII heavy bomber, then walking around and hearing its absolutely massive sound, was amazing. It was a wonderful way to start the day. We then booked it down to the other end of the air base to meet Doc as it moved. We got some wonderful pictures. It was amazing to hear it from forever away, progressively getting louder and not a bit less proud. We did see it fly twice, and I will say, it was very amazing to see how fast it got off the runway. When he came back and was taxiing down the tarmac, we also got more amazing pictures. After the second flight we got to walk through and see the cockpit. It was so amazing to see that such an intricate thing could be created in such an intense time and make it so that it worked so well. Afterwards we went through the museum on base as well. We then waited for a few hours to take our flight in a T-6 advanced fighter trainer. When it was our turn, we got a briefing as we prepared to fly. After we got in, taxied, and got ready to take off. As this was my first flight ever, I had no clue what to expect. But when we did, I realized how amazing it was. We went out over the Salt Flats, and we flew for a couple minutes as he (the pilot) taught me about the plane and how to fly it. And then he was off the controls and let me fly the plane. That was an amazing experience. Flying a WWII era plane was such an experience, and one that I will never forget. One of the first things I noticed as we got over the salt was how beautiful the salt is from 6000 ft above the ground. It was very pretty. As we were passing back over the airbase to come back for a landing, he let me have full control of the plane. Stick and rudder. He told me exactly what to do, and I waggled the wings as I passed over the base. (Waggle the wings was slightly right, slight left, slight right, etc. It was essentially waving at the ground). As we landed, I realized how amazing it is how they have the science and technology to do that.

DARE to be Smart

Malia’s DARE graduation was today. All three of my boys were also able to participate in the DARE program, so this was not my first rodeo. In fact, this afternoon’s program was exactly the same as the other three. Even the guest speaker was the same. She’s a good speaker and she has a meaningful story to share with the kids, so it was ok though. As with the boys, each student is required to write an essay in order to graduate from the program. The topic of the essay is whichever of the ten lessons are a student’s favorite. The DARE officer (a police officer from the local force) reads all the essays and chooses the best one from each class. The winner from each class reads their essay as part of the graduation program. Malia’s essay was one of two that Officer Jake had trouble deciding between. He waffled back and forth, back and forth until he finally decided to give Malia’s classmate top honors leaving Malia in second place. Malia was actually very happy about that. Of late, she has been very nervous about talking in front of groups and she really, really didn’t want to read her essay in front of the entire fifth grade, all the parents, the DARE officer, the chief of police, the mayor, the principal, and the former Miss Utah who was our guest speaker. 

In past years the kids have gone on a field trip to Texas Roadhouse for lunch and line dancing as a way to celebrate the completion of the program. Daniel and Nathan both had a great time on their respective field trips. Since Texas Roadhouse has peanuts on all the tables, there was no way that Matthew could attend his field trip safely, so I checked him out of school and took him to a movie instead. I had planned to check Malia out like I did for Matthew, but I was greatly pleased when info about a change in routine trickled down to the parents. This year, instead of the Texas Roadhouse trip, there were DARE discount days at both Lagoon and Boondocks which meant that Malia was actually able to participate in her celebration. Kevin drove Malia and two of her friends to Boondocks last Friday and then let them loose to enjoy their visit. This is the first time Malia has been at a busy venue without an adult accompanying her, and while she was anxious to enjoy her visit sans parent, she was a bit nervous about it as well. As such, Kev acted as chauffeur and then sat in the car so the kids could enjoy their newfound independence while still having the safety net of a trusted adult close at hand. They played laser tag, some virtual reality games and arcade games as well as enjoying pizza for dinner. I think Malia had a great time and gained a bit of confidence in her ability to take care of herself and stay safe without Kev or I right by her side.

When I was in elementary school, the message we were taught was “just say no” to drugs and alcohol. I actually like the DARE program better because it does more than teach kids to say no. It also teaches them about peer pressure, stress, smart decision making, getting an education, respecting themselves and others, and a variety of other things that if factored in can help them be healthy and successful people. In the world we live in, drugs and alcohol are not some hypothetical thing that kids see in the movies. When I was a kid, they were in the schools, but they were still kind of undercover rather than out in the open. Nowadays they are out in the open. Matthew says the drug problems at the middle school are bad enough that there is a police officer at the school all the time. And the rumor mill says that some of the other schools are even worse. 

Keeping our bodies and minds free from such harmful and addictive substances is a part of the gospel, but I will gladly take any outside support or skills the schools have to offer my kids. Arming them from all directions is a plus. As Malia was worked through the DARE program, it has provided opportunities for us to discuss these things as a family as well. And knowing that we are a resource for her, a support and a source of information and guidance as well as giving her permission to use us as an instant out or excuse from any situation will hopefully help make her stronger and smarter as she grows up and moves into situations where the kinds of scenarios she has talked about in the DARE program may actually occur. Our public education program may have its shortcomings, but this is one program that I agree with wholeheartedly.

The World’s Best Parenting Manual

 Yesterday I was counseling with one of my kids concerning a hard situation in which he finds himself. As we talked, a scripture from the book of Alma came to mind. 

“Now ye may suppose that this is foolishness in me; but behold I say unto you, that by small and simple things are great things brought to pass; and small means in many instances doth confound the wise. And the Lord God doth work by means to bring about his great and eternal purposes; and by very small means the Lord doth confound the wise and bringeth about the salvation of many souls.” Alma 37:6-7

This scripture is Alma counseling his son Helaman. I shared my insights into these verses, things that I have learned in my own life, and gave what was hopefully some sage advice. Sometimes it is hard to know exactly what to say to a child who is in the midst of a difficult time of life, but often I feel like the Spirit is feeding me information and this was one of those moments.

As I was pondering on that later in the day, I was reminded of just many times a parent counsels a child in the Book of Mormon: Lehi and all his sons, Alma the elder to Alma the Younger, Mosiah to his sons, Mormon to Moroni, and Alma the younger to Helaman and his other sons, just to name a few. That thought was followed by another reminding me that the Book of Mormon was written for us, the saints living in the last dispensation. While the principles contained therein are eternal, they were recorded and later translated to give us the knowledge we would need to come unto Christ and to thrive in the midst of the adversities of these last days.

Two years ago, I mentioned the fact that the parenting manuals don’t have a section on how to counsel your kids when they are living through a pandemic. Yesterday I had a realization that perhaps just such a parenting manual exists. No, the Book of Mormon does not tell us exactly what to say to a child who is freaking out because they have been quarantined, but its principles do teach us how to navigate through our troubled world and how to find joy as we do so. It contains lessons on how to find peace in troubled times, how to remain righteous as the world around becomes increasingly more wicked, what we need to do to gain eternal life, and countless others. And yes, it does in fact contain some amazing examples of how to be a good parent in the last days. In its very first chapters, we meet Lehi who is the parent of some very righteous as well as some very rebellious children and chronicles the many struggles his family faces.

In the past several years as we have focused on other books of scripture for “Come Follow Me,” I have chosen to include a topical study of the Book of Mormon to my study plans. I think my next area of study will be to look for counsel on parenting and family relationships. After all, the family is the basic unit of both society and eternity, and we know that all we do and all we learn in the church is to help us to be worthy to participate in the covenants that seal us to our loved ones forever. 

Mother’s Day was two days ago. Nathan was able to call and played a lovely little piano arrangement for me in honor of the day. Unfortunately, the video chatting programs all have elements meant to factor out background noise which means music doesn’t work well over the web. But he played it anyway and then recorded it and sent a video. Nathan and Malia made me a lovely little ring tree when they had their ceramics outing earlier in the year. They gave it to me before Nathan left in March because Malia wanted him to be here when it was gifted. I laughed out loud when I opened it because it is in the shape of a cactus, and they had included a comment stating that it was a plant that would never die. They know I struggle with house plants. 😂

People tell me all the time that Kev and I have done a great job raising our kids. I counter that by telling them that we were blessed with great kids, and we have just helped them along on their journeys through life. We honestly feel that way. Every day I feel immense gratitude for the opportunity to be their mother and for the impact they have had on my life. Raising them has made me a better person, has taught me to love and serve in a way nothing else could, and has enriched my life in countless ways. I’m constantly humbled by the fact that the Lord trusted me to raise these kids.

Dapper

Matthew has always had his own ideas about pretty much everything. From the time he was tiny, he was enormously stubborn, often about things that completely flabbergasted me. (Think back on the pink rectangle that was a big part of his preschool experience.) Where clothing is concerned, he has always been just as stubborn. He knew what he wanted to wear and what he most definitely did not what to wear and could not be swayed. That determination to wear exactly what he wanted regardless of what anyone else thought has morphed into his very own sense of style, and in his defense, has developed into a very attractive look. By the time Matthew was born, I was able to find tiny suits for him, so he has always worn a suit to church on Sundays. And as often as we could get them, those suits were three pieces. As he hit his preteen years, his desire to wear a full suit did not waver. His preferences, however, did not include a standard black, navy blue or gray suit. 

 

One of the first suits he picked out for himself was a brighter than normal blue, and it looked good. He looked long and hard to find just the right color and was terribly pleased when he finally found it. The following suit was a fantastic three-piece suit in a deep green color. With the free alterations offered by the shop where it was purchased, he wore it for three years. During that time, he had a big growth spurt, and the hem in the slacks has been let down several times.  If we let down the hem again, he can still wear that suit. However, it is starting to show wear. Not only does he wear it to church, but he wears it for concerts at school and other such events, so he has definitely gotten our money’s worth out of it. With these things in mind, it was time to start shopping for a new suit.

Matthew’s style has an element of the vintage included, as evidenced by his fantastic brown and white wingtip shoes, the shoes that look so good that Daniel had to get a matching pair of his own. Matthew also has a functioning pocket watch with chain that he wears in the vest pocket of his suit, so having another three piece was necessary. And as always, a more traditional color was not on the list of options. He picked up his new plum colored suit today and put it on right away so we could all see it. It looks fantastic. 

Now he is looking for another pair of wingtips, so he has more style options. It will be fun to see what he comes up with.

Texas Extras

I’m one of the lucky insiders who gets more of Nathan’s stories, so I thought I’d add some context to some of his extra pictures. In his neck of the woods, there is a gas station called Buc-ees. But this is no ordinary gas station. It is, according to Nathan, the biggest gas station he has ever seen. Apparently, there are hundreds of pumps for cars to refuel and the store is no little convenience store. It is a full-fledged grocery store that included a deli, bakery, non-foods, section, etc. In fact, it is bigger that our local supermarket. Nathan says that the number of stalls in the bathroom seems to go on forever. The mascot of the Buc-ees chain of gas stations is a beaver, hence the photo with the charming beaver statue. 

The missionaries are supposed to spend all the money loaded to their debit cards each payment cycle, so when he and his companion had a few dollars that needed spending, they headed to Buc-ees. For those of us who know him well, it came as no surprise that Nathan spent his extra moola on a rubber duck, a lapel pin, and a pair of socks emblazoned with the state of Texas. While he was perusing the many wonders in Buc-ees, he spotted several things that made him laugh. First of all, it was enormously evident to him that he is no longer in Utah as there were sippy cups displayed right next to the matching shot glasses and wine glasses, all bearing the Buc-ees beaver. He also spotted a sign that reminded him of the movie “Miss Congeniality,” one of our often-watched movies that falls under the category of “chick flick that is funny enough that even the boys like it.” It just so happens that the film takes place in Texas, so it is not really a surprise that it has made its way into the pop culture of the state.

He also had some more Texas culture to share with us via Messenger, where he described the breakfast he ate on the way to the temple and some clothing shopping he did. Being able to message back and forth on his p-days feels a little bit like having him just a couple hours away rather than halfway across the country:

“I called mom, but for the rest of yall: 

1- I got a name sign hehe. I'll send an email later with the video 

2- look up Texas Kolachee (ask mom how to spell it. She found it somehow haha.) They are giant Texas pigs in blankets. Very tasty 

3- it is SO GREEN HERE AHHHHH”

“Ooooo I forgot to say: Elder Frey had a really good study idea!! I want to do this when I finish the new testament this time around.

Mark every single question that Jesus Christ asks and see what you learn from it! This could be in any of the books of scripture. This will help you be a better teacher and know how to ask better questions!”

“Ok, so I forgot to tell y’all earlier, but this afternoon we went thrift shopping. The thrift stores in Texas are amazing. We have Ross and stuff, but there’s a bunch of really sketchy Spanish thrift stores where you can go buy stuff for under a dollar. So, what we’ve been doing is for member visits we wear our suitcoats. The slacks and coats don’t match all the time, but sometimes they do, but we wear coats to just help everyone remember our purpose in being there, and so in order to help my gray suitcoat not totally get sun-bleached and the pants not, we went to the thrift store and I bought a $3 suitcoat that apparently is super bourgie, but it fits, has gold buttons, super great. And so we will just leave that in the car and it will be great. I also found someone who thrifted ties that have angel Moronis on them, so that’s pretty fun. By and large, I spent $8 at the thrift store for what would have normally been a lot more than $8.”

“A HUGE tie with angel Moroni on it is my favorite. I'll send a picture of the suit coat in a min haha”

“And my fancy coat haha”

Now for a little bit more info on the Texas kolache he ate. I was familiar with the traditional kolache which is a traditional Czech fruit filled pastry. I had no frame of reference for the giant pig in a blanket he described though, so I did a bit of online research to see if I could figure out how one morphed into the other. I discovered that there is a large Czech population in Texas. When they immigrated in the 1800’s, they brought their traditional kolaches with them. Over time, they became very popular with non-Czech people, and they started filling them with meat (and usually cheese and jalapenos) rather than the traditional sweet fillings. How it went from a flat pastry to a fully wrapped sausage is beyond me though. And yes, that version is just a Texas thing. Technically, the meat wrapped in kolache dough are called klobasnek, not that many non-Czech people would know that, and it has become a breakfast staple in the lone star state. Doing the research made me want to try them though, so there may be some half Chinese versions of a Czech and/or Texas delicacy in our future. 😂 (The pictures of the two different kolaches are courtesy of Google, not Nathan.)

I know some missionaries are disappointed when they receive calls to serve in their home country, but as Nathan will attest, Texas most definitely has its own culture, one that is very different from that found here in Utah!