My Tasty Valentine

Holidays call for fun food, and this year I took another stab at pancake Valentine’s. They were cherry chip pancakes this time, with some additional food coloring to make them nice and red. They were super tasty, a bit decadent with the cream cheese or chocolate glaze, so not your everyday kind of breakfast, but just right for a special occasion. Matthew has kind of outgrown the desire to play with his food so he just ate his pancakes plain and Malia’s pancakes were simply happy to be a part of our meal. Mine were the only ones that were really Valentines, but I’m ok with that. In a few more years, I may be making fun pancakes just for me… 

Second Time Around

Today was another temple day for us and another one with family. Daniel and Nathan weren’t able to join us this time, but Rachael, Kate and Sabrina accompanied us for another visit to the baptistry. We visited the Mount Timpanogos Temple this time and although the ordinances are always the same, each temple has its own procedures as far as dressing, waiting, etc. go. I’m really glad Rachael was with us to help shepherd us around. This is her normal temple, and it was so helpful to have her tell us where to go!

We had a lovely time and we have decided we need to do this again!

Eternal Laughter

Malia is the youngest of my children by a fairly sizable margin. She is 11 years younger than Daniel and 4 ½ younger than Matthew. As such, she often feels like she’s being left behind. And that’s a valid feeling. Daniel and Nathan no longer live at home and are only around for occasional visits. Now that Matthew is in high school, he is gone more and more often and when he gets his driver’s license next month, I fully expect his time away to increase. So she’s completely justified in feeling like she’s the lone child at home. There are advantages to that, but it also means that she spends a lot of time waiting to catch up with her brothers. 

Today was one of those days when she finally caught up. After years of patiently waiting, today was the first time she was able to go into the temple with us. We scheduled far in advance so that Daniel and Nathan were able to come down, and all six of us went to the baptistry together. I’ve said many times that I love being in the temple with my family, and today was very sweet indeed. All of my children together with Kev and I in the temple. We had expected to wait another year for this event since Nathan was originally slated to be in Texas until next year, but another tender mercy of his early homecoming was the fact that we were all together for Malia’s very first temple trip. It was a day of pure joy.

As a side note, today was also Nathan’s first meeting with the ASL Institute Council. As I mentioned before, the members are scattered all over the U.S., so the meetings are held via Zoom. Also remember that only two or three of the council are hearing. All the rest are deaf. The rest of us were working on our Saturday jobs while Nathan was having his meeting. It was Matthew’s turn to vacuum, but he was web browsing instead of vacuuming so like a diligent mother, I asked him why his job wasn’t done yet. He told me that he was waiting to do the vacuuming so he wouldn’t disrupt Nathan’s meeting. While that was thoughtful and all, my response was, “Ummm, Matthew, the meeting is in ASL. Running the vacuum won’t matter.” There was a huge “duh” moment and then he got out the vacuum. And I laughed. 😂

My family laughs kind of a lot. We chuckle, we giggle, we snicker, we chortle, and sometimes we outright guffaw. We honestly enjoy being together and that is reflected in the way we interact with one another. As such, it seems oddly appropriate that this post has ended up being a combination of a glorious afternoon spent in the temple with my eternal family and an occurrence at home that made me laugh. I know a lot of the world thinks of heaven as being a peaceful, serene place where we float around on clouds all day playing harps. But not me. My version of heaven is a joyful, happy place where my family and I are engaged in a rousing game of Phase 10 or And It Came to Pass. There will be laughter, and light, and endless quality family time. I hope to see you all there. And bring your favorite game. We’ll have lots of time to play!

Tiny Texas

Nathan pulled out his brand-new baby sized waffle iron this morning and made some tiny Texas shaped waffles. I think this is the first time I’ve ever associated the great state of Texas with something small. 😂 Having crispy little lone-star state waffles definitely made Nathan happy! And it reminded me that my college students do actually cook stuff. They don’t just subsist on cold cereal and peanut butter like so many others do. That makes me feel like I did a decent job preparing them to live on their own! And that I chose wisely when doing my Christmas shopping. 😉

The Elusive Lemon Bar

Over the years, I’ve gotten pretty good at cooking and baking without all the foods that will kill Matthew. Some things have been a bit trickier to figure out than others though. Meringue, for instance. A decade ago, the idea of using bean juice as meringue never once came up in any of the tips and tricks I was constantly looking for. And oddly enough, I really had a hard time creating a good, light coconut cake. Again, it’s the lack of those egg whites, which all the coconut layer cake recipes seem to use. Another thing that has been elusive is the lovely lemon bar. I’ve tried making them with a variety of egg replacements, used a variety of recipes, and just never really found anything that worked well. And that was a shame because I love lemon bars. As a teenager, they were one of my go-to dessert contributions. And Matthew loves lemons as well so I knew he would be a fan if I could ever make some good ones.

Then last year, I came across a vegan cookbook I had not seen before. I generally don’t have much use for most vegan cookbooks. Not only do I cook with meat and without nuts, but most vegan recipes I’ve come across use lots of special ingredients, things that a normal home cook won’t have on hand. And honestly, I am not about using things like dates to sweeten all my desserts or nutritional yeast to give things a “cheese-like” flavor. I want to bake like any normal person would, just without the milk, eggs, and nuts. So this cookbook was interesting because not only was it all about desserts, the recipes it contained used common household ingredients, things I could get at any grocery store. Things like normal flour, normal sugar, white vinegar, and nary a date in sight.

I checked it out from the library so I could test drive a few recipes before committing to the purchase price, and while the cake recipes were nothing all that special, there were other dessert options with which I was very pleased, things like a dairy free coconut cream pie that was creamy and not Jello like and a luscious lemon raspberry tart that was as beautiful as it was delicious. And there was a recipe for lemon bars. I think that was one of the tipping points as far as purchasing the cookbook was concerned. 

Today is my birthday and while the past few years have seen me eating cheesecake on my big day, this year I was in the mood for something a little lighter. Enter the new lemon bar recipe. It requires at least an 8-hour setting time in the fridge, so I made the bars yesterday and have been anxiously awaiting the moment of truth. I honestly considered sneaking a taste early in the day, but decided to wait and enjoy them with my family. And the wait was well worth it. While they lack the creaminess that the traditional egg custard version has, they were lovely and lemony, not too stiff, tartness well balanced by a good amount of powdered sugar on top and the crust was a nice shortbread. These will definitely be gracing our table again in the future.

As always, family members have sent me texts or called to wish me a happy birthday. That is expected from my amazing family. But unexpectedly, I have received a multitude of birthday wishes from ladies in my ward. The weekly Relief Society announcements were sent today and that certainly put me in everyone’s minds, but still, I was surprised by how many ladies feel like they know me well enough and care enough to send me a message. Honestly, I was touched. 

I feel amazingly blessed to be surrounded by such a wonderful group of gospel sisters. When our ward boundaries changed a decade ago, the switch to this ward was very hard for me. Over the ensuing years I’ve seen the blessings that have come into my children’s lives because of that change, but I haven’t really seen them for myself. I have always felt like I have acquaintances in this ward but not any real friends. But today, I’ve discovered that I’m wrong. And I strongly suspect that the years I spent serving in the Relief Society presidency have been a bit part of what has changed for me. As I served, I got to know many of the sisters in the ward better. I became more familiar with their families. I learned about many of their struggles. I was in contact with them nonstop all the way through the Covid shutdown. And over that time, I developed a love for them that has been a blessing for me. And when you learn to love others, it doesn’t stop just because you are released from a calling. So finally, ten years later, I can finally see the blessings that have come to me because I’m in this ward. And I can extend some heartfelt words of gratitude to the Lord for putting me here and for helping me see his hand in it.

I feel like today has been a great birthday. There was no cake, but there were lemon bars. There were no presents, but that’s ok because I don’t really need anything. There were no cards, but there were a multitude of digital birthday greetings. I also don’t mind getting older, as I feel like I earn valuable experience for each year I live and I wear that experience as a badge of honor. The only part of getting older I really dislike is the fact that my body is starting to betray me. But that is an unavoidable side effect of mortality. And while I may not be happy about needing bifocals, I can accept it.

Oh, and as a side note, Kevin finally finished up his ten days of masking and testing due to Covid exposure, so I got to give him a big hug and a kiss. Best birthday present I could have asked for.

An Eventful Sabbath

Last Sunday was a pretty eventful day for us despite the fact that our church meetings were cancelled. Today was another eventful Sabbath. Malia was asked to meet with a member of the bishopric before church today. She was a bit uncertain about it because this is the first time she’s ever been asked to meet like this, but we reassured her that it was nothing to be worried about and since parents are allowed and encouraged to attend these meetings with their kids, I went with her. The meeting was, as I expected, the extending of a calling, Malia’s very first calling ever. She has been called to serve as the secretary in her young women class. She was apprehensive about it right at the start, but with a bit of time to think it over, I watched her excitement grow. The funny thing to me is that she hadn’t actually even been to her young women class yet. Today was her very first day! 

January is always a busy month since the youth advancements are all done at the beginning of the year now. And since our meetings were cancelled last week, today was extra super busy because there were advancements and ordinations to take care of as well as settings apart for multiple new presidencies in the youth classes. As a result, Kevin and I skipped out on our second hour meetings. We joined the young women class as Malia was set apart and then snuck into the last few minutes of our meetings. Afterwards, we dashed down the hall where Matthew was ordained to the office of priest. We had a family dinner to get to, so the Bishop had him at the top of the list. We also made sure we had Malia’s temple recommend in hand before we left the church.

It was nearly 4:00 when we got home, which meant we only had a few minutes to finish cooking our contribution to this month’s family dinner which was also our celebration of Chinese New Year. The official day isn’t until the 22nd, but my folks will be relaxing in Mexico that weekend, so my mom moved up our holiday a bit. As always, there was a lot of good food and almost all my sibs were in attendance. Darilyn, a cousin once removed of mine who joins with us when she can, made her first appearance for many, many moons and brought her cute new baby with her. Matthew has followed Kenji closely on Darilyn’s Instagram feed and was so very pleased to finally meet him in person!

Later this evening, Nathan, who moved back to Logan yesterday, called us to tell us that he had received his first email about his new calling. He still doesn’t know much, but there are only seven people on the council and they are scattered all over the U.S. They will be meeting via Zoom and after their first meeting, he should have at least an idea of what his calling entails. And he is still so excited!

Sundays are often called a day of rest, but I know that often it is simply a rest from the things of the world. This Sabbath was full of exciting gospel events in my family as well as some quality family time and it was wonderful!

Take Your Moose to Work Day

Nathan is moving back to Logan on Saturday. Although he has a job, has a calling, and has been going to an institute class, he really feels like he has kind of just been killing time until he can get back to his life. As such, he’s super excited to go back to school. Malia is less excited. She doesn’t say anything and it’s not like she’s super sad or anything, but she is going to miss him. She and her stuffed animals have been getting in as much big brother time as they can over the past week. Malia has been playing Lego videos games with Nathan as often as she can this week. Big Toothless has been sleeping in Nathan’s room, has been wrapping up in his blankets to keep warm, and has been spending as much quality time with Nathan as he can. Monty the moose has been getting in some Nathan time as well. In fact, he tagged along when Nathan went to work yesterday and again today. He stayed in the car, as Nathan didn’t want to expose him to all the germs and junk that accompany the vast amounts of mail that move through the mail room, but Monty was ok with that. Tiny Toothless, who has been enjoying his time with Big Toothless, gets to go to college with Nathan and I expect he will have a variety of brand-new experiences to share with Malia. Malia and her menagerie will miss Nathan, but since this is college and not a mission, he will be able to come home and visit from time to time. In fact, his first visit home will be next weekend for a Botox treatment (thank goodness!) a super exciting temple trip, so Malia can hear all about his first week back in school. 

I suspect Toothless and Monty will want to hear all about it too.

New

This year did not start off with a proverbial bang, but with the gentle hush that accompanied the biggest snowfall we’ve seen in years. I love the quiet that comes with the snow. It muffles the hubbub that is a part of our busy world and makes everything seem a bit more peaceful. Add to that the clean white of newly fallen snow, and it was like the year was starting fresh. As Anne Shirley, heroine of some of my most favorite books ever, would say, “Tomorrow is a brand new day with no mistakes in it.” That’s what starting a new year with a delightful coating of snow felt like. 

The snow fell all day and the snowplows hadn’t made it to the residential areas, so our 1:30 church meetings were cancelled. We didn’t really concur with that decision because it wasn’t that much snow, but then we got two of our cars stuck in the snow right in front of our driveway. That got us a little bit more onboard with our leaders’ decision. 😂 The bishop encouraged all of us to help our neighbors with snow removal, so instead of our normal meetings, everyone in our part of the neighborhood was out and about with snowblowers, shovels, and ATV’s with snowplows clearing the snow. 

I cleaned out the coat closet yesterday and discovered that we still had one of the magnifiers I purchased years and years ago as part of a snowflake watching kit. I thought the boys had lost all of them, so it was a pleasant surprise, one that meant Malia could do some up close viewing of the flakes that were falling. And because there were no official church meetings, Malia got to wear her Converse for the second Sunday in a row.

Although our church meetings were cancelled, the wards with earlier start times still met and the stake presidency was still doing meetings and interviews. Nathan had received an invitation to meet with a member of the stake presidency this afternoon (one of the cars that got stuck in the snow was Nathan coming home). He will move back to Logan on Saturday, so he had no idea what the meeting was about. These kinds of meetings are usually when callings are extended, so he was prepared to tell them that he wouldn’t be able to accept whatever they had in mind for him. When he came home though, he was super excited. The meeting was indeed about a calling, but it is not a stake calling. Nathan has been called to serve on the newly created ASL Institute Council. The council, and the calling, covers the North America region. So definitely not a local calling, but one he can fulfill from wherever he happens to be living.

When Nathan told us his news, both Kevin and I had a strong impression that this is the next part of his missionary service. He had to come home from Texas so he would be in the right place at the right time to meet the right people. The place was the ASL institute class he has been taking. The time was the last time this particular class was held. The person was Rick Jensen, the coordinator and advisor for the ASL seminaries and institutes in the North America region. Bro. Jensen, who is deaf, showed up in the institute class on the last day they met before Christmas and was talking to the young adults in attendance, of which Nathan was one. In November the church created the ASL Board of Education to help support deaf youth and young adults and Bro. Jensen is a member of the committee. The deaf sister who was teaching that class is now the head of the ASL Institute Council.

Nathan has been waiting on the Lord. When he came home from Texas, he knew that was the right choice. When he decided not to apply for a service mission, he knew that was also the right choice. When he applied for and accepted a job, he knew it was the right one. And when he decided to go back to school starting this month, again he received confirmation that he was on the right path. But through all this, he had no idea what the Lord had in mind for him in terms of missionary service or ASL. But the Lord has been orchestrating Nathan’s life, as he does with all of us if we let him, and He has put Nathan right where he needs him to be. Nathan has no idea what this calling entails. It is a brand new council after all. But he is so excited about this opportunity to serve. 

On the flip side, we are starting the new year with yet another run in with Covid. Kevin’s parents have Covid and unfortunately, Kevin was exposed. He is starting the year all masked up and counting the days to when the necessary Covid tests should be done. I know this is just our new world, one where Covid has joined flu and RSV to make a mighty triumvirate of common diseases that tear a swath through society every fall and winter, but the scare campaigns of 2020 have worked far too well in my mind and I’m still dealing with the fallout of those tense days. I’m working to get my anxiety under control though. I guess that’s one of my goals for this new year: let go of the unnecessary and unwarranted fear and anxiety that seems to crop up far too often. That is certainly easier said than done, but I’m working on it. And I know the Lord will help me in my efforts.

So new year. New snow. New calling. New goal. That makes for a pretty eventful day.