Rockin’ Like it’s 1699

Nathan has been taking organ lessons this semester. In fact, they have been one of the highlights of his week. His lesson time is early on Monday mornings, and he has loved starting the week that way. His teacher also loved starting the week that way. He is so excited about playing organ and has learned so quickly that his enthusiasm and rapid progress have made him one of her favorites to teach. Almost every Monday morning, around 8:30 a.m., I get a barrage of texts from Nathan expounding on all the cool things he learned in his organ lesson and telling me how much he loves it!

Yesterday evening was the organ recital for all those students taking private organ lessons. Kev drove up for the recital and recorded Nathan’s performance for us since this event was not streamed. I would have liked to attend as well, but the dumb headaches rule my life, and I knew going up would mean a late night and a late night would mean a headache today and so on and so forth. I have to pick and choose which headache triggering events to attend in an attempt to minimize the amount of time I lose to the headaches. Sometimes it is hard. But I digress, again. Suffice it to say that I was unable to attend this particular recital. But Nathan did a great job! He has learned a ton this semester and is looking forward to resuming his lessons in the fall. At that point, he will be taking lessons from the organ professor though, as he has already outstripped his current teacher’s teaching level.

Cool Weather and Cool Whip

When the phone rings at exactly 5:04 a.m., it is a pretty sure bet that the kids aren’t going to school. That is exactly what happened this morning which meant another virtual learning day due to snow. When we looked out the window once the sun actually rose this morning, we had only about half an inch of snow, but according to the info the district sent out, there was more snow in other areas of the district and the storm was expected to continue throughout the day. So although conditions out here were perfectly acceptable this morning, we sighed, rolled our eyes, and got the kids set up for virtual learning. 

The funny thing is that Nathan was sending texts all morning sharing with us the amount of snow that has fallen, and is still falling, in Logan. With trees that have become shrubs due to snow, statues that have a new snow-do, and the need to shovel out his car, they definitely have far more snow than we do. And guess what? They still had school. It made for an entertaining morning, one where we chose to laugh rather than complain. 

(The snow at our house-it was minimal)

An upside to our snow day was that the shortened online school day meant there was plenty of time for Malia and me to color Easter eggs this afternoon. Malia is not interested in doing an actual Easter egg hunt, which is totally fine by me, but she still wanted to color eggs. We did, however, scroll through Pinterest to find a different way to color our eggs. We’ve always gone the traditional bowls of liquid dye direction and we were both feeling adventurous. We looked at a variety of egg dying methods and Malia settled on the oft used but new to us Cool Whip method. 

We started by soaking our boiled eggs in vinegar to intensify the color of the dye and that was fascinating. The chemical reaction that occurred made for some interesting viewing. Next up was adding the food coloring to our mounds of Cool Whip. Malia and I were a bit uncertain at that point because the drops of gel food color looked like way too much and when we swirled it as directed, it just looked far too dark and not all that interesting. As such, we prepared a few dye cups with a smaller amount of color to see how that worked out in the end. By far the most satisfying part of this particular adventure was gently pushing each egg into the mounds of colored Cool Whip. I don’t know about Malia, but I would do this whole thing again in future years just for the satisfying squish as each egg was nestled into its dye. The second most satisfying part of the experiment was rinsing off the eggs at the end and discovering that they actually look really cool! Although we were skeptical at the outset, we learned that more dye is better for this coloring method. The ones with less dye were completely boring.

I feel like we made the best of our snow day despite the fact that it is April and pretty much everyone is well past ready for spring. Around here, we have to keep reminding our kids that spring in Utah brings all kinds of weather. The winters have just been so dry for so long that they are unaccustomed to the lingering snow. But Kev’s birthday is in June and as a kid, there were years when it snowed on his birthday, and I remember snow late in May. For us old timers, the unpredictable weather is perfectly normal. In fact, our anniversary was this weekend and there was snow on the day we got married. My sister, Rachael, got married in February and the weather on her wedding day was the exact same as the weather on the day of my April nuptials. So, while we are all looking forward to warmer days that linger instead of balmy days alternating with snowy ones, I’m not upset about today’s precipitation. It created a pocket of free time that made for some good mother/daughter time.

Daniel's Turn

The Logan institute choir was invited to sing for this evening’s session of general conference. Daniel has been singing with the institute choir the entire time he has been at USU and has loved it. It has been one of those places where he can relax, let go of some of his worries for a while, and let the Spirit flow. When he found out they had been invited to sing, he was super excited but not certain that he would be invited to participate. When news about the invite got around, interest in the choir suddenly increased exponentially. There were so many people who were interested in singing for conference that they had to hold auditions. Daniel told us there were about 1600 people who auditioned for the coveted 360 seats, but he’s a guy and he can sing, so I didn’t think he would have too trouble getting in, and that turned out to be completely accurate. 

This ended up being a great experience for Daniel. Not only did he have a wonderful time, but he found new meaning in one of the hymns they sang, one of which he had not been particularly fond of before this choir experience. Memorizing the lyrics and rehearsing regularly allowed the meaning of “Jesus, Once of Humble Birth” to sink into his heart. I love how music does that. I have always believed that music can convey the Spirit in ways that nothing else can, and I also believe that because of its ability to invite the Spirit, music has the power to change the hearts both of those who hear and those who perform. I’m so glad Daniel continues to find joy in music and for this amazing opportunity that he had. I hope it will always be remembered with joy!

Premature Bunnies

With Easter nearly upon us, my mind has turned to fun food. I didn’t have the time or energy to do a whole month’s worth of themed treats this year, but any holiday deserves a themed pancake of some sort. Matthew and Malia are currently out of school for Spring Break, so we jumped the gun just a bit and did your Easter themed breakfast today rather than next week. Doing so meant we had the luxury of more time than we would have on a school day. And we needed a bit more time because crepes take a bit longer to cook since I can only cook two at a time instead of the six standard pancakes I can slap on the griddle all at once. But the cooking was the only part that was time consuming. The creation of the bunnies was fast and simple…and tasty. And of course, once she had created the standard bunny, Malia branched out and created an Easter alien. I think it was just an excuse to use an extra chocolate chip. 😜 But seriously, I love that she will still play with her food. Matthew humors me by following my lead, but Malia still employs her creativity to make her creations all her own.

When I Grow Up

Last year’s unexpected flight in a small historic airplane has had a lasting impact on Matthew. For nearly a year now, he has been talking about becoming a pilot. He is exploring options and doing research on how to gain the skills he desires, and it is a serious life plan, not just a passing fancy. As such, this evening’s young men activity was a super fun one for him. One of the brothers in our ward is in the National Guard and he arranged for them to make a visit to the base that is right next to the airport. They got to go inside one of the Air Force planes and Matthew thought that was great! 

Matthew knows the Air Force is not an option for him due to his food allergies and asthma, but if it were, I suspect he would be very seriously considering enlisting as it is a practical and affordable avenue to becoming a pilot. 

Toothless Goes on Spring Break

Tiny Toothless has been on the go again and as Nathan is his traveling buddy, Nathan has been traveling as well. This week is spring break for USU and Nathan, who has jumped back into college life with not quite as much abandon due to his continuing headache but just as much enthusiasm, took the opportunity to spend a few days in St. George with some friends. It has been a long, cold winter in Logan, with lots of snow, and they were all ready for some warmer weather. They rented a house, went hiking, visited the children’s museum and basically had a grand old time. The headache only really hit Nathan after their hike, but other than that he managed things well and had a good time. I think one of the highlights of the trip for Nathan was their visit to the St. George Tabernacle because they let him play the organ! He is looooooving his organ lessons and having the opportunity to play some of these old pipe organs is a completely different experience from playing the electric organs in the practice rooms. He tells me that just like pianos, every organ is a bit different.

Daniel has also been on the road this week. He had the opportunity to go to Las Vegas with the pep band which was providing support for the Utah State men’s basketball team. Vegas is most definitely not Daniel’s favorite place in the world, but he made the best of it and went to the temple. Talk about some stark differences. He gratefully left the strip and stepped onto holy ground. Just goes to show that no matter where you are, there are sacred spaces to be found. 

Bloom and Grow

Malia’s calling, her first ever, has provided her with some new opportunities. Some of those include helping plan and run activities. This evening was her first chance to help teach a skill to the young women. She, and each of the other members of the class presidency, each selected a flower and taught all the other young women how to watercolor their selected flower. Although learning how to watercolor a simple rose wasn’t all that difficult, Malia was uncertain about teaching it. I know she was not the only one. Some of the other girls were a bit nervous too. They are the youngest ones and have only been in young women for a couple of months so I understand that it can be a bit daunting to teach all the older girls. But all reports say the activity went really well and all the girls had a good time. I’m so pleased that Malia was willing to step a bit outside her comfort zone and help run this activity. I think that as she continues to serve in her calling, she will learn and grow as we all hopefully do as we work and serve in the church.

Sing Your Way Home

In the past year or so, Matthew has remembered that he really likes to sing. Lately, he has really been loving the barbershop and the swing era jazz numbers. When he has a few minutes on his hands, he’ll record all four of the parts on a barbershop tag, overlay them, and share the results with us. He cycles through a lot of the old jazz standards and often what he is singing becomes my earworm as well. And they are songs that I’m perfectly content to add to the soundtrack of my life. He has discovered that he really enjoys listening to Ella Fitzgerald, which I think is cool since very few of his generation even know who she is. But let’s be honest. Very few of my generation even know who she is. Kevin and I just grew up in homes where music of great variety was very much a part of the tapestry of life, and as a result of our love of so many types of music, our children have had a varied exposure as well. As I’ve said in the past, they get everything from plain chant to Mozart to Bon Jovi to Dr. Demento. Some they like more than others and different kids develop love for different music, but they get to hear it all. Pretty much the only genres we really don’t like are rap and hip hop, but they get exposure to those in other places and none of them have taken a liking to it, so I feel justified in those omissions. But I digress. Matthew loves to sing. And he has very much been looking forward to today.

Today was the annual Youth Harmony Day, the one where some of the local barbershop groups host a bunch of teens for the day and give them a chance to sing some barbershop. This is Matthew’s third time attending and considering this year was the fifth annual Youth Harmony Day, I can safely say that he loves it and is one of the old timers. In fact, one of the directors of the boys’ choir, who happens to be a member of an award-winning barbershop quartet called Stormfront, remembers Matthew’s name and knows exactly who he is. It made Matthew so stinking happy to know that he has made an impression on this guy! Another member of Stormfront was directing the girls’ choir this year, so Matthew was doubly pleased to get to meet him. And when they asked for volunteers to sing tags with them to show how important it is to be able to hold your own part, Matthew was quick to volunteer, of course. And then he geeked out just a little bit and shared it with us!   

Kevin, Malia and I attended the concert that was held at the end of the day, and Matthew was clearly having a wonderful time. His enthusiasm didn’t wane with the end of the concert either. He was still all hyped up when he got home. He was asking Daren, the Stormfront guy, some questions about how to get a barbershop group started and Daren gave him some advice, shared his email address, and invited Matthew to reach out with questions. That made Matthew super excited! Daniel was even just a little bit jealous. 😉

Once again, I’m so incredibly glad that my kids find such joy in music. I’m glad that Matthew has remembered that he loves to sing. And I love that he is filling the house with music. It was pretty quiet for a bit there after Nathan left and that was different and a bit sad for me, but now the house is filled with the sounds of singing and trumpet, and it makes me so happy! My home doesn’t quite feel right when things are too quiet. I know that in future years it is destined to be quiet more and more often, but for now, I’ve been reveling in the music.