Lessons Learned from Life on the Road

As I have already mentioned, the past week has been Matthew’s first ever weeklong high school band tour. There was some serious planning, preparation, and coordination with the band teacher that needed to happen, but we managed to come up with a workable food plan that would allow Matthew to eat while on this grand adventure. The weather was amenable which meant that his food in the ice chest that traveled in the bottom of the bus stayed nice and cool the whole time. That was a definite plus. He made it home in one piece and was not starving to death which was another plus. Bao makes fantastic travel food (something we already knew) and muffins were another winner for Matthew in terms of ease while on the go. There were a few speed bumps, but Matthew chalks those up to lessons learned. Perhaps the biggest lesson learned was not to forget the charger for your cool battery-operated heated lunch box or you will only get two hot meals while on the go instead of a dozen. Serious lesson learned there. Another lesson was never to leave your food on the bus because you have no idea where it will be going or when it will be back. Other than that, Matthew managed his food well. And he had some fun. 

Kevin was in the vicinity the entire time as the emergency food back up plan, but Matthew never felt like he needed to call. Hopefully the few rough patches will make the next tour run a little smoother. Because we all know there will be another tour. And that Matthew will most definitely want to go. As he gets older, we know he will be eating away from home more and more. One of my big goals as a food allergy mom is to teach my kids how to safely feed themselves when they are away from home. Another of my goals is to help them have as normal a life as possible despite their food limitations. Being able to feed himself for this past week has been a huge step towards achieving both of those goals. It was not stress free, that’s for certain, but he succeeded and has gained confidence in his ability to travel without us.

Now if only we could help him deal with the travel insomnia…

Dessert Dinos

After a brief hiatus from drawing because she was struggling to get one aspect of her dragons just right, Malia has returned to her artistic endeavors. She has also begun exploring a new subject. I’m not sure where the idea came from, but for the past several days she has been drawing food dinosaurs. Yes, you heard me right. Food dinosaurs. And they are so stinkin’ cute! She’s as pleased as cupcakes and ice cream with her creations.

This is the Day and the Place

With Matthew away on tour with the high school band and Kevin shadowing their travels in his role as an emergency food back up plan for him, Malia and I have been home alone for the past few days. Malia was out of school on Friday and today, so we figured we would take advantage of that and have a little outing of our very own. We decided to take an expedition to This is the Place Park as neither of us had been there. Yes, I have lived right here in the valley for most of my life, but sometimes I forget to be a tourist in my own town. That just means there are new and exciting things to do close to home! We had originally planned to go on Friday, but it was cold and rainy on Friday and today’s weather outlook was much better. I was ten degrees warmer and while rain was still predicted, it would likely not be the freezing rain/sleet we were pelted with before the weekend. So this morning we headed out for our girls’ day.

It ended up being a perfect day to go to the park. The weather cooperated and we had jacket temperatures with sun and no rain until we left the park after lunch. Since it was a workday, the park was not too busy. In fact, I think besides Malia and me, the only visitors were nineteen school buses worth of kids on field trips. That may sound daunting, but the park is big enough that even the hefty crew of kidlets didn’t make it feel crowded. 

There were lots of things to see and do in the park. Even on a weekday morning when not all the activities were running, we got to see someone spin wool into yarn, watched a tinsmith working, and stepped into a working blacksmith shop where they were making metal S hooks. We also spent a bit of time perusing a candy shop. We skipped the historically accurate horehound candy, but I did try some maple sugar candy. We also skipped some not historical but pretty nasty looking Crick-ettes and chocolate covered bacon and opted for a few gummi candies.

I did come away with an overwhelming feeling of gratitude for the incredibly prosperous lifestyle we live. We saw 8’x10’ log cabins that housed a dozen people (literally) for years. We caught a glimpse of the daily activities that were required to simply sustain life. And I asked Malia numerous times if she needed to take a visit to the outhouse. In terms of physical comforts, we are incredibly spoiled. I guess that was the big take away from the day because Malia expressed similar feelings.

We definitely want to visit again another time. We left after lunch because we were both tired, and there were lots of things we didn’t see. Maybe next time we’ll let the boys come along. 😉

And…because we didn’t need to eat Matthew friendly today, we had some delicious cheesecake bars to end our day on a sweet note.

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.