Alliteration: It’s a ‘B’eautiful Thing

Every couple of years or so, we try to take a vacation of some sort. Two years ago, we spent a few days in Cedar City enjoying the Shakespearean Festival. A couple of years before that, we spent a week with my parents and my sibs and their families in Island Park and explored Yellowstone National Park. We’ve also done a few short trips in support of our kids in marching band or spent a night in Logan after enjoying one of Daniel’s concerts. But the last time we went on what I would consider an extensive vacation was when we went to Seattle seven years ago. Just over a year ago, Kevin and I started talking about planning another vacation. We have wanted to get Daniel back to Oregon ever since he came home from his mission much sooner than planned due to the unexpected arrival of Covid in our lives. We figured that if we wanted to make it happen, we’d better get a move on before he got much older and more independent so that he would actually be able to come with us. And thus, a plan was born.

While the vacation has been carefully planned, what was not planned was the fact that our first day on the road has been an English lesson, one focused on the ever-entertaining principle of alliteration. Several weeks ago, as we were planning out this first marathon day of driving, we were poring over Google maps figuring out some rest stops. It just so happened that our end goal for this first day of driving was Bend, Oregon. The last fairly civilized place to stop before we made the long, boring trek west from Idaho to Bend was in Burns, Oregon. A logical stop several hours prior to Burns was Boise, Idaho. And that was just too good to pass up. We like some whimsy in our lives, so we added Burley, Idaho and Brigham City, Utah to our list of stops. And our plan, though begun as somewhat of a joke, actually worked very well.

This morning we left home nice and early. Just over an hour into our trip, we stopped to eat breakfast in Brigham City. Our other stops also went as planned. We stopped in (almost) Burley, hitting a rest stop just prior to the actual city, Boise, and Burns before finally taking the long, boring, straight stretch to Bend. And it was all those things. Long: it was our last stretch of the day and as such, it felt longer than all the ones that came before. Boring: the scenery was lackluster, mostly scrub and juniper just like we get in Utah. Straight: the road was straight, literally stretching in an unswerving line to the horizon. And when we reached the point we saw as the horizon, the unswerving road continued, just as straight as ever. But as all roads do, eventually some curves appeared as we made our way closer to our destination.

Extending our adventure in alliteration, we added several unplanned “B’s” over the course of the day. The first was our nearly new car’s first ever travel at over 100 mph. It was only once, on that long, straight, so long, so straight road and only so that we could pass a slower vehicle. But with four bored kids, two of whom are return missionaries who learned a whole lot of missionary lingo during the time they served and are looking for anything exciting to help pass the time, I learned that passing the century mark on the speedometer is called “baptizing” the car. Our dinner stop added two more B’s by opting to eat at Black Bear Diner. I promise the selection was not made with our alliterative travel plan in mind but was a happy accident that came to mind as we filled our bellies.

Today was our longest travel day. We have learned in the past that a marathon drive on day one is fine because we are all filled with anticipation for what is to come. But an endless day in the car at the end of the vacation is torture with the fun behind us and all the weariness of said fun sitting on our shoulders. So, we made our plan with that in mind. Tomorrow the fun starts…not that spending thirteen hours in the car with my family wasn’t fun because there is always entertainment value to be had in our time together, but we only have about three hours of driving before we hit our first stop. And the first stop is an airplane museum which means all the boys are super excited. In the meantime, sitting all day is exhausting so I expect we will all sleep well!

The End of an Era and a Challenge Ahead

For the past seventeen years, I’ve had at least one child in elementary school. Over the years, my days have been filled with class parties, volunteer hours, book fairs, class programs, etc. But those days are officially over now. Today was Malia’s last day of school as a sixth grader. It was a bittersweet day for me, knowing that my youngest is growing up much faster than I’d like. It was a rough day for Malia because she is leaving a place that is familiar, safe, and loved. Because yes, she loves school. When she has sick days and can’t attend, there are frequently tears because she is missing school. As she has counted down her last days at the elementary school, those tears have become more grievous as the number has waned. The sorrow is deep as well since she and her teacher have become good friends, buddies of one mind, if you will. They both have a bit (or a lot) of humor and sarcasm in them, and her teacher has told me that often she will think something but can’t say it because she is the teacher only to have Malia give voice to the exact same sentiment. We were all extremely skeptical about this particular teacher at the beginning of the year, but she has been amazing for Malia and will be greatly missed by her now that the year is over. 

This ending is even more emotionally charged due to the fact that Malia will attend a different middle school than all her school friends. It was a boundary change that Matthew dodged by being granted a special permit to stay at our previous middle school, but Malia has not been as lucky and will have to go to a school with which none of us are familiar. I wish I could change that for her, but I can’t. All I can do is support her and help her move forward with hope, always looking for the good in a tough situation. And it is a tough one. I was in the same situation, attending a jr. high with only a small number of friends from my ward. The remainder of our elementary went to a different school, so I know what it is like to walk into seven different classrooms and find exactly zero familiar faces. 

But time marches on and we must march with it. So I shed a tear or two for the ending of a phase of my life, and Malia’s, and she shed a few as well. I suspect there will be more tears in the future, but hopefully what starts off looking like a huge challenge (like Malia’s class assignment this year) will end up being a multitude of blessings in disguise.

Beautifully Unique

I feel like we live in a time that our predecessors in the church could have hardly imagined. Not only are there temples dotting the globe, but around here we have numerous temples within just a few minutes’ drive. We have unprecedented access to these temples and can visit as often as we’d like. To all those saints who sacrificed to see just one temple built only to leave it behind after only a short time, this must seem to be a miraculous age.

As for us, you might think that being surrounded by temples would make the announcement or building of a new one become just an everyday occurrence. But for me, that is far from the truth. Every time a new batch of temples is announced, I get a bit teary eyed. It is evidence of the fact that the work is accelerating. Each new temple allows access to saints that might have been severely hampered by distance or cost in the past. And although the work done in the temples is the same work around the world, each temple has its own distinct design. Even in cases where architectural plans are used for more than one temple, the décor and landscaping of each temple makes it unique. Which is why I look forward to seeing each temple. 

The Saratoga Springs temple has been recently completed and the open house is running right now. We had the opportunity to walk through the temple this morning and it was absolutely beautiful. Many temples are decorated in a variety of white or ivory colors accented with pale hues of peach or gold. But this temple is highlighted with purple and green. The spectacular view from the main entrance of the temple overlooks Utah lake and the Wasatch mountains, Mount Timpanogos in particular. The design of the stained glass echoes the location with designs of mountains, water, and reeds in purple, blue and green. The armchairs in the Celestial Room are upholstered in purple velvet, something that stood out to me. The color scheme is reflected in the landscaping which features lilacs. 

Another thing I loved about this temple is the artwork. There were several pieces that I had never seen before that really struck a chord with me. Sometimes an image can evoke emotion and there were several that did just that. I know the art in the temples is selected with care and this is not the first time that a piece of art has drawn such emotion from me that I have to stop and soak it all in. It was a bit hard to soak it all in with so many people behind us trying to continue the tour, but I did the best I could to take a minute to let the emotion instill itself in my heart.

How grateful I am to have so many temples so close! And how very grateful I am to have the blessings of the temple ordinances in my life! And how grateful I am to have been able to see this new temple with my family. Daniel and Nathan weren’t able to join us, but Rex and Lona came and that was fantastic. Matthew was so excited to be able to see parts of the temple that he can’t visit yet, and Malia felt the Spirit that is already residing in the temple although it is not dedicated yet. 

It was a good day. A wonderful experience. I can hardly wait for the next open house we will attend, which should be the Taylorsville Temple! 

College Cooks

My cousin Shirleen lives in Logan. Her kids are all grown and no longer living at home, but she and her hubby, Greg, have welcomed Daniel and Nathan and my nephew Josh to Sunday dinner at her house on numerous occasions over this past year. These boys have also attended dinners with Shirlene and her parents, my Uncle Pat and Aunt Betty, at their care home. Daniel and Nathan will be homeless for about five days at the end of the semester since there is a gap between when they have to move out of on campus housing and when they can move into their off-campus apartment and while she can’t house them for the gap (Her own kids will all be in town so her house will be full. Otherwise, she would welcome them for a few days.), she is ever so kindly allowing Nathan to store his frozen food in her freezer, which means he doesn’t have to haul it down here and then drive it back up the following week.  I’m so grateful for the support my extended family has given these college boys, and they are grateful as well. They expressed their thanks by turning the tables and cooking Sunday dinner for Greg and Shirlene this evening. They are good boys.

Growth Spurt

Kevin and Matthew went shooting with Connie and Arrin today. The last time they went was five years ago. Matthew has grown since then. A lot. They had fun both times, but Matthew had a much easier time handling the rifles this time. 😂 He has shared a few thoughts with us on his experience: 

I remember the last time I went skeet shooting. The smaller of the two shotguns was bigger than I was, by quite a bit too. I didn’t hit a single pigeon as I was focused on trying not to fall over from the repercussions from the shot. This time, it took a bit to settle in, but I hit quite a few! At one point I had a streak of 6 pigeons in a row. And neither shotgun outsized me! It was tons of fun, and well worth the small shoulder ache!

2018:

2023:

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.