Football Marching band season.
Daniel is dressed to the nines and ready to kick off another season. Today is also the first game of the season for BYU and Matthew is taking a day away from his marching band habit to enjoy some football…although he does like to arrive super early for the games so he can see the marching band portion. 😂
As of today, I officially have two teenagers living at home. Now, it’s not like Malia hasn’t been walking the walk and talking the talk of a teenager for over a year now, it’s just that she now has the appropriate number to support her behavior. Today is her thirteenth birthday and her second day of school as an 8th grader.
Malia doesn’t like to be in the spotlight, so when she selected her birthday treat for our last extended family dinner, she didn’t even want us to sing to her. There was an impromptu chorus because that’s how my family is, but no candles or anything. So it was much to her embarrassment that the choir teacher made her wear a glittery gold birthday hat and sit in the teacher chair while the remainder of the class sang the birthday song to her today. And to her further chagrin, one of her friends told their bus driver it was her birthday, so she got serenaded again on the way home from school. I tried to convince her that it is all for the good because it means there are people in her life that care, but she would much rather have them care a bit more privately. 😂
Dinner was Malia’s favorite, spaghetti and roasted asparagus, followed by a big pan of chocolate chip cookie bars in lieu of cake. Malia did acquiesce and allowed Kevin and I to light a candle and sing to her, after which she made her cookies into a gigantic ice cream sandwich. And I do mean GIGANTIC. Biggest ice cream sandwich I’ve ever seen. She could barely fit her mouth around it. But it was tasty. 😋
Malia’s presents this year were pretty minimal as when asked, she had no idea what she wanted, and we really had no idea either. She got a brand-new copy of the first Wings of Fire book since her original one got wet and any bookworm knows that once wet, books just never recover. She also got some earrings, an assortment of Harry Potter water bottle stickers, and the promise of some new Vans, the slip-on ones she just discovered, for those times when she doesn’t want to take the time to lace up her high-top Converse. She also received several fun, thoughtful gifts from friends which made her so very happy.
Our post birthday treat activity this evening needs just a bit of an introduction. Malia just finished reading Twilight by Stephanie Meyer. She plowed her way through all seven of the Harry Potter books in the two weeks before school started and then dug into Twilight only because a friend of hers is reading them and wants Malia to read them with her. Probably so she has someone to talk to about said books. Now, I enjoy the Twilight books. Having said that, I have no illusions about the quality of afore mentioned books. They are somewhat lacking in literary merit, but sometimes vapid teenage chick lit is exactly what I’m in the mood for and these books definitely fit the bill. So, I warned Malia before she ever started not to have any grand expectations. Even such, there has been much groaning, rolling of eyes, and yelling at Bella for being so, so stupid. Because she really isn’t the brightest literary heroine I’ve ever encountered. As Malia has worked her way into New Moon though, it has given us a great opportunity to talk about how no teenage boy is worth basically giving up your life for. Seriously, don’t check out just because your latest heart throb doesn’t turn out to be your perfect prince charming.
Anyway, back to the whole birthday bit. After our little festivities, we celebrated our new paradigm of mother and teenage daughter by watching the Twilight movie. I warned her about that one as well. Not only is book Bella so, so stupid, but the whole movie is so, so, so stupid. Seriously. But it was far more entertaining to watch in an environment where we could make all the wise cracks we wanted without getting kicked out of the theater. We laughed. Often. And hard. Dumb movies are always more fun when watched with company. And at the end, Malia made the comment that those two hours were ones she could never get back…always the hallmark of a terrible flick. The last one I really felt that way about was the movie version of Ella Enchanted. That one was so dumb that I couldn’t even find anything to laugh about. 😜
Overall, I think Malia had a good day. If it weren’t only the second day of school and if she weren’t one of the only 8th graders in concert choir (which is predominantly 9th graders), I think that even that portion of the day would have been alright. Unfortunately for her, she is always going to be the kid whose birthday falls first in the school year. 😜 Also unfortunately for her, I’m really tempted to rent the remainder of the movies in the Twilight series, which I have never seen, and make her watch them with me. I’ve never had much of a desire to watch them, but this could be an entertaining experience if we tackle them together. 😆
Malia has grown up a lot in the past year. She has had some challenges and has learned a lot from them. She is becoming more comfortable with who she is and that has been good to see. I hope the next year will see her become a bit more confident in herself, a bit more able to adapt to different situations, a bit more willing to face hard things head on, and a bit more resilient when faced with challenges. But these are big life lessons, ones that I’m still working on. Hopefully I will be able to help her learn them as well.
And as a parting thought related to having a growing daughter, Malia is definitely taller than I am and definitely takes the opportunity to share that fact as often as possible!
For the past several years, Malia has hosted a sleepover with Kate right around the time of her birthday. This year, the slumber party was scheduled a few weeks early because we discovered a neat event that Malia was super excited to attend. There is a nearby art studio that is the primary retail location for a variety of local artists, many of whom paint religious paintings. Every other month or so, the studio hosts a “paint with the artist” event where you can not only meet the artists and see them work, but you can try your hand at recreating one of their paintings. When asked if she was interested, Malia responded enthusiastically in the affirmative. These things are always more fun with a friend, so the sleepover was scheduled to coincide with the event.
The girls got to meet Dan Wilson, tried out some of his techniques, and came away with a recreation of his painting of Abraham Lincoln. Her heavy use of cool colors made Malia’s version look a bit like zombie Lincoln, but they had fun. Malia said she would definitely go again. 😃
After their artistic endeavors, the girls stayed up almost all night. Malia said it was somewhere around 4 a.m. when they finally went to sleep. They were awakened at a normal hour as they were sleeping in the family room and our household got up and moving at regular time this morning, but they were both pretty darn tired. Rachael told us that Kate had a great time and went to bed at 7 p.m. this evening. 😂
I’m so glad these cousins are such good friends. Sometimes teens get so busy with school, extracurriculars and friends that they don’t have much time for family, but I hope these get togethers continue as they get older. Because Malia has no sisters, she has to get in her girl time with cousins.
Malia doesn’t like setting her alarm in the summer, so I usually wake her up at 8:00. I was super focused on other things this morning and lost track of time so at 9:00, Matthew asked if he should wake her up. I answered in the affirmative and apparently, he grabbed his trumpet enroute because 30 seconds later I heard “Reveille” playing from Malia’s room. 😂
Needless to say, she was not amused. 😜Today was another cousins’ temple trip to the Taylorsville Temple. Jacob, Rachael’s oldest son, came home from his mission in Germany exactly one week ago and was in attendance today, so Nathan took the day off work and came down to join us. In addition to Nathan and Jacob, we had Matthew, Malia, Drew, Sabrina, and Kate. Matthew, Jacob and Drew all performed baptisms as well as being baptized and Nathan and Jacob both performed confirmations. It was so neat to be there with this group of worthy youth and young adults. The world they are growing up in is far less than ideal and to see this rising generation stand strong amidst the storm is both humbling and inspiring. Their love of the temple and their willingness to serve there often helps strengthen them and is such an amazing example to me. I know I’ve said this before, but sometimes I feel like I’m learning just as much from them as they are learning from me. This is one of the many things that brings one of my favorite scriptures to mind. “For the preacher was no better than the hearer, neither was the teacher any better than the learner; and thus they were all equal.” (Alma 1:26) I may be one of the parents charged with bringing up this rising generation, but I feel immensely humbled by that role as I catch a glimpse of their potential and the great force for good they can become.
Nathan has been in desperate need of a vacation, so he has taken a few days off work this week for a mini “staycation.” He has been wanting to make bao for months now and since cooking is a happy thing for him, he scheduled his maiden voyage into steamed buns for today. He has been peppering me with questions for about a week, everything from ingredients to methods to measurements to equipment. He called twice today and did a FaceTime call once to check on additional details. End result? His bao turned out perfectly! They are beautiful and he assures me that they are also delicious. He says, “Perks to knowing how to make bao: I don’t have to share with ANYONE.” 😂
I’m incredibly pleased that his heritage matters to him and that he’s taking the time to learn how to cook the food of his people. 😊 Plus, he’s right. When he makes it, he is the boss of the bao!
Today’s post is courtesy of Nathan who, halfway through a walk today, was reminded that he looks just like Kevin.
It’s true that Nathan is the one of our children that looks the most like Kev which is kind of entertaining considering the fact that personality wise, he is exactly like me. 😂
In October of 2019, I took Malia to the one and only women’s session of general conference she has attended. It was the first one that she was old enough to attend and she was super excited. We met with my sisters and Rachael’s girls for dinner at my mom’s house before the meeting. Lona, Kevin’s mom, who is in the same ward as my folks, joined us. After we ate, the two grandmas, Malia and I headed over to their stake center to watch the broadcast of the meeting. Malia, who was super excited, wanted to sit in the very front row, so Lona and I sat with her right up front. My mom needed to sit further back so she left us to crane our necks while she chose a more comfortable viewing location.
This particular stake center was my stake center from the time that we first moved to Utah until I moved out to go to college. When we first settled in Taylorsville, it was our normal Sunday meeting house for a while. It was an older chapel, even then, and had the original unpadded wooden pews in the chapel. I remember loving the primary room in that church because it had identical wooden pews but sized to fit children. I absolutely loved that they were just my size! Not too long after we moved, a church was built across the street from my parents’ house, so we began having our regular Sunday meetings in the new building. But there were still plenty of events that took us to the stake center, one of which was our stake conferences. Things are different now, but back then, there was a separate meeting for the primary children. We would gather in the primary room to sing and have activities and lessons while the adults attended the general meeting. Our stake also did road shows and stake musicals and all kinds of fun things. And many of them were held either in the stake center or on the adjoining property that had a big, covered pavilion and a softball diamond as well as a large expanse of grass. Ward BBQs were held in the pavilion and I remember many happy events spent eating and playing and enjoying the company of my friends.
Now let’s jump back to 2019. As we have come to expect, there were new temples announced in that general conference. But in all my memory, that was the only time the new temples were announced in the women’s meeting instead of a general session. In addition, while announcing a dozen or so new temples has kind of become the norm in the past few years, at that time having just a small handful was more normal. So, when Pres. Nelson announced the building of eight new temples, it seemed like a lot. Not only that, but the last temple on the list was to be built in Taylorville, Utah! A palpable wave of excitement rippled through the congregation there as the sisters assembled rejoiced at the news that a temple would be built right there in their city! My mother-in-law was overcome with emotion and even for me, although Taylorsville is no longer my home, it was an exciting announcement! Little did we know that at that moment when the temple was announced, we were sitting on the very spot where the Taylorville temple would be built. Only two months later, it was announced that the old stake center would be razed, and the temple would be constructed in its place. The following year, the church was demolished and construction on the temple began.
The temple was completed this April, and we were able to view it during the open house in May. My parents, Kevin’s parents, Daniel, Nathan and my sister Esther joined us, so it really was a family affair. The temple was beautiful, of course, and it was so neat to be able to see it with our families. Although Daniel is the only one of my kids who ever attended church in the old stake center (and he was far too young to remember that), the traditional Thanksgiving gathering we have had with Kevin’s family each year was held in the cultural hall of the stake center up until the time that it was torn down so we all have memories of the old building. And those of us who were together in the stake center when the temple was announced were together again for the open house.
The temple was dedicated on June 2 and although I thought we would not be able to attend because we don’t actually live in that temple district, the procedures for attending a dedication have changed so Kevin, Matthew, Malia and I were able to go! Once again, we were joined by my parents, Esther, and Kevin’s mom, who came with Connie, Kevin’s sister. This is the first temple dedication Malia has attended, and I was so glad she was able to experience such a special meeting. For a while there we got to attend quite a few dedications as the ones for all the Utah temples were being broadcast over a wide area, but that has changed and now they are only being broadcast for the specific temple districts. It makes sense, it just means Malia has not had multiple opportunities to attend temple dedications like all our boys did. In addition to participating in a wonderful event, we got a little bit of a surprise in that my high school choir director was directing the choir that sang for the dedication. It was fun to see that he is still able and active, and my kids were able to see the teacher that I spent a lot of time with during my three years of high school.
I feel like today has brought us full circle. This morning Matthew and Malia were joined by Kate, Sabrina (Rachael’s girls), and a friend of Sabrina’s to do baptisms at the Taylorsville Temple. I sat in the baptistry while they worked their way through the ordinances, and it was a tender mercy to do so. The headaches have been so bad the last while that I have not been able to go to the temple as I normally would. So just being able to be there today was a balm to my soul. And it provided Matthew and I a time for a quiet mother/son talk that was definitely guided by the Spirit.
I have a tendency to get teary every time new temples are announced because I know that there are saints all over the world who will be able to go to the temple a bit more easily and a bit more frequently. I have been so blessed to live somewhere that has many temples close at hand, but I know that outside of Utah that is not the norm. And when I have those quiet moments of revelation, guidance, and peace in the temple, I am reminded of just what a blessing it is. While this new temple is close to so many others, it will, like all the others dotted across the world, provide more faithful members opportunities to serve and learn in ways that can only happen in a holy temple.
