Peter Prier - He Will Be Missed

"This is not exactly like making a wood bench, because it has to sing." -Peter Paul Prier

The music world lost a wonderful man this week. Peter Prier, founder of The Violin Making School of America in Salt Lake City, passed away on Monday. 

I remember with great fondness the afternoon we spent with Peter back in 2012. We walked into his shop ready to purchase new instruments for our girls. I'm not sure why he was the only one in the shop that day. He had been retired for six years at that point. Peter has worked with some of the greats like Ithzak Perlman, Joshua Bell, and Yo Yo Ma, but that summer day, he treated us like the only customers that mattered. His shop is adorned with Strads, and the pittance we were about to spend probably seemed measly. But it was a lot of money for us, and we wanted to get the best quality for our money. Peter spent a good two hours with us, helping the girls pick out instruments that would sing. 

I can remember Jessica sitting down with the cello that would become hers, and Peter asking in his warm German accent for her to play "Mr. Schwan". She did, and the tones just resonated through his little shop. We knew that we would be taking this cello home, even though he was a little beyond our budget. Jessica named him Antonio.

Then he helped Sabrina pick out a lovely violin from Czechoslovakia. She fell in love with it instantly and named him Captain Jack Aubrey. Her instrument was over budget as well.

Peter was so kind to give us some credit for our crappy instruments to make the expense more manageable then he helped Sabrina find a good bow for her violin. 

"Ah, this is a good schtick," he announced with confidence.

He let us get a picture with him and the girls. We took up most of his afternoon, but he acted like there was no one else he would rather be with. 

We will miss the craftsmanship of dear Peter Prier, but most of all, we will miss his warm spirit and kind heart. That men like him are not allowed to tarry on this earth well into their nineties, I do not understand. But I am grateful for that lovely afternoon that we spent in his little shop, learning from him and laughing with him.

I texted Jessica on Monday and told her that perhaps she should take her cello onto campus and play "Mr. Schwan" in tribute. She mentioned that she had already played it that day. I responded that this was good. Maybe Peter had heard it and had nodded his kind German head in approval.  

And That's A Wrap

"The two most joyous times of the year are Christmas morning and the end of school." -Alice Cooper

May is the month where everything wraps up. We wrapped up Jonah's soccer season with an 8:00 a.m. game in the freezing cold torrential rain. Really? My favorite thing about this picture is not the wet little boy but his wet dad. Poor Neil always comes to these games with the intention of sitting back and watching, and always gets roped into reffing. Nobody hates the cold more than Neil, and yet there he stands in the cold and the wet with his boy. Neil's never been much of a spectator dad.

The end of a virtually undefeated season. Good job guys! And good job Dad.

Look at those rosy cheeks. You wouldn't think this was the middle of May. Hot chocolate and a Madbrook's donut were in order after this.

Spencer sung in his last choir concert. He made a switch from orchestra to choir this year. This made me a little sad, but Spencer's interests are shifting. Sometimes it's difficult to recognize and support those shifts. His choir teacher recognized that he has talent immediately and encouraged him to try out for the show choir for next year, which he did. And he made it! At this age, our kids usually know where their interests and talents lie. It's up to us parents to validate our kids and enable them in their pursuits. So now I get to add choir mom to my mothering repertoire. I'm excited to watch Spence next year.

Spence also received a special award for being a good citizen within the school. These kids are selected by their teachers for this award because they show kindness to those classmates and adults around them. They also show leadership skills and an ability to look beyond themselves to help others. 

Spencer has awesome grades, but this award meant more to me than a 4.0. To know that my child treats those around him with kindness and respect pleases me beyond words. And Spencer does. He always has.

Later that week, I went to the school art show to see some of Spencer's work on display. This piece was featured in the district art show.

He whipped this one up in a couple of afternoons. Do your kids ever shock you with some new hidden talent? Mine do all the time.

The final wrap up for this school year was Sabrina's orchestra concert. She too had considered dropping orchestra this year, but has decided to continue, which makes me very happy. She plays the violin so beautifully. I want her to keep playing.

It's fun to have parents at these events, but when the grandparents show up, that's when the kids start beaming. 

We aren't done done. Jonah just went back to school after being off track for three weeks. That he should have to go back on the first day of summer vacation for his siblings seems horribly unjust. But we'll get through this, and then we will officially be able to say, "And that's a wrap."

If Ever You're In Payson

"This temple will remain here in the Payson area as a landmark, as a beautiful emblem of our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ." -Elder Kent F. Richards 

Because I'm always a day late and a dollar short, by the time I got online to order tickets for the Payson Utah Temple open house, all of the motivated mormons had hogged all of the good time slots. No problem. We just checked the kids out of school, and Neil took the afternoon off. Any excuse is a good excuse. After all...it is the Lord's house.

Some of the kids deemed this temple their favorite, with its gorgeous cream tones and amazing stained glass and dark wood inside. Spencer is convinced that this is where he wants to get married. The wind was out of control as we arrived at the temple. I pulled a Marilyn Monroe on more than one occasion. Trust me, with these legs, I was doing no one a favor.

The kids can't wait until the temple is dedicated so that we can come do baptisms here.

Angie had mentioned that there was a Mexican restaurant on main street in Payson that was a hole-in-the-wall but quite yummy. Well, we found a hole-in-the-wall. It was a tiny Mexican market with a cafe of sorts where one could order tacos and burritos. The kids kept hinting at how sketchy this place looked. But how many hole-in-the-wall Mexican joints could be on Main street in Payson? So we ordered our food with a hint of trepidation. We should have left when the lady mentioned that there were no chips and salsa, but I was holding my ground on this one. 

"Don't judge a book by its cover," I preached as we took up every seat in the corner of the little store. 

We tried not to stare at the life sized cutout of the female boxer that was perched conveniently above the drinks. Her cleavage was difficult to ignore as we sipped our sodas straight from Mexico. 

"This orange soda tastes weird," commented Jonah.

"Yes, but look, it's made from real sugar," I announced with enthusiasm.

Even I was beginning to suspect that I had chosen the wrong hole-in-the-wall. I felt like we were in a filming of Nacho Libre. I expected Jack Black to come sauntering in in his stretchy pants at any moment. I was trying to picture Angie eating here with all of her coworkers and wondered how on earth they even fit into the place. Finally the food was served. It was..um..not good food. It was barely warm. I muscled down one bite of my ginormous burrito and knew that this would not do. Well now this was just dandy! We couldn't eat this food, but we were all starving. I didn't want to hurt the feelings of the poor lady who had prepared our meal for us. 

We got the brilliant idea to act like we needed to be somewhere and asked for to-go boxes. We paid for the food and kindly thanked the lady then got the heck out of there and stashed our food into the nearest trash receptacle. 

We looked up to see the actual hole-in-the-wall that Angie was talking about, a mere two doors down and across the street. After the first joint, this place looked like fine dining. We marveled at  the plethora of seating options, cried tears of joy when the server offered us limitless chips and salsa, and ferociously gulped down our American sodas. It was indeed very good food. We filled up on chips and salsa while the kids gave me a bad time for always getting them into shenanigans. You don't remember the excursions that go smoothly. It's the shenanigans that make the best stories.

After dinner, we walked down Payson's old main street and came across this lovely building. As soon as Sabrina noticed that there was a book vault in the basement, well that was all she wrote. We had to go explore.

And exploring always leads to buying, especially at cheap used bookstores. I felt guilty when the sweet employee offered us a ten percent discount for buying so many books. At full price, we were spending a mere thirty dollars on ten books! It felt like highway robbery.

Am I the only one who sees the irony in Neil's book selection? The more ironic thing is that Neil is not a reader. That Hitler book is 570 Pages! Looks like I'll be reading it, annotating it, then filling Neil in on all of the interesting facts. Neil is a voracious vicarious reader.

These were my finds. I read Man's Search For Meaning in the 8th grade, and it changed my life. I figured I needed to read it again. It will fit in nicely with the twenty other holocaust books perched on my shelf. I bought the Truman book because...David McCullough.

This is the original wall of the old building. This building rivaled  the temple if I'm going off the kids' reaction. This basement bookstore had that old building and old book smell. It was delicious!

 I had to take a bunch more photos of this building inside and out. And I had to photoshop the heck out of them to make them look all antiquey. We felt like we had stepped back in time for the afternoon.

There was a tiny museum inside the soda shop in the old original bank vault. The wall is covered in old bank notes and financial documents. This place was right up my alley.

That's Jonah wishing those gold bricks were real. 

This fine afternoon, we spent one hundred dollars on Mexican food and thirty dollars on books and left with a whole load of stories to tell. Who would have thought that Payson could provide such a delightful afternoon? We were so glad we played hookie that windy Monday! If ever you're in Payson, I know of a great little Mexican restaurant. It's a hole-in-the-wall, but the food is surprisingly tasty.

We plan to return soon to do baptisms, and we know where we'll be eating and where to get a good ice cream and good book afterward.:)

Blogging- Is It Needful?

Yes, I'm still here, for the handful of followers who stop onto this sight on occasion. I haven't abandoned this blog, I promise. I just haven't had time to get on here because...life. But I am going to try to catch up soon, on my blog that it is. My life will never be caught up. I've accepted this fact. 

I think when the good Lord set up this earthly existence, He kindly gave us 24 hours in a day, knowing full well that we needed 36. I don't know if this is some kind of sick joke or perhaps an all-knowing Heavenly Father trying to teach us how to focus on what is truly needful each day. On my more sleep-deprived days I am convinced that the former is true. On the days that I open the scriptures, I'm pretty sure that the latter is true. 

It seems like blogging is one of those un-needful things except that I receive such strength from reading other women's blogs. I would say that we women live more isolated lives than women of past generations. This is a sad reality that I can't quite figure out how to fix. I don't have time to sit on my porch and chat with neighborhood friends. I don't even have time to call my sister on the phone. Perhaps blogging and social media is a way we stay somewhat connected. It's not the ideal way, I know. But there are times that I am grateful that there are women out there who still blog, because it reminds me that I'm not alone. It reminds me that other women struggle in the same ways that I do. Just knowing this fact strengthens me.

So I will try to chisel out some time for an occasional post. Finding that balance. It's a struggle.