Making A Memory

Recently, I was invited to speak in Cedar City, Utah, so the kids and I took a road trip down south. On our way there, we, of course, had to make a stop at the BYU Creamery in Provo to taste some to-die-for ice cream! (Seriously it is soooo creamy gooood.)

I told the kids that no other ice cream comes close to BYU dairy ice cream. And, yes, I'm biased. I'm a blue-blooded, BYU graduate (from eons ago). But my devotion to BYU ice cream runs deeper than that.

You see, before I ever walked the campus as a college student, I became accustomed to eating BYU dairy ice cream at my grandparents' house on Fir Circle right across the street from the BYU campus.

Grandpa was a professor there and one of his most favorite things in the whole world was BYU ice cream. On any given day, you'd find at least two, maybe even three, 5-gallon buckets full of ice cream in the giant freezer down in his basement utility room. The buckets were filled with what you might call "seconds."

Is there such a thing as seconds when it comes to ice cream?

And the answer is "yes."

Mystery ice cream. Leftovers. Call it whatever you like. The creamery fills five gallon buckets full of whatever kinds of ice cream that doesn't get eaten and then sells them at a discount. Grandpa was always looking for a deal even when it came to ice cream.

Standing at the BYU creamery counter with my kids eyeing the rainbow of flavors, I asked the perky cashier if you can still buy a 5 gallon bucket of "mystery" ice cream.

"You sure can!" she said with a grin.

I was elated! I think I even giggled.

"What's the big deal?" my kids wondered as I admired the white and blue buckets behind the glass doors of the creamery freezer. (They seriously gave me a happy shiver! )  I tried to explain as the gal scooped up our mint chocolate, peanut butter fudge, raspberry cheesecake, and cookie dough cones that the reason I loved those 5-gallon buckets was because of my memories of grandpa.

How I loved to hear my grandpa say, "How about some ice cream, Jodi?"

I never knew what kind of ice cream I was gonna get. But to be honest it didn't even matter. I knew that with a dollop of grandma's homemade hot fudge sauce that even a mixture of pineapple peppermint with a hint of rocky road and orange sherbet was going to taste great. 

How I love those memories.

I love them so much I wanted to make a new memory with my children. So here we are. Me and my kids eating ice cream at the BYU dairy. Life has come full circle.

And believe me that was one of the best tasting mint-chocolate chip ice cream cones I've ever eaten.

Thanks to you, Grandpa. Thinking of you, ice cream never tasted so good.