Snow equals candy factory
- posted: 04 Dec. 2007
- scrollspecial@byui.edu
As the boiling-hot, sweet-smelling maple syrup was drizzled out onto the icy snow, Diane and her brother Tom smiled and giggled in anticipation of the delectable winter treat they were about to share.
Who knew that ice and snow could be used for a tasty candy instead of the usual sledding, skiing or ice blocking, especially in California? As soon as the hot liquid touched the freezing snow, the maple syrup immediately turned to a hard candy.
This is a childhood memory of Diane Walker, a current resident of Bakersfield, Calif., and a mother of seven. Two of her children have attended the Brigham Young Universities in Idaho and in Provo.
When she was little, Walker and her family would take trips from her hometown of Walnut Creek Calif. to the snowy Lake Tahoe, Calif., during the winter.
Walker cannot remember even one time that her hometown received snow. However, this did not stop the candy making.
Even when back at home in Walnut Creek, this same adventure could take place in the family kitchen, drizzling syrup over ice cubes.
Diana Steadman, a junior studying early childhood special education, also reminisces on her experiences of snow as a child in California. Snow was almost non-existent in the city where Steadman grew up, so her family would go to the town of Big Bear, Calif., for their snow adventures.
“My family and I would take trips to the mountains. There would hardly be any snow, but we would get really excited and have snowball fights.”
Angela Jones, a senior studying geology, from El Cajon, Calif., remembers hiking with her family during the winter months.
“We don’t get a lot snow in Southern California, so my family and I would travel about 30 minutes north to the Cuyamaca Mountain range. My family and I would go hiking up the mountain, but we would never finish the hike because we weren’t used to the cold.”
Walker, Steadman and Jones mixed the snow and ice with family time, which made for fun memories.
“I loved just being together as a family and having fun,” Jones Said.
Since many BYU-Idaho students don’t have their families with them at school, family-bonding time can be replaced with fun winter activities with roommates, friends or Home Evening groups. 
