2011. I drove down from North Salt Lake in the morning before church. I wore my flag tie to church. There was another person there who was wearing a patriotic tie that said "USA," which he had gotten on his mission somewhere in Latin America. I remember people asking him about it and he talked about how he only wears it once a year and how a woman had made it for him. I sat by myself during Sunday School. I made it home just as Michael Barlow was. I think I had mentioned to him how my air conditioning was out. He offered to give me the key to his apartment so I could go there in the AC. I was reluctant, but he later knocked on my door and gave me the key, since he was leaving for a time. So I took my laptop downstairs to his apartment and wrote a blog post. I was able to use my own router. Later that night I went to see if there was ward prayer. There were a few girls who went over as well, but there wasn't ward prayer, so we talked some about how we were going to run the Freedom Run the next morning. A girl who lived in Regency 109 had her mom and brother visiting, and her mom was saying--I can't remember if it was from the balcony or on the ground--that they would be watching all the runners in the morning. I went back to my apartment and made sure my timing chip was fastened to my shoes for the race the next morning. My air conditioner didn't blow cold air, but it did blow some air, so I thought maybe that there was just a little bit of coldness to it, so I decided to sleep on the floor in the hall next to the vent. There wasn't any coldness to that air, so it was a very long night.
2010. I got up early and went over to Lori McKee's apartment because we were going to go see the hot air balloons in our pajamas. When I went over there, she was just coming out, so we talked outside her apartment while we waited for others to show up. Lori said she liked my pajamas; I was wearing my Barney Fife pajamas. Other people showed up, and I felt embarrassed because I was the only guy wearing pajamas like that. I rode in Ross Adamson's car, I think with Preston Wittwer and Brock Dehlin. We went to Provo High School, where they were blowing up the balloons, including a giant Coke bottle-shaped one. On several occasions they were getting ready to release them, but it was too windy. We eventually got sick of nothing happening, so we left. On the way back Ross was talking about going on a field trip in his geology class; I asked him what geology class he was in, since I was in 100 (Dinosaurs!). He was in 101. Then I went back to bed. I changed into my red Snoopy and Woodstock Uncle Sam t-shirt. I was doing my grocery shopping when my roommate Alex texted me and asked me if I wanted to go to the temple with him. I told him I was going to do my shopping but then I'd be interested. The Provo Temple was closed, so we drove up to American Fork. We just took State Street all the way up. When we got to the Mt. Timpanogos Temple, the parking lot was empty. We got out and asked a grounds worker if the temple was closed; it was. Alex wanted to see if the Draper Temple would be open, but I suggested that he look at the temple schedule on his phone before we went there (since I don't get the internet on my phone). He looked, and indeed all temples were closed. On our way back, Alex asked me if it was all right if he stopped at Canyon Terrace apartments, where he would be living in the fall. I said yes, and I told him that the parking lot reminded me of an apartment complex on my mission, where we taught an investigator named Teddie Hunter. Then I went to campus to start doing research for the paper I had to write for my Dinosaurs! class. I was on the bottom level doing research on Dinosaur National Monument when I heard an announcement. I was surprised the library was closing early that night, but it made sense. Someone in the ward had talked about going to downtown Provo and then watching the fireworks. I can't remember her name, but I remember that she was really short. I went to her apartment and I was the first one there. She complimented me on my shirt. I was texting my roommate Jeff Anderson about what was going on; he was wanting to meet us that night. More people came, including Marinda Quist, the Relief Society president (whom the hosting girl made look at my shirt), and Jacob Anderson, who was just 18. We went down to the underground parking lot and got into the hosting girl's van. I got into the back and Marinda sat next to me, but then it was discovered that not many people were riding with us, so Marinda scooted away from me, since we didn't need to conserve space. I wasn't offended. Jacob had taken shotgun, which I viewed as a bit unscrupulous. Then we drove and parked and walked to Center Street. We walked past a house with a Christus statue in the front yard. We saw a bunch of stuff at the downtown festival. There were some balloons that were caught in trees. Jacob bought a Sno-Cone, but you had to put the flavors on yourself, and he didn't realize that, so he wondered what he was going to do with plain ice, but the others pointed out where he would get the flavors. There was a booth of Disney princesses. There were many booths of art. There was a tie booth, where Jacob was very excited at the tie he got, but I found it rather bland. Eventually we walked back to our cars and tried to figure out where we wanted to watch the Stadium of Fire fireworks. We drove up 900 East and there were missionaries standing at a crosswalk. We eventually settled on parking at our apartments and walking up to the Heritage Fields. I texted Jeff Anderson about what we were doing, but I think he eventually settled on going to Rock Canyon with some other people. I remember watching a woman wave an orange pedestrian flag emphatically at a car that didn't yield to pedestrians. We sat on the grass and talked. People offered candy, including gummy frogs, but I didn't want any because I was fasting and because they were out of season anyway. Marinda asked Ryan Taylor where Jacob was (since they were roommates), and Ryan said that he thought Jacob realized he didn't fit in with the older kids. Marinda said, "I don't mind," and Ryan said, "Nobody minds," but Jacob truly was different from the rest of us. I think there was talk about the helicopter taking Carrie Underwood away. After the fireworks, we walked back and I was talking to Marinda, how Jeff Anderson ended up going elsewhere and Jeff Clegg was in Salt Lake, which she already knew. We talked about being editing minors. I expressed my frustration that English majors don't tend to care about spelling and grammar, and she was mildly offended (since she was an English major), but I didn't intend the offense to her, since she was an editing minor. I told her about how my New Testament professor was an English major, yet she spelled "Pilate" as "Pilot" on an exam. We cut through a parking lot to get back to our apartments, which I was a bit uncomfortable with.
2009. We had district meeting in the morning. Elder Warren gave a training about how saying "Have you ever talked to missionaries before?" sets you up for failure. I think I was carrying a red, white, and blue-striped pen in my pocket that day. After eating lunch at Jeffrey's, I went with Elder Keddington up to Pullman. All the college students were gone, so it was hard to find people out. We saw a man sitting in the middle of a field, so we parked at the park's parking lot and went up and talked to him. He was foreign, Christian, and nice. While we were talking to him, some people driving down the road were yelling at us. I think we had an appointment with a middle-aged student, but that might have been a different occasion. Later we went to an apartment complex to go tracting. There were only two cars in the parking lot. It was a massive complex, and the apartments went significantly underground, so much that it really cooled down as we went down the stairs (it was a hot July day). One balcony had an inappropriate inflatable doll. We tracted the entire complex, and not one person responded. Then we went to a row of frat houses. Elder Keddington said they weren't allowed to knock on frat houses, but there was one that he didn't know if it was a fraternity, so we knocked it. A girl answered the door and she recognized us as elders. She was a member but had drifted away; she was living there with her boyfriend (it was a music fraternity) but she wasn't supposed to be (either morally or contractually). She said she still had a quad of scriptures, but she seemed hesitant to get it out. We had a lesson with two Christian black men. Then we went tracting to non-college students. There was an old lady and and old man. Then we met a very friendly Druid--he wasn't interested, but he was very nice. I can't remember if he gave us water and apples or if he only offered them. Then we went and talked to a man who was helping his son move in. Elder Keddington said "Have you ever talked to missionaries before?" and later said that that was a terrible thing to say, but I said I thought the circumstance made it more appropriate than usual.
2008. I was on exchange with Elder Brimhall; we were exchanging back at our interviews with the mission president. We had our district meeting in the Relief Society room, which was unusual; I think it was because the Spanish district was in the High Council room. President Clark was interviewing Elder Bramall when we were giving accountings, so I had to give my accounting alone. I talked about how we had taught a lesson to a Vickie Bennett, a Baptist who had said she would come to church but didn't, so I had called her and she said she didn't come because she learned we were Mormons, and I explained to her that we really were Christians. In my interview, President asked me if I was ready to take over the area; I said I wasn't, but I actually was more ready than I let on; I wanted to seem humble. President said that Elder Bramall had told him about the conversation I had had with Vickie. At some point that day President told me that the Coulters from my previous area had moved into the Franklin Park Ward, so he was hoping those missionaries could baptize them. (I've since Facebook stalked them; they never did get baptized...sigh.) That night Elder Bramall and I played checkers after we did our planning. I lost the game, and then after that, while Elder Bramall was on the other side of the wall (he was in the bedroom and I was in the study area), I sang my own version to "Failure Face" from A Boy Named Charlie Brown:
"I never do anything right, I never put anything in its place.
It's a wonder nobody calls me
Failure Face.
I'm so impossibly dumb; in history books my name they'll erase,
Or else they're bound to call me
Failure Face.
And in the race to be stupid, I've set a brand new kind of pace.
They ought to christen me Elder
Failure Face."
There was an awkward silence from the other side of the wall.
2007. I had to work, and my family had gone down to Delta. I think I bought some patriotic cupcakes after my shift and then drove to my grandparents', where I was spending the night. I didn't get there until after midnight.
2006. Nine of us went down to Fillmore: my parents; my sister and Allie; David, Ya-ping, and Preston; Shu-hua, Ya-ping's sister; and me. We visited with Grandma Judy. There was a Twilight Zone marathon going on. We watched the episode about the beautiful girl who was ugly in her society (Grandma Judy thought the ugly people were fish people and thought they were villains), and Ya-ping realized it was like the episode of The Munsters called "Another Pretty Face." We watched the "To Serve Man" episode and the Christmas episode about five characters. Then we went to Fillmore's single-theater movie theater; some of us walked and some of us drove. We saw Cars. Allie (who was almost 3) fell asleep during the movie, but Preston (one and a half) stayed awake, and when the movie was over, David told us that Preston had said, "Car?" because he didn't know where all the cars went. Nan laughed really hard at the end with the cars watching all the Pixar movies; other family members liked the hippie van. When we returned to Grandma Judy's, my mom said she was disappointed in the swearing, and I was too. Nan put Allie on a seat, and Preston was quite amused that she was asleep; we worried he would wake her up.
I wanted to take a shower (in part because it was very hot in the house), but my dad didn't want me to because he worried it would wake up his mother.
2005. My parents, Nan and Allie, and I went down to Fillmore. Allie was wearing an orange bucket hat with a flower. Grandma Judy wore it for a time. A sprinkler was on, and Allie was trying to catch the water in her hat. My dad took Nan and me on a ride in the red Jeep. We rode out in the desert--I think near a dump--and I remember thinking it would be a good place to film a movie. At one point we passed a really bad smell, like something had died.
2004. I remember going to Target, where we bought a big container of red, white, and blue Goldfish crackers. Then we went up to watch the fireworks. The Moosmans were projecting Spongebob onto a screen. A kid was lighting bottle rockets. I remember having a conversation with Peter and Jesse about narwhals, that they're like aquatic unicorns. After the fireworks we walked home; I think Jesse and Peter got lost. When they arrived, I remember talking to them about Mister Ed and The Flying Nun. We didn't want our cat, Jenny, to go outside, so Wayne made a mean sound at her when she tried to go out. We thought that was cruel (since she was already spooked), but he said that it worked to keep her inside. (It's possible this happened in 2003 with our cat Dinah.)
2003. [I think on this year, Sue brought her friend Susan and her two boys, Nathan and Brian, to see the fireworks. Quin or someone had brought an orange plastic Slinky. I remember jumping on the tramp and talking about the dream I had had about going on a family vacation to the moon. Nathan said, referring to being on the moon, "Could you pass the floating butter?" I talked about playing soccer on the moon, how you would run and you could become airborne. I suppose it's possible this happened in 2002.] Ya-ping didn't care to come with us to see the fireworks, but some of her Taiwanese friends came with us, and we were surprised by all the "oohs and ahhs" they emitted, since they were from Taiwan.
2002. I probably did my typical rolling down and up the hill. I don't remember specifics.
2001. We were in New York, but I don't remember what happened.
2000. I remember going to the Golden Dragon firework stand by Winegar's and I didn't know what fireworks to get; I was relying on David. David told me I should pick some because he didn't have many Fourth of Julys still at home; I said that this was his last one because he was going on his mission. I'm thinking this was the year that the Thompsons and I were saying, "Ooh, ahh," at the fireworks, and Sue was quite annoyed. I think we also recited the Lucky Charms theme: "Hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers and blue moons, pots of gold and rainbows, and the red balloons," since the fireworks included stars, hearts, and hamburgers (which were probably actually planets). I think this was a year when Peter and Quin were playing with the glow necklaces like they were lightsabers.
1999-1998. I get the years mixed up. I know one year we bought glow necklaces and I was throwing them like a frisbee.
1997. This was the first year (I think) North Salt Lake put on their fireworks. We went and looked at the booths beforehand.
I have some other random memories of fireworks, but I can't assign them to a year, such as seeing policemen on bikes, thinking people's illegal Wyoming fireworks were the start of the real fireworks program, eating Twizzlers, David running into his friend Nathan Bean, and driving our white station wagon to park nearer to the event.
If you're interested in seeing my Fourth of July memories, see these posts on my main blog:
A year of holiday memories
The Ghost of Independence Days Past
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