Easter is coming up, so I'm going to remember what I can about the day before the holiday. In my family, most of the secular celebrating occurs on Saturday rather than Easter Sunday itself.
2012. I went out to my car to head home. My mom called and let me know that they were getting home from southern Utah, and I hadn't even left yet. On my windshield was a wrinkled note from Morgan Crockett that said he had backed into my car. I looked and there was indeed a scratch on the back bumper. But my brother and I both put scratches on both sides of the front bumper, so the back scratch just matched the rest of it. I listened to the MoTab Praise to the Man album on my way home. When I got home, my niece Allie came up to me and said, completely shocked, "The Easter Bunny already came!" We searched for Easter eggs; there were lots. There were plastic candy-filled eggs and real confetti-filled eggs. I of course was interested in the candy eggs, but I was surprised that Allie liked the confetti eggs. We broke the confetti eggs on each other, and we were finding confetti for months after (and filled eggs as well). I think we colored eggs. At some point that day my dad lost a tooth. We ate tacos for dinner and made sugar cookies with blue frosting. That night, after everyone went to bed, I went downstairs and watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail, eating a bunch of candy. I finished my Easter Baby Bottle Pop. After the show was over, I decided to watch some of the DVD's special features that I hadn't seen. They were these cheesy kid stories set to partly animated pictures. I think I did situps as I watched them.
2011. I actually don't remember much about this day. We got our Easter baskets and Allie got some Disney Princess Squinkies. I suspect this was the time that my aunt and cousins came to our house. My mom gave my cousin Quin the toy sword he had asked her to buy at Disneyland; he began playing with it. We showed them all the Nightmare Before Christmas paraphernalia I got; Quin said, "Best deck of cards ever." This might be the year that when I was watching Here Comes Peter Cottontail, Susanne said that Grandma Judy always let them watch it on TV and she hated it.
2010. It was general conference. In the morning I saw my Easter basket that had my new shirts and blue plaid shorts in it. I was kind of disappointed that those were my only gifts, since I had got those the day before--there were no surprises. I think we did some grocery shopping and I got a haircut in the morning before the first session. And I think after the first session we had our Easter festivities. Allie didn't want to stay with us because of general conference; Matt said that she had been telling them all about it. We watched Here Comes Peter Cottontail. I think my dad and I went to the Eagleridge building for the Priesthood session.
2009. Elder Kitchen and I had dinner with a member--none of his family was home, so it was just three of us at dinner. We had a barbecue and strawberry shortcake. Elder Kitchen asked him if he could drive us over to our ward's Easter activity--for some reason they held it at another building in our stake than the one our ward attended. They had an egg gathering activity; we gathered some eggs, and Elder Kitchen got one of the "special" eggs, so he gave it to me. These "special" eggs were for a presentation. Each egg had a little prop and a scripture; collectively it told the Easter story. Mine was a nail to represent the Crucifixion. Someone got a dice to represent them casting lots for Jesus's garment; I thought the dice was a bit of a stretch. (I know that die is the singular form, but that just sounds weird.) Sister Tanner's scripture talked about Pilate, and she pronounced it "pih-LAH-tee," like the exercise program Pilates without the s, but she should have pronounced it "pilot." The Tanners drove us home; we crammed into their van with their three kids. I remember at some point that night Elder Kitchen commented about Sister Tanner's pronunciation of Pilate. I remember walking along Ramsey Road. I kind of wanted to go to the Hico gas station, since it would be my last chance to get some Easter treat, like maybe jelly beans or lavender-colored Sno-Balls, but we didn't end up going there. I can't remember what we did the rest of the night.
2008. In the morning Elder Condie and I helped out at the Greenbluff Ward Primary activity. They put us in charge of one game, and a a little girl who was 4 or 5 came up to me and said, "You're a handsome nice man." I later told Elder Condie about it; he said he noticed that I had been laughing after she talked to me. I asked Brother Mears if we could visit his family to teach his family the next installment of the Member Missionary Training Center. He said they were OK (he didn't like me). There was a nonmember there whose husband was an inactive member, and I think the husband was the brother of Brother Mears. The wife was Jewish, but she didn't mind her kids participating in our Easter party. In one of the places we talked about the Resurrection and one kid talked about how Jesus ate fish and honeycomb. After the activity we went to Subway; a member owned that store and gave us free Subway once a week. One of the girls working there said cheerfully to us, "Do Mormons celebrate Easter?" She said she was going to ask the owner but didn't. We told her we did. She said, "I was talking to some people and they said that Mormons don't celebrate Easter; I told them they do, they just don't celebrate with eggs and stuff." Elder Condie told her that we had in fact just come from an activity at our church involving eggs. That day we were supposed to be helping an inactive sister move stuff from her storage unit into her apartment. We had asked the Northpointe Ward to help us, but no one had said anything about helping us, so I threw a bit of a hissy fit in our bedroom. Then I called Brother Cummins, who was the ward clerk, and asked him if he knew of anyone who would be able to help us. He said he would. So we drove down to Spokane to the woman's storage unit. After we had finished up, we were backing up and I was thinking about how nice it was not to have to back him up (since missionaries always have to stand outside and guide people when they back up). Then he backed into a pickup truck. There was a big dent in it. Then he went back into the storage unit to find the owners of the truck. We were going with him, but he said forcefully, "Stay with the car." I told Elder Condie about what I had been thinking about backing. Brother Cummins came back with the truck owner, who was very nice and understanding. Brother Cummins said, "I'm really embarrassed about this," and the owner said it was OK. When Brother Cummins got back in the car, Elder Condie told him that we all had been thinking that if we had done something different, that wouldn't have happened. We got back home, and I think there was a little snowstorm. I shoveled the snow, but that was unnecessary, because it was warm enough that all the snow melted quickly. The Welshes (whom we lived with) made us an Easter dinner, including strawberry shortcake. That night we had a lesson with our investigators Duane and Vickie. Vickie had made us pink rabbit-shaped sugar cookies and sent them home with us in a large Ziploc bag. I think this was the night we brought our Hispanic ward missionary with us, and we talked about the degrees of glory. The ward missionary said that he thought there were infinite sublevels in the three kingdoms.
2007. My sister and niece and I got on a plane back to Salt Lake from Nashville. Since my ticket had been bought at a different time and it was a full flight, I had to sit near the back of the plane and Susanne and Allie sat toward the front. I was reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for my AP English class and eating Easter candy. Afterward Susanne told me that Allie didn't like the airplane and kept asking about me. We came home and were preparing to watch Here Comes Peter Cottontail. Susanne was on the phone with her boyfriend of the time, Darrin, and asking him if he knew that special. Then she started describing it in detail, and Darrin stopped caring when she got to the part about Irontail feeding gum to Peter's clock.
2006. It was our last day in Moab. I remember playing with Allie at the KOA's playground. She put her hands around a hanging bar. I was surprised that I could take my arms away and she was hanging by herself. Then she'd let go and I would catch her. Then we got in the car and drove. I think we took a side trip to Fillmore. Allie got a little restless in the car. When we got home, I got ready to take a shower. I weighed myself and wondered if I had lost any weight on the trip (due to the hiking), but instead I discovered that I had in fact gained weight. It was then that I vowed that I would only eat candies and desserts when they were in season (prior to that, I had allowed myself to eat nonseasonal things in limited quantities.) My new goal was put to the test that day because our home teacher Christian Ulmer brought us a chocolate pie from Marie Callendar's. I can't remember if I ended up succumbing to the temptation or not. We got our Easter presents; I got Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit and a deck of Easter-egg-shaped playing cards. I think we watched my new movie and I complained about how it was inferior to Corpse Bride. Then I remember my mom talking to David on MSN chat and she told him that I was disappointed (I think because it wasn't a traditional Easter). He said "Poor Frankfurt." Then she told him they got me the Wallace and Gromit movie and he said "POOR Frankfurt" (because he knew my opinions on the Wallace and Gromit/Corpse Bride thing).
2005. We were in Fillmore. We went to Fillmore's Easter egg event. I remember seeing some kids with jack-o-lantern buckets to collect eggs. I thought that was a good idea to include in the Easter episode of my fictitious TV show. We were talking with my aunt Sarena and my cousin-in-law Kalia (and maybe some other cousins). My mom told Sarena about an awkward incident with Allie that I didn't think was funny. Kalia asked Susanne something about Allie, and Susanne told her, "I found out yesterday that she knows what sound a dog makes" (I had first heard her say "woof" the day before). Kalia talked about her son Damen (who was almost Allie's age) also knowing what dogs said. My aunt Sarena was talking about how they weren't going to go to the sand dunes. Suddenly there was a big wind that blew some snow from the trees onto us. My mom said it was Grandpa Boyd getting mad at us for not going to the sand dunes. Then we went back to Grandma Judy's house; my mom told her about the wind incident and I told her about the kids with the Halloween buckets. We went on a little drive in the Suburban while listening to a Carpenters CD; at the song "Solitaire" I said that Clay Aiken had sung that song on American Idol a few years earlier. We drove past a big sand dune where some people were playing but we didn't stop.
2004. We were at the sand dunes. I got my dragon kite to fly and I buried the base in the sand so that it could fly itself (it was quite windy). I remember driving my grandpa's four-wheeler really slow with Ya-ping on the back. I also had my first driving lesson. I drove for quite a while at probably less than five miles an hour and my grandpa kept telling me which way to steer. Eventually he told me to stop. Then he drove back and I felt dumb that it only took a few minutes to drive back when it had taken me so long because I was going so slow. I remember my aunt Terri liking my nickname for Allie, "Cute-iful." Grandpa hugged or danced or something with my cousin Krishelle and alluded to the fact that he wouldn't be around much longer (it was in fact his last Easter).
2003. This might have actually been on Friday, but it might have been Saturday. I remember coloring eggs in the kitchen and watching Gilligan's Island; it was one of the episodes with Wrongway Feldman.
2001. We took my cousin Joey, from my mom's side, down to Fillmore with us to be with my dad's family. We had donuts in our red Jeep for the ride down. When we got to Fillmore my grandma asked if he was Sue's son. I can't remember what else happened.
2000. I took a shower in the morning before we headed out in our red Jeep to pick up my cousins Peter and Jesse to go down to Fillmore. Before we picked them up, we stopped at a Ream's store near their house and bought some kite string. I also noticed a ball made out of a crystally, squishy plastic material. It didn't bounce well, so I didn't understand why they would make a ball out of it. We picked up Jesse and Peter. Then we drove down. I remember making some comment about smelling my deodorant. Jesse and Peter both seemed disgusted, but I said it wasn't smelly because it was meant to prevent me from smelling. We passed a "G" on a mountainside. I asked what it stood for; my mom said maybe it stood for Pleasant Grove. I said, "Then why doesn't it say PG?" She said that that could stand for pregnant, which I found quite funny. Then I said it could also stand for parental guidance, and Peter said that it could be PG like in movies, and I told him that's what parental guidance was. I had brought the "Official Snoopy Tosserino" (Frisbee) I had inherited from my maternal grandparents and played it with Peter. I kept snapping pictures. David buried Peter in the sand, and then I wanted to be buried. At one point my cousin Terrill talked about how he wanted to go over to the other sand dune. I told him it was cool. Then I asked him if he meant another sand dune or just the other side of that sand dune. I hadn't been to the other sand dune, just the other side of the one we were at. I thought I was so adventurous going to the other side of this tiny barchan sand dune. At one point there was a little rainstorm and the sand got wet and dark. Then Peter was jumping in the sand, and the dry light sand was intermixing with the dark wet sand. He said, "Yay! White skin is winning over black skin!" I told him that was an inappropriate thing to say, and he said that of course he would want white skin to win, since he was white. Then we left and made a stop at my paternal grandparents' house before the long trip back to Salt Lake. We probably listened to tapes of Abbey Road and that tape that had "One Tin Soldier" on it--I was obsessed with that song. I remember being cold, but my mom wouldn't let me turn the heat up because she needed it cold to stay awake.
1999. My cousin April was with us that morning for our Easter festivities. My mom had bought her a travel reading lamp. I got a VHS of It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown. I went down and watched it. As the Easter morning scene started, April said that that was one of her favorite Beethoven pieces. She laughed when Woodstock laid on the egg he got. My brother said something about the line "Never trust a man with a blanket." I remember saying, "I didn't know that girl [Marcie] was dumb," and he told me she was actually smart. Then we drove down to Fillmore; we probably listened to conference in the car. I was wearing a pink Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt, but I covered up the picture with a green sweater vest. I cared about the pink (for Easter), not the picture. While everyone must have been watching conference, I went in one of the side rooms and saw that Here Comes Peter Cottontail was on the Fox Family Channel. I remember getting annoyed with all the commercial breaks and thinking that they couldn't keep doing that, because they couldn't take much out. (Which was false; they actually could take a lot out.) The promos for the special had the scene where Peter skates the shape of a heart into the ice and makes it light up. That night I was playing the Game Boy and my grandparents' friends came over and my grandma said to her friend, "They sure love those games, don't they."
1998. Intuition tells me that this event occurred in 1998, but I'm actually not sure if it happened at this time. My cousin Rayce and I were hanging out at my family's trailer, which was parked in the backyard of my grandparents' house. He asked me if I believed in the Easter Bunny, because he didn't. I told him I didn't. I said, "I remember thinking, 'How can one man [Santa] deliver presents all over the world in one night?'" Rayce said, "He stops time. I believe in him."
1997. I had wanted my Easter basket hidden this year, instead of just the eggs. My basket was the only hidden one (it was hidden behind some plants). I got a St. Patrick's Day flag since the wind had torn mine. Our Easter grass was this green cottony stuff that was less messy than the typical plastic kind. Then we went to Fillmore; maybe this was the year when I saw my cousins' eggs that had plastic decorative bands around them. I think one egg cracked at the hard interdune (the ground behind a sand dune--I'm glad I know all these geological terms now).
1996. This might be the time I got my springy (as in, it was made of springs) bouncy ball.
1994. I was excited to get a crocodile-shaped bottle of bubbles. I also got a Sesame Street kite and my brother got a more mature kite. We went to Fillmore and I think we participated in the community egg hunt. I got a big marshmallow stick and it was said that I couldn't get it on the seat of my uncle Ken's car. I remember being at the sand dunes and holding my kite (I doubt I was the one who got it in the air) and my aunt Kim talking to me. I think I was a little embarrassed to have such a "babyish" kite.
1993. We got our baskets downstairs. All three of us kids got trolls--I got a worker troll, my brother got a doctor troll, and my sister got a BYU cheerleader troll. We had our egg hunt down there; we had these weird marshmallow-esque eggs to find. There was a blue one in the windowsill of my dad's workroom.
1991. I don't remember anything about this day--I was only two years old--but I do remember seeing a family video that depicted this day. We were at my maternal grandparents' house coloring eggs. We had these rabbit-shaped things that you would put in water and they would dissolve and make the dye. My mom says this was right when we moved into our new house.
I am quite certain that after posting this I will remember more details.
Related posts:
Those Easter Morns
A year of holiday memories
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sunday, March 17, 2013
March 18
I'm going to remember what I can about the day after St. Patrick's Day.
2012. It was a rainy day. I remember I was making an image to use for the background of my blog for Easter. I tried to make egg shapes, but I couldn't very well. I asked my roommate Bryton if the image looked dumb; he said it looked like it was made with old technology. So I decided not to use it. I made a blog post about St. Patrick's Day; this blog post got some of the best critical reception I've ever had. I found out that Peter Moosman from my home ward was in one of the pictures and I didn't even know it.
2011. I made a Facebook status about my roommate Zach not realizing that I wore glasses. I remember more about March 19 and 20 in 2011 than I do about this day.
2010. I walked slowly to school and lots of people passed me because I sprained my knee the day before. That night I went to my dinner group at Collin Allan's apartment; we were having a ward movie festival that night, so he bought Little Caesar's and then we drove up to the Wilk. I had brought a plate with me and I had to keep it in the car. We went to the Varsity Theater, and I sat on the right side by myself. Sara Cushing told me I could sit by them, but I told her that I had a sprained knee and I wanted to be able to spread it out without people walking past me. Collin Allan came and sat by me. There were some great videos: One about a search for Waldo who emerged from a book, one that parodied popular YouTube videos, one about Batman, one remaking country videos, etc. Not one but three videos featured Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA." My FHE group's little video was pretty terrible. In our credits, I identified myself as the prop supervisor. Collin asked me about that; I told him that I carried the bucket.
2009. It's possible this was the day I got a package from my mom, but I actually think that was March 19.
2004. I remember coming home from tutoring Melissa, the girl I tutored in Spanish, and putting Easter eggs on top of the buffet in the living room.
2000. It was a nice spring morning, and I had to go to a practice for singing in stake conference. Evan Stewart's mom drove me home. I mentioned that I was going to put up Easter decorations. She told me how whenever they decorated for Easter they always found pine needles and when they decorated for Christmas they always found Easter grass.
1999. I remember telling my classmates that I was going to go home and decorate for Easter. My classmate Eric said, "I thought you hated Easter," and I told him that I only hated Easter before St. Patrick's Day. (Now I don't get mad about Easter before St. Patrick's Day, because Easter's a meaningful holiday but St. Patrick's Day is not. But I do get mad when Thanksgiving is overlooked, because it has meaning.)
1998. I came home from school and my cousin Jesse was there for some reason. I was getting ready to decorate for Easter, and Jesse was telling me about how they had bought a bunch of Easter stuff just a few days earlier. I remember putting our Easter wreath on our door. Then the rest of my cousins came and we jumped on the tramp and played some egg-themed games.
2012. It was a rainy day. I remember I was making an image to use for the background of my blog for Easter. I tried to make egg shapes, but I couldn't very well. I asked my roommate Bryton if the image looked dumb; he said it looked like it was made with old technology. So I decided not to use it. I made a blog post about St. Patrick's Day; this blog post got some of the best critical reception I've ever had. I found out that Peter Moosman from my home ward was in one of the pictures and I didn't even know it.
2011. I made a Facebook status about my roommate Zach not realizing that I wore glasses. I remember more about March 19 and 20 in 2011 than I do about this day.
2010. I walked slowly to school and lots of people passed me because I sprained my knee the day before. That night I went to my dinner group at Collin Allan's apartment; we were having a ward movie festival that night, so he bought Little Caesar's and then we drove up to the Wilk. I had brought a plate with me and I had to keep it in the car. We went to the Varsity Theater, and I sat on the right side by myself. Sara Cushing told me I could sit by them, but I told her that I had a sprained knee and I wanted to be able to spread it out without people walking past me. Collin Allan came and sat by me. There were some great videos: One about a search for Waldo who emerged from a book, one that parodied popular YouTube videos, one about Batman, one remaking country videos, etc. Not one but three videos featured Miley Cyrus's "Party in the USA." My FHE group's little video was pretty terrible. In our credits, I identified myself as the prop supervisor. Collin asked me about that; I told him that I carried the bucket.
2009. It's possible this was the day I got a package from my mom, but I actually think that was March 19.
2004. I remember coming home from tutoring Melissa, the girl I tutored in Spanish, and putting Easter eggs on top of the buffet in the living room.
2000. It was a nice spring morning, and I had to go to a practice for singing in stake conference. Evan Stewart's mom drove me home. I mentioned that I was going to put up Easter decorations. She told me how whenever they decorated for Easter they always found pine needles and when they decorated for Christmas they always found Easter grass.
1999. I remember telling my classmates that I was going to go home and decorate for Easter. My classmate Eric said, "I thought you hated Easter," and I told him that I only hated Easter before St. Patrick's Day. (Now I don't get mad about Easter before St. Patrick's Day, because Easter's a meaningful holiday but St. Patrick's Day is not. But I do get mad when Thanksgiving is overlooked, because it has meaning.)
1998. I came home from school and my cousin Jesse was there for some reason. I was getting ready to decorate for Easter, and Jesse was telling me about how they had bought a bunch of Easter stuff just a few days earlier. I remember putting our Easter wreath on our door. Then the rest of my cousins came and we jumped on the tramp and played some egg-themed games.
Sunday, March 10, 2013
The Ides of March
The subject of today's post is March 15, two days before St. Patrick's Day. Unfortunately, there's not much to remember.
2012. I was wearing my t-shirt with Snoopy and Woodstock with Irish hats and clovers. I was walking to my Doctrine and Covenants class when I saw Hillary Ulmer. I said hi. She said she didn't notice it was me because she was staring at my shirt, but then when I said hi she said it made sense that it was me. That afternoon, I stopped at J-Dawgs on my way home. In line was a Nathaniel Johnson from the first area of my mission. He had left on a mission while I was in that area. I was going to say hi to him, but he was ahead of me and was with some people, and I didn't think he would remember me, much less recognize me. When I walked in to my apartment, Alyssa Kekauoha was talking to my roommate Cameron Haas. They saw my J-Dawgs and I told them it was my first time getting it that semester. Alyssa saw my shirt and asked if it was St. Patrick's Day. I ended up getting J-Dawgs sauce on my shirt. At some point that afternoon, Cameron told Alyssa that I said we weren't friends. I confirmed that, saying that I don't make friends.
2009. I had to speak in the Hayden 4th Ward. I spoke about the Book of Mormon, and I think I talked about how all fifteen books testify of Christ. I used a quote by President Benson from Preach My Gospel about how the Book of Mormon can be used to respond to objections. After sacrament meeting, the McLuskies, an older Scottish couple, told me that I did a good job. There had been a Sunday School lesson a few weeks earlier in which the teacher asked everyone what their talents were, and I said I didn't have any, so on this occasion the McLuskies told me that I could have said I had a talent for knowing the scriptures. During Priesthood opening exercises, we practiced an idea we had heard of. We stood up and said, "We have a Book of Mormon here, and we want someone to give it away." We were pleased when Wayne Timonen, who had only recently started coming back to church, volunteered to give it away. My journal tells me we ate at the bishop's house. I suspect this was the time that some other ward members came over and we shared our object lesson about fortifying our families. The bishop's son was a little hyper, and he got a little carried away rearranging the pieces. I asked Elder Betenson if my talk was boring. He said it was informative, but when I pressed him he said it was a little dry. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today I spoke in sacrament meeting. It was probably the most boring talk I've given for a while. It had a lot of good information, but no personality. We also had to teach in Sunday School. We had dinner with the Bishop and his family. During Priesthood meeting we asked who was going to give out a Book of Mormon, and Wayne Timonen accepted the task.
2008. In the morning we went to give a blessing to some people that the zone leaders had told us about. They were actually in the sisters' area. We drove over there and the mom wanted her kids to get blessings, but the kids didn't seem too interested. After we left there, we told the sisters about them and told them they should stop by sometime. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today we gave a blessing to some nonmembers, Larry and Claudia. They each got one and were very appreciative. They weren't in our area but the sisters can't give blessings.
"Then we taught Duane and Vickie. They want to fast and give tithing and all that good stuff. Malheureusement, Duane has some legal complications. He stole a computer from Wal-Mart and fell asleep in the car, so he was caught. He was also caught trying to steal thirty lawnmowers. They let the mowers go because he was going to jail for the computer but now they have come back up and he has a court hearing. We hope that goes well so he can get baptized."
2003. My mom bought balloons and black stuff for my uncle's birthday the next day.
1996. It was a day to wear a green hat to school. A boy in my class was wearing a hat with pin/buttons on it, one of which said, "Let's Party at the Top O' the Morning." Our teacher, Mrs. Taylor, picked someone with the best hat and sent them to get their picture taken with the other green-hat people in the school. Mrs. Taylor told us that the rest of our hats were cool too, but she picked the one that was homemade and had a lot of work put into it. The school also had a contest where they put a picture of a leprechaun in different places in the school and if you found it you got a prize. I went searching for it with my friend Kelsey Bodily. She found a shiny thing that she said would help her find the leprechaun. I said it wouldn't, and she acknowledged she was just pretending. I didn't want to play with her because of that silliness and because she was playing with a kindergartener.
2012. I was wearing my t-shirt with Snoopy and Woodstock with Irish hats and clovers. I was walking to my Doctrine and Covenants class when I saw Hillary Ulmer. I said hi. She said she didn't notice it was me because she was staring at my shirt, but then when I said hi she said it made sense that it was me. That afternoon, I stopped at J-Dawgs on my way home. In line was a Nathaniel Johnson from the first area of my mission. He had left on a mission while I was in that area. I was going to say hi to him, but he was ahead of me and was with some people, and I didn't think he would remember me, much less recognize me. When I walked in to my apartment, Alyssa Kekauoha was talking to my roommate Cameron Haas. They saw my J-Dawgs and I told them it was my first time getting it that semester. Alyssa saw my shirt and asked if it was St. Patrick's Day. I ended up getting J-Dawgs sauce on my shirt. At some point that afternoon, Cameron told Alyssa that I said we weren't friends. I confirmed that, saying that I don't make friends.
2009. I had to speak in the Hayden 4th Ward. I spoke about the Book of Mormon, and I think I talked about how all fifteen books testify of Christ. I used a quote by President Benson from Preach My Gospel about how the Book of Mormon can be used to respond to objections. After sacrament meeting, the McLuskies, an older Scottish couple, told me that I did a good job. There had been a Sunday School lesson a few weeks earlier in which the teacher asked everyone what their talents were, and I said I didn't have any, so on this occasion the McLuskies told me that I could have said I had a talent for knowing the scriptures. During Priesthood opening exercises, we practiced an idea we had heard of. We stood up and said, "We have a Book of Mormon here, and we want someone to give it away." We were pleased when Wayne Timonen, who had only recently started coming back to church, volunteered to give it away. My journal tells me we ate at the bishop's house. I suspect this was the time that some other ward members came over and we shared our object lesson about fortifying our families. The bishop's son was a little hyper, and he got a little carried away rearranging the pieces. I asked Elder Betenson if my talk was boring. He said it was informative, but when I pressed him he said it was a little dry. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today I spoke in sacrament meeting. It was probably the most boring talk I've given for a while. It had a lot of good information, but no personality. We also had to teach in Sunday School. We had dinner with the Bishop and his family. During Priesthood meeting we asked who was going to give out a Book of Mormon, and Wayne Timonen accepted the task.
2008. In the morning we went to give a blessing to some people that the zone leaders had told us about. They were actually in the sisters' area. We drove over there and the mom wanted her kids to get blessings, but the kids didn't seem too interested. After we left there, we told the sisters about them and told them they should stop by sometime. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today we gave a blessing to some nonmembers, Larry and Claudia. They each got one and were very appreciative. They weren't in our area but the sisters can't give blessings.
"Then we taught Duane and Vickie. They want to fast and give tithing and all that good stuff. Malheureusement, Duane has some legal complications. He stole a computer from Wal-Mart and fell asleep in the car, so he was caught. He was also caught trying to steal thirty lawnmowers. They let the mowers go because he was going to jail for the computer but now they have come back up and he has a court hearing. We hope that goes well so he can get baptized."
2003. My mom bought balloons and black stuff for my uncle's birthday the next day.
1996. It was a day to wear a green hat to school. A boy in my class was wearing a hat with pin/buttons on it, one of which said, "Let's Party at the Top O' the Morning." Our teacher, Mrs. Taylor, picked someone with the best hat and sent them to get their picture taken with the other green-hat people in the school. Mrs. Taylor told us that the rest of our hats were cool too, but she picked the one that was homemade and had a lot of work put into it. The school also had a contest where they put a picture of a leprechaun in different places in the school and if you found it you got a prize. I went searching for it with my friend Kelsey Bodily. She found a shiny thing that she said would help her find the leprechaun. I said it wouldn't, and she acknowledged she was just pretending. I didn't want to play with her because of that silliness and because she was playing with a kindergartener.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
St. Patrick's Eve
I'm going to remember as much as I can about March 16.
2012. My roommate Cameron Eaton and I had to get up early to go help one of our home teachees, Katie Steck, set something up in the Wilk. I was wearing my Snoopy "It's cool to be Irish" shirt. When we were waiting at the stoplight at Campus Drive and 900 North, a woman stopped and asked us where the pool was. Cameron redirected her, for she was way off. There was a high school swimming thing going on; I think Cameron knew that because he often went swimming. We helped Katie, but we just had to carry some things from her car. She didn't need much help from us. So with that extra time in the morning, I went into the library to do some last-minute studying for my Semantics and Pragmatics test. I opened up the Google doc study guide I had made, and some people had made some very funny comments. I would put them here, but I don't think anyone would get them ("You had to be there" kind of thing). I sent out a message that said, "Red writer [because the person had written in a red font], you have made my morning." Then I went to our classroom in the RB. We saw all the people there for the high school swim meet. There were lots of booths set up near the windows that overlooked the pool, which I had to pass on my way to class. I was almost finished when our time in the classroom was up. Those of us who hadn't finished had to finish in the hall. I was standing up, because I was just doing a final review of my answers, and I think Dr. Oaks told me I could sit down, but I was almost done. I might have seen my former companion "Elder" Duncan." It was a nice spring Friday, and I was feeling quite pleased that my test was over, and I felt like I did pretty well on it. I went to Sugar 'N Spice in the Wilk. I got a chocolate-chocolate donut with green sprinkles and a sugar cookie coated with green icing with a little shamrock design on it. The girl who rang me up told me she loved the cookies. I ate the donut while I walked home; I walked a way I hadn't walked before. Then when I got home I ate the cookie, and the frosting had melted and stuck to the bag. It was pistachio flavored, and I hope they have them again this year. I read my scriptures and took a nap before I went back up to my Editing class. This might have been the day that they passed around candy because of the game we had played the week before. They gave out candy in Easter wrappers, but I picked out some that had gold and green wrappers so that I could eat them. Then I went home. I told my mom I wanted to get some green shoes or green pants. So we went out looking. I couldn't find any green shoes at Famous Footwear. We went to five stores, but I can't remember what all of them were. As we were driving to Smith's Marketplace, my mom told me about the restaurant Granny Annie's that was where Marie Callendar's had been. She said she had wanted to try it because she loved the name, but it was terrible. I looked at the shoes at Smith's Marketplace. They had green Converse shoes, but they only had women's sizes. Then I looked at men's clothes. I found some clearance green pants. There were some that were the right waist, but they were too short. I ended up getting some that were big at the waist but the right length. We had to get someone to open the dressing room, and she asked if I was getting the pants for the next day. My mom told me that she liked the pants when I had them on; she thought they were ugly before she saw them on me. We bought Hugo on DVD. When we were checking out, the cashier asked if we had seen the movie, and she also asked if I was getting the pants for St. Patrick's Day. Then we went home, and I ate some key lime pie frozen yogurt, even though it was after 9. Then I got on my computer. I remembered hearing that Jan Terri had some holiday songs, so I checked them out. First I watched "Get Down Goblin"; I was pleased with the reference to The Munsters and The Addams Family. Then I watched "Rock N Roll Santa."
I was sad that it skipped (I later discovered a better version). I thought it was really funny. My mom wasn't really paying attention and thought she was saying "Whack-a-Mole Santa." My mom thought it was funny how much I thought it was funny. Little did I know that those songs would end up changing my life.
2011. I went to institute that night. There was an older couple that always provided food. That night it was "St. Patrick's Day split pea soup." The wife was wearing green. I thought about showing them my shirt (which was under my hoodie), but I didn't.
2009. We played dodgeball at one of the Coeur d'Alene buildings. In my first area we had often played dodgeball, and I liked it, but we played "every man for himself." On this occasion we were playing on teams, which I didn't like. Elder Betenson later told me that he was surprised at how bad I was, considering how much I had often talked about dodgeball. This is my journal entry for the day:
"This morning we went and played dodgeball. It was fun but I had forgotten how appallingly bad I am. I'm kind of embarrassed now. It's one of those nights I know Elder Betenson hates me, and I was simply trying to explain my past reasoning for being desirous of vampiric qualities.
"But this evening after dinner we went and saw Wayne Timonen, who is excited for us to teach him the lessons." Wayne Timonen was a man who had been inactive but had recently started coming back to church. I think we saw him that night to ask him about his commitment to give someone a Book of Mormon.
2008. It was Elder Condie's first Sunday in our wards. In the morning we went to the Northpointe Ward PEC, and Bishop Larson reproved us that we didn't have many names on our progress record. I remember at some point that day, Brother Palmer, the Northpointe ward mission leader, told us he was glad Elder Chun got a baptism before he left (since Brenna Carlsen had been baptized the previous week). Brother Mears from the Greenbluff Ward asked me if we had seen the Johnsons, an elderly nonmember couple--they were his special project. I told them that I had talked to Sister Summer (their daughter) and she said that we should wait to see them because her dad was having surgery. Brother Mears said something about how I should ask Vickie Summers about giving her parents blessings. I think that Elder Condie went to Greenbluff ward council while I went to the Northpointe Ward's ward council. Our investigator Duane came to church in the Northpointe Ward that day. I remember him telling someone he was investigating. When we were leaving church, Sister Pugh asked if Elder Condie was a new missionary. To think that I would ever train a new missionary is laughable! Here is my journal entry for the day:
"The wards don't trust me. It is quite frustrating. President Miller [the elders quorum president in the Greenbluff Ward] I guess said some stuff to Elder Condie implying I don't know anything. And Greenbluff wants us to continue working with the Johnsons even though I called Sister Summer about them and she said not to stop by for a few weeks due to recovery from surgery. It didn't help that our progress records were bare.
"But Duane came to church. Brother Welsh sat with him for Sunday School and priesthood opening exercises. He participated, and we set another date for them. I'm so excited!" (Duane and Vickie were golden investigators, but for some reason they never got baptized.)
2006. I walked into school wearing my Snoopy "Cool to be Irish" shirt and carrying a dish with a cake in it for my French class. I heard one guy say, "Is today St. Patrick's Day?" It was the day that our cultural projects were due, so we brought different desserts for the requirement. In France they eat bûches de Noël at Christmas, which are yule log cakes. But I made a bûche du jour de Saint Patrick-- I put green sprinkles on it and a little pot of gold. A girl in my class had had the same idea. But while mine was a chocolate cake with decorations on it, she made hers a different kind of cake with a mint filling. After class I went and put the dish in my car. I went to my Pre-Calc class, and Josh Roberts said he wondered if it was St. Patrick's Day because of my shirt.
2004. I was wearing a white polo shirt with a shamrock tie. Someone in my science class asked if it was St. Patrick's Day. I said no, and they wondered why I was dressed that way. I think this was the night I had to go to Trevor Young's house to work on a project in which we were presenting news stories from Samoa or one of those islands. My mom dropped me off, and she later said that a kid in the yard (Trevor's younger brother) had been on my soccer team when I was 9. We met in Trevor's basement. Greg Gabbott came, and Trevor's mom knew him, but she didn't know me. One of Trevor's little brothers came in and wanted to know who I was. Trevor seemed annoyed with this brother, and told him I was just one of his friends. His younger brother said, "He talks funny." We all found that hilarious. I told them about the article I found about someone robbing a house "armed with fishing spears." Trevor wanted to film us reporting our news articles in front of an outdoorsy wallpaper, but I didn't like the idea. Then my dad picked me up, because my mom was at mutual. I went to the Joneses for part of mutual, where we were making pizza. Then that night my mom went and bought things for me to take to seminary the next day. I wanted those Pillsbury cookies that you cut that had shamrocks on them, but she just bought plain ones. We tried to put green sugars on them. She also bought a loaf of bread with green stripes for our dinner the next day.
2003. It was my uncle Paul's fiftieth birthday, so we had a party at my house. There was a balloon that had people dressed in old clothing and said "Welcome to the Middle Ages." My aunt and my mom were quite amused by a balloon they had bought Paul ten years earlier. It doesn't sound like a very clever balloon to me, but to this day they still bring it up as if it's the funniest thing ever. After church I changed into an orange polo shirt. Then I had to go home teaching with Brother Naylor. The Spencers commented on my orange shirt. When Brother Naylor dropped me off, he pointed out that we were having a party.
2002. We went to Winegar's to buy things to make cookies for my cousin Hiram's farewell. I noticed the green mint chips, so my mom bought them. We made two kinds of cookies that night. We made regular chocolate chip cookies with green dye in the batter, and cookies with mint chips instead of chocolate chips. My mom said that people wouldn't want to eat the green dye cookies, but it turned out that they ate more of those than the mint ones.
2001. It was our sixth-grade mini-society day (which was basically a day where we ran stores). Since I had a quite lucrative business selling homemade window clings, I had a lot of money that I used to buy a stovepipe hat from Jaydon Bean. Mr. Williams, my teacher, said that I bought the hat he wanted. A girl named Brittany in my class wore a St. Patrick's Day hat, since they usually had hat contests for St. Patrick's Day, but they didn't that year. I wore a green shirt to bed that night.
1996. My parents took me to the Salt Lake City St. Patrick's Day parade. I was probably wearing my little plastic green derby hat. I noticed that they had painted clovers on the street. There were lots of bagpipers. Near to us there had been some people with picket signs that had St. Patrick's Day messages. When they left, they just left the signs on the ground. My parents told me I could take them, but I didn't want to. (Maybe it was because I thought those people must have been wicked, since they littered, and I figured that anything they had must be wicked too.)
Related posts:
Green Days
A year of holiday memories
2012. My roommate Cameron Eaton and I had to get up early to go help one of our home teachees, Katie Steck, set something up in the Wilk. I was wearing my Snoopy "It's cool to be Irish" shirt. When we were waiting at the stoplight at Campus Drive and 900 North, a woman stopped and asked us where the pool was. Cameron redirected her, for she was way off. There was a high school swimming thing going on; I think Cameron knew that because he often went swimming. We helped Katie, but we just had to carry some things from her car. She didn't need much help from us. So with that extra time in the morning, I went into the library to do some last-minute studying for my Semantics and Pragmatics test. I opened up the Google doc study guide I had made, and some people had made some very funny comments. I would put them here, but I don't think anyone would get them ("You had to be there" kind of thing). I sent out a message that said, "Red writer [because the person had written in a red font], you have made my morning." Then I went to our classroom in the RB. We saw all the people there for the high school swim meet. There were lots of booths set up near the windows that overlooked the pool, which I had to pass on my way to class. I was almost finished when our time in the classroom was up. Those of us who hadn't finished had to finish in the hall. I was standing up, because I was just doing a final review of my answers, and I think Dr. Oaks told me I could sit down, but I was almost done. I might have seen my former companion "Elder" Duncan." It was a nice spring Friday, and I was feeling quite pleased that my test was over, and I felt like I did pretty well on it. I went to Sugar 'N Spice in the Wilk. I got a chocolate-chocolate donut with green sprinkles and a sugar cookie coated with green icing with a little shamrock design on it. The girl who rang me up told me she loved the cookies. I ate the donut while I walked home; I walked a way I hadn't walked before. Then when I got home I ate the cookie, and the frosting had melted and stuck to the bag. It was pistachio flavored, and I hope they have them again this year. I read my scriptures and took a nap before I went back up to my Editing class. This might have been the day that they passed around candy because of the game we had played the week before. They gave out candy in Easter wrappers, but I picked out some that had gold and green wrappers so that I could eat them. Then I went home. I told my mom I wanted to get some green shoes or green pants. So we went out looking. I couldn't find any green shoes at Famous Footwear. We went to five stores, but I can't remember what all of them were. As we were driving to Smith's Marketplace, my mom told me about the restaurant Granny Annie's that was where Marie Callendar's had been. She said she had wanted to try it because she loved the name, but it was terrible. I looked at the shoes at Smith's Marketplace. They had green Converse shoes, but they only had women's sizes. Then I looked at men's clothes. I found some clearance green pants. There were some that were the right waist, but they were too short. I ended up getting some that were big at the waist but the right length. We had to get someone to open the dressing room, and she asked if I was getting the pants for the next day. My mom told me that she liked the pants when I had them on; she thought they were ugly before she saw them on me. We bought Hugo on DVD. When we were checking out, the cashier asked if we had seen the movie, and she also asked if I was getting the pants for St. Patrick's Day. Then we went home, and I ate some key lime pie frozen yogurt, even though it was after 9. Then I got on my computer. I remembered hearing that Jan Terri had some holiday songs, so I checked them out. First I watched "Get Down Goblin"; I was pleased with the reference to The Munsters and The Addams Family. Then I watched "Rock N Roll Santa."
I was sad that it skipped (I later discovered a better version). I thought it was really funny. My mom wasn't really paying attention and thought she was saying "Whack-a-Mole Santa." My mom thought it was funny how much I thought it was funny. Little did I know that those songs would end up changing my life.
2011. I went to institute that night. There was an older couple that always provided food. That night it was "St. Patrick's Day split pea soup." The wife was wearing green. I thought about showing them my shirt (which was under my hoodie), but I didn't.
2009. We played dodgeball at one of the Coeur d'Alene buildings. In my first area we had often played dodgeball, and I liked it, but we played "every man for himself." On this occasion we were playing on teams, which I didn't like. Elder Betenson later told me that he was surprised at how bad I was, considering how much I had often talked about dodgeball. This is my journal entry for the day:
"This morning we went and played dodgeball. It was fun but I had forgotten how appallingly bad I am. I'm kind of embarrassed now. It's one of those nights I know Elder Betenson hates me, and I was simply trying to explain my past reasoning for being desirous of vampiric qualities.
"But this evening after dinner we went and saw Wayne Timonen, who is excited for us to teach him the lessons." Wayne Timonen was a man who had been inactive but had recently started coming back to church. I think we saw him that night to ask him about his commitment to give someone a Book of Mormon.
2008. It was Elder Condie's first Sunday in our wards. In the morning we went to the Northpointe Ward PEC, and Bishop Larson reproved us that we didn't have many names on our progress record. I remember at some point that day, Brother Palmer, the Northpointe ward mission leader, told us he was glad Elder Chun got a baptism before he left (since Brenna Carlsen had been baptized the previous week). Brother Mears from the Greenbluff Ward asked me if we had seen the Johnsons, an elderly nonmember couple--they were his special project. I told them that I had talked to Sister Summer (their daughter) and she said that we should wait to see them because her dad was having surgery. Brother Mears said something about how I should ask Vickie Summers about giving her parents blessings. I think that Elder Condie went to Greenbluff ward council while I went to the Northpointe Ward's ward council. Our investigator Duane came to church in the Northpointe Ward that day. I remember him telling someone he was investigating. When we were leaving church, Sister Pugh asked if Elder Condie was a new missionary. To think that I would ever train a new missionary is laughable! Here is my journal entry for the day:
"The wards don't trust me. It is quite frustrating. President Miller [the elders quorum president in the Greenbluff Ward] I guess said some stuff to Elder Condie implying I don't know anything. And Greenbluff wants us to continue working with the Johnsons even though I called Sister Summer about them and she said not to stop by for a few weeks due to recovery from surgery. It didn't help that our progress records were bare.
"But Duane came to church. Brother Welsh sat with him for Sunday School and priesthood opening exercises. He participated, and we set another date for them. I'm so excited!" (Duane and Vickie were golden investigators, but for some reason they never got baptized.)
2006. I walked into school wearing my Snoopy "Cool to be Irish" shirt and carrying a dish with a cake in it for my French class. I heard one guy say, "Is today St. Patrick's Day?" It was the day that our cultural projects were due, so we brought different desserts for the requirement. In France they eat bûches de Noël at Christmas, which are yule log cakes. But I made a bûche du jour de Saint Patrick-- I put green sprinkles on it and a little pot of gold. A girl in my class had had the same idea. But while mine was a chocolate cake with decorations on it, she made hers a different kind of cake with a mint filling. After class I went and put the dish in my car. I went to my Pre-Calc class, and Josh Roberts said he wondered if it was St. Patrick's Day because of my shirt.
2004. I was wearing a white polo shirt with a shamrock tie. Someone in my science class asked if it was St. Patrick's Day. I said no, and they wondered why I was dressed that way. I think this was the night I had to go to Trevor Young's house to work on a project in which we were presenting news stories from Samoa or one of those islands. My mom dropped me off, and she later said that a kid in the yard (Trevor's younger brother) had been on my soccer team when I was 9. We met in Trevor's basement. Greg Gabbott came, and Trevor's mom knew him, but she didn't know me. One of Trevor's little brothers came in and wanted to know who I was. Trevor seemed annoyed with this brother, and told him I was just one of his friends. His younger brother said, "He talks funny." We all found that hilarious. I told them about the article I found about someone robbing a house "armed with fishing spears." Trevor wanted to film us reporting our news articles in front of an outdoorsy wallpaper, but I didn't like the idea. Then my dad picked me up, because my mom was at mutual. I went to the Joneses for part of mutual, where we were making pizza. Then that night my mom went and bought things for me to take to seminary the next day. I wanted those Pillsbury cookies that you cut that had shamrocks on them, but she just bought plain ones. We tried to put green sugars on them. She also bought a loaf of bread with green stripes for our dinner the next day.
2003. It was my uncle Paul's fiftieth birthday, so we had a party at my house. There was a balloon that had people dressed in old clothing and said "Welcome to the Middle Ages." My aunt and my mom were quite amused by a balloon they had bought Paul ten years earlier. It doesn't sound like a very clever balloon to me, but to this day they still bring it up as if it's the funniest thing ever. After church I changed into an orange polo shirt. Then I had to go home teaching with Brother Naylor. The Spencers commented on my orange shirt. When Brother Naylor dropped me off, he pointed out that we were having a party.
2002. We went to Winegar's to buy things to make cookies for my cousin Hiram's farewell. I noticed the green mint chips, so my mom bought them. We made two kinds of cookies that night. We made regular chocolate chip cookies with green dye in the batter, and cookies with mint chips instead of chocolate chips. My mom said that people wouldn't want to eat the green dye cookies, but it turned out that they ate more of those than the mint ones.
2001. It was our sixth-grade mini-society day (which was basically a day where we ran stores). Since I had a quite lucrative business selling homemade window clings, I had a lot of money that I used to buy a stovepipe hat from Jaydon Bean. Mr. Williams, my teacher, said that I bought the hat he wanted. A girl named Brittany in my class wore a St. Patrick's Day hat, since they usually had hat contests for St. Patrick's Day, but they didn't that year. I wore a green shirt to bed that night.
1996. My parents took me to the Salt Lake City St. Patrick's Day parade. I was probably wearing my little plastic green derby hat. I noticed that they had painted clovers on the street. There were lots of bagpipers. Near to us there had been some people with picket signs that had St. Patrick's Day messages. When they left, they just left the signs on the ground. My parents told me I could take them, but I didn't want to. (Maybe it was because I thought those people must have been wicked, since they littered, and I figured that anything they had must be wicked too.)
Related posts:
Green Days
A year of holiday memories
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