As this year comes to an end, I'm going to remember last New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.
On New Year's Eve morning, we went to my grandparents' house to return my grandpa's hearing equipment. Then we went to Best Buy to get a few things. I wanted a speaker that could be charged by the computer but didn't go in the USB, but I couldn't find what I was looking for (I didn't exactly know what I was looking for). We looked at vacuums, and I noticed that the signs hanging in the store had both English and Spanish. I was amused that one of the translations was exactly the same, except that they had replaced an ampersand with "y." In the car, my mom's copy of Cherie Call's Gifts came on; I told her to switch the CD after the New Year song, since Christmas was over. I asked if that made me a hypocrite, since I would be listening to some Christmas music that was my 2012 music, and she didn't think so, but she said that she should be able to listen to it because it was a new CD for her in 2012. That day we went to Winegar's grocery store and got lots of unhealthy things because we thought some of my cousins would come over. We got chips, eggnog, New Year cupcakes, gingerbread and eggnog taffy, and gingerbread marshmallows. We also got more. But no one came, so we had an abundance of bad things. I turned on my 2012 music while taking down Christmas and putting up New Year things. My mom was laughing at my Jan Terri music. I finished a memory post while my parents were downstairs; I later joined them. We weren't pleased with any of the options for New Year coverage--what's the point of a tape-delayed New Year?
On New Year's Day, we went to our traditional family dinner at Golden Corral. Afterwards, we went with my aunt Sue to Tai Pan. I got a clearance Christmas tree for $5 and Sue did as well. Then we went to my aunt's house and played Loaded Questions. One of the questions was "What is a headline you don't expect?" and I said, "Ke$ha gets baptized into Mormon church," and when Jesse saw that, he made his, "Ke$ha marries Mark Melville." My mom and I left with Allie, then realized we had forgotten something, so we turned back. We dropped Allie off at her house since she had school the next day. Then we went home and I kept listening to my 2012 music while I disassembled our little Christmas tree. I finished up the last of our eggnog, knowing that the holidays were completely over.
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Monday, December 23, 2013
December 27
Well, Christmas will be over this week, so I'm going to remember what happened two days after Christmas.
2012. This day we were going to Six Flags. My dad was feeling sick, so he didn't go with us, but the rest of us--my brother's whole family, my mom, my grandparents, and I--all loaded up in our Suburban. We had to drop David off at their church so he could ride with some ward members who were going with us. The three boys were in the back, and Franklin was playing with my mom's iPod, using a voice recording app. He was saying some rather R-rated things. I was hoping no one else would notice, but my mom did and told him not to say those things. I told him if he kept saying them I would take the iPod away, and he said, "But it's funny!" Shortly after he and Preston were fighting. Preston had been saying things into the iPod just to annoy Franklin, so Franklin bit Preston, and then they began fighting. I leaned back to break up the fight, and I might have taken away the iPod. Ever-happy Baby was content, and he had given me the water bottle he had been drinking from, which didn't have a lid on it. We went over a bump, and water shot out of the water bottle and hit Franklin right in the face. If I had tried to splash him, I couldn't have done a better job. Franklin thinks that people do mean things to him on purpose, and he became furious. I told him I was sorry, but he didn't accept it and kept kicking the back of my seat. He was crying up a tempest. When we got to Six Flags, he didn't even want to be near me, and was mad that he had to change his shirt. We met up with David and the family he was with. I went on a ride with the six-year-old and worried he might have hurt his teeth on the ride, but he didn't. He became quite comfortable with me the rest of the day.
We went to a dolphin show, and I remember remarking that it had been exactly nineteen years since I had been to another dolphin show. The kids enjoyed playing in artificial snow, and I had to keep telling Preston he couldn't throw it. Franklin wasn't as mad at me later in the day. That night, we were in a gift shop while they lit up the Christmas tree outside. Then we left Six Flags and went to Jack in the Box for dinner. I got a pumpkin milkshake, and the kids got their own shakes after dinner. While we were waiting for dinner, Baby was sitting on our table and my grandpa kept giving him sips of different drinks. Baby pointed to my shake, and Grandpa grabbed it to give to Baby, but my mom stopped him because he couldn't have any until after dinner. (It was mine, anyway.) Then we took my grandparents to their hotel. That night, Franklin once again said that I was mean. I told him that I didn't do it on purpose, that I would never do that to him, and my mom said, "Uncle Mark is actually very nice."
2011. I got off work early, so I went with my parents to go see Arthur Christmas in theaters. We met Susanne there, and after the movie, I gave her my new Black Eyed Peas CD, since I had already copied the clean songs. She asked if I wanted money, but I declined. My dad started driving but had his door open. Susanne saw it and when she drove by she was laughing. I think this was the evening my parents invited me to watch a movie with them, but I didn't like the language, so I grabbed headphones and started my first New Year memory post. When their movie was over, I asked my mom if she wanted to hear the song about hair that I owned, since it was playing on my shuffle playlist.
2010. In the morning we went to a used media store. On our way there, David was playing "I'm thinking of an animal" with Preston and Franklin. Preston's animals included a chigger and a lungfish. When it was Franklin's turn, he said, "I'm thinking of a animal," and Preston said, "Is it an alligator?" Franklin said, "Uh huh." We laughed, and David said that was how Franklin played it. When we got to the store, Franklin wanted to stay with me, more than he wanted to stay with my mom. We looked in the used books section, and Franklin liked all the Spiderman books. I was amused by a book I found called something like "I Can Shine My Light for Jesus on Halloween." My mom wanted to get movies for the kids--for Franklin she got a DVD of various cartoons because it had Batman on it. Preston wanted to get a movie called The Tangerine Bear, but David thought he should get something else. Later, when he found out he had gotten The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, he wished he hadn't said anything.
2009. Various family members started coming to our house to go to my homecoming talk. We were listening to Cherie Call's Beneath These Stars album. Eventually we went to church, and I of course sat on the stand. Our opening hymn was "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," and even though Christmas was over, I was actually pleased because I was able to use a line in one of my talks. I saw my old companion Elder Love sitting in the congregation, and when I began talking about Ritzville, I saw him squirm with delight. After sacrament meeting I went to Sunday School, since it seemed weird to me to celebrate a church accomplishment by skipping church. David came back to church and got me out of Sunday School and said, "Let's go." I asked him why, and he got this condescending smile on his face and said, "Because if you don't, it means you didn't learn one thing on your mission." He told me I was being incredibly rude. I was so taken aback by his gruffness and his meanness that there was no way I was going to let him win the argument. If he had been nicer, I might have considered going home, but with the way he was acting, there was no way I was going to. I went back into Sunday School, and it made me a little uncomfortable when people would call me Mark, since my former companion was sitting right next to me, and on my mission I didn't like saying my name. For priesthood opening exercises, we sang "Ring Out, Wild Bells," and at the end Elder Love said, "That's an interesting song," and I said, "I love that song," and Christian Ulmer also said, "I love that song." I came home and talked a little with Elder Love, but I felt I needed to talk to my visiting family members. He left and I talked with some family members, who didn't stay long. That might have been the night that after everyone left, I picked up Franklin and spun him around. Shortly after, he threw up, and I felt really bad that I contributed to him throwing up. Susanne cleaned it up, and David thanked her for cleaning up after his kid.
2008. It was transfer call day, and we were always jumpy on those days. Other missionaries kept calling Elder Love, and whenever we heard the phone ring, we wondered if it would be transfer calls. We had dinner with a family whose last name started with K, and I think they showed us a Wall-E toy they got for Christmas. Elder Love got a phone call while we were there, and he told us that he had talked to someone who said he was being transferred, but he didn't know where. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was somewhat uneventful. Our highlights were the contacts with the Clarks, who want us to return, and a visit with the Andruses. All day we anticipated our transfer calls, and didn't get them until about 9:20. Elder Love will stay in the zone, but not in the district. I will have Elder Wilson, whom I met in Northland Zone. It will be the first time my companion is younger than I."
2007. We had interviews with the mission president that day. The sisters gave us a ride, and we brought our boxes of cherry cordials. One of them fell on the concrete outside the church door, but Elder Chun picked it up and put it back in the box. Then we had to tell President Clark not to eat from that box. Interviews were really long. We watched a pioneer video, but I couldn't stay awake for most of it. President Clark asked me to come in with Elder Chun. That was the only time I ever went in with my companion. Elder Chun talked about how the members kept signing up for dinner appointments on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, when we were only supposed to eat with members if they had an investigator present on those days. President Clark was very forceful with Elder Chun that we weren't supposed to eat with members on those days. Then it was time for my individual interview. I told him how I felt bad for Elder Chun because I was always doing lots of stupid things. At the end of the interview, President said to me, "Elder Melville, will you check that your zipper is up? Will you just check?" It wasn't up, and I told him that showed how I was always doing stupid things. That afternoon we visited Sister Stubbs and she asked about evolution, and she asked if we were created in the image of God, does that mean God is in the image of a fish or a monkey? I explained that the Church had no position on evolution. When we left, there was this creepy guy walking around, and Elder Chun said hi to him, and he said, "I'm going to Salt Lake City to pick up some girls." He said, "Do you know what I do for a living? I'm a male prostitute." He said some pretty foul things. I think he had some broken teeth. After he left, Elder Chun thought it was so funny that he called Elder Johnson and told him about it. That night we went tracting, and I think it was the first time I did the door approach. Elder Chun always liked to shake people's hands, and one guy wouldn't shake because he said he didn't want to get the flu. The last people were named Marsh. They were very nice and said they would like to talk to us. The wife said she had read the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price and she had a Doctrine and Covenants, to which the husband said, "How did you get a D&C?" We worried they would be wolves in sheep's clothing just wanting to bash with us (which turned out to be mostly correct). This is my journal entry for the day:
"We had interviews today. It was extremely embarrassing when President Clark pointed out that my zipper was down.
"We met with Sister Stubbs who had some irrelevant questions that came from viewing the History Channel. I was able to explain the Church's stance on evolution.
"On our way home we met a self-proclaimed male prostitute. Elder Chun's comment (to me) was that the work must be going pretty slowly for him, since he did not try to keep himself attractive. He had the language of his profession and the coherency of a souse.
"We went tracting tonight. The people were more "We appreciate what you're doing but we're not interested" and quicker to close the door. Our last house was very nice and wanted us to return. They had talked with the missionaries before and seemed eager to talk again. I worry they might be wolves in sheep's clothing, but we shall see.
"We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a less-active teenage girl named Erica"
2005. This might have been the day that I asked Allie if she wanted to watch a show, and I brought down my new DVD with Rudolph's Shiny New Year. She wanted to watch it, but she wanted to make sure we weren't watching my Munsters DVD, and I was impressed she new it was a DVD, since it wasn't packaged like a regular DVD.
2000. This might have been the day that my mom and I went to a Target near my aunt's house and bought this Christmas decoration that had a globe, and when you touched little metal points on the globe with a metal stylus, the globe would give a Christmas greeting from that country. Then we went to my aunt's house, and they gave me a Christmas gift that was Snoopy's doghouse with bone-shaped candy inside.
1999. This might have been the day that we went to the Thompsons' house, and I asked my mom to get Happy New Year, Charlie Brown from Media Play. She did, and I watched it at their house. I think they also bought M&Ms that had MM written on them, since it was almost 2000. This also might have been the time that they had chips and salsa, and Sue bit a chip, then put it in the dip. Jesse said, "You double dipped," and she said, "No, I didn't double dip, because I only dipped once." I think Jesse told me the synopsis of Rudolph's Shiny New Year, since I had never seen it.
1993. I think this was the day we went to Sea World. It also might have been the day that we stopped at a rest stop for a breakfast of little cereal boxes, and Chancey was singing "Must Be Santa," but that might have been the day before. When we showed up at Sea World, I was surprised they still had Christmas decorations up, since the holiday was over. One of the first things we did was go to a dolphin show. They told me I would get wet if I sat up front, so I sat with my grandparents further back, where we wouldn't get wet. I was wearing a blue Sea World visor. Afterwards, everyone laughed about how wet they had gotten, and I was a little sad I didn't sit up close. At another point, we walked through a tunnel with fish all around, and I saw a hammerhead shark. Later that day we saw a walrus show, although I don't remember much about it, except that I liked the fire. We saw Shamu that night, and we sat further away and still got a little wet. I think David sat close and got soaked. Then we went into a gift shop and I wanted to get a turtle stamp.
2012. This day we were going to Six Flags. My dad was feeling sick, so he didn't go with us, but the rest of us--my brother's whole family, my mom, my grandparents, and I--all loaded up in our Suburban. We had to drop David off at their church so he could ride with some ward members who were going with us. The three boys were in the back, and Franklin was playing with my mom's iPod, using a voice recording app. He was saying some rather R-rated things. I was hoping no one else would notice, but my mom did and told him not to say those things. I told him if he kept saying them I would take the iPod away, and he said, "But it's funny!" Shortly after he and Preston were fighting. Preston had been saying things into the iPod just to annoy Franklin, so Franklin bit Preston, and then they began fighting. I leaned back to break up the fight, and I might have taken away the iPod. Ever-happy Baby was content, and he had given me the water bottle he had been drinking from, which didn't have a lid on it. We went over a bump, and water shot out of the water bottle and hit Franklin right in the face. If I had tried to splash him, I couldn't have done a better job. Franklin thinks that people do mean things to him on purpose, and he became furious. I told him I was sorry, but he didn't accept it and kept kicking the back of my seat. He was crying up a tempest. When we got to Six Flags, he didn't even want to be near me, and was mad that he had to change his shirt. We met up with David and the family he was with. I went on a ride with the six-year-old and worried he might have hurt his teeth on the ride, but he didn't. He became quite comfortable with me the rest of the day.
2011. I got off work early, so I went with my parents to go see Arthur Christmas in theaters. We met Susanne there, and after the movie, I gave her my new Black Eyed Peas CD, since I had already copied the clean songs. She asked if I wanted money, but I declined. My dad started driving but had his door open. Susanne saw it and when she drove by she was laughing. I think this was the evening my parents invited me to watch a movie with them, but I didn't like the language, so I grabbed headphones and started my first New Year memory post. When their movie was over, I asked my mom if she wanted to hear the song about hair that I owned, since it was playing on my shuffle playlist.
2010. In the morning we went to a used media store. On our way there, David was playing "I'm thinking of an animal" with Preston and Franklin. Preston's animals included a chigger and a lungfish. When it was Franklin's turn, he said, "I'm thinking of a animal," and Preston said, "Is it an alligator?" Franklin said, "Uh huh." We laughed, and David said that was how Franklin played it. When we got to the store, Franklin wanted to stay with me, more than he wanted to stay with my mom. We looked in the used books section, and Franklin liked all the Spiderman books. I was amused by a book I found called something like "I Can Shine My Light for Jesus on Halloween." My mom wanted to get movies for the kids--for Franklin she got a DVD of various cartoons because it had Batman on it. Preston wanted to get a movie called The Tangerine Bear, but David thought he should get something else. Later, when he found out he had gotten The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars, he wished he hadn't said anything.
2009. Various family members started coming to our house to go to my homecoming talk. We were listening to Cherie Call's Beneath These Stars album. Eventually we went to church, and I of course sat on the stand. Our opening hymn was "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," and even though Christmas was over, I was actually pleased because I was able to use a line in one of my talks. I saw my old companion Elder Love sitting in the congregation, and when I began talking about Ritzville, I saw him squirm with delight. After sacrament meeting I went to Sunday School, since it seemed weird to me to celebrate a church accomplishment by skipping church. David came back to church and got me out of Sunday School and said, "Let's go." I asked him why, and he got this condescending smile on his face and said, "Because if you don't, it means you didn't learn one thing on your mission." He told me I was being incredibly rude. I was so taken aback by his gruffness and his meanness that there was no way I was going to let him win the argument. If he had been nicer, I might have considered going home, but with the way he was acting, there was no way I was going to. I went back into Sunday School, and it made me a little uncomfortable when people would call me Mark, since my former companion was sitting right next to me, and on my mission I didn't like saying my name. For priesthood opening exercises, we sang "Ring Out, Wild Bells," and at the end Elder Love said, "That's an interesting song," and I said, "I love that song," and Christian Ulmer also said, "I love that song." I came home and talked a little with Elder Love, but I felt I needed to talk to my visiting family members. He left and I talked with some family members, who didn't stay long. That might have been the night that after everyone left, I picked up Franklin and spun him around. Shortly after, he threw up, and I felt really bad that I contributed to him throwing up. Susanne cleaned it up, and David thanked her for cleaning up after his kid.
2008. It was transfer call day, and we were always jumpy on those days. Other missionaries kept calling Elder Love, and whenever we heard the phone ring, we wondered if it would be transfer calls. We had dinner with a family whose last name started with K, and I think they showed us a Wall-E toy they got for Christmas. Elder Love got a phone call while we were there, and he told us that he had talked to someone who said he was being transferred, but he didn't know where. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was somewhat uneventful. Our highlights were the contacts with the Clarks, who want us to return, and a visit with the Andruses. All day we anticipated our transfer calls, and didn't get them until about 9:20. Elder Love will stay in the zone, but not in the district. I will have Elder Wilson, whom I met in Northland Zone. It will be the first time my companion is younger than I."
2007. We had interviews with the mission president that day. The sisters gave us a ride, and we brought our boxes of cherry cordials. One of them fell on the concrete outside the church door, but Elder Chun picked it up and put it back in the box. Then we had to tell President Clark not to eat from that box. Interviews were really long. We watched a pioneer video, but I couldn't stay awake for most of it. President Clark asked me to come in with Elder Chun. That was the only time I ever went in with my companion. Elder Chun talked about how the members kept signing up for dinner appointments on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays, when we were only supposed to eat with members if they had an investigator present on those days. President Clark was very forceful with Elder Chun that we weren't supposed to eat with members on those days. Then it was time for my individual interview. I told him how I felt bad for Elder Chun because I was always doing lots of stupid things. At the end of the interview, President said to me, "Elder Melville, will you check that your zipper is up? Will you just check?" It wasn't up, and I told him that showed how I was always doing stupid things. That afternoon we visited Sister Stubbs and she asked about evolution, and she asked if we were created in the image of God, does that mean God is in the image of a fish or a monkey? I explained that the Church had no position on evolution. When we left, there was this creepy guy walking around, and Elder Chun said hi to him, and he said, "I'm going to Salt Lake City to pick up some girls." He said, "Do you know what I do for a living? I'm a male prostitute." He said some pretty foul things. I think he had some broken teeth. After he left, Elder Chun thought it was so funny that he called Elder Johnson and told him about it. That night we went tracting, and I think it was the first time I did the door approach. Elder Chun always liked to shake people's hands, and one guy wouldn't shake because he said he didn't want to get the flu. The last people were named Marsh. They were very nice and said they would like to talk to us. The wife said she had read the Book of Mormon and the Pearl of Great Price and she had a Doctrine and Covenants, to which the husband said, "How did you get a D&C?" We worried they would be wolves in sheep's clothing just wanting to bash with us (which turned out to be mostly correct). This is my journal entry for the day:
"We had interviews today. It was extremely embarrassing when President Clark pointed out that my zipper was down.
"We met with Sister Stubbs who had some irrelevant questions that came from viewing the History Channel. I was able to explain the Church's stance on evolution.
"On our way home we met a self-proclaimed male prostitute. Elder Chun's comment (to me) was that the work must be going pretty slowly for him, since he did not try to keep himself attractive. He had the language of his profession and the coherency of a souse.
"We went tracting tonight. The people were more "We appreciate what you're doing but we're not interested" and quicker to close the door. Our last house was very nice and wanted us to return. They had talked with the missionaries before and seemed eager to talk again. I worry they might be wolves in sheep's clothing, but we shall see.
"We taught the Gospel of Jesus Christ to a less-active teenage girl named Erica"
2005. This might have been the day that I asked Allie if she wanted to watch a show, and I brought down my new DVD with Rudolph's Shiny New Year. She wanted to watch it, but she wanted to make sure we weren't watching my Munsters DVD, and I was impressed she new it was a DVD, since it wasn't packaged like a regular DVD.
2000. This might have been the day that my mom and I went to a Target near my aunt's house and bought this Christmas decoration that had a globe, and when you touched little metal points on the globe with a metal stylus, the globe would give a Christmas greeting from that country. Then we went to my aunt's house, and they gave me a Christmas gift that was Snoopy's doghouse with bone-shaped candy inside.
1999. This might have been the day that we went to the Thompsons' house, and I asked my mom to get Happy New Year, Charlie Brown from Media Play. She did, and I watched it at their house. I think they also bought M&Ms that had MM written on them, since it was almost 2000. This also might have been the time that they had chips and salsa, and Sue bit a chip, then put it in the dip. Jesse said, "You double dipped," and she said, "No, I didn't double dip, because I only dipped once." I think Jesse told me the synopsis of Rudolph's Shiny New Year, since I had never seen it.
1993. I think this was the day we went to Sea World. It also might have been the day that we stopped at a rest stop for a breakfast of little cereal boxes, and Chancey was singing "Must Be Santa," but that might have been the day before. When we showed up at Sea World, I was surprised they still had Christmas decorations up, since the holiday was over. One of the first things we did was go to a dolphin show. They told me I would get wet if I sat up front, so I sat with my grandparents further back, where we wouldn't get wet. I was wearing a blue Sea World visor. Afterwards, everyone laughed about how wet they had gotten, and I was a little sad I didn't sit up close. At another point, we walked through a tunnel with fish all around, and I saw a hammerhead shark. Later that day we saw a walrus show, although I don't remember much about it, except that I liked the fire. We saw Shamu that night, and we sat further away and still got a little wet. I think David sat close and got soaked. Then we went into a gift shop and I wanted to get a turtle stamp.
Sunday, December 15, 2013
December 21
As we inch ever closer to Christmas, I'm going to remember what I can about four days before the holiday.
2012. I remember wrapping Christmas presents. That night I watched Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, with the intent of seeing if it could count as a Fourth of July movie. But since they didn't mention the Fourth of July until twenty minutes in, and the last half of the movie takes place July 5 and July 6, I decided not to count it.
2011. We had our work Christmas party in our break room, so all the people from other departments had to go elsewhere for their breaks. They had put strings across the room and hung those plastic candy-filled canes on them. We all got one, and then later we got to get more. I got red and green Sprees and I think one other kind of Christmas candy. They had even brought the radio up into the break room, which annoyed me a little, since radio Christmas music isn't very good. Our supervisor, Nate, thanked us for our work. Then we ate Subways. Then they told a bunch of us we could go home early. So I drove to Shopko in Bountiful to do my shopping, listening to Handel's Messiah on the way. I looked at various stores, and when I went to my car, it wouldn't start! So I called my parents, and while I waited I finished my shopping. My parents came and tried to jumpstart the car, but it wouldn't work. So then they called a tow man, and he tried to jump it, and it still wouldn't work, so he towed it. Then we went to dinner at Burger King, where in the background they played Rachel Platten's "1,000 Ships."
2009. In the morning, my mom and I were going up to Farmington to get me a new driver's license. I put in my He Gives Flowers to Everyone Cherie Call CD. When we got off the freeway in Farmington, I saw a car pull off on the shoulder, and I could tell they were doing a U-turn. I told my mom that, but it was too late and he pulled right in front of us. It was the first time I had been in an accident. The car started spilling liquid all over, and I tried to call 911. My phone was acting weird, but fortunately a police car drove by right then. The guy in the other car was very sorry and admitted it was his fault. I think Susanne came and picked me up to take me to the DMV. That day we discussed how our family home evening would be for the kids to deliver Christmas presents. Allie called it "Hamily Fome Evening." (Maybe that was a different day that month.) But instead of going to our FHE, I went to the singles ward FHE, which was a white elephant party. I grabbed a couple of CDs I no longer wanted, a Monkees compilation and a cheap Halloween CD. I went to the house where the party was being held. I almost went to the wrong house, but then I figured out it was wrong. The Christmas tree was a really fancy designer tree with gaudy candy decorations, and a cover album of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer soundtrack was playing. They had pizza for dinner, and Peter Moosman, a vegetarian, was disgusted when he found out that what he thought was cheese pizza actually had meat on it. "Who puts toppings under the cheese?!" He said he felt sick. I thought it was funny, though now I would be a bit more sympathetic. Then we went downstairs for our white elephants. At one point I got a Cafe Rio giftcard, and later a Star Wars cup and a watch, but eventually I ended up with an IQ book and a CD of songs written by Orrin Hatch. The Down syndrome Matt Chidester ended up with a typewriter, which he was going to give to his mom. The party went late, and then I still had to come home and watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which I did in the kitchen.
2008. It was very snowy in Davenport. We went to church, but a lot of people were snowed in, since they lived in other towns. There were very few of us at church, so we had a short sacrament meeting and went home, even though it was supposed to be the Christmas program. Elder Love and I put our boots on and got shovels and went around shoveling people out. We shoveled Sister Barnett's driveway, and she invited us in and gave us hot chocolate.
(Isn't Google cool? It made a snowy version of my picture without me asking!)
Then we went to shovel the driveway of a woman named Henrietta. We shoveled her car, thinking she could probably make it out the rest of the way. We didn't talk to her; we just did it. (A few weeks later, we went back to her house/trailer, and she asked us if we were the ones who had shoveled her car out. I expected her to thank us, but instead she complained that we had only shoveled one side, as if we had done some terrible, inconsiderate thing! Her entitlement mentality made us never want to help her again.) We did lots of walking and shoveling, but we did that a lot that month, so I can't remember specifics about this particular day.
2007. We went biking around to contact people. We visited a less-active who was the brother of a semi-active family in the ward. Elder Chun talked to him, and he said to me, "I see you're a little green around the ears," and I said, "Completely." Then we tried to see Cindy Neely (whom I had never met), but she wasn't home. We then went home, and I remember being on my bike, thinking, "Don't hit that small pothole on the shoulder," and I did and crashed. I was fine, though. We went home for lunch, and we talked with Sister Welsh, whom we lived with. That evening we went tracting in the Greenbluff Ward, and all the people said we could come back (although none of them were actually serious when we went back). Then we went to an appointment with Ashley Guiler, a less-active teenage girl. Elder Chun missed the road to turn on and ended up in a forested, steep, icy road. It was scary. We simply couldn't make it up the hill. I suggested going to the bottom of the hill to see if there was an outlet to a main road, but Elder Chun wouldn't (because there wasn't one). He told me to pray we would be able to get out. He would have me push, but I would just push myself away from the car on the ice. Eventually he got the idea to go on the side of the road where there were pine needles, and then we were finally able to make it out. Then we visited the Guilers, who gave us Thin Mints and hot chocolate. He told them the story of what had just happened to us, as an illustration of receiving inspiration (the inspiration being to drive on the pine needles). We left late (I was brand new and didn't feel it was my place to say what to do) and as we were driving home, the zone leaders called and asked to talk to Elder Chun. I told them he was driving, and they asked where we were. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was quite an eventful day. This morning we went biking to contact a referral. I had many close calls on my bike. We contacted Sister Cunningham's less-active brother, who has a lot of faith in God but questions much of the deeper doctrine. He agreed to let us come back.
"On our way back home, I completely biffed it, falling directly on the road. Fortunately there were no cars. I am fine, although my knees were scraped through my suit, and I think one of my knees in my pants is a little thinner. A button came off my suit, as did a reflector from my bike. My suit is dusty so I will have to stop at the dry cleaner's on Monday, hopefully. I had debated not wearing my gloves on the way back. Fortunately I did so my hands are fine, not with the scrape that is on my glove.
"Later we went tracting. We went to six or seven houses. Three of those had people answer--all of them agreeing to have us come back next week. The first was interested in our idea of a prophet on the earth.
"After that we drove around looking for houses of referrals. We could not find many of the houses.
"After this unsuccessful drive, we were finished before we had planned. We made an appointment with a less active member. On our way Elder Chun missed the road and we had a scary experience driving on a dark, steep, windy [as in winding], icy road with ditches on either side. Elder Chun tried to turn around but we had a very unsuccessful time driving back up the hill. I suggested driving down to the end of the road but it turned out (according to the sister we taught after) to be a dead end, so I'm glad he didn't listen. After failed attempt after failed attempt, we prayed. Elder Chun had the idea to try driving on the side of the road where it was not icy. Eventually it worked, and we thanked Heavenly Father for the successful serendipity of the situation. The roads here aren't maintained very well--that road was solid ice that when Elder Chung [sic] asked me to push, I was only able to push myself away from the car.
"We taught the family after that and got home after 10. Breaking mission code just a little bit..."
2006. I'm not certain, but this might have been the day that in my Spanish class, we were singing Christmas carols, and some classmates wanted me and a kid named Zach to sing in front of the class. I realized they probably considered us similar, but that bothered me, because I didn't want to be like him.
2005. Again, I'm not sure, but this might have been the night that we bundled the kids up and took them to Temple Square. Then we went inside one museum where there was a play area for kids. I came home and had some pumpkin cheesecake.
2004. We made suckers in my chemistry class, but we had to put the flavoring in before it cooled, and that ruined the flavoring. I got a school newspaper, and I took it home and read it. That night there was a power outage. I read some Edgar Allan Poe by the fireplace. I was going to take a shower and go to bed. Ya-ping and my mom questioned me taking a shower in the dark, but I did that all the time.
2000. We might have had our school Christmas sing-off. We sixth-graders sang "Little St. Nick" and "My Grown-Up Christmas Wish," which I thought was a dumb song. Mr. Williams (my teacher) went around throwing candy to everyone, wearing a poster that said "Sugar Plum Fairy."
1999. I'm not sure, but this might be the day we gave our teacher our gifts in fifth grade, and I gave her a Barnes and Noble gift card. She acted excited when I gave her the envelope, and she said, "Is this what I think it is?" The night before I didn't want to lick the envelope, so I sealed it with water instead, and got the envelope a little wrinkly from water, and I worried Mrs. Call would think I slobbered on the envelope so that it got wrinkly.
1995. This might have been the day that the office ladies called me down so that I could sing to them, and then they gave me a fruit-flavored candy cane. Then I went back to the classroom and got my stuff, since school was over.
1994. This might have been the day that Mrs. Christensen, our kindergarten teacher, gave us little Christmas hard candies. She told us we couldn't talk with candy in our mouth because we might choke. One of my classmates was being silly and put her candy at the front of her nose like Rudolph, and Mrs. Christensen reproved her. I was talking to Ali Snarr, and she took her candy out of her mouth and said to me, "You're not supposed to talk with candy in your mouth."
2012. I remember wrapping Christmas presents. That night I watched Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, with the intent of seeing if it could count as a Fourth of July movie. But since they didn't mention the Fourth of July until twenty minutes in, and the last half of the movie takes place July 5 and July 6, I decided not to count it.
2011. We had our work Christmas party in our break room, so all the people from other departments had to go elsewhere for their breaks. They had put strings across the room and hung those plastic candy-filled canes on them. We all got one, and then later we got to get more. I got red and green Sprees and I think one other kind of Christmas candy. They had even brought the radio up into the break room, which annoyed me a little, since radio Christmas music isn't very good. Our supervisor, Nate, thanked us for our work. Then we ate Subways. Then they told a bunch of us we could go home early. So I drove to Shopko in Bountiful to do my shopping, listening to Handel's Messiah on the way. I looked at various stores, and when I went to my car, it wouldn't start! So I called my parents, and while I waited I finished my shopping. My parents came and tried to jumpstart the car, but it wouldn't work. So then they called a tow man, and he tried to jump it, and it still wouldn't work, so he towed it. Then we went to dinner at Burger King, where in the background they played Rachel Platten's "1,000 Ships."
2009. In the morning, my mom and I were going up to Farmington to get me a new driver's license. I put in my He Gives Flowers to Everyone Cherie Call CD. When we got off the freeway in Farmington, I saw a car pull off on the shoulder, and I could tell they were doing a U-turn. I told my mom that, but it was too late and he pulled right in front of us. It was the first time I had been in an accident. The car started spilling liquid all over, and I tried to call 911. My phone was acting weird, but fortunately a police car drove by right then. The guy in the other car was very sorry and admitted it was his fault. I think Susanne came and picked me up to take me to the DMV. That day we discussed how our family home evening would be for the kids to deliver Christmas presents. Allie called it "Hamily Fome Evening." (Maybe that was a different day that month.) But instead of going to our FHE, I went to the singles ward FHE, which was a white elephant party. I grabbed a couple of CDs I no longer wanted, a Monkees compilation and a cheap Halloween CD. I went to the house where the party was being held. I almost went to the wrong house, but then I figured out it was wrong. The Christmas tree was a really fancy designer tree with gaudy candy decorations, and a cover album of the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer soundtrack was playing. They had pizza for dinner, and Peter Moosman, a vegetarian, was disgusted when he found out that what he thought was cheese pizza actually had meat on it. "Who puts toppings under the cheese?!" He said he felt sick. I thought it was funny, though now I would be a bit more sympathetic. Then we went downstairs for our white elephants. At one point I got a Cafe Rio giftcard, and later a Star Wars cup and a watch, but eventually I ended up with an IQ book and a CD of songs written by Orrin Hatch. The Down syndrome Matt Chidester ended up with a typewriter, which he was going to give to his mom. The party went late, and then I still had to come home and watch Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which I did in the kitchen.
2008. It was very snowy in Davenport. We went to church, but a lot of people were snowed in, since they lived in other towns. There were very few of us at church, so we had a short sacrament meeting and went home, even though it was supposed to be the Christmas program. Elder Love and I put our boots on and got shovels and went around shoveling people out. We shoveled Sister Barnett's driveway, and she invited us in and gave us hot chocolate.
2007. We went biking around to contact people. We visited a less-active who was the brother of a semi-active family in the ward. Elder Chun talked to him, and he said to me, "I see you're a little green around the ears," and I said, "Completely." Then we tried to see Cindy Neely (whom I had never met), but she wasn't home. We then went home, and I remember being on my bike, thinking, "Don't hit that small pothole on the shoulder," and I did and crashed. I was fine, though. We went home for lunch, and we talked with Sister Welsh, whom we lived with. That evening we went tracting in the Greenbluff Ward, and all the people said we could come back (although none of them were actually serious when we went back). Then we went to an appointment with Ashley Guiler, a less-active teenage girl. Elder Chun missed the road to turn on and ended up in a forested, steep, icy road. It was scary. We simply couldn't make it up the hill. I suggested going to the bottom of the hill to see if there was an outlet to a main road, but Elder Chun wouldn't (because there wasn't one). He told me to pray we would be able to get out. He would have me push, but I would just push myself away from the car on the ice. Eventually he got the idea to go on the side of the road where there were pine needles, and then we were finally able to make it out. Then we visited the Guilers, who gave us Thin Mints and hot chocolate. He told them the story of what had just happened to us, as an illustration of receiving inspiration (the inspiration being to drive on the pine needles). We left late (I was brand new and didn't feel it was my place to say what to do) and as we were driving home, the zone leaders called and asked to talk to Elder Chun. I told them he was driving, and they asked where we were. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was quite an eventful day. This morning we went biking to contact a referral. I had many close calls on my bike. We contacted Sister Cunningham's less-active brother, who has a lot of faith in God but questions much of the deeper doctrine. He agreed to let us come back.
"On our way back home, I completely biffed it, falling directly on the road. Fortunately there were no cars. I am fine, although my knees were scraped through my suit, and I think one of my knees in my pants is a little thinner. A button came off my suit, as did a reflector from my bike. My suit is dusty so I will have to stop at the dry cleaner's on Monday, hopefully. I had debated not wearing my gloves on the way back. Fortunately I did so my hands are fine, not with the scrape that is on my glove.
"Later we went tracting. We went to six or seven houses. Three of those had people answer--all of them agreeing to have us come back next week. The first was interested in our idea of a prophet on the earth.
"After that we drove around looking for houses of referrals. We could not find many of the houses.
"After this unsuccessful drive, we were finished before we had planned. We made an appointment with a less active member. On our way Elder Chun missed the road and we had a scary experience driving on a dark, steep, windy [as in winding], icy road with ditches on either side. Elder Chun tried to turn around but we had a very unsuccessful time driving back up the hill. I suggested driving down to the end of the road but it turned out (according to the sister we taught after) to be a dead end, so I'm glad he didn't listen. After failed attempt after failed attempt, we prayed. Elder Chun had the idea to try driving on the side of the road where it was not icy. Eventually it worked, and we thanked Heavenly Father for the successful serendipity of the situation. The roads here aren't maintained very well--that road was solid ice that when Elder Chung [sic] asked me to push, I was only able to push myself away from the car.
"We taught the family after that and got home after 10. Breaking mission code just a little bit..."
2006. I'm not certain, but this might have been the day that in my Spanish class, we were singing Christmas carols, and some classmates wanted me and a kid named Zach to sing in front of the class. I realized they probably considered us similar, but that bothered me, because I didn't want to be like him.
2005. Again, I'm not sure, but this might have been the night that we bundled the kids up and took them to Temple Square. Then we went inside one museum where there was a play area for kids. I came home and had some pumpkin cheesecake.
2004. We made suckers in my chemistry class, but we had to put the flavoring in before it cooled, and that ruined the flavoring. I got a school newspaper, and I took it home and read it. That night there was a power outage. I read some Edgar Allan Poe by the fireplace. I was going to take a shower and go to bed. Ya-ping and my mom questioned me taking a shower in the dark, but I did that all the time.
2000. We might have had our school Christmas sing-off. We sixth-graders sang "Little St. Nick" and "My Grown-Up Christmas Wish," which I thought was a dumb song. Mr. Williams (my teacher) went around throwing candy to everyone, wearing a poster that said "Sugar Plum Fairy."
1999. I'm not sure, but this might be the day we gave our teacher our gifts in fifth grade, and I gave her a Barnes and Noble gift card. She acted excited when I gave her the envelope, and she said, "Is this what I think it is?" The night before I didn't want to lick the envelope, so I sealed it with water instead, and got the envelope a little wrinkly from water, and I worried Mrs. Call would think I slobbered on the envelope so that it got wrinkly.
1995. This might have been the day that the office ladies called me down so that I could sing to them, and then they gave me a fruit-flavored candy cane. Then I went back to the classroom and got my stuff, since school was over.
1994. This might have been the day that Mrs. Christensen, our kindergarten teacher, gave us little Christmas hard candies. She told us we couldn't talk with candy in our mouth because we might choke. One of my classmates was being silly and put her candy at the front of her nose like Rudolph, and Mrs. Christensen reproved her. I was talking to Ali Snarr, and she took her candy out of her mouth and said to me, "You're not supposed to talk with candy in your mouth."
Sunday, December 8, 2013
December 22
As Christmas approaches, I'm going to remember what I can--when I can--about what happened three days before Christmas.
2012. It was our day for Christmas. I got the very laptop I'm writing on now, and I gave my parents Mapping Mormonism, which I had worked on. Then we went to Chuck-a-Rama and I got some peppermint hot chocolate, which my mom also did. That night we watched Miracle on 34th Street.
2011. Since the car I usually drove was in the shop, I drove my mom's Rav to work. We had our weekly Thursday meeting, and they told us we would have to come at 6 the next morning, but then one of the leads told me I didn't have to come in the next day, which was rather exciting news. I went with my parents to my grandparents' house, since my uncle Paul was visiting. While we were on our way there, Elvis's "Blue Christmas" came on and my mom said she didn't like it when he sang like that. At my grandparents', she made fun of Paul's ponytail, and wanted his stepson Pat to agree, but he also had long hair. She said that his, though, looked better.
2007. We biked around, contacting. We saw an accident, so we went over to help. It was actually a member of the Church, and she asked for a blessing. I did the anointing, but I had never done it so it was really awkward and I didn't know what to do. We had the Greenbluff ward party. Elder Chun and I went around and talked to people. It wasn't my preferred thing to do, and in fact I think few missionaries would have done so. Elder Chun wanted to take home leftover pies, which I didn't understand, since he didn't end up eating any. We took dinners with us to give to people, and that night we stopped by Kristy Whalen/Doug Turnidge's house to give them a meal. We set up an appointment with Kristy to come back later. When we got home, I remember Sister Welsh asking where we had been, and I said we'd been at the ward party. She said, "There was a ward party?" I specified that it was the Greenbluff Ward--at that time I didn't know whether the Welshes were in the Northpointe or Greenbluff Ward. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today we tried to contact some part-member families. We spoke with one member whose family (not members) wasn't home. He agreed for us to come back.
"On our way home we saw where a traffic accident had taken place. We got out to help. A younger girl was all right but a little flustered, obviously. The other was crying and said her head and neck hurt, although she was able to walk and sit on the curb. She actually informed us she was from the Greenbluff ward and asked for a blessing. I did the anointing which was embarrassing since I didn't really know how and I had many pauses. It was a little strange doing a blessing right there on the road with another man present. But we were in the right place at the right time and it was an amazing experience.
"The Greenbluff ward had a ward party. I feel so dumb being a green missionary from Utah. Elder Chun has actually been quite considerate about not letting people know I'm new. Everyone likes him. They only like me to say prayers.
"We taught a lady named Debbie today. Her boyfriend's children agreed to baptism. Debbie has to get married because she is living with her boyfriend. Walt is fine with her baptism but has been listening to some anti-Mormon drivel. It is a delicate situation with her."
1996. I think we got gifts from Primary that were candy canes decorated like reindeer.
Unfortunately, that's all I can remember.
2012. It was our day for Christmas. I got the very laptop I'm writing on now, and I gave my parents Mapping Mormonism, which I had worked on. Then we went to Chuck-a-Rama and I got some peppermint hot chocolate, which my mom also did. That night we watched Miracle on 34th Street.
2011. Since the car I usually drove was in the shop, I drove my mom's Rav to work. We had our weekly Thursday meeting, and they told us we would have to come at 6 the next morning, but then one of the leads told me I didn't have to come in the next day, which was rather exciting news. I went with my parents to my grandparents' house, since my uncle Paul was visiting. While we were on our way there, Elvis's "Blue Christmas" came on and my mom said she didn't like it when he sang like that. At my grandparents', she made fun of Paul's ponytail, and wanted his stepson Pat to agree, but he also had long hair. She said that his, though, looked better.
2007. We biked around, contacting. We saw an accident, so we went over to help. It was actually a member of the Church, and she asked for a blessing. I did the anointing, but I had never done it so it was really awkward and I didn't know what to do. We had the Greenbluff ward party. Elder Chun and I went around and talked to people. It wasn't my preferred thing to do, and in fact I think few missionaries would have done so. Elder Chun wanted to take home leftover pies, which I didn't understand, since he didn't end up eating any. We took dinners with us to give to people, and that night we stopped by Kristy Whalen/Doug Turnidge's house to give them a meal. We set up an appointment with Kristy to come back later. When we got home, I remember Sister Welsh asking where we had been, and I said we'd been at the ward party. She said, "There was a ward party?" I specified that it was the Greenbluff Ward--at that time I didn't know whether the Welshes were in the Northpointe or Greenbluff Ward. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today we tried to contact some part-member families. We spoke with one member whose family (not members) wasn't home. He agreed for us to come back.
"On our way home we saw where a traffic accident had taken place. We got out to help. A younger girl was all right but a little flustered, obviously. The other was crying and said her head and neck hurt, although she was able to walk and sit on the curb. She actually informed us she was from the Greenbluff ward and asked for a blessing. I did the anointing which was embarrassing since I didn't really know how and I had many pauses. It was a little strange doing a blessing right there on the road with another man present. But we were in the right place at the right time and it was an amazing experience.
"The Greenbluff ward had a ward party. I feel so dumb being a green missionary from Utah. Elder Chun has actually been quite considerate about not letting people know I'm new. Everyone likes him. They only like me to say prayers.
"We taught a lady named Debbie today. Her boyfriend's children agreed to baptism. Debbie has to get married because she is living with her boyfriend. Walt is fine with her baptism but has been listening to some anti-Mormon drivel. It is a delicate situation with her."
1996. I think we got gifts from Primary that were candy canes decorated like reindeer.
Unfortunately, that's all I can remember.
Sunday, December 1, 2013
December 23-26, 2012
With it now being the Christmas season, I'm going to remember what I can about the goings on of last year.
December 23. We went to sacrament meeting, but then we came home to get ready for our long drive. We heated up microwaveable sandwiches and loaded up the car. We had to drop Allie off at her house, and then we proceeded to drive. My mom wanted to listen to Messiah, so we put the CD in. As we were driving west, I began dozing off. My dad apparently couldn't stand the last song on the CD--ten minutes of a falsetto voice singing "He was despised and rejected of men..."--because he turned it off and turned the radio on. I wanted to listen to religious or semi-religious CDs that day, since it was Sunday. We listened to various MoTab CDs, and we wondered why there was a tunnel in the middle of the desert. My mom liked the Jenny Philips CD (which I find rather *meh*), but my Lower Lights CD wouldn't work. Eventually we stopped in Winnemucca, NV, and found a hotel to check into. My parents have become accustomed to sinning and breaking the sabbath when they're on vacation--we decided to go someplace for dinner. I said I wanted to go to Jack in the Box, because I thought they would have Christmas shakes. We went, and I got an eggnog shake. My dad asked me how I knew that, and I told him it was because I went to Jack in the Box in 2009 in Washington. We went into our hotel room, and I pulled out my laptop and wrote a blog post. I think I had some of the gingerbread cookies I had made that week, and we watched the MoTab/King's Singers concert. I took off my shoes and put them by the bed (and then forgot them in the morning).
December 24. We got up early to keep driving to California. I think there was a dusting of snow on the ground. We passed where someone had slid off the road, and another person tried to flag us down, but my dad didn't see him and kept driving. The man waving us down had a look on his face like "Who do you think you are?" We had to drive over Donner Pass, which was kind of scary because it was snowy. It was very pretty--lots of snow-covered pines--but scary. Lots of people were stopping on the shoulder to install tire chains. Dirty snow got all over the car, and the rear window was so caked with mud that we couldn't see out of it.
We kept listening to Christmas music, and my mom told me that she liked Lady Antebellum but she didn't like the Lower Lights. We eventually got off the mountain and got into California. We cleaned off the rear windshield at a gas station and went to Carl's Jr. for lunch. The cashier was an old lady who asked us where we were from. I got a jalapeño burger, and she intentionally mispronounced it "juh-LAP-uh-no." While we were driving, we got a call from Preston (or maybe I had to call). He seemed surprised to hear me on the phone. Then Baby wanted to talk to me--he told me the ABCs and counted on the phone. He kept talking, and it was hard to understand. My dad said to my mom, "He must be talking to Baby." Eventually we got to Dave and Ya-ping's house. Preston and Baby seemed excited we were there, but Franklin was indifferent. We were sitting in their house with the door open, and their landlord just walked in. It was a little uncomfortable. Later, my mom and Ya-ping and I went shopping at Target. When we got out of the car, I wrote "Merry Christmas" in the mud on the car. We looked at Christmas candy for stockings, and I wanted a box of Christmas Dots for mine. We bought a ham and supplies for funeral potatoes. We got eggnog, since David likes it. I think we got peppermint white chocolate M&Ms and peppermint marshmallows. We went home and had to take Dave to work, so we all piled into the Suburban, because we were going to take the boys to the temple visitors' center. Baby was in the back trying to get my attention, but I didn't know it until David told me. He wanted me to hear him count: "One, two three, four, five, six, leven, eight, nine, ten, leven, eight, nine, ten!" (Apparently he thought seven and eleven were the same.) David asked Preston a math problem, and then he asked Franklin, "What's one plus one?" Preston then said, "What's one times one?" David said to Preston, "What's the square root of four?" "Preston said, "That's college stuff," and David said, "That's what you were doing to Franklin." We dropped David off, and I asked the boys if they wanted Christmas Tic-Tacs. I asked whether they wanted red or green. Then we went to the temple. The visitors' center was really busy, which we hadn't expected. Baby correctly identified the Christus statue as Jesus. The sister missionaries invited us to go on a tour, and one of the sisters said I looked familiar--she had probably seen me at BYU. We looked at some of the lights on the palm trees on the grounds. Then we went back and got David and went home. David showed the boys How the Grinch Stole Christmas! He hadn't realized that Chuck Jones had been involved on the special. I watched White Christmas--David asked why it was what I watched on Christmas Eve, and I said it was because it was longest. I had to turn the volume down for the boys; even Preston came out and said it was too loud. David talked to me during the whole movie. Then we went to bed.
December 25. The boys weren't like I was as a kid, getting up early to open presents. I think they got up after all the other adults (except me, since I like sleeping). I had some breakfast--I can't remember what it was, except there was eggnog. The boys came out and opened their presents. They got electric toothbrushes, but Baby just liked to play with his. He was quite pleased with his Thomas the Train underwear, and my mom was pleased with her Nexus. David turned on a Christmas Pandora station, and as it played Michael Bublé, I said, "I have this album." Baby and Franklin were both really nice and shared their candy with me. I even said to Franklin, "You don't need to share with me, because I have my own candy," but he said he wanted to share anyway. He liked my Rudolph pajamas and called the Abominable Snow Monster a yeti. It was a rainy day (I really hoped it would snow, even though I knew it was unlikely), and my dad went out to wipe off all the mud from the car. We had dinner of ham and funeral potatoes, and David was trying to get Preston to try the potatoes. Preston kept asking what it was, and David kept saying, "It's cheese!" I said, "It's potatoes," and David had a panicked look on his face and motioned to me not to say that. I didn't know that the boys had an aversion to potatoes, and Preston refused to eat them "because they had mashed potatoes in them." I will never forget the way David looked at me. I thought about saying, "There aren't any mashed potatoes in there," but I didn't know if it would work. David set up my new laptop for me. I wrote a memory post and texted my cousin Peter to let him know. I also got a text from Hanna, one of my horse friends. I wanted to see how my speakers worked, but mostly it was an excuse to play Christmas music. I played "Rock and Roll Santa" and "Monsters' Holiday," to which David said, "There's a Christmas version of 'The Monster Mash'?" I looked at funny Santa pictures on Awkward Family Photos, and I showed them to my mom. Baby saw one weird-looking Santa and said, "Is that Jesus?" He kept jumping around on my mom, going "Hi-yah!" I got out my camera to take a video, but this is what happened:
That night I watched It's a Wonderful Life.
December 26. The next morning we took down the Christmas tree, which was a poorly designed tree. Then we needed to go to the airport to pick up my grandparents. Nathaniel always liked to go for rides, so he went with us. When we got to the airport, he was in the backseat, and I'm pretty sure he was saying, "I hate you, Eter!" My mom thought he was saying, "I hear you." Then he said he wanted me to sit by him, so I got in the back. We must have stopped at the house, because my grandma was surprised there wasn't a tree for the boys, and we just explained that we had taken it down. We took my grandparents by the Oakland temple, where a girl was having her Quinceañera. We went to dinner with my grandparents and with Baby. I remember feeling sad looking at all the Christmas trees and knowing Christmas was over for another year. That night I switched my Christmas pillowcase to a New Year pillowcase.
December 23. We went to sacrament meeting, but then we came home to get ready for our long drive. We heated up microwaveable sandwiches and loaded up the car. We had to drop Allie off at her house, and then we proceeded to drive. My mom wanted to listen to Messiah, so we put the CD in. As we were driving west, I began dozing off. My dad apparently couldn't stand the last song on the CD--ten minutes of a falsetto voice singing "He was despised and rejected of men..."--because he turned it off and turned the radio on. I wanted to listen to religious or semi-religious CDs that day, since it was Sunday. We listened to various MoTab CDs, and we wondered why there was a tunnel in the middle of the desert. My mom liked the Jenny Philips CD (which I find rather *meh*), but my Lower Lights CD wouldn't work. Eventually we stopped in Winnemucca, NV, and found a hotel to check into. My parents have become accustomed to sinning and breaking the sabbath when they're on vacation--we decided to go someplace for dinner. I said I wanted to go to Jack in the Box, because I thought they would have Christmas shakes. We went, and I got an eggnog shake. My dad asked me how I knew that, and I told him it was because I went to Jack in the Box in 2009 in Washington. We went into our hotel room, and I pulled out my laptop and wrote a blog post. I think I had some of the gingerbread cookies I had made that week, and we watched the MoTab/King's Singers concert. I took off my shoes and put them by the bed (and then forgot them in the morning).
December 24. We got up early to keep driving to California. I think there was a dusting of snow on the ground. We passed where someone had slid off the road, and another person tried to flag us down, but my dad didn't see him and kept driving. The man waving us down had a look on his face like "Who do you think you are?" We had to drive over Donner Pass, which was kind of scary because it was snowy. It was very pretty--lots of snow-covered pines--but scary. Lots of people were stopping on the shoulder to install tire chains. Dirty snow got all over the car, and the rear window was so caked with mud that we couldn't see out of it.
December 25. The boys weren't like I was as a kid, getting up early to open presents. I think they got up after all the other adults (except me, since I like sleeping). I had some breakfast--I can't remember what it was, except there was eggnog. The boys came out and opened their presents. They got electric toothbrushes, but Baby just liked to play with his. He was quite pleased with his Thomas the Train underwear, and my mom was pleased with her Nexus. David turned on a Christmas Pandora station, and as it played Michael Bublé, I said, "I have this album." Baby and Franklin were both really nice and shared their candy with me. I even said to Franklin, "You don't need to share with me, because I have my own candy," but he said he wanted to share anyway. He liked my Rudolph pajamas and called the Abominable Snow Monster a yeti. It was a rainy day (I really hoped it would snow, even though I knew it was unlikely), and my dad went out to wipe off all the mud from the car. We had dinner of ham and funeral potatoes, and David was trying to get Preston to try the potatoes. Preston kept asking what it was, and David kept saying, "It's cheese!" I said, "It's potatoes," and David had a panicked look on his face and motioned to me not to say that. I didn't know that the boys had an aversion to potatoes, and Preston refused to eat them "because they had mashed potatoes in them." I will never forget the way David looked at me. I thought about saying, "There aren't any mashed potatoes in there," but I didn't know if it would work. David set up my new laptop for me. I wrote a memory post and texted my cousin Peter to let him know. I also got a text from Hanna, one of my horse friends. I wanted to see how my speakers worked, but mostly it was an excuse to play Christmas music. I played "Rock and Roll Santa" and "Monsters' Holiday," to which David said, "There's a Christmas version of 'The Monster Mash'?" I looked at funny Santa pictures on Awkward Family Photos, and I showed them to my mom. Baby saw one weird-looking Santa and said, "Is that Jesus?" He kept jumping around on my mom, going "Hi-yah!" I got out my camera to take a video, but this is what happened:
That night I watched It's a Wonderful Life.
December 26. The next morning we took down the Christmas tree, which was a poorly designed tree. Then we needed to go to the airport to pick up my grandparents. Nathaniel always liked to go for rides, so he went with us. When we got to the airport, he was in the backseat, and I'm pretty sure he was saying, "I hate you, Eter!" My mom thought he was saying, "I hear you." Then he said he wanted me to sit by him, so I got in the back. We must have stopped at the house, because my grandma was surprised there wasn't a tree for the boys, and we just explained that we had taken it down. We took my grandparents by the Oakland temple, where a girl was having her Quinceañera. We went to dinner with my grandparents and with Baby. I remember feeling sad looking at all the Christmas trees and knowing Christmas was over for another year. That night I switched my Christmas pillowcase to a New Year pillowcase.
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