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.
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