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.

Two days after Thanksgiving

Last week I wrote about two days before Thanksgiving, so this week I'm writing about two days after the holiday.

2012. I watched the holiday episode of The Munsters at home. I think I was listening to my music, and "Alejandro" finally played itself. I think I added a bunch of Christmas music to my computer. I switched to the green Taurus to take back to Provo, and I listened to the all-Christmas 98.7 radio station on the way. I was pleased with their selection of Christmas music, not all the same old stuff. They played Lady Antebellum and even Cherie Call. When I got into Provo, I stopped at Fresh Market to go grocery shopping. I saw that they had dragon fruit, so I bought one. (It wasn't very good.) I think I bought snowflake Ritz crackers (and later realized the "snowflakes" have eight points instead of six--I don't plan on buying those again). I pulled into my parking lot to unload my car, but then I had to go park on the street because the green car didn't have a parking permit. When I got back in the car, the radio was playing a Michael Bublé interview.

2011. We had to work early that morning. That might have been the day we expected there to be treats, but there weren't any. My blog tells me that I had an unsuccessful run that afternoon. That night I had to write my talk for the next day.

2010. That morning I went with my parents to the temple. As we went there, we listened to my new Wonder of Christmas MoTab CD. Later, I picked up my friend David Christensen to go running up on Bountiful Boulevard. I was wearing blue pants, and David came out in red pants, which he had borrowed from his brother, since it was the day of the BYU/Utah football game, back when it was still in November. I ran farther than he did, and when I turned around I caught up with him. He pointed out the Charlie Brown nativity scene at one house, which I thought was ugly. Later, I went with my parents out to Centerville. We had to pick up missionary plaques. My parents were listening to the game and were quite displeased with it, while I was just sitting in the back eating sugar-coated almonds from my brother-in-law Matt. We went to Walmart, and I wanted to get the special edition of the Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, so I got a tin that had three Peanuts-themed CDs in it. On the way home, I put in the 40 Years: A Charlie Brown Christmas CD, and I loved David Benoit's version of "Christmas Is Coming," but I was unimpressed with the rest.

2009. It was my last full day of proselyting. We did a lot of tracting. At one house, the people's last name was Cook, and Elder Tamblyn asked if they were related to Cooks in Moses Lake. I thought it was a stretch, since it was a common name. One guy later in the afternoon was nice and knew some members, the Biglers. Elder Tamblyn periodically needed to rest. At one point we stopped the car so he could make some calls. We were listening to the new Ring Christmas Bells MoTab CD, and he changed the CD because he thought it was ridiculous they were making animal noises. We had dinner with the Christensens, and they had invited a nonmember friend. I can't remember what kind of lesson we gave, but Brother Christensen began talking about Adam and Eve. After dinner, I wanted to stop by an apartment where a less-active named Rebecca Dyer had lived. We knocked on the door, and someone called out asking who it was. We told her, and she said, "No thanks." But I was wanting to ask about someone, so I yelled through the door, asking about the girl who had lived there previously. There was no answer. I was so annoyed that they would ignore our questions and judge our intentions, so I pulled out a pass-along card and wrote a note on it, saying we weren't trying to bother them but were wondering about the Rebecca Dyer. Then we went home.

2008. I believe that we had lunch at the home of some friendly Baptists (maybe they were Pentecostals or non-denominationals).

2007. I would have worked on my farewell talk, although I don't specifically remember doing so. I think I decorated a tree downstairs while watching Christmas episodes of my old TV shows, since I wouldn't be able to watch them for two years.

2005. We went to Target, and I got a dollar DVD of The Beverly Hillbillies that had a Thanksgiving episode on it. That night we watched The Polar Express, since my mom's friend had lent it to us, and we all thought it was dumb.

2002. My sister was listening to the radio, and they played a silly turkey song. The DJ said they'd never play it again that year. I remember turning on my Charlie Brown Christmas CD while putting up decorations.

1998. My friend David called me to see if I could help him work on his Reflections submission. When they picked me up, David said to his mom, "Mark's good and has all his Christmas decorations up." For the contest, they were photographing kids doing adult jobs. We went to the library, and they had me stand behind the counter and pretend  to scan books (the librarian had given us permission to do so). We saw a float from the Bountiful Light Parade.

Two days before Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is next week! I'm going to remember the things I have done two days before the holiday--namely, the Tuesday before Thanksgiving.

2012. I met with my editing group in my editing class. Some students were mad that we students had to be there but the professor didn't. After that meeting, I went over to the Cougareat and bought some pumpkin soup. I considered getting a donut with Thanksgiving sprinkles, but I decided against it. Then I got ready to go home. I had offered a ride to a girl in my ward, Larissa, so I went over and helped her put her stuff in my car. She ate leftover pizza while I drove. I went on Center Street to get on the freeway and had problems with lanes ending. Larissa and I talked about classes we were taking that semester and the next, and Larissa said she was taking a family history class for fun. My GPS got me off the freeway in the right place, but I kept getting lost when I took her to her aunt's house. I helped her get her stuff out. Then I drove home, turning on some Thanksgiving songs on my Peanuts CD. I was so happy to be home and share all my Thanksgiving candy.

2010. The news had been telling us all about a great blizzard that would be coming that day. When I got up in the morning, it was extremely windy and bitter cold. I went outside to try to pick up our trash can and the garbage that fell out of it, and I got super cold in just a short time--I remember talking to the guys across the street about how crazy it was. Then I went and got a haircut. I remember saying that I was worried about driving home from work in the snow. After the haircut, I went to Winegar's and got some apple cider to spice. I came home and put my spiced cider on. I was preparing for work when one of my leads, Dave, called and told me that they were sending people home and telling us not to come in. So I got to stay home. My mom and dad later came home and I told them how I had lucked out by not having to go in. I remember watching the storm come in; the clouds were really ominous. It was a good snowstorm, but it wasn't as blizzardy as they had predicted (and as I had expected, with how cold and windy it was that morning). I could only get blurry pictures.

2009. I was on exchanges with Elder Hansen in Pullman. We bundled up that morning--it was freezing, certainly not what I was used to in Lewiston. There was snow all over.

We went around various places that day. For lunch we stopped at Jack in the Box and I got a pumpkin shake with my meal. Later, we were near an apartment complex when Elder Hansen got a call from an Asian girl named Penny. He was telling her how he tries to be Christlike, and I heard her say, "You look like Christ!" We both silently laughed, and after the phone call, I said, "Did she say, 'You look like Christ'?" He told me how she had pasted his face onto the picture of Jesus looking down and holding the lamb that is on the Restoration pamphlet. He said she had made a cartoon drawing with Elder Keddington saying her only options were to get baptized. After the phone call we got out of the car and went to knock some doors, but I don't think anyone answered. Most of the snow had melted at this point. Then we stopped at another apartment complex, where there were signs telling the residents to keep their heaters on for Thanksgiving. We went and had dinner with a married couple. Elder Hansen told them how we had come out at the same time, and they might have known that we were going home in less than a week. I remember thinking that those members must have been thinking that I didn't act like I'd been out that long. Eventually we went back to Lewiston. When we got to our apartment, I said to Elder Hansen, "You look like Christ." Elder Keddington said, "Did you guys see Penny?" Elder Hansen explained that she had called him. Elder Keddington then told us the story how she showed them a PowerPoint with the picture of Jesus and said, "Who is this?" They said, "Jesus...?" She said, "No, who is it really?" and then came the mashup of Elder Hansen on Jesus. The night before, we had coined the term "ferociolicious," and Elder Keddington wrote the word on the picture I had drawn on the whiteboard of various scary things happening to Elder LaPratt, but he spelled it "Froiouslious."

2008. Elder Love called a less-active who lived way out in the boonies to see if we could come visit him. He reluctantly accepted. We drove out to really rural places. We went to a place that was a little gully in the middle of wheat fields where there were some houses. We were amazed at the frost at that location.

 We had a potential investigator to check on in that neighborhood, but I think I convinced us not to. (We should have, though, since we rarely went out that way. I think we didn't because it was getting dark and we didn't know where to park and just plain fear.) We checked on a less active someplace, not knowing what to expect, but she was very nice and let us in. She actually told us she went to the Medical Lake ward instead of the Davenport Branch because she didn't feel welcome in Davenport. She told us that her neighbors would probably be mean to us. Then we drove off to our appointment. He was the son of a member in a nursing home. He was nice, and we visited him and his sister. While we were there, I could hear someone watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving in the other room. When we left and went to our car, it was snowing lightly. The man came out and told us that he had been reluctant to have us there because his sister had lost her testimony--but she had been courteous to us as well. We were driving when we encountered a sign that said, "Water over roadway." We were out in the middle of nowhere. We got out and examined the water on the roadway, and this place looked just like a place I had seen in a dream in the MTC, in which my aunt's van got stuck on a muddy road. We were debating whether or not to drive through the river.

Elder Love worried that the ice in the stream might do some damage, so we turned around and went another way. In our travelings, we were amused by this sign. (We were in farm country, after all.)

2007. Susanne took me to get a splint for my sprained ankle. I think we stopped at Arctic Circle, and while we were there, I saw a bread truck fueling up at the gas station next door. Apparently the driver forgot to put it in park, because suddenly the truck went forward and the driver was running alongside it. It didn't stop until it went over the curb and hit the gas station sign. I might have watched The Munsters' Scary Little Christmas that night (since I had just gotten the DVD), but I can't remember if it was that night or the next.

2005. I can remember sitting in my biology class, wearing a yellow polo shirt with a red tie.

2004.  I probably had some apple pie ice cream. I remember studying my chemistry flashcards and finishing all the homework I meant to, which might have been the only time I did so in all of high school. I might have watched the Thanksgiving episode of Bewitched.

2003. I gave the devotional in seminary, although I can't remember what it was. I was wearing my yellow shirt. That night, I went with my parents to Hale Center Theater to see Annie. My mom pointed out a man wearing a toupee. My dad said at least it was better than Annie's, but my mom and I thought he said "better than Allie's," since baby Allie had some hair problems. When we got home, I ate chips and salsa and cheese.

1999. During lunchtime they always showed videos, and on this day they were showing A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, which I had never seen before. I especially found the cooking scene amusing. There was a display of harvest vegetables, and they were giving them away, so I took some small pumpkins. That night my mom went to Toys R Us and bought VHS tapes of The Iron Giant and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. The Iron Giant came with a toy, and I tried to get it out but ended up destroying the plastic on the clamshell case. My friend David Christensen came over for a sleepover, and I think we watched both of those movies.

1996. We were having a Thanksgiving meal in the classroom. We all had paper Pilgrim and Indian hats and headbands and put our desks together like giant tables. The hot lunch people went and got their Thanksgiving meals from the cafeteria, while we paper sack people stayed and started eating. That afternoon we played some kind of game (maybe Bingo) with Reese's Pieces. Miss Slater said she picked that candy because of their fall colors.

November 21-23, 2012

Thanksgiving is in two and a half weeks, so I'm going to remember the goings on off last Thanksgiving.

November 21, 2012. My mom and I went shopping to get a few things for Thanksgiving. We went to Costco, and I said that I wanted to see if Mapping Mormonism was there. It was, and I looked at my name in it. My mom wanted to get it, but I told her I could get it cheaper--and thus gave away what I was getting my parents for Christmas. At Smith's Marketplace, she said she wanted to play games on Thanksgiving, and I mentioned that I thought our family would like Loaded Questions. We passed a display of board games, and Loaded Questions was on there, so she got it. She wanted to get some more glasses, but she couldn't decide what to get, because a lot of the boxes had short glasses, and she didn't want any short glasses. She asked me where I wanted to go for lunch, and I mentioned that it was my last chance to get pumpkin shakes, so we went to Arctic Circle. When we were there, I pointed out the vacant Hostess store across the street, since Hostess had just gone out of business. That afternoon I went running, although I can't remember details. That evening, my dad wanted to go to RC Willey to look at 3D Blu-Ray players. On our way, there was a really weird intersection event, with people in the crosswalk when they shouldn't have been and cars making unwise turns in front of us. When we got to the store, I noticed that the store hours used hyphens instead of en dashes. I was surprised at the price of 3D glasses. There was a set of glasses set up in front of a TV and my dad was looking through it. The salesman said they didn't work because it wasn't a 3D movie. My mom was really annoyed with that salesman. Then we went to my grandparents' house to take a turkey home. They had me carry it to the car, and I was a little bit grossed out by the raw turkey sticking out and touching me. I changed my orange shirt when I got home, and I was a little sad because I wanted to wear it on Thanksgiving. But I washed it. My dad went to bed, and I found a cord so that I could plug my laptop into the stereo and listen to music. I talked about wanting to listen to Thanksgiving music, but I turned on my regular playlist. It played "I Forgive You" by Kelly Clarkson. When it was playing "Trust" by Neon Trees, my mom said, "At first I thought it was saying 'drugs,' and I wondered what it had to do with Thanksgiving." I told her that I wasn't listening to Thanksgiving music. I stayed up a little later and did some cleaning. I also watched a Beverly Hillbillies episode.

November 22, 2012. I remember lying in bed and feeling so happy that I could smell turkey and that it was Thanksgiving. I got up and wanted to go running, but I could tell it wasn't going to happen--there was too much to do. I turned on my Thanksgiving playlist, and my dad seemed doubtful that they were Thanksgiving songs. We brought a table up from downstairs and set up the tables. Susanne and her family came. Then Chancey, Nicole, and "Wallace" came right as my playlist was finishing up, and my mom advised me to put my computer up. Chancey and Nicole showed us the things Wallace knew. If you asked him where his nose was, he would pick it--Peter taught him that. Gradually more and more people came. When my grandparents came, they looked at the cider I had in the Crock Pot and said, "Wassail!" Renee had brought a few friends and some bacon-wrapped water chestnuts. We began eating, and Peter and Jesse wanted me to tell them about what embarrassing thing I had left out of my latest memory post. During dinner, Wallace kept going up to the stereo and turning it on and playing a weird country CD my parents listen to. No one else seemed to care, and I had to go turn it off each time. Peter pointed out that Chancey had spilled water on his shirt and said that he expected that I would remember it the next year for my blog post. (If he hadn't pointed it out, I probably wouldn't have remembered!) They talked about my tarantula roommate and were amazed at all the things he had done. Peter was having Wallace make all the faces he had taught him--his "cute face" where he scrunched up his lips and his "shocked face" where he looked surprised. My roommate Scott texted me and wished me Happy Thanksgiving. After Gildersleeves left, we played Loaded Questions. Quin thought it would be boring, but apparently he had just been playing with boring people. We didn't have enough pieces, so we took some of my Thanksgiving Little People for pieces. I had some apple cider. My grandparents continued to call it wassail, and I said, "I thought wassail had citrus in it," and Sue shook her head. Because I kept drinking it, I had to go to the bathroom and thus missed the reaction everyone had when I answered "What would you least expect to find in a present?" with "Denver, CO." One question was, "If calories and money weren't an object, what two brand names would you have for every meal?" I said Papa John's and Almond Joys, and Lisa also said Papa John's. After everyone left, I went downstairs to watch A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Then I watched the "Low-Cal Munster" episode of The Munsters, asking my mom if I should count it as a Thanksgiving show, and she told me I should, because it was plenty Thanksgiving-y. While I watched these things, I worked on my Rudolph blanket, and I finished it--just in time for the Christmas season.

November 23, 2012. I put on my new Christina Perri Christmas CD. My dad said he didn't want to put up a Christmas tree. I didn't see a need to, since we wouldn't even be there on Christmas, but my mom didn't like the idea. I did some knee exercises downstairs while watching a Christmas episode of Bewitched that I hadn't watched before. I went running, and when I went in the car to go up to Bountiful Boulevard, I turned the station to 98.7, since I remembered that the previous year they occasionally played Christmas songs. I found out that they were an all-Christmas station. I didn't have a successful run. That evening I watched the three-minute Peanuts Christmas clip I have. I got Colbie Caillat's Christmas album, since I had $2 of mp3 credit and Amazon gave me $2. I made the following Facebook status: "

Whoever decided that Christmas "doorbusting" sales should start on Thanksgiving Day should be shot with an Indian's arrow, have their eyes pecked out by a turkey, and be thrown in Plymouth Harbor. What a terrible way to treat employees!

I turned on some of my Christmas music. I played some novelty songs for my mom: "Monsters' Holiday," "Rock and Roll Santa," and "Excuse My Christmas." "Rock and Roll Santa" was my mom's favorite.

Related Posts:
The Day Before Thanksgiving
Remember Every Detail, Volume 3: Thanksgiving
The Day after Thanksgiving

Election Day

Some Election Days are bigger than others, but I'm going to remember as many as I can anyway. Election Day is the first Tuesday of November, unless the first Tuesday is November 1.

2012. I remember I kept checking the election results on KSL. Although I voted for neither Romney nor Obama, I was kind of hoping Romney would win, and I was disappointed when he didn't. But I wasn't as disappointed as my roommate Bryton, who had even gone campaigning for Romney.

2011. OK, so I don't really remember what happened this day. But I want to provide a link to a blog post I made in connection to Election Day that year, because I found a certain candidate's platform hilarious.

2010. I remember I drove down to the North Salt Lake offices to go vote, and I saw the Ulmers there. I said hi to them in the parking lot, but I don't know if they recognized me. People were wearing "I Voted" stickers at work.

2009. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Today was one of the first days in a long time that Elder Tamblyn was healthy for all of the day. Therefore, we were able to get a lot accomplished, visiting the Heaths and Sister Adair. We did some light tracting in the dark, which I hate. We had dinner with the Larsens and my back tire got flat. We met with the Piquets. Michael told me I should become a professor or a teacher, which surprised me, since I don't feel like I'm too good at teaching over there. 

2008. All the things I can remember are accounted for in my journal, except that I remember that I read aloud "The Raven" while Elder Love worked on tiling (which probably wasn't very kosher). At dinner, five-year-old Bailey Christensen asked what we had dressed up as for Halloween. Elder Love said he was a missionary; then I reminded him that he was me (we had worn identical ties and switched name tags). The Christensens commented on my very short hair, and Elder Love confessed that he had done it. Here's the journal entry:
"We helped with the Herrons' tile for most of the day. Not having much experience and fearing messing it up (since I never do anything right), I didn't feel like I was doing much. The times we weren't tiling we were waiting at the church to meet with Wanda but she didn't come. We also had dinner at a Mexican restaurant with the Christensens, and then helped the Stackhouses with a little moving. It was rainy and very cold today. I like my new sweater."

2007. I remember going with my dad to the Eaglewood golf course clubhouse to vote. I voted against the school vouchers, and thankfully they didn't win.

2006. My mom and I went up to the clubhouse to vote. We passed the house that my niece had dubbed "the spider house" because it had a giant spider at Halloween. They had all their Christmas stuff out already. After we came home, I watched the Election Day episodes of The Addams Family and Gilligan's Island. I realized that the Gilligan episode would be more suitable for a presidential election, but I realized I wouldn't be around for a presidential election for six years!

2004. Someone in my history class had some writing on his hands that someone else had written. It said, "Vote No on Proposition 3! Go gayness!" My chemistry teacher, Mrs. Duffin, drew some red and blue stars on the whiteboard with a note that said, "Vote today! If you are 18 (and registered)".

2000. I remember someone asked the janitor if he was voting for Al Gore or George Bush, and he said George Bush.

1996. I remember that our teacher, Miss Slater, gave us little pieces of paper with pictures of Bob Dole, Bill Clinton, and Ross Perot. She told us not just to vote for the best looking person, but that there should be another reason we voted for the people. I think most of us voted for whoever our parents were voting for. She tallied up the votes, and Bob Dole had the most, followed by Bill Clinton. Ross Perot had two votes. (David Christensen told me years later that he had voted for Ross Perot, because he interpreted "Don't just vote for the most handsome one" as "Vote for the ugliest one.") My mom made Rice-A-Roni for dinner.

1994. I think we kindergarteners wondered why there were all those grownups behind little curtains.

Day of the Dead

In Mexico, they celebrate Day of the Dead. We don't in the United States, but that doesn't stop me from remembering November 2.

2012. I got up early in the morning and grabbed my tent and my bag and walked up to the Eyring. It was annoying walking up with all that stuff. I crammed my stuff in one of the geology vans and noticed our professor's Antarctica bag. We eventually loaded into the vans and were on our way. I rode in the van the TA was driving and our professor, Jani Radebaugh, was riding shotgun. She would periodically get on the walkie-talkies to point out things on our drive, such as faceted spurs near Spanish Fork, cinder cones near Delta, and some alluvial fans. I sat in the back near my classmate Cameron. At one point Jani asked if any of us had had field camp. I didn't know that in the geology department, "field camp" means Geology 410; I thought it meant 210, the class that I took just this summer. I started going off on how I wanted to take it but didn't know if I could, when in fact 410 has never been a class I have intended to take. Michael Arnold (the TA's brother) kept asking Jani questions. We got off in St. George to have lunch. While we were driving through St. George, another van put "Call Me Maybe" on the walkie-talkies. We stopped at a stake center across from the St. George temple, and I remember thinking about how it didn't feel like November there. Michael and I went into the temple visitors' center to use the restroom. The volunteers asked about us, so we explained we were from BYU. While we were at the visitors' center, the others had put out our lunch--lots of sandwiches and lots of chips. Then we got back in the vans and continued driving. I think we stopped at a gas station near Vegas. On this trip, my classmate Trevor was playing music from his iPod via a device that "broadcast" to the radio; he played Imagine Dragons, and it was the first time I had heard them. I liked them, and I didn't know they were local until Trevor mentioned it. Eventually we made it to the park. Jani was pointing out desert varnish (I think) and told us how the area had once been used to mine Borax. We drove up a steep hill, and when we got out at the top, Jani said, "Welcome to Death Valley, everyone!" Some people said jokingly, "Oh, is that where we are?" They had never officially told us where we were going, but many of us had heard it from other people. We were at a place called Dante's view.

She pulled out a diagram and told us that the deposits we were seeing had been on one of our assignments. She told us why Death Valley is so hot: It's in the basin and range province, so rising air loses its moisture, then comes down into the valley really hot. We took pictures there, and some classmates were having a conversation with some French tourists (in French, of course). Then we went over to the Stovepipe Wells campground to set up camp. There were lots of tents. I took mine out to go set it up, but I was trying to find a good spot, since we couldn't go past the camp boundary. Trevor invited me to sleep in the tent he was in, so I decided to do that. I brought an enormous tent for nothing. Jani went around to tell the other campers that we were college students, but that we didn't drink, although we might sing (but we didn't). I think one of the TAs asked Jani if we were all geology people; there were also some geography, earth and space science, and, of course, English language. I went over to the nearby gift shop to see if they had any candy corn or anything I cared to buy, but they didn't, at least not for those prices. I wanted to get a new hat (since mine was small), but I didn't like theirs. We had a dinner of hot dogs, and someone had brought J-Dawgs sauce. There was a kangaroo rat scurrying around, and we saw a grasshopper (or something) fly into the firepit and get roasted. One of my classmates, Rachel, asked me if I was a grad student, since she hadn't seen me, but I explained where I sat in class and explained I wasn't a geology major. Then that night some of us went to the Mesquite Flat Sand Dunes, just for fun. I took a flashlight. We all took off our shoes and played in the sand. I didn't want to walk as far as some of the others went, so I just stayed around some others, but I didn't know any of them, so it was like I was by myself. I had my flashlight on lantern mode, but then someone wanted to turn it off, so I did. It was a beautiful evening, lots of stars and a bright moon. It was fun to lie there and look up at the sky, occasionally jumping off the dune. Then we went back to the vans and drove back to camp and went to bed.

2009. Elder Tamblyn and I went to the Families Forever LDS bookstore. I wanted to get another Cherie Call CD. I knew I liked "Somebody Else's Shoes," so I wanted to get The Ocean in Me. When I went to check out, the owner told me she had a new one, if I wanted to listen to it, but I knew what I wanted. (That turned out to be a good choice; I like The Ocean in Me more than Grace, and it's more fitting for missionaries.) I remember thinking that "One Good Woman" seemed kind of fitting for Thanksgiving, and "More Than Enough" was kind of weird. (Now it's my favorite.) I think we went to Dairy Queen, but they didn't have anything in season, so I didn't have anything. Then we went to Lewis-Clark State College for email.

2008. I remember going tracting after church, and no one was home. Someone in a yellow house didn't answer. I think someone mentioned it being football or something that stopped people from answering or being home. Here is my journal entry for the day:
"Exactly one year ago I was at the temple for the first time, complete with my slightly black fingernails before going to El Matador with the family. 

"Today few people were home. Not a single person answered as we tracted, although we know one person was home. No one had us for dinner, and it got dark early, so we didn't know what to do.

"I bore my testimony today, which is a lot easier in a branch. Elder Love implied he might be leaving and worried everyone. I don't want him to go." 

2007. I remember reading Boyd K. Packer's pamphlet "Preparing to Enter the Holy Temple" before I had to leave to go to the temple. I eventually got dressed, and we went to the temple. Also getting his endowment that day was Ben Poulsen, whom I knew from high school. In the celestial room, my mom said we would come another time when our fingernails weren't black, since we had polished them for Halloween and not everything had come off. Afterwards, we all went to El Matador for dinner. After dinner, we took my cousins to our house. I was listening to the Corpse Bride soundtrack; Jesse recognized it. We got talking about how I can see sounds and I said I liked the blue songs on the soundtrack more than the orange songs, and Jesse didn't understand why I would like those songs better. When we got to our house, I showed them my Jack Skellington jack-o-lantern. After they left, I talked with my parents about how the next day we would be going to Nevada to help my cousin April pack up some stuff.

2006. I think my parents went down to Fillmore, since my grandma had just died. Sue and her sons came and visited Preston and Ya-ping. As they were leaving, Allie pointed to her rotting jack-o-lantern and said, "My [pumpkin's] mouth's having issues!" Sue found that hilarious.


2004. My chemistry teacher, Mrs. Duffin, drew some red and blue stars on the whiteboard with a note that said, "Vote today! If you are 18 (and registered)".

2002. We woke up in our Taiwan hotel rooms and got ready for the day. We went outside, and I remember looking up at the palm trees and thinking, "Wow, we're really in Taiwan!" We drove somewhere (maybe to get breakfast) with Donna, our tour guide, and we passed David (Elder Melville) and his companion talking to someone by a gas station. Then we went and talked to him. It was the first time we had seen him for two years. He was amazed at how much taller I'd gotten. I think that he invited my parents to go to teaching appointments that night--my dad to his appointment, and my mom with the sisters. My sister and I stayed at our hotel and watched TV.

October 29

This time I'm going to remember what I can about two days before Halloween.

2012. Our ward was having a Halloween party over in Kiwanis park, so I donned my red shorts, black-and-red skull shirt, cape, and vampire teeth. I walked over to Kiwanis, and some people I passed complimented me for my costume. When I thanked them, they saw my teeth and were impressed. When I got to the party, there were few people in costumes. Joel DeVore was making hot dogs. I talked with my home teacher Westin and his friend Lisa. Somehow the term "phonology" came up, and that reminded Westin of "phrenology," and he told me he heard about phrenology being applied to Joseph Smith. Our activities committee announced that they wanted to show Hocus Pocus but couldn't find it, so they were watching Young Frankenstein instead. I didn't want to watch Hocus Pocus, but Young Frankenstein was even worse, so I left. As I was walking home, I noticed that the Mountain West Burrito was having a party--apparently it was their grand opening. I went home and turned on my computer. I was listening to "Alejandro" when our home teachers came by. They visited for a while. I had invited my horse friend Kristen to watch The Nightmare Before Christmas that night, and she came when the home teachers were still there. Eventually they left, and I started the movie. There was something weird with the sound. Another horse, Carissa, knocked on our door, so we invited her in and she watched the movie with us. During "Jack's Lament," my roommate Bryton fixed the sound. After the movie, I asked the three how they liked it (since they hadn't seen it), and they didn't like it as much as I do.

2011. In the morning, I went with my parents first to Winegar's grocery store. They went into America First and made their final house payment. The teller drew confetti and balloons on the receipt. My mom wanted to keep the receipt, but I don't think she did, just leaving it in the Suburban. After that, we went to the new movie theater in Centerville to see Puss in Boots. I waited for the credits because I feel that that's the true end of a movie, I wanted to see if there were any special features, and I wanted to learn who was singing at the end of the movie. Then we went to Walmart. We got Halloween candy for trick-or-treaters and I got caramel-apple-flavored cereal. After that, my parents went to Home Depot (I think to buy a mirror) but Allie and I stayed in the car. Then we went to Dairy Queen for lunch. I asked if I could get a pumpkin pie Blizzard with my meal, but the cashier couldn't understand me and my mom had to "translate."

2010. This might have been the day that "The Monster Mash" played on the country station at work, and my coworker Brandon rejoiced that they played a classic Halloween song. We would have swept up at the end of the shift, and the brooms always made me think of witches, and I may have thought about how the next time I came to work, Halloween would be over.

2009. I remember going to rake leaves at Sister Carter's house. She had Halloween cookies from the store. There were bat cookies, and I found it strange that they were white. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Today we did some of sacred planning but Elder Tamblyn was feeling out of it. Then we ate at Sister Carter's. Too many leaves stopped the mower so I raked instead. There were a lot and we didn't finish. 

"We were late to Deana's appointment so we didn't get to teach her. We tracted a little bit and saw some potentials. It was cold and misty all day. After dinner we tracted some more and such. We visited Tyson next door and found out Kim's being kicked out. Then we stopped at the Coopers' before our lesson with Mallary."

2008. We had spent the night in the house Sister Stackhouse was moving out of. I got up and ate Boo Berry cereal for breakfast. Elder Love noticed beer in the fridge and said that Sister Stackhouse would be mad about that (that might have happened the night before). I think Sister Stackhouse might have come later to move some things out. That day we were moving a pile of dirt for Jean Saunders Coultas, a less-active member. While we did so, I played all of The Nightmare Before Christmas in my head, just to see if I could. Sister Coultas made us tomato soup and grilled-cheese sandwiches for lunch. After that, we drove back to Ritzville. This is my journal entry for the day:
"Exactly one year ago today I was buying my temple clothes in a pumpkin shirt. I got up early to go to the store, and bought lots of candy. I can't believe how long it's been.

"We helped Jean Saunders Coultas, a less-active, by moving a large pile of dirt underneath her fence. That took a while but she made us lunch. We briefly helped Sister Stackhouse as well.

"Then we came back down to Ritzville. We tried to see a few people. The Carletons talked to us for a while. They're some of those digressing people. Then we saw Crystal--it was Edward's birthday--and went over the branch list with Brother Andrus, whose wife had her name removed."

2007. That morning I got up early and my mom and I went to Target because she wanted to buy my sister a Wii for Christmas. I remember waiting for it to open and discussing with another woman about how we had to wait until Monday since we didn't shop on Sunday. When we went in, all the Wiis were gone, but some other waiting customers were able to get their X-Box Guitar Heros. We looked at the Halloween stuff and I got a jack-o-lantern fleece blanket. We got a white pumpkin so I could carve it as Jack Skellington. I noticed candy cane Kisses, so we got those as well (I was less strict back then about things being in season). Then we went to Shopko. We looked at their clearance Halloween stuff. We got a silly bat decoration that descended on a string and made noises as it did so. Later that day we went to the Distribution Center so I could get fitted for my temple clothes. One of the workers complimented my jack-o-lantern shirt.

2003. I think I was with my mom and we were buying things for me to take the the seminary "extended devotional" (party) the next day.

1999. This was the school Halloween parade. I wore my ridiculous chess piece costume--a white robe and a white face with a cross on my head. Cody Egbert in my class was dressed as the devil. As we passed by the sixth-grade classes, I heard Mrs. MacAdams say I should go by the devil--that was the first time I realized people might misinterpret my costume. We got little trick-or-treat bags, and Hillary Ulmer wanted to use hers to hold her pretend knife. That might have been the night that I remember watching one of the Treehouse of Horror episodes of The Simpsons in the kitchen, and then later my mom turned off the lights and screamed. We asked what she was doing, and she said she thought it was Halloweeny.

1994.  My mom took my cousins to the hospital so they could see their new brother, Quin. After we got there and they saw the baby, Wayne told my cousins that there were donuts they could have, and Chancey and Jesse were excited. Then they told me I could have one too, and I was excited.