Transformers... they're more than meets the eye.







Food storage appropriate for the amount of space you have in your house--- Check.

We are in a 2 bedroom apartment and do not have the kind of pantry we wish we had... about the size of our kitchen, so this seemed the next best option.

Cost summary:
1 love seat $2.50
Wood Free (Thanks Dad)
Screws Free (Thanks Dad)
Fabric Free (Thanks Mom)
Labor A lot but donated so Free
Refunds $0.52 (Found in couch during gutting)
_____________________________________
Total $1.98

Not too bad. That bought us 5 cans of food at Save-A-Lot (like Aldi.)

But to our kids, it is just another transforming couch. It transforms from a couch to a place to jump off of onto the cushions. But to us, a way to try to follow prophetic counsel.

On Valentine's Day.


Rarely do I hold such contempt for a calendar day. I am not exactly sure where I can lay the blame. While no one seems to be sure who this Saint Valentine was or even if it was more than one person, I guess I can't complain too much about a martyr for the cause of Christianity. If I was going to die for my religion, I think that would demonstrate my willingness to walk in accordances with the precepts it taught. While I think that Christianity was falling away from the truth at the time, I still respect those people who recognized and followed the truth according to their knowledge and understanding. So, I can not really blame my contempt for the day on the Name-Sake.

I read a book in 10th grade. The class was a Children's Literature class. The book, which will remain title-less since I forgot its name long ago, read like a girl's journal. It was about this young girl who was growing up and was supposed to get married to someone. I am not sure how it turned out. But the girl had a calendar which was given to her by her monk brother which had the names of the different calendar days. Different saints were given different days to be remembered on. I guess the modern equivalent would be Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I read that the people were given a day since they had something admirable to be remembered for, or some characteristic that should be remembered. I think this is a little strange that one person should get a day all to themselves when we give our Savior two days, Christmas and Easter. I understand all the Mothers in the world getting a day and the fathers another, but I do feel it slightly pretentious to give others even half of what Christ gets. I guess that the giver of a day to the Saints could have some initial blame, but it probably really only went to help people try to be better. How would they have known that only a few of the days would be so strongly supported.

Next comes my favorite thing to blame, the Ancient Greeks. They seem to have a bit of tradition involved in everything. Not to go into too much detail, February 15th was a non-romantic day of fertility. Pope Gelasius I managed to abolish this day and celebrated the 13-14th which seems to be a celebration of chastity. So, while I am not sure if this really had much affect in the long run, I always love blaming the Greeks. (oh, I saw a licence plate cover that was in capital greek letters: Epsilon, Delta, Tau which looked exactly like EAT.)

So, skipping past many centuries, I come to my youth. Valentine's day was enforced at my school. Everyone had to give everyone else a valentine's card if you were going to give anyone one. I remember that I had 26 people in my class including myself, I had a box of 24 cards. I studiously spent the day before one of the class periods and wrote out each card... at least I put my name on them. I realized that my count was off when I got to school. I gave one to everyone except a kid named Kevin. He is likely the only one in the class that would have noticed this oversight and approached my about it. I apologized and did something in terms of restitution. Maybe this is a bad experience that has tainted me. I don't think this is really the source though.

We were always taught not to date until we were 16 and then not to pair off, which in today's terms is better stated:
"Dating
Do not date until you are at least 16 years old. Date only those who have high standards. When you begin dating, go in groups or on double dates. Plan activities that help you remain close to the Spirit of the Lord." (from the For the Strength of Youth pamphlet)
Understanding that I really should not date anyone steadily, the ideals of valentine's day was far from what I had been taught. It would not make sense to have some valentine to be with on valentine's day when I wasn't going to date them. It would seemingly give the wrong impression and probably be a mockery of the very principle of Valentine's day.

I understood that Valentine's day was a day to spend a little extra special attention on the person you loved. This is how my parents did it. Attention seemed to be the only thing that was really spent that I remember. Maybe there was some extremely small gift which a few meals were missed to be able to afford, but that was it.

While Valentine's day seemed like an important day for some, I had my priorities. I had no attachments to any girls in particular. I managed to get through 19 years of my life not too much the worse for wear as far as valentines goes. I could even say that I had some positive experiences and very supportive friends.

Two years of a mission had to be the best Valentine's day of my life. We were remembered by our families, and I don't think I had a companion go all sappy over a girl that was supposed to be waiting for him. I even think the food was somewhat better those nights. But the mission was amazing anyway.

My first Valentine's day back from my mission was apparently uneventful since I don't remember it. I had broken up with a girl (it lasted about 4 days.) I probably worked that night. If I remember correctly, the Utah Symphony came to the concert hall, and we had a couple get engaged during intermission. Now that was some planning. Flowers were delivered by the house manager, and the ring was attached to the flowers with some sappy note I don't remember.

Not too long after, my interest was drawn to this wonderful girl. We went out on a few dates and quickly realized we didn't want to date anyone else. We were engaged, then married. By the time the next Valentine's day rolled around, I probably had to work again. I had been in bad traffic in Utah before, but there are only two evenings which I now refuse to go out for the whole evening unless walking: Mission Reunion Friday before General Conference Saturday and Valentine's Day when even the grocery store is overloaded with long lines of men.

I think my largest disdain towards this day isn't that I want to spend a little extra special attention with the person I love, rather I don't want to spend a lot of money and exercise my patience only to find that the quality of the time and attention I meant to spend on the person I love is given instead to sitting in lines at Walmart trying to get something small for my wife, or sitting in traffic wasting precious gas only knowing that I am contributing to the problem of being out on the street when I could just as happily spend time at home, or having the media, advertisements, and associates telling me that I should be spending lots money I don't have on things that are not needed or even really wanted.

On a side note, I think that I have avoided going to a store besides to get gas or use a bathroom since just after Christmas. I try to help the budget anywhere I can.

So, I think that I can blame my disdain on myself for bothering listening to the world's way of doing things and thinking that my sweet wife would really like any of that stuff anyway.

To show the goodness that still does exist in Valentine's day though, Michael got a hand drawn card and 1 caramel from a neighbor girl. The card said, "Mical." Maybe the day isn't really completely lost yet. Maybe the children still get the real point... just do something a little extra special to help others feel loved.

A day in the life of our family.

Ok, so this is not all one day, but it represents a fairly good sampling of the day.

This is Isaac on a Sunday sporting a white shirt and slacks. Very stunning. And just look at that hair. Flowing hair on the top with naturally shortened hair on the sides. (He rolls around and turns his head which wears down the hair. It is like a free haircut.)

Sitting down for a luxurious breakfast with pancakes partially made from Rye flour, eggs, syrup, banana, and fried ham. To drink, some milk or water.
While polo is not an approved sport in this luxurious two bedroom apartment nor is there enough room for a horse, nor are other implements of the sport allowed in the home, improvisations are made to create a new form of the game called piggy-back.
Occasionally the horse enjoys taking a ride too, though the horse doesn't seem to realize that pulling on hair will eventually lead to loss of hair. This horse taking a ride can be most clearly represented in children's book Morris is a Cowboy, a Policeman, and a Baby Sitter.
So, from the sunny south, Keep those windows clean so we can leave the fingerprints on glass.

We are now taking suggestions for our next post. If you have any suggestions, please leave them in the comment area. This gives you, the reader, a chance to have part in the Fingerprintssonglass blog. Good luck.