How was your Valentine's day? I hope you were showered from love on every side. I know that this day can be a hard one, seeing as how it sometimes focuses on having a partner that loves you...but it is so much more than that, it is showing love to ALL. Even when you are in the dating game, you need to be kind to all love the people you are serving with all your heart.
People keep asking me what I did for Sarah for Valentine's Day. It wasn't just one thing on that specific day that I did for her. I tried to show my love for her every day. This week has actually been very special. I actually didn't have to work on Thursday, for a change, so, Monday through Friday (besides school work) I had free to spoil and be there for my wife. We had decided the previous week, that we were going to go to the Phoenix Art Museum on Wednesday. It was truly an amazing experience. I got to learn more about her likes and talk with her about the things that were in there that were special to both of us. The highlights: well, we were able to go to this Islam exhibit (which is normally one you pay extra for) and just relished in the beauty of the culture that we were able to see. Intricate details that the people poured into their relics and into their faith. It was quite inspiring. Next, something created out of destruction. The story was a church had burned down, and while that can be a tragedy, the artist took the pieces of charred wood and hung them up in a cube-like manner, and made something beautiful to behold. It was something of awe. Later, we went into a room of nine projections that a group of people did in 2012. They got together in nine different parts of the globe, and made music, each person adding something of value to the whole. And then, the thing that got us ultimately, the thing we had to stop on to make the night very meaningful, something I didn't get a picture of, was a room. A room that was pitch black. You walk in to this void. But in this void are mirrors on each wall, and little lights hanging from the ceiling. You feel like you have walked into the cosmos. A room of eternity. You cannot see where one thing ends and another begins. I stood in that room, clutching Sarah's hand, and as I felt I was nothing in this grand room, I also felt that I could create something of this sort with Sarah. That she and I have begun on this path to the eternities. That we are inheritors of creation. It was truly awe-inspiring.
We have this tradition of going to get ice cream after temple trips. Well, we changed it up this week and while we were in Phoenix, after the museum, we went to get ice cream from this sweet little shop. It was called Novel Ice Cream and it was just superb. They had a choice called the Leslie Knope and they have an option that comes and goes called the Ron Swanson. The guy at the counter was super friendly and answered all our questions and let us taste every option of ice cream, while telling us why it was the best ice cream in the United States. He wasn't wrong. The two options above have things like waffles and even some bacon. He told us to follow them on Insta. We ultimately decided with a ice cream-filled glazed donut, splitting it up half and half with two flavors of ice cream, and to top it all off, they add some sort of breakfast cereal to the mix.
We then noticed across the street, a nice little pizzeria called Grand Ave. Pizza Co. We walked in and while small, there was lots to look at in this little restaurant, including a mural of the street that we were on with the corners of the street, and of course, in this mural, were many universes combined, including a Ninja Turtle and the Batmobile. And on top a devil eating some pizza on a unicycle. We got two slices of the special which had so many things on it that you wouldn't think would normally go on a pizza. And surprisingly it was soooooooo good. Needless to say, our excursion to Phoenix was successful and fun.
Our Valentine's day was actually super awesome, too! First of all, I was asked to be a DJ for our Special Ed Valentine's day Party. The party was in our classroom in 501. When they asked me to do so, I was a bit daunted, but then I asked Sarah to help me and everything worked out so much. At first I had the idea just to make a YouTube playlist, which we did, but then Sarah reminded me about the Ads that populate YouTube in between songs. So Sarah had the great idea to make the playlist on our Spotify account, which has no ads (since we pay premium). It was a good idea, and the music on the playlist we made was very well received. I kept on telling everyone that I don't want to be a DJ professionally because it is hard being the person in the room who everyone hates or simultaneously loves, haha. I was only kidding.
But what was also awesome, is Sarah and I were also invited to a courthouse wedding on Valentine's day and a later dinner at a restaurant called Buca di Beppo. The wedding was for our friend and colleague Nicole Rodriguez. She was getting married to a man named Adam, who I hadn't met previously. Only a couple of us were invited, so it was pretty intimate, and it was a nice wedding. The judge was pretty cool. He had a long graying beard. He read everything that he said, but some of the stuff that he read was super insightful and profound, about love and the things you bring in to a marriage. It was a nice little ceremony and I felt happy to be included with my wife. The dinner afterwards was small and intimate as well. This restaurant is meant for the family and Sarah and I got a shrimp pasta. It lasted us two days. We were like, if we're going to spend several dollars, might as well go for something of value, besides your usual pasta dishes like spaghetti or lasagna. This restaurant, though, was a spectacle to behold. I've never really seen a restaurant like it. There were pictures and collages on every wall of just about everything. Sculptures and the like. No two spaces were alike. The company was pretty cool to. The people who came were a lot of her aides and our friends, Pam and Sabrina and Annie and her husband Jonathan, and the two witnesses, who were Adam's friends. It was quite the event to go to on Valentine's day. The restaurant even offered a heart-shaped Lasagna on that day.
Other interesting things that happened this week is that Gavin was sick most of the week. We think he has an aversion to the bus now because of throwing up the last few times he's been on them. So much so that when we take him to the bus at the end of the day, he makes a run for it. He's successfully attempted to run away multiple times. And of course, I am the one that runs after him. Well, he makes it to the field on the opposite end of the field, and we have to calm him down. Fortunately, the security guards have been of great help the last couple of times, when they could probably be doing other things of import. We find that if we have Gavin push the bike the security guard is on, it calms him down and leads him to the place we need him to go. Well, he was so uppity one of the times that when the security guard offered to let him push her bike, he actually got on the bike. Like literally on it, riding it, the security guard on his left pushing and me on his right helping to push. Well, we actually and literally pushed him from the fields all the way on campus to the buses on the other end of the school. We were definitely a sight to behold. If someone had a camera, they would have seen a grown boy pedaling with two adults on his left on his right going down the sidewalk passed passerbys and walking to the bus. I would pay for that picture and the memory. I'm sure I'll get more memories like this.
Gavin has been acting really strange lately, and I met his mom one of the days this week for the first time. She's unsure what is really wrong with the guy, since he can't really talk. I follow him out to the field and he walks the same loop like twenty times in a row before he breaks out of it, or I have to be relieved. And sometimes when he does get out of the loop, it is hard to even get him back to the classroom without him bounding straight back to the field. It's a little annoying, really. Sarah actually followed me out to the field to help me with Gavin and let me know that it was lunch time. She got Gavin out of his loop and we walked around the whole of the school before Eva took Gavin back to the classroom, or so we thought. He actually stayed outside and Eva stayed out with him for like an hour, according to her.
We have many friends that we eat lunch with. We have lunch with Shellie and her daughter Aundreia, who is an aide and SpEd teacher respectively. A couple of aides, Sabrina and Kari. A guy that stays on his phone and watches videos and doesn't interact with anyone. And two women from the school office. Both of which are our friends. One of the woman is named Robin and she cracks up at all of Sarah's jokes. She and Aundreia have daughters in girl scouts. A couple of weeks ago we helped them out by buying girl scout cookies from them. Robin has a good sense of humor and is very real. The other woman, Birdie, or Bertie, is an attendance worker. She is hispanic and has given us oranges to eat on occasion. She sits by Sarah and me. She is good friends with us and at the end of the day, when we're ready to go out to the car, we stop by her window and just talk about certain things. Also on our way to see Aunt Kerry. The lunchroom is actually a fun place to be at, and I'm grateful for all the friends Sarah and I have made.
We had Elder's planned for Tuesday but actually it was Wednesday when we were suppose to feed them. Well, since we had actually planned Phoenix Art Museum for Wednesday, we proposed that we buy them a $20 gift card to a restaurant of their choosing. They said they would love that and that they had to discuss which restaurant that they wanted. They ultimately chose Jack in the Box of all choices. We gave them $20 to go spend there.
Sarah was asked to give a talk this morning at church on the talk that Elder Holland gave in conference called " The Ministry of Reconciliation." She did so great. She had everyone in the room close their eyes and think of the person they would want to see most and put all the feelings of love and joy they feel from this person in a box to think about later. She emphasized that we need to forgive others. She brought up a Hawai'an word that means four things: I forgive you, I'm Grateful, I'm sorry, and I can't remember the other. She kicked butt with her talk.
On Tuesday at church meetings, I successfully helped one of our brothers retrieve his lds.org username and password. The sad thing about his username is that his name has an acccent on an e so everytime he enters his username with a keyboard, he needs to know how to do that with the keyboard. It's much easier on the cellphone. Sarah had a relief society activity, and I also helped reimburse the sisters with their receipts.
Well, I sent you the last two vlogs. I hope you enjoy. The last one was hard to make, as I hardly had any footage, but as you can see I chose a Back to the Future theme and did a lot of talking. I didn't have a lot of time to spend on them, but ultimately I am happy with them.
Saturday at work was not so fun. But I got through it. And after work there was a Branch Valentine's day party where there was a dance and posole and tres leches cake.
I've been watching a whole bunch of cooking shows with Sarah. We have settled on a show called Zumbo's Just Desserts on Netflix. We are going to finish the last two episodes of the season today. It should be good, in that we have invested a lot of emotions of the characters and bakers of the show.
I hope you have a good President's Day. Briana found out about the missionary info first, at least, she texted the family about it first. I think mom and dad heard about it before her. It's pretty fun news. Hopefully we'll use the time talking with you to our advantage. We love you soooooo and enjoy hearing from you, whether it be letters or video chat or texting. We're excited.
Love,
John
