Editor's note: I wrote this yesternight; my internet connection was not working.
Ah, I've been having such a wonderful time this weekend! The day before yesterday grandma and grandpa Seable picked Sabrina and me up from our house at 9:30. Then we drove all the way down to Martinez, CA in 6 hours. On the way there I was privileged to read some fantastic self-help books, mess around with my new Franklin Planner, and watch this neat series that my grandma and grandpa had all about the Messiah and His life. We watched the two about His pre-mortal life and His birth and childhood on the way down; they were amazingly insightful. I'm excited to listen to the rest of them on the trip up (I think grandpa will let me drive home!)
When we got to the town, we drove to great grandma Perona's house (my grandma's mom) first to drop off our suitcases and such. I love grandma Perona! There's something cool about kind, old people. They have gone through so much in this life, and have such a history. I don't even remember great grandpa Perona; he died when I was really little. He was a family hero, from what I've heard about him. I am very excited to meet him.
After dropping our stuff off at grandma's we went to the nearby stake center to get the cultural hall all set up for our family fling. It turned out that the "crazy Italians" were not able to make it, or the Cullens. Ah well; we still had a good time. Everyone else made it, and instead of going to a dance, my 13 year old cousin Josh Lipman and I shot it out with Nerf darts on the church lawn. We had a great time. Afterwards we went back to Josh's house, played some pool, chatted about life, and played a video game. It was good bonding time. My goodness, we had crazy plans for bombing the stake dance... Here was our first idea: 1. When aunt Sarah would go to pick up Jessika, Sabrina, and Rachel from the dance, we would come along... wearing nothing but swimming shorts and wild paint all over our bodies! We would go in and scream and dance and spray people with silly string and then run out. At first I thought it would be a good idea; nobody knows me there! But Josh didn't want to destroy his reputation, and so he decided to only help me get ready for it. Just before we were about to defile my temple with markers, I felt prompted to stop the idea and go with alternative two, which was this. 2. We would cover ourselves with glow-bracelets (even have them clipped onto our noses!), run into the dance, dance like crazy, spray people with silly string, and then run out.
We walked up to the large building slowly and calmly, keeping our silly string in our pockets, like terrorists ready to strike. We slipped by the chaperons with suaveness into the noisy room. We waded through the huge crowd of adolescents, into the middle of the dance floor. And then we began our wild dance. We got out the silly string, girls started to scream, we started to scream, and flail our arms AND legs. A circle gathered around us both, and at this point I could tell that Josh was having the time of his life. It was a very fun experience indeed.
The next morning, we all woke up, and just chilled around the Lipman house. I babysat while Sarah was, where was she? I don't know; t'was mom stuff. Read books, played guitar, just had a pretty laid back time. By 8 that night, the Cullens drove in! Hooray! I was so so happy to meet them. All night, we got all caught up with each other; it was so good to see them again! I am Autumn's #1 fan; she's an amazing songwriter! It is because of her that I felt inspired to write my own songs.Well, I guess I have to duke it out with Jessika to find out who is the REAL #1 fan...
Today we went to church, and I was amazed by the Martinez ward! It seems that their stake is paying almost all of the expenses for ALL of their youth to go to EFY in Idaho this summer! Each kid simply has to pay $100 dollars to come. The structure of the meetings was different in this ward; they had Sunday School, Priesthood (or YW or RS), then Sacrament meeting. It was wonderful; all of the teachers were so nice! When I walked into priesthood I was overwhelmed by the swarm of Deacons. My thoughts were, "Oh my word; look at them! They're everywhere!" It excited me to see so many young Priesthood holders all over the place; it was a thrill. I decided to hang out with the Deacons, my cousins Ben and Josh were with them anyways. Best group of Deacons I have ever seen. Their President actually had some leadership skills. It was inspiring, and their teachers were very strong, spiritually speaking. After the lesson, all of them KNELT for the closing prayer!
Testimony meeting in Sacrament meeting was a blast. Aunt Heather (my hero!) bore her testimony about missionary work today. It was very moving; I need to pray more for missionary experiences, and then take the opportunity!
Later that day, I left with the Cullens to Windsor; a town an hour and a half north (a.k.a., where they live). I'm going to hang out here 'till Wednesday until my grandparents bring me back home on their way back up. On the drive here, I talked to Aunt Heather more about missionary work. She said that you must emphasize community service; get out there and show them what we're about, know what I mean? You won't get missionary opportunities just staying at home. She suggested I do some service at a school within bike-riding distance. My grade school, Fruitdale Elementary, was just the school for it. When I was there as a wild little guy, I didn't show a very good example of the believers. Being a teacher's assistant there would definitely help me fix my scarred past, as well as get me some service hours and teaching me how to deal with swarms of children. The scenario is perfect; I'll contact the principal as soon as I get home.
When we got there, we got all of our stuff in, (they had just got back from a huge and wonderful vacation) we had a music night! It was AWESOME! So Spring (14) got out her cello, Ben (13) got out his bass guitar, Ephraim (8) got out his xylophone, Sabrina got out her camera, Autumn (16) got on the piano, and I got out my guitar. And we jammed! We were all learning and playing one of Autumn's songs. We were experimenting with when some instruments should come in and such; it was just great! The song we practiced as a group is called Stand, and the style of it was (as are most of Autumn's songs) Broadway-Pop flavored. Her songs vaguely remind me of Come What May from Moulin Rouge. (btw, Autumn just said to use Clearplay if anyone plans on watching that film...) Here are the lyrics to Stand:
I have been given this body
to obtain my highest worth
I have been given a mission
I was chosen before my birth
And I will do my part
To penetrate the dark
Helping those who will knock and ask
To turn their hearts
Chorus:
I will fight my fight
In the army of the Lord
I will do what's right
I will gain eternal reward
And I will raise my voice in song
The battle cry of the strong
I will return after so long
Back home where I belong
I will achieve my potential
A stripling warriors reward
World's without number
I will live the life of the Lord
When doubts and temptations surround
I set mine eyes on my Father's glory
I can high to Kolob
Added upon I will be!
Chorus
Guitar Solo... fade...
She has a ton of very cleverly written songs! I just adore her genius; and it's all so integrated with the gospel too!
We spent the rest of the night just messing around. Autumn got out her "Book of Fun Songs" and we played and sang around the piano for hours! A ton of popular music was played, such as You Raise Me Up, Far Away, Love Song, Fall For You, Poker Face (yes... that one. Oh wait, Autumn made a parody for that one called Choker Face: a song that helps you remember the steps for CPR!), Cristofori's Dream, Hallelujah, Another One Bites the Dust, and a ton more that I cannot remember the titles for. I even found Uncle Reg's old trumpet, which I used to accompany Autumn for a few of the songs. Well, okay, nevermind. That simply caused a lot of laughter and wailing (think maimed whale) in the dark of the night.
Tomorrow (well, I guess TODAY now), we will do a lot of book reading (we plan on reading a parody called Nightlight together, guess what book it mocks...) and music playing: my dream vacation!
I love my family!
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