Valentine's & President's Day Weekend

Over the past year Chad and I have realized that we are slowly becoming real adults, meaning we are slowly gaining more and more responsibilities that take away from the carefree life we used to have. Chad has seriously had to learn the discipline needed to take the time necessary for all of the law school readings he must do. Working, finishing classes, and being a practicum student I’ve had to learn that sometimes we have to do things we would really rather not. Discussing these life changes with my mom, she kindly keeps reminding us, “welcome to real life.”

The most recent experience was this past weekend. I had to work over Valentine’s Day. Chad was pretty bummed, not just because it was Valentine’s Day but also because I had to work both Saturday and Sunday. Chad hates when I work the weekend because those are his only days off, and it means he is home alone all weekend. But, looking on the bright side that means I’m not around to distract him from his studies so he can get A LOT done and we could hang out on Monday (President’s Day), so that’s exactly what we did.

Valentine's Tulips <3

Monday was a blast! It was the first day I was able to sleep in past 6:30 am! Woohoo! If you know me at all, you know I HATE waking up early. I am definitely not a morning person, it takes me a good two hours of being awake to be pleasant around. Sleeping in was wonderful!

It had been a while since Chad and I had attended the Temple. We to the Temple over New Year’s Eve weekend, but we didn’t do a session. Monday was the perfect day to go. The DC temple is beautiful! Like the San Diego temple it can be seen from off of the freeway. It is even more beautiful on the inside.

After the temple we went into DC for the remainder of the afternoon. We ate at a yummy burger place called Good Stuff Eatery. It is super delicious! The burgers are big, and the fries scrumptious. Unfortunately for Chad he ordered a burger that must be a smaller size, his burger was tiny… Good thing we had lots of fries!

We have really enjoyed being in DC. There is always something we can go and do, and most of it is free! It’s a different style than where we’ve lived in the past. Back in Utah we would mostly do things outdoors, hiking, biking, etc. Here there are still some outdoor activities we can do, but there is a lot of city stuff to do, or tourist-y activities. We are definitely tourists in our own town and we love it! 

We went to the Museum of Natural History. We spent almost two hours there, just on the first floor! It is crazy how much time you can spend in all of the museums. The first floor consisted of ocean life, a special exhibit on ocean photography, mammals from around the globe, and an exhibit on human evolution. 

Chad and I enjoyed learning about ocean animals and mammals, but the human evolution exhibit we zipped through. Just coming from the temple, neither of us had a desire to spend time in this exhibit. Why? Because we believe we are children of God, figuratively and literally.

We believe that he created us, and is a “father figure” to us, but more importantly, we believe that our spirits were actually born to our heavenly parents, and that we are therefore literally the sons and daughters of God.

I do not believe humans evolved from apes. If humans evolved from animals, it implies that we naturally operate like animals, and are justified in doing so. However, if we believe that we are literally descended from God, it changes our perspective drastically in regards to how we see ourselves, in the choices we make, and in our view of our eternal potential.

I believe in evolution, just not the way scientists explain it with regards to humans. An experience President Hugh B. Brown had illustrates what I am trying to say. Someone asked him if he believed in evolution. He responded,

“I’ll tell you the kind of evolution I believe in. If you take an acorn that is half and inch high and hold it beside an oak tree that if fifty feet high and a hundred years old, and you really believe that in the process of time, that acorn can turn into an oak tree, then you believe in the same kind of evolution I believe in. If you take a man with all his imperfections and stand him beside God the Eternal Father in all His glory and perfection and you really believe that in time, man can become as God is, then you believe in the same kind of evolution I believe in.”

I really love this comparison because not all acorns become oak trees, but all have the potential to become oak trees. Likewise, every one of us has the inborn potential to grow up and become like our Father in Heaven. The difference between an acorn and man (or animals and man), is that we can control what happens to us. We have our own agency, we can make our own choices, and it is those choices that either limit our potential or fulfill it.