A Fresh Start

School is nigh at hand, and that means friends, dates, and *sigh* school work. This summer was so much fun that I am not quite ready for school to start. Here's basically how it went down:

During the whole month of June, I took driver's ed. At 7 in the morning. Bogus, I know. That was all good, and I can't really expand on that. It's driver's ed. Any questions?

After that, my mom was able to use her sky miles to fly me out to Boston, MA. You have no idea how excited I was to be there! There is a feeling there that cannot be felt in our young state. The feeling of being in the city of the Red Sox is simply indescribable. I was also able to actually go to a Red Sox game!

I indeed went to Fenway Park and saw the Red Sox kill the Devil Rays 15-4. I was screaming at the top of my lungs! My favorite player, Coco Crisp, hit a grand-slam over the monster in the first inning. (Note: a Grand slam is when you hit a home run when the bases are loaded, and the green monster is this huge wall in center field that is unique to Fenway Park.) I also was able to go to Joseph Smith's birth place and camp there overnight. That was a really cool place to be. I went to the Boston Temple as well (which is the most beautiful temple in my opinion) and I loved the flowers. Because of the humidity, they are able to grow beautiful flowers.

I loved it in Boston. I would consider living there even though it's not like Utah. I wouldn't live there for more than a couple of years, but I would like to live in the outskirts of Boston. There's a whole different world out there for me to explore, and so I want to go! But it would be weird not living in Utah. Utah is my home. It's a safe place. Well, sort of, but you get the idea. I love Utah, the rocky mountains, Bear Lake, and all of that stuff. Utah is the place to be, especially when it comes to the church. There are 5 temples on the east coast of the United States. Boston MA, Washington D.C., Charlotte NC, Atlanta GA, and somewhere in Florida... I can't remember if it's in Tampa Bay or somewhere else. We have like 14 in Utah alone. I'm sure I'm missing a temple or two, but you get the picture. It is hard to be the only member of the church in your high school. I couldn't do that. I am so happy to be in a place where LDS people are plentiful and strong. It's nice to be respected for your standards.

Anyways, I also went to Maine on this trip of mine. I got to see some beautiful sites of the Atlantic ocean and some lighthouses as well.

They are so wonderful to look at. (On the picture in the middle, there are some high-roller houses in the background ;)) Everywhere you look is GREEN GREEN GREEN! The roads are really narrow and on either side is a forest of trees. You can't even see houses on the side of the road because there are so many trees. People love to garden there and love to share their goods with people in the ward. I forgot to mention- there are 2 STAKES IN ALL OF MAINE! That's right. It was a total change for me. My Uncle (who is in the stake presidency) put it to me like this: "If we were to measure out our stake in terms of miles it would be like having a ward in Logan, a ward in Salt Lake, a ward in St. George, a ward in Vernal, a ward in Heber, and probably one in Provo. That's how spread out it is." Holy cow. My Stake boundaries go from 11th west to 17th west. And they have to drive like 300 miles to get to the other end of the stake. What a nightmare!! The thing is, the wards aren't even that big either. The boundaries are huge, but the wards are small. This one branch that I visited had their sacrament meeting room double as a primary room because their building was so small. They had maybe 20 or 25 people show up that day. All I can say is, it was a big change when I went there. I was like 5% of their congregation by myself! Well anyways, I'm sure you get the picture by now. We are lucky out in good ol' Utah, and so I am grateful for all of the members out here. I hope all is well in your lives, and I shall speak to you later!