Life is Good :)

I'm pathetic at this blogging thing and I wish that I were better.  Well here are some things I think are worth mentioning.  School has been really good.  I feel like that is all I do now a days, but thats ok because I don't know what else I would be doing.  I've taken two Biology tests, one physical science test, and a mass media test.  Tomorrow I go back to Worcester State and take another physical science test and a sociology test.  Studying for those is not very fun.  General conference weekend was amazing!  I thought it would be hard being away from the family during that time, because I love watching general conference with them.  Even though I missed them so much, I had so much fun with my friend Enji who use to be my visiting teacher.  I went to her apartment for the second session on saturday.  Its so weird watching General Conference in Boston because its a two hour difference.  Usually I'm use to conference starting at ten and two but here in Boston it starts at twelve and four.  Saturday night we went out to eat and then over to Harvard Square because a girl named Ali invited everyone for icecream for her birthday.  It was so fun being some of the girls from the ward.  On sunday morning, Enji and I made crepes because I had told her my family tradition of making crepes on sunday morning during general conference.  Overall it was a very fun weekend and I was very sad when it was over.  I forgot to mention that before general conference, at the house, all the Tv's stopped working.  There was something wrong with the satellite so on friday night, Reed and I watched the BYU game on his laptop.  Thank goodness for that!  I love watching BYU football and this season has been fun to watch so far.  Also that week, Reed, his parents, and I went to the "Big E."  Its basically this big State fair but it combines the states surrounding Massachusetts.  It was so much fun and we didn't even see it all because there was so much to see!  There were tons of booths and food and rides.  I would have liked to been able to go on some of the rides but we just stuck to the shopping.  It took me back to the days of "Steaks and Stackers."  I love those memories but at the same time it was super hard work!  Good times.  Next monday (after general conference) a Direct TV guy named Louis came to fix the TV's.  We found out he was from the dominicon republic.  He said that he was excited because in three weeks his wife was coming from the dominicon republic.  They had been apart for four years!  Louis has been here in the United States watching over his three sons while his wife was in Dominican Republic.  I can't remember the specific reason she was there but it had to do with her not being able to get a green card yet.  Anyway, when I heard that, it really put things into perspective for me.  Here I am living in Boston for only one year, being sad that I can't see my family.  I couldn't imagine what it would be like being a way from someone you love for four years!  It also made me grateful to know that families are forever and that it doesn't end after this life.  Anyway, the following weekend, I didn't have plans so I decided to text Ali to see if she could hang out.  She was more than willing to and I was so grateful for that!  It was such a fun weekend!  She even invited me to stay the night which I was super grateful for because I live an hour away from Boston.  Sheryl got her book published, which was very exciting!  The book is called, "In the Blink of an Eye."  I read the book and loved it.  Everyone should go check it out.  She has a website called www.sherylnixon.com that talks about the book and it can also be purchased there.  There are some videos on the website too that are very cool to watch.  This last weekend I was invited to go apple picking.  I was very excited!  On my way there, the check engine light in my car came on and it freaked me out!  I pulled over to see if there was anything I could do, but I couldn't get the dang hood opened.  After calling Dad, I decided it would be ok to drive and that on Monday I would take it in to get checked.  Not gonna lie, I was nervous about taking the car in!  I have never owned a car before so I have never had to do anything like that before.  They found out that the spark plugs needed to be replaced, the ignition coil needed to be replaced and the belt was completely cracked and worn out, so he replaced that as well.  The cost was a total $366.56.  I hate spending money but I really didn't have a choice, plus now it runs just fine so I'm happy :) The auto car place is about four miles away from the house, so I decided to run to it and got some excerise.  Boy am I out of shape!  But luckily I made it.  Tomorrow Mom and Rashelle are coming and I am so excited!!  Life is Good.

I forgot I had taken this picture.  I thought it was kind of ironic because I am always reminding myself that life is good.  Well this particular day that I took the picture, I was kind of down and discouraged and when I stopped at the light, this car in front of me had this sticker.

 

September- It will all work out :)

Wow its been a long time since I last posted something!  September has been a good month, but it has also been a hard month.  "It will all work out" has really been the re-occurring theme throughout this month.  Pretty Ironic.  I didn't know what to expect from online classes so I was kind of stressed with that.  It was overwhelming at first, but once I learned to get the hang of it, its been alright.  So far it has all worked out.  Online classes is definitely not my favorite way to learn, but I am grateful that I can do classes and get some credits done.  I keep reminding myself that I really have nothing else to do with my time when Reed is sleeping or watching TV, so I might as well be working on classes.  I FINALLY got my newly refurbished GPS sent to me.  After calling Garmin every week for about a month, it finally came!  Every time I called they would basically tell me the same thing.... "you should be receiving your Garmin within the next week."  Well finally after the umpteenth time of calling, the lady informed me that my GPS had been sent back to Garmin for some odd reason.  Then she told me it should be coming in the mail the next day, but if it doesn't it will definitely come on Monday.  Well it finally came on Monday.  Thank goodness because now I can go back to traveling the world again!  I really feel like since I haven't had the GPS I haven't really gone anywhere except to church because that is like the only place I only know how to get without it!  But in the end, it all worked out.  Today I just took my first test for Biology and I was very nervous for it.  It was stressful finding a proctor, getting a parking permit, studying for the test, etc, etc.  But now I can say that it all worked out!  I don't know what test score I received but I do know that I worked my hardest and did my best and because of that it will all work out.  With the online classes, some days are hard and some days are easy.  Some days I feel super stressed and other days I feel fine, but I have to constantly be reminding myself that it will all work out.  I can't think of a time in my life when it didn't work out.  Even when it didn't work out, it really did end up working out.  There was a week at the beginning of September that I kind of went into a slump of not waking up at 4:30 to turn Reed, well guess what... it worked out.  Lately I have had to remind myself about perspective.  When I become stressed I put things into perspective.  I remind myself that I am doing my best and working my hardest and that is all I can do.  Heavenly Father will take care of the rest.  Gosh the atonement is amazing!  Anyway, what have I been up to this month?  Not much really.  I feel like all I ever do is online classes.  I'm glad that college football has started.  It is one of my favorite times of the year!  BYU is not doing too hot.  It was painful watching the Utah game and now I even hate admitting that I am afraid to watch the upcoming Utah State game!  Last year I had the opportunity to attend the BYU vs Utah State game with two other people who were both cheering for Utah State!  The one time I go to a Utah State game and BYU loses!  I hope that BYU pulls it together and beats them this season because I never want to lose to them again!  I watched this season of America's Got Talent and it just finished this month.  I really enjoy that show because there is so much variety.  I like it better than American Idol because all American Idol has to offer is singing.  Now that the season has ended I don't know what I will watch! Not much else has happened.  Mark and Sheryl were gone this last weekend so I had to work and they will also be gone this weekend so I will work.  Mark and Sheryl are going to Utah this weekend.  It is hard to think that because that is my home and I would love to be able to see the fam!  Oh well.  Anyway, life is good.  I'm hoping that as fall comes and the holidays come, I'll have better things to post about, but for now, this is all I got :)

This is Reed's cool trick.

This blow-up toy came with Reed's movie, Despicable Me, so I decided to put it on his head.  He is very good at balancing!

            Life is good :)

Tid Bits :)

So I forgot to mention what happened when I came home last night.  Right in front of the door hopped a little toad.  It scared the crap out of me!  Remember that this happened at night, so it was dark.  It kept jumping into the door, like it was trying to get inside the house.  If I opened the door, I knew the little toad would hop right inside, so there I was stuck outside.  I tried going through the front door, but I knew it would be locked.  So I finally got up the courage and very quickly opened the door and booked it inside.  Luckily I made it in without the toad getting inside either.  As I was rapidly coming through the door, there sat Sheryl at the dinner table with a very surprised look on her face wondering what in the world had just happened.  When I explained it to her she started laughing.  Dang, now that I'm thinking about it, I should have taken a picture of the toad.  That same night I went up to bed and decided to see if they had any free movies on YouTube.  They do have movies but I swear they are all a bunch of B movies.  All the good ones cost money.  I was actually able to find a favorite.  "Road to Bali" with Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Dorothy Lamour.  Love it :) Then that night I had the strangest dream.  In the dream I was sent home from Boston and was basically replaced by another PCA that Mark and Sheryl had found.  When I got back to Utah, I was left wondering why I was sent home in the first place.  I had no idea what I had done wrong and I felt like I had failed.  Then I was also mad because I got home after Snow College had started, so I didn't even have a chance to go back to school.  Weirdest dream ever!  I asked Reed about it later.  He said he thinks it means I'm stressed out about everything.  I'm stressed that I won't do a good job at work and I'm also stressed that I won't do good in school with the online classes.  I thought this was very interesting that he said this because its so true!!  Anyway, then today when I was driving home from church, another toll booth worker talked to me!  Maybe this is a common thing that happens in Boston that I am not aware of because this is the second time it has happened.  So I pulled up to pay my $1.65 and he said, "wow, oh my goodness.  Hello beautiful... what's your name?"  I said, "Camille..."  he said, "hello Camille.  My name is Mark.  How are you today?"  As I was rummaging around for cash I said, "Good.  Oh darn I only have a twenty.  So sorry."  Then he jokingly said, "Oh Camille nothing else?  No fives or tens?"  I said, "Nope sorry."  "Well you have a nice day.  It was nice to meet you."  "Thank you I said."  I have to admit that this guy wasn't as creepy as the last one.  He was younger, big African American... probably in his mid or late thirties.  I have to keep reminding myself that I'll never see these people again so it doesn't really matter :) Although, I do have to say that it is kind of nice when people find you attractive.  Moving on... I am starting online classes this Wednesday and I am kind of nervous about it.  But more than anything I'm sad that I'm not going back to Snow College.  I text Molly tonight and asked if she was back in Ephraim and she said yes.  I was homesick for College.  I wanted to be back there with her and Whit.  I didn't think that not going back would affect me at all, but it totally has!  I miss it.  I remember Dad saying to me last year before actually going to Snow in the first place that I would have the time of my life at school.  He said I would have so much fun that I wouldn't even want to come home.  At the time I didn't believe him at all.  I remember being so afraid and looking forward to the times that I would be able to go back home on the weekends.  Well he ended up being so right!  I had the time of my life!  It was a huge blessing to meet Molly and Whit.  Seriously if I had not met them, my year would have been horrible.  I would have been stuck in my prison cell dorm with a roommate that likes to draw sharpie tattoos of weird looking dragons all over her boyfriend's back.  I would have had to watch as they engaged in "tickle" fights... very interesting.  I would have also had to eat the same food everyday for the entire year in the badger den.  But because of meeting Molly and Whit,  I honestly could not have asked for a better school year.  I remember it was exactly a year and one day ago Dad, Mom, Savanna and Ken dropped me off at my Dorm.  It was unbelievably hard when it was time to say goodbye!  It was even so hard that we decided to go to Walmart first, buy a fan, and then drop me off.  I cried and my family cried.  I remember that day thinking how exciting it would be when the last day of school arrived.  My family would come pick me up with all my stuff and we would happily drive home.  Well the next day was Sunday.  Later in the evening after church, I called home crying because I was so homesick.  I didn't think I would make it through that day, or the next day... but I did make it.  Skip ahead to the last day of spring semester (which was about four months ago).  I was dreading the last week of school because I knew it would be the last week I would ever be in Ephraim ever again.  I packed up my car, said goodbye to Molly and Whit, and bawled my eyes out as I drove out of Ephraim.  Then I cried the rest of the way home.  Well now here I am in Boston and I feel like the exact same thing has happened again.  I dreaded coming out to Boston.  Like going to Snow, I knew it was the right thing to do.  I cried saying goodbye to my family.  I looked forward to the day I would return to them.  At first the homesickness felt unbearable, but now as the days move forward, even though it still comes, it comes less and less.  It is amazing though.  Already from this experience I have learned so much!  I have learned how real and how amazing the atonement is.  I've learned to rely on the Lord.  I have learned that it will all work out.  So even though I am so sad that I will not be going back to Snow this next school year, I know that good times lay ahead.  Already I've done amazing things that I would have never dreamed of doing before.  I've met Reed who is an amazing person and a great friend, I went to six flags, California, four different major league baseball stadiums, I've seen Boston, I've gone sailing, I've met incredible people and have gone to an amazing ward.  I can't complain about this experience because it truly is a once in a lifetime experience.  Don't worry, come May, I'll let you know what I'm feeling at the end of the Boston story.  To be continued...

Ah Life :)

Well let me think of things that have happened since my last post... A couple of weeks ago I found out my computer wasn't working for online classes.  When I tried logging into blackboard it would come up saying an error has occurred.  Boy did that stress me out!  I called Snow College's computer department which did and did not help.  The first lady I called, I explained how the problem only occurred on my computer and that I was able to log in on other computers just fine.  She then told me the obvious answer which I already knew.  "Oh there is something wrong with your computer.  You will need to get that fixed.  Good thing you found that out before classes started!" In the back of my head I'm thinking... duh!  So then the next two guys I called they didn't answer.  Then the last guy I called, if I had just listened to him in the first place, it would have saved me a load of stress!  He told me the things to check were uploading the latest adobe, check window settings, and download the latest java.  I don't know what I was thinking, but I only checked the window settings.  So I talked to Reed and he said he had a computer friend that could possibly look at it.  I text my home teacher and asked if he knew anyone in the ward that was big into computers.  He found someone for me.  Long story short, I took my computer to church and the girl (Aubrey) couldn't really look at it because we didn't have the Internet at that moment.  So she said to just email her so we could set up a time to do it later.  Reed's friend came over for fhe with his family, but they had to hurry and leave and didn't have time to look at it so he said if I needed help later in the week to just give him a call.  Reed said he would look at it to see if he could fix the problem.  Well Reed couldn't figure out the problem so he said he would call his friend.  His friend didn't answer.  During all this time I am just stressed out!  What ended up happening was Reed and I figured out how to upgrade Java.  I did that and the problem was fixed.  If I had just listened to the dang snow computer guy in the first place I would have been better off!  I guess many lessons can be learned from this experience.  Technology problem #2... Two Sunday's ago I get in my car to come home from church.  This particular Sunday was absolutely wonderful!  It was fast Sunday so testimony meeting was amazing.  During church I was able to pay my tithing which was such a blessing!  Also during church I got a new perspective on trials.  So I was just feeling really really good and probably the best I'd felt in the last couple of days (keep in mind this was during the time of the computer incident).  So I get in the car, turn on my GPS and what comes up?  A blank white screen with a little black dot, and the words "press black dot."  After pressing the black dot like fifty times, nothing happened!  I turned it on and off and on and off and still the screen stayed the same.  I became filled with anger.  I was mad that I just had an amazing time at church and then something like this happens!  I didn't even know if I knew the way home.  Well I made it home without the GPS that day.  So the next day I packaged it up and took it back to Walmart.  Problem #1... I lost the receipt.  problem #2... I paid for the GPS with cash!  Well Walmart said they couldn't do anything about it because they have some dumb policy where they don't take back electronics after fifteen days of the purchase.  So here I was stuck with a broken GPS.  I called Garmin and waited on the phone for fifteen minutes.  The guy was actually very helpful.  He had me try downloading something on to my computer to update my GPS.  That process took like thirty minutes.  That ended up not even working so he said I could do whats called a "nu for nu."  I send back my GPS and show proof that I bought it in like the last 90 days and they send me back a brand new GPS.  Well I didn't have the receipt so he said the next best thing he could do was have me send in my GPS and they would send me back a refurbished GPS.  He said I wouldn't even be able to tell a difference.  So I was all for it.  No instructions were given on how to send back the GPS, so I packaged it up in the box with all the accessories and sent it back.  Four days later I get an email from Garmin with instructions on how to send back the GPS.  They specifically said in the email to only send back the GPS and nothing else.  Well it would have been nice to know this before sending it away!  So once again I had to call up Garmin (only waited like three minutes this time which was nice) and tell them my situation of how I sent everything back.  The lady was able to help me out, so hopefully when I do get my GPS back that it will have the accessories with it!  In the mean time, I am still waiting for my GPS.  The next Sunday I had to drive to church without a GPS and luckily I did fine.  On my way to church I caught a glimpse of a sign that I'd never seen before, so I decided to take a picture of it....

So it's hard to read... it was quite a bit a way.



 Today I had to drive into Boston WITHOUT a GPS.  Boy did it stress me out!  Getting there was actually not even a problem because I arrived in the afternoon.  Getting home was a little more challenging but I'll get to that in a second.  First let me explain what I did in Boston.  As I mentioned before, Aubrey was going to help me with my computer problem... but then that problem got fixed.  So I decided to see if she would still want to hang out.  I'm so glad we did because it was so much fun!  We went sailing on the Charleston River.  Aubrey just got her sailing card back in July so she can take people out sailing.  It was so much fun being out on the river.  Something about being out on the water is just so relaxing.  After, we took the T to her apt, ate dinner and then watched a movie.  She wanted to go to bed early which I had no problem with because I did not want to be driving late at night without a GPS.  I road the T by myself (first time by myself) back to my car which took about thirty minutes.  That ended up not even being the hard part.  I set the route in my phone GPS and it came up saying that it couldn't connect.  I tried a couple of times and it still wasn't working!  So I said a quick prayer, turned it off, turned it on, and it worked.  Amazing how prayer works.  Right out of the gate the same exact thing that happened to me the first time happened again!  I missed a turn, and ended up driving a little bit all over the place.  I got the sick feeling in my stomach again, but this time I stayed calmer.  I was able to find my way back to I-90 and then made it home safe and sound!  HF really does look out.  Overall it was a very very fun day! 

So this is a picture of a one-thousand piece puzzle that Reed, Sheryl, Mark, and myself assembled.  It took three days but we got it done!  The third day, Sheryl and Reed worked on in for a couple of hours and then I worked on it for four hours straight by myself and finished it!  It was very hard, but actually really fun :) I'm ready for another one! 



So Good! So Good! So Good!

I finally made it to a Red Sox game!  Baseball games are so much fun to go to :) and plus this is the fourth baseball stadium I've been to in two months.  The Red Sox played the Indians and lost... but it was still lots of fun.  We got to our seats early and Reed told me to go down by the field and try and get a ball during batting practice.  I felt kind of dumb, but right when I went down one was hit right to me!  Its thanks to Reed that I caught, or picked up a ball that was hit during batting practice!  So cool!  Another part that I highly enjoyed was the singing of "Sweet Caroline" by Neil Diamond.  It's really cool because the entire crowd sings a long during the chorus and they say "So Good" three times in a row.  Overall it was a very fun experience :)

One of these days I won't look awkward in a dang picture!!

Batting Practice :)

I really should have this picture in my "Lost in Boston" post because I literally drove right by this shot!

Shakespear in the Park :)

New friends + Ten dollar parking + Mike's Pastry = A fun night watching a Shakespeare play at Boston Commons.   

This is a picture of the stage.  The play we saw was "All's Well that Ends Well."

New Friends and a funny looking face :)

It was such a fun night!  Who knew Shakespeare could be so great!

Saturday :)

Last Saturday I was invited by my home teacher to go to the beach with him and some other people.  I was so so grateful for the invite because usually, if I don't have plans, Saturday is kinda stressful in finding something to do.  When I woke up at 7:30 on Saturday, it was thunder and lightning and raining.  I LOVE hearing the thunder when it is very loud and I'm all snug in my bed, but I don't really like it when I have to wake up so early and I'm not able to fully enjoy it.  So I made the drive into Boston which was actually pretty scary because it was truly a cloud burst the entire way.  I swear sometimes it felt like I was hydroplaning.  Luckily I made to my home teacher's apt.  It was still raining but we decided to go.  I drove me, my home teacher named Jason, a married couple named Aerial and Collin, and another girl named Stephanie.  It was only suppose to be about a 45 minute drive, but it ended up being about a 2 1/2 hour drive.  This was because they closed down a chunk of a freeway.  I think they closed it down  because a truck carrying fuel crashed and exploded and there were some houses that caught on fire among other things.  Anyway, we made it to the beach :) it was so fun and so refreshing!  My home teacher had to be back by 4:00 so it was kind of a quick trip in a way.  After dropping him off, I really didn't know what to do with myself, so I decided to go home.  After talking to Elisse and also Mom on the way home, I was given the idea to not go home and go do something like go to the mall... so I did :) It was kind of fun being on my own.  I just walked around the mall.  They have a Cinnabon at the mall and since I have never had a cinnamon role from there, I decided to go for it :) After that, I decided to go see a movie.  The only options were Harry Potter (which I had already seen), Transformers (which I had already seen), some rated R movies, and Winnie the Pooh... So I went to Winnie the Pooh.  About twenty minutes into it, I fell asleep and woke up right as the credits were starting.  I guess i wasn't that into the movie.  Overall, pretty great day :) Below are random pictures from the day.  Sorry there are none from the beach, but I didn't want to take the risk of hurting my phone or dropping it in the sand. :)

This picture probably needs explaining... While being stopped in my car on the way to the beach, we passed this lovely store and I just had to take a picture of the sign because it reminded me of Kapplan :)

And obviously I thought of Auntie Anne when I saw this.

My first Cinnabon :) Very yummy.

Palmyra :)

Last weekend I had the opportunity to go to Palmyra with a group of young single adults.  I was a little nervous going because I didn't know one single person, but I ended up having a blast.  I got up early Friday morning to meet at a church.  After waiting and waiting some more there, we were finally ready to go.  It was a small group of people that went.  The group rented two fifteen passenger ford vans.  I loved it cuz it felt like home taking a road trip in a huge van :)  It took us about six hours to drive to New York.  When we got there we set up camp and went shopping.  For dinner we had tinfoil dinners (definitely not my first choice for food).  Another sad thing about this situation was the food wasn't ready until way after dark and no one really had lanterns or anything, so we were eating in the dark.  My meal had burnt veggies (seriously they were black since they had been in the fire so long) that went crunch crunch when you tried eating them... yummy.  The next day I woke up at 7:30 and I don't know how it happened, but it felt like I had slept in.  I thought it would be crazy hard for me to wake up, since I normally wake up around eleven.  We went to Niagara Falls and it took us about two hours to drive there.  It was very cool to see the falls.  After going to the falls, we went to the Sacred Grove.  It was the most amazing feeling walking through.  My only regret was that I didn't sit down and take it all in.  We walked through it slowly, but then it was over.  We also saw Joseph Smith's house where Moroni appeared to him in his bedroom.  It was so neat to see!  After that we went to the Hill Cumorah Pageant.  I loved it and was so sad when it was over.  It felt so short to me.  I honestly thought it only had lasted about 30 or 45 minutes but it went for an hour and twenty minutes.  On Sunday we went to church in Fayette (where the church was first organized).  It was very neat because after sacrament meeting, we walked through a replica of Peter Whitmer's home.  It was there that the Book of Mormon was translated as well.  When it was time to go home, I was so sad.  I was homesick for gospel related things like church history sites or seeing the missionaries, or reading the scriptures, or conference talks.  Anything gospel related, I wanted it because being around those things I wasn't homesick for the family.  Who knows if that even makes sense, but that's the way I felt.  Overall, it was an amazing trip and I'm so glad I got to go.  :)

This is what I wanted to do! Maid of the Mist!  It looked like so much fun.

Hill Cumorah :)

Disregard the strangers in the picture... I don't know who they are.

Joseph Smith's home.

Palmyra temple :)

Funny story behind this picture.  My goal in going to the pageant was to find a concubine and take a picture with her.  Well this creates a problem since I have no idea what a concubine looks like and there are hundreds of cast members walking around.  Also, I was afraid to ask in the first place!  Totally out of my comfort zone.  After a good number of minutes, I finally went up to a girl.  The first person I asked was in fact a Concubine!  Boy did I get lucky!

Some of the people from the trip :)

This picture doesn't do it justice, but this is the sad result of not using bug spray... 45 bites

Good times :)

Updates :)

 I finally got a cah!  Fyi: I did not spell car incorrectly... that's how they say it in Boston :)  I never thought I'd be the owner of a Volvo, but then again, I never thought I'd be living in Boston either.  Oh well, I guess anything is possible. :)  Now that I have a car, I can do many fun things such as drive into Boston when a friend calls me to hang out on Saturday.   

This is Alexis (she is the relief society president of my ward).  I was so grateful when she called me to hang out one Saturday.

One of the highlights of the day was the Swan Boats ride.  If you are ever in Boston, this is a must do activity.  Even though its a short little ride around the pond, its very relaxing and very fun.

While riding the swan boats you might see things like this as you go by.

Or perhaps see a wedding couple.

or just a little girl playing in the water.  The swan boats are perfect if you are a fan of people watching :)

Along with my new car and hanging with Alexis, I also experienced the 4th of July.  It was a little different this year than usual.  Reed, Mark, Sheryl, and I went and saw Transformers 3.  If you have seen the first or second Transformers, you are not missing out by not watching the third.  It is the exact same!  It was really good and fun to watch, but it was very very long.  They could have easily shortened it into a hour and a half movie.  Also, the new girl they got to replace Megan Fox, was not good.  She wasn't pretty, and she couldn't act.  After the movie, we went home and had a miniature BBQ and then played a game.  It was a different 4th then I'm use to but it was neat experiencing it from a different perspective.  Happy 4th!

The Sequel to "Getting Lost in Boston"

While vacationing in Southern California, I finally came to the decision that I am going to buy a GPS... So I did!!

Kinda like kissing "happy soap" :)

 Because I bought the GPS, I did something so wonderful the following Sunday.  I had the opportunity to go the the Longfellow Park Chapel Rededication.  Quick side story... the Longfellow church burnt down two years ago and that is where my ward went to church.  While it was being re-built, my ward had church at other places.  I came to Boston just in time to go back to the Longfellow church :) President Eyring and Boyd K. Packer were there for the rededication!  It was amazing.  I was fortunate enough to get a ticket into the chapel.  I started on the second to back row, and ended up on the second row.  I was like ten feet away from the pulpit!  I was so so grateful that I went. 

Sadly these were the best pictures I could get of pres. Eyring.  I was afraid to even be taking a picture of him cuz I kinda felt like it was wrong or something.  I secretly wanted to run up and shake his hand, but I thought an usher or a security guy would tackle me to the ground :)

Notice the ambulance in the background.  That was Boyd K. Packer's ride.  Not really.  Apparently what happened was at the close of the meeting as they were walking out, Pres. Packer passed out.  He is very very large in age! 

Overall, it was a very very very good day.  After the meeting I was able to return home easily with no trouble at all, thanks to my handy dandy GPS!  Seriously, everyone should get a GPS!  Now I am confident that I can travel the world! :)

Southern California :)

So Mark, Sheryl, Reed and myself made the trip out to Southern California to visit their family Rob and Katie (Rob is Reed's brother and Katie is Rob's wife).  It was definitely a lot of fun but it was also a lot of hard work.  One reason why it was so challenging is because there wasn't a nurse there with us.  Having a nurse around makes things a little easier.  I woke up at 4:00 a.m. on Thursday and we had to be at the airport at 5:30 so we could board the plane at 7:30.  Helping Reed onto the plane...what a task!  He has to be lifted from his wheelchair into an aisle chair.  He is then taken in the aisle chair to his seat on the airplane.  Once to his seat, we have to lift him onto the chair.  The problem was we didn't have very good help.  It was me, Mark, and two little men that I think were smaller than me.  The lift from his wheelchair to the aisle chair hurt my lower back, which ended up making the ride to California not very fun.  Once on the airplane, we sat there for two hours before take off.  This is because first off, the A.C on the airplane was not working, so they stopped letting people on until they fixed the problem.  It was toasty warm on board and there was no way we were about to get Reed off the airplane just after getting him into place!  Then for some reason (I can't remember the reason) the airport stopped all flights for a little while.  Just kidding, I remember!  It was because of bad weather.  Once they started letting planes take off again, the captain informed us that we were 30th in line for take-off.  Well somehow word got around via flight attendants that there was a quadriplegic on board and because of that we were able to jump to the front of the line!  Happy day.  So we finally made it to California after great discomfort due to my bad lifting.  Getting off the plane was lots better because Kent and Kayla (Reed's other brother and sister-in-law) were there to assist.  We made it to the hotel.  We stayed at the Marriott's Newport Coast Villas.  It was very nice.  Luckily I was able to rest.  Then it was time for the vacation to begin!  The next day we went to the Padre's game in San Diego.

I was able to snap a picture of the San Diego temple on the way to the game.  It sits right on the side of the freeway and it looks very big!

  

Outside view of Padre's Stadium

Inside view of Padre's stadium :)

The gang :) From left to right, Kayla, Rob, Kent, Reed, Mark, and Sheryl.

I thought this mascot was hilarious so I had to take a picture of it!

This is an attempt of me taking a picture of myself.  As you can tell from my expression, I felt silly doing it. :)

This was a cool wall at the stadium.  It had water running down it and at night the S and D showed up.

 It was a very fun night at the baseball park.  We had amazing seats, sitting twenty rows up from first base.  Sadly the Padres lost to the Nationals 2 to 1 but it was still a good time. :)  The next day we went to the Angels game.  We had lots of time beforehand, so we decided to go to Downtown Disney.  To get there, we had to pass Disneyland.  From the road, I could see Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, and California Screamin.  It was fun walking around though.  We also ate lunch there at a place called The Uva Bar.  I ordered fish' n chips and they were so good!  After Downtown Disney, it was on to the baseball game.  Once again, very fun :) Luckily they won 7 to 5!  My only regret was that there was a food stand called Judy's and they had a chocolate milkshake there that I really wanted to get.  Well I never went to get it, and I really regret that.  Oh well.

This was the closest I got to Disneyland.  Boy was it so hard since I love that place!

This is one of Reed's hobbies... Pin collecting :)

 So the next day was Sunday.  I went to church with Kent and Kayla to Rob and Katie's ward.  It was at 9 a.m. but i'm so glad I went.  I decided to stay for all three hours.  I went to Sunday school with Katie and then since she is the secretary in Young Womens, I went with her to beehives.  It was very fun!  After church I went with Katie to her house to hang out.  It was so nice and so fun talking with Katie.  I watched a movie at her house called "Flipped."  Such a cute movie!  I recommend it.  The next day was also a relaxing day.  We went to the Tar Pits, which was actually really interesting.

Sadly we only had ten minutes in the museum because it was going to close, but luckily we were able to take a quick picture.

Me and the mammoth :)

A tar pit.

Kayla and I wanted to touch the tar with our hands very badly, but we decided to stick sticks in the tar instead :)

On the way home I took a picture of a disneyland firework from the freeway.

 The next day was a shopping day.  Katie treated Mark, Sheryl, Reed, and myself to lunch at Tommy Bahamas in Lagoona Beach.  I ordered the Mahi mahi and it was delicious!  We went to a shell stand so Reed could buy some shells.

While Reed was looking at shells, this is what I was doing.

 The next day we went to the Dodger game :)

Its hard to tell but behind me there was a row of dummies wearing Dodger uniforms in the fan store.  I tried to get them all in but this picture just doesn't show it.

Dodger Dog!  Ironically enough, it taste like a hot dog.

Dodger blue spring water.  I actually just got it because I thought it was a really cool bottle.

Its hard to tell from this pic, but the Dodgers wore their throwback jerseys.

All the food and drink was half price :)

A fun day at the ballpark even though they lost.

 Our last full day in California, we went to the aquarium which was very fun!

Another attempt of taking a picture of myself... not great

We got to touch the top of jellyfish!  So cool.

This was my favorite part of the aquarium.  The week-old seahorses.  They were smaller than a penny.  So cute!

I forgot to mention one of the coolest parts of going to the Angels game.  After the game they had a free concert.  We didn't stay for it but while Reed was in the gift shop, I was able to watch a little bit.  I didn't know the name Taio Cruz until I heard him start singing "Break Your Heart."  I really wanted to hear "dynamite" but we left too soon.
Overall it was a very very fun trip but also very exhausting!  Its good to be back in Boston :)