july, just get out of here already

things i felt like posting of stuff that happened after palmyra trip:

Pioneer Day : 

went to bertucci's (the olive garden of the east) because friend natalie had signed up to feed the missionaries but didn't have time to make them anything. it still boggles my mind that american missionaries get fed every single night for dinner and i can't help but feel like it is a huge waste of proselytizing time so in protest i have never once signed up to feed them. buuuut all my roommates are nice and do it frequently so this happens quite a bit (but i'm still not happy about it). 

afterwards we decided to support some dance group that was on tour from byu-i. we didn't quite understand who their target audience was or why they thought it was okay to dance to "this is the Christ" but it was free and amusing and felt like the right thing to do so we made it to the very end!  

then we had a feeling that a cool lightning storm was coming on so we went to a park and watched it happen over downtown boston. if you look real close you can see all the buildings in the middle.

i took one million pictures and this is the best that i got but the lighting was SO cool and we probably just sat and watched it for a good 30 or 40 minutes. 

then i took her to toscanini's and felt so happy they had my favorite grapenut kind. i had been kind of sad all day to not be in a place that cared about pioneer day but friend time with nat and favorite ice cream definitely cheered me up.

emmy being my instagram friend:

one time i talked to niece emmy on the phone for awhile and gently reminded her that if she loved me she would like my pictures on instagram by literally pressing the like button - otherwise how the heck am i supposed to know?! i was happy to see she had listened to my rebuke and has been a much better niece/friend ever since. 

 that time i took these pictures and took a vote to prove a point :

sometimes john thinks it is okay to wear these cross trainers just because they are comfortable. other times i find some real nice sperrys hidden under his bed and make him wear them because they look ONE HUNDRED PERCENT BETTER. and i can say that because everyone i asked chose them over the others. athletic shoes are seriously the death of me. 

the olympics happened:

 and gillete sponsored them and had a friends and family party for the opening ceremonies on the harbor. our friend works there so we had a free night full of mocktails, food, gillete paraphernalia, a water show (that wowed all those who obviously hadn't ever seen world of color), fireworks, and of course - the opening ceremonies. 

this also was the place where my beloved jade bracelet officially died. nothing really happened - i was just dancing and then all of the sudden i could feel it falling off my wrist. i looked down at it confused and then saw an inch piece of it on the floor behind me. last summer the first inch piece broke off but the rest stayed in tact so i just wore it jagged for a year (and probably scratched everyone in the process) until that night. it was so weird to not have it on my wrist anymore - it was on there for 3 years! i feel sad it broke but happy it lasted as long as it did. 

(i guess this just means i need to go back and visit li mama in taiwan so i can get another one!)

the fattest cat in the world : 

when we got back to our house there was the most ginormous/fat cat i've ever seen just laying on our porch (as seen in the picture on the far left). i kept trying to show how truly large he was but he didn't like that one bit. this cat must think we are okay with him hanging out on our porch because i've found him there many times since this.

boston loves raining : 

it rains all the time here and i really like how uneven the streets are because it always creates great puddles which i feel happy to drive through or jump in depending on the situation. it is too bad we can't share this rain with utah! i feel so sad about how crazy dry it has been there and all those fires. 

for the first time in my life, i tie-dyed something : 

 a shirt to be exact. i felt really proud until i opened it up and found it didn't look anything like i imagined but i thoroughly enjoyed myself and want to tie-dye every day for the rest of my life. 

that time i made my bishop pretend to be my mission president : 

that's right. 

i think i've mentioned before how similar looking my bishop and mission president are so when i randomly ran into elder crane and sister mckinnely it just felt right to grab bishop thomas and have him snap a photo with us. sometimes i wonder if he finds it creepy when i do things like this (wasn't the first time, won't be the last) but then i quickly forget because i'm just too happy about it to care. 

now to the five people who reads this still, who is ready for august?!