Boynton Family Mission

Boynton Family Mission First Date-A Year Late........or "I Did a Bad Thing"

Well, Andy had his first date a week ago and I doubt he'll ever tell you anything about it, so I will!

Let's back up about ten years. Andy has often heard the story of Steve and his buddies forming a "no dating" pact when they were in high school. Our family has never really discussed the reasons for this bizzare pact but I always figured it had something to do with not wanting to spend a bunch of money on dates and not wanting to figure out how to make conversation with a girl. Anyway, the pact was made and everyone was faithful to it. Until one day Steve said to me, "Mom, I've done a bad thing. I've broken the pact and said yes to someone who asked me to a girl's choice dance." Well, that was a "bad thing"I was happy he did. But we always chuckled that he figured it was a bad thing.

Fast forward ten years. Andy and I were driving to school and Andy said, "Mom, remember when Steve did a bad thing? Well, I've done a bad thing. I asked a girl on a date!" Well, another "bad thing" I was happy about. So I asked a bunch of questions and found out that Andy and this girl were sick of hanging out with all the other kids in the Center on Saturday nights (he says they all just sit around at McDonald's and talk and that it's way boring) and so he just suggested to her that they actually go DO something. So the next week Andy and his friend went on a double date with this girl, Alex, and her sister. They are all students at ASM.

Dad and I responsibly made sure that Andy knew all the rules of dating etiquet and he seemed well versed. The night of the date he met his friend, Teddy at McDonalds where they fortified themselves with a hamburger. Then they walked over to the girl's home near Castello Sforzesco in the center of town. They picked up the girls, took them for 3 games of bowling and then had dinner at a nice restaurant. They walked the girls home and were invited up to watch TV. The Mom was kind enough to drive Andy all the way home so he didn't have to take the Metro. So that's what dating in Milan, Italy is like. At least if you're and ASM student. Maybe Andy has started a new trend. Maybe people will actually DO something from now on. Anyway, we're glad he went on his first date, a year late (since he just turned 17). And that's all I have to say about that. Mom

Mom's Donuts!

Hey everybody! Today Mom made a special treat for family home evening. One that is definatley my personal favorite, and I'm sure it holds a special place in all of your hearts (or at least those of you who have eaten these before!).
I, Andy, have concluded that these donuts are better than Krispy Kremes, Glazies, or whatever other donuts there are in the world. Positively THE BEST! Be jealous. Very jealous... muahahahaha!!! haha okay I'm done. Peace out.

P-day with Mom and Dad

Well, we've decided to make good use of Andy's birthday camera and present a blog on one of our more typical P-days. Ah, P-day. That means we get to sleep past 6:50, but only if the phone doesn't ring, which it usually does, but at least today we slept til 7:30!

One of our favorite P-day activities is walking to the open market. On our way we often stop at our favorite bakery just a block from the house. As you can see today it is raining, but that doesn't stop us as we can use our trusty umbrella we bought in England.
Some of you have actually done this very walk with us and may remember walking along the main street on the way to open market.
After crossing the street, we pass by the flower shop where we have bought bouquets to cheer our friends. Did you notice Dad is wearing one of the several red ponchos we bought with Marg and Nate on our rainy trip to Venice?

We finally made it to the open market where we bought a Christmas gift for Sister Cano from our favorite art vendor. The picture is a lovely oil painting of some pretty pink and blue flowers. Sister Cano loves flowers so this is the perfect painting for her. I'm sure you all remember Sister Cano, our dear "donna domestica" whom we can't say enough good things about. We hope this gift will express our appreciation to her. The vendor helped me show it off.
On our way home we stopped at the Farmacia to buy flu shots. We are storing them in our fridge until we can find a nurse who will "stick it to us". Ouch!

Well, that about wraps up P-day--at least the morning part. We spent the rest of the day working on projects around the house. Dad read letters from missionaries. I worked on a letter that will go in the Christmas gift for all the missionaries. Then we visited the local mall where we ate filafil and humus (we're sick of Italian food, sort of !) and came home and watched the documentary portion of our DVD King Kong that talks about Skull Island. P-day's over. Back to work. Hope you all had a good Saturday. Mom

Running the Gauntlet... in Germany

Well, I finally have found some time to post something about the cross country experience that I had in Germany. SO......We left on the 27th of October, (yay birthday!) at around 6:30 from my school and started on the 9 hour bus drive from Milan, Italy to Heidelburg (spelling?) Germany. Passing through the mountains was a beautiful view...

After stopping for some lunch in Germany and doing some lame Nazi pictures, we passed the even more beautiful Lucerne, Switzerland where the lake view we had was amazing.

Hiro, Me, and Skyler...

Lake Lucerne, Switzerland...

Anyway, now to the actual running of the race. The race location was a little bit off the American base. It was a hilly course that was located in the woods, in my opinion, the best location to run a 5K race. Nice and cool, with a lot of shade. This race was in the shape of a four-leaf clover. Imagine starting in the middle of it, running around four different loops and then ending in the middle again, and that is basically what we ran. I am now just going to post pictures of us during the race, but if you want to review the account of what is going through my mind during the race, here it is.

Before the race...During the race...After the race!

I had a good race with a time of 18 minutes and 43 seconds, finishing 7th place overall out of 55 other runners. YAY! Our team overall got 2nd place in Europe. Awesome!

* All pictures were taken with my new birthday present from Mom and Dad... a digital camera! Yay, thank you very much! Haha, well until next time. Ciao Tutti!