NEW YORK {part 2: Palmyra & Niagara Falls}

so, if you haven't read Part 1 first, you probably should. so, I will pick up where I left off from. we left our friend the Boyce's house in Flemington, New Jersey to drive to Palmyra, New York. the drive was about 5 hours long, and the 3 of the Castle kiddos were crammed in the back of a rental car. driving in the East is exciting for about 5 minutes, but there's only one thing to look at: trees. trees were everywhere. even in New York City, there were trees on the side of the freeway, and that's all you can see. so, after driving through trees all morning, we got a bit restless. finally, we made it to Palmyra, one of the most historic towns in the restoration of the Mormon church.

 the whole family outside the Sacred Grove, where Joseph Smith prayed to ask which church was the true church. if you aren't familiar with the story, God and Jesus appeared to him in this grove of trees and said that none of them were true, and he had to translate the Book of Mormon and restore the Gospel. and I am so grateful he did that! otherwise, our family wouldn't be at this grove of trees!

 because Provo is pretty much Mormonville, USA, a lot of people noticed the boys' shirts and said something like "Go Cougars!" or "I've been to Provo" or "I have family down there!" or pretty much anything related to BYU. good choice, boys.

 unlike my brothers, I was not sporting any attire that screamed "I'm from Provo!" Dad convinced me that it was going to be cold, so he made me wear leggings instead of shorts. well, turns out he was completely wrong because it heated up really fast! but I was grateful for the leggings because the Sacred Grove is a popular place for mosquitoes. I already have several mosquito bites covering both my legs, and I didn't want to add to the collection! I hope Heavenly Father protected Joseph Smith from all the mosquitoes when he went in to pray! that was never mentioned in the story!

after the grove, we went to Joseph Smith's log cabin, barn, and some other house his family lived in. our missionary tour guide has a great fashion sense. someday, if I end up serving a mission, that will be me. but I will have to grow a foot. or two! (I am definitely considering the possibility of a mission when I am 19, but it all depends on the circumstances. it's not a definite decision yet, but I have a couple more years!)

 after we saw the log cabin, the barn, and the print shop where the first Book of Mormon was printed, we went to the Hill Cummorah Pageant. last year, for youth conference, I went to the Manti Pageant, and I liked it, but it was super long. this one was a lot shorter, and it focused mainly on Book of Mormon stories. I really enjoyed it. before the pageant, there were a lot of protesters outside, yelling at the top of their lungs. they stopped as soon as the pageant started, but as soon as it ended, they were up and at it again. we decided to make our escape and drive to Victor, New York to find our next hotel.

the next day, we drove from Victor to...........

 NIAGARA FALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!

 Wes's version of either Magnum or Blue Steel from Zoolander. Sometimes I regret letting him watch that movie with me, but it's fun to have someone who can at least quote half of it with me.

 now, Wes thinks he's a hand model.

this was one of my favorite parts of the trip. I have seen so many pictures of Niagara Falls, but it is sooooooo much more spectacular in real life. we did the "Maid of the Mist", where we got on a boat that went right under the mist of the falls! we got to wear these stylish blue ponchos, and we even entered Canada illegally! while I was on the boat, my phone vibrates and I get this text that says "Welcome to Canada! please turn off data in order to avoid charges" or something like that. it was quite funny. so now, I've been to the USA, Japan, the UK, and Canada! but then again, I've never set foot on Canadian soil, so I probably shouldn't count that.

 the mist up close!

 "take a picture of my arm hair!"- Justin. guess it didn't turn out the way he wanted!

 I won't even say anything anymore about Wesley's faces.

next, we turned in our blue ponchos and did the "Cave of the Winds". we got some really ugly sandals and some yellow ponchos. we walked in the caves right by the falls, and we got sooooooooo close. the spray felt sooooooo good too!

 the Family of Bananas.

we were literally getting a shower from the waterfalls. 

my brothers loved the sandals so much, they took them home as souvenirs. unfortunately, our time at Niagara Falls had to come to an end, and we got back in the rental car to drive towards Philadelphia, our next stop on our trip! we drove to the Whitmer Farm and took a tour of it, and saw the same missionaries we saw at Palmyra! my brothers enjoyed playing the computer games at the visitors center. 

we got one picture, and a bonus thumb in front of the lens! the first church meeting was held here, I think. I don't quite remember. pretty sad.

after our quick stop, we drove to Binghamton, New York to sleep for the night. we were not very impressed with the town, which looked like it had seen better days. my brothers were probably not the most courteous guests at the Holiday Inn there, because they enjoyed riding up and down the elevators and jumping out and scaring people. I spilled my lemon water all over myself. good job boys. 

well, I had a great trip, and I promise Philadelphia will be up pretty soon. I was at girls camp all week, so I couldn't get this up as soon as you probably wanted. just kidding. not that anyone even checks my blog anyways!

NEW YORK {part 1: Manhattan}

remember that one time I went to England? I did 4 separate posts for it and everything? Well, England was fun and I could do 5 more England posts, but for the sake of time, I will skip it. and I still haven't done 4th of July, more tennis update, and other things. but I leave again in 2 days, so I figured I'd at least start this one. and it will be done in......

different parts again. 

if you can't tell from the picture, or if you are too ignorant to read titles, I went to NEW YORK. and Palmyra to see some church history stuff. and Niagara Falls. and Philadelphia. and back to New York again. I've always wanted to go to New York City. Ever since I watched the Disney movie Enchanted, I put going to New York City on my bucketlist. the movie made it look so exciting, and then, my desire to go there just grew after seeing Elf  and Zoolander and several more movies and reading books. So, in the typical Castle family vacation style, I ask Dad if we can go there, and of course, he says, "not right now but we will consider it" and of course, i know that it's bullcrap. but then after we got home from Tokyo, my dad said we would take a low-budget vacation that summer (Moab, which was pretty fun), and that we would be able to do something fun the next summer! I asked if it would be another stupid hiking vacation (I still haven't forgiven him for promising me a trip to San Francisco but deciding to go to Yosemite instead), and he said, "No, I'm actually thinking of New York City, and Philadelphia, and Niagara Falls. Let's take a trip back East!" then, the whole London thing came up, and I briefly forgot about our plans for New York, but then my dad announced in February that he already bought our plane tickets, so I knew it was legit.

we left last Sunday. everyone went to church except me. well, I take that back. I did go to sacrament meeting, but I went to a different ward. my friend Matthew was giving his missionary farewell talk, and I really wanted to go, so I did. he gave an amazing talk, and I know he will bless the people of Taichung, Taiwan! they are lucky to have him, and he is a great person. I mean, he's my best friend's cousin and my British tennis coach's doubles partner! after his wonderful talk, I drove home, changed, grabbed a plate of Star Wars cookies that my mom made, and went to his celebration brunch. I saw my best friends and several tennis players, including my old tennis coach! he really loved my cookies and said, "i'm going to hoard these all for myself and hide them away from the rest of these people at this party because these are too great."

OK I hope you all remember that I do have ADD, and I tend to forget what I'm even talking about, so I obviously got distracted. back to New York. after I came back from the celebration brunch, we packed up and drove to the SLC Airport. Dang, it's been a long 3 months since I've been there! It's also my first time flying nonstop since....I was 3. so, I've decided that even though international flights are probably the longest, most painful things in the world, they have much better service than domestic flights because they provide movies, more food, and much better service. so, our flight to the JFK Airport in New York was about 4 1/2 hours, and if I flew it twice, it is about the equivalent to flying to England from Seattle once. but there were no movies and it was definitely not as exciting. but as soon as I saw the lights of the city below, I got so excited. we landed at about 11:30, took a shuttle to the Hampton Inn in Queens, and enjoyed a great night and ate a great breakfast. but even on the train from the airport, I loved watching all the interesting people. it was so exciting for me.

we took a shuttle back to the airport, rented a car, and drove into Manhattan! it was spectacular in real life. we started out our day by visiting the Empire State Building! we got tickets to go to the top of the observatory, and I was able to see how....huge the city was.

 I took the picture. yay booty. 

 we really do love New York. we just weren't ready for the picture.

we grabbed some bagels for lunch, and I wasn't as impressed as I thought I would be. my bagel was plain, with no cream cheese. in London, we would often stop at convenience stores to grab some British sandwiches, and I would always get a bagel with smoked salmon. it became a favorite of mine, and I expected New York bagels to be like that. but....I guess I'm not in London. I'm in New York. but oh well. Next, we took a walk on one of the coolest bridges ever, Brooklyn Bridge!

 some other cool bridge in the background 

 I do not actually have 2 piercings in my ear. I only have one. this pair of earrings just makes it look like it, because there's 2 pearls. 

next, we went to the 9-11 museum! it opened in May, so 2 months later, we are able to see it! I loved it. we were able to learn a lot more about 9-11 and the effects it had on the city. on 9-11, I was 3 years old and living in Irvine, California. I vaguely remember it. we were going to go to Disneyland that day, but I saw my mom on the phone with someone, and she started to cry. I was a silly little 3 year old, and didn't know that adults cried, so it kind of scared me. then, she hung up and turned on the TV, and I remember seeing it on the news and I asked, "what happened in New York? Why are we crying? is that President Bush?" and Mom said, "we can't go to Disneyland today." and then I started crying, of course. that's my 9-11 experience.
but here, at this museum, it was a lot different. it was kind of really depressing, actually. I had no idea how big the Twin Towers were. but it was pretty devastating. but I love how they made a museum to show respect to the city and pay tribute to those who lost loved ones. (and Justin got yelled at by a security guard at least twice. silly J.)

 a quilt made to honor those who died in 9-11

 wes loves his water. 

 I don't remember which tower stood here. but it was either the North or the South. gosh I feel so bad. whoever died in this tower, I respect them.

In typical Justin fashion, he started complaining after this picture and wanted to leave. so, we drove our rental car to New Jersey to stay with the Boyces, our friends from San Diego. we hadn't seen them in over.....13 years at least. I barely remember them from San Diego, but they babysat me a lot, and Chris Boyce worked with my dad, and they are still really nice and I probably grew a bit since I saw them! (even though they expected me to be much taller.) they made us pizza and other really good food. so nice of them! the next day, we woke up early to go on a church history trip!

stay tuned for part 2, coming in at least a week. I will be at Girls Camp for a week. so relaxing. I am home for one day and gone the next, pretty much.

the usual tennis update & a photoshoot

I should really call this blog something cheesy like "Tennis Begins With Love". or "Love Means Nothing in Tennis." or pretty much, "I Love To Play Tennis And When It's Not Tennis Season I'm Depressed Because I'm Not Playing Tennis And The Weather Is Too Cold (And I Occasionally Have Deep Thoughts And Go On Vacations)". but really, it seems like a good percentage of these posts are about tennis. and really, that's pretty much my life in the summer. but I love it.
I am doing the city league once again, and I have loved it. I have played 4 matches, and I have won 3 of them! the first 2 were played in Spanish Fork, and I won the first one, 5-1. they did a weird thing where it's first to 5 instead of an 8-game pro-set, or even just a single 6 game set. but at least i won. the second girl I was beating 4-0, but a lot of the games were really close, and we were both fighting hard. finally, I just got really tired, and she had this amazing comeback and was able to beat me 5-4. so, being the loser, this sucked. but I do admire her for being able to come back and win! I have always wanted to be able to do that. and we both played really well.
the next 2 were played at Lehi High School. This time, because there weren't a ton of girls on the Provo team, I had to play 2 girls from Lehi. we just played one set. the first girl was my age, and my coach was surprised at how quickly we finished. I won, 6-1. I was getting a lot of my shots in, and I wasn't trying to hit winners. I was just trying to keep the ball in play for as long as I possibly could, knowing she'd eventually get tired and hit into the net. which usually happened. as soon as I reported my score, my coach immediately sent me back out to play my second match. I said, "but I'll get tired!" and he said, "you're playing her sister. so it's like a normal 2 set match against the same person. you will either destroy the whole family, or they will get revenge!" well, this sister had watched the entire first match, and I thought she was either scared, or she had figured me out by watching me, and had a game plan. our first games ended in deuces (we went into 5 the first game), but I would always win the last point. then, later on into the match, I noticed that she would get tired, and I hit a lot of winners, and she would hit....well, out. I won, 6-0. so I guess I'm a family destroyer.

in addition to city league, I have a private coach. My old one, Mike, was wonderful, and we loved him. But this year, he was too busy to coach, so he referred us to Francis, the captain of the BYU Tennis team and the top player. At first, we were really sad because like I said earlier, we loved Mike and we would really miss him. Pretty much, we had no idea what to expect. But we loved Francis the minute we met him, and I have improved so much in just 3 weeks, more than I improved last season! First, he started by changing my serve. I already had a really consistent flat serve, and if I didn't make my first, I would almost always make my second. Well, now Francis wants me to leave behind that perfect flat serve, and develop a powerful, slice serve. At first, I wasn't too excited about that idea because my serve was already good. but a slice serve has so much more power, and you can do so much more with it. now, my slice serve forgets to "slice" about half the time, and ends up crashing into the net, going long, or I freak out and hit a perfect flat serve. Also, I still use a flat serve as my second serve in my matches. But every serve is better than the last, and it "slices" more each time! he has also worked with me on...everything, things that I would have never noticed before. but every day, I learn a new useful technique, and boy, has that helped! today, I had the amazing opportunity to attend his baptism and be the pianist! (I had no idea until about 5 minutes before it started, but I did great.) It was an amazing program, and all the talks were so good, and his testimony was amazing. (I've said that word like 3 times in the past sentence, but really. it was amazing.) I think it's so cool when someone comes to BYU as a nonmember, meets with the missionaries, and is able to get baptized!
(Also, he is from England. And he has an accent.)

well, that was the tennis update. here is something not related to tennis! my lovely friend Hannah has a great camera and offered to take my pictures. we took about 200, but my eyes were closed in 80% of them. we did have a lot of good ones! here are a few of my favs:

 that is not snow. that is cotton. and I am extremely allergic to that.

 

 I do not want anyone to see my eyeballs. OK?!

 

....and then, I told Hannah, "I'm really hungry!" and she said, "let's get ice cream and use it as a prop!"

temples, tours, elevators, and Elder Bednar

I could be really funny right now and say "this brings us to Part 5 of my trip to England!" but I cannot, as I have blogged the final stage already and have probably posted more than enough pictures. and England was 2 months ago. that's history, man. times have changed. and I have since done more adventurous and exciting things, such as....youth conference.

to be 100% honest with you all, the idea of youth conferences are not my favorite thing. but overall, they turn out to be a great experience. this was my 3rd youth conference, and they have all been completely different. the first one I went to at age 14 was of course, the once in a lifetime, potentially end of a lifetime experience of hiking mount Fuji in Japan. last years was the shooting range and the Manti temple pageant, oh and the ghetto bowling alley and kickball and horse poop. this years' youth conference will probably be known as the "time I......"
(I can't even give you a 1 sentence summary without giving it away. you're gonna have to read it. but this is amazing. one of the most amazing experiences of my entire life. and I've lived 16 great years. I've lived in Tokyo, I've gone to England, I've done some cool things. but this is up there on my top 10 experiences.)

we kicked the whole shindig off with a BBQ up in Provo Canyon on Thursday night. one of the leaders described it as a "giant family reunion". the whole stake was there. I live in Provo, Utah, land of the Mormons. my high school boundaries cover at least 10 different stakes. so, believe it or not, I have friends in not only different wards, but different stakes as well! I found it very interesting as I was explaining to my cousins in England that all my best friends are LDS, but they aren't all in the same ward as me! then they asked, "well, are they in your stake?" and I said, "my best friend is 2 stakes north of mine", and they thought it was absolutely crazy! well, this isn't Whitby, England. (see? I told you I would probably mention England at one point or another.) this is Provo, Utah.
and I hate to say it. but I don't even know half the people in my own stake. wards in Provo extend maybe about 4 blocks or so, maximum. my entire stake extends up to my grandma's house, which takes less than 5 minutes to drive to. it seems like such a small area compared to other stakes, and I don't even know half the people. so that was kind of weird. I remember complaining to my mom that I only had 3 friends in the entire stake (I was probably in a typical rebellious teenager pissy mood), but that was totally silly. I actually have quite a few friends, even though a lot of them are older than me. so, the canyon retreat was fun because I got to see a lot of my friends from other wards, and I even got to see my cousin Morgan, who happens to be in my grandma's ward! (and he is not related to my grandma, who is on my Mom's side. he is my grandpa Castle's sister's son, which is kinda complicated, making him a first cousin once removed. but still, it's a cousin.) we ate really good steak, played tons of games, and just had a great time. we returned to our own houses to pack for the next day, which was nice.

Alyssa, me, and Haley after doing baptisms at the Salt Lake Temple. phase 2 of the youth conference was doing baptisms for the dead. each ward in the stake was assigned a different temple in the Salt Lake valley (one ward was assigned to the far-away Provo temple, ha), and we were the lucky ones who got the Salt Lake temple! I have visited Temple Square many times, I have seen the temple from City Creek mall (perhaps my favorite place in all of Utah besides maybe Bear Lake), but I have never done baptisms there and I have always wanted to do that. what an amazing experience! the man at the front desk saw my name and immediately asked if I was related to Norm Castle. I said that he was my great uncle, my grandpa's brother. he asked my grandpa's name, and I said, "George Castle." he also knew my grandpa from Albuquerque! the dressing rooms were a lot more elaborate than the Provo temple, and much more elaborate than the Tokyo temple. (I'm not saying I don't love either of those temples; I do. but the Salt Lake temple was something else.) the baptismal font was beautiful. I had never seen anything like it. I had brought 3 family names with me, and actually got done pretty quickly with the baptisms and confirmations. much quicker than any visit to the Provo temple!

next, we went to the observation deck of some church office building and saw some really cool views of the temple and the capital building! we also toured the conference center, and ate lunch.

 the next phase was definitely the most memorable/spiritual experience for me. now, I knew that one of the 12 Apostles would speak to us. but I expected David A. Bednar to give us a great, but hard to sit through 2-hour talk. that's not even what happened.
the room in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building did not properly house all the youth of the stake, so Brother Roberts, one of the leaders in our ward, gathered 6 youth of our ward, including me, and invited us to sit on the stands with him, behind Elder Bednar. the only problems this posed: 1. I could not get up to pee without the whole stake watching me, 2. I could not see Elder Bednar's face, and 3. he could not see me. He started out the devotional by saying, "we talk too much in this church, and instead of talking at you, I want you to ask me questions." so, this wasn't even going to be a 2 hour talk; it would be a question-and-answer session. and I felt the strong impression to ask him a question. I mean, he was a general authority, and who knows if I would ever have the opportunity to ask a general authority a question again.
I raised my hand.
and he didn't see me.
but finally, a member of the stake presidency said, "behind you!" all the youth he previously called on were sitting in the audience, and someone would just pass a microphone to them. not me.
Elder Bednar said, "well, come on up here, by me!" I didn't know that he would CALL ME DOWN TO THE PULPIT. I thought I would just get a microphone handed to me. but no. so, I walk down to the pulpit, and I all of a sudden feel very nervous. Elder Bednar asks me my name, and I say, "Miriam Castle." and he looks right at me, and says, "well Miriam, it's nice to meet you." and he shook my hand.
HE SHOOK MY HAND.
David A. Bednar. An Apostle of the Lord. SHOOK MY HAND. and asked me my name. and answered my question.
wow.
I am still in shock of what happened. So, I went on to ask my question, which I probably shouldn't share on my blog because it was really personal and I wouldn't want the whole world reading it. but the response was just what I needed to hear. and I felt stronger than I ever have felt in my life, that this Church is true. Thomas S. Monson is a true prophet, and David A. Bednar is one of his Apostles. It was the most amazing meeting I have ever gone to.
some people think, "well if there wasn't a picture, it didn't happen." there were no pictures allowed at this meeting, but I promise that I am not making this up. I don't think I could ever imagine something like this in my head. it happened. It really did happen.
afterwards, we took a tour of Welfare Square, and then we went to our hotel. and to be honest, the Shilo Inn of downtown Salt Lake is not a place I would recommend staying in. major inconvenience number 1: the elevators. there were only 3 running elevators, and about 250 or so youth? maybe 300. but these elevators were the slowest things I have ever seen. it took about 10 minutes just to wait for an elevator and get up to our room. these elevators either skipped my floor, went all the way to the top, and went back down, or they would stop at every dang floor of the hotel. major inconvenience number 2: our continental breakfast was located in the bar. and it was literally served from a cart. and it wasn't even edible. major inconvenience number 3: i'll just stop here and skip to the next part.
the dance was pretty fun. I danced with actual boys. and there was actual dancing.
*Forrest Gump voice*: "and that's all I have to say about that.
Saturday was spent taking a tour of Temple Square. we had these really cute, foreign sister missionaries as our tour guides. they were also our tour guides at Welfare Square. they were really happy and shared their testimonies and it was great.
until we took the conference center tour. again.
by then, I was getting tired. tired of touring and walking around and being there with my stake. I wanted to go home and get some rest and see Justin, who had been gone at 5th Grade Camp all week and returned while I was gone. but no. we still had to do Ward Time, eat at Marley's, Provo Beach Resort, the end shindig, and the 3 hour testimony meeting on Sunday.
lunch was great, but I was tired. we headed back to Provo for PBR, but my leaders were so nice and drove me to my house first so I could drop off my suitcase and change into my swimsuit. Provo Beach Resort could've been better, if I didn't happen to almost kill myself riding the FlowRider, or the surf machine. I was on the boogie board for maybe 5 seconds. the strong "wave" knocked me off and shot me up to the top, with no boogie board. the board sailed in the other direction. I repeated this process about 10 more times, and bruised myself up pretty badly. GNARLY, DUUUUUUUUUDE. and I was so smart, I didn't even bring a change of clothes. so I just decided to call my mom and have her rescue me, because I had a really bad headache most of the day. I went home and showered and changed, and took a 2 hour nap. I finally woke up in time to go to the ending dinner. so, I didn't really miss out on too much.
then we had a wonderful 3 hour testimony meeting.

but really.
I MET DAVID A BEDNAR AND I SHOOK HIS HAND.
Guys. the church is true. it's 100% true. even if I may not do the best job of living all the principles, I know it is true. David A. Bednar said, "Living the gospel is easy. Not living the gospel is hard. It's hard to come back to it, once you have made certain choices that you think are easier than living the gospel."
and I know this is true. I've seen it happen. I've seen people make bad choices contrary to what we believe, and it really hurts to see them struggle.
guys. don't do stupid things. go to church. live the gospel. make good choices and you will find that it is much easier, than trying to repent of bad choices.
amen.