Turn of the month

 The last week of July wasn't especially noteworthy.

I was able to go on a run up North Canyon. I'm glad to be working again, but I do miss that I got to go there every day last summer and fall. It reminded me so much of last year. I even saw two rattlesnakes, which I could have gone without—that's probably what I like least about North Canyon. For the first one, I was running when I heard it rattle on the side of the trail. As it got in its defensive position, it lost its "footing" and slid off onto the trail after I had passed.

For the second one, it was in front of me, so I backed off. It remained right on the side of the trail in its defense position for quite a while, so I couldn't go past. Finally it slithered off the trail. I could still see it, but there was a barrier of plants between it and me, so I kept an eye on it as I walked past. 

They have been building a new trail on the side of the dirt road that leads to the main trail, but it doesn't seem to be progressing very fast. I'm not a fan of the new trail, because parts of it are next to the road, so all they did was make the road wider, which defeats the purpose. It wasn't a good idea, if you ask me. Well, maybe the idea was good, but so far the execution is not.

On Friday, I went back to the new portion of the Bonneville Shoreline Trail that has been under construction. It is in much better shape now. It was a fun trail, and once I got to it, it was very easy. I had an idea of when I needed to turn around, but I pretended I didn't know what time it was so I could keep going. I will need to go again when I have time to see more of it.

Today I taught my youth Sunday School class again. I find this a real struggle. I remember being the same age and not knowing how to answer the teachers' questions, and here I am on the other side. The Come, Follow Me materials are geared toward all ages, so it's hard to find what will work for teenagers. I took the ideas of the body of Christ from 1 Corinthians 12 and Doctrine and Covenants 84:109–10 for an activity. I gave everyone a few body parts, then had them draw a person that only had those body parts. I thought about taking pictures of them all, but they were nightmare fuel. 1 Corinthians 12 is one of my favorite scripture passages, and whoever wrote the Latter-day Saint chapter heading did a terrible job. Paul spends literally half of the chapter talking about the body of Christ, but the heading makes no mention of it. And yet they didn't fix this glaring omission in the 2013 edition!

Now it's August, which means it's once again time to mention that I used to hate it but now I enjoy it. I'm excited for the leaves to start to change, trees and plants to yield their fruit, and the last elements of summer to be fully enjoyed. I also start school again, and I'm nervous. Fall semester will be very different from last year. For one thing, classes will be in person, so I will need to navigate taking the bus to campus. Also, I told This Is the Place I could work there two days a week as long as I don't drive the train. (They're so short staffed that I feel bad quitting altogether.) Grad school has so much reading, and most of the places at work let me read, but not the train. This Is the Place gets pretty slow on weekdays starting in late August, so I'm hoping I can get some good studying in while I'm still making money. Some of the classes I'm taking will be a different format from what I'm used to. I just hope I can feel like I have air to breathe, because the last two semesters were also a lot of work. But I still have a few weeks to think about that.