Things I should be doing:

Writing a paper
Organizing for my trip to sweden

Things I am doing:
Watching the sisterhood of the traveling pants and thinking of you

Just figured I would mention it. I miss you guys, and wish you all were here. Three out of four of us have been here since Friday, and we haven't gotten together. This needs to be remedied. Tomorrow. I have made a executive decision in this matter. I will do I more detailed description of my first term of college, but I figured since it was my first time updating here in a while I was required to write some. Suffice to say it could have been much better. Anyway. Miss you, ciao.

 I figured it was time to post about my new life so here goes. I live in Corvallis and attend Oregon State University honors college! ive only been here a week and classes start tomorrow, with calculus, chemistry and fitness. So far i have been to a football game (we lost but it was still cool) and a christian BBQ (free food). Just today i was at a biochem picnic where i saw Jamie from ski team of all people, and held a 50lb yellow snake. I have also attempted to go to a party, just for the experience, which let me just say FAILED epically. Surprisingly freshman girls can really hold their liquor, and its harder to find a house party at 11pm  than you may think. My roommate is nice, very quiet though. She and i have attended a lot of biochem/healthcare things together, and overall work well as roommates in our tiny dorm. Ive been lucky enough to meet a lot of people, so, really quickly i will run through a few: Shelby- from minnesota, has the cutest accent ever; Finn- extremely excitable and funny, possibly gay; Trenton- has a beautiful voice, plays guitar/piano and writes his own music (sigh) he's one of those huge athletic guys who is also shy and sensitive; Cassie- a lot like K, very smart and sarcastic; and Josh-he makes fun of me A LOT but its okay because he's really short. Also, been hanging out with evan and chase, and we all know how upbeat those two are :P its nice having a few close friends from Bend with me ( i expect kylie to begin stressing out any day now, and chase NEVER leaves his dormroom), but i do miss home and you three a lot, and trust me, i have been creepin on your facebook pictures often haha. M congrats again on your race! you and your team look awesome together, and im proud of you. K, im so excited to watch the civil war together (so to speak). even though we are technically rivals, it doesnt feel like it yet. And S, oh wise one who left for college first, i know by now you are completely settled into your new life. Hope your visit to bend went smoothly, and Codster and Korn are doing well. I cant wait for winter break!!!!!! seriously. Its going to be a good year. Well, im off to watch a movie with my dormmates and later i will sing with trenton (yeah i know what you are thinking ;) he is very cute). Love love love to all of you, with many happy days ahead!
~T

Mac short for McMinville!

Hey buddies, so I have been posting to my new blog very often so I am not going to write very much right now just wanted you 3 to personally know that I miss you lots and can't wait to see you guys again on breaks! Kiegan and Taylor I am looking forward to coming and visit you two! :D Hope the packing and planning is going accordingly for all of you!

• http://savannahatlinfield.blogspot.com/  Here's the link to my blog, feel free to read, follow, comment, whatevs! :) and if you have a blog I would love to follow that to. Alright I got to head down to dinner! <3 S

where is home exactly?

where to begin...i guess at the beginning--of the school year that is. condensed version: tough season of xc, realized skiing is one of the best things that has ever happened in my whole life, had some of the greatest classes ever (AP Chem and AP gov peeps, you know what i mean), went to prom alone, met a lot of socially awkward people, graduated without crying and ate too many doughnut holes at the party (they were FREE okay??).  Senior year for me was the most stressful year of my life in social terms, but also the most joyful. I did a lot of growing up, as did the people who are closest to me (yes, that means you guys). I remember looking at all of us a lot of times and imagining where we would be in 1, 5, or even 10 years. Would we visit one another? Start families? Be successful in our overall lives? I know, it kind of made my brain swell a bit too, but its reality. I have a cheesy quote i liked, ready? "what lies behind us and what lies before us are trivial matters compared to what lies within us". idk who said it, but it reminds me how lucky i am to know three beautiful, insightful, creative individuals like you all. I can't wait to see where your lives take you <3
i barely remember the start of summer before i went to virginia as always. I saw my little cousins Eric, Rachel and Brody who are cuter than anything plus they kicked my butt at twister. My grandma is doing well, we watched some movies with her and apparently each and every one was the stupidest thing shes ever seen :P i felt really torn about leaving this year. I couldnt get enough of the smell of hay and flowers, fireflies, family BBQ's and late night talks with people i love but only see once a year. Also, the 99% humidity made my skin/hair sooo soft and i never got my aunts very attractive neighbor boy to sell me one of is CDs. Before i headed home though, i had a medical conference which was more disappointing than anything, though i did make some friends, watched a knee replacement surgery and learned to suture a banana (i can tell guys that on our first date lol) Shortly after returning to bend we had to say goodbye to someone we all care about to some degree, and it was inevitably sad. But just as S and i have recently reconnected with old friends, i can see how things tend to come full circle and balance out. Life is funny like that. Later in i went to my START session with katie and was very overwhelmed by all of the requirements i need to satisfy the general university, school of science, honors college AND my individual dept. One step at a time i guess. Now im home, but im sure you three all know that things are clearly shifting. I feel almost like a stranger in my own life--caught in the transition. rather than things getting harder, i like to think they will just be more in depth, more exciting than scary. We're going to meet some amazing people (some of whom will be handsome i hope) and have some once-in-a-lifetime experiences that we will of course be sharing with one another the next four years. Hey, it will make for some great stories.
That basically concludes the content of my mind for now, dont worry, there will be more sappy stuff at a later date. I hope we can all go to cultus (S, please please with a cherry on top??), hike south sister, have a tent party and some sleepovers together before the unavoidable goodbyes. I love you guys, and i miss you already
~T
PS: my class schedule is Chem 221, Math 251, Warthogs and boa constrictors, intro to Biochem, and Health. Im thinking i want to switch from Biochem as a major to something in human sciences

Everything feels weird

I have been putting this off for a really.... really long time. I just don't know what to say, which is a little out of character. I don't know, perhaps its about avoiding this as a way of avoiding reality, which is strange because of how much reality is going on right now... or maybe I am just being stupid and lazy, it could even be just absentmindedness. Anyway you turn it its not very excusable. Which is why I understand why no one has contacted me to hang out since S's birthday. No one. Except Liss, one of my really good friends from middle school. We hung out and roller skated on Wednesday for a couple hours, then went to Sharri's, then played at the spinny park near Skyview, and had a little chat with some ociffers. Yesterday I had my first day of work at the Honey Pot, so I worked at Grandma's from 9:30 to 3:30 then went to work there around 4:45/5 ish and stayed until after 9:30. It was a long day lol. Thats about all that has been of note since S's birthday. S's birthday was fun, we drew pretty pictures on each other lol. Before that I did..... stuff, I dunno, work for Grandma on the farm... did stupid ship on the computer.... avoided running. Yeah, so that was exciting. Read books, been watchin' anime. Went to the Harry Potter premiere :D that was fun too. I baked for like two days to celebrate (I made candy and pumpkin pasties, the pasties were dang good.) Dressed up, met up with T there and a couple of her friends. Charly came looking like Harry, it was awesome. It was my first premiere "by myself" I had gone to see The Dark Knight with my mama on opening night before, but this was a little different lol I was ALOOONNEEE (not really lol). Anywho Before THAT I was with my muther. yup. we drove around on the coast and went to Portland and stayed in Pittsburg CA. Hung out with my little bro. Tried to meet up with Mickey, but that didn't work out sadly. And BEFORE THAT I graduated. Yup. That was pretty cool. Best part being that I don't have to go back there. Ever. ALSO I went to "IntroDUCKtion" and took language placement tests and signed up for classes. Watched a funny play about being respectful of other people and not raping them, yeah, apparently people don't like that? lol. Met some new people, hopefully friend material? So I signed up for: History of Japanese Art, World Religions; Asian Traditions, Japanese 1, aaaaaaannd Aikido. Fuck yeah. Can you see a pattern? NO this is not going to be my major. NO I am not PARTICULARLY interested in the Japanese, just world cultures in general. And this is just how my schedule worked out. It will be interesting to study something this in depth all at once though. We'll see. *

Anyway, thats it for now.
~K, the whale tamer.

*Disclaimer: Events may or may not be in the right order, and I do not assume responsibility for them being incorrect, talk to my memory, its retarded.

18th Birthday!

Hey so today is my 18th birthday ^.^ So far I have spent it cleaning considering the weather isn't exactly cooperating today. Plan A was to go to the Portland zoo with friends, it became too costly, Plan B was going sailing on the lake, the weather predicts thunderstorms, sooo here we are at Plan C swimming at juniper and then coming home to eat and watch movies. Ah well it's the hanging with friends that counts. There is much to be done for college all of sudden reality is hitting me! I leave in about a month exactly and I am not even ready at all haha, still have to do my summer reading as well. darn. But the good news is I signed up for my classes for the first semester and got every class I had hoped to get :D
Elem Chinese 1
Environ History
Globetrotters INQS
Voice
Colloquium.
So I have a full schedule (14 credits total) should be fun :) Besides working like crazy and all I haven't been up to much, just trying to save. Now I have to make a list of what things I need for my dorm and go shopping for new college clothes. I think my style has changed a bit. Marley gave me this awesome new columbia jacket for my birthday :) Super warm and awesome! Thanks Marley! Hope you are all doing well, I wish you were here M but it sounds like you are having fun in AZ, T and K I will see you tonight, so I might just have to make you two post! muhahaha :) Bye bye! ~ S
p.s. so excited for the fair you have no idea!!! Desmond might come and stay with me for a week or so, so he might get to come! yay!

The great Thelma and Louis moment! the GRAND CANYON!

Spent my first week in arizona at the Grand Canyon. It was Grand to say the least. I have been here before, but it was way more spectacular the second time! And guess what!? I got to check one thing off my bucket list, hiking from Rim to river and back in one day, and it wasn't easy. Since I havnt worked out or ran in like 3 weeks now, I wasn't in the best shape I could be to tackle this huge feat, but I made it, struggling behind my brother the whole way.

We woke up at 4:30 and started hiking at 5:45 in the morning to try and avoid some of the heat of the day. We made it to indian gardens in great time and made it down to the river by 9:30ish. Unfortunately, hiking the grand canyon is totally different than hiking a mountain, the easy part is first! ugh. The river felt great and it was supppppeeeeerrrr cold. Sadly we started our hike back up at 10:30 nearing the heat of the day. We survived the 5k hike back up to indian gardens which isn't even half way back up the canyon. We stayed there a while in order to recuperate and throw some rocks at annoying squirrels. The last 4.5 miles up the canyon was the hardest. It was almost 100 degrees outside and the switchbacks were deceivingly steep. Oh, did i mention that the elevation change was about 2,000 feet at the river to about 6,000 feet at the rim...yup, thats a big clime! And stupid dakota felt "great" the whole time, so i was struggling to keep up with him on the way up. The last mile or so was the HARDEST! wow did it suck, every step hurt and I couldn't have done it without my hiking pole. But we made it to the rim at exactly 4:00 which is faster than my dads record! yay! Anyways, dakota and I recorded our adventure through video and pictures and we will be putting together a little video soonish and I will post it. Its actually pretty interesting seeing how our optimism changes throughout the hike and how we look physically and stuff. Yup, and there is some humor in it too :P

Anyways, thats all for now, im headed back to prescott today, good by hot and sunny grand canyon (got a tan :)) and hello hot and sunny prescott! haha.

K and T, you NEED to write! whats up!?! Love you guys and miss you a ton.......seriously, alot.

Love,

~M

Almost July ^_^ 这几乎七月！

Hey so I haven't written in a while, and T and K haven't written at all (cough cough) :). Anyways my summer has been pretty slow and uneventful for the time being, been working at Chans every weekend pretty much (did a double shift last Sunday that was tiring), now I have taken on a job as a swim instructor for 2 little boys who go to my church, perhaps i might get a violin student (5 year old adorable little girl), and am perhaps taking on the job as the nursery caregiver at my church (which pays pretty well.) All in all my summer has become about working. Trying to save up towards college and everything. Which means no spending and hanging out with friends much, sigh. I have been seeing Sarah and Stuart a lot lately though and have started running again which is good. I even got Stuart into running :D For this upcoming July I am running the Spark you Heart 5K, getting my new roommate, and carving my Fall semester schedule in stone. Yesterday I spent most of my time figuring out which classes I want to take. Linfield has a highly competitive scheduling system, because I notified them so early that I wanted to go there, I will be one of the first to choose my classes on July 11th, which is cool, however I have to have everything ready and send in everything by 8 AM sharp in order to get into the classes I want. Upper upperclassmen have already chosen their classes so freshmen choose from what's left. It kinda stinks, luckily Chinese 1 is open which is the class I REALLY want! Since i plan to go abroad to China either my Sophomore or Junior year! 我迫不及待地想了解我的母语! ---> (I cannot wait to learn my native language!) Perhaps I will use Chinese for a future profession..? Also I got into Linfield's First CLAS program which means I will be leaving for college August 18th instead of August 24th. It's a program that is highly competitive to get into, which is why I am so excited for the acceptance! It's where some incoming freshmen get together early with peer advisers and staff members of Linfield and explore campus, explore downtown McMinnville, do some community service projects, play fun games to get to know one another, and go explore downtown Portland! I am excited, all this and it's cheap cause it's a sponsored program :D
Alright, so I am going to go and start of my day (it has been very lazy so far) hope you 3 are having fun traveling, Bend is very desolate now that everyone is gone. But I will look forward to seeing everyone come back sometime in July or August. We have to go to the fair when it's in town, I am looking forward to that more than anything, big group? I think yes!
<3 S

One word. CRAZY!!!!!!!

Yes, crazy is the only word that can describe the last couple weeks. Im still taking in the fact that we are graduated and will be heading off in different directions in a couple months! Graduation was great though and the grad party was way fun! My trip to Sacramento with the summit team was fun but tiring. I had a decent race, didnt run the time i wanted, but hey, i got 4th place in one of the largests meets in the nation! :D And now to the ultra crazy stuff. Moving out of my house in sub 2 weeks. yup, less than two weeks to get all of my CRAP out of my house, and it has sucked! Today we finally got almost all the furniture out of the house! and we had a garage sale too where we made bucko bucks, over 1,000 bucks and then sold several trailers, so we are getting rid of alot! and i sold some paintings too! (dont worry T, you still get your yellow one :P) I finally bought my macbook and it should be getting to my moms house in a couple of days! so stoked!

Now to the sad craziness...I had to put my precious Chessie down yesterday. The world (and the backyard) already seems less bright without her :( Though she was a great dog, and no dog will ever replace her, i know she is in a better place. Im sure she is running through fields of frisbees right now! I love her so much!

Anyways, Im heading to arizona on sunday, and will be embarking on an epic adventure which i will of course write about aftwards. Keep in touch everyone! love you and enjoy the amazing summer!

~M

Chessie, her beauty is shining still in doggy heaven :)

The last family photo, still nonphotogenic! haha

Woohoo!!!!!!

Celebrating with my brother! im ganna miss him

We did it!!!

Finally, the 4 of us survived high school! love you guys <3

Graduated!! Summer before College!!

Hey so I decided to write first this summer, I hope we get into the habit of writing ladies, cause I know for sure we are all parting ways again. And this summer is cut short for a lot of us, since we are leaving for COLLEGE!! in August/September! Last night was our graduation from Mountain View High School, which was so much fun! Walking down to the seats (with the best walking partner, thanks T!), receiving our honors diplomas, moving our tassles, to throwing our caps! The moment was unforgettable, and so was the awesome party with lots of food and fun games and prizes afterward that lasted till 3 AM! We did it ladies, officially graduated and moving on to the next chapter in our lives, I am so proud of all 3 of you for working hard for 13 years and walking with me and the rest of the class of 2011!! Let's keep writing i am excited to hear about your summers! <3 S p.s. i wish we had taken a picture of all four of us in our caps and gowns, ah well.