I get by with a little help from my friends

Things I should be doing:

2011-12-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

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.

2011-09-25T19:04:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-24T17:38:00.000-07:00

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?

2011-07-29T20:04:00.000-07:00

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

2011-07-29T19:00:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-17T10:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-07-02T12:50:00.000-07:00

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！

2011-06-29T12:40:00.000-07:00

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!!!!!!!

2011-06-22T18:44:00.000-07:00

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!!

2011-06-10T23:25:00.000-07:00

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.

Cultus = Amazing!!

2010-08-21T16:47:00.000-07:00

Wow, I had gone to Cultus running camp last year with the cross country team, but this year was absolutely amazing!! This year it involved more people, more running, and more food!! We arrived at Cutlus on Tuesday and ran the short 4 or so miles to our camping spot, where the fun began! I was on the green tribe with T, and M was one of the captains on the red tribe (just like last year.) The entire 4 days consisted of competitions between the tribes (raft wars, Prestons relay, sand castle building, setting up a tent blind folded, dance off, etc.), bushwhacking! (ouch!), 12 mile runs (good job varsity!), running Cultus Mountain (about 13 miles), tubing, and sun tanning. All in all it was a fun, intense trip, and I spending time with XC family! My legs are beat and sore but it sure was worth it, Senior year is gonna be amazing!

XC Girls! (At cultus after we stole Chase's stash of Candy and ate it all! haha)

Well, next week is the kickoff days where we get ready to go back to school. Summer is ending pretty fast, and it is hard to believe that this is our last year. The last final weeks are going to consist of running (duh!), reading, studying for the SAT coming up in Oct., and college applications. M, I am so proud of you for starting your own business of photography, you have many skills that are appreciated by many! Keep up the good work! T, it was a blast being on the same tribe as you this year, I know you are going through a bit of a rough patch right now, but I hope everything works out for the best and I am sending you my love <3!! K, I haven't seen you in a while, and we miss you!!!, I hope you have been out having fun traveling and exploring the world! I loved the pictures you posted on facebook of all of us back in freshman/sophomore year, they have definately brought back many thrilling memories I want to keep forever! (Hope you don't mind if I post a few ;) ) We should all get together before school starts!! :)

Love, S

So! I will wrap up the rest of the epic vacation

2010-08-20T22:07:00.000-07:00

Iowa was good, we hung out with Gran, went shopping, swimming, and rearranged my aunt (second or something) Ruthie's bedroom in the middle of the night :D . I got a bunch of clothes at Stuff Inc or something like that, I know it was called Stuff. Took pics with Gran etc. Left Iowa City, went through Dubuque, saw the Effigy Mounds and got lost in Wisconsin. Which has VERY bad signs by the way. Went to Duluth Minnesota. Swum in Lake Superior, got bit by flies (damn them!) and the Huckleberry falls was nice to climb around on. The time there was nice, I did a lot of reading, went for a run, Paddy helped around the farm. I liked Gwen (moms friend who lives there). Went fishing, which was kinda fun, because I wasn't sitting in one place the whole time (trolling I think), so I don't hate it lol and the trip out there via four wheeler was fun too! Next we went through North Dakota. We went through Fargo, which apparently a lot of people that I know had family there a LONG time ago. We went to this buffalo museum thing and saw three white buffalo, which are sacred fyi. We went through the Theodore Roosevelt national monument, which was really beautiful, we stayed the night there. There was a huge herd of buffalo out there too, they were standing in the road at one point, it was quite funny, buffalo make strange sounds! We went to a dinosaur museum, which was cool, but not my favorite. Then we went into South Dakota. We went through the Badlands (which means we went through both, North and South, North is the Theodore thing). And to Wall Drug, which is so touristy it kinda made me sick XP. Then we went to Deadwood, which was okay, I liked the graveyard, and camping there that night was fun. We went back through to Mount Rushmore, which was cool :D. We stayed there for TWO WHOLE NIGHTS, it was decadent lol. We got the storm of a lifetime in Hot Springs, South Dakota. The water was coming into our tent! It formed a lake, which I named Lake Sunshine :D we stayed in a hotel that night... lol. We also swam in a hot springs pool that had been there for over a hundred years :o! Oh and the mammoths. There was a excavation site you could go in, it was a sinkhole that had gotten filled it. Anyway, the found like thirty mammoths in there! And they were all male lol! It was cool :D and at the end of the tour the guy said that "If you have a chance go down and see the paleontologists on display downstairs." completely deadpan, Mom and I were the only ones that laughed. Anyway, we go to the elevator and it says hours are from like 9 to 4 or something and it was like 4:30, but Mom said they were work-aholics and would probably still be there, and they were! Little framed windows and everything XD. There was also a hut made out of mammoth bones (example) that was really cool! We also went to wounded knee. Which was interesting. Mom had another guy fall in love with her lol (there were lots over the trip, I would think four? maybe five lol I only caught one that I know of, more later XP ) So on through to Wyoming! Devils Tower, neat, Bighorn Mountains, really cool, Medicine Wheel, quite cool and Yellowstone! Which was cool, Paddy liked it :) Camping was HELL though XP we didnt want to stay a second night but we saw old faithful! And two days in the park was good. Technically we slept in Montana, btw. Then Idaho, where we went to Craters of the Moon, which is this HUGE lava field if you haven't heard of it, we slept there, and I kinda admired a soon to be marine >.< I know weird, right?! I saw him building this huge beautiful stack of rocks, several of them actually, and he was at it for HOURS while we were caving (we set up camp where he was doing it then went caving) and he took it all down in the morning... it was neat. Anyway, so we get to Oregon and stay on the Snake River. It was really pretty, particularly watching the storm come in... we had the worst WIND storm ever... Mom tied the tent to the car and broke the window with her adrenalin lol. We held the tent up for two and a half hours. Through midnight. It was actually kinda fun lol. In the morning we patched it with plastic, which didn't work well >.<. I can STILL hear it flapping we drove to Hells Canyon, went to an Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, and we had our one and only fight (Paddy cried, Mom and I were fighting) I am pretty sure because of the widow... We made it to La Grand though! We slept right near the Oregon Trail, WHICH WAS COOL. I thought. Saw a cute boy in La Grand, he had a lip piecing :K and, well he was cute ^_^ AND I think he may have liked me, just a bit... he worked at Starbucks :P Made it to Portland alive, stayed the night at Grandpa's. Went to Tanna's (my aunt on mom's side). We were there for a couple of days, then came to Bend, which I had NO idea was such a destination! We couldn't camp anywhere! We did find a place, went to the High Desert Museum and then moved into the teepee that Chris owns (we ended up there for two nights because the day we wanted to leave, sunday, the car broke, we had to get its axles or something replaced...) We floated the river twice on saturday :) Oh and on Friday we went to Munch n Music, saw Liss and then Sara, Cody and Karen. It was kinda weird with the second crew... Sunday we hung out at my Grandparents to see llamas (for Paddy). So yeah, went Back to Portland, hung out a day with the cousins (Selene and Isabell) Then came back here and dropped me off.... I was sad... I cried, but then I cry every year lol. Oh and during pretty much the whole trip we read a AMAZING book, Shantaram, I would suggest it, I am going to buy myself a copy.

:)

Love you all
~K

Pictures of the many great adventures of summer 2010!

2010-08-08T22:55:00.000-07:00

My youth temple trip. Jesus statue in the visitor center :)

Slides at the seven peaks water park in Utah!


Me, sara, and katie at the top of the world!!!


Me and Karen at Steens! we are so awesome!

everyone wanted me to wear a faux hawk to turkey dinner...i did :P and i went with chase..muahahahaha!

At steens with some awesome peeps :D

my steens tent! TENT 4 HARDCORE! OPA!!!!!

camping with my brother, and my step brother matthew and my step sister leah! we are awesome siblings :)

Moses, our horny toad lizard

modeling for some artists for 3 hours, got 40 bucks!

one of my portraits :) my favorite

another painting

shooting with the fam....yes...im a stone cold killer

serious face

crazy face :P

I have had a wonderful summer so far..and these pictures cannot even describe how amazing each experience was. and i had several experiences where i had no camera available...but some are best left without a picture :)
Hope these last few weeks will be a great ending to our last high school summer!
love you all :)
~M

College is just around the Bend

2010-08-06T12:43:00.000-07:00

Hey all! So yesterday I came back from a four day trip up in the Portland area, where I looked at 6 colleges, and toured about 4. It definately opened my eyes up to the possiblities of after high school life and I am getting pretty excited to keep exploring! My first stop was the U of O campus, but it wasn't much of a stop because I had already toured it back at Spring Break my junior year. Then I went to Western University, Linfield College, Lewis & Clark, Willamette University, and OSU. So far I know for sure I am applying to U of O, Linfield, and Gonzaga (I toured Gonzaga my sophomore year), I still need to keep researching on the other colleges before I make a final desicion to apply.
So yeah! Busy with that, and I also plan on taking on the job of re-decorating my room (I am sorry that you aren't here M!! I wish you were so that you could help!) Anyways I was thinking brown and blue for the walls, and I haven't quite decided if I want to go the excess mile and buy some new decorations for the walls/ new furniture. ( I am voting no since I really do only have one more year to spend in that room) So let me know what you guys think :) I think I will take on and finish this job this week!
Can you believe August is here?? Cultus is coming up yay! As well as school :O This is our last year of high school girls (congradulations!!! I hope it's the best of em all!) So let's make our last year memorable, fun and exciting! :D Cheers! Love, S
p.s. I am giving blood on the 10th with T, I gotta say I am super nervous!! O_O

Steens! Tent 4 Hardcore! OPA!!!!!!!!!!

2010-07-28T19:48:00.000-07:00

OH MY GOSH!!! i have to say, steens has been the best experience this summer for me, although the summer rafting trip is a competitor. i learned so much and had so many valuable experiences it was amazing. So....the first day...we really didnt do much, in fact we just set up our tent and ate dinner. Then we tried to memorize everyones names in the tent, 19 names...im already bad at names. i never wanted to admit it, but i never memorized everyones names by the end of the camp.

Second day: Acclimation, this consisted of a series of stair step short runs, 2 min, 3 min, 4 min, and so on. Then on the 8 min runs, we had to start collecting dead sage brush and aspen and rocks, it was fun! then we learned how to do KP or kitchen duty and clean the porter potties (which was gross....)

Third Day: The BIG day! this consisted of a marathon distance hike/run through a very deep canyon. So it began, we were told that we were not allowed to talk...no talking...for 26 plus miles!!!! it actually wasnt that bad. Anyways, the first 14 miles or so we just hiked, and crossed a couple of streams, then we had our lunch break. After that, our shoes were never dry, cause we crossed a stream every 2 miles, and we started our 60 60's. 60 seconds walking, 60 seconds running, however, if you get stuck in the back of your group, its more like 120 seconds running, 0 seconds walking, its terrible! So i stared off in group 3, which ended up being way faster than it was supposed to be, so after like 4 miles of running up out of the canyon, i had an asthma attack and dropped back to group 4. So then we hiked the rest of the way out, which was still difficult. Then when we finally got out of the canyon, we got to shake Harlands hand and we got one lemon drop, which tasted like heaven! Then i ran all the way back to camp by myself, 7 miles to beat the bus! i was so happy and felt so accomplished. it was amazing!

fourth day: recovery, or more like "recovery" day. we did an easy 20 minute jog in the morning after our tent having KP, which means we have to wake up 30 minutes before everyone else to clean the toilets and get ready for breakfast. then we did recovery circuits, which were killer. they included sit ups, push ups, strength and core stretching, and learning form. the rest of the day wasnt too bad.

fifth day: Cross Canyon! OPA!!!! This was a race, tent against tent...meaning your team is only as fast as your slowest person. We had to race to the buses, that were on the other side of a canyon, 3 miles wide, without a trail, full of sharp sagebrush, barbed wire, dense forest, and stinging nettles. despte the many scrapes and scratches, and a huge gash in the leg from jamming into a tree, it was the best race i have ever had, i will never ever ever ever complain about another cross country race again in my life. it was so intense. oh and did i mention that we had to memorize a quote while running as well....ours was "wipe that blackboard clean, wring that sponge dry. Today is a new day." - Harland Yardi (i dont know how to spell his name) Anyways, it was great.

sixth day: Steens Olympics! uphill 5K....the hardest 5k ever, however, i will never complain about another hill in a race again, because it will never compare! I got 10th place, and our tent won the event by alot! we rocked the running, the fasted team ever! Sagebrush sack hop was a failure for our team, and so was the tug of war, though it was soooooooooo intense! covered in mud, with people screaming in your face and shaking from the pain in your arms and getting pictures taken of your face....so intense! and the relay, also a team failure, but still fun. I had a downhill leg. fasted 400 meters of my life..pretty sure i did it in 40 seconds. So, we may have gotten 4th in the Olympics, but at least it matched our tent number! go TENT 4!!!!

Well, it was a very memorable experience, and i wish you all could have enjoyed it with me. I love you all and i oppologize for the long post.
Love!!!!

~M

17 Finally!

2010-07-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

Hey! So I was planning on writing on my birthday but then it slipped my mind that day, so I am writing two days later :D Not too much has happened up to this point, some volunteering at Family Kitchen, hanging downtown at the Summerfest and Munch n' Music with friends, and lots of XC! M came with me on the day I went down to the Summerfest and we went and saw Toy Story 3 afterwards, good movie! I reccommend it :)
On my 17th birthday I went and volunteered in the morning with the XC team for the Deshutes Dash. Lets just say it was REALLY hot out, and stupid people who would not get out of the runners way were getting on my nerves! However I did get a SWEET free shirt out of the deal and afterwards was fun when I had my BBQ/movie night. Lots of memories there! I wish you guys (T and K) could have come, maybe one of these years :) Oh! and I rented my first rated R movie (Zombieland) very funny! The joys of being 17 now haha.
Yesterday I met 2 new foreign exchange students, one from Japan the other from France. They are both staying with two different families that are friends of my family, so it was cool to meet them. Kelly has her eye on the French one so don't even think about it lol! Well speaking of Kelly I better go because we are planning to meet up soon!
K, I hope you are having a fun fabulous trip! Sounds like it so far! M, you show them all who is boss at Steens! And come home and write all about it! T, thanks for the birthday call I was soo happy to hear your voice, and I hope you had fun at the beach today! We should go to the Deshutes County Fair when you guys get back!! I am getting verrry excited for it! oh, that and Culuts! yeah!
Love, S

I wish I had more computer availability

2010-07-17T16:19:00.000-07:00

Then I wouldn't have to write so much at a time! Goodness,well, I left off at Star's right? Yes, well I discovered that I kinda like So You Think You Can Dance? when I was at Star's. Yup, I have succumbed to the reality TV. I probably won't watch it much though. Aside from that, not much else happened in Prescott. Sedona is beautiful, ans so is Jerome. The drive the the Grand Canyon was interesting... Its really quite sad what the white people have done to the Native Americans. The Grand Canyon is cool, but kinda to big to really grasp, if you understand what I mean. Camping near there was pretty cool. Then we drove to Utah, and stopped at a little RV park/tiny hotel thing and camped, drove through Zion Canyon because we didn't know you could only go up there (to the cool part) by bus, and by the time we realized, we had gone all the way up to the top on a really bumpy bad road and I did NOT want to drive down and back up again. So we drove the Bryce canyon and hiked around, which was really cool, and on the way out... we tried to take a short cut. That short cut didn't work out. It had rained that day, and the road was clay/dirt and sand in some places, as well as being UP hill. About five miles in we got scared by a wash thing that went right through the road, right before a sandy wet hill... so yeah, we turned around. We got to a placed called Bluff and had dinner at a restaurant called the Cottonwood, which my mother described as "A little Knott's Berry Farm!". Then I decided that I would drive, at night, to the next town. The next town was a LOT farther off than I thought lol. So we stopped at Four Corners in the middle of the night (it was only around ten miles out of the way). That was kinda fun actually lol Mom and I were the only ones up and we were kinda hysterical, but we saw the Milky Way... that... was really cool, it made me really happy :D. So we drove through Kansas a bit, got to Dodge City, looked for a camp site, in the middle of the night, in the middle of no where bug country Kansas lol. Our car was covered in bugs. And there wasn't a camp site. So we drove all the way back into town and stayed in a hotel. Dodge city was okay, old timey cowboy thing they had going on. OH! I should tell you the story about why we stopped there: My great great (possibly great) grandaddy moved from Wales, to Australia (with his brothers), to Texas (to be a Cowboy). He saved the money he made driving cows from Texas to Dodge to move to Oregon, and homestead. Lol. Yup. Next we drove though western Kansas. Which is one of the most boring places I have EVER driven through. seriously. FLAT FLAT FLAT FLAT FLAT. When mom made me drive it was slightly better because I had something to focus on. We drove to Ottawa, where my family (Dietrich family) had a cabin, with is tiny and cool :D (I forgot to write about Colorado, we saw a Grizzly BEAR and had Mexican food and stayed the most expensive cheep, kinda icky hotel ever (it was like 75 for a room that smelled like pee and bleach, we asked for a different room, which, though musty, was much better)) Next we went through Richmond (TINY). My mom lived there for four years when she was a kid, so that was interesting. THEN *intake of breath* we drove to Iowa, though a small corner of Missouri. We got in to John and Ruthie's, in the middle of the night *gasp* again lol. Now it is time for me to get off the computer, or be punnished lol. I will tell you all about Iowa at the next chance I get lol.
LOVE! (sorry for all the writing)
~K

wow! last year of girls camp/rafting/manti trip...craziness!

2010-07-10T12:49:00.000-07:00

Too much has happened in the last three or so weeks that i just cant explain in words. T did an excellent job at summing up the rafting trip, however i just wanted to say that it was definatly a huge highlight of my high school cross country carreer, and i am so happy that i went. I could have never made the bonds that i made with those people anywhere else, except maybe on an island in the middle of the ocean. It was a blast and i wish i could do it again :D
Continuing on to the past...the manti trip. That was also a great bonding experience with all of my church friends and it helped me revive my spirituality and faith my God. I was able to spend some much needed time with my amazing friend Katie Cooke, whom i will miss so very much when she heads off to college. I learned more about my own faith and grew in my testimony. Anyways, on the not of my love for God....

GIRLS CAMP!!!!!! i am soooooooo very sad that this was my last year of girls camp. I have had so many unbelievable experiences at girls camp and made some unreplacable friendships....i think im about to cry.....

This year, i was able to climb mount McLaughlin again, which was almost as hard as last year, cause i was already soar and tired from the rafting trip. Me and my new friend Kira powered to the top again and were able to enjoy a fun filled 2 hours at the top while waiting for the rest of our group. this year we had to climb even more snow (which was fun to throw rocks down). She and I will have a great friendship for the rest of out lives, i know. We have been through so much together, including last years climb and this years, the spiritual experiences we had were amazing. Then yesterday, i did the mile swim...which was REALLY hard!!! but the water was warm :) im so not used to being this tired and soar...i feel weird, haha.
Anyways, i feel like i have grown and become a much more mature and spiritualy connected to my heavenly father. I cannot wait for steens! this summer is the best summer i have had in a long time!!!!!!

Love you all,
~M

P.S. i apologize for all my church talk, but that is what happened these past weeks, and i love it <3

Okay Okay so shoot me

2010-07-09T10:23:00.000-07:00

yeah i know ive been unforgivably lazy with the blog but im about to make up for it. I guess i will have to start where miki left off and talk about the rafting trip--in short, it was absolutely amazing! what a great bonding experience for all of us :) Don taught us how to steer and maneuver the rafts while also barking out commands to the other people (on the paddle boat, which was A BLAST through the rapids, let me tell you). We hit a few class fours: Boxcar, Wapanetia (sp?), and Oakley...? Was that what it was called? Anyways, even though Chase, M and Cody nearly mastered the pontoon, the paddle boat out-epic-ed that boat easily (vertical rafting, anyone?)When we werent in the water swimming or pushing people in (oh and BTW Don has an evil streak, i'll explain later), we were busy setting up camp. Although the girls tent failed. completely. The Girls--Ally, M, Karen, Sarah and me-- faced off against the Boys--Chase and Cody--in a prank war. It went a little like this:
Boys: attempt to scare us at night by making "rattlesnake" noises. Didnt fool us for a second
Girls: fill the boys tent with pads and tampons. Hehe
Boys: silly string us while we were sleeping (side note: that stuff smells awful)
Girls: M and i try to squirt gun them but they have sealed there tent. So all the girls just took down their ten with them inside
I think we all know who won ;)
But by far the best part was getting to know everyone better; it was such a diverse group. All of our unique personalities shone through and were appreciated by everyone else. Personally, i found a new buddy in Ally, and remembered what a deep friendship i had with chase.
Although im very sad that it ended so quickly, I left the trip with many memories, new connections, a stronger trust in my own instincts, and most importantly, bigger biceps :P
But right now, i am in Vir-GEEN-e-uh at my cousins house, and her daughter is dressing up their chihuahua simon in doll clothes. Sad for the dog's manhood but good for my funny bone. Welp, i will be back in two weeks and i miss you all already! M, hope girls camp is fun and good luck at steens! dont worry you will do great and come back stronger, just try and sneak in some naps here and there eh? K, last i heard you were in Cali with your madre, so you better be soaking up the sun and enjoying yourself! S, i know you had a great time in Ireland (or so i read :P) and i cant wait for you to tell me all about it in person. I loooooooooove you all and will write again soon. maybe. dont hold your breath.

<3 <3 T <3 <3

P.S. so once while rafting in the paddle boat we came across a hauge dead floating fish. Guess who said 'Grab that fish and lets throw it at chase!!' if you said DON STEARNS you would be correct. Like i said, eeevil streak

Ireland (the land of amazing accents)

2010-07-07T23:54:00.000-07:00

Hey! I know it's late so I apologize if parts of this post do not make sense. I just got off the plane from Redmond not too long ago, and I have to say it is lovely to be back home...now if only i had my carry on bag with me that would be even better, but hopefully it turns up tomorrow. To sum of some of what has happened in the past few days I caught an early flight (with a small group from my church) on June 27th, and went to Portland, then caught a plane to Chicago, then caught another plane to Dublin. We stayed in Glendalough for a good portion of the trip in this nice rustic kind of home setting, and we took plenty of hikes to the monastic city, the upper and lower lakes and lot of museums. Then on I think it was the 3rd of July we caught a ferry over to the largest of the Aran Islands and stayed there for the remainder of the trip, with a very welcoming old couple who had a bunch of bunks in their house, and a really well kept up garden. We had rented bikes so it was nice to be able to get places faster around the island. Most of the placed we visited there had lots of celtic religion behind it, so in other words i felt like i was cycling around a very large museum that was outdoors.
Though I am bummed that I did not get to set off fireworks this year for the 4th of July, and that I missed the senior rafting trip all in all it was a worthy experience. :) I hope you girls are all out having fun (and by that i don't mean out drinking.) Oh and T you need to start posting!! :) I need to get to bed considering I haven't slept in about 24 hours. My internal clock is pretty messed up right now, talk to you all soon! Love, S

So it seems I am the most realiable ;) strangely :D

2010-07-06T18:10:00.000-07:00

Why hasn't anyone else posted? I know you are all doing things lol. Anyway, a lot has happened to me since the last post! I totally forgot to write about Lillian's Party. It was after the Parade and we all went, Paddy, Mom, Dusty, Joe, and I. It was pretty fun, mostly because I love Lillian, and her house feels homey to me, its really nice, but I also met a girl named Belinda (or something, can't spell lol) she was there with her friend (a purple Pony) and she was only nineteen. Which was REALLY nice. Its weird sometimes, because Mom only hangs out with adults/people substantially older than me, so its nice to see someone who is closer to my age. I didn't really talk much, because not to long after we had to leave, but like I said, nice. So after that, we left on... Tuesday? and drove to Yosemite. It was lovely, very different from the last time we went though! Last time it was sort of pooled in places along the river bed and it was safe to swim right up under the falls, this year it wasn't lol. But it was still pretty and fun. My family are weird tourists. Then we drove to Todd's house, he owns a house now, up above Hollywood, and we stayed there for a couple nights, I met his dog (nice old girl, as long as you are careful). I also finally got a little mini tour of Hollywood, the famous part, Chinese Theater, Walk of fame etc. Which was cool :D I mean, we go through there all the time and I had never seen it, so, I was happy to see it lol. I also saw the Hollywood sign :D thats pretty cool as far a typical things you could see lol. And Hollywood is quite pretty at night, from the top of Todd's hill. (Oh, and if Tammy ever reads this, the new Spock lives just two houses away from Todd :D apparently he is nice). After Hollywood we drove... and drove and drove, and holy cow is it a long way to Arizona from the California coast! We did sort of go the long way (through Joshua Tree) but man... anyway, Joshua Tree is beautiful, and HOT, I will probably take forever to get pics up, but I promise to, before October lol. We also had to stop in Phoenix to see my mother's friend Uma (who is wonderful by the way). We stayed there for about a half hour and then drove to where we were staying in Tucson (Sherrie and Jim's house, my mother worked for their publishing company). So we stayed in Tucson for about three days, the third, the forth and the fifth. On the third we we out and saw Joey (my mother's baby sitter/friend and my baby sitter/not really friend, anyway she is sort of like family to our family) and then we went to see our old house. The poor house is all ghetto now, with blankets in all the windows, and a monster sticker on the front window. The back yard is a mess too, the poor trees are either dead or hacked to pieces and the grass is totally gone. There was a car in the driveway with a tattered tarp on it tied down with rope. Which, I mean, we kinda lived in a nice ghetto before (we were poor :) ) but really, they could at least keep it looking nice. We felt weird creeping on their house. So anyway, we drove a block down to my old, old elementary school, Corbett (the one that SUCKED) and walked around it. Pretty much looked the same. AND THEN we steeled ourselves to knock on a door. lol I used to have a really good friend named Sasha, she lived about halfway between my house and the school (which, I stated earlier, was only a block away). It was great because she had a little sister who was the same age as my little brother and my mom really liked their mom, so we all became really good friends. It was a little weird because we weren't sure if Doris (the mother) had actually divorced Coco (the stepfather). So it would either be everyone there, or just Coco. Thankfully Boo (the younger daughter) answered the door. So the whole, abbreviated (lol) story with them is: Doris and Coco did get a divorce, right around the time Coco's mom died, about nine months later they remarried. Also, my friend Sasha got really bad into drugs around fifteen and sixteen (she is the same age as us) and gone to rehab and jail and all kinds of stuff. She is still pretty bad (about drugs et cetera) hard on her poor mother (who has Lupus btw) and cetera, but mildly better. I feel bad for her family, she was hard on them, and they already have so much issues. So yeah, we spent the third catching up with them. The fourth was pretty good, I slept in and then we went to see Kino, my recovery school :D That was interesting. I kinda wish it hadn't changed, you know? but it has, quite a lot in fact. maybe I can post some pics of that too. I miss going to Kino, in a way, there are definitely things that I could have done better, or not done... Went back to Sherrie's had a party with people we didn't know, and who were old *sigh* then went out driving to see Doris again around the time the fireworks went off. Which is very distracting lol aka I drove very slowly so I could watch them all over the city as I drove lol. We got to set off a whole bunch of illegal fireworks that Coco had bought (Paddy LOVED IT) it was really nice to have real fireworks for once (normally we get stuff like snakes and sparklers, which are nice! I love them! but... I like mortars too...). It was interesting, because Sasha and I didn't talk a whole lot, I mostly listened to Doris talk :D which is fun I really like Doris. I promised to write to her, which I will, but we will see what happens. I hope she writes back. She is speaking of moving to Portland, which could be interesting. I don't know, like I said, we'll see. The fifth was spent with Joey again, and we went to see Taliesin West on the way up to Star's. We never went IN to but was interesting to see from the outside. (Taliesin West is a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, designed specifically for the desert, its pretty neat). So here I am, on the sixth (I believe lol) at Star's. Star is my mother's best friend from high school. She is nice, and has a daughter (adopted from China) who is adorable, but needy, wow. So I'm not sure whats left in store for us in Prescott (where Star lives) but soon we will be going to Sedona. I will fill you all in the next time I can, sorry to write so much! I miss you all.
~K

SF/Pride

2010-06-27T21:23:00.000-07:00

Today was Pride Parade. I missed it. Because my mother entrusted us to Joe. Joe is old, and slow in more ways than one. I could have gotten us (Paddy and I) there, to meet up with mom (she was in the parade with a Pony), but eh, nothing I can do about it now. so anyway, these past couple of days have been pretty good, I came in to SF the day before yesterday. yesterday I hung out with Paddy, we swam for like two hours. Oh! and I made him chase down a ice cream truck with me :D apparently he had never done that before, so it made me happy to enforce it :D watched Buffy (gotta love Buffy) yeah, pretty boring day. Cried on the plane to SF, I pretty much always cry, when I leave mom, when I leave dad, on planes. Its heart wrenching for me lol. So anyway, Mom is exhausted and Im tired, I really havent been sleeping well. Should go to be early tonight. Love to my sisters.
~K
P.S. though I didnt really see much, I hope to take some of mom's Pride pics to put on here.... proly wont be many though...

We are SENIORS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay :D

2010-06-18T17:42:00.000-07:00

well, i am very enthusiastic about this upcoming summer, and i can tell already it is going to be full of crazy adventures, for all of us. We already experienced some crazy adventures including donating blood, or trying too (blood squirting everywhere, haha) and staying up watching one of the scariest movies ever! and then driving to Kahneeta the next morning and having the most awesome 6 hours ever spent in water with the coolest peeps in the world! then the adventures of driving back........ha....(no one should ever know what happened!) well, those just happened in the first two days of summer! i cant wait to see what happens over the next couple of months, it is going to be a blast :D

Well, i just got done doing yard work today, and finally finishing up organizing our garage, but next week i am headed to Manti, Utah and other various towns with my church youth group, it is ganna be an awesome week! ill try and take pics! love ya all, and if i dont see you before, i will see you on the first day of cross practice! love you :)

(i was second, darn...)
-M
(p.s. someone should try and sum up all of the adventures we had during our junior year)

Summer 2010! (Seniors baby!)

2010-06-18T16:52:00.000-07:00

Wow, and to think we started this blog when we were what? Sophomores just ending our freshman year? Well here it is, our senior year, and summer has once again come upon us. So far I haven't had much time to relax or anything, but that is usually how i like it, keeping busy. This summer for me is going to consist of yardwork (plenty of it!), hanging with friends, family kitchen, lots of running, which includes Cultus, the fair, other various ways to save up, and IRELAND! (I will try to post at least one thing on here in Ireland, which should be sweeet!) Today some friends from out of town are coming to stay for the weekened, which i am looking forward to :) Alright M, K, and T, time to start writing! Love you guys!

Love, S

I AM BACK ON THE MAP!

2009-09-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

HIYA FOLKS! sorry it took so long for me to write on here! i have been back for a week now i think and have been happily doing nothing the whole time :D Well besides homework (when i can focus long enough lol...) and running (YAY... i am sooo pathetic right now, i cant even run a whole mile without being pretty winded and having to walk some....) and cleaning my room (veeeeery slowly...). Got my schedule fix up, these are my classes for first semester: Theater Arts 2 rotating with Art and Design, then Algebra 2 Trig, Clothing 2 alternating with AP European History and last but certainly not least American Literature and Composition Honors! woooooo! and for el secondus semester i have: Algebra 2 Trig and then French 2 and then Psychology 1 alternating with AP European History and finally Physics. TA DA! i am not sure whether i will actually be taking Physics or not, i want so see how AP Euro and Algebra 2 is first ^_^ so i might switch it out for Drawing and Painting 2 alternating with Web design or something like that if i think its to hard. OH! i also got a car kinda :D lol well its officially registered in oregon to me and it has insurance under my dad and i get to use it, but my mom will probably need it for when she is in the states lol and since Rocinante (namesake of the wonderful little toyota) is Don Quixote's horse first i will let her use it whenever she needs it. Hopefully she wont need it much though! She is applying for Swedish residency! i think thats pretty cool, and it means that i can visit her there, she has even mentioned even driving to Paris! (you can, there is a tunnel under the sea to Denmark or somewhere near there) which for me is SO TOTALLY AMAZING. so lets all keep our fingers crossed! :D

The time between leaving Sweden and getting home was pretty epic, we stayed at a house that my mom's friends were out of for two weeks (with permission....) for about a week. We did a lot that week, mom in particular. it was so great going through the storage unit that had everything that my mom had left in the us besides what she brought back from Sweden for her trip and Rocinante. I got so much stuff :P mostly costumes and books, because i need so much more of them :D then we drove through bend and dropped stuff off (sorry i didnt stop so say hi to anyone) then went to portland and hung out with my grandpa Ben and Lisa his wife and my Auntie Tana and her kids Selene and Isabell ^_^ i really like them, particularly Selene, she is 13 and pretty cool :) so while we were with Tana we went to this really AMAZING food place, i would recommend it. it was the best restaurant food i have had since the Grove, and that is saying something, they had me at soup appetizer... it was just a simple tomato bisk, but it was soo yummy.... and then i had this salad.... i was in love! it had pine nuts and this wonderful vinaigrette.... and then i had a burger (sans bun of course) that was nummy and then they had this chocolate wheat free tort! it was so chocolatey and good with berries (raspberries and blackberries and blueberries) suffice to say it was good.... and if you are ever in portland go to The Observatory, yup. it was even beautiful in there! their decorations were so cool, like lots of bare light bulbs hanging at different heights and such, there were these really neat pieces of art that were like paintings but in wax, i forget what it is called, and the music was really fun, deathcab for cutie and such :) really nice atmosphere :) so go there! lol then we went to some city between Santa Barbara and San Fransico and gave Paddy to his dad... i miss the bugger.... .... anyway, then we stayed at Clayton's for a night and then we went to Padme's ( i love her! lol oh and it was cool because she is going to burning man, might even be there now!, so we got to watch prep for the playa) and we stayed with her and her roommate Peter for two nights and then went and stayed at Fiona and Ryan's for a night, then drove to oregon! lol yeah, pretty epic :) to all my dearest of dear friends i will give better details another time, because we need to get together my sisters and i have been separated far to long! lol

love

P.S. i wouldnt mind hanging out with the cross country'ers either lol

Cultus and yard work and school supplies, oh my!

2009-08-17T19:36:00.000-07:00

okey dokey everybody, we are officially narrowing in on the close of summer, and i must say im definitely going to miss the long days of sunshine and friends. M,S and i just got back from cultus as you already know, and overall it was a blast. There were some uips and downs. As far as the downs go it was just a few annoying people and many painful blisters. But the camp itself was a great experience; im still dazed we ran a mountain! way to go everybody, we are all insane. So now, its just been running in the morning and yardwork during the day, though ive been trying to slip in some time with my friends. Thanks so much to M,S, Chase, Hayati, James,Preston, Karen,Kelly, Desmund and Robbie :) it has been nothing short of amazing running and bonding with you this summer, i cant wait to see what the new year will bring. And as for K, you need to get back here, the sisterhood is lacking a huge part :( but i know you have been having a wonderful time bouncing around on an international scale. Well, thats about it, besides trying to fit a few more good memories this summer, its a smooth ride to the next year :) Love to all mentioned and more ~T

Cultus and more!

2009-08-17T11:36:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, it's hard to believe it is August and that school is coming up pretty fast. Today I went the DMV and took my driving test (again) but this time passed! I was so relieved considering the testers seem to like to see you uncomfortably wait as they tell you what you did wrong.
I have spent this last weekend at Cultus with my schools XC running group and as I suspected it was a blast! We ran a ton, ate a ton, went tubing (which is awesome btw!) and did a whole bunch of competitions against one another. Boy but after 4 days of no shower I pretty much loved coming home and having one plus a 4 hour nap :p. But coming back I feel so accomplished cause I ran a mountain and actually improved my running skills. From here on out I am not sure what else I will be doing this summer. I am waiting for an e-mail from the school giving me furthur info. on AP hw and link crew stuff. We are juniors now girls! It's exciting to think we are growing up so fast...and yet it's kinda sad too. Hope you are all doing well!
Love, S
P.s. T and M thank you so much for helping me through being sick that one night. I'd rather not recap what stupid thing I did on here haha. But you guys are awesome! I had fun running at Cultus and sharing a tent with you guys!

Technically its a new day here

2009-07-31T15:04:00.000-07:00

you all are in my yesterday. and i am your in tomorrow. a strange and boggling concept. soon, ever so near it comes!, i shall join in the happenings of the day before. i know not what to do with myself, ha! i dont know if i want to stay or go, part of me wishes for both. what can one do? i leave in the early morn of sunday. but one more full day in this place that has become a home. though i often feel awkward when forced to speak. i shall return, be my feelings what they may. for duty and love and cetera. i plan to stay up from this coming morning to my departure. in hopes of getting some rest on my trip. we will stop in chicago for six hours or more. i know not what we shall do there. the list runs on. lists i should say. things i shall miss, things i do miss, things i will be doing soon, things that i have done, plans for coming months, thoughts of passing hours. i am happy that this brings out my poetic muse once again, for i have been missing it. perchance i may write more before i leave this not-so-foreign-any-longer land for one much more often trod. till then my doves i do miss you all. particularly my Love.

ps i do consent that this linguistics may be from my reading far to much Victorian literature

Turning around the Mood

2009-07-22T17:15:00.000-07:00

Haha I read over my birthday post a few days ago, and was like wow i sounded so depressed. So I thought I might as well write another post so that everyone doesn't think i am sad all the time. Just letting you know I had a ton of fun at my birthday party (which lasted until like 11pm!) It definately helped melt the rest of that terrible day away.
So lately I have been working for a neighbor down the street in her yard and getting paid for it. And every wednesday after XC practice I go on over to my moms work and work at family kitchen for a while. Today it was defiantely hard work, and my feet started hurting from standing so much. Next week i will be going to Newport with some friends, like i had mentioned earlier (the yurt thing) and I have talked my mom into letting me come back one day early so that I can go to the fair! (BTW the day I am able to go T is Friday, the day before the last day, hope that works out for you and everyone you are probably going to invite.)
And YES M I am going to go to Cultus! I am pretty excited for it, considering you guys will be back for it and it sounds like a blast! Anyways, thats about all that I am up to lately, besides the fact that I am going to try to take my drivers test again the day after I come back from Cultus, hopefully I pass. See you guys soon! It is sooo cool to be able to say that! Haha!
Love, S
P.S. Congrats M on getting your laptop and good luck with your work!

Bless my heart, i think i am developing a Virginian drawl

2009-07-20T18:58:00.000-07:00

hola mis amigas, i just had to write because i am so stoked that we are all getting back within a few days! (except s, who is LEAVING THE DAY AFTER WE GET BACK, AHEM) :P so that means one day opportunity for the fair, which i hope works out, that would be a blast. AND CULTUS, which i am stoked and a little nervous for. So anyways, S, im sorry about your birthday being kinda crummy, and i hope you are feeling better, you know we will all be cheer you up with our stupid jokes soon enough. M, yeah she sounds like a brat, but that would be way cool if you were able to buy a laptop! it would certainly be useful for school, glad you are back soonish :) K, i have been reading more in your posts than i have in my 600 page book, but its all good to hear. Sweden really does sound like a beautiful place, and i cant wait for you to tell us all about the experience in person. As for me, well as much as i have enjoyed seeing my dear family, i am ready to come home. I miss my dad, and my buddies and my pets. Even my poor, neurotic little girl, whom i know is hiding under my bed hyperventilating. i went by the old stone house on my own the other day, the one that all of the ghost stories are about, that was built in the late 1800's. I loved that house so much, it was a very special part of my family, but its new owners are taking good care of it. im off to see more family i have never met before tomorrow, not much else going on. Oh yeah, all of the blackberries are ripe here, so ive been snarfing those like crazy. Anyways, i miss everyone, i will be home soon

~T
P.S. thank you K, for that warm and fuzzy comment on my post. Love you too

Sweet 16

2009-07-17T12:04:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, well as you all already know today is my birthday, my sweet 16. And so far it has started off to a pretty rough start. I got up this morning and went to the DMV to take the driving part of my test. And promptly failed it... I cried some of the morning then had to pull myself together to go to the camp i've been working at this past week. Watching after kids while feeling crummy isn't a good mix, but i pulled through.
Anyways now I am assigned to clean house because I am having 22 people over tonight to celebrate my birthday. Honestly, I am not in the mood for a party. But we'll see how it goes. Talk to you later.

i promised

2009-07-13T09:05:00.000-07:00

more info, but i am sorry i dont have to ability to be as enthusiastic as i was :) some things have gone down that are not quite to my liking but i really hope it makes things better.

anyway, so today we went to the stockholm city hall, which was pretty neat, the blue room and the gold room and all that. not my favorite place we have gone but it was cool, i wish that we had gone up to the tower but it was a long line and mom and paddy did not want to. had french fries for lunch lol im gonna die of a heart attack. just been sittin on my bum since then, going for a run later to feel better.

yesterday we went to a cool garden of this sculptor it is called Millesgården. you should look it up if you can. the sculptures are beautiful. its very peaceful. sat and drank tea and planned what would happen when we got back to the us. dont know if its good anymore lol. but it was pretty.

day before that we were kicked out of the house, paddy and i, we went to Gröna Lund. basically a theme park. it was pretty cool, were were there for about 5 hours or so. then we went home. i didnt want to. i wanted to stay. to see this one band that i had heard doing their sound check near the beginning of our outing. paddy made me leave, i wish i could have heard him. i did find out his name though Johan Palm if you are interested. some kid who was on the Swedish Idol 2008. he is 17. (i thought he was younger... lol) he is kinda cute though lol. music is alright. havent heard much yet, about two songs. they were better live lol.

the plan for when we get back is that we will spend about a week in SF and then go to grandpa's with alex? if he deigns to come. then take paddy home and hang with T (todd, mom's friend) also possibly with alex, if he chooses. and then go home. take mom to the air port, get someone to come so that i can take the car back and have a car (this is if mom is coming back to sweden after we are gone, which we are not sure about yet, geez) if not than just going home for me :) i will be home and done moving around the 25 or 26th depending on mom going to sweden or not.

bye

PS we are leaving for the coast tomorrow. dont know how reliable posts or email (even though no one emails me lol) will be. i will tell about it after i get back if nothing else. also will be going to go see Harry Potter on opening day, though there are no midnight showings that would be good for me to see, and anyway i wanted to see it at nine in the morn so that i could be seeing it at the same time as the person and friends i love at home ;D if you plan to see it midnight. but i will be seeing it later in the day i believe :( oh well there will still be connection i hope.

pics!

2009-07-12T15:58:00.001-07:00

new hair cut...funny face!
yup
ok, here are the pics of the new hair cut i got today! enjoy!

ill add more pics later...but im pretty busy! love ya guys!

so! more stuff!

2009-07-12T13:55:00.001-07:00

anyways, a few days have gone by, and i know you all have missed my little updates soooo much lol but i would like to share anyway!

so, three? days ago we went to a museum. it was an almost completely preserved ship! the ship was called the Vasa and it was supposed to be this great war ship, but on its maiden voyage (this is on August 10, 1628!) it sunk. lol. it only made it about a thousand meters or something like that. its pretty much the oldest preserved ship. ever. which i think is pretty cool. it was BEAUTIFUL. you have no idea. the thing looked like the ship in Goonies, sans barnacles and weeds and gold lol. so pretty, but it was just wood, all the paint had come off over the long time it had been buried in mud. but they found samples of the paint, and showed a model of what it looked like painted, holy crap! it was so bright and colorful! it was all red and gold mostly, rather gaudy lol. anyway, we spent like 2-3 hours in there and it was really neat, i saddly dont think we got any pictures because it was to dark in the building for mom's cell phone camera, and my camera is dead, and full lol.

OH and the day before yesterday we went to another great museum, it was a work of art i swear it. the whole building was a work of art. it was this viking museum. and it was rather small i suppose, but the way they did it was amazing. everything was so tasteful and beautiful and just wonderful to look at! it wasnt like usually museums that try and cram everything in there, everything was laid out, spread out, and so nicely displayed! instead of filling the place to its capacity they made everything to its best. there was a lot of cool stuff too, like dead people ;P and all sorts of bits they left behind. jewelry, some clothing, toys, tools, boats, carts. they used to do what the egyptians did, almost, put the dead people in a boat with prize possessions and horses and dogs (dead... sad) and they would burn it or something else. high up people mostly i think. it was really neat. then they (the museum) had this section that was all about questioning. like 'what defines a family?' 'what defines your culture?' 'what do you fear?' 'who defines what you believe?' it was great! it linked us, our modern lives with the past in a way i have never seen a museum or anything else do. i really loved it. there was this one room its only about as big as half my bedroom, or less, for those of you that know, and yet it had so many walls and stuff that you had to weave around to find new interesting objects. and yet id wasn't claustrophobic. i digress, so you weave in and out looking at all these tools with little blurbs near them about them and where they were found and usually each section had a question, like 'what makes industrialization' 'how does tools show evolution' and such, and then you go around this corner....................................................................................................................................................................................... and BAM you see these brushes. lol not old brushes. like toilet bowl cleaners, and toothbrushes with spiderman, and hair brushes. i laughed out loud so hard! it was great! i was shocked and absolutely engaged! i loved it. we spent another 2-3 hours here lol, and then they were getting to closing and we were like NO! (we meaning mom and i, paddy was done a LONG time ago lol) because there was another whole two exhibits that we didnt get to see! it was on medieval art i am pretty sure, but any way, we had like three mins and we rushed though (just enough to be like 'we have to come back' lol) and it was also so beautful! like they had recreated a church! high ceilings and stone and all! with WONDERFUL things placed around the room, it was so open and yet everything was great. there was also a exhibit on Mary/Maria the mother of christ and what she means to women and men of today, and what real women mean today, what is the perfect woman and such, i wish i could read swedish *sigh* (they dont always translate everything to english) i picked up a magazine that is about 'The Ideal Woman' well, it says that in swedish.... the whole thing is in swedish.... i dont know what i am going to do, but it looks interesting.

also that day mom had been carrying my bag (you know, the one i made?) and it had my water bottle and my book and my food and my money (which we were going to change that day to the swedish kronor so that i could USE it lol) and my notebook and my pocket watch and my everything i needed that day.... mom didnt put the lid on tight enough.... and you see where this is heading? yeah, so since my bag is so though thick a fabric and such we didnt know it was leaking for a while.... and everything got drenched.... its sad, but i think i lost a couple of poems because the ink bled in my notebook and then my book book is kinda ruined... well its rather water damaged still readable, but it wasnt mine.... i dont know what to do, i think i will have to buy Tammy a new book... (it was A Clockwork Orang if you are interested) and i didnt get to change my money that day because they dont take wet money.... *sigh* oh and i had to walk around stockholm with my bag empty and inside out, with a lot of crap in my hands looking like a idiot lol (not that bad, but kinda funny lol)

OH! i forgot about the outside part of the viking museum! it was really cool to actually. paddy thought it was the greatest part. you could do a lot of neat things like bake viking bread (flat bread lol) and dress like a viking, and carve ruins (yes with actual rocks and chisels, my god sweden is so trusting of its children! which is a good thing i think) there was even a place to do a 'archeological dig' but you had to sign up for it and i think pay a little more, anyway, it was full by the time we got there. there was also viking games, to make better warriors of course! like you could sit on this log that was held up by other logs, and you and another person facing you had pillows, and you had to knock the other one off without falling off yourself. paddy LOVED it even though he wasnt that good, he even made a friend! kinda, they played the game quite a few times and the other little swedish boy won every time, it was really cute ^_^ mom even told me that when they were in the cafe (they went without me, i was still in the exhibit lol) the little boy showed up and sat with paddy instead of his own family! which is just really sweet i think, because they couldnt understand each other at all! i mean they would talk at each other, but neither understood the other's language! but they were cute :D

anyway! so yeeeeah, kiegan like museums and likes to spend a lot of time there... lol

i am sorry that i have yet to tell you about yesterday and today but i have to go to bed, it is almost midnight and mama says... anywho! loves to all! especially my poor dear suffering lover lol!

night!

PS I FINALLY STARTED RUNNING AGAIN! yay me!

pps i hope to have more pics up sometime soon!

Hey guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

wow...i have been the most busy person on the whole entire planet! and i mean waking up at 6:30 every day to go help greg move his pile of junk from his house to my moms house...and by the way, he has a broken foot, so i do most of the heavy lifting, which is why i havnt ran in almost a week, because i am friekin soar from lifting furniture all the time! haha. anyways....so after helping greg move from 6:30 to about 12:00....i have an hour break to eat some lunch. then i go and work with my mom from 1:00 to about 5:30....and during that time, i create business logos, websites, write articles, write blogs, make videos and more for this new online business we are creating that way i can start making money without getting a "real job" haha. and then from 5:30 to about 8:30, i help greg move some more stuff (oh, and by the way...i dont even know if im getting paid to help him do all this crap, haha) and then from 8:30 to who knows when, i drive my step brother and sister wherever they want because leah (step sister) doesnt have her stupid license yet, but she has a car...which she bought with the stupid 5,000 bucks her grandma gave her for her birthday! what a spoiled little brat! (sorry, im just very frustrated with her at the moment....she doesnt even do anything to deserve that money! i work my butt off while she sits and worries about how fat she is, even though she is way skinnier than me, and gets everything she wants!) ok, enough complaining.....

so anyways...im ganna end up getting paid for some of the work im doing, and hopefully be able to buy a laptop...hopefully! :)

well, im getting my hair cut up again today in about 2 hours...so ill post pictures of that...and of the mountain, and of the rodeo! ok! love ya guys, and hope you all are having an amazing summer!

and you all better be going to cultus!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The result of sleep deprivation

2009-07-12T09:08:00.000-07:00

Dont be mad!!! i havent been able to get on the internet since ive been here, and all of my days are planned from 6:30 in the morning until midnight. Honestly i havent slept in 3 days. Im currently in New York and its very loud, bright and dirty. But i like it, we are doing a ton of stuff, i feel like such a tourist. Its just me, my mom and her friend and i think today we are running in central park. I hope i am not kidnapped or mugged. So yeah, im home in two weeks, I MISS EVERY PERSON IN BEND, and a few people in Sweden or Arizona! K, i know you are having a great time there, and im glad you have posted pictures, when are you back? M, you must be so hot there, i hope you are enjoying time with your family. And S, dont get too bored, its almost your birthday! woo! so yeah, i miss everyone, and i hope we are all there for cultus but i know that isnt going to happen. I will post pictures soon, promise :) Oh, updates, my hair is almost as short as M's, and we had to put Lyle down before we came here :( but hes up running around in heaven im sure, though we all miss him dearly. So Buddy is at Ktlow's house, on her bed eating pizza, because hes "grieving". My family all over the east coast is doing great and the Ocean is warm! hah! thats all for now, i will steal someones computer soon! bye to the three stooges.

PS, S will you tell R to stop being so grumpy at practice :P have fun!

~T

i feel weird...

2009-07-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

i am the main person who is updating... oh well. sweden is good, it rained yesterday. and i was sick. ewwww... it sucked. i felt awful... i think i am better... i hope. Paddy now has world of warcraft and he is glued to it. *sigh*. also my finger is much better, no-longer swollen nor is the wound open, so no more band aids YAY! they mad e my finger smell bad...

a few interesting things about sweden:

*they are a part of the european union

-but they do not have the same currency. they have kronor. right now its about 7 kronor to the dollar

*they walk everywhere! its great!

*you have to pay for the shopping bags at the stores (bring your own!)

*they are socialists

*they love drinking songs

*american cheese apparently sucks

*they (for the most part) all own their apartments, but it is apartments

* i cant really think of stuff right now.. i know there was more... oh well lol

ttfn!

Happy 4th of July!

2009-07-04T10:13:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! Sorry it took me a while to write. I really don't have much going on this summer otherwise I would be telling you all about it! Anyways today is the 4th of July and I got up this morning (half dead) and went to run the spark your heart run down in the old mill. T was there although she beat me by like 6 minutes haha, oh well good job anyways T! And pretty soon here I am going up to my grandmas farm for a BBQ type of thing. I can't wait for the fireworks tonight! I wish you guys (M and K) were here to watch them.
All that I know of so far of my summer plans are that my birthday is coming up (Yay!), I might be going to San Francisco with some friends, and I am going to Newport and sleeping in a yurt which is pretty neat. I went on a hike yesterday out by Doris lake and my poor neck has been eaten by mosquitos. It was pretty bad. eh, it itches!
I hope you guys are having fun, and I look forward to hearing more about your trips! T is leaving tomorrow for Virginia....I guess I am it.
Love, S

fist pictures of stockholm!

2009-07-01T10:43:00.000-07:00

so none of these are from my camera, mom took them, but i hope to get some more pictures later. the pick of me at the beach is yesterday and the the rest are from the day before, when we took a sightseeing boat ride all around the area, i think we stayed in stockholm land, but what do i know about their city boundries? or what island belongs to what city? NOTHING! lol but that okay. its really pretty here, and as i have heard, we are very luck with the weather. it has been very sunny and varying degrees of hot. but thats okay i guess lol.

REALLY cool statue, i like it a lot, its a really pretty silhouette i think. the statue is of two men fighting, if you cant tell, and it has interesting ruins (the writing symbols) around the edge. i think it must be some story but i don't know what, still, i like it :)
sleeping, this is actually this morning, i don't know how long this was before i got up, but i got up around two....
me, in a bathing suit, with a tank top over it... on one of the tiny islands near the beach (you can walk through the water to get there, its only about thigh high on me, hence the tank is not weird lol)

this is me, obviously, taking a picture of the statue up above, i like the lighting :D
rope swing! paddy LOVES it lol, its at the beach, mentioned below.
this is the beach seen from the water, we have been there twice so far and i foresee many more such outings. this pic was taken while we were on the boat.
there are hot air balloons everywhere! they are so pretty... particularly when they light the flame in it, and it lights up the whole balloon... so pretty :D

Love!

ps, i realized that i can use one of the letters that they have in sweden as a face look, Ö isnt it cute! ^_^

AZ baby!

2009-06-30T21:21:00.000-07:00

i am finally in Arizona visiting my mom! i just got here yesterday, and all im doing is helping her move, which is ok, but it gets really boring. YA KNOW!? and then when i get back to bend, im ganna be moving there too, so all my life is right now is moving, haha.

well, anyways.....last week was girls camp!
I had so much fun, it was probably the most memorable time Ive ever had at camp before. I made so many new friends, and strengthened the ones i already had. Oh, and we all lost like 5 pounds during camp too! ya know why!? because the camp was 1/2 mile from our cabins to the mess hall, and we walked that like 15 times a day. and then we climbed Mnt.McGloughlin (which is 9,500 feet by the way....and it was a 4,500 climb from top to bottom....and a 25 mile hike) and then swam a mile across the lake the next day!
I know, call me CRAZY, but i am....i just enjoy that kind of crazy stuff.

So ive decided that im ganna climb South Sister when i get back to Bend with my brother and dad (which is 10,500 feet)

ok, so i have some really cool pictures from the peak of the mountain, and some cool pictures from cross country, but i dont really feel like putting them up right now...im just lazy like that, haha. so ill post them up later probably :)

chow!
-M

NOON

2009-06-29T03:01:00.000-07:00

here, which means its about 3 in the morning at home lol i learned something yesterday, apparently hornets eat meat? listening to Panic! right now lol and waiting for the day to start. the day light here is so odd, its light until like 11 pm and then it gets light around 3 am :D and its HOT or maybe it just feels hot! we went to the water and swam yesterday sorta, and ate there, i dont know i think we were out for like 3 or 4 or 5 hours long time, only like two hours in the sun though because the beach was COVERED with people. they were every where, anywhere there was sun. apparently swedes are starved for sunlight, they dont get enough in the winter so they charge up in the summer lol, well that and it was sunday :D been doing a lot of walking, which is good, paddy hates it, complains about his feet hurting and says that he hates sweden, complains about the food etc. oh well, hopefully he will learn to like it here :P im missing peoples, but i guess its not like i was a large correspondent before i left *sigh* hugs to my sisters kisses to my boy!
K

SWEDEN!

2009-06-27T02:04:00.000-07:00

okay so life here is good, its still my first couple of hours since getting here but its good. i am injured, and kinda sleep deprived, but feeling rather well in spite of it ^_^ my right finger and thumb are swollen and really funny looking which is kinda a problem, because it makes writing/typing a tad difficult. Paddy feels sick from little sleep and little food (i told him! but he wouldn't listen!) so right now he is sleeping, after we tried to feed him a bit. we hope to wake him up in about two hours so that we get to do something and try to get him on to this sleeping schedule. I am functioning on about six and a half hours of sleep in probably twenty four hours :D but like i said, feeling surprisingly well, knock on wood. we might go sailing which would be cool and i have no idea what else there is to do :O Andreas said that the library has a pretty good english section, but i do have to wait to have him come with and check me out some bookies! lol now mommy i sleeping :D apparently she didn't sleep in excitement for our arrival. do you want to hear about my fingers? its a marvelous example of stupidity! i stuck my fingers in the little gap between the conveyor belts... yeah... in my defense i have had about five hours of sleep okay? and there was something stuck in between them... so of course the most natural response is to get it out! and at the time i put my fingers in there to get it out it was stopped... it just started again while i was still right near it and it sucked my fingers in..... yeah it sucked... also didn't help that i hadn't eaten in like 8-10 hours.... so that on top of the other thing made me cry :'( lol like i said magnificent display of stupidity! so yeah thats my update! oh yeah! i hate being treated like a unaccompanied minor....

LOVES!

* K

Okey dokey

2009-06-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

okey dokey, so i know it has been about 8 months since i have posted, so here we go. School is finally over, but what a great year :) definetely lots of new friends. Hmm lets start with james; funny, cool guy, interesting dancing manuvers! thats miki's boyfriend. Oh, and Hyati and chase cant forget them. Shes our fiesty sophomore friend, definetely amazing at sports and school. And Chase, biggest know it all you will ever come across, but a really great guy :) kinda kooky when he gets bored. Robbie of course, hes a short tempered, stop at nothing to win, 5 foot 7 inches, running maniac with a big heart and a soft side. My hero :) The four of us seperated sports wise after ski team, with m, k and i on track and s with tennis. Both sports were fun, and now that summer has come along we are running with the cross country team (What are we crazy?!) yes we are, but its a ton of fun and the people are amazing. sadly, M and k are about to leave (oh, and S is getting her wisdom teeth out--yeesh). Sooo i am hoping we can have a last day together before august, and with sarah too, it was her birthday a few days ago! And once august gets here, im praying we can get a huge group of people to go to the county fair (except Robbie, hes not invited---Just Kidding! :D) alright, adios for now, if your name is k or M you had better write once you're in Sweden/California/Arizona ~T

Last Day of Sophmore Year! and more random stuff.......

2009-06-11T18:34:00.000-07:00

Summer 2009

2009-06-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

Hey, S here, another school year has come and gone, so here we are with about 5 days left of school, finals coming up fast, and another chance to write on our neglected blog. So once again everyone is going away for the summer, and so we are going to start writing hopefully right away once school gets out. I am writing this post mainly to tell my other 3 buddies to start writing! Course, I know they will. :D
This summer will be busy, I know quite a few things I have to be doing. So once June 12th runs around, here we go...

(This is supposed to be kind of an introduction of the 2009 summer) FYI

I like cake...

2009-05-09T18:35:00.000-07:00

it kind of makes me sad. i didnt mention it in my last post but i am allergic to wheat. today i went to a birthday party and they had icecream cake and i tried to cut out the cake part, but i ended up with so little icecream :'( oh well, i loved the iceceam anyway!

Recapping the school year!

2009-04-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

WOW! We are nearly Juniors! So much has happened this year, its kinda crazy.

I dont think i wrote here about how alex and i got together ^_^ things were a little rocky every now and then (like two or three events of crazyness) its going pretty smooth right now ^_^ knock on wood!

so yeah, this summer i will probably go to Sweden!!!! awesomenesss!!!!! i am ridiculously exited! and i cant wait (lol redundant) alex might get to come for a couple of weeks to, im exited about that because god that boy needs to see more of the world!

M has her drivers license! the first of all of us, even though i am the oldest and have been 16 since january, lol T hasnt gotten hers yet, but is taking drivers ed and so is S (i cant because of money issues)

T has had some rough relationships as of late, but she has a pretty good guy who is taking her to prom (he is a senior) and M is going to prom to with her boyfriend (a junior) its kinda cool, S and i might have a anti prom night! lol

oh! g2g, talk to you all some other time!
~K

Hate song-this is funny

2008-08-14T12:08:00.000-07:00

This is the hate song by tyrone wells, i thought the end was really funny! lol

Going away for the weekend

2008-08-01T18:05:00.000-07:00

Right now I am currently waiting for some friends from out of town to arrive at my house. They are coming tonight and then tomorrow we plan on all packing up and hitting the road to go tipi camping on the John Day river. It sounds pretty neat to me, since I have never slept out in a tipi before. We are taking our bikes, going to a little museum that used to be a chinese herb store, and then taking a trip up to the fossil beds. Its been a while since I totally submerged myself in nature and history. I am looking forward to it! ~S

2008-07-26T21:16:00.000-07:00

hey guys!

2008-07-26T21:13:00.000-07:00

Guess what! im finally back home at bend! and its really nice. I just went on a bike ride with my brother today, and we had a lot of fun.
although its relaxing here, its also been very stressful! we are trying to get our resort all fixed up because we have to sell it, so ive been working on that for the past week, and we are going up again next week!
but at least our summer is almost over so we can hang out!
see and talk to ya guys later!

IM BACK!!!

2008-07-17T18:34:00.000-07:00

WOOT! i am back from europe!! and i havent slept in 24 hours :D but anywho, it was SOOOOOOOO fun, i abseiled off a 300 ft tower, met some aussies and italians, ate patte (goose liver-shudder), hung out in Florence, and went to the top of the Eiffel tower at night when there were fireworks!! i had such an amazing time, omg! sorry i havent posted in like forever, but there were seriously NO computers there, or phones, and no one spoke english. And there was a McDonalds every other block >( i missed everyone, even Alex, lol. I has many pictures (about 1000) to show people, but no worries, i will only post some of them! get back to blogging soon, but i am at Savys birthday party, having a candy fight. Au revoir for now!
~T

Birthday!

2008-07-17T13:01:00.000-07:00

Hey! Today is my birthday! So far its been pretty good. I stayed up till 1a.m. last night watching Buffy the Vampire slayer, then got up early this morning in order to get to the DMV on time to take my permit test...I passed!!! ^_^ I have a birthday party later on today that is mostly with family friends which I hope will be fun. And my mom and aunt got me a awesome blue digital camera for my brithday as well, Yay!!
I am wishing school is here soon, because summer has me be bored out of my mind, plus I want to see all of my friends again! :) ~ S

Howdy! Howdy! Howdy!

2008-07-14T14:32:00.000-07:00

anybody see the rescuers down under? thats where thats from :p mom and i say it quite often lol, kinda stupid but fun.

i havent really said much on here about cali. but for those of you that dont know, i am now here with my mom and have been for a few weeks now. nothing to interesting has happened, just hangin out really. the 4th of july was funish, not enough bright lights and explosives for my personal preferences but hey you take what you can get right? finally fixed the bike that mom had leftover from burning man last year so that i could ride it, we are still missing a screw to make the brakes work perfectly but its passable, we rode down to the park yesterday and hung out there for a while. Paddy has thrown plenty of fits as per usual. it sucks but i try to put up with it :p my sleeping habits are wonky cuz last night i was on the phone for... a long time, talking to Alex. i woke up around noon then stayed in bed till i finnished the book was reading (Lord Loss...) anywho, i am starving so i am going to leave now ^_^

Ciao!

~ K

Back from Camping!

2008-07-14T10:03:00.000-07:00

hey guys...just got back from camping! we went to oak creek canyon in this little camping area. It was really nice place except that it rained on us half the time. lol...
we also went to this place called slide rock...its a natural slide made by a creek! and hundreds of people go to slide down it! its was sooooo much fun...but my but got sore after a while...lol.
i also jumped off of a small cliff there too...ill try to post pics later.

And guess what!? im coming back to Bend in about a week and a half! but only for a while...but still. lol.
talk to ya and see ya guys later! hopefully...

love ya guys

oh...and watch this video! its soooooo cute!

-M

Busy busy busy

2008-07-07T18:17:00.000-07:00

Man, this summer has gone to being bored and laying around all day to being busy and always planning on having something to do. I enjoy it though. This week I have been volunteering at a vacation bible school as a crew leader. It's pretty fun but I am not too sure if I really enjoy it or not... I also met a new friend from Taiwan. She speaks very little english and is pretty helpful in helping me learn some chinese. Even though we dont speak much of the same language we somehow communicate very well. It's fun! We hang out pretty often and she said that I was her only friend in America. Pretty neat. My birthday is next week! Yay! I plan on spending my birthday morning at the DMV to take my permit test, then I will be spending the rest of it with mostly family friends. The fourth of July rocked by the way! I had fun!
Oh, and K, I am sorry to hear your MP3 died after how long to spent trying to save my cell phone that one time. (thanks by the way ^_^) Hope you guys are having an awesome summer. And call me when you get back so that we can hang out once aga in! ~S

Miligirl Greeting Card luanched!

2008-07-06T18:34:00.000-07:00

Hey guys...my mom just launched her new Miligirl greeting card line. She even has a website where you can order her cards and more! so tell everyone and check the site out yourselves...my mom really needs the publicity!
her site is www.miligirl.com

oh! and my mom proposed that me and you guys start our own greeting card business with handmade greeting cards. Aimed for teens...made by teens. I think its a cool idea! and we would get LOTS of money if we did it. each card would sell for about 10 dollors, and we would make them for about 1 to 2 dollors each. My mom would even put them on her website for people to order!
we can talk about this later...when we all get back home...but i think it would be really fun.
and i made some samples...( they dont have to look like this...these are just ideas) *whispered*

here are the samples...the second one i couldnt come up with a quote...so its just blank...

Did I mention that ...

2008-07-06T15:05:00.000-07:00

my mp3 has finally died. well the screen anyways... i dont know how it happened but now the screen is broken. i cried when i first saw it.... honestly... its like the only thing that is MINE. i worked hard for the money to buy i, picked it myself too... i was so proud of it. and i still love it very much so i am greatly disappointed. i happened a few days over a week ago... i was listening to it while i weeded and i tried to see which song it was on but the screen was shattered. *sigh* i dont know what i am going to do about it yet... i think i will end up just keeping it till its really DEAD (it still plays music just fine), but still... ........ ......... oh well :]
"all ways look on the bright side of life" *whistling*

okay here it is!

2008-06-28T10:17:00.000-07:00

i will be leaving on monday, or tuesday, dad was a bit confusing when he told me... today is my last day of work, YAY!

i am really bored... and tired... sleep has been alluding me lately... well its hard to get to sleep, and then my sleep is not of the best quality... it sucks. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmnjh;kl'k k k k ;df,kjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjghbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb uillllllllllllllllllllllll,a a a a a a a xzryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryryrb gjhghjghfvtrterwwwwwwwwwwwwwdxcvopi ....................................................meh...

This is Funny!

2008-06-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

hey guys! this is my friend Matt...he really had the farts one night...and we decided to try the myth that farts make a fire bigger. and it worked! this is crazy! we tried a few times...and finally got it! lol
Oh and it was like 2 in the morning...so we were kinda out of control...lol! had too much soda, lol.

S in CA

2008-06-27T15:43:00.001-07:00

Hello, S here, I am now currently in California as I type, T has headed off for Europe already, and K hasn't gotten back to us to when she is leaving for California for the rest of the summer. Ca has been pretty good so far, except that I got a monster spider bite that itches and swells up on my ankle, and that its pretty hot here, course I think it is this hot where we live as well... Anyways, So far I have gone kayaking on a lake, ate hamburgers downtown, and hung out at the house I am staying at reading Archie comics most of the time. I haven' taken many pictures though, however the ones I have taken of my friends here are pretty neat. Although I do know that when I return home, M, T, and maybe K will be gone, so I guess we could say that this is truly where the point of our blog starts.^_^ I miss you guys! More than ever! Have a great summer, and see you in August! ~S

New Hair!!!!

2008-06-26T18:52:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! here are some pics of my new haircut that i got today! hope you like it!

Summer here has been pretty good...but its also really boring without you! lol, i really miss you guys! cant wait till we all see each other after coming back from Europe, Arizona, California, and any other places we are going!
-M

HAPPY SOLSTICE!!!!

2008-06-20T21:06:00.000-07:00

its officially summer, and i just wanted to send all you my best wishes for summer! have fire tonight loves ^_^

so on monday i brought a quiche to work for lunch right? and i put it in the freezer to keep it cold till lunch and till i could cook it, well i go back at lunch and its not in there! i ask around and no one has seen it, but i find the wrapper by the microwave and my grandma comes around and is like "was that yours?". long story short, my grandma stole my lunch.... it kinda sucked cuz all i had left was a avocado. Its okay though ^_^

saw S the other day, it was fun, but we didnt do much. oh well, i got to see her before she left so that was nice ^_^

i payed a vist to Her Majesty today, and found some beautiful yellow iris by the canal. now that i think about it, i dont think that any of you know Her Majesty... this is kinda embarrassing.... she was this hawk that we found dead by the house one winter... i buried her and every now and vist every now and then... i try and bring something nice every time i go by. ^_^ its peaceful there... and i feel kinda connected... i guess thats weird, being connected to a dead bird, but i like her a lot so meh.

a friend of mine's friend from childhood died a few days ago... he is really broken up. and i dont really know what to do about it. i have just been talking to him and trying to listen. its hard to convey to him how i felt when Jeremy died. (my cousin to all of you who dont know)its still hard to think about it, but i kinda accepted it... and moved on and it made me... better... i have been thinking about how my mom told my little bro that Jeremy is gone, she told me that he cried himself to sleep. i kinda feel bad for the little guy, and myself if that makes sense. (i always have this thing where i feel like i am a bad sister...) anywho, back to death. i used to think about death a lot, mostly mine or people that i disliked... but i have lately been thinking that it really isnt good for you to do that. it wastes energy that could be spent on life. hating i have also found is really detrimental. (thats for you a) its best to let go. and love ^_^ "Love is all you need"

normally i wouldnt say this kinda thing in here, i would put it in my myspace blog, but... whatever... i dunno... here it is ^_^ :P

PS i hope that none of you are brought down by this, it is not my intention at all.

freinds

2008-06-19T21:56:00.000-07:00

You're...
My friend,
My companion,
Through good times and bad,
My friend,
My buddy,
Through happy and sad,
Beside me you stand,
Beside me you walk,
You're there to listen,
You're there to talk,
With happiness,
With smiles,
With pain and tears,
I know you'll be there, throughout the years!

You are all good friends to me and I am grateful to you.

(just a little poem that chelsea sent me...i like it)

-M

The NAMESAKE! (of our blog)

2008-06-19T16:05:00.000-07:00

More Pics and stufffff.... (K&S)

2008-06-19T15:39:00.002-07:00

FYI

2008-06-19T14:38:00.000-07:00

We changed some of the pictures in Pics! so if you want to check them out, go right ahead!

~K & S

Legal Driver!!!!!!!

2008-06-17T10:28:00.000-07:00

Wooohooooo!!!!! Im a legal driver! I got to drive 5 times already! I got to drive my brother to and from swim lessons...(and thats into town!) And today...i drove a total of 1 hour! only 98 hours left to go! lol...So since driving is soooooooooooo much fun...i think all of you should get your permits so that we can all be happy legal drivers!

My days here in arizona are fun...but im really missing hanging out with my friends, and as much as i hate to say it...i really miss school. I really like actually having something to do all day and hanging out with my buds. I miss homework... and since my brother is always gone on some advernture camp thing, im stuck here...ALONE!!!!!LOL. But thats ok...it gives me time to paint and get some more body into my artwork...then maybe i can start showing and selling my artwork! hope you guys will help support me!

Miss you guys!

-M

Work...

2008-06-16T19:52:00.000-07:00

Right now i am working for my grandma, on her llama farm. mostly i do yard work, and move llamas. its kinda nice, peaceful working with plants, but i get sunburned and that sucks. My gran has this guy working for her right now, his name is Benjamin and he works in the garden (thats mostly where i am too) he is nice, kinda a hippy, and funny, though sometimes i wish he wouldnt talk.... i like the plants talk more. or that my friends were there to talk to. oh well.

i have been thinking, and i think i think to much ^_^ (lol) anyway, i kinda like school. it keeps me busy, and i get to see my friends. i dont know if i will like my classes next year, i hope so.

not sure when i will be leaving for mom's yet. SO STOP ASKING! i will let you all know when i know.

anyway, love to all from the Faery Princess of Doom!

~ K ;*

2008-06-15T20:20:00.000-07:00

some of our guy buds.....alex, garret, and jessee on the last day of school

um...i lost count a while ago, but im still posting!!

2008-06-15T19:48:00.000-07:00

okay, it's T, and i still havent left for Europe yet (TWO WEEKS!! WOOT!!), but i just went to this campfire training thing. I went with my other adopted sister, Katie. thought it would be Uber Boring, actually it was wicked fun. I met a few cute guys; Joe, Kip, Connor, and, my personal fav, Bryce. when everyone else was working on "Project Rainbow Sunshine"- a secret plan to scare the crap out of seventh graders at midnight, he was telling us random stuff. For instance, Peanut oil is an active ingredient in dynamite; and that the Declaration of Independence was printed on Marajuana paper. Then he told us a ghost story about-gasp!-communists. overall it was super fun, though i have plenty more to do this summer. Love to S, K and M, miss you guys already!
(Explosion!!!)

Pics!

2008-06-15T19:03:00.001-07:00

Here are some funny and cool pics of us just hangin around and having fun!

You like our face paintings? We did them just for fun...but they kinda represent our personalities!

Looks like K and T are having fun! lol

This is S just hangin around on the tire swing

This is K with a very beautiful rose

This is T jamin on her guitar

And this is me...or M, in some other land thinking of what to paint.

-M

Totally fourth!

2008-06-14T13:50:00.000-07:00

Hey there
Took me a while to figure out how to work this thing, haha. Yep my friends here pretty much summed up what we are doing! Although there will be some extra awesome details. I am going to miss them sooooo much! However we will all get together once again in August. This is going to be awesome! At the moment I have been pretty busy, however its just the 2nd day in the summer. Got annoyed with my guy friends, and am trying to keep my summer as busy as possible while my buddies are away. :( I'll live, happy readings!

~S

Sisters Day!!!

2008-06-14T11:33:00.000-07:00

Hey guys! this week is sisters week...and you are all sisters to me! so here you go!

Life is too short to wake up with regrets.
So love the people who treat you right.
Love the ones who don't just because you can.
Believe everything happens for a reason.
If you get a second chance, grab it with both hands.
If it changes your life, let it.
Forgive quickly.
God never said life would be easy.
He just promised it would be worth it.

Today is sister's day, send this to all your sisters even me if I am like one.
If you get back 7, you are loved .
Happy Sister's Day!

I LOVE YA SISTA'!!! :-)

Girlfriend and Sister's Week
I am only as strong as the coffee I drink, the hairspray I use and the friends I have
To the cool women that have touched my life. Here's to you!

National Girlfriends Day
What would most of us do without our sisters, confidants and shopping, lunching, and traveling girls? Let's celebrate each other for each other's sake!
TO MY GIRLFRIENDS!

If you get this twice you know you have more than one girlfriend. Be Happy!
PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO ALL OF YOUR GIRLFRIENDS AND RETURN IT TO THE FRIEND WHO SENT IT TO YOU!
It is good be a woman:

-M

Ok! Well Im Third!!!!! haha

2008-06-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

I am sooooo exited for this summer, we are all doing such amazing adventurs and I cant wait to hear about them all...our last day together was amazing and we all had such a fun time! I will try to post some pics later...but I just got to arizona off the plane! yay! I hope that everyone else has amazing travles too, and I cant wait to hear about them and share them to the world!!!
now its S's turn!
-M

im second!!!

2008-06-13T14:00:00.000-07:00

Kay, yata yata, everything that k just said, and we are also known as Traveling Sisterhood of the Blog (woot!) so, we will upload pic later on, and now its S or M's turn to post, Muahahaha!!!

Guess I'm First!

2008-06-13T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well, me and my friends are in high school and are all going away for the summer. We decided to share a blog about our summers, to keep us connected, and this is it! M is going to Arizona, I am going to California, T is going to Europe (!) and S gets to stay here, though I think she is going to Colorado or something for a while... Anyway, hopefully we will have some good stories to share. Also, part of this is our art, we all kinda do our own thing, paint, write, draw etc. and like to think that we are good, so you should give us your opinions ^_^