Summer Is Finally Happening!!!

So, I guess I have gotten so busy since I started this blog that maybe it would have been better to wait until now to get it going. I have never been so busy in my entire life! From April on, things just went downhill. Besides that, we've had the largest concentration of visitors we've ever had during a school year this year, right when things got busy. My life is crazy, but now that it's started to settle down, I think I can control it a little better. But for a while there, I was on the brink of insanity, once again. And it kind of scared me. But I'm doing great, now that summer is happening :)
Well, I've been to the south and back and I was so busy in between that as well, and never wrote about it. Well I guess I should put a few pictures on here then :)
And let me just say, it was one of the best experiences of my life. It was a blast!! My whole family had so much fun, and we were together, and we got to see parts of our family we haven't seen for years. It was just overall very rewarding. Plus, we got to fly on 4 different planes, just to get there and back.
   
          Also, this past week we've had some exciting things too, while I was at Girl's Camp. My little brother's friend who moved to Maryland last fall came up for a week, and they had a lot of fun. Also, my uncle Josh came from Utah to stay for a couple days, then he took my dad and brother up to Seattle to meet up with two more of their brothers to ride the Seattle To Portland all together. And I missed it all because I was at Girl's Camp. Which, by the way, was the best year yet. It was a total blast. Then, I came home Saturday, and Sam and my dad got home last night after riding the STP in two days while I was gone. Then, this morning, they left again with another of my brothers to ride around Diamond Lake and half of the rim of Crater Lake with the scouts in our church.

Just a few portrait pictures:

 

And there's still more to tell...Sighhh..There's just too much to talk about that has happened in the past 6 weeks to describe it all in the right words their glory deserves. I wish I could have, but I just didn't have time, and my sanity was going downhill in the meantime. It really stinks when I get behind on my blogging. Trust me, I've learned that lesson well. Therefore, I think I'll just post the pictures and get on with it. :)

These are from the last days of school when I took my camera to school. I'm so glad I captured these memories of freshman year before we were all gone and changed. 

 

A sign in Adde's alleyway (:

Adde herself

Kelsey and Katrina

 

 

Jenna the hottie, and Asian

 

Asian reading German things

Kelsey & Katrina

Kelsey & Katrina again, with their pen marks :)

Adde being a crazy ninja inspired by Kesha

eating lunch

the blue sky at SMHS

strangely perfect landscape..

dos asians :)

 

muah

our feet...

Dylan the hialarious. i love this face

asian (Daniel Elmore) being creepy

the dreaded trash pile... :/

 

 

i love this face as well

parks and recreation (the girl, my best friend :) )

a fine tackle of the asian, by daniel king

 

funny yearbook phrases

annnnd frosty boy, the closest, bestest burger joint

 for the high school students :)

Thank Goodness It's Friday!

 My new haircut :)

 

And this is after a day of school, so don't be disappointed if it's a little messy ;)

The weekend, YES, FINALLY!!!! 

Well I would love to say I'm ready to party, but honestly I'm too tired. This whole week has been crazy, and full of work, even more than usual. My teachers have worked us hard, and it's starting to show. Yesterday we got out of school 4 hours early, and I went to get my hair cut. Later, I had my last orchestra concert for the year, and then I stayed up late to do homework. I had to write a couple essays, do a math review for a test, study for a science final, finish a reflection on my freshman year for English, and go through the tedious steps to finish up a lab we did for a work sample in science. I have been so busy, and in the middle of it all the past week. It's threatening my sanity, and I feel like a crazy person! It's all I can do to stay with the program.

But I will get through this! I just need some sunshine and a little relaxation time. It'll all work out for us, I know. We all just need to hang in there and take a breather when we can. And maybe I'll actually get some fun in for the conclusion of my freshman year of high school! It's already 102 degrees in Alabama, and I am ready for it.  Yes baby, I'm so ready for summer. Here I come! It's all going to be just fine. 5 more days to go!!!

 

(Oh, and here are some pictures from the concert!) 

 

It's hard to get pictures while our bows are flying everywhere, but you know. This is okay :)

 

I'm the one in the middle, the serious blonde.. lol  

 

This is our whole group, the South Medford High School Chamber Orchestra. 

Aren't we schnazzy?! :)

Life is good

I'm so grateful that school is almost over and all...but please, can't we at least have some sunshine?! This is all I have had on my mind the past few days and still, the sun won't stay for more than 30 minutes. We'll have to intend harder, I guess!

  

(Now THIS is more what I'm dreaming of! :)

Well. I have been so busy! Last Thursday, we had another Siskiyou Violins rehearsal, and it was probably my last for this season. Sadness! But not to worry, I'll practice plenty over the summer for all of us to spare. I feel like I need to get those songs memorized, and then my life will just get so much easier...
Yesterday, I was very happy because of many things. First, in chamber orchestra I got my orchestra T-shirt! FINALLY!! That made me so happy because now I have a way to represent orchestra everywhere I go. AND, my name is on it, AND the colors look so schnazzy! Needless to say, I'm stoked.
Then, in seminary, we did some hardcore sprout ball, and that was fantastic. After school, myself and a group of people went to see Pirates of the Carribean 4, which I just saw last weekend. It was so good I wanted to see it again, this time with more of my friends. It was Me, my brothers Andrew and Sam, my two best friends Christine and Adde, and Andrew's best friends Luke (Christine's brother), and Nate. These are pretty much my favorite people to be with, and for a Friday night especially, when we're all tired from the week and ready to party! It was so much fun, and the movie was pretty great. I had to note that I loved ALL of the music in it as well. I payed special attention to that because I hate it when movies are so fantastic, and are coupled with lame music. I was very satisfied.
Welp. Two weeks to go! If we're specific about it, 9 days. I'm counting down the minutes by now! I can't wait until summer, but honestly, half of waiting for summer is the anticipation. Spring Fever doesn't work as well when it's not sunny outside. Please, Medford, I'm sending my intentions out there, and I'm expecting some serious sunshine this week to make up for all that we've missed. We need good weather for everything we have to do!
And, by the way, here's everything we have to do:

Plans, plans, plans!

Holy moly there has been so much going on!
Friday was mid-quarter, which was rather exhausting. My great-grandma Clara Krebs died on Thursday, May 5. I think it's actually the first death I've had in my life where I was actually relatively close to the person because my mom kept us all connected so well. But, at the same time, I'm finding it hard to be sad lately, and death hardly makes an exception. I kind of like it, and besides, now my grandma is in a place so much better, especially released from all of the pain she was in, so it's okay. I won't let it keep me from being happy!
Anyway, so my whole family (excluding myself and my dad) is going to the funeral in Utah. This means a 12 hour drive through the desert, a week of family and a funeral for them, a TON of laundry before they leave, and a LOT of planning!
I can't believe I'm going to be the only one home for the whole week because my dad will be at work most of the day. It's going to be very quiet, and most likely boring. I'll have to be creative in making dinner just to entertain myself.... this should be interesting.
I would like to add that I sang in church today in celebration of mothers around the world, and let me just say that once again, music touches us in a way that we can't describe. I really love my mother, and especially since I know now how she operates, it's a lot of fun to have her around, not to mention that she's taught me everything I know! Singing with my fellow youth for our mothers just helps us all feel connected with our moms because we know we'll never know how much they really do for us. Mothers are really such a valuable thing in this corrupted world today. We should all bring it back to life, especially because of how much we know they touch our lives. We know we cannot comprehend the things they do for us, and I am honestly eternally grateful. I support the work that they do, and I hope to do it half as well as they do when I'm older. I love you, mom. Keep up the good work. :)

 

This is me, right before an LDS dance. The dances are pretty fun even when I'm exhausted, and another good thing about them are seeing the people who I never see anymore! :)

 

Yeahh so sorry this is sideways, but you get the picture :) ahaha pun intended. I'm corny. ANYways. This is courtesy of my little 9-year-old brother Spencer :) He is really cool. I love him.

 

This is me, with my hair curled. We're still working out the "kinks" obviously....hehe 

 

This is at Lake Shasta, California. We went boating there with some friends the very last week of summer, which is totally the way to go because California already had school, and the lake was all ours..

 

Okay. Last summer, I read Gone With the Wind (1024 pages) in a week and a half. So Heidi decided to document this, don't ask me why. I look atrocious in this picture because I just woke up, and because I'm reading while eating breakfast, and also because I have a scar on my nose from running into a cement pool wall. Very smart, I know....

 

Me, at girls camp....the first day when I was actually pretty clean. Except, again with the stupid scar. From there it just goes downhill.

 

This is Sam & I with my favorite little baby cousin Analisa, who makes the best faces. She was extremely fascinated with the football on that day. 

Adorable baby.

                                            

These are my feet, obviously.  My sock drawer goes like this: I reach into it in the dark, and pull two out. It's that simple. You should see my sock drawer, it's better than a rainbow. And yes, I can pull this off legally because I was doing this in 6th grade before it was cool. And look how cool the clouds are in the background too = )

Little Wonders

Considering this whole week has been sunny and warm here, my spirits have been significantly lifted. So today, I decided to go out and just enjoy the simple things of life. It reminds me of the song that concludes a movie called Meet the Robinsons, called Little Wonders by Rob Thomas. Obviously, it's about how the little things in life affect us so largely in our lives. Well, I was feeling drawn to do something wild and spontaneous, so I went out to the swing. Many memories on that swing set, of course :). I took my mothers ipod (of course it has all my music on it), and I just got out there. It was so warm, and I just felt like a little kid again. I usually get so frustrated with my hair when it's flying all in my face as I swing, because I hate having it in my face. But today, I didn't let that bother me. I just felt like I was gracefully happy, or like I was in a music video, watching my brothers play catch.
And I felt so sorry for people who don't know what joy music brings. And also, people who think their worth is based on how much money they have, and how many pairs of Buckle jeans they have, how many famous people they've met, and how many times a summer they go to Hawaii, and Mexico, and all those places. They think the word "live" means if you have ever gone sky-diving, or if you've flown a plane, or if you've seen the Grand Canyon and the Great Wall of China.
Well, I'm here to tell you that that is most certainly NOT how it works. It's quite the opposite, in fact. It's what we do with the LITTLE things that we have, what we do with each little tender moment that shows up in our lives, and how much we notice and appreciate them.
I have some questions I would like to ask those people. Have you ever just slept outside with your brothers and let the night sky watch over you as you point out shooting stars?, or have you ever roasted marshmallows in the late spring around the fireplace just because you can, or have you made those flimsy forts on those rainy autumn Sunday afternoons, then slept out in it and stayed up all night while sitting in it, and talking with all of your siblings? Have you ever just stopped to climb a tree, and feel its regal beauty, or stooped to pick up a lone flower and felt each individual petal? Have you ever sat down and read an inspiring book, and allowed it to change your life? Have you ever been to a choir concert, or a community play and stood up genuinely applauding for the unity you all had in sharing the best of music? Have you ever noticed the simple little quirks about the place where you live? Have you ever felt a lock of your baby brother's hair, or read him a story to put him to sleep at night? If you haven't, then you have never lived. Because those are the moments that we truly live for.
Anyway....Swinging always puts me in a reflective mood.... Well, it's always good to have some reflection in one's life. Especially when you're able to enjoy all of the little things.
 I plan on making many more such visits to the swing in the near future :)