Dudeness

HI! It's me, A! *obnoxious giggle* Rafting was awesome, even if it DID rain and was cold. I got a little "down in the dumps" when we crossed the lake because I was FREEZING - which took me by surprise. It was really windy, but I stuck it out (under an umbrella and a tarp of course)and we made it back alive!
The river (for me) was the funnest part. I liked being rocked up and down and splashed and looking over the edge of the wave as it came and then -BAM - water. It was cool. :) We talked about a lot of stuff. Mr Brown (K's family friend) came along and he was really cool and nice. We made it to the lake and played games with him around a roaring fire. We taught him Mafia, Murder, and the Animal game.
(back to the river) We shored and met a funny dog named Maggie. (Mr. Brown was fishing and Maggie came over to play). We would throw the ball and she'd go get it. And we'd throw it. And throw it. And throw it. And throw it. :) Dude. She never tired out. But she was sweet and friendly.
THEN - back to the lake. We got all camped up and me and K went for a walk. Cool right? Anyways, we went by the mouth of the river we had just came out of and were looking out over the lake. Across the river I saw a big, golden lump in the reeds. We had passed by some other campers so I assumed it was their golden retriever. It disappeared into the grass before I could clarify my accusation.
We walked some more, I pulled out my camera and was taking pictures. Then I turned to K and saw something moving over her shoulder.
"Oh. THAT's what that golden thing was," I said, cocking my head and looking at a grizzly across the river.
Dude. COOLIO!
It was a golden grizzly, walking along the bank. Now, by this time, we were thinking: WWSD?
We thought about that for a minute before deciding to push Sarah out of our minds. I mean, she's not here, right?
So we waded across the river and got as close as we could to it. I took pictures and K took some food from her pocket and approached the gentle beast -
Naw! Just kidding. Dude. If you're S right now, I really want to see your face.
No - we're not THAT stupid! K took off running to get the others so they could see, I DID take pictures (a safe distance away - on the other side of the river). It walked away, then turned, and walked back along the bank and finally into the lake itself. Mr. K and Mr. Brown had arrived and were admiring it with us. It ate fish carcasses in the lake and had a grand time.
We eventually went back to camp, ate dinner (YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY can't-stress-it-enough- YUMMY spaghetti.) then the bear disappeared. Bye bye bear!
Anywaysss..We went to bed (I had the weirdest string of dreams)and then woke up. Ladeedaadee
We had left the motor-hooker-on-er at home so we rowed the whole lake. It took like...hmm...3 hours, maybe? And 8 mile row. It got REALLY windy and cold and I froze, but I recovered. (we blamed Indigo and Brook, cause they we're there - they were mad)
FINALLY we made it back and I fell asleep to The Dark Knight music (awesome) and got home! YAY!
It was a blast, I'd do it again, my pants got soaked, so did my socks. We saw a bear, we had some fun, we played lots of games, and drank some rum. I didn't row, I got wet, waves are fun, dude, I'd bet. hehe. We saw like...2373853498 eagles and some ADORABLE little baby, waby, itty, bitty (insert Trigger's "itty bitty pica" sound effect here) birdies!! They were SO CUTE!
Anyways, I'm packing (cough, not, cough) for SALT tomorrow. It's late...again. 12:35. I'm nearly done.
New realization: I found that packing calms me. I love packing. I realized that while packing. Weird, huh? I don't know. I'm not stressed while packing. I like doing it. huh. Interesting.

Well, yup. THat's it. SALT tomorrow - yippeee! Dude, so excited. It'll be awesome.

I'll see you in a weeeeeekk!!

-A

The Week of Our Lord June 20, 2010

Well, Sunday was uneventful, Monday I worked and played football with the youth group at Tacu Lake, and Tuesday I had piano lessons and went hiking on flattop with Katie. Wednesday was awesome. K, A, and I (heehee, say that like it's one word. it sounds funny!) went to the sand dunes and took tons of pictures of us jumping of this hill cliff thing which was awesome and amazing and it was so hot and gorgeous! Then I went home and took a shower (I swear I still have some sand in my hair) and went to the Keik's for a "KidsCamp" sort of thing that they're doing there. I spent practically all Thursday biking around town and buying stuff. I went to K's house and borrowed a bike lock, then Value Village, the Diamond Center to see people at Parachutes (but they were closed), Michales, and Fred Meyers. After that I biked to the Library and got some movies and lazed around the rest of the day. Friday I cleaned the house and hung out with Katie.
So yeah, that was my week and now I'm practically hyperventalating because we all leave monday for SALT and it'll be absolutely amazingly awesome! I'm sooo excited! YAY!

-M

M word of the Post
Masai-n. a member of a pastoral people living in Tanzania and Kenya; the Nilotic language of the Masai

About Sand and Time, Water and Clothes

Heeeeeeeeeyyyyyyyy!!! WELL! I am writing, since I am a huge procrastinator and I am supposed to be packing! Oh well. It's 1:10am and I leave this morning (later) annndd yeah. :)
So here I am! (I'm so bad)
But I figured, hey, if I don't do it now, I'll never do it.
SAND!! As K said, previously, we went to her house and slept over - although, I think I should elaborate on the "braiding our hair together" part. ;) We did. Like, literally: together. I braided M and K's hair together, so that they were joined at a shoulder, then, in all my skillage, I braided K and My hair together at the shoulder, so we were walking around her room, connected by our hair. Then we fell on the bed, got kinda stuck, laughing way too loud and that was it. :) Haha. It was fun.
Mamma Mia! I liked it. I have the songs stuck in my head....all the time.
SAND!! I want to dirt bike....soooo much!! Anyways, it was too hot, but it was fun. There are some REALLY cool places there and I see re-occurring visits in the future. Mmm...
SAND! Everywhere. But it was fun. :) I had a blaaaasssttt!
Shopping was fun. We got like, 34733298374 clothes to try on and I ended up with 2 capris and 2 shirts. Coolio, huh? OH! And S, I got something for you too!! SHH! It's a surprise!
TODAY!! I go rafting. FOR the first time in my life.
I went shopping with my mom for batteries and stuff for SALT and such, and then I watched as many NCIS's as possible before coming up here to pack. ...
AAnnnnd as you can see...I'm not doing it. :) BUT don't worry Dos! I'm half-way done and I'll finish. Teehee.
SARAHHH!! I miss you. A lot. SALT's going to be a BLAST and I can't wait to see yooou!!
Annnd yeah. I should get back to packing. ;)

Sooo anyways. That's my post. teehee.
1:22

_A

(is for Amanda)

Sand Dunes, Sun, and Shopping

Oh man! Today was a great day! M and A spent the night at my house last night and we watched Mama Mia and braided our hair together. Good times :) Then today we went out to the sand dunes for some awesome times. It was cloudy when we went, but warm enough for shorts. When we got there people were dirt biking on the motorcross track and we have decided that we reaalllly want to do that, but we want to do it all together. So, I came up with the brilliant plan to rent some on S's 16th birthday, because I don't think she'd go otherwise.
Upon our arrival to the top of the sand dune, we found a big group of people sitting in a circle right on the good spot...I was mad. But, then they left, and the sun came out and it was SO GREAT! We played in the sand and ran down all these cool sandy trails through the green forest and it was like being in a whole different world. We've decided that we should have cool native sand people in Armasia (I won't try to explain that one, we all know what it means)
We took a lot of funny pictures and laid in the sun (I burned, badly). When it was almost time to go, we went on this one trail and it was like seriously GREEN and beautiful and we ran around barefoot and missed S warning us about moose and stuff, so we made up "WWSD", What Would Sarah Do, so we made lots of noise :) When we almost back to our stuff I cut my foot and so Amanda got me one shoe to wear. That was kind of a bizzare feeling. Theeeen we left, still talking about going dirt biking, and we dropped M off at home. I showered at my house and then we went to A's house and she showered, then her and I went to Value Village and did some shopping, not really our thing but it was really fun :) And we both got some stuff for the rest of the summer.
And now I'm watching "Young Victoria" with my family, still thinking about the sand dunes. I had a great day, thanks guys! :) I love you! And I miss you S, I really do...it's Wednesday night now, I leave Saturday to go rafting and then again on Monday for SALT! Whooooo! So yeah. I have to go make a packing list now. Bye!
-K
...

Summer Stuff

Well...I'm not sure what I'm blogging about, I just haven't in a while. You know, I don't think there really are words to describe how much I truly love Summer...I was thinking, I should write a summer post, but I just can't even think of the words.

I am having an awesome summer so far, although I wish I was spending it more with mis amigos. When we were in school I thought "I can't wait for summer, I'll be free every day to do stuff with my friends!"...and then summer came, A and M have jobs and S is out of town, so now it's like "summer! The time when I'm free everyday but my friends aren't!" :( It's very sad. But as long as we are all happy and in touch I think I can live :) I have had a lot of long days at home, which are very relaxing. I hope it is still sunny the rest of this week because I really want to go to the sand dunes...

Weeeell...I saw Toy Story 3 today and I think it's way too scary and emotional for little kids, I'm serious, it freaked me out and Kora was bawling for the last 20 minutes. I bought something pink today.
Ok, I supose that is all.
I'll check back in later!
-K

Becoming Bewildered By Besottedness

Mind you, I wrote this very late at night so if some of it doesn't seem concluded, that's why.
I watched the movie "Becoming Jane" tonight, not the first time and certainly not the last. And as an affect I have stumbled upon an enlightenment. I have no experience with this thing called love, or at least what we think of first when it is mentioned. Yet I know by the movies and the novels that true love is most desired. And yet, now I must ask what is true love? Is it the burning passion of youth that most associate with the term, or is it the slow smoldering of memories and friendship?
"Affection is desirable." Is it? What exactly is affection? Do not friends feel affection? Do not families feel affection? Aren't they supposed to? I believe that the deprival of affection stirs a desire within us that can make us unlike anything we ever thought we'd be. It makes the blind see and the sane mad. The human heart needs affection. So yes, affection is desirable, and necessary.
Yet what associates love and affection with youth? Is it our under developed frontal lobes that make us so dramatic it makes people sick? Do not the elderly experience love as the term is with affection? Are not marriages meant to last until one is old and past a loved one's death? We were created for love, for passion and heat, for affection, for friends, for family, and some how we've forgotten that we were created for something beautiful. We see and want the beauty and yet we have abused and forgotten the way to get there. There is nothing more depressing than the fact that to experience "real love" by our terms, we first must feel heartbreak which is soon mended by a loose patch. In our sod state we have come to the conclusion that love, true affection, can only be felt by a broken heart and so we break hearts, we've broken hearts, and we will keep breaking hearts until we finally find it.
True love. Happily Ever After. We live in a world of desires, affection being one of them. We desire affection. We desire perfect endings. We desire fairy tales and "prince charmings", and we desire those things because we cannot realize that they are not fairy tales. They are life and love and laughter. They are the blessings of God. So God bless you with a "Happily Ever After", because even if you don't think he does, he did.

-M
M Word of the Post
Moonstruck- adj. unable to think or act normally, esp. because of being in love.

Another Word of the Post Just Cuz
besotted- adj. strongly infatuated; intoxicated; drunk (although the last two meanings are not connected with my use of the word)

KidsCamp 2010 "High Seas Adventure"

I can never come up with creative post titles. That was random. ANYWAY! KidsCamp this year was a blast, as always. It was a little, no I correct myself, a LOT different from past years, because A. my mom wasn't directing B. It was only one week C. We went to H2Oasis and didn't have a "surprise the kids with water guns" time D. There were 6-8 campers in a crew. So! It was kind of a lot to handle, specially since I was also playing piano and singing in the band.
I started out with seven campers. Monday was great I had a great co-crew leader and everyone was amazing. Tuesday I lost one of my campers because he for some reason got moved to a different crew. Then Wednesday I lost another camper because she had to go to a different camp, which was really sad because she was "my favorite" (I use quotation marks because there shouldn't really be favorites). So Thursday and Friday I only had five campers, which was really nice except for the fact that the two campers I lost were the "Keep the Peace" campers that really made the crew meld together nicely. I love KidsCamp. Even though it's the most exhausting thing someone could ever do (ex-culding marathons and having a baby), it's really worth it. A majority of my campers really didn't have the best home life, and they tell you that. It isn't like G2A (see Nulato and Nondalton and Kokhanok posts) where you have to assume that they're in a ruff situation, they come out and tell you, either that or you can see it in their eyes. I love KidsCamp because it let's these kids experience real love, the love of God. That is why it's so worth it, that's also why it's so exhausting. I can't wait for next year!
Sup?
_M

Word of the Post
exhaustion - n. 1. a state of extreme physical or mental fatigue 2. the action or state of using something up or of being used up completely