Stuff Lately

Well...Things are pretty crazy lately! I have things planned for every day of the week!
Sunday: Church/babysitting the kids under 3
Monday: Youth Group and Youth Band
Tuesday: Babysitting about twelve kids for Moms and Tots in the morning for two hours...but this, however, invloves twenty bucks!
Wednesday: Guitar lessons at 7pm
Thursday: SURVIVOR!
Friday: The day used for catching up on any missed school lessons.
Saturday: Swimming lessons from 9-1pm
Friday was Travis' 16th birthday! So that's cool! His parents are paying for him to get his liscense...so no car...yet. Saturday was my first swimming lesson! GAH! Complete madness! It's so tiring! Especially doing the 20 lengths in fifteen minutes...and it's an olympic sized pool! So my arms felt like rubber after that. But then, as soon as I got home at 1:30, I had to eat 8 chicken nuggets in about five minutes and then go to the church with my mom. We had to set up a bunch of stuff for my Auntie Sue's CD release party. Travis, Shanan, Auntie Sue and Jeff Cuell make up the band (which originally invloved a different drummer and bassist) and Brendan R. and Ty were doing the sound. So, we set up a bunch of stuff and then headed home for dinner. At 7, we arrived at the church to see the place fairly full and Jeff already talking about their songs. They played a great concert and stuck around for snacks afterward. It was pretty cool! I also got to sleep over at Darby's that night. Sunday was church in the morning. I watched the three kids that showed up for nursery with Raquel and then ate some really good bread that Darby saved for us from the Sunday School class. So that was pretty cool! After church, I went back with the Arens family to hang out there until four when Travis' Birthday Bash began. We launched these cool little rockets and stuff and it was so cool! Except for the fact that the rocket Darby and I used was a bit of a dud. It was plastic and too heavy so it didn't work all that well. We played some fun games after that and had dinner followed by CAKE (which Grandma gladly provided)! So, it was good! Monday night at 6:30, I went over to the Ministry Centre at the church for Youth Group. The band practices for a half hour and then we perform the three or four songs for the rest of the group. Then, everyone sits around the table and we do a little Bible study thing and then Carol talks to us for a little while. Then, we get a snack...this week was chocolate chip cookies. We ended up finishing a bit early this week and so we got to do a bit of jamming! It was fun! We were playing like, Sweet Home Alabama and Smells Like Teen Spirit and stuff. It was pretty cool! Then, this morning, my mom and Kyle were picked up by Anna Marie and I was picked up by Karen (Shanan's wife) and we all went to Moms and Tots. Darby was picked up by another lady. Darby and I and a grandma of a few of the kids went down and looked after about twelve kids. All of the kids are five and under. It was pretty fun! We got paid twenty bucks. Most of the kids are pretty well behaved. A couple of them needed some dicepline but for the most part, they were good! We gave them cookies and pretzels for snack and that kept them satisfied for a while. Next Tuesday is Kyle's birthday, so we're giving him a little party. My mom and I are going to make mini cupcakes and have a whole little party thing! It'll be cool! Oh! And on Monday, we met with the new homeschool guy! His name's Ron Sullivan and he's awesome! He's really nice and he used to be a principle. He's so encouraging and he's trying to help in any way that he can! He's going to help get me marks in pretty much everything I do and make up course outlines for a few subjects so that I know what I'm doing. He's also getting us a new grade 10 language course because I was so confused and dissatisfied with the other one. So that's great! Everything seems to be working out well!
Saturday also would have been Poppa's birthday so I'm kind of glad that I was really busy that day because it kept me from dwelling on thoughts of mourning. He would have been 66. But anyways...I have to go do some science. All for now!

-Kristen

hello

Hi! Okay, so I tried to put more pics up but apparently I'm not able to today. So, I'll tell you about my weekend. Okay, so Saturday night was Youth Group "Fun" night so, we met at the church at 6:30 or something. Then, we broke into groups. I was in a group with Darby (who got to stay even though she's not in Youth yet), Preston, Daile and Brendan Reutlinger but the guy driving us only had three seats so I was put with Sean (the tow-truck driver, our driver and the event-coordinator) and two girls that I've never met before. So, we were sent on a scavenger hunt across Sorrento. We had to get lots of strange things: an apple, a paint ball, a cup of sand (?), a business card, a menu from Frank's Pizza, a leaf that's not brown, a homemade cookie, a real estate paper, Pastor Reuban's signature, a dog treat from Petro-Canada...Other weird things. So, off we went. Sean, winding up and down the already windy roads. We got all our stuff so fast that we were sure we were going to win. It was a total race back to Sean's house between us and Travis' team (which included Carol, the youth group leader). But, of course, being the cheaters that we are and getting our dog treat at Sportsmans', we made it there first since we had one less stop. So, we got there before Carol and Travis' team...but the Darbins made it there before us! REVENGE WILL COME! Travis stole my cookies. They stopped at my house and he took my last four homemade cookies. Ggrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! They get back to Sean's house and all four of them have a cookie. I made them. They were good. Arg.
Anyways...after hotdogs (which Darby and I didn't eat because we were so full of spaghetti), four people went out and hid in Sorrento Park in the dark. I believe Carol drove Travis, Ty Peters, Brianna and someone else to the park to hide. About ten minutes later, we went and were supposed to find them. Well, no one found Brianna, Travis or Carol....but Brendan found Ty...lying in the grass. (???) So, we left without them. :D Yes... and it was fun. We went to the church and waited. We made lots of noise when we left. And we piled nine people into the seven seater van. Although...nine was nothing compared to the twelve we crammed in later.
Anyways, we hung out in the church parking lot for a while, chucking apples at each other and fighting over dog bones and candy wrappers (DON'T ASK). Eventually, it started getting cold, so we piled in the van and listened to music...all twelve of us. There was Sean, Preston, Darby, Brendan, Ty, Me, Aaron, Alexa, Jade and three other girls. Brendan, Ty, Me and Darby were crammed into the TWO seats in the middle and Aaron was sitting on the floor beside the seat. We kind of just sat there for a while and drove around a bit to see if we could find Carol and the gang. But there was no sign of them for a while. When we did find them, they were wondering where we'd gone and we were wondering where they'd been! It was crazy. After a while, we finally ended up getting everything straight and my mom and Bri picked me and my cousins up, along with the van, which we were to return to Auntie Sue.
So, that was my Sautrday. Sunday night, we went to Shanan and Karen Saddler's for a bon fire and roast...WHICH WAS SO GOOD! We ended up eating wine grapes off their huge vine and then we had two kinds of really good pie for dessert. That was awesome! Last night, we had youth group. Which is basically a meeting and a little Bible study. We didn't get to do Youth Band this week though because we were missing Brendan Osborne (our singer and winner of the Shuswap Idol competition at the Fall Fair) and Travis...drummer boy. I could've sang but I don't know the songs yet. Last week I was trying to figure them out because I'd only heard one of the three. But it was fun nonetheless.
Well...that's about all I've got to say. Give me a call sometime folks! You all have my number, I emailed it out! :D So yeah...that's about all. See you all in November! Have a good Thursday! Survivor started last week! YAY!
Okay...really. this is the end!
Bye!
-Kristen <3

Pictures: 1

Hello! So, here are some of the pictures from the parade. We were playing hold my hand.
#1: As we leave! that's the back of our float.
#2: Ryan and Darby. That was during Ryan's solo.
#3: There's all of us except Travis is just out of view.
#4: ME! That was when my mom realized she was on the wrong side of the street and ran across in front of the float behind us.
#5: Us again, being pulled by the Blue Water Music truck. Now you can see travis.

More to come in a minute!

Bask In My Awesomeness!

Hello! I have so much to tell you! YAY! Okay, so, to make this easier for you to understand, I will put it in order of time.

Friday:

4:00pm: I get ready to go to Salmon Arm.

4:16pm: Bri arrives home from work with KFC

4:27pm: After eating a few fries, I get picked up by The Band and head to Salmon Arm

approx. 5:00pm: We arrive at Blue Water Music in Salmon Arm and head inside.

approx. 5:30pm: Ryan shows up with Molly The Jam Dog and a haircut, and heads into the Jam Room with the other band (Shadows Deception) while Preston, Darby and I wait in the store.

5:47pm: Auntie Sue and Uncle Des show up in the van with McDonalds for our dinner

6:00pm: We head into the Jam Room and practice each of our songs twice.

approx. 6:30pm: We head out of the store into the parkinglot and realize that our plans to see Zoom on opening night are toast, since the show starts at 6:40

6:43pm: I realize that Shadows Deception is made up of very nice people. Perhaps some that we will be jamming with in the future.

6:50pm: John (Blue Water Music Owner/Ryan's Dad) shows up with the "Blue Water Music Sound Guyz" truck and a run-down "Shuswap Lake Estates Golf Club" float.

6:55pm: We begin the float-decoration process.

7:00pm: We realize that McDonalds wasn't necessary since they ordered us two pizzas. We meet ODD-BALL Dean. Ugh.

7:30pm:Darby and I had been waiting around for half an hour while the "men" did all the stuff that we couldn't do because we are not six and a half feet tall or able to lift about 250lbs with one hand. Yeah, they had to set up two huge light fixtures and two ENORMOUS PA system speakers.

8:00pm: The expected time to finish....did not end up as planned.

8:30pm: We wait around for Ryan, John and Dean to get the sound hooked up and adjusted perfectly.

9:00pm: Dean recruits Darby and I to go over to the gas station and buy ten cans of pop for everyone. Mmmm...someone elses 20 bucks!

9:30pm: After two of the girls and Charlie from Shadows Deception are long gone, we end up doing the sound checking. We practiced all of our songs on the float and realized how hard it was to play on it. it's pretty darn wobbley! (Oh! And yes, we covered up the cheesy golf sign.

approx. 9:37pm: A young couple walking through the parking lot stops to hear us play "Hold My Hand"

10:00pm: After trying to get encored by Robyn (sp?), from Shadows Decpetion, we end up being forced off stage by Uncle Des because...well...we had to go!

10:33pm: We arrive at my house and I try to get some sleep!

Saturday!

7:00am: I am woken by Bri and a gloomy day. I head to the shower right away and wash my hair so that it's not all EW for the day.

approx. 7:23am: I eat breakfast and get ready for the day, being sure to pack a sweater.

8:00am: I pack up my guitar and iPod and throw some product in my damp hair.

8:23am (ON THE NOSE): We head out the door to get to Salmon Arm by nine.

approx. 8:57am: We arrive in Salmon Arm as one of the first float-people-es-s(?). Then, we wait around for about ten minutes for the float to show up.

approx. 9:09am: We find the float and get set up, hoping the tarp that rests on Preston's head while he plays doesn't collapse and dump water on us.

9:45am: We're all set up and ready to go. Too bad the parade doesn't actually start until 10:45.

Okay, so this is where I lost track of time and I'll just tell you what happenend now. Soooo, both bands ended up practicing all their songs...twice. Then, as we were the first ones to go on, we just jammed for about half an hour until nearly 11:00 when the parade actually started. So, when the float started moving, I almost fell over. We started playing when Charlie spotted people and watched all the people smile at us as we passed. OH! AND WE WON A THIRD PLACE RIBBON! I'm not really sure which category we were in..but who cares? Our crap-like float won a ribbon! (Yes. Our float was pretty lame looking, but what was on it was much better!) It was really cool because there were a bunch of little kids when we started and they all watched us so intently! Anyways, we did really well! I also got to play a guitar that belonged to a girl from the other band. It made it faster to swithc off. Anyways, Preston handed out Rockets to the little kids when we were done our three songs and then hopped back on when we were up again. So, our second time around was...different. We saw Jeff and Debbie Cuell (Jeff Auntie Sue's partner on their CD). Debbie was clapping madly! :D Then, we saw the Hippy Guy who gave us this crazy smile and a thumbs up from the driver's seat of his beat up pick-up truck. Then...ugh. There was a float with super-soaker things. So, Dean decides to be weird and go get a water blaster thing. In the middle of Hold My Hand when Ryan's doing his solo, Dean runs by and blasts him (while he's holding another girl's guitar). So, Ryan's drenched, my back got soaked and Darby (playing Robyn's base) also got completly drenched. Thanks, Dean........

Well...that was pretty much the highlight(s) of my last two days. Oh! But after the parade was over, we end up going back around to Blue Water Music...still singing! Shadows Decpetion was playing when we went around again. It was cool because the parade was LONG over but we were still blasting music at people...who loved it! Then, we took the float apart and headed to the fair...where we spent the rest of the day. So that was cool. I just got home about two hours ago. It was great! I'm so glad I got that experience. I'd totally do it again. LOUDER THAN WORDS! WHOO HOO! We got a couple pictures. I'll post them later. I gotta go folks! I still feel like I'm on a float! I'm all wobbley! It's such a cool feeling to feel like you pleased people! YAY! Okay! BYE!

-Kristen

NOVEMBER ARRIVAL!

Howdy! What's new everyone? Enjoying school? I like it! I'm having fun working ahead. I started guitar lesson yesterday which was cool. Now I can play even more! WHOO HOO! So, tomorrow, we go to Salmon Arm to decorate the float and then on Saturday, at 9, we have to be there again to get all set and then we go around the city and perform! IT'S GONNA BE SO COOL! I start swimming lessons next Saturday. Brendan Reutlinger (from church) invited me to play in the youth group band (which is all boys and my cousins failed to mention it to me). Anyways, I've been enjoying life out here. I miss people but I'll SEE YOU ALL IN NOVEMBER! Yes, I am coming from the 7th to the 21st. Andrea, I'll be there for your birthday. And I'll be there for Gram's brithday. And, we're having Christmas and New Year's a month early. :D So that will be interesting. So, the long weekend: we went up to Nesconlith Lake (which is about an hour away). We had to drive up the side of a mountain where the cattle run free! It was cool because there was this little baby brown and white cow and it's mother walking down the road. They walked right beside the van! It was so cute! Bri, Uncle Des and Travis and Preston all went out before us at like, 6:30 to try to catch some fish. Although no one caught anything. Well, we ate lunch when we arrived and then went swimming in the somewhat disgusting water. Travis, Darby and I went out in the canoe for a little bit so that was cool. But, no one caught any fish. So, the girls left earlier so that Kyle could have a nap and we left the guys behind because they wanted to keep fishing. When they arrived home about four hours later, Preston had two little tiny raindow trout. One had a smashed in eye....this is pretty gross...because Preston had to knock it out and the club was behind Uncle Des so he didn't know it was there, so instead, he hit it with a rock and apparently, its eye smashed into its head and ended up in its mouth...EW. So yeah, we had pizza for dinner. And two minnow-ee-things for dessert. mmm.
So, last week, we realized we hadn't seen Mario all day and he hadn't slept on anyone's bed for two nights. We came to the conclusion that he wasn't around anymore. He'd gone somewhere. so, we looked all over the house and all over the yard and called for him and stuff. My mom was scared that he'd gone off to die somewhere or had run away or something so we were all kind of freaking out. He's nine and pretty old. So, anyways, later that day, Bri and I went to Sportsmans' (a cool little store) and on our way, we spotted Mario lounging in a chair on the deck next door. He must have just got there because we hadn't seen him all day. I can't even explain to you how happy I was to see my Mario/Mivvy/Stripo/Pookie-Pants. YAY! So yeah, I have my Mivvens back and everyone's happy. YAY!

So yeah, that's about it. I'm doin' pretty well out here. I'll keep you posted! Post something friends and family!
All for now!
-Kristen