Pics

Hello! Here are some pictures of me at Margaret Falls.
Picture #1: Me standing on a waterfall eating an icicle.
Picture #2: Believe it or not, underneath all those trees and snow is a river that runs from the waterfall. It actually runs under all the ice and snow!
Picture #3: Me on the path. There's a lot of trees that you have to duck under to get to the waterfall.
Picture #4: One of the few crack in the ice where you can see the water! This isn't part of the main waterfall but it's like a mini-waterfall further down the river.
Picture #5: The waterfall frozen over with ice. It was sooo cool! We don't have any pictures of it but there's this hole in the ice where we climbed up to and you could actually touch the water (not that you would though because it was so freakishly cold).
So yeah! Thos are some pics! Hee hee....
-Kristen

Watoto

Hellooo...
So, Saturday was really cool...we went wit hthe Saddlers to Margaret Falls and it was really amazing! The entire waterfall was frozen (it looked like that scene in Narnia), and we could climb it! We climbed up a little ways and broke off icicles and ate them. They were surprisingly good! After that, we picked up Darby and went to their place for dinner. Then, Bri, Shanan, Darby and I went to play some pool. I know how to play pool now! Darby and I played against each other and I won but not by much. We're still not that great but yeah...it was fun!
Anyways...yesterday, Carol (youth leader) took a bunch of us to the Watoto Children's Choir that were performing in Vernon. It was really cool! I wasn't expecting it to be so great! It's this African choir of little kids under the age of 12 and right now they're touring across Canada. They're originally from Uganda and they were all in poverty once but then this organization called Watoto saved them and stuff and...anyways...it's a really cool program and now we and Carol...(WE being me, Jade, Darby, Shelby and Raquel)... are going to raise money for them. It was a really cool experience! YAY.....
Anyways...today I havee to get going on school again so I'd better go.
All for now!
-Kristen

Heyo

I just posted to www.kristenmcneilly.com/newsongs some partially finished mixes with the new drums and percussion tracks. The mixes are part of the way there. Comments are welcome as it is definitely a work in progress.

Happy Listening!
Dad

"I'm Just A Fried Piece Of Fishin' Pole!"

Howdy!
Catherine was on the news last night! It was cool. I saw it.
My story is currently 33 pages long! It's really cool! It's called Addy & The Apple Tree. I don't even know if I've told you about it already or now but yeah...it's really cool! I'm hoping to finish it within the next month because then I can hand it in for school and stuff. I've done a whole bunch of sketches of characters and stuff too. I've also deinged a cover. I want it to be really simple so it's just an 2D apple with a bit out of it and the title written inside.
Anyways...in other news, Bri's work is having this bridge building contest where you build a bridge using this computer program and the person with the lowest cost (yet still sturdy) bridge wins! Bri and I are both entering that. First prize is $250! YAY!
Anyways...all for now!
It's time for supperrrrrrr!
-Kristen

Random

5 MONTHS UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

YAY WHOO HOO!

This is sooo random.

-Kristen

Hi Folks

Hey everyone! How are you doin'?
I've been having a great Christmas Vacation! I finally got my Switchfoot package of stuff on Tuesday! It's so cool! It's got a signed postcard, their new CD, an exclusive EP, a poster, three stickers, 5 buttons and a DVD. It's so cool!
The top of my guitar case is nearly full with stickers! YAY!
Darby was at my house for like...2 days straight. We were very busy. We made um...bizarre tapes on my mini tape recorder.
So yeah, my new story "Addy & The Apple Tree" is now 27 pages long and i'm not even halfway through yet! It's really good! I've also been doing sketches of the characters and stuff. I think that if I finish it soon, I'll hand it in for homeschooling and see what Mr. Sullivan says about it. :D
Anyways, I'll post toboganning pictures soon!
-Kristen

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Yeah...so it's not the new year yet but before I go to the new years eve party, I figured I'd write you all and tell you:

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Have a good new years eve, new years day and new year to come!

-Kristen

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Wishin' you all the best for Christmas! Hope you have great holidays and lots of fun! Hope that you get just what you wanted and enjoy your time with family.

-Kristen McNeilly <3

Report Card!

Okay...so last week I got my report card. Sorry I haven't had a chance to post anything about this yet but here are my marks:
English 10: B (81%)
Foods 9: A
French 9: A (89%)
Math 9: B (lots of 86%'s though)
Music 9: A
Phys Ed 9: A
Science 9: B (84%)
So yeah! I did pretty good!
Anyways...I'm super busy lately! Ugh. I have a lot of school work to do and I have my extra things to work on too. Moms & Tots Group finsished for the year this week. We ended it off with a big potluck and we were awarded with our regular pay plus a gift certificate for a manicure or pedicure. So Darby and I will have to arrange a time for that sometime soon. (I want the manicure :P ) So yeah. You know that book Eragon that's now a movie (that comes out tomorrow)? Yeah...well I bought the book on Tuesday, discovered how freakishly good it is and am now reading that between lessons.
Guitar lessons are going great. Ryan's teaching me Christmas songs now....
I'm playing a song in church on the 24th so that's cooool! I wrote a Christmas song and Auntie Sue needed another musical act for that day so I was signed up. Sweet!
I'm going to Christmas pageant-y-play-ish thing at King's Christan school soon. Travis is in it so I'm going with my cousins. Should be fun.
Um...so yeah! I guess I'll talk to you all again soon!
Peace,
Kristen

P.S.- Gram, THANK YOU FOR CHRISTMAS PACKAGE! I was wondering how I was going to survive without fudge and other Gram-treats! YAY! But I have saved the gift from Auntie Dee until Christmas :D ('cuz I'm such a good girl)!

Pictures

Here's my new bass and my Bronze Medallion stuff!
Picture#1: My Bronze Medallion certificate, badge and medal as well as my emergency first aid certificate from last summer.
Picture#2: My new bass!
Picture#3: Yes...It's a Dean. In fact, it's a Dean Edge.
Picture#4: My new base again...at a cool angle...sidways.
Picture#5:All houses are built sideways in BC...or I just forgot to rotate the picture before uploading it to the blog.
So yeah! That's my new bass...the first instrument I've ever bought myself. It's really awesome! Now all I need is an amp!
All for now!
-Kristen

Welcome To December

Happy December 1st!
24 days 'til Christmas!
YAY!!!

So yeah! There's like, six Switchfoot songs in my head off their new CD and it's driving me insane because I only know bits of them off their site. Their new CD isn't out until the 26th. Ugh.

"Oh, Gravity! Why can't we seem to keep it together?!" - Switchfoot.....

Yeah...all for today. I'll post pictures soon. Promise!
-Kristen

Today...

Helloooo...
So, today went well. Ron was really impressed and took like, all of our homsechool stuff to photocopy. I also played him a song ("Yourself") and he loved it. I lent him the CD of bed tracks from my new CD as well. He's going to give me a grade ten mark for music and english. I'm stepping down to Science 9 to make it easier for this year and I'm also getting some sort of mark for a computer course.
Overall...a very productive day.
Last night I transferred all my Word documents and old pictures to our new computer so...YAY...I can finally continue writing the billions of stories I've got started.
Well...yeah! That's about all I've got to say for today. I'll be posting some pictures soon of MY NEW BASS and my Bronze Medallion that came in the mail a few day ago.
Yeah! Talk to you all later!
-Kristen

P.S. - for those of you who don't know...I bought a bass on Sautrday! I'm very proud of myself. It's the first instrument I've paid for and it's really cool! It's orange with red strings (but I might change 'em to blue) and it's a Dean. It's so cool. Now all I need is a bass amp!

Today's News!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CATHERINE! Your card will come on a plane on November seventh! Hope you have a great day. Please eat lots of a cake (or chocolate). You ARE in the McNeilly family so...it's mandatory to eat lots and save lots for your step-daughter!

Have a great day!

-Kristen

Halloween

Well...yesterday, was a busy day. In the morning, I babysat twelve kids with Darby and got paid 20 bucks. SWEET! Then, it was the "Harvest Party" at church and I volunteered to run a booth. It kind of sucked that I got stuck on the lamest game of all though (pin the nose on the pumpkin). It was so lame. And no one came except on RUDE little girl who must've come about twelve times and took my coupons that were supposed to be for the kids who got it right on the nose. Erg. she was so rude.

Costumes: I was a hippy/flower child. Brendan and Preston were like...terrorists posing as business men or something like that and Travis was an Army Dude with a gas mask. Darby was a mouse.

Anyways...then, after the night-mare that is the party, there was a pretty sweet fireworks show that Brendan R., Preston and some guy shot off. So that was cool. Then, the youth group had an hour of crazy games! The first game was kind of lame. It was like rock paper scissors only ninja, gorilla and gun. Yeah...it was a bit boring...but then, we played this HORRIBLE game! We had to sit in a tight circle and it was like playing hot potato...only with babyfood. Everyone got their own spoon and you had to pass around three open jars of baby food and the three people that ended up with the jars had to take a spoonful. It was so gross! I got carrots and peas...TWICE! The taste isn't that bad but the texture is like...ew. it's just gross.

Anyways...then we played this game where we were given a card and it had a C, S or D on it. C=Christian, S=Saint and D=Devil. So, I got a C. Then, ALL the lights went out and you had to walk around and if someone tapped you on the shoulder (they were the devils) you had to fall over and yell "I have sinned!" and then, the lights would come back on and someone else had to guess who the devil was. But! the devil could get saved if they knew who one of the saints were (who could save the sinning people). Otherwise, they'd have to go to "the lake of fire" on the stage. But yeah...it was pretty fun. Ms. Sandy (the leader of the whole thing) made me a devil at one point and but I couldn't kill anyone because everyone was in a little group and I'd get caught if I tapped anyone. So, I was aiming for Brendan because he was the only one NOT in a group but he kept walking around really fast and if I chased him it'd be obvious...so yeah.

We also played a game where we had to stand in a line and no one knew at first but Ms. Sandy had put lipstick on a few of the kids' fingers. The, we had to turn the the person behind us and pinch their cheeks, their nose and then their chin. It was weird at first but then when we looked at some of the people, they had red on their cheeks and stuff! it was so funny! Alexa got some on her cheeks and Brendan's nose was completely covered. Jade's ENTIRE face was covered too! It was hilarious! Luckily, Darby and I were lipstick free.

We also watched some "volunteer games". The first one was hilarious! Ty, Travis, Alexa and...someone else went on stage and Ms. Sandy stuck the icing half of an oreo on their forhead and then they had to get it into their mouths without using their hands. It was hilarious! Ty and Travis made theirs fall onto the floor and then ate it. I wasn't watching the girls because they were all wimpy and afraid to get dirty. Anyways...the next game was even better! Ty and his friend Luke were one team and Janelle and another girl were on the other. Janelle and Ty got their heads seran wrapped and then covered with whipped cream! Then, the other teammates had to through popcorn at their heads and the team with the most popcorn on their head won! Ty and Luke were covering each other with whipped cream after! It was so funny! Then, there was one more game where one partner had to have a stocking over their head and the other person was blindfolded. It was like a criminal-ish thing where the blindfolded person had to help the stocking-headed person to eat as much jello as they could through the stocking. It didn't work all that well though because the blindfolded people had no idea what to do...but it was funny to watch!

Then, Brendan, Darby and I were having wars with wrappers and mouse ears (long story) and Brendan was shooting at us with his "terrorist gun". So yeah! that was pretty fun!

Anyways...it was a good halloween even though I didn't get to go trick-or-treating. But yeah! Go fun!

-Kristen

P.S.-I got my Bronze Medallion on Saturday! I PASSED! In your face swimming people from Brampton! I PASSED!

So we went to IKEA and ....

Bunk Beds!

Follow this link is where there are some funny pics of Arden and Catherine, but most importantly pictures of what was once Arden's room and now is Kristen and Arden's room. We have added a bunkbed, a new chest of drawers and some mirrors. We are not quite done yet, so this is version 1.

We are all getting very excited about Kristen's first visit back to Onatari-ari-ario! We are going to havea a one day Christmas/ New Years extravaganza. We are somehow going to record bed tracks for ten (!) songs, we are going to see a play, a couple of movies, celebrate Gram's birthday and a lot more.

Can't wait to see you, Kristen!!

Everything

So, I was sick all week. Super busy with tons of stuff now. I have to catch up on lots of work and try to get ahead before settin' out to Ontario. I'll have to do a few lessons of each subject each day! Ugh. That's a lot. Anyways...the weather's pretty nice out here! It's a bit cold but it's still fairly sunny! So, I was asked to babysit tonight and I'll probably do it but I don't know yet because my mom went to Salmon Arm to pick up Bri from work and Anna Marie called to ask while they were out. I was left here to schoolify. So, I did some scrapbooking stuff, 2 science experiments, a lesson and a quiz and some writing and now I'm doing a blog to put on my language page. So yeah. I have to go now! But I'll post more when more stuff happens!
-Kristen

New stuff

Hello there! I guess that I haven't written in about a week...but I've been really busy! Kyle turned 3 on Tuesday and we had this little party for him when Darby and I were babysitting for the Moms and Tots group from our church. It was really cool! But it's weird to think of Ky as 3 already!

Anyways...In this past week, I've done a ton of stuff! I've done 6 hours of swimming, 3 hours of babysitting multiple children, gone to church, gone to youth group, jammed with the youth band, met with our homeschool guy, done about five hours of shopping, done a ton of school work, submitted a poem to Chicken Soup For The Soul, had Darby over for about 6 hours, had guitar lessons, read two novels and had three birthday parties for Kyle. Bri's parents are also here from Ontario, visiting for a week. I'm tired! Ugh. Anyways...Travis went with a family from our church to Mexico for a missions trip today. A ton of other people went too. Hopefully they'll have a good time helping the orphans...I want to go next year. Travis also got a 30Gb iPod for his sixteenth birthday! YAY! I'm not the only person in BC with an iPod! Yay!
Okay...Time for math and french!
-Kristen

P.S.-Can't wait to come in November! I look forward to seeing everyone! And my Christmas list is in progress so I'll have it out very soon!

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!