Summit 1

I'm back from my summer filled with long car rides, Wonka candy, pillow fights and Journey music. I think it's safe to say that it was the best two weeks EVER.

I'll probably be doing a few posts on this, or else you'll be sitting at your computer screen until your eyeballs roll back in your skull and you start foaming at the mouth (and nobody wants to see that!) So I'll start at the beginning and work my way through.

We all hopped into the van at 5 am and prepared ourselves for the 14 hour drive ahead. It sounded daunting and exciting to me at the same time. I'm one of the weirdos who actually like long car rides. :P

As you can see from the blurry picture above, it was barely light out. I could've slept for another hour or so in the car, but I was way too excited.

We had a lot to look at, anyway. The windmills reminded me of giant, retarded pinwheels that just sort of hung out in the heat of the day.

Like the entire trip, the car ride somehow felt really long and really short at the same time. We took a few breaks to stretch our legs, and we played frisbee at a gas station for a while. Just, you know, 'cause we're amazing. :P

There came a point where I definitely felt like I wasn't in Oregon anymore. I think it was when we started driving past the gynormous mountains, canyons, and Mormon churches (we counted about 40 when we drove through Utah!) It seemed like a weird feeling to feel the same but in a totally different backdrop... if that makes any sense. :P

We stopped in Utah and stayed the night with a friend's relatives, and, like the crazy people we are, we went to the park and played "Lava Monster". Then we danced on the lawn.

Then my head hit the pillow and I fell asleep instantly.
It's weird how exhausting it can be to just sit all day... 

What my summer looks like...

I can safely say that summer is here now. It's been a gorgeous few weeks, so I couldn't really justify staying inside for too long. It's really a catch 22... there's so much about summer and beautiful weather that inspires me, but I can never sit down inside on my computer to write it all down because it's just too gosh darn beautiful outside!

So far, my summer looks like this:

Dancing, excitement, and dizziness as my dance partner swung me so hard I fell over. Twice. (It was awesome!)

Fireworks, lights, and photo-ops.

Shocking the air with screams, laughter and spazziness at the park.

Mosquito bites all over my legs as a result of staying outside after dark with my sisters.

Random adventures.

Reading on the porch while slapping bugs off my arms.

Those little marks you get on your feet when you sit in the grass for a long time.

Fundraising for our upcoming trip to Summit! (Another garage sale, and more amazing memories)

A bird funeral. :(

The Amazing Spiderman.

Flipflops and summer dresses.

That awesome rush you get when you swing as high as you can and the wind tickles the back of your neck.

It's not near being over yet, and I'm just fine with that. Summer seems to be the one season that flies by way too fast.

What does your summer look like so far?

Memory Monday: Fence Wars

It started out as a typical summer day: my sisters and I throwing ourselves around on the swingset, having a good old time, when...

Something suspicious.
A random little boy is in the Yegermanjensens' yard. (We later learned he was a cousin).

As I swung up and down, I caught glimpses of him walking around their backyard with a stick. He looked kind of bored, and as I was going through my "Who could ever not like me" phase, I thought we should be friendly and say hi.

As I proposed the idea, Karissa thought I was crazy. "No. You don't want to do that."
"Why not?" I asked optimistically.
"I don't know. Just don't."
"Oh, let's be friendly!" I chirped as birds perched on my outstretched arms. I think a deer bounded into our yard, too...

So I enthusiastically popped my head up over their fence.
"Hi! My name is Kaylee!" 

In retrospect, maybe my friendliness was taken the wrong way. Maybe he didn't want some random buck-tooth girl beaming at him over the fence while he was reflecting the meaning of life with his trusty walking stick. 

Because then he was all, "Boys are better than girls." 

Without wiping off my flight attendant smile, I replied, "No, they're both equal." 

Then, something unexpected happened: For the first time, I witnessed a human being snap. Fury latched onto his face and drove him to the pear tree by the fence. He roared "BOYS ARE BETTER THAN GIRLS!" and then proceeded to chuck pears at us. 

And then things got stranger. 

The boy's 13 year old sister walked outside. Normally, this would be the part where she witnesses her bratty little brother throwing fruit at strangers' craniums and cries, "Brother! Whatever are you doing? Cease this madness immediately!" 

Nope. Instead she sprayed us with the hose. 

Then she tried to dump a bucket of water on our heads.

It fell in sheets down our fence and mingled with the dirt below. We, the pacifists that we were, just stood there perplexed at the whole ordeal as our oppressors' cackles traveled into the summer heat.

...But eventually they got bored and went inside.
Karissa had her moment of "I told you so," and I indignantly felt my efforts at friendliness wasted.

Maybe he would've been friendlier if I brought him a sandwich... :P

Memory Monday: The One That Got Away...

A short, yet tragic story of lost love.

It was any ordinary day. I was minding my own business, when out of the woodwork, from seemingly nowhere, came you. You with your jet-black hair and chocolate eyes. It was then that I hoped we would be together forever...

He was a dog.

A real one.

No really, he was an actual dog. We found him on our property one summer afternoon. He was really cute, and for me, it was love at first sight (this was back when I was a dog person...) :P

Karissa and I played with him all afternoon while my mom and dad talked about what to do with him. We really considered keeping him, because he didn't have any tags. We also made the fatal mistake of giving him a name. He was "Benny," and as far as I was concerned, he was my Benny.

Then, the fateful moment came when my grandpa found out that Benny belonged to one of the teachers at the elementary school by our house. I came to the tragic realization that Benny would have to be returned. I sobbed like a baby for about 15 minutes, then I pulled myself together and we all walked to the elementary school.

I braced myself as we walked into his owner's office. She smiled and started petting Benny, and said, "You found Plug!"

Wait... what???

Benny. My Benny. His real name is... PLUG?!

"My son named him," she giggled while rolling her eyes.

I was grossed out. It somehow kept reminding me of hair caught in a shower drain. I don't know if that helped or not, but after that I wasn't too broken up over not keeping Plug.

Senioritis

Ladies and gentlemen, fellow high school seniors:

Do you suffer from the following symptoms?

• Stress
• Confusion
• Entrapment in a time warp
• An endless amount of homework, and a lack of desire to finish it all
• An inability to answer the repeated question "ARE YOU GOING TO COLLEGE?!"
• Partial or full-on insanity
• The unyielding urge to sleep for twelve full hours at a time

If you answered yes to one or ALL of these symptoms, then you are suffering from Senioritis.

Senioritis is both a mental and physical condition, causing you to at times relapse to the behavior of a child, bang your head against desks, and eat lots and lots of junk food. Millions suffer from it each year. In the end, no senior is safe.

The cure?

Well... call me if you find one.

I'm nearing the end of my senior year of High School. It's been pretty good, up until now. I just have this unsettling itch under my skin that I can't scratch out. It's the fact that I'm not graduated now. I actually can't wait for it to be over with. That way, I could finally breathe again.

That is... until I have to figure out what I'm doing with the rest of my life.

My mom and I were talking about this, and we both came to the same confusing conclusion. Why is it that the world expects you to know what you're doing for the rest of your life at the age of 18? Heck, we're just kids! We have trouble deciding what we're going to wear in the morning and what we're going to have for breakfast, let alone what to choose as a career!

Sometimes, it seems clear to me what I'm going to do. I'm a writer! I'm a Councillor! I'm a lawyer! I'm a photographer! I'm an ASL Interpreter! Other times... it seems more like this.

Then other times, even that seems too complicated, and my imagination takes me down a few more notches.

Hm... now that I'm finding all these pictures of Squidward that sum up exactly how I'm feeling... maybe he's suffered from Senioritis, too. If so, that can't be a good sign.

Sometimes it feels like all my stress has attached itself to that spot riiiiight in-between my eyebrows, then gets heavier and heavier until it could pull me down head-first. It's probably naive to think that it'd all go away once I graduate (I probably don't know the definition of stress yet!), but I can't wait to just take a breather from school for the three months I can.

I'll probably start slow on the whole College thing. This fall I'll probably take a few basic college classes while I'm waiting for God to prod me one way or the other. Until then, I'll just have to read. And read. And read some more. And write. And do equation after equation... *sob*

Photo Cred:

Crazy Squidward "Spare change?" "Would you like fries with that?"