catch-up

Get ready for a bunch of pictures! Here are some highlights from FOL and my drive to Idaho, as well as the hot air balloon festival that we got to go to this morning in Boise! Pretty cool.

relaxing during free time at FOL. Isn't
Aspen Grove amazing?

The best part-it wasn't hot!!! Which meant we had some rain instead...

SO MUCH FUN with these hooligans.

silly shot.

God's country for sure!

FOL ended on Wednesday afternoon, and after that I went over to the W's and left for Idaho Thursday morning. My first road trip alone, and it was successful! (obviously, since I'm still blogging, haha)

woohoo! made it!

This morning we got up early and made it to the hot air balloon festival, where about 50 balloons took off from Ann Morrison Park. So cool! They were supposed to take off about two or three days ago but it was delayed because of thunderstorms...just in time for me to come and see them today!

taking off... 

Like one of those desktop screensavers.
BUT IN REAL LIFE

a panda!

and mickey!!! with the panda photobombing in the background.

Tonight we had a delicious dinner of rotisserie chicken. Baked on Grandma's own spit that she received as a wedding gift!! How awesome is that?

ignore the poor photography...check out that chicken!!

I'm heading back to BYU tomorrow, and am excited for Labor Day and then school on Tuesday! BYU ROUND TWO HERE I COME!!!

I'm just the traveling traveler!!

Aaaand I'm back from FOL! But am now in Idaho! I'm just here for a quick visit with the grandparents until Saturday or so, and then school starts on Tuesday! Like I promised, though, here are some pictures of the apartment!

my bed!

kitchen.

one and a half closets...since they used to have three beds to a room
but now it's just two!!

I'll try to blog regularly now, I promise...I can't believe that school is starting again and we're getting into the swing of things! I need to do a recap of FOL too, because that was an awesome and totally different experience as a counselor. It was SO GOOD.
Until my next adventure,
Kjerstie

Made it to Utah!

And I'm back, blogging from the good old state of Utah! It is cool to have those majestic mountains back. I'm all moved in to my new apartment (I promise, I'll have some pictures later!), and am ready to go to church tomorrow and then go be a counselor at FOL on Monday. Whew!

Today was A.W.'s birthday, so we all celebrated together by going to his football game (they won!!) and eating some cake. Yum. And my mom has even been here to help me move in, which has been way fun! But she heads back to CA tomorrow. Adios. Glad she was here to drive up with me, because we hit some crazy weather. Like lightening storms, hail, and crazy thunder!

a whole lot of hail...

rain, rain, go away...

A and his buds

make a wish!

Wish me luck in these next coming weeks! We'll see how getting back into the swing of school goes...can't it be summer for just a little longer?

almost back to school...

And...the entire family is back to school! A started on Monday, and K and A have junior high and elementary school tomorrow. I've just been wrapping everything up and getting ready to pack and leave on  Thursday. How crazy is that?! 

Sorry for the boring pictures...I'm just super excited that I'm finally getting the hang of my car!

made it to work!!

oooh fancy.
(hands-free device)

summer nights and full moons

last wild weekend hurrah.

Saturday and today were fantastic. Yesterday I went out with some friends for a last boating run at Anderson Lake, and I got some serious battle scars! I also went to "The Dry Bar"- a blow dry bar where they blowout your hair because I went to C's farewell AND played the organ for a homecoming in the LA ward. Wow. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so these will tell those stories a lot better than I will!!

 

the lake.

aaand that's where M's head hit my hip as he fell off the tube...

the dry bar! see the hairdryers as a chandelier?

tah dah! quick curly selfie.

trying to preserve it for Sunday...ignore the tomato face!

everyone is leaving me!!
they're off to brazil, chicago, brazil, and who knows?!

ignore the creeper hand. IMMA MISS YOU C!!!!

awww.

Sniff sniff. I know she'll be an AWESOME missionary, but I'm sad to see her go!! This next week will be crazy, so bear with me if the blogging's erratic! 

some weddings and a funeral.

Man. I swear, I thought everyone was kidding about the whole "all your friends will either be married or on missions" thing...NOPE. It's all true. Every time I open Facebook lately it's "So-and-so is engaged" or "So-and-so is MARRIED" (and I hadn't even known that they were engaged). So. Crazy.

The funeral aspect of today's post comes from a lovely memorial service that my mom and her friends catered (it was delicious). I was recruited to help serve food and was horribly embarrassed because I was in yoga pants and a random shirt because I thought I would be helping back in the kitchen...NOPE.

And here's some other pictures of today! Including a funny story about babysitting at the bottom...

walking charlie

babysitting some enthusiastic kids...thank heavens for some diet doctor in the fridge

watching the disney channel version of Beach Blanket Bingo...I feel old

SOOO I was babysitting some kids tonight and they watched this movie called Teen Beach Movie...BUT WAIT it's actually just Beach Blanket Bingo (that old movie with Annette Funicello that my dad made my family watch) with some teamwork and collaboration and young love (not quite as lustful as BBB...they don't even kiss). WHAT. Now I'm feeling old because wait this is a remake and when I was young we had the original...or at least my dad made us watch the original...sigh.

In other news...I drove the Jetta around town and didn't stall or crash or die or kill the clutch! Wahoo! I think I'm just kind of going to sink-or-swim it and just start driving it everywhere. I figure I know the principle, now I just have to practice and apply it.

And after a long day: goodnight!!!

this is not a very exciting post

Nor is it very long or interesting. Just a little heads up.

Today was not a very exciting day. It was the usual dog-walking and chauffeuring, book proofreading, exercising, and cleaning. We did go to the local Farmer's Market, though, and bought some veggies and fruit (it was only about 3/4 of a street long, and I forgot to even take a picture of that).

There was also some organ practicing and car registering. And that's about it! We'll see what tomorrow brings.

last weeks of work

Hey, it's me again! Just keeping busy with lots of work...I didn't blog yesterday because I got home late from a babysitting job, so I'll just keep you filled in on all my recent jobs tonight!

watching this kid is always an adventure

yesterday was my last day of watching this kid.
:(
i'm gonna miss him! 

gross gray hands from helping pack. 

the most relaxed kid. ever.
seriously he stayed like this for twenty minutes

 Plus we had a visit from the Andersons! It was so much fun to chat and catch up. We also got to eat some delicious food from P.F. Chang's! Sooooooo good. And we even got some dessert for free!

giant piece of chocolate cake with berry sauce that we all split.
yumm

Tomorrow I need to get down to the church and practice the organ for Sunday...because I'm actually playing! And I don't want to sound horrible. But right now it's off to bed because I am so. tired. Whew. Some days I just wish I could take a nap for twenty hours. Seriously.

you jetta believe it.

So. I bought a car! And it's kind of scary. It's a 2003 VW Jetta that's a MANUAL. So I'm learning how to drive stick before I leave for Utah...and am pretty good at going forward but not so much in reverse. I'll just have to drive slow so I never miss a destination and have to back up :)

tah-dah!

And I had the usual lifeguarding/Dailey Method today. Tomorrow brings my last day of nannying the adorable H :( and helping some folks pack. Wish me luck in learning how to drive...again!

The Countdown Begins...

Man. This summer has flown by! I can't believe that I basically have 11 days before it's back to Provo! Here's how my weekend went. It's a little jumbled and random but that's how life has been lately!

going on a walk and found this lovely
dismembered crow corpse.

getting distracted by ferrari's while driving around.

A's penguin art project

 My latest art piece: a photography series called "Dad and a Dog". From today...

At the table

On the couch

And it was A's birthday today! Here's some pictures of our celebration :)

What his cake was supposed to look like...

The actual result (sorry it's blurry!)

Tah dah! Tomorrow is more work. And...I may or may not be making the biggest purchase of my life :) More on that tomorrow!!!

TGoodnessIF!!

Whew. Another week down! Today I lifeguarded in the morning, did some dog walking, then took A and A to the library, explored some downtown shops, had a doctor's appointment, did some errands, ate dinner, and walked the Dish! This morning I was definitely feeling the burn of getting up early, though! I woke up and literally thought "Why in the world is my alarm going off so early?! Oh wait...I have to go to work". Haha.

Only one picture from today was deemed blog-worthy...I picked up A from a birthday party at our local arcade and he won this awesome prize...that made me do multiple double takes the whole ride home.

half of my face, A, and alien friend!

Two weeks exactly.

In TWO WEEKS from today I will be back in Utah! How crazy is that???? This summer has been too short. The days are long because I'm keeping busy and working, but the weeks have all blended together. Nuts.

Life has been the usual, just working, but here are some pictures just for fun.

Rinconada Pool, where I work! See my stand?

random dog that I saw on the way home from work
that, on first glance, looked like a sheep

Getting A some mochi from TJ's and seeing this perfect penguin sign for the other A...

just reading some books.