This is How We Spend Our Friday Nights

This past Friday, Kendall went to the movie Up with some of her other friends. Brenna and I had already seen it, so we didn't particularly feel like going to it again. Instead, we stayed in our room, poking around on the internet and being bored.

Bored, that is, until Brenna asked to play with my Play-Doh. After a while, I joined her. We spent a few minutes creating your ordinary Play-Doh creatures: snowman, dog, pig, etc. Then I made a dinosaur, Brenna made a mini city, we got out my camera, and the rest is history.

-Jojo

Haiku to life

evil evil life
life is so flippin' evil
evil evil life


written after [edit] 5 hours of sleep with bloodshot eyes

Our Embarrassing Adventure of the New Semester

Leave it to us. 

We WOULD accidentally go to a new student mixer not realizing the "new" part of it. So now everyone who saw us there probably thinks we're freshmen. And if they bothered to engage us in conversation, and found out that we're really sophomores, they might have come to the conclusion that we're transfers. Or just stupid. (Which is what I happen to lean towards.)

It probably should have dawned on us shortly after we arrived that it was just for new students. We already know some people on our hall, and in our dorm, whether by name or face, and none of those people were in attendance. 

But no. We merrily continued socializing with the new people. Our RAs probably figured it out first, but they, being fine ladies of tact, didn't mention our silliness. Part way through, one of them mentioned that we weren't freshman, or sophomore transfers, but just new to the dorm, and then it dawned on me. The sign had read "New Student" mixer. Not "Bumbling Sophomore" mixer. Not "Weren't Really Paying Attention to the Sign" mixer. Not "Glad All Those College Classes Paid Off Because You Clearly Don't Know How to Read" mixer.

By the time I realized our predicament, it was too late to escape. But as soon as was humanly possible, we made our hasty exit. As we ran down the stairs from the fourth floor balcony where the mixer had been held, we laughed at our accidental mistake, and proclaimed that more people should hang out with us, cause the funniest stuff always happens to us.

-Jojo

This is why we're all roommates.....

I'm sure that no matter what sort of hardships we go through this year. No matter how hectic, messy, or clean things get between the three of us there will always be the little things that connect us.

Like tea cups.

We're all different and similar in many ways. And I know for a fact that we'll all have our moments this year when we're silently steaming at one another, not realizing that we all know when the other is upset.

And we'll all have our grand adventures and amazing moments. The quote board will be filled to the brim. And our facebook photo albums will be many.

I'm so blessed to know you two. You're both honestly a gift from God. I know we always talk about how odd it is we met. Kenny in the bathroom, Jojo because we were neighbors and played a game of BS that first night.

Our first year of college was unpredictable. Who knew we'd become sisters? Who knew we'd all be excited every Tuesday night about our weekly Chuck episode? Who knew we'd make friends with a bunch of guys who like Disney and play Ultimate Frisbee? Or discover the most amazing joghurt place in the known universe!

We'll be reunited in a mere 3 days.

We can return to Biola with confidence, now that we know our way around and know so many amazing people and professors.

I can't wait to discover what God has in store for us this year. And I can't wait to update this blog with tales of our epic shenanigans.

Love you guys!

-Brenna Kathleen

Waffle Irons

My life is the best. Seriously. I'm not joking.

My summer at Trout just recently ended. Nate came to pick me up on Saturday and bring me home. After seemingly hundreds of hugs and goodbyes, we headed on our way. As we drove through a little town called Crosby, my antiquing gene started to flare up, so we stopped to poke around a bit. You have to understand that Crosby has more antique shops than people. I'm not lying. Really. It's the antique capital of northern MN.

Before I continue with my little tale, you must know that I am a big fan of coffee/tea cups. If you have kept up with my personal blog, you know how excited I was to get my new red mug last year. I was elated. I am quite selective, and have little storage space at college, so my collection is small, but it is very near and dear to my heart. Vintage tea cups are the best, since they're often cheap and have much more character than modern cups. And since I'm a college student lacking a dishwasher, it doesn't matter that they're not dishwasher safe.

So as I entered into the dens of antiquity, I was especially mindful of the chinaware displays. At one of the shops, I snagged a bulbous green teacup and a dainty tan coffee mug. Grand total: $4. Grand total after Nate's generosity: $0. A few shops down the sidewalk, I came across a blue teacup too good to pass up. I plopped it down on the counter and the older woman behind it began to ring it up. Like any self-respecting small-towner, she began a conversation with me, questioning why I was buying one teacup. I told her I was fond of them and had just bought two at another store. Her response was something like this: "Yeah I used to get turned on by waffle irons. I'd see a different style and have to buy it. You know how many different types of waffle irons there are?"

As if it couldn't get any better (WAFFLE IRONS!?!), a man just about to leave the shop piped up, proclaiming, "Probably about 500. There's the ones that make a big round waffle, some with four smaller square waffles, and some with pictures on the top." This prompted the saleslady to remark, "Yeah, and then I realized what the hell am I doing?" She then attempted to sell me these really weird blue glass "mugs," but I was too wise for her. Nate paid for the mug ($5) and we made a swift exit, somehow managing to hold our laughter in until we made it a few steps outside the door.

This is a completely true story. No joke. My life is hilarious.

I'm sitting in a hotel room in Ogallala, Nebraska right now, trying to figure out if I should go to bed or not. I also need to order textbooks...boo hiss! Two days until I set foot on California soil again.

-Jojo

Taking a Break from Summer

Hello friends!

Wow! Where do I even begin? At the beginning? That sounds like a nice place to start.

Well, after my family and I survived three straight days of driving, we arrived back at home in Minnesota. It was sooo nice to finally be home. I spent the first day or so sorting through everything I brought back with me. Whew! What a task! I also spent a lot of time hanging out with my boy and catching up with a few other friends. It was a good week and a half.

Following that, I packed up again and drove up to northern MN to work at Trout Lake Camps for the summer. I'm employed as a counselor, watching over 8-12 young girls every week. It doesn't pay much, but it's lots of fun.

It can also be pretty challenging sometimes. The first week of camp, I had a down syndrome camper in my cabin. She was a total sweetheart, but it was her first time away from her parents for an extended period of time, which presented some issues. Yet despite all of my confusion and frustration with learning how to take care of her, it was a blessing to have her in my cabin. One night when I was taking her to the nurse (she had frequent stomach aches), she looked at me and said, "You're nice." I think my heart melted right out of my chest and dribbled down into my flip-flops. It made it all worthwhile.

We did have one extremely interesting night however. On Thursday, there were some thunderstorms coming through the area, which freaked many of the girls out. When my CIT (counselor in training) and myself finally got the girls calmed down, I began to say our evening prayer. Just then the smoke detector started going off (it had low batteries). Of course that caused a huge fiasco, resulting in one of the program staff members coming to cut the dang detector off the ceiling. We ended up getting to bed 45 minutes after lights out. Looking back on it now, it's a humorous story, but at the time, I was exhausted and nearly at the end of my rope.

The second week of camp, I went with Trout's VBS (Vacation Bible School) program to assist a church with running their VBS. It was SOO much fun. Andy, one of the male counselors, and myself worked with the third-graders, and they were totally awesome. The families at the church were all really great too! The host family I stayed with was so gracious and it was refreshing not to have campers in my sleeping quarters at night. I needed to catch up on sleep after the week before.

The sleeping arrangements in the Mergins' basement.

Last week, the third week of camp, I was counseling the junior high age group, which is definitely my favorite. We had so much fun, even though my poor little body was so worn down that I got a cold. One of my campers nearly died on the mountain scooters and I almost broke my shoulder slacklining, but it was a great week.

Walking the line...

Some of my girls from week three.

This week, I'm at home for my week off. It's great to see my family again, especially since my mom's birthday is today. I also got to spend the 4th with my family for the first time in 3 years, which was a lot of fun.

The staff members at camp this year are so awesome! There are very few people (such as myself), who have worked at Trout before. I was a little nervous about this at first, but it has turned out great! The staff members, and the counselors especially, have really bonded with each other. Weekends at Trout are tons of fun. Some of the activities so far have included a girls' movie night with funfetti cake, driving two hours to get to Chipotle, and seeing Transformers 2. We are still planning on a cliff-jumping trip and possibly another journey to Chipotle.

So that's been my summer so far! I also had a week of training at the beginning, in case you are wondering why my summer has only been three weeks long...it hasn't...it's been four. I head back up to Trout on Sunday morning, hopefully well-rested and refreshed. Even though a break is nice, I definitely miss Trout. This is my 13th summer being at Trout in some capacity, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

-Jojo

SCHOOL'S OUT FOR THE SUMMER!

And we all went out separate ways. I, Brenna, am back home in sunny San Diego. Kenny is home in Santa Rosa. Whilst Jojie is at camp in trout, being the shortest and best counselor ever.
Kelsey is..... at home? I noticed she went on an adventure, she's probably at her new pad by now.
So, we all moved out of our beloved First East. Kelsey is living in a house next year. Kenny, Jojo, and I are living on HUSH (hidden under south hope).
So we're on first south now?
As far as the rest of our summer plans go. Jojo is, as I already said, at camp.
Kenny is home, working at the wee shop down the street and baking delicious things that she will be forced to remake once we all get back to school :]
I am working as well. I got a job working at the same theatre my dad works for. Lamb's Players Theatre. I'm the assistant stage manager for the musical The Fantasticks. So I do follow spots in the grid up above the audience, and run down to the pit below the stage to set up the trap door several times throughout one show. And in between that I'm setting up the props making sure everything is where it needs to be. It's hectic at times, and tiring because of running all over the world, but fun.
I'm planning on visiting Kenny in Santa Rosa for her birthday at the beginning of August, and I am very excited.
But what of Nunu? what are her plans for the summer?
Well, all I know is that she'll be coming' down my way for a few days!!!!! :D
I don't know why, but I do know that I wont let her leave San Diego without getting a hugemongus hug from me.

That's all I know as far a summer updates. Maybe I'll get a few facts wrong or leave out some kind of awesomeness and force the others to update themselves :]
but for now, it's just me bringing you greetings from Southern California.

-Brenna Kathleen