Hmm.

Returning to Richmond after a weekend at home is always so anti-climactic. Even if all I did all weekend was sleep
listen to music with Dad and Gray
hit the Gym with Gray
eat Halloween Candy
Trunk-or-Treat
sleep some more
organize the little kid clothes buckets
give haircuts
do a little driving
and figure out my classes for next semester with the pops.

Weekends are always way too short.

Harrison's Text

This morning after I got home from crew practice I had a text message from Harrison (using mom's phone):

"Hey this is Harrison I wanted to tell you that I'm the only sixth grader to have a 100 in science my actual grade is 101 percent. In math I have a 95, in band and PE I have a 100, in English I have a 96, and a 98 in intro tech."

I think it's awesome that Harrison sent me that text message. Way to represent the Kemmey name, Harrison. My favorite part was "my actual grade is 101 percent." He already knows that every point counts! But in all seriousness, he's doing an awesome job in middle school, no surprise, and he's setting a great example for all his siblings!

Just a cute picture of Harrison

Another Birthday!

Today is Suzanne's 16th Birthday! Happy, happy Birthday! We have plans to do some celebrating tonight with Suzanne and some of her friends, and I am pretty excited. But first, some facts about Suzanne:

Suzanne loves her sleep. Last year after school, and many days (I hear) of this school year, Suzanne comes home, plops on the couch or in her bed, and snores away. She really does snore, too. But I come home from class sometimes and just sleep, so it's totally acceptable. I don't think Suzanne is getting as good of a rest each night, however, because I no longer live in the same room with her. She really was saddened that we wouldn't be permanent roommates any longer when I left, but she's making it through alright :).


Suzanne has a deep love for little kids, and connects with almost all little kids very easily. She wants to involve them in many aspects of her life, both as a mother and right now she is thinking of either being a teacher or running her own daycare. She will succeed at all three if that's what she wanted to do! She is really patient with Ryan, and helps him with his Kindergarten homework.


Suzanne is spontaneous and spirited, making her more unique! One of my favorite things is that she dies her hair. We've died it red, strawberry blonde, dark brown, light brown, etc. It sets her apart as her own person, which is always important when there are so many people in the house!


Suzanne is a social butterfly. She's always doing things with friends or making plans. She has developed some really close friendships with some really awesome people.


She doesn't mind taking some pretty dumb pictures together. Case in point.


Suzanne is now 16! (Group) Dating age in our house. Watch out, Dad.


Suzanne is a great swimmer. My favorite stroke to see her swim is butterfly, which she is awesome at. It's such a hard stroke, but she's awesome at it.

Technically freestyle, but still good

She's a total dork 99% of the time.


Suzanne gets me hooked on tons of dumb tv series on Netflix that are actually pretty awesome, but a waste of time. Army Wives, Psych, Ugly Betty (I gave her so much crap for watching this show... then I started watching it myself and got completely hooked), etc. She should watch Monk, though. She says it is boring, which is just downright preposterous.


Suzanne once fought with me over a toothbrush, and we ended up having the kitchen for an entire month. Seriously, a toothbrush. I will remember that incident forever, because I couldn't believe we got the worst punishment in the entire house over a dumb toothbrush.


When we were little, we shared a room in King George. I remember getting so mad at her once because she made a huge mess and I had to pick it up after school. In high school, that flipped. I became to horrible messy sister and she was the one always picking junk up. I wonder how clean Suzanne's room is these days now that I'm not there.


Alrighty, enough fun facts and stories about Suzanne. Happy Birthday!!! Love you!

Monday Night

Monday night I texted Mom a picture of what I was doing for the night:

studying for a chem exam

Mom replied with a picture of what she was doing for her Monday night:

driving all around town

Fun fun fun

Weekend Happenings

This past weekend wasn't too bad. Friday night was pretty fun, and then Saturday was just busy! On Friday, the On Your Own Workout for crew was to row a 10K, which takes somewhere around 45-55 minutes. Rowing alone stinks, so I met up with two other girls in my boat to row the 10K. It took me about 49 minutes. Regardless, after we were all finished, we decided to go out to dinner. Melissa and Hayley (the girls in my boat) are both sophomores, so we rode in one of their cars. We went to Plaza Azteca, which is one of my favorite Mexican places. When we go to Grandma's house in Virginia Beach, we often go there. I had no idea there was a Plaza in Richmond, so I was excited!

Melissa, Hayley, and me

My dinner: chicken enchiladas with beans and rice. Yum!

We had the guacamole cart come and make fresh guacamole. I love guacamole, and it was so good!

After dinner I came back stuffed and just went up to my room. I figured after a week of letting everything slip right by, I should probably clean it up. With crew and homework and the gym, etc... sometimes I just throw things and go! Bad habit, but oh well. I finally washed my pile of dishes next to my sink as well.

Lots of dirt gets tracked in from my tennis shoes each morning after getting back from the boat house! I mopped the floor because there was still a film of dirt over the floor.

I wiped everything down, put stuff away, cleaned my desk, and then headed to bed.

Saturday morning I had a Leadership Academy I had to attend because I am the Director of Records (essentially a secretary and treasurer combo) for my residence hall. It lasted from 9am until 1, but it wasn't bad. They fed us pizza from a local pizza place for lunch, which was okay. Not a big pizza fan, but it wasn't bad. Not nearly as good as the homemade pizzas we make at home, however.

A portion of West Grace's Hall Council!

Me and Sidrah

After Leadership Academy, I headed over to the G.W. Carver Elementary School in Richmond, which is about 10 minutes walking distance from VCU. There is a program called "Carver Promise" that pairs up students with a mentor. The mentors go over to the school one hour each week and work with the student one-on-one, offering friendship, help, encouragement, etc. 98% of the students in this elementary school live in subsidized housing, where the annual average income is only $8,000 per year. All the kids at the school receive free lunches. There is definitely need for service in this area, and I'm excited to start. I go over on Thursday for the first time.


After I got back from the Carver Training, I texted Mom just telling her that I was done and that I was watching General Conference. She asked me if I wanted to come home, so I did! She quickly hurried down the interstate and picked me up for a night! I love being close enough to escape Richmond very easily. Unless I have specific things planned, like training or some service thing, etc, I get bored very easily. Nothing much to do! I wasn't supposed to go home in October until the 19th, but that quickly changed ;).