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Kristen's mother, Lisa Hallberg, said she hopes others will learn something from her daughter's death and always wear a seat belt.

A memorial service is scheduled at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday at Calvary Chapel Menifee on Scott Road. Doors will open at 3 p.m., her family said.

Kristen had attended church at Calvary Chapel Menifee the morning before the 2 p.m. July 25 crash. Kristen had spent late morning and early afternoon at her dad's house and was on her way back home to her mom's Sun City home to do homework when she crashed, her parents said.

"She and I sat down for about an hour (before she left the house) and talked about life and how things were going ---- just father-daughter stuff," Kristen's father, Mark Thrasher, said Monday. "That was fairly unusual. ... I'm so glad we got a chance to do that."

Kristen had two families ---- both her father and mother remarried ---- and they gathered at her mother's house Monday.

She was a cheerleader and loved the beach, motocross and riding dirt bikes. While she grew up a tomboy, her teen years brought the blossoming of a beautiful girl with a creative side who always strived to help others, her family said. They said Kristen was a teen who held high moral standards.

Kristen was being home-schooled and was set to return to Paloma Valley High this month, Lisa Hallberg said. Kristen also held part-time jobs at a clothing store at The Promenade mall and a pizza restaurant in Murrieta, but she still found plenty of time for family or friends if they needed her, her family said.

"She was always the first to help anyone who asked," her mother said.

"She'd do anything for anybody at anytime," he older sister, 19-year-old Marisa, added.

Words like magnetic, playful, energetic and glowing were used as her family told stories about Kristen.

"She made more friends in her 17 years than I've had in my 47 years ---- or would have if I live to be 90," her father said.

Kristen's stepfather, Dave Hallberg, recalled counting 15 different friends he'd never heard of before in one week who either called or came by to talk to Kristen.

"And these were true friends. She just touched so many lives," he said.

That can be seen on a sign placed at a makeshift memorial near where Kristen crashed. The large sign has little room left for more heartfelt comments and is surrounded by flowers, stuffed animals and candles.

Touching lives started early for Kristen. One of those at the Hallberg home Monday was Kristen's third-grade teacher, Dolores Vasquez.

"She was a spunky kid, adamant about what was right and wrong even back then," Vasquez said. "She had such a vivacious personality."

She said she last talked to Kristen about three years ago.

"As a teacher, you have hundreds and hundreds of kids come through your life. Kristen was one of those rare ones you just always remember," she said.

Family members all agreed when Bethany Thrasher, Kristen's stepmother, said, "She had a spirit in her that you'd just want to bottle up if you could. The room would seem empty then after she left."

Family members said their faith in God helps them remain confident she is in a better place now.

"We cry for our loss," her older sister, Marisa, said, "but the loss for this world is a gain for heaven."

Kristen's family said they feel blessed they had a chance to say goodbye to her over the six days she was hospitalized.

Family and friends crowded a waiting room at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley day after day, praying for a recovery.

When they would talk to Kristen, though unconscious, her heart and blood pressure rates would increase, her father said. "I know she was hearing us. God gave us more time with her," he added.

"All my life, I've prayed and thanked God for her," her father said. "That whole time, I knew she was just on loan to us. You just hope sometimes that the loan isn't called in so early."