The Epitome of Summer Days

Last Saturday, Nate and I combined all the best parts of summer into one fantastic day. The only unfortunate thing is that I didn't get any photos.

Early in the morning, before the day got hot, we ventured out with friends from our ward and went blackberry picking. Long rows of berries stretched out before us, waiting only to be discovered. Conversations floated along easily, as the buckets filled and the sun slowly rose higher.

In the afternoon, Nate, my sister, and I along with some friends went to the Blue Bell Taste of Summer festival. Blue Bell is a regional brand of ice cream and they have a local factory. Every year on the last Saturday in June they host a party with all-you-can-eat ice cream. However, I've lived here almost my whole life and never been. It was awesome. By the time we arrived at the festival, at 11am the day was already turning into a scorcher. There was ice cream, local musicians performing, factory tours, ice cream eating contests for all ages 5yrs - adult, games for little kids, and the fire department even opened up a hydrant to help everyone keep cool. Altogether, I tried 7 different flavors in the hour and a half that we were there: Triple Caramel, Strawberry, Rainbow Sherbert, Moo-lenium Crunch (vanilla with almonds, pecans, chocolate and butterscotch pieces), Chocolate Covered Cherry, Dutch Chocolate, and Turtle.

We finished out the day splashing in the pool and taking it easy. What a perfect summer day!

The House Where Deb Lives

First, thanks for all the birthday wishes. I had a wonderful 23rd birthday yesterday. Except for Rachel and Steve, my whole family was there and it was lovely.

We've been in my good old hometown in Oklahoma for about two weeks now and my parents have wasted no time in putting us to work. But nonetheless, I am going to attempt to be more active in writing. So, since as much as I'd like you all to, most of you will probably not get to come and visit Oklahoma (one of the more beautiful and under-appreciated states); here is a virtual tour of my childhood home.

home, sweet home

This is our front entry.
It doesn't always look like this, however due to a recent flurry of this activity...

it has become the work whereby Nate and I earn our keep.


Immediately to the left is the dining room.


Up the stairs we go to my room when I was growing up, which is no longer a bedroom

Then on to the largest room that for a time my sisters and I all shared, except for Bug - spoiled from the beginning. Just kidding, she was still a baby.


Back downstairs, there is the closet under the stairs where we keep our camping gear. This is where I had my secret club meetings when I was little. I think our club membership maxed out at three people (you can't fit many more into that little closet anyway).


The living room, complete with Mom taking a snooze:


And the kitchen with Nate studying away at his statistics reading on summer vacation.


Finally, the place that I spent by far the most time in the summers while growing up and the grand finale of our tour, the back yard.

Well Katie, and all you others who are secretly wishing that you could spend your summer vacations in Oklahoma, I hope you feel at home in my home now.

Ready or Not, Here We Go!

The last few weeks have been quite the whirlwind: Nate's graduation, moving out of our apartment, my best friend's wedding, spending a week in Boise with family, another week in Montana with more family, etc. We've been having a fantastic time and I can't believe we still have a week left before we head for home.

Nate has been officially accepted to the Nutrition program at the University of Hawaii and offered a teaching assistantship that will waive his tuition and offer a small stipend. It is such a blessing to have that support from the school. I don't know how we would have managed without it. We purchased our tickets today to move out there and will be flying out to Honolulu on July 22. We ship boxes there tomorrow - thanks Josh and Julie for letting us send you our stuff! Even with all of this it all seems surreal. I suppose it won't seem real until I look out the plane window and see somthing like this:


or walk down the street to enjoy a scene like this one:


I think I can handle the change.
Come and visit!
Aloha!

Developing Talents

Since graduating from college, it's amazing how much free time I have. I work full-time, but just the fact that I don't have any homework to do or tests to study for is amazing. I've always thought that people who could draw or paint were brilliant and secretly I wanted to be one of them. But, I had to content myself with other things because, I told myself, I just didn't have the gift.

Then I watched my second graders paint. None of them are child prodigies, but they paint with freedom, confidence and delight. I figured, if they can do it, so can I. So, I took myself down to the public library and checked out some books on sketching. I bought several different kinds of sketching pencils and erasers and started reading. Soon I was ready to draw my first drawing, so I hunted around the apartment for something classy enough to be drawn as a still life. I set a few things out on the counter - an empty bottle, a canister and an apple, carefully selected from our fridge for its roundness and evenness - and left for work planning to come back that evening, arrange the objects and begin. When I came home however, the apple was gone. My husband had eaten my still life!

We had another well-shaped apple, so all was not lost, and here is the result:




And and for an exercise in perspective, some geometric shapes. Drawing #2:

The Joy of Cooking

Some of you may be familiar with the famous cookbook The Joy of Cooking. It is actually more of a recipe book and cooking encyclopedia combined. I got one for Nate for Valentine's Day when we were engaged and we have loved using it to cook together.




Imagine our surprise when we saw this at the grocery store:


Frozen dinners made by the Joy of Cooking. How about the joy of eating others' cooking?

April Fools!

Here's a taste of April Fool's Day at an elementary school:

"There's a spider on your head!"

"Really? Where? Get it off! AHHHH!"

"April Fools!" dissolving into riotous laughter.

I heard this one about 10 times today and believe it or not, it only got funnier.

Haircut Woes

About a month ago I got about 12 inches cut off my hair. I love the rejuvenating feeling of being free from my long locks. To add even more good feelings, I donated my ponytail to Locks of Love. They make hair pieces for kids who have lost all of their hair due to illness or disease.

Me and my nephew at Christmas

Just after the haircut

The change was pretty dramatic and some of the kids I work with had a hard time adjusting to my new look, especially the boys. Here are just a few of the many comments that I got from the boys I work with:

Shocked, "Mrs. Black, why did you cut your hair!?"

"Mrs. Black! When I saw you, I thought you were a boy!"

"Why would you do that?!"

"Mrs. Black why did you cut your hair?"
me -"I like it this way."
"Man, you must be on crack!"

"Mrs. Black, you look like a boy now!"
me sarcastically - "Thank you."
"Why do you think that's a compliment?"
me - "I'm trying not to respond rudely."
(This boy had a particularly hard time and we had this conversation every day for a week.)

These comments have gradually subsided and thankfully, I don't base my self-confidence on the opinions of 8 year-olds.