10 Things I Like About Summers in Texas

1.  Air conditioning

2.  Traveling to cooler places

3.  Cars with air conditioning

4.  Swimming pools

5.  Thermostats set to 75

6.  Ice cream

7.  Reading books in  air-conditioning

8.  Long, lazy summer nights

9.  Stores with air conditioning

10. Summer rainstorms

Indianapolis

The Drive

Some things I learned or remembered about car trips:

1. Texas is a very big state
2. Books on CD are a wonderful thing
3. Books on CD are even better when you've ripped them all and have them stored on your compact 30-gig Zune
4. When you drink a lot, you have to stop a lot
5. After a 13-hour drive on day one, an eight-hour drive on day two feels like not much
6. It is nice to let your dad do most of the driving while you take cozy naps in the passenger seat
7. I don't like Motel 6
8. Earplugs make sharing a motel room with a snorer a much more pleasant experience

The Arrival

Not ours, hers.  We were able to visit Spencer, Lila, and Miriam in the hospital the evening we got into Indianapolis and the day Miriam was born.  Miriam was, of course, all soft and cuddly and melt-your-heart newborn.  She had an amazingly round head and nice skin for being less than a day old.   I've seen quite a few shortly after arrival and they are usually all splotchy with funny shaped heads--in an adorable sort of way of course.  Lila was amazingly cheerful--much more amiable than I would have been after a long night with no sleep.  Spencer was as happy as I've seen him.  They'll make great parents.

 

The Robinsons

We enjoyed playing with Michelle and Eliza and the Robinson Clan.  They are fun kids with unique abilities.  We played games, read books, swung on the swing set, told stories,  painted toes, played basketball, got wet at the sprinkler park, had a picnic, grilled pizza, and otherwise had fun family time. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Isn't This Working?

I've returned from trip number one.  It was enjoyable and I will be doing more posts about the various sites.  But until then, hopefully these little tidbits will keep you eager with anticipation.

 

Today, I was trying to upload  the pictures I had taken on my trip from my camera to use in my posts, so I plugged in my card reader and nothing happened.  Usually, Photoshop automatically opens.  Then I opened Photoshop.  Still, it did not ask to import my pictures.  "What's the deal?" I wondered.  Next I tried to manually import the pictures.  It wouldn't read my card.  "Why isn't this thing working?"  I tried to access it several more ways...nothing!  I was starting to get frustrated.  Then it dawned on me--I hadn't put the memory card in the card reader.  So I muttered my favorite expletive, "idiot," and went to go get my card out of my camera.  Amazing how it all worked like it was supposed to after that!  Ironically, minutes after that I succumbed to one of those online IQ tests which measured my IQ at 145.  Good thing they didn't ask me how a card reader works!

 

One of the first things I did was go check on my garden.  A big thanks to my mom, who kept it watered.  I picked three ginormous cucumbers.  One was 14 inches long!  I also picked several tomatoes and am anxiously awaiting several cantaloupe (which I thought was yellow squash when I planted it) and zucchini.

Girl's Camp 2008

Well, it was another fun year at Girl's Camp--hot, definitely unseasonably hot--but fun nonetheless. 

 

We were one of the smallest wards with only seven girls, but we let our presence be known.

 

 

 

Back Row:  Megan Sawyer, Monica Sawyer, Me, Hannah Brown, Charly Allred, Paydon Hatch

Front Row: Sharon Machada, Bretta Weatherholtz, Janine Loppe, Amy Bagley

 

There were the usual arts and crafts and swimming and tubing down the river. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were also games of Big Bootie, Four-On-A-Bench, Sally Walker, Scum and more every night--favorites of the leaders and the girls.

 

We had stake cooks so we didn't have to cook over fires in the heat.  We spent a lot of time telling the girls to DRINK WATER!  and most did well--only a couple cases of heat exhaustion and nothing serious.

 

One of the most memorable experiences was tug-o-war on the first night.  Can you see the anchor on the end there?  That's Bretta Weatherholtz for those of you who know her.  When her team won unbeknownst to the other team, her team stopped pulling but the other side kept going.  I don't know if you can see it in the picture, but she was inside the loop.  When the resistance was gone, she went flying and bounced along in the dirt.  We were all worried that she was really injured, but nothing serious happened.  She got the wind knocked out of her, a mouthful of dirt, and one of the lenses on her glasses popped out.  When we ascertained that she was really okay, we spent the rest of the evening giggling.  The stake theme was Steadfast and Immovable (Mosiah 5:15) and our ward theme was Anchored in Christ.  You can imagine the fun we had with our tug-o-war anchor not being steadfast or immovable.

 

 

On the last night, I gave them some glow sticks which had glasses frames and rabbit ear frames along with a scripture from Isaiah 60:1-2

1 ^aArise, shine; for thy ^blight is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

  2 For, behold, the ^adarkness shall cover the earth, and gross ^bdarkness the people: but the Lord shall ^carise upon thee, and his ^dglory shall be seen upon thee.

 

They had much fun and a restless night. 

And what Girl's Camp would be complete without the good natured pranks?  We won't talk about the mean leaders who kidnapped their make-up and left them a ransom note.  (They had to earn their scripture bead by reciting the camp theme scripture from memory or never see their make-up again)  Oh and there might have been something about those same mean leaders Saran-Wrapping them into their cabin.

 

It only took me a three-hour nap on Saturday, nine hours of sleep Saturday night, and another two-hour nap today to be almost caught up from the sleep deprivation.  And tomorrow I'm off again to Indiana and then western NY. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Scent of Summer

Well, I've decided to join the blogging world now that I have something to write about and pictures to post. Girl's Camp and my travels should give me plenty of ammo. I'm planning on buying a laptop so I can post regularly on all my trips. I'm very excited about my travel plans for the summer and look forward to seeing everyone. In case you haven't heard, here is my schedule:

June 10th-14th          Girl's Camp
June 16th-18th          Indiana
June 19th-26th          Canisteo, NY
July 2nd-10th            San Diego, CA
July 11-18th                San Luis Obisbo, CA
July 19th-Aug 2nd   UT
Aug 4th-Aug6th        Teach a workshop on Dramatism
Aug 10th-Aug17th    San Diego, CA
Aug 18th-                      School starts again!

But until then, my pride and joy this year has been my garden.

 

See how beautiful it is? I've gotten a few cucumbers, several tomatoes, and some cherry tomatoes. I even saw a squash growing yesterday. It's too bad I won't be around to enjoy it much. Hopefully others will eat the produce.

I also really love this plant called the Texas Bleeding Heart:

 

 

My hibiscus:

And my orchid:

 

I know--I'm turning into mom with the writing-about-my-plants thing. I see now why she does it. There is a great satisfaction that comes from seeing and eating the fruits of your labor.