Nature Calls

Hiking

My husband and I are currently living with his very loving and supporting parents in Sulphur, awaiting orders to move to Goodfellow AFB in Texas! Since we've been here we have re-kindled our love for nature and being healthy. We both love being outdoors, but with the 100+ degree heat we plan our time outside carefully. We live five minutes from the Lake of the Arbuckles and twenty minutes away from the Chickasaw National Park. The park has numerous challenging hiking trails, a chilly creek that is perfect for swimming and a wonderful lake that features a 3-mile cemented running path around it. Every week we usually run 12 miles, hike 6 miles and bike 16 miles. With my in-laws and I on weight watchers, we've all been very conscious about what we eat and focused on everything having a nutritive purpose. This new love affair with mother nature makes us feel stronger, but also has given our minds a much needed reprieve. We've even inspired my in-laws to start bike riding again, which has led to all of us exercising together 2-3 times a week. Even though October can't come soon enough, it will be a little sad saying goodbye to the mountains, hiking trails and lakes!

Baby You're A Firework

I love that time of the year when for two weeks I smell everyday of gunpowder and sweat, spend hours outside selling my expertise on the knowledge of firepower, and guzzle up to 120 ounces of water a day. Firework Selling Season!  My uncle owns the stand and has had me selling fireworks since I was about twelve years old. I absolutely love it. I love the manual labor of hauling boxes, working outside and playing saleswoman. The best part is seeing and working with family that I haven't seen since Christmas. One of the benefits of working there for so long is knowing everything there is to know about fireworks, still deciding what to do with all this now useless knowledge stored in my head!

Sadly, this is my last year to work with the family.  I had the opportunity to live in Enid with my parents for 2.5 weeks, and focus on working the stand. Every 4th of July the average person usually cooks out, relaxes and shoots off fireworks. My normal 4th of July is working a 12 hours shift in the heat, and catching tidbits of the local displays in the distance. Wouldn't trade it for a thing. I have had some amazing times, great memories and made some great money! Even though I will always miss the stand every year at this time, we're definitely looking forward to next year engaging in a normal 4th of July!