the lonestar state.

here we are! we flew to san antonio, tx last week to visit jon's side of the family. we've been here for a week and we leave today. it's gone by way too fast. 

we are currently trying to figure out where we are going to go when jon gets out of the marine corps. utah?? texas?? it is a very difficult decision, there are so many pros to both places. 

anyway, jon has applied for schools both in texas and salt lake to help with our decision. 

john, my FIL, took us directly to the university of texas san antonio campus to check it out when he picked us up from the airport last thursday. it was a nice school and we're glad we got to see it. i'm not sure if jon's obssed with it...we're still waiting to see if he's been approved or denied. 

here he is on campus!

(my dad went to GW, he got that shirt for jon when we were all visiting DC)

(fun sidenote: the UTSA mascot is a roadrunner. i'd never seen one before...until a few days later when i saw TWO! they are pretty cute!) 

jon's step mom, kathy, made him one of his favorite cakes: dirt cake! he was so happy. and so was i, since i've never had one so perfected. 

my in-laws got a horse last november. since then, kathy has started taking horse lessons and they decided to put an arena in their backyard for both her and kaitlyn. the arena was just recently finished and it is so nice! we've been spending lots of time out there on Lace. 

lace is an ex-race horse. he's never jumped before. kaitlyn has started teaching him first by going over poles. kathy painted those poles! 

they put their trailer down by the arena as a tack room. John made those jump stands from scratch. and there is one of their dogs, jaz. she is the happiest dog i've ever seen in my whole life! she never stops smiling, it is so adorable.

remember when i wrote about this staircase? well, here is the human staircase that takes you up to the attic above the garage. no handrail. so hilarious! it doesn't look high, but it's actually really scary to walk up there and not have the comfort and security of a handrail. 

i helped kathy a little bit with the weeds. we piled them into the 4-wheeler trailer and hauled them to the front of the house where kathy has a burn pile. their house and property is really nice, they have a pretty good set up! you can see the pool, trampoline, 4 wheeler and a little bit of the arena here. and the big puffy clouds. 5 pro's in one picture! 

on friday, we went to the Beethoven Maennerchor "promoting german music, language, and culture in San Antonio" for a german fest! jon's parents lived in germany with the air force for three years, that is where he was born!! so it has a soft spot in their hearts. they love the culture and the food and it turns out that i do too! we ate potato salad, bratwurst with sauerkraut, a ruben sandwich, etc. jon and his dad ate until there was literally room for no more. 

while we ate, we listened to the most adorable german family band play. i was swooning over the guitarist who must have been at least 12. their mother was the biggest fan in the audience.

after the germanfest, we went directly to PBR!! (i obviously didn't wear pants and cowboy boots to germany...i changed in the car) i have wanted to go to a rodeo or something so bad lately, and what better place to enjoy something like this than texas! 

here they are-pregaming and getting the audience riled up. it was such a fun experience! it was kind of stressful to watch their frail bodies on the backs of the bulls, but really cool at the same time-they are seasoned. we even sat behind a mother of one of the riders! she was so nervous to see her son come out and ride, he did good and moved on to the next round where he didn't do as good. i wanted him to win. i felt like i knew him because for some reason the mom was reading all of her texts to/from him from the past four months and i read them all over her shoulder. nice guy. 

jon took some cute pictures of me after PBR wearing my sister-in-laws cowboy boots. he says i look like a southern belle.
that man! 

saturday morning, kathy and i woke up early to ride. it gets so hot here that you have to either ride bright and early, or at night right before the sun goes down. here is the finished arena! it's surrounded by trees, so it's actually relatively cool.  

that night, we went to the point truck park and ate. kaitlyn works at stout's pizza, and their truck was parked there. it was really cute! they had live music and a little art museum. as we were leaving, it started to lightening. it rained pretty steadily throughout the night which was good for them since it's been so dry.   

lace enjoyed rolling in the mud...

jon's grandparents live right next door! john built their house and they've been living there for about 5 years or so. they are the cutest and funniest old couple. jon and i like going over there to hear the old stories they tell us. grandma used to help her step-dad (i think) herd cattle on the back of the horse. i asked her if she liked it and she said she didn't like it, but she didn't hate it either. it was like waking up the morning, you just did it. grandpa bob found a mustang out in the wild and tamed her (he grew up in fillmore, utah). i asked him what her name was and he said he just called her 'old gal'. he would herd cattle with her, but they'd also ride up the mountains and camp and things like that. they have such interesting stories, its nice to just sit and chat and get to know them a little bit better. grandma is a spitfire, and bob is literally the sweetest man you've ever met. they compliment each other nicely. 

we've been having a blast here in SA! i'm excited to see my little kitty and plants, but it's always sad to leave here.