texas is pretty fun, i guess.

you can't really go wrong with:

celebrating belated birthdays.

introducing your pets and having everyone on edge except logan who is allwayyys like "whatevers!"

sending your man off to his first day at the university!

seeing twins loving each other.

THIS. JUST THIS.
(i got the photo in a text)

crazy chickens in the house.

you can kind of go wrong with getting rained out from tubing down the comal river in new braunfels. we lasted a good 45 minutes before the rain started coming down so hard it felt like nails on my back/shoulders. also, i did wear a swimsuit it just looks like i didn't.

you can also kind of go wrong with going downtown for a boat tour down the riverwalk but getting rained out of that too. it still made for a fun and pretty night at the riverwalk. 

i could argue that there is nothing wrong with this picture, but i think alex and kathy would disagree. "we" poured cement for the chicken coup and almost everyone got soaked with cement. i'm sure i would have been soaked with cement too, had they let me help to my full potential.

you can definitely not go wrong with getting marine corps awards even though you are out of the marine corps.

the sunsets haven't been anything toooo crazy, but i did appreciate it this night. no matter where i am, sunsets always remind me of my dear friend katie.

you can't go wrong with a beautiful day on canyon lake. orrr

with facetiming your dad on his birthday and seeing this hanging into the shot.

pouting at work. (or can you?)

having four dogs. (logan needs the most work, but jade, who is not pictured, comes in at a close second.)

WITH SEGWAYING. ANYTIME, ANYWHERE.

all of us at the texas state capitol in austin, tx.

and i mean that. if you've never segwayed, you need to search groupon extensively until you find a segway tour near you. it was the best thing i've ever done in my life and i can't decide what is funnier: 

me infuriating jon by circling him over and over anytime we stopped

or

alex tipping over on the segway (which the tour guide said was impossible), getting back on and tipping right back over again.   

alex: "I'm sorry, sir. I don't know what happened."

tour guide: "I don't know what happened either, but i do know you and your sister have been messing around this entire time and I haven't said anything."

'your sister' is me and he's right- we were messing around the entire time and no, he didn't say anything. best night!

i'm not mad about exploring the 10 acres that make up the hagerman compound with alex even though we almost tipped, but don't tell anyone. i guess being around children causes me to revert in maturity.
(jon didn't witness this, thankfully)

i'm mad but strangely comforted by this image.
seriously zombies, just go somewhere else.

i am furious about this room, but it's made so much progress.

see?:

i could be upset by working in the food industry still, but i'm actually not. it pays way more than panera bread did and it's much more fun. (although i miss mendez.) and i never leave feeling like i need my entire body sanitized, which is a big bonus. i work with my sister in law kaitlyn and work both in the store and on the pizza truck.

there is absolutely nothing wrong with swimming in pretty lake travis before ziplining thousands of feet with your fun family in austin.

or working on a pizza truck. the best part about this is sweating gallons upon gallons. its like being in a sauna or doing bikram yoga with pizza and without yoga. it sounds awful but it's actually quite nice.

(i am pictured, talking business (pay) with the owner of the store and truck. he's also the chef.)

i can say there is nothing wrong with going to the horse races but i can't, with confidence, say there is nothing wrong with gambling and especially gambling for your 20 year old sister and 16 year old brother who aren't of age yet. fortunately, we all came out on top!
(and no, i'm not addicted, but i can't say that with confidence either.)

can i leave you with two pictures? one of my cooped up cat who found the only open window in the entire house and one of my dog who unmistakably resembles the dog from Up. 

i'm pretty happy here, it has been an awesome 3.5 weeks so far. we've vacationed here so many times that it felt like another vacation for the first few weeks. it's starting to feel a little bit more legitimate that we are actual texas residents who have jobs here and go to school. it is weird, but i am loving it!

(and so is logan, but that's obvious!)

the big M.

M is for Move.

we did it. we really did it.

the day after my dads party we packed up our cars with belongings, a cat, two dogs and a little brother and left bright and early with Salina, KS in our sights! 

we decided to take the scenic route since alex hadn't been to wyoming or colorado and none of us had been to kansas or oklahoma. it was so so so worth it. we made a quick stop at little america for ice cream and made our way to colorado. wyoming was surprisingly pretty and i especially loved the billowy clouds there.  

colorado was sooooooo pretty! it is hard to decide if it was my favorite part of the trip, but it was definitely one of them. we drove down through (around) denver and over into kansas. we were right behind a rain storm and it was perfect because everything was so GREEN and the skies looked amazing. this picture doesn't do it justice, but i knew none of them would so i just admired it as alex drove. the colors were all so vivid, alex and i couldn't stop talking about how beautiful it was.

we amazingly made it to salina, kansas in one day. it was almost two in the morning by the time we got the dogs and cat settled in the hotel room and everyone in bed. we all slept really well, but woke up bright and early to two happy doggies! 

soon after leaving salina the next morning, we started seeing signs for a swedish town called Lindsborg. we obviously had to stop and i am so glad we did! it was the most adroable little town and we (especially jon) love allll things swedish! we purchased some swedish themed books, cards and pictures for our future home.

tomten heaven.

you guys have no idea how pretty kansas is. or do you? i shouldn't speak for you, but SERIOUSLY-i want to move there. the sky was so blue and the green fields went on for miles. there were trees every once in awhile and silos here and there. someday i will live there and be very happy.

we got out on the border of kansas and oklahoma to take pictures at both signs and let the dogs run free. sooo pretty, right? the dogs loved running around and it looked so funny to see them bobbing up and down in the tall grass. it was all fun and games (literally) until i found a tick on me as we drove away, stopped the car and jumped out to get it off of me only to find that i couldn't see him anywhere and then a day later had jon search me and discover a real live tick sucking my blood on my back. disgusting. 

oklahoma was a short drive, although we did make a quick detour through Moore where the tornado hit. jon was uncomfortable with driving around looking at other peoples misfortune but i didn't see it like that. i wanted to see the damage mother nature is capable of and it was shocking and really sad. we didn't stay long.

our new home.

bandit was so over this.

BBQ in forth worth, tx!

a couple hours from home i put bandit in the large dog kennel and let logan ride up front with me. i think everyone was happy except me who had to smell logan and his breath the entire rest of the way (he got a bath our first morning in texas).

1,658 miles later, we finally made it to the hagerman compound! i've never been so happy to see such a beautiful house! we made it at about midnight on saturday, june 8th. i can't believe it's already been three weeks! we are slowly but surely adjusting and are so excited for our next adventures...