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!)

last few days in texas.

we've been home from texas for a few weeks now, but i still want to write about the last couple days there. we had such a fine time, i don't want to forget any of it. 

of course, we spent more time riding Lace. he is an off the track (OTT) thoroughbred. he is really pretty and fun (challenging for me) to ride!

it was so awesome having the arena just yards from the house. it made riding very convenient. 

later that day, the whole family went to the natural bridge caverns. i had no idea what to expect, but it was really cool! there were two caverns that a tour guide took us through. the pictures really don't capture the beauty. the rooms were HUGE down there!

we thought those things hanging down looked like jelly fish. the stalactite's and stalagmite's and other formations looked so different from each other. it reminded me of being under water with coral reef, plants and creatures.

that's a scary mask, bro...

here is a picture from the entrance of one of the caverns. you can see the railing going all the way down there, that gives you an idea of how big the caverns were. my butt was sore the next day from walking up and down so many stairs! in the second cave, when we got to the very bottom, we all sat down on benches. then our tour guide informed us that we were about to experience total darkness. we all turned off our cell phones and he turned off his flash light. it was complete and utter darkness. darkness that you can't experience in many other places. it weirded me out so bad! my eyes were playing tricks on me, making me think that i could see the ceiling, or see jon's knee next to mine. he told us that if we were in utter darkness for 6 hours or more, our eyes would not continue to work and we'd be permanently blinded!! my father in law was very doubtful of this statement, but who knows...i just know that i don't want to find out from experience.

this is the natural bridge. that's where the caverns get their name.

i took a picture of this fern and sent it to my sister, katie, saying "one day!"
she and i have both been paying extra close attention to our ferns...we are hoping that one day they will look as happy and healthy and this one does!...they just need some time.

jon, katilyn and i went to the mall that night. it was called the shops at la cantera and it was really nice! it reminded me a lot of fashion valley mall here, or a fuse between the gateway and city creek. we got there at dusk, which is my favorite time of day. it was fun to be out and about in san antonio with jon's little sister.

thursday was lake day!!! i love boating so much, so i was really looking forward to this trip. the dogs were moping around all morning. they knew that we were packing up the boat and that they weren't invited. right before we left, we decided that it would be alright if they came. kathy looked at them and asked if they wanted to come to the lake and got their leashes-THEY WERE SO EXCITED. i could not believe how receptive they were. they jumped in the car and sat so still. when we were two turns away from the lake (the lake was literally not in view) they both started whining. they knew that we were almost there. it was the cutest and weirdest thing! 

jon told me to do something funny, so i did a really cute (...) dance and he took a picture. i thought for sure it was a video, but nope. not sure what my thumbs are up to.

we got there bright and early, and the water was perfect for wake boarding. john, kathy and i were the only ones who attempted it. jonathan and kaitlyn just watched...and slept. 

i can't get enough of this! this dog loves the water so much. 

see how much fun we are having, doing tricks and things? it was a blast! at first...
let me make this clear. most of the time we were tubing, we were doing tricks. however, toward the end of the day, we got back on the tube and stopped rough housing. it was really choppy. jon was laying on his stomach holding on, and i was sitting next to him with my legs off the side of the tube. we were not doing tricks! we were simply unprepared for what the waves had to offer us. we flew up.....and came back down and when we did, the front of my head went slamming into the back of jon's head. the next thing i knew, i was in the water talking to myself to keep myself from passing out. i don't know if i was about to pass out, but i was encouraging myself not to. it was the weirdest thing. we went home soon after that, it put such a damper in the day. we just stayed home and hung out for the rest of the night.

i text my father about the mishap, and he was very obviously not worried.

(annoyed face)

 i love texting him. his choice of punctuation (or no punctuation) is so hilarious.

the next morning, my neck....oh my goodness, i was in so much pain. it was mix of wake boarding, tubing and crashing heads. it made for a really nice plane ride home.

we left on friday. it is always so hard saying goodbye to everyone! we love spending time there whether its working on the house and horseback riding, or touring texas and going boating!

part II video to come...