this should put a big texas smile on your face.

this is only the beginning of our trip.

August'12: Texas from Alexandra Robinson on Vimeo.

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. 

miss you, gran.

i am really missing my granny today. really, really missing her. 

i was trying to find this one winnie the pooh quote that makes me think of her and stumbled upon lots of winnie the pooh quotes that make me think of her. turns out winnie the pooh reminds me a lot of my gran! nonchalant, funny, and so very kind. 

i thought i'd post a few of them here. 

"Promise me you'll never forget me because if I thought you would, I'd never leave."

"If there is tomorrow when we're not together, there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart, I'll always be with you."

"If there ever comes a day when we can't be together, keep me in your heart, I'll stay there forever."

"Did you ever stop to think, and forget to start again?"

"If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear."

"When late morning rolls around and you're feeling a bit out of sorts, don't worry; you're probably just a little eleven o'clockish."

"It took their minds off everything...and it was good for me, too."

""I wonder what Piglet is doing," thought Pooh.

"I wish I were there to be doing it, too."" 

"How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard."

-Winnie the Pooh

chocolate reese's cake.

i found this recipe on this blog. 

she explains how to make the cake here, and here. 

the chocolate cake

1 box devil's food cake mix

1 small package jello instant chocolate pudding mix

1 cup sour cream

1 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups chopped up reese's 

(i bought a family size bag of miniature reese's and split them in half. half for the cake, half for the frosting. or you could buy two regular bags and use one for cake, one for outside. i didn't use as many reese's on the outside as she did)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl, beat the four eggs, then, in a very large bowl, mix everything together except the reese's. Expect the batter to be thick. Stir in the chopped reese's. Pour batter into cake pan of choice. I bought three 9" cake pans so that i could pour the batter evenly between the three. For cooking time, use the cooking times on the back of the devil's food cake box as a guide and add 10 minutes to whatever it says. when you start to smell the cake baking, check every five minutes or so until the toothpick check shows that they are done. 

she said that it usually takes around 45 minutes for two, 9" cake pans. 

buttercream frosting

1 cup shortening (crisco)

4 cups powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup heavy whipping cream 

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

in a mixing bowl, cream shortening until fluffy. add sugar and continue creaming until well blended. add salt, vanilla and whipping cream. blend on low speed until moistened. then add the peanut butter and beat at high speed until frosting is fluffy. it will be pretty thick as well. layer the completely cooled cakes one on top of another with frosting in between. frost the rest of the cake, stick the reese's chunks all over the frosting and enjoy!

birthday boy!

my birthday boy turned 25 last week! i can't believe he's getting so old, right before my eyes... ;)

we were going to celebrate at disneyland, but decided last minute that we will wait and go sometime next month when the summer crowds have died down. 

 i always like having a theme for his birthday because it makes the celebration and gift giving much easier to figure out, haha. 

this year it was:

something you want, 

something you need. 

something to wear, 

something to read.

(and...something to EAT!)

he got:

the cutest bonsai tree, 

compression work out shorts,

a new t-shirt, 

and a toyota four wheel drive magazine (he's obsessed) 

and the gift i was the most excited about was his birthday cake. he loves reese's almost as much as he loves me (for christmas last year, i got him the 1lb reese's cups). and he loves peanut butter almost as much as he loves reese's. he eats it plain. 

i guided him over to the table with his eyes closed and took off the lid. the first picture shows him smelling the air and telling me it smelled like peanut butter. the second picture is his honest reaction to the cake. just the reaction i was going for!

his birthday was sunday. to celebrate, we skipped church! he wanted to just hang out and watch the olympics. we thought it would be fun to go down to balboa park and walk through the international houses that are only open on sunday's. we went to the swedish house and almost passed out. while he was speaking swedish to an older lady, i was swooning over the house. i wasn't sure if i could take pictures, so i just snuck this crappy photo. i am such a sucker for scandinavian design, i loved the vine that wrapped around the room and the paintings they had displayed. 

birthday boy is olympic obsessed. 

we listened to a couple playing on the spreckels organ while we were at balboa. this is the largest outdoor organ in the world! it was a nice way to spend a sunday afternoon.

we had kenny, lindsay and wes come over to enjoy jon's famous burgers for dinner. they were delicious. then....we indulged in the birthday cake. it was so good! i will post the recipe later this week. i got it online, but the girl posted it on two different websites. it was confusing, so i'll post it all in one place for you here. i sent jon to work with HALF the cake. we thought it was a good idea when we were full of cake, but we regretted it the next day. his friends at work appreciated it, and we had enough for a couple days after. 

all in all, it was a fun and laid back birthday. i love any time that i get to spend with jon, but most especially when we are celebrating fun holiday's like this. i can't wait until we get to celebrate his birthday again at disneyland!!!!

del mar horse racing.

guess what we did? we went to the horse races on wednesday! 

we went for "free and easy wednesday's". we parked forever away so that we didn't have to pay for parking. we walked to the 'military' entrance only to find out that military (and their dependents!) get in for free every day! that is good to know. if it were up to me, we'd go to the races errday. 

before the races begin, they show the horses in this little arena. that way you can size up the competitors and pick out the under dog you want to root for, or the tall and lean champion you assume will win. 

some of the horses appeared very calm, but others were jumpy and fidgety-eager for the race. 

 unfortunately, we got there later than anticipated and missed most of the races for the day. we only made it in time to watch two of them! that's okay though, we made it worth it and had a good time soaking up the atmosphere. 

for the first race, jon and I both bet two dollars on two different horses. we said that they would either get first, second, or third (this is called a "show"). we knew that we were already crossing the line betting our hard earned money, so we thought we'd better play it safe...

I lost my two dollars, but jon's horse took third! he won......$4.20!! 

 the second race was a good one as well. jon bet two dollars that two different horses would show. and i did the same with two others. so we had put $8 on this race. jon's horses took last and second to last...and one of mine got first place! it was so awesome to see him go from fourth all the way up to first and stick his nose across the finish line. we watched this race trackside(i think it is called the stretch). we couldn't see them run the entire race, but it was awesome to hear twelve horses come stampeding to the finish line right in front of you!

here are the horses walking it out after the last race.
they were really close to us! 

the horses are so pretty! very slender and muscular.

here's the horse that won me $6.40! 

i assume he was feeling pretty good about himself at this point. 

 it was such a fun day! next time we will make sure to get there earlier so we can see more races, and maybe we'll get a little daring with our cash...not tooo daring though...
we ended up losing a total of $1.40. so it was pretty much a one and a half dollar date! i'll take it. 

 before jon took my photo, i piled him up with all of my belongings. ha! 

Peppermint Cream Bites

Peppermint Cream Bites from the Better Homes and Gardens 

All-Time Favorites 2012 Cookbook. 

1-1/2 Cups crushed Oreos

3 Tablespoons butter, melted

2 Cups powdered sugar

2 Tablespoons butter, softened

2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

6 Ounces bittersweet chocolate baking bar chopped

1 teaspoon shortening

1. Pre-heat oven to 350. Line an 8x8x2" baking pan with foil extending foil over the pan edges, set aside. 

2. In a medium bowl, combine crushed Oreos and melted butter. Press mixture into bottom of prepared pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Cool slightly in pan on wire rack. 

3. Meanwhile, combine powdered sugar and softened butter in a food processor. Cover and process until butter is evenly distributed, with processor running, add milk and peppermint extract to make a paste. Spread peppermint mixture evenly over prepared crust. Freeze for 45 minutes. 

4. In a microwave safe bowl, combine chopped chocolate and shortening. Microwave on high for one minute or until chocolate is melted, stirring once. (We don't have a microwave, we just melted it in a pan on the stove. If you do this, make sure you stir it a lot so that it doesn't burn). Let chocolate cool for 15 minutes. Pour over mint layer and spread evenly. Using edges of foil, lift the uncut bars out of the pan. Use a 1-1/2 inch cookie cutter to cut mixture into rounds, or cut mixture into squares. 

Each cookie: Roughly 107 calories :)

we made these last night, and they were easy and yummy, 

the best combination. 

enjoy!

i'm going to get back to the olympics, you can go shave your back now.