Monday, July 15, 2013

The Joys of Texas!

Food and Fun!
 
Colton is demonstrating the use of our awesome watermelon knife!

Beautiful Hibiscus flower growing near our pool.

 
Late Father's Day BBQ for FHE (with several of the other new USAA families in our ward).

Better-than-it-looks Chicken Garlic Parmesan Alfredo Pizza!

Highlights from USAA
 
Workin' hard! (With friend Dan)

The grounds at USAA.

Remember the River Walk and the Alamo trip?
Mommy duck out for a float with her babies.

 
The ducks and pigeons would just come right up to you for food if you were eating at one of the restaurants on the River Walk.

And here's the golden Alamo!

We really like it!

SeaWorld
Trying to see the dolphins.

Too bad that corner drain was there or I could have actually touched it.

Colton and me in front of the nifty Aquatica Tiki critters.

Out with the Old, In with the New!
That's our sad, wilted blow-up couch with its replacement just arrived in the unsuspicious box.

Look at that beaut! Cute isn't he?!

Lending a Helping Hand
We volunteered to help at the San Antonio Food Bank with some other USAA employees one Saturday morning.

We were preparing a box for elderly people to feed them for the next month.

 
We had quite the assembly line going and finished about an hour earlier than expected because we had so much help!

4th of July Week
Gotta love flamin' red hair and Party City!

Stylin' shades!

Staking out our spot in the park to watch the fireworks.

Ooooh!

Aaaaw!

So this is what a half million dollar home looks like. (Our friends wanted to show us some houses, but their taste is a little more expensive than ours. It was fun to look around though.)

The Ultimate Love Bug!

Gecko waiting to ambush and munch the bugs that fly next to our porch light.

You want some a dis...?

Tasty Sunday Dinner!

Breaking in the new Play-doh. I made the green pig and snail. Colton built the pink-ish house, brick by brick!


The Zoo, Botanical Gardens, and Other Potpourri...

But first, the hand-crafted Father's Day Cards!
Dad Potter's

  
Daddy Kenison's

Grandpa Marvin's
(Alas, each card took the better part of a day to water color, except Grandpa's which took longer, so only a select few were lucky enough to receive one of these "treasures...")


Now for the trip to the Zoo!
I believe this is an okapi.

Some crazy-weird Asian gator or croc of some kind.

This is a coatimundi, which I actually hear make great pets! (Hint, hint...)

These are the really big tortoises getting a snack. The big one in the back is really about up to that lady's hip!

Sun Bear (I think...)

Oh, and Nellie Bean is ours!

A Little Pot...
A Texan Sunset

Sister Simonsen and Sister Eriksen

Botanical Garden Trip
Sadly, there is no way I could possibly remember the names off all the cool plants pictured below, but I am pretty sure I have better names for them.
This is a blossoming Powered Sugar Mama Tree.

These are Leap-frog Lily pads with pink blossoms.

This is the Cactus Project Torture Room.

The Whomping Wack-a-lacker Cactus

'Nuff said.

This is the Brylee-Diva Girl...

And not only does she love me, but she loves to pose!

The path was lined with Bloody Mary Fire Blossom Bushes.

This is a Giant Hicksopa Cactus.

And this guy just decided to park right in the middle of the path. "Whatcha gonna do 'bout it?!"