These Are The Days We Will Remember: God Bless Texas..... And It's Rocky Soil :)

At the end of April we went to Texas as a family to visit Mark's brother Mike and his wife Julie and to help them install a sprinkler system. It was alot of fun to work together putting in the sprinkler system but it was also alot of work, more than I think any of us anticipated. Mike and Julie's developer told them that he had put a thick layer of top soil in their yard... WRONG!!!! The entire front and back yard was filled with ROCKS and we're not talking about tiny rocks, we're talking about MASSIVE BOULDERS! We filled and entire truck bed heaping over the top with rocks and boulders that we picked in to smaller chunks to lift out of the yard. Needless to say Mike was not so happy with his developer. One thing we definately noticed in Texas was the HUMIDITY! Mark usually works in pants to proctect his legs and a T-Shirt even in Utah heat, that did not last long in Texas. He was in shorts very quickly. Our clothes just clung to us and neither of us had ever sweated like that before. I can't even begin to count how many bottles of Gatorade and Water we went through, it was ridiculous.

Despite the heat, humidity and the endless rocks it was alot of fun to spend time with Mark's brother's family. Jaden had a blast playing with his cousins and absolutely loved the plane rides and watching the planes take off and land at the airport. On Sunday we braked from our labor and went to see Julie's Granpa's property all 300 acres of it and it was beautiful! On our way there we passed by George Strait's house and also his ranch. That was exciting for us since we are big George Strait fans and one of our favorite movies is Pure Country. We spent most of the rest of the time working on the system and hanging out with the family but right before we left for the airport we stopped to see The Alamo and The River Walk. Mark and I LOVED the River walk! We both agree that it should be considered among the wonders of the world, it is absolutely incredible. We got alot of ideas for our future backyard. It was a wonderful trip but I just laugh because I don't think I've ever seen Mark quite so grateful for Utah Heat as when walked out of the Salt Lake airport, I almost thought he was going to bend down and kiss the ground right there! :)

We got back home around midnight and I don't think I've ever seen Jaden quite so grateful to go to bed. On the way home he kept asking about his bed. He was so grateful he slept until noon the next day. He loved Texas and playing with his cousins but it sure wore him out. :)

I thought this was a pretty shot we took out of the window of our airplane on the way home from Texas

Another shot out the window of the airplane

Jaden LOVED flying! He was so good for all our flights. We had to change planes on the way there and back so we went on 4 different airplanes. The funniest thing was he never slept on any of the flights except once during a bout of tubulance. All the bouncing up and down rocked him right to sleep.

Jaden excitedly watching our plane come in

Jaden loves planes!

The River Walk

Jaden and Mark at the River Walk

Anna, Lindsay, Brian & Julie at the River walk

One of the many hotels and open air cafes along the River Walk

These boats travel up and down the river walk providing tours

Jaden and I at the River Walk

Mark & I and Jaden entering the River Walk

Julie, Katie, Anna, Lindsay, Brian, Mark & Jaden remembering the Alamo

A ginormous cactus at the Alamo

Mark & Sondra & Jaden at the Alamo

Brian was our little foreman. He loved shoveling and filling up his Tonka with dirt...

Brian, Jaden, Katie & Lindsay... If Lindsay (the one in the purple) looks a little drugged it's because she is. Her brother Brian convinced her to check out some cool "fire ants" Well she ended up stepping in the pile and we had to rush her to the pool and dunk her legs in to get all the ants off. Her mom gave her some Benadryl for all the bites. Poor Thing!

I liked this shot of Mark and Jaden in the rear view while we were driving around looking at Julie's Grandpa's property...

The second highest peak in San Antonio is on Julie Grandfather's property...

Alot of us started out riding in the back of the truck around the property but one by one we all wimped out at got back in the truck. Julie and Anna were the troopers and stayed back there the whole time. It took about 30 minutes to get around the property.