We Love Texas, Yes We Do

My feelings about the lone star state have pretty much mellowed over the winter, but with the summer creeping up on us, I'm feeling the need to stock pile reasons I love where I live. Last week's storms presented this first spectacular reason to me:

And these pictures don't do an ounce of justice. For some reason, when it storms here, the clouds hang really low in the sky, and you feel like you could just reach up and scoop a handful of sunset out of the sky. Lover-ly.

Life and Stuff

I found this platoon of oranges in our living room during naptime one afternoon, lined up in orderly fashion and watching Finding Nemo.

Tyler was not pleased to wake up and find them at ease in a bowl in the kitchen.

In other news, it hailed like crazy last week:

McKay braved the the hail to gather specimen. I could hear him outside yelling "Ow! Ow! Ow!"

That was a week ago, and we've had two big storms pass through since then. Tyler LOVES watching the lightening. During the storms, he stations himself on the window sill and alerts us everytime a bolt cracks across the sky. "Ooh, that was a BIG lightening!"

Monsoon season has arrived!

Out in Them Thar Hills

Last week we headed south of Dallas to a little town called Ennis, outside the Dallas metroplex and in the country. This town is what I pictured when McKay first told me he was from Texas: giant water towers, rolling green hills, places like Bubba's BBQ, and cows and horses everywhere. This is where they hold the annual Bluebonnet Festival.

Big welcoming banners over Main street.

Munchin on the state flower. Don't tell the sherriff.

We have official verification from posting these pictures on facebook: these kids are cute!

I loved Ennis! We're starting to look around the Dallas area for a place to put our roots down, and (gasp!) get a real house. I'm sure I'm romanticizing the Texas country, but I can see Tyler and Jamie running around in bluebonnets every spring, and riding their bikes down country roads in the summer. I'd probably hate it after a year, being stuck in the country with hospitals and family and Walmart more than ten minutes away and being eaten alive by bugs, heat and humidity every time you step outside.

But can you blame me for wanting to look out my kitchen window and see this?

A Nothing Week

We did nothing last week (except discovering Sufjan Stevens! I love his music for Sunday mornings). We spent it recovering and hiding from the rest of the world.

Here is a photo tour of our messy house, courtesy of Tyler on a rainy day at some point last week:

The rain comes down in buckets here, and we watch the rooftop waterfalls from our little window cove.

Tyler's half-clothed self.

Bam-Bam (Lightening McQueen)

Jamie, who has recently discovered that her hands are delicious.

Mommy taking the camera and ending the shenanigans.

Don't Mess with Texas...Seriously!!

There is a cute little creek that runs by our apartment, and last week, Tyler and I went exploring and collecting autumn-y leaves, acorns, and rocks. Unfortunately for us, these are three things you do not want to pick up, bring home and put all over your house for decorations:

We are learning the hard way that Texas wants to kill us. McKay had a small breakout on his leg, Tyler has a few patches on his arms and legs. I have some on my arms and legs, and at some point I must have touched my face, because I look like the elephant man. Thank goodness Jamie doesn't have any on her! (And you'll see the lengths we are going to to prevent that.)

Apparantly, the oil from these plants is what causes the rash. You can't spread it by scratching an already existing rash, where the oil has already sunk into your pores. You can only spread it by spreading the oil. The oil is potent up to FIVE YEARS after it has rubbed off the plant, on ANY SURFACE (especially cloth surfaces like clothing and carpet) unless it is broken down by something like dish soap. Because I brought the plants in our house, it's EVERYWHERE. We could keep getting infected every few weeks for five years!

Operation Destroy Oil:

• 
  
  Don't wear anything more than once without washing it


• 
  
  Change and wash bed sheets everyday


• 
  
  Shampoo carpets


• 
  
  Wash with bleach any surface that has been touched by plants


• 
  
  Wash hands frequently with dish soap, and always before touching Jamie or her clothes

I had to go grocery shopping last night, and I was hoping I could dash through quick enough without anyone seeing my swollen, rashy face. No such luck. Everyone was sneaking stares. The cashier started listing home remedies like garlic and banana peels.

I was so mortified. I just wanted to yell to everyone in the store:

Happy Fall!

Texas doesn't really give up its death grip on summer until mid-October-ish, but it did celebrate Spetember 1st with a wonderfully cooling storm, which by itself was amazing, but when we peeked outside, we got this too:

Happy Fall, everyone!

Mt. Nebo

Before Katie comes home from California and steals my thunder with her report from California, I figure I better log my hike yesterday up Mount Nebo. May as well do it now while my aching body recovers. For those those of you not from around here, Mount Nebo is the highest point in Utah that's near civilization, basically. Anyway, with Katie out of town, I decided to join up with my friend Devin, whose wife was, interestingly enough, also out of town.

We left at about 5am, and hit the trail around 6. It started out pleasant enough. I mean, this looks nice enough, doesn't it? Very green, scenic, not terribly steep.

We saw some deer on the trail.

This was cool. We saw some glaciers (snow fields, technically) up on the mountain, then in the valley you could see a path of destruction that the avalanches leave behind in the winter.

The first couple of hours were pretty tough, but the views were great.

Finally, after some exhausting climbing, the end is in sight. I'm tired and ready to be done. We just need to get to the top and we can finally rest. What you see here takes about an hour to climb- it really is about as steep as it looks. I feel like I'm dying.
We finally get to the top of this, and here is what we see:






There is another peak to climb. We pretty much just climb up the ridge here, which takes about another 45 min. or so. Fortunately, there are no more peaks- we're on the top:

Me and Devin here- lucky Devin's wife happened to have left this lovely wool knit jacket in the car that he was able to grab before we hit the trail. Rest assured, he is a very manly man. Unfortunately, it was freezing up there and the wind was blowing.

Some clouds rolled in with the wind, and we could see it raining all over the valley.




We even got pelted with some freezing rain (little ice balls) for a minute up there.



Ever wonder where ladybugs come from? They all hatch on Mt. Nebo. All of them. In the world. There were thousands of them, tens of thousands, crawling all over the rocks, concentrated in one particular spot on the peak.



Finally came the descent. Getting down from the highest 1/2 mile or so of the peak itself was almost as difficult as getting up was exhausting:


I had to check out these rocks on the way down. Where's a good lake for skipping rocks on when you need one?


It was a fun hike to do. The views were spectacular and it was great to get out. Would I do it again? Not a chance. Not in the kind of shape I'm in, anyhow. I've done a lot of mountain hiking, but this was a killer. I'm afraid me and mountain hiking are going to have to part ways for a while. Maybe I'll go back and hike Timpanogos and probably Angel's Landing again one day. In the meantime, though, I wish the mountains the best. We've had some good times. I hold you in high regards, Nebo, but I think this is for the best for both of us.

Hiking the Y and J-Dawg's (Oh, yes)

We decided that two years is enough of a lag between hikes up to the Y, so we went again last Saturday. It was a first for Tyler, and he LOVED it. We borrowed a baby hiking back-pack from the Harston's, and my manly husband carried Tyler up the mountain. I'm so impressed.

Tyler was our little cheerleader; he kept shouting to McKay, "Go, go, go!" McKay did not appreciate this on some of the longer switchbacks. When we let Tyler out up at the top, he kept trying to jump over the ledge, so we didn't stay up too long.

McKay and Tyler, about half-way up.

Here's Tyler and me actually on the Y. McKay said I had to include a picture of me, even if I was red-faced and sweaty in it. Gross.

We celebrated later with J-Dawg's. If you've never been, it's heaven on earth.

Tyler chasing sparrows around the stand.

In all its secret sauce and banana pepper-y glory, this is my J-Dawg's polish Dog. I think I need another one right now.