Early Pearls of TX living

The Texas winter and spring was a much needed break from the summer oven heat. We made many home improvements, spent evenings on the back porch playing with Cal, BBQing, and enjoyed the mosquito free evenings. Unfortunately we did many of those things too late and summer is fast approaching, but we'll be better prepared for next year.

I've been thinking a lot about my attitude toward San Antonio and Texas in general. Lauren and I come from spoiled geographical backgrounds. Both growing up in Southern Oregon, which is an outdoor wonderland, and then moving to Utah which is as good or better than Oregon in regard to the outdoors rooted in us an unrealistic expectation of our outdoor surroundings. Moving to San Antonio, which is flatter, warmer, muggier, and more populated was a shock. And at first, Lauren and I's attitude about the whole thing was as bland as we experienced Texas to be.

After living here for almost a year, we're coming around and learning to appreciate the beauty of our new home. I ran a half marathon two weeks ago around Luckenbach Texas which curved through some of the most beautiful farm country I've seen. As we drove home the conclusion I drew was that we need to work a little harder to appreciate the beauty of this state. I also felt this the other night as I was visiting with my Grandma. I mentioned to her how much Lauren and I came to love and appreciate Utah and she encouraged me to look for and appreciate the beauty of wherever we live. We'll do a better job this summer and document some of our most beautiful findings for you to see.

While it's on my mind, there are many factors that make our living experience enjoyable. Sometimes it's the beauty of our surroundings that we fall in love with and cherish. Sometimes it's the people you grow close to and gain as friends. Our experience in Texas favors the latter. We've made great friends and been surrounded by supportive, kind, and loving family along our journey toward achieving a career, but in early chapters of this new volume of our life we've made outstanding friends. Almost everywhere we've lived our friends had family nearby, and so did we, so for any big event everyone disappeared to spend time with family. That was great, and we loved it, but it limits how close you can get with your friends. Here, going home to family for every big event/holiday isn't an option so for big events you get together with friends. Forming/maintaining these relationships is one of the greatest pearls we've learned.

So....we're happy to be here, anxious to grow to love Texas, and bracing ourselves for the coming months to be spent in the pool and surrounded by family/friends!