Lupe Tortilla and Old Town Spring

The Thomas family has a favorite restaurant in Texas. At least this is one Natalie really likes. She wanted us to go there with them for dinner.

 I like the sombrero lights.

Our fajitas were sizzling hot.

The tortillas were gigantic.

Emma ordered chicken fingers. Natalie has always loved steak.

 A frozen treat comes with each kid's meal.

Looks like all five kids--and one grandpa--loved their frozen desserts. When Laurie asked if we could buy an ice cream sandwich for Glen, the waiter said he would bring us one at no charge. So kind of him!!

After-dinner entertainment was retrieving coins out of the fountain and throwing them back in again.

Saturday was a great day because Jacob didn't have to work. A family excursion was decided upon and off we went to the Old Town Spring street festival. (Spring is the name of the city where they live.)

There were lots of interesting shops and restaurants.

Natalie, Logan, Luke and Emma posed with this Mickey Mouse impostor outside one of the stores.

Claire acted like she wanted to get out of her stroller and go see Mickey. Once she got closer, she got scared out of her wits and wanted nothing to do with the over-sized mouse.

Probably my favorite part of the festival was when we walked down a sidewalk that had metal art.

The kids posed by their favorite ones--sometimes striking up a pose to mimic the metal art.

Emma LOVES horses; hence she LOVED the painting of the horses.

Where's Natalie???

Walking back to the parking lot, a live turtle was spotted sunning itself in the murky water.

It was a beautiful day to be outside!

Visiting Jacob's Family in Texas

Glen took me on another work trip with him to Houston. Last time he took me, back in October, there was a BYU game in town which was the highlight at the end of his work week.

This time the highlight was being able to go see Jacob's family's new home and spend a few days with them.

The kids were excited to take us on a tour of their home. More photos of the home a little later. We got there just in time to eat a pizza dinner with them.

Logan ate fast so he could play with the iPad while everyone else was finishing up.

Then it was off to the elementary school that Emma and Luke attend.

We met both of Emma's teachers and got to see where she sits and looked at some of her work.

 

Glen had been saving us seats in the auditorium.

The third graders were putting on a program.

There's Emma on the front row in the middle. All the children did a great job with their singing and speaking parts.

The next day I had a better chance to take pictures of the house. Emma was eager to be the model posing in some of the rooms.

Entering the house from the garage, you go through the laundry room. Just outside the laundry room is a bench and some hooks where the kids can hang their jackets, set their backpacks and put away their shoes.

Walking down the hall, the guest bedroom is on the left with the main floor bathroom right next to it. Jacob and Laurie had only been in their home about a month when we invaded. We were so happy they got the new bed assembled and another mattress bought so we could be the ones to initiate the guest bedroom.

Having the bathroom adjacent to the bedroom made it feel like we had our own little retreat from the rest of the family and we weren't invading their space...well not too much...

Just beyond the guest bedroom on the right is a little hallway with a place for something decorative to hang/display. Laurie would probably want me to remind anyone looking at these pictures that they haven't had a chance to hang all their pictures and figure out the rest of their decorations yet. (Too busy working on their guest bedroom for us...)

 

Love the high clothes rack in the back that has a pole to use to pull the bar down to access the clothes when needed.

Emma is standing by the front door with the dining room behind her and the office to the left of the front door.

Looks like this office will also be used as a piano room.

Walking through the dining room into the kitchen is a butler cabinet and across from it is the pantry.

 From the stairs is the view of the kitchen and the living room.

Some other models join us now for the upper level of the home. Luke shows how there are two flights of stairs.

At the top of the stairs is a big play room.

Through the doors on the right is the media room.

There's the blue sofa sleeper we used to sleep on in the basement in Omaha.

There are three bedrooms on the upper level. This is Natalie and Emma's room. (Can you find the hiding Luke and Logan?)

And don't be fooled--Emma does not have a cell phone. She is just "acting."

The girls have a Jack and Jill bathroom connecting to Claire's room. Both rooms have a sink area and they share a tub/toilet area.

This is Claire's side of the bathroom and her cute nursery.

 

Luke and Logan share a room and they use the hall bathroom.

 Gotta get Emma's mirror pose in here.

 There are some empty lots across the street from their house where Logan and Luke like to play in the dirt.

 The last pictures are of their back yard.

They picked a very beautiful area and a very lovely home. It was so wonderful to see where they live so we can picture them in their new surroundings. We approve!!!