Rodeo Weekend

So today we went to the San Antonio Rodeo! We went with a group of other interns from USAA and it was pretty fun. It was kind of like the fair in Clark County except it was a little more focused on Cowboy stuff. I couldn't believe that they have trailer and tractor competions. I guess they make them look all pretty and shiny and then they get awards for just sitting there. It was interesting. My favorite part of the rodeo was that they actually had Jerky Hut!! I am a little obsessed with the golden nuggets jerky that is made in Oregon. It is tradition in my family to get jerky each year at the Oregon State Fair in Salem and I haven't been in a few years so it was a treat! Here are a few pictures from the day!

This was during the actual rodeo! We had pretty good seats. Even though they were pretty high up we could see them pretty well. The place was packed! As you can see from this sign we were there for the finals of the Xtreme Bull Riding Competition! The video is of the champion this year. I am pretty sure he is the only one who even stayed on the minimum of eight seconds on the second round. I wish the girl hadn't walked in front of the camera because he was doing so well that while he was riding he took his hat off to tip it! Very skilled! Then he just jumped off the back of it and landed on his feet! The other riders were no where near as graceful so check out the video!

Oh and on a side note, I don't think that what they do to the bulls is very nice. I did not like how they were kicking them and hitting them to rile them up, let alone where those ropes are tied. I don't really understand how the animal rights groups let them do it. If you look past the cruelty to animals part it was pretty entertaining to see idiots being thrown off! No serious injuries that I could see but a few of them got slammed and thrown pretty hard.

Also, during the break before the finals they had 'Mutton Bustin' competitions where little four, five, and six year olds hold onto sheeps backs. It was kind of cute to see them hold on for so long as the sheep ran around the ring. Then again, I would never let a three year old do that and it did look just a little bit scary. At least they wear helmets. They could probably break a rib! There was an adorable little four year old boy who just kept holding on until one of the crew lifted him off the sheep so he wouldn't get shoved into the side of the area. It was funny.

Come and get it! Very delicious HOT Beef Sundae!!! I was very tempted to order it but I found some brisket instead. Nummy.

This weekend has been pretty fun so far. Last night some of our friends from Rexburg stopped by on their way to Austin to visit. We had a ton of fun walking around the Riverwalk and eating at a fun Mexican restaurant on the river. Afterwards we had to play our traditional Wii round of games and drink Italian Sodas. It was really fun and we wished they could stay longer. Hopefully they will be moving to Austin in the near future!! The pictures below are of Nick and I at the Alamo and then Mitch and Heather there too!

USAA

Friday afternoon I got to visit Nick at work and tour the USAA campus! It was for the interns families to come and check out where they work. They fed us lunch and gave us a presentation on the overview of the company and some of the perks of the jobs. Then we were able to walk around the building and go through their "museum" of the company and the growth of the military since that is who they provide services for. Everything is huge! I guess we are in Texas!! The building is a 3/4 mile long and is set on about 260 acres! There are deer all around along with hiking trails, sports fields of all kinds and lakes which they stock sometimes for fishing. We were able to see the desks they use and a small portion of the building. My favorite was of course the gift shop.. j/k. It was cool though. They have like their own world inside the building. It has anything you could think of including cafeterias, stores, a bank and rest stations with Wii's! It looks like a great company to work for and I really hope they will have a spot for him to stay and work!

Friday night we also were able to have two couples over to hang out. We played Apples to Apples and a ton of Wii games. I am so glad we have found some other young couples that enjoy a lot of the same activites as us! We have already planned our next adventure this wednesday with yet another couple in our ward and it should be fun. Now all that is left is planning our girls activities for during the day when the boys are at work! Maybe the Mission Trails this week?! Also, I am really excited for this weekend because we have some friends from Rexburg who might be stopping by and the Rodeo with all the interns and their families!! I will try to remember to take some pictures!!

More Exploring

So this past week we have explored more in San Antonio! I went with some friends on Monday to the Japanese Tea Gardens in Brackenridge Park. It was a pretty and we were able to hike around it and enjoy the 80 degree weather and sunshine! I didn't take any pictures because I was too busy chatting but here is a pic of the entrance from Wikipedia.

We also went to Central Market. It really is just a grocery store but they have all these imported cheeses and delicious fresh breads. They have samples out of a lot of the fruits and breads so it was really fun to walk around. Nick and I went back that night so that he could choose his Italian cheeses and breads. We will have to go back on a Saturday because they have a lot more samples out and supposedly you can get a whole meal just from walking around. I am especially excited about this market, and really any grocery store in San Antonio, because the fruit is so good! Idaho has the worst fruit and it was super expensive so living here where the fruit actually looks the color it is supposed to is great! But I still do prefer the northwest where we can get blackberries, raspberries and strawberries for free!

Next on our explorations I am hoping to go to the Natural Bridge Caverns. From the looks of it they remind me a little of when we hiked up Mt. Timpanogos and went into the caves. We might get to it next weekend, we will see! As for the rest of this week, on Friday all the interns wives get to tour USAA and have a luncheon so that will be fun! Then Friday night we might have some friends over and Saturday is Valentines Day!

Have a Happy Valentines Day!

Dinner

Nick and I stayed home today and relaxed for the first time since we have been in San Antonio. We have been going out and exploring the sites a lot and decided it was time to relax, make dinner and watch some of our netflix!

The before and after pics of our beef, cream cheese, parmesan and mozzerella raviolli! We are very excited to live in a town that actually sells fresh parmesan! We also had butter parmesan corn to stick with our theme!

This is the big cinnamon roll- it was soooo good. Better than cinnabon!


Here is a slice of the cinnamon roll next to the almond chocolate chip ice cream I made!

Thanks to both of our moms for making dinner possible. My mom for the pasta maker and nick's mom for the recipe for the rolls and the ice cream maker!

Out and About

Nick got home from work early today so we decided to finally go out and buy a bedroom set!! We never got one in Rexburg because our bedroom was so small it would not have fit. We are very excited to get this set in about two weeks when they deliver it!! It looks a little better in person and we are not getting the entertainment center or tall dresser. We are getting the bed set, the nightstands and a dresser with a mirror.

After we got our bedroom set we went out to eat at a place that was recommended by someone at Nick's work. It is called Rudy's Bar-B-Q. It was pretty good and not very expensive. We were able to eat outside! It was about seven thirty and it was a perfect seventy degrees outside. I love winter in Texas!!! I am a little worried about what summer will bring but I am sure it will be better than Rexburg Winters!!

Here is Nick enjoying his brisket and turkey sandwhich!

Brisket, turkey and bbq sauce!

My favorite, the creamed corn! I actually hate creamed corn but this was the best stuff. It tasted like candy!

Last weekend we went to San Marcos to go shopping at the outlets there. There were a million different stores and it was really fun to walk around until I was almost attacked by an owl!!! It was the middle of the day and it swooped down and hit one of the store windows next to me and then came flying towards us. I stepped behind nick immediately and he keeps making fun of me for being so afraid of birds!! I am just a little traumatized. I will get over it soon.... maybe.

There was this cute litte water way where you could get a preztle and relaz while shopping, so that is exactly what we did!! There were even little bridges over the water kind of like a fake Italy!

Here is where we went to see a movie the other day! It is a cool theater with restaurants and an arcade inside. It is located at "The Rim", a shopping center! I have found at least seven shopping centers within ten minutes of our apartment!! I am very happy here!! The Rim also has Red Robin!! Clucks and fries anyone?

Us waiting for the movie to start!! I think this picture was taken when we saw Ink Heart but we saw Taken at the Palladium. Ink Heart was disappointing. They didn't just ruin the books they completely slaughtered the integrity of the story. They can't even begin to make the second book into a movie because they changed the basic principles that they based the books off of. I don't know why I even see movies made from books anymore, they always dissapoint. Oh well, it was still fun to get out and about!

More adventures to come!! I am probably going to post some of the scrapbooking pages that I made when I went to SLC with my mom two weekends ago. I just need to remember to take pictures!! I will also post some of the furniture when it finally gets into our room!!!