Loving Texas

We've lived in Texas for five years now.  I've been complaining about living in Texas for the last 1.5 years.  Why you may ask?  I mean the economy is relatively healthy, the church is strong, we are in driving distance to family, we have great friends, the schools rock, what could you not love about Texas?

Let me tell you what I do not love about Texas: it's HOT.  I do not like being hot.  I do not like walking from my car to the grocery store and literally being drenched in sweat by the time I get in the store.  I know, I'm a whimp.  I do not like running my AC almost year round.  I just don't like the constant, suffocating heat.   But I realized something the other day.  It's not so much that I don't like the heat as it is that I miss having four seasons.  Texas is actually really nice in the fall, winter, and spring, but it's not the kind of fall, winter, and spring that I want it to be.  So really, the problem here is that I'm trying to force the climate to be something that it never will be.  And since Chris likes his job and we like the city we live in and everything else about Texas really is pretty awesome, I've decided I'm just going to have to force myself to like Texas.  

Sigh.  We'll see how it goes.  So far I'm doing better, but it's only March.  The temperatures are in the upper 70's and low 80's.  That's not too hard to learn to love.  It's the three months of 110 degree temps that are inevitably going to come this summer that I'm most concerned about.  But I'm determined to do it.  I think.  

Just for your enjoyment, here are a few pics. of us loving Texas this spring:

swimming in the bathtub on a rainy day

Texa pride shirt we made with a bleach pen 

cousins, I got really brave and took on 6 kids for a few hours the other day, thank goodness for the trampoline!

puppies we were at a friend's house the other day and a lady came by with 5 of these adorable little shizus 

first slurpee, not that he needs it, but he always just looks so hopefully when Madi and Jax get there's, I finally gave in

my little protege, a drink is a necessity on any shopping trip :)

swinging at the park

more cousin time, Jaxon informed me the other day that Ethan is his "best, best, best, best, best, best, best, best, best, best, best friend." 

mom's sunglasses

dad's sunglasses

And since Chris and I haven't shown our faces on the blog for a while, here's a pic of us, just in case you forgot what we look like :)