Texas Time!

Before moving on, I've got to share my time in Texas - it was so great!  When we arrived, we got our first peek at the house!  It is in a beautiful setting.

This is the foyer of the home - you know you're in Texas when you have the Lone Star on the front door!

And then you are in the family room - which I could sit in forever and never want to leave...

but what takes your breath away is when you walk into the foyer, which is opposite of the windows you see above, this is what you see!

Here's the up close and personal view!

But this wasn't my favorite feature - it was on a list of several favorites!  The back patio and deck were gorgeous!  We spent a lot of time out on the deck.  Not kidding - sat out there before getting dressed in the morning and ended the evening out there.

The vegetation you see by the deck above is not a bush - those are the tops of trees!  The deck is built out over the edge of the cliff!

But it wasn't all relaxation, well, at least for Dave.  He and Bro-in-law Dave got some manual labor time in - they cut down a dead tree next to the property.  Even when working, the scenery is beautiful!

The scenery also includes some wild animals!  We saw turkey and aoudad sheep.  Right out the dining room window one evening a group of young sheep came traipsing across the back patio!  I was too afraid to move and spook them to go get the camera.  It was breathtaking!  I did get a picture of the turkey!

On the flip side, some other breathtaking creatures showed up - but not in the "good" breathtaking way!  I have no idea what this is, some sort of Texas walking stick maybe, but there were several of them and they are huge!!  We estimated the largest at about 8 inches - and I used the zoom to take the picture, wasn't getting really close to find out how they might attack!

And.....another surprise was in store.  My nephew from Houston came up and surprised both Marce and I!!  He is such a sweetheart that he made the 5+ hour trip and walked in right when everyone was getting up on Saturday morning!  I love that boy.

This was a trip that will last forever in my memory!!  Full of good times with good people - it just doesn't get any better than this!