lake powell with the mercers

Last week, we spent several days at Lake Powell with the Mercer family. I grew up spending many days at the lake waterskiing, kneeboarding, and wakeboarding. We spent enough time waterskiing that I have often joked that I waterskiied before I was born (in my mother's womb, although it's probably not likely since I was born in April).

When I was growing up, my family would make at least one trip to Lake Powell every year, but recently we hadn't been on a family trip to Lake Powell for several years. So when my parents and siblings purchased a timeshare on a houseboat, we all got excited for a trip back to Lake Powell. We filled up the houseboat and enjoyed a wonderful time together. And Alisa experienced her first trip to Lake Powell.

-Lonnie

summer concert, old friend.....

Summer Concert Series at Bayou Bend. Bayou Bend is an amazing old home with beautiful gardens that was donated to the city of Houston by a woman with the unfortunate name of Ima Hogg. Luckily she didn't let her unfortunate name destroy her sense of self worth, because she amounted an amazing antiques collection and built the most beautiful gardens that I have ever seen. The jazz music was great. I love finding little city treasures.



Even though it was past 6:00pm it was still very warm outside. Fortunately, this was the one day all week that it didn't rain. We had sprayed ourselves down with bug spray and managed to avoid getting eaten by mosquitos.



While we were at the concert we met up with my friend Michelle, who was in town visiting her sister. I taught Michelle in the MTC welfare program several years ago, before she served a mission in Venezuela. We had a very nice visit, and it was so great to get caught up.

thai 4th of july

Our house has become the un-official holiday gathering place for our random assortment of friends here in Houston. It started with Easter and has continued with Independence day. We are people lovers. A holiday is not complete without a full house. Our great mix of friends and family always extends to include anyone else who might want to join the festivities. This holiday we had an especialy eclectic mix.

Our friends Kristy and James, along with their kids Issac and Levi are always part of the festivities. James invited some of his co-workers, living in Houston for the summer doing internships, to join us. They are from Thailand and offered to make us some great Thai food that included shrimp, squid, three types of soups and amazing spices. Another family, Aitran, Hugo, Phoebe and Andy, who just recently moved to the area, made some delicious spicy eggplant. Aitran is originally from China but also lived in Vietnam. Her husband Hugo is from Mexico and they have two great kids. Others at the gathering were; Lyle and Emily, along with baby Eva (Emily and Alisa volunteered together at a women's shelter and Lonnie and Lyle went to JR High together), Stephanie and Martin (Lonnie was the teaching assistant in a class Stephanie took in college), Sister Fisher and Sister Kendrick (the missionaries in our ward), Kelly (our neighbor) and Tim and Julia Nuttall (brother and sister-in-law to James and Kristy).

All together there were about 20 people here at the house and way to much food for us to finish. It was a great holiday.


James' coworkers from Thailand- Nee and Niran. They were amazing cooks and took the kitchen by storm. In the end we convinced them to only cook 6 of th 9 dishes they had planned.

The non-stop sampling that took place all day long. The missionaries, Aitran, Kristy and Stephanie .

Emily and Eva, Kelly, Alisa, Kristy and baby Levi.

Everyone took their time in the kitchen, but these four were the hardest working.

a few of my favorite things

I thought this was fun...and a little glimpse into things I like, don't like, etc.
-Alisa

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celebrating life!- improtant people in our life

Stella Celebrates her 1st Birthday


Sammy Celebrates his 5th birthday



Stella and Sam (Alisa's niece and nephew http://lambsandchubbits.blogspot.com/) both had birth days in the past weeks. They are great kids and we love to hang out with them.

Stella had a baby birthday party with all of her favorite things; swimming, eating strawberries, hanging out with fellow baby friends and not getting mauled by her big brother. Alisa found that great swim suit for her.

Sammy had a Luchador party. He and all his buddies ran around with our their shirts on, slid down the the slip-and-slide and practiced their wrestling moves.

These kids make great cousins. We love them like crazy!

Happy Birthday Sammy and Stellie!

malaika and thabo visiting our house- important people in our life

Malaika (3) and Thabo (19months) are Loretta (Alisa's cousin) and Teboho's beautiful kids. They live near by and we get to see them often. They are great kids.

The day these photos were taken they came to spend the day with us while their parents went to the temple. The kids had a great day playing in our yard and feeding the fish in the pond. We always have a good time with them.

They especially love to tickle Lonnie.

gator adventures

Alisa standing very close to a large alligator.

Some photos from a recent trip to Brazos Bend State Park, where real alligators are on the loose and you can walk around their habitat. The gators were pretty scary at first, then we realized that even the little kids were walking right past them, so we gained the courage to stay on the path and keep walking.

We love going on adventures together.