Croatia In My Own Back Yard

This morning we got up and I got some loads of laundry going and then gave Autumn a shower b/c she was a stink bug johnson.  Once her hair had dried a little bit, I put her hair in these twisty things so she could have curly hair.

We watched some TV, danced around to songs on my iPhone, and Autumn practiced her talk.  She is giving a talk in Primary today, so we went over it together a few times.  We took the twisty things out to see if her hair was curly, but her hair was still too wet and it wasn’t working.  So, I dried it a little bit and then put hot rollers in.

We had to get our usual together-before-church picture.  We scarfed down some mac & cheese and headed off to church.  Mom & Dad came to our sacrament meeting and Autumn sat on their laps and snuggled the whole time.  She hasn’t been that quiet and still since I can remember. 

After sacrament, we all went to the Primary room to listen to her talk.  I snuck this picture of her on my iPhone.  She was all smiles and was just beaming while she sat at the front of the room.  She did awesome on her talk.  I held the pictures for her and whispered the words into her ear, and then she repeated them into the microphone.  I’m so thankful that Mom & Dad were able to be there and make her feel special and supported.

After church, we went over to Mom & Dad’s house b/c Mom had a roast and carrots and potatoes and gravy for dinner w/ manly jell-o for dessert.  We relaxed for a while and then decided to go for a Sunday drive.  We heard about a subdivision in that was fashioned after a Croatian seaside town.  As soon as I heard the word Croatian, I KNEW we had to check it out b/c it borders Slovenija.

We found the subdivision and this was the first sight that greeted us.  A huge lighthouse looking tower.  It was massive and impressive.

I loved this small detail of the Croatian coat of arms stamped into the cobblestone streets every few feet.  It made my heart & soul so happy, yet homesick for my mission at the same time.

After walking past the tower, there was a pond and in the middle of the pond was this quaint little church.

There was this little grassy pathway around the church, so we knew we had to go exploring.  This was the backside of the church.

This was the front of the church, and I loved all the details like the gate, fence, fountain, light pole, etc.

There were even a couple of bridges that reminded me of Ljubljana.

Autumn was wearing her jammie bottoms, Andrew’s camouflage garden shoes,  and a stained t-shirt.  We were just going to drive around, and hadn’t planned on getting out to walk.  But, she didn’t care and was having a blast.

This is the mansion across the pond that you can see behind Autumn in the picture above.  This picture doesn’t do it justice, b/c it is GINORMOUS!

We walked around to look at all the houses and I was in 7th heaven.  Especially w/ all of these incredible doors to take pictures of.  I might have to start another collection of door pictures to go w/ all the ones I took in Slovenija.

Look at all the detail on this one.

I’ve decided that these pale pink iris are my flower for the year.  Last year it was all those purple thimble blossoms.  These pale pink iris was growing in someone’s yard and I had to get a pic of them.

There were cool wrought iron pieces all over.

This was next to someone’s door, which I definitely had to get a picture of.

Mom’s favorite part were these beautiful window box plants w/ purple flowers.

Another cool door that leads to someone’s garden.  I especially like the little design at the bottom.

When I saw the name of this street, it stopped me in my tracks and I had to put my hand over my heart to keep it from aching!  Ulica is how you say “street” in Slovene and I couldn’t believe this was right here in Texas.  I have found my new favorite place to take pictures that is close by.

As you may have noticed in the pictures, there is still a lot of construction going on and things aren’t finished.  Just look at this fountain in the middle of a round-about.  But, in spite of that this place was SPECTACULAR and I will definitely be back.

We finally made our way back home and Karri came over to bring Mom & Dad a little treat to thank them for inviting her & Craig to a baseball game last week.  She’s such a neat lady and I just love her to death.  We watched Undercover Boss and I didn’t realize it was already 9:00, so Autumn & I packed up and came home.

I put her to bed and then made my bed, b/c I had washed the sheets and mattress pad.  Then I also made a tres leches cake b/c I had a hankerin’, plus I figured I could take most of it into work and the guys would eat it.