4th of July in Fredericksburg, TX

Last year we spend a wonderful 4th of July in Niagara Falls so we decided that we would make an effort to have 4th of July be our get away holiday. This year we have had so much going on that we didn't want to go too far, but we still wanted it to be special so we decided to head up to the Texas Hill Country in Fredericksburg. We found an adorable bed and breakfast just outside of town that turned out to be perfect for us. The bed and breakfast is called Settlers Crossing and consists of 7 different cabins which include full kitchens, yards, and outside eating areas. Each cabin is isolated and there is a walking trail around the grounds and there are all sorts of animals running around the property including a horse and a pair of donkeys that are happy to be petted. It was the perfect place to relax and we even got to bring Romo on the trip. We drove up on the 4th and spent one night there relaxing at the cabin, playing outside in the yard with Romo and grilling out and we will definitely be going back again some day. We stayed in the cabin called the Von Heinrich home which was built to replicate a 1787 home from Pennsylvania. It had two bedrooms and was so cozy. Because we were only there for one day and loved the place we were staying so much we didn't spend much time in the actual town of Fredericksburg but it looked adorable and we will definitely head back some day for a longer trip.

www.settlerscrossing.com

We had a wonderful car ride up, Romo is so good, he was a little scared at first but he just sat quietly in the back seat the whole time. We stopped for a picnic lunch so Romo could get out and run around a bit and then headed the rest of the way into Fredericksburg. When we got there the key was under the mat at the front door and we just let ourselves in. The place is great you just let yourself in and at the end leave your key on the table so it feels like you are at your own personal cabin with breakfast delivered to you :)

After unpacking the car we played a little ball with Romo in the yard and then got him settled in the house and headed out to a few vineyards.

Our first stop was Grape Creek Vineyard. This was a tiny little vineyard and we both loved it. We did a wine tasting and then wandered around the cute shop. The wines were pretty good, so good we took home a few, and the building was beautiful. The people here were so nice too, the lady who was doing our wine tasting was very talkative and informative.
www.grapecreek.com




The second vineyard we visited was Becker Vineyards. This was a slightly larger vineyard with a bigger selection of wines and a lot more activity. The tasting was less informative kind of whoever was around poured you a taste without saying much, but we did get a tour of the vineyards with a little history and actually got to meet the owners. It was adorable as well but we definitely preferred the atmosphere and the wines at Grape Creek. Both turned out to be a lot of fun. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon of the 4th. These are definitely not big fancy vineyards, but they are cute, fun, and very Texas.
www.beckervineyards.com






The rest of the 4th we spent hanging around our cabin. Marc grilled us some wonderful steaks and corn on the cob and we had smores for dessert. We played outside in the yard and got to know the local wildlife, Romo loved the horse and the donkeys. We loved the old fashion feel of the cozy cabin.














The next morning we got up and heated up the wonderful pastries that had been left for our breakfast and slowly packed up the car while Romo played in the front yard. We were sorry to leave the cozy little home. But before we headed back to Houston we hiked up Enchanted Rock. We got there before it got crowded and it was absolutely beautiful. It was a short but steep hike to the top of a hill and Romo loved it. When we got to the top we just sat up there and could see for miles around us. It was perfect weather and beautiful scenery, the perfect way to end such a wonderful weekend!

Chasing The White Rabbit

It's been awhile since the last blog, it seems like we just haven't had a second to stop running in this rabbit hole we call life, but we are certainly enjoying ourselves. Over the months of May and June we had many visitors including Marc's parents, my parents, and and extra special visit from one of my other halves Matt. Unfortunately we tend to not take pictures while we're actually in Houston so we don't have many pictures from all the visits, but they were all wonderful!

While the Guillemette's were in town we relaxed, cooked, had an awesome day at the Mad Potter, a cute little paint your own pottery shop that Marc and I love, and we had a Memorial Day cookout in our newly remodeled backyard. Thanks to the technology of video chat I have actually gotten to know the Guillemette's well, so well I even forget sometimes that we have only met in person twice, but it was so nice to actually be in the same place for a couple of days and get to know them even better, we really had a blast while they were in town. I hope to hunt down some of the pictures we do have from their trip and will put up a post that includes pictures.

The weekend after the Guillemette visit, my mom and dad stopped in town on their way home from Hawaii. It was a short trip but we are so glad they managed to work in the trip, we love having them in Houston! We again, got to spend some time out in our new backyard for a family cookout and Marc learned how to grill the super secret Yarnall family chicken on charcol from the master himself, my dad. My dad finally got to meet Romo and my parents enjoyed spending some quality time with their granddogs :) All in all it was a wonderful few days, we really have learned how to appreciate the short trips here and there living away from home and we love every second the whole family gets to be together.

The final visitor of the month was an extra special visitor, My Matt. Matt is one of my best friends from high school and part of the trio including myself, Chelsea, and Matt who were rarely a part in high school. I can't even describe how much Matt means to me, him and Chelsea are two of my closest friends and Matt has been the best guy friend a girl could ask for for many years, He has always been looking out for Chelsea and I over the years and has even picked up the pieces after breakups and come to my rescue taking me to prom :) He is quite the friend! It was so neat for Matt and Marc to get the chance to know each other, not that I was surprised that two amazing guys would get along but it was fun to see! We had a relaxing weekend with Matt, eating a ton (we had to try and keep up with Matt), having pool time, and Matt managed to teach us all about soccer while we watched the world cup. It felt just like the old days with Chelsea and Matt relaxing, eating, and swimming, next time we'll just have to make sure Chelsea comes on the trip too!

A little piece of the wild west

Here is a little reminder of what our backyard started as...



And actually it started out worse than that. This picture was taken after we had pulled out the forest of weeds and all the dead grass and cultivated and leveled the yard and laid down top soil, but you get the point.

A couple months ago, as you can see in the picture above, we decided to order a pallet of sod and sod the yard on our own and when this was done we were happy with the results, after obsessively watering the yard for about a month (I tend to be obsessive about these projects I have no experience in) we had a plush green lawn.

But we still had no grill, nowhere to sit, patches without grass with many different ideas of what should go there, and these ugly things...



So a couple of weeks ago we bought and assembled a grill (charcol and gas) and this weekend we took on the task of completing our vision for the back yard. Our vision changed as we went, we started with bricks to hide the ugly electric boxes and went from there and it was a lot of tough work, and I have the sunburn and sore back to prove it. Now we are so excited to spend time outside! We are all ready for a Memorial Day BBQ with Marc's parents and a BBQ with my family the following weekend. And Romo loves it too, he is finally allowed in his backyard to chomp on all the grass he wants, being the cow that he is ;)

We decided to go with a wild west theme to give it a little personality. Ever since moving to Texas the country girl in me has been coming out. I already had the boots (thanks to my mom), and the belt (thanks to Marc), and I have two Houston Rodeos under my belt, not to mention with the amount of grass Romo consumes I consider myself the proud owner of a calf, plus he kinda acts like the calfs at the rodeo some days. And I decided that to let the true cowgirl in me shine our home needed a little country twist! Here are a few photos of the finished project for y'all.








Y'all come back now! :)

Spring Time

I don't know the first thing about gardening. I joke that I grew up in the dessert playing with rocks and cacti and therefore don't know how to keep plants alive, but in some ways that is no joke. When I went to college Katy, my Minnesota Mommy, gave me a cactus for my dorm room to remind me of home and somehow I actually managed to kill a cactus. But just because I know nothing about plants and keeping them alive does not mean I don't love them, in fact I love flowers and dream of having a beautiful garden full of tulips, there is a reason I consider myself a Minnesota girl at heart. So with the new house I decided I would start with baby steps and put a few flower boxes on our front porch. This sounds easy, but for me it turned out to be a little stressful and I was really wishing I could have Linda and Katy there to walk me through it. I think I have decided that when I decide to do a full garden I will be flying them out.

First I had to find the perfect flower boxes and once I found them Marc had to make them fit on our balcony because they definitely were not made for our balcony, but I was not budging, I wanted them. And Marc the handy man and sweet man that he is eventually made them work for me. Then I had to pick flowers, which I know nothing about, I went to the garden center and after wandering around aimlessly for way too much time blindly grabbed some pretty colors hoping they were the "right kind" and I grabbed a random bag of potting soil as well (I have no idea why it is necessary to have five billion choices for potting soil). The easiest part was actually planting them and that was only because I had a small space to put them in, but I am sure I tripled the amount of time it would take any normal person to transfer flowers from the container to a flower box.

It's about a month later and I would like to report that my flowers are still alive! I am obsessive about watering them and every rainstorm or extremely hot (this is most days considering we live in Houston) day I fear that they will be ruined, but I love the results! Now I am looking forward to some day planting a real garden, but I am not joking about needing Linda and Katy by my side. I could spend days wandering the garden center if I didn't have some assistance ;)

Here are my precious flowers...

This time we're really painting the roses red...

The master bedroom has a lot of white walls and the color theme is red. We didn't want an entire red room, but we thought the room could use a splash of color so we decided on a red accent wall. We put it in our sitting area where it really stands out against the black couch and it's across from the bed which has red pillows and a red comforter and the wall above the bed has a red wording, so it brings the room together. I was nervous about this because it's such a bold color and I am always nervous when painting a room, but it turns out I love it! It also turns out that it is really difficult to find the perfect red paint and it is really difficult to paint red evenly on the wall. No surprise there, really difficult is the theme of our home projects ;)

Here are the before and after shots:

Before


After

Phoenix

Last weekend Marc and I had the chance to take a quick weekend trip to Phoenix and while we were there got to see many family and friends. We went to stay with my parents but as it worked out we also got to see my Godparents, Linda and Mike, as well as a few memebers of the Guillemette family. And I of course can't make a trip to Phoenix without seeing my two best friends from high school Chelsea and Chichie.

On Friday when we got in we had a fun family dinner with my parents and my God parents who grilled us up some yummy pork with my favorite marinade. Unfortunately we have no pictures from the night but it was a fun night filled with laughter and conversation. Any chance I get to spend some quality time with my parents and Godparents is a real treat, even if it is just for a bit.

Saturday morning we headed over to my friend Chichie's (Ashlee) place to spend some time with her and her husband Bart and meet their adorable new baby boy Jack. Jack is just two months old and he is a little angel, I was so excited to finally get the chance to meet him. Chichie and I have been friends for so long, we've had our fights and our joint birthday parties and in the end she will always be one of my best friends, she has such a huge heart and I am lucky to have her in my life. We only have one picture of the morning, Chichie has the rest on her camera, but all you need is one look at this little guy and your heart is melted. He is the most well behaved little guy I have ever met and the cutest. And it was so fun to get to see Chichie and Bart as new parents, I have known them both since middle school before they were even allowed to date and now to see them in their third year of marriage with their first baby, is amazing!



We spent the rest of Saturday in Litchfield Park with the Guillemette family. Marc's Uncle Norm and Aunt Ann live their with their twin boys Jacques and Luc. Luc and Jacques were celebrating their first communion and confirmation and Marc's wonderful parents, Nicole and Robert, were in town as their sponsors. Since our parents live on opposite sides of the country it was an extra special weekend for us because we got to see all the parents in one weekend, although the weekend was way too short :) We spent Saturday afternoon sitting out in the beautiful Phoenix weather with the Guillemette's enjoying a little party in honor of Luc and Jacques, who are two of the cutest kids. These boys are full of energy and so much fun! Then for dinner we headed over to the famous El Chorro Lodge near my neighborhood. This restaurant has been around since the beginning of Phoenix and is in the beautiful Camelback Inn area. We had a wonderful dinner with Robert, Nicole, Norm, Ann, Luc and Jacques on the patio looking at the mountains. Here are a few pictures of the night. Luc got a hold of the camera and we got some awesome shots from his adventures around the restaurant :)

The afternoon in Litchfield Park:












Dinner at El Chorro Lodge













On Sunday we ended our weekend in Phoenix with a wonderful breakfast with my parents at our favorite place Mrs. Butterfields and then had a quick lunch with Chelsea at Einsteins before we had to run off to the airport, because I can't be in Phoenix without getting to see my very best friend, even if it's just enough time to catch up :)

All in all it was a wonderful weekend full of wonderful people. It was not enough time to spend with anyone but we were lucky to get to see everyone in the time we had! :)

-Aly