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

Meet Romo

Romo is our five month old lab/border collie mix. I could no longer stand not having a dog in my life so after many set backs and many searches for the perfect puppy I found him. Romo was born November 7, 2009 and we brought him home on January 25, 2010. Romo's mom, who was pregnant and living under a truck was rescued from downtown Houston along with the father who surprisingly would not leave her side. He was born at a foster home and we were lucky enough to find him online through the animal rescue group pup squad (pupsquad.org). The night we brought this little guy home it was love at first sight. We met up with him at Petsmart and knew he would be coming home with us. That first night we he was dirty and terrified, we gave him a bath and he spent the entire night sitting under the kitchen table whining. Those first couple of days he wouldn't eat or drink and the first week or so he was startled at every little noise and movement, I can't tell you how many emails were exchanged between me, my mom, and Auntie Sandy making sure I was doing everything right because I was so scared for him. And now we can't believe how much he has grown. Sometimes we forget how little he once was but we look back at the little fluff ball we brought home and are amazed at the perfect little guy he has grown into. He is now 34lbs and is the center of attention in this house. He is no longer afraid of anything, has found his fantastic little bark and loves patrolling the house for us and making laps around the house.

Here are a few of our favorite pictures of our little guy, we have way too many to post, we just can't stop taking pictures, he's so cute! Look at how much he has grown over the months!

These first two are from the night we brought him home - January 25, 2010:






Romo's favorite sleeping positions:









Romo's first toy - Mr. Football of course:





Romo's favorite hiding spot (under the bed):





Romo got to spend the days bonding with David in March while he was in town and David got some awesome photos and one hillarious one:







Romo napping with his blanky that Auntie Sandy made him:





Romo's favorite activity is sitting out on the balcony patrolling:





Here are a few of the most recent pictures of Romo taken last week:





-Aly

We're Painting The Roses Red...

Or the walls tan...

We decided we wanted to add a little splash of color to the guest bedroom. So one Friday night (the same Friday night Marc decided it was a good time to tear up the entire backyard) we picked out a sandy color to match the palm trees in the guest bathroom and we painted the room. Now like all other house projects we have so far attempted it was much harder and took much longer than anticipated, but after a few long days and nights we are happy with the results and feel the guest bedroom is much more cozy. So to those of you who have been to visit, come back, we think you'll like the change, and to those of you who haven't been here yet come stay in our newly decorated and very comfortable guest bedroom :) We love having guests here!

Before:





After:




We hope to add a few more splashes of color to the house including making the guest bathroom the same color as the guest bedroom and an accent wall in our bedroom, but after this experience we might just be holding off on that for a bit.

-Aly

A Year in the Rabbit Hole

Seeing as how so much has been happening I decided to put together a quick digital scrapbook of pictures from the past year. Enjoy...


We celebrated Marc's 24th birthday with a little surprise party - April 14, 2009






Kim & Tim got married - Phoenix, AZ May 23, 2009






James and Wali came to visit - June 2009





We celebrated birthdays with my friends from Baylor





The B&R Tour of the Northeast including stops in Pittsburgh, Niagara Falls, Albany, Durham, and Boston - July 2009









We bought our first home - October 2009





Christina & Shaun came to visit over Halloween - October 2009







David came to spend Thanksgiving with us and the boys went to the Cowboys Thanksgiving day game - November 2009





We brought in the new year with Houston friends and family at our house - December 31, 2009






I had my first trip to New York City: It was an amazing Yarnall family vacation. We met up with the amazing Gebert girls, saw Wicked on Broadway, and my life dream of skating in Rockefeller Plaza was fulfilled :) - January 2010






We brought home our Romo - January 25, 2010





David came back for his spring break and went to the Rodeo with us - March 2009





My two best friends Annie and Jen returned for their second annual Rodeo Houston - March 2009




Looking back I can't believe how much happened in one year and this is just all we have pictures of. We'll clearly have to start carrying the camera more and can't wait for the wonderful memories to continue :)

-Aly