Slumber Party

Last Friday night we had a slumber party with our five year old niece.  Her mother dropped her off at the office after work and we took her home for a fun filled evening with her coolest Aunt and Uncle :)

When we got home we posed for pictures on the bed...

And we hugged on Benny.  However, Benny was a little jealous as he wasn't getting all the attention for once...

And we went to dinner and colored on our menus and ate salads.  Well, actually Caroline was the only one to eat a salad.  I thought most children ordered off the kids menu but not this grown up girl!  She knew exactly what she wanted :)

We decided we needed a little sugar so we splurged on icees and Nerds...

And we watched Despicable Me at the movies...

And then we came home and realized our AC was no longer working.  No more pictures after this point as we were all a sweaty mess in the house.  We managed to sleep through the night though and woke up bright and early the next morning and worked in the yard.  Yes, the yard.  My five year old niece insisted we pull weeds and sweep the back patio.  She also said she would clean the house.  Hmmm I knew it was a little dirty but I guess she pointed out the obvious.  Anyways,  Caroline is welcome back to our house anytime :)

We have a pool! Well, my parents do....

I mentioned a few weeks ago that my parents moved into their new house and that it deserved a post of its own.  And it most certainly does.  It does just because of the fact that they now have a pool.  I don't know about anyone else but if you live in Texas you need a pool.  Or at least know someone that has one nearby.  I wanted a pool my whole entire life growing up and now, when I'm 26, they decide to build a house with a beautiful pool.  Good thing the house has plenty of room for my little fam of three because they don't know it yet but we are moving in :)

Anyways, I wanted to share a few pictures because their new house is beautiful and my parents spent so much time on every detail that it wouldn't be fair to not share this with others.  And now for a tour of some of my favorite rooms...

Great Room

We normally find oureslves gathering in the kitchen when we all get together and now we will be able to cook, hang out at the island, eat at the table, watch TV and no one would be left out. 

One of the many old doors 

I know this picture isn't exactly a room but I wanted to show a picture of one of the doors. My parents carefully selected old doors and had them refurbished to fit their house. I love that they did this and it really adds character to the house. 

Wine Room

I think the picture says enough but everything about this room is amazing.  I love how you have to step down to enter the room and I love the antique brick on the walls and ceiling.  Oh, and I kinda love all the wine in the room :)

Master Bath

Now this is truly one of my favorite rooms.  Look at the tub!!!  I think it's calling my name...

Outdoor Living / Pool

There she is.  The pool.  The pool I always wanted.  And it's everything I dreamed of. 

More outdoor living

Even though it's the hottest time of the year here in Texas we have still spent tons of time out here already and I imagine that will always be the case. 

I hope you enjoyed the tour.  I know I sure did and I wasn't kidding about moving in.  Mom, I know you're reading this so I hope you don't mind.... I promise Benny won't go swimming too much :)  Honestly though, they have built this house for their family and I'm so excited for all the fun memories to come here. 

Also, I couldn't end this post without a picture from Ryan's birthday night.  My mom cooked up a delicious meal and we ended the evening with a delicious carrot cake.  Unfortantly, I do not get "wife of the year" as I did not bake this but I did pick it up from a fabulous local market and that counts in my book :) 

Fun on the Fourth

Ryan and I spent this last Sunday celebrating July 4th with some of our best friends.  Ryan played golf that morning and we then headed to our friends apartment for an afternoon at the pool.  Later that evening we all put on our most patriotic clothes and headed to the rooftop of their apartment where we had an amazing view of downtown Houston.  We enjoyed hamburgers/hotdogs, listened to some great music, enjoyed a few cold beverages and anxiously awaited the fireworks show.  All in all, it was a great summer day and we had a blast celebrating Americas birthday!

That's not the only birthday we are celebrating in our household as Ryan turns the big 26 this Friday.  We've got plans to spend the weekend at my parents new house with the whole fam and I'm sure they'll be tons of pool time, golf, laughs and good food and wine :)

Recent Happenings

I promised to provide more pictures on my blog and to keep with my promise I have provided all my faithful readers with a few from recent happenings.  I can't guarantee that they are very good pictures but they are pictures.  And they actually include people and not just dogs.  So here it goes...

Last weekend Ryan and I made the short trek to Austin for a little weekend getaway.  This year has been so busy with school and work that Ryan and I simply needed to get away.  And sleep.  And relax.  And that we did.  However, when we arrived on Friday evening we had a little problem with our room key.  As in it wouldn't open the hotel room.  And the guy swore it would work and yet it didn't.  Every. single. time.  At this point it's past 9 pm we are starving and in need of an adult beverage.  Ryan decides he's had enough and boldly marches down to the front desk and demands a new room.  We didn't exactly get a new room but we were promised when we came back from dinner our keys would work.  I guess Ryan didn't look scary enough but they did give us two complimentary breakfast buffets the next morning. Not quite a new room but hey, I'll take a delicious omelet any day :)

The next morning Ryan and I slept in and then enjoyed our delicious FREE breakfast downstairs before making plans for the day.  We decided to hit up a local winery just 25 miles south of Austin called Mandola Estate Winery.  I'm pretty sure it was 11 am and we  had already tasted five wines each.  Who's judging?  I'm pretty sure it's ok to drink before noon when on vacation.

After we sampled some Texas wines we drove around a bit and then decided we would go back to the hotel and then spend the afternoon walking around.  That lasted about 20 minutes.  Ryan and I were soaking wet and decided what the heck were we thinking.  Walking around in 100 degrees??  Not exactly relaxing.  So we hit up a local convenience store for a six pack and went up the roof-top pool at the hotel.  Now we're talking.  I was much happier reading my magazine next to a pool, beer in hand, with a great view of downtown Austin.

After a leisure afternoon we cleaned up and went for an early dinner at Iron Cactus on 6th Street.  We enjoyed some great food and then headed to the concert.  The concert is actually the real reason we made this little trip to Austin as one of our fave bands, Passion Pit, was going to be in Texas.  What we didn't realize was that while the doors to the venue opened at 7 the band didn't actually come out until 10:30.  Clue number one we are getting too old for concerts.  Clue number two was that we really were the oldest people at the concert.  I'm pretty sure all the other boys were wearing skinny jeans and had just graduated from high school while Ryan had on khaki shorts and a polo and almost has his second college degree.  Anyways, we had a great time hanging out, err sweating, waiting for the concert to start.

I told you we were sweaty...

I will say the concert was great though.  The venue really was awesome and we jammed out with the rest of the skinny jean wearing, high school kiddos and promptly headed back to our hotel afterward for a cold shower and slept for about 12 hours.  I told you we were getting old but it was wonderful. 

Moving on....

Last night I went to dinner with three of my best friends, Kim, Sara & Leslie and we had a great time catching up with each other.  After dinner we headed back to my house and enjoyed another glass (or two) of vino.  Ryan so kindly took this picture of us which I think might have been the third of fourth try.  We couldn't stop giggling and while this one isn't perfect it was still the best.  Oh, and Leslie is officially moving back from Dallas to start her career as a dentist here in Houston and I'm looking forward to having the whole gang back together.   

In other recent news, my parents moved into their new house today.  The house we have all been waiting for.  And it has a pool.  I don't want to say too much as this news deserves a whole post for itself...

Happy Weekend!

Benny times two...

Last weekend we watched our friends dog Wyatt.  Wyatt also happens to be a puppy.  Who is playful.  And who sheds.  Does that remind you of someone??  Does a black lab named Benjy come to mind???  Wyatt and Bennett happen to be great puppy friends who love to wrestle, play tug-a-war, sleep in the A/C and did I mention wrestle?   

While I absolutely adore our friends golden retriever I have come to realize that I am not a two dog person.  Definitely not a two (BIG) dog person in a 1,200 square foot house.  My wood floors took quite a beating with all the thrashing around in the house and I think I swept up enough dog hair after Wyatt left to create a whole new dog!  Now, I'm not complaining too much as I'm a softie for these dogs and the fact that Bennett slept for two whole days afterward was pretty great....

And as promised in my previous post - I have pictures!

I hope you don't mind looking at a few close-ups of the dog.  See, they can be cute....

And then they can be mean...

Enough of the dogs.  So what did Ryan and I do this weekend?  Well, Ryan spent quite a bit of time in the yard Saturday afternoon...

And I supervised while drinking a cold one.  Oh, the life:)

Rudy Updates

What's going on in the Rudy household lately?  Since it's been a couple (or 10) days since I last posted I thought I would give an update in bullet format....

• I spent Memorial Day out at my sister-in-law's house laying out by the pool.  For about 6 hours.  And my white body turned a deep pink color.  And it hurt.  And 9 days later I'm still peeling.  Oh, I also want to note that my brother-in-law is a fabulous pool boy.  If he is ever looking for a new profession I'll know just what to suggest :)
• That next day I headed to the Sunshine State to attend a conference for a week in Orlando.  I had a great time at the conference and met a lot of really great people.  I also had the chance to go to Epcot while I was there.  And I may never go back.  Not really my scene.  Not sure if that was because a bird pooped on me while I was there or maybe it was the $40 they wanted to charge me to eat bratwurst at the Beer Garten.  Haven't decided yet...
• While in Orlando Ryan and I had our third anniversary.  Yes, third!  I toasted in honor of us that evening at the House of Blues and we officially celebrated on Saturday at Vic & Anthony's.   We love to celebrate big occasions with a great dinner and this one did not disappoint.
•  Now that Ryan is no longer in school my grocery bill has more than doubled.  I can no longer get away with eating cereal for dinner and I'm forced to actually buy food.  Does ravioli and frozen pizza count??  I'm not really sure but I do know it's more expensive than cereal.  Ryan also commented tonight that maybe we should change up our three dinners that we eat every week.  I might need to dust off the crock-pot again....Any suggestions on quick and easy dinners to make??

Annnd that's about it.  Not too exciting but I didn't want to leave you hanging too long.  Hopefully I'll be back soon with pictures!