Visitors!

This past weekend Madelyn's parents flew into Austin for a nice visit. We ate at some of our favorite Austin restaurants, Madelyn and her mom shopped for clothes, and me and her dad took in some car shopping. It was really fun showing off our city.... so, please come and visit us!

I wasn't much of a picture taker this weekend, but I did take my camera to the San Antonio Missions. This is something we've always wanted to do, but with Madelyn's religion and history buff mom coming to town we knew we had to finally make the trip. It was awesome.... we took a lot of pictures, I hope you enjoy them.

A special shout out to our friend Tobi who took our little dog Rocky this weekend so that we could spend two days away from home! It really was a HUGE help!

This was Mission Concepcion, it was the first Mission on the tour and the closest the most famous mission of all..... The Alamo.

This is Madelyn studying the really awesome artwork that has survived more than 300 years at Mission Concepcion.

This is a really cool stairwell that was in Mission Concepcion.

This is the sanctuary in Mission Concepcion. Each of the Missions are still active congregations of decedents of the original mission peoples. Very Cool.

The front of Mission Concepcion.

This picture is Madelyn's dad walking through a doorway in the mission. I don't think the missions were intended for people who are 6ft tall.

A shot from the outside of Mission Concepcion.

This is a shot from the "outer wall" of Mission San Jose (the largest of all of the missions)

The sanctuary of Mission San Jose.

This is the doorway to the sanctuary of Mission San Jose. It was really incredible.... so much detail.

Picture of everyone (minus the photographer) checking out Mission San Jose.

It was amazing that these 300 year old structures were still standing.... especially with the sometimes (as we found out this weekend!) violent storms of Texas.

Even the paint has survived all of this time.

Me and Madelyn in front of Mission San Jose. It was nice to finally get a picture of the two of us! Thanks Robert! It's always either Madelyn or Me in all of our pictures.

This was in the sanctuary of Mission San Juan.

The outside of Mission San Juan.

This was our favorite of all the missions.... and a great way to end the day. Mission Espada was maintained well, and was the prettiest of all the missions.

A picture of the outside of Mission Espada.

Another picture of Mission Espada

Mission Espada housed a little glass store where one of the mission Friar's made the jewelry to help support the mission congregation. Kathryn bought a nice rose necklace and got her picture with the friar who makes them. He was very nice.... and we all thought he looked a lot like Madelyn's uncle D.

Two Years

Today is our two year anniversary! Today Madelyn sent me an e-card for the occasion. Getting this e-card is the exact reason why I married this girl. She's got the best sense of humor....not to mention she's gorgeous, kind, and we have a LOT of fun together(and all of these reasons). Tonight we are going out to celebrate and then getting ready for Madelyn's parents visit this weekend. I hope you enjoy the card as much as I did:

This is the one I sent back to Madelyn...

Gruene is not a color....

This weekend me, Madelyn, Tobi, Angela, and Jessica all went to Gruene (pronounced "Green") Texas for a little day trip. We ate at the Gristmill (an old Mill converted into a restaurant), went into some of the shops, and hung out at Gruene Hall (the OLDEST dance hall in Texas.... now THAT'S an achievement). Without getting too wordy.... here are some pictures from the trip. Am I the only dude? Yes.... this is my day hanging with the ladies.

The quote of the day has to go to Tobi: Our friend Jessica (who hails from Missouri) was looking for vintage Pyrex bowls in an antique store. Tobi spotted an old bowl that had some sort of wheat print. She then says to Jessica "Hey... look at this bowl! You're from the Midwest.... don't you guys love wheat and crap?"

(waiting for a table at the Gristmill)

(They had the biggest burgers ever! We ate every single bite.....)

(Sorry Tobi.... you're covered up. But if you weren't this could be your bands album cover)

(No explanation needed)

(Faking a tea party in the middle of the store..... I sure wish I wasn't the only guy at this point)

(Picture of the front of Gruene Hall)

(Tobi chose strictly hip hop on our ride down. Somehow the hip hop vibe I had was lost when playing horseshoes. I can't imagine a more un-hip hop thing to do.... but I was tryin')


(this officially when I became the 5th wheel... oh well, I had a good time.)

Dogs and cats living together.... mass hysteria!

This will be a quick blog... but I was just entertained for the past half hour by the events that took place on our porch. We have a cat at our apartments who just kind of roams around. I don't think this cat has an owner.... I would say it's a stray but it's healthy and it's been de-clawed. Anyway, Rocky and I see this cat all the time outside and Rocky is always very interested in her. The cat doesn't seem to mind Rocky either. Well, today when I got home from work Rocky DARTED out the screen door (which is weird... because he doesn't like the back porch too much). Anyway, the apartment cat (which I have named "Patches") was on our porch and her and Rocky hung out together for a while. I took some pictures... of course. This is becoming the "Rocky" blog.... I know.

(Patches the cat)

(Rocky.... super mut)


("Oh, hi.... what are you?")


(Trying to get the cat to play with him)


(learning that you can't bark at cats.... they'll run away)

Awesome Weekend

This past weekend was a whole lot of fun. We hosted everyone (Tobi, Angela, and Jessica) over to our house for dinner and Rockband. I don't think we've mentioned this, but Madelyn and I (with me and Madelyn's advance on our birthday money from my mom and Kevin) finally got our Xbox and Rockband. So on Friday everyone came over for some of Madelyn's baked Ziti and some serious rocking. We had an awesome time... and all of us completely rocked out to "My Sharona" and "More than a Feeling".

Tobi brought her extra guitar so we could have a guitar and bass. Only one person had to sit out.... and take pictures of course. Thanks Angela!

Later that weekend we met Jessica and some other friends at a cool place called Red House Lounge for some pizza. It was really nice to sit outside and enjoy the beautiful weather.

We were also able to squeeze in two visits to a new dog park (we won't go back to the other one for a while.... bad memories). This new dog park is awesome. Tons of water for the dogs to play in and Rocky just couldn't get enough of it. At first he was a little timid about the water but eventually I coaxed him into the deep end with treats and he swam around. Tobi and Bluebonnet came with us which made it even better. This place is nice because both dogs and people can enjoy the cool water..... we had a great time. Then we headed to lunch at our new favorite local restaurant, Billy's, and spent the rest of the day washing our dirty cars in the warm weather.

Of course we took pictures of Rocky at the dog park.... how can you resist?

Here's Rocky running very fast (obviously there was no "lesson learned" from our visit to the emergency room after the last time he ran at full speed) across the water. See all the little dogs he's running toward? These are the only dogs he will play with at the dog park.... he's such a bully.

Here is Madelyn and Tobi with Rocky and Bluebonnet enjoying the water.

Even if you aren't a "dog person" you have to find this next picture adorable. Our pup was wet from all the water and he didn't seem to mind getting wrapped up in the towel. Did I just use the word "adorable"? Yes.... because it is.

Why I love.... Madelyn

The other day we were in the car discussing something we both wanted to buy. Madelyn was explaining that making a rational decision about this item would be hard.....

M: "Ya, know.... Rosie Stu Pots".

C: "What!?!?.... Rosie Stu Pots!?!? Who is she?"

Through the uproar of laughter I finally said, "Oh, I think you mean.... "Seeing the world through Rose Colored Glasses."

Madelyn obviously knows this saying, but somehow the words "Rosie Stu Pots" came out. Somewhere in her head this expression was mixed up to create one of the funniest things ever spoken. Hilarious.

I don't think I'll ever use the expression "Rose Colored Glasses" again.... for now on its "Rosie Stu Pots"