To Sum It All Up...

I didn't get to take as many pictures as I wanted to at all of the family gatherings. I'm an extremely shy person, and being around so many people who've known each other for so long was more than a little intimidating for me, hahaha!

But the best part about our trip, other than getting engaged of course, was that I finally got to meet the few people I hadn't met in person, yet. I got to meet Wendy, Jon's wife. She sang karaoke at a bar, which was hysterical! She's a ball of energy and fun, and she had advice for me on a few subjects, which I really appreciated. And she joined Holly, Andrew, and me for lunch at an AWESOME deli (I do love a great sandwich!). I got to meet Carmen, Ryan's wife. She was so sweet!!! We got to have lunch with her and her family, go to the zoo, hang out and make pizzas...and of course, little Claudia. It was a pleasure to get to meet her, as well!

I got to spend a lot of time with Zach and Holly, and they were just wonderful. We stayed with them, and it was great getting to know Holly, finding out that we had a lot in common.

I got to meet his parents, and I'm glad for that! Andrew looks just like his dad, so that was cool to see!

And seeing Jon, Ryan, and Jake again was really great, I adore all of the brothers! They've always accepted me and made me feel welcome in the family!

I wish Jenny had been there, too, because I've only spent time with her for one short trip, and she was really great! Hopefully soon we'll get to have her and Jake back to stay with us in Texas!

So to every Dudek: thank you so much for making our vacation as wonderful as it was. I love Andrew with all of my heart, and I am so happy that he has such a wonderful family! I know I was quiet and shy, but I'll open up more eventually, haha! And I look forward to getting to know ALL of you more and more as time passes. I hope you all are having a wonderful week! Thanks, again!!

All About Claudia!!!

I have an almost 2-year old niece who I think is the cutest little girl ever. But almost equally as precious to me was Carmen and Ryan's little girl, Claudia!!

Oh my goodness, this little girl is SO CUTE!!! And smart!! When we were at Andrew's parents' house, I went kitty-hunting upstairs with Claudia. I was showing her how to whisper and let the shy cats come to her, but she couldn't resist. She'd always end up squealing with delight and chasing them! I helped her go potty and organize a bunch of bears on the sofa...she is just too precious, with the voice of a little chipmunk.

She's not even the SLIGHTEST bit picky, either. She was eating olives and raw red onions when we were putting toppings on our pizzas. She ate one of everything off of a huge appetizer platter at an Asian food restaurant at lunch one day. Andrew and I hope our kids eat like Claudia!




I didn't post these Claudia pictures on the zoo post because I was going to do them here. But it was so cute watching her at the zoo!




It was great getting to finally meet you in person, Claudia, and I know that Uncle Andy was thrilled to get to see you! We hope that you'll be a flower girl when we get married next year!

Indianapolis Zoo

Sorry I didn't finish the other night, but it was bedtime!

Zach, Holly, Andrew, and I all went to the zoo the Friday before we left. Shortly after we got there, we were joined by Ryan, Carmen, and Claudia.

This zoo was SO MUCH BETTER than the two zoos in DFW. The enclosures were awesome, and it was a really beautiful day outside, perfect zoo weather!

First, the four of us went through the Botanical Garden. It was really pretty, but there were too many bees flying around, making me uncomfortable, so I let the other three explore the rest by themselves while I poked around the gift shop inside.

We did get SOME pictures while I was out there, though.







We took some old pennies and put them in those machines to make botanical garden-related oval coins. Zach really got into turning the lever to flatten and imprint the pennies, hahaha.






We had just finished our first zoo "attraction" inside the actual zoo when Ryan got there with his family. We had been petting sharks! Well not me, but Zach, Holly, and Andrew weren't too freaked out by it.





The whole "sea creature" area was really neat!











The rest of the zoo was equally as awesome! My favorite exhibit? The KOMODO DRAGON! Even though there was only one in there, it was gorgeous, something I've wanted to see since we missed the Komodo Dragon exhibit at the Ft. Worth Zoo earlier this year.








It was great getting to go through parts with Ryan, Carmen, and Claudia as well. There were things there that were kid oriented: a playground, a farm animal section, and a trainride. So we let them go at their own pace for Claudia for parts of the trip since we had to leave by a certain time to make the reservation we had at St. Elmo's downtown (we took Zach and Holly out for their killer desserts!). It was great to be able to spend some time with them, though!




But my favorite part about the whole trip...had to be Zach's outfit. Well, the shoes, mostly. He thought he looked amazing, though, hahaha!




All in all, it was a great day! Thank you Ryan, Carmen, and Claudia for being a part of it!

Rally's

I fell madly in love with the Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Rally's in Indiana. I had several while I was there, along with their kick-ass fries and Cherry Coke.

And yes, I REALLY AM doing a blog post solely in tribute to this wonderful restaurant. The nearest one to us here is in Shreveport, Louisiana...so we won't get to eat at Rally's unless we travel to Indiana.




Rally's...we really miss you. **sniff** **sniff**

Jon and Wendy's Dogs

Okay...these are the sweetest dogs! Boscoe, Meko, and Argus. Argus is a Newfie mix, and the other two are Saint Bernards.

They certainly are a presence in the room! Very sweet, though, and well behaved. Which is good, because they could knock you over if they really wanted to, hahaha!












Jon and Wendy, you guys have some really lovable dogs, and as a Newfie fan (and a big-dog lover in general) it was really fun to spend time with them!

The Five Brothers

The day after we got engaged, we all met over at Zach's to eat breakfast. Andrew and Zach cooked eggs, biscuits and gravy, bacon, and potatoes. Jake made brownies, haha. And there were mimosas all around. It was great, I finally got to meet Wendy (Jon's wife) in person, as well as Ryan's daughter, Claudia. It was great to have everyone in the same room, the brothers were all excited to see each other.

After breakfast, we all headed out to take pictures of the guys at their old high school. Someone was there to let us onto the football field to take pictures, which was really, really awesome!







I'm so glad that I got to watch them all hang out and have fun for a bit before Jake had to go back home.

It's not exactly a re-creation of that last Dudek Five picture, but I think that last one is worth putting along side it!