We decided to have a little party for Halloween. I had a lot of fun cooking up a bunch of haunted treats. I have to say I don’t like trick or treating, I despise scary movies, but there is something about turning an oreo into a spider that I just love! Brandon even went to a bunch of different stores to find dry ice to make our cider sparkle. Oh I also love dry ice and am totally fascinated with bats. Did you know dry ice is  -110 degrees? Awesome! We dressed Miley up like a bat. We thought she would destroy her costume, but she didn’t. She even let Zak hold her for a good portion of the night and I don’t think she bit him. Go Miley! We had fun eating and visiting with friends. We had planned some games, but we didn’t get around to them. We watched 1408, which was not as scary as I had anticipated, but still quite creepy. Thanks to everyone that came- we had a blast!

For those of you who never thought you would see the day, yes I went camping all on my own and I even have pictures to prove it. We had a lot of fun trying out our new camp gear- notice the picture of a very clean camp stove, making tin foil dinners and cobbler for the first time, exploring, and enjoying all the fun company! Oh I also ran into a deer at about 3 in the morning which scared me to death, but as you can see I survived.

We had a lot of fun with many of the people from our ward. Brandon even found time to pick up some trash on the beach- what a stud!

Since we moved here I have really wanted to do some gardening, but in an apartment you don’t have many options. Well this last week Brandon and I decided to try out some window boxes. We planted all sorts of things and if we are lucky we will have blooms now until the end of spring, maybe even longer! I guess that can be one thing I like about Texas.  We planted a couple already established plants, but I was thrilled when a short four days later sprouts began to appear and have grown a ton in the last few days!

I have the cutest mom ever! I got two packages this week full of fun Halloween decorations and goodies that she and Gabby put together for me. They even made me my very own treat bucket when I mentioned I couldn’t find one that I really liked. So cute!!! Very creative ladies! Check out the things they sent. I also threw in a few pictures of some decorating I already did. I don’t really like trick or treating, but I love decorating for Halloween!

We love this girl.

She loves wheat thins, ranch dressing and still enjoys chewing on us. She is not so in love with our attempt to take her for walks, but she does enjoying being outside. She keeps me company while Brandon is gone and makes me laugh all the time. Her latest goal is to make it into my flower boxes, not so safe seeing as we live on the second floor. She also had her first encounter with a dog this week. Is it bad that we were totally entertained when she came running in all puffed up?

We went to see about a million bats fly out from under the Congress Bridge in Austin. Our first attempt we got there a little too late and missed it, but we did enjoy a good dinner. The second time we made it. We didn’t get any good pictures of the bats themselves, but it was incredible!

We had so much fun with my family down in Mexico. We did a lot of this:

But we also spent a lot of time hanging at the beach, playing games, reading, relaxing and enjoying time together! We were even able to watch some BYU football!

If you know me you know I’m no good at most sports. So I became the photographer and had to stray from the game a few times to catch the amazing surroundings.

Look at these cute sisters! Oh and Brandon seems to have some sort of force field that pulls kids in.

The boys went fishing one day. Scary looking fish if you ask me.

The new house has an incredible upper deck. We tried to get some pictures of the view.

Whose ready for church?

Fun in the Sun!

This was the last time we will all be together before Christmas so of course we had to take some pictures for that beloved holiday card.

These pictures need to be adjusted a little to brighten our faces, but I don’t know how to do that on Brandon’s computer. We had about 30 people with us on this trip, but you can’t really tell that from my pictures. So I would love to get some pictures from everyone else that was there. We had so much fun with everyone!!! Oh and this is how we road from the beach house to the Phoenix airport. Some of us weren’t so happy about being squished, but I thought it was a blast to be in a car with everyone for the last few hours.

I know we have now been living here for 4 months, but I’ve gotten several requests to see the place all put together. I was waiting and waiting for it to be all clean, but then I caved and realized this is about as good as it gets. Enjoy!

If you want to see more you will have to come visit, but you probably should just come visit anyway!

We are in need of an update, I know. We have been pretty busy with a lot of different things. My computer is on it’s last leg and I am not able to load any new pictures and what is a blog post without pictures? Anyway here are a few Brandon was able to upload. They are of me painting tap squares for my new dance classes and some of the room I’m teaching in. It’s very low key, but I’m loving it. Still need a name… any ideas? I would love a play on words with a french word or something. We will try to do a bigger update when we get back in the states. 

Miley & Monster? Our cute little snuggley kitten has hit a mean streak. She still is just as cute as could be, but truly likes to bite. Not just her toy mouse or ribbon, but she truly likes to bite human flesh. My legs and arms are definitely showing her new little addiction. We love her and spend a lot of time playing with her, but have tried everything to get the biting to stop and so far have had no luck. I know kittens generally go through a biting phase- anyone know how long it will last? or have any suggestions? I think we have tried everything we have heard or read. Currently we have switched back to the water bottle trick. I now sleep with one in my hand.

Miley also doesn’t like to be alone. She doesn’t seem to mind when we aren’t home. It’s when we are home and not giving her enough attention. Since she was biting us while we where trying to sleep we decided to lock her out of our bedroom at night. Well after several nights of crying she convinced us to open the door back up. (I was pretty sure she was waking the neighbors) I now let her sleep on my side. We have come to an ok routine, but I do wish for more sleep. She wakes me up around 3 every morning I play a little with her and then calm her down. That usually includes lots of biting and her becoming soaking wet. When Brandon gets up a few hours later she gets up, eats and plays for a little bit and then when I get up she is sweetly sleeping right up next to me. It’s just so cute I can’t believe it’s the same cat that bit my nose at 3 to get attention.

Anyway now that I have complained about the small trials of having a kitten I thought I’d share a few pictures and maybe a movie. (If I can get it working.) I have filled all of our camera memory cards with pictures and videos of her. I’ve had way too much fun following her around with the camera. I keep getting told that this is good training for a baby. No we are not ready to have kids and I’m pretty sure you can’t spray infants with water when they misbehave.

She is so snuggley when she wants to be. I love her polka dot belly!

She lets me hold her like a baby while she sleeps, adorable!

Fast asleep. Brandon got her a new kitty city. It’s a little house with toys and a scratching post. I’ll have to get a picture of that, but before we got that she had a little home in this shoe box.

We wanted to have a way to show how small she was. She has already grown a ton and gotten taller since this picture, but she is still Brandon’s baby. He is so cute with her. Brandon really loves cats!

She seems to think if she eats that water bottle it won’t spray her anymore. We are still working on the connection between biting and getting wet. Until then I guess I can deal with the scratches since she is so fun to play with all day! And really could you squirt that cute face?