Pumpkin Carving

On Monday night, we had some friends over for pizza, chocolate fondue, and pumpkin carving!  We had a blast, and when everyone came over, we ended up standing around, munching on food and talking all night!  One of our friends brought her dog over to play with Rio, and another of my friends brought her two little boys, so there was lots of screaming and barking for most of the night.  It was fun to watch everyone running around in our big backyard!  We ate pizza off our halloween plates, and then we ate lots of yummy chocolate fondue.  By the time we finished all of that, we were stuffed, and everyone was too tired to carve pumpkins!

So, we said goodnight to everyone, and after they left, Travis and I carved our pumpkins together while watching Hocus Pocus.  It just wouldn't be Halloween without Hocus Pocus and freshly carved pumpkins!

We had lots of help with our carving.  I think both animals ate at least one pumpkin seed, and Rio tried to eat a handful of the orange stringy stuff from inside the pumpkin too...

Mijo was really desperate to be helpful and just couldn't stay away!

Our little puppy couldn't handle all the excitement of the evening, and she passed out on the floor (after eating all the pumpkin inards....)

Striking a pose with the pumpkins!

Our finished products, which are now proudly displayed on our front porch!

Happy Halloween!

South Texas Maize!

As Travis dutifully noted this evening, I am definitely a fan of the fall season.  I love the changing of the leaves (which sadly doesn't happen here in Texas very often...), all the beautiful colors of the season (I just updated my wardrobe to match!), and all the fall festivities.  Del Rio, it turns out, actually has a season other than HOT, and it has been beautiful here the past few weeks!  We are seeing temperatures in the 60s and 70s throughout the day, and I have actually taken out my box of sweaters and started using them!

Something I have been dying to do since we moved out here was the South Texas "Maize" in Hondo, Texas.  It was pretty fun.  They have set up a nice facility with lots of activities, including a maze for people to wander through.  

Check out their website: http://www.southtexasmaize.com/

They give you various clues about how to get through, but Travis and I discovered that we are both far too intelligent to do something like this!  We tried to get lost, but couldn't.  We were just so aware of our surroundings and have good senses of direction, so we had no trouble figuring out which way to go (despite my many attempts to confuse us both...).  The rest of the events provided were geared towards kids, so we wandered around but didn't really do much besides the maze.  It was pretty fun, though!  It's the first maze I've seen since the one I did with my sister in Ohio (and that's a whole other story...)  Here are some pictures:

In the maize, wandering around with all the children dressed in Halloween costumes...

Yes, I am the cow.  I couldn't convince Travis that he wanted to be the horse, so it was just me looking silly. :o)

And here's Travis responding to "Do something cute in the pumpkin patch!"

And, just because it was really funny, here are some pictures from my adventure with my sister in a cornfield maze in Ohio.  We got hopelessly lost in the corn, and we were really worried that the sun was going down and it was getting dark.  We were REALLY excited to finally find the exit!  I believe there was some kissing of the ground outside the maze....

Posing in front of the HUGE cornfield in Ohio during Katie's freshman year of college (2003?).

Posing with the corn in the maze...we had a fun time...

...until we got hopelessly lost!  Notice how huge the map is - we were on the left side of the map and the exit was on the right.  While we wandered around, gradually getting more and more lost, we kept asking ourselves "who does this!?!?"

Anyways, we had a blast!  Hooray for fall!!

Playful Pup and Lazy Cat!!

Rio is growing like a weed...she has gained three pounds in two weeks and is now weighing in at a hefty 13.7 pounds.  She likes her walks in the park, and she is working on her fetching skills.  Here are some fun videos we took of her:

Rio really loves to "help".

Our attempts at getting her to play fetch...some days are better than others.  

She gets distracted easily!

And, we have discovered that we have the laziest cat on this planet.  Mijo is so chill, and nothing seems to bother him or phase him at all.  He's weighing in at 7 pounds now, and he doesn't seem to be growing very much at all.  Check out the video:

The cat and dog have learned to love each other, and I spent the entire afternoon watching them chase each other around the house and the backyard.  The cat escapes from the dog by jumping on the back of the couch or the chairs, where the dog can't quite reach him.  They are really very cute amid all the hissing and barking that goes on!  They have officially worn each other out and are currently passed out on the floor... :o)

New Family Members!

This weekend, we drove to San Antonio and adopted two pets from the San Antonio Humane Society shelter.  They are just about the cutest things you have ever seen, and they are going to be quite a handful! :-)  We gave them Spanish names, since we got them while we were living in Del Rio.  We are pretty excited about having them!

This is Rio, and she is a two month old labrador/retriever mix.  She was abandoned at the shelter, and they don't really know where she came from.  Her mix and age are estimates.  She is really cute and playful, and we have found that she loves to chew.  We are keeping her entertained with lots of chew toys, and she has a crate to sleep in so we don't have to worry about her at night.  She is a fast learner and is pretty responsive to our voices.  She runs like a puppy, all wobbly and kangaroo-like, and it's hilarious to watch her slide across the wood and tile floors!!

And, this is Mijo.  His name comes from the name that all the parents call their kids around here - "mi hijo".  Most of the time the words are slurred together and sound like "mijo" so that is what we picked for the kitty!  He is about six months old and was abandoned at the shelter by an owner who had too many cats and was not allowed to keep them all in the apartment.  (And, by too many cats, I think that meant he had over five...Mijo was in a cage with five other cats, and they all apparently came in together!)  He is the most cuddly and sweet cat I have ever met.  He crawls up in our laps and flops over on his back to get his belly rubbed.  He has fallen off the couch twice after trying to roll around on us too much.  He's a little shy around the dog, but they appear to be getting used to each other!!  He's been exploring the house and is slowly getting more comfortable here.

Rio loves to play!!

They are playing pretty nicely together!!  They both looooove their toys! :-)

Del Rio Homecoming

Del Rio's homecoming week was pretty fun.  We dressed up in different outfits every day at school, had a big parade on Wednesday, and then the big game on Friday night!  Here are some pictures:

During the pep rally on Wednesday, our school salsa band performed.  I didn't even know we had a school salsa band, and they were pretty amazing!!

The seniors had also built a giant bonfire, which was lit during the pep rally.  It was HUGE!

And, the cheerleaders and the football players performed a dance together.  They were pretty good!  There were also several other skits and performances by the dance team, student council, and the band.  It was a pretty amazing show!  The band waited until dark, strapped flashlights to their legs and put glowing bands around their bodies and instruments, and they performed in the dark stadium.  It looked so awesome!

And then, the homecoming game on Friday night.  Here is the football team running out of the inflatable ram, through the cheerleaders' sign, and onto the field for the game.  I still can't get over how many kids there are!  The game was a blowout...when I left at third quarter, the score was 25-0.  I'm pretty sure we won!!

The RAMS flags that run back and forth across the stadium everytime we score a touchdown!

The homecoming ceremony was pretty cool too.  The band and the Belles team were out on the field.  The Air Force ROTC did a saber arch for each couple in the homecoming court as they walked across the field, took their pictures, and lined up, waiting for the announcement of the winners!  It was pretty neat.

A few days in Austin...

I went to Austin on Thursday and Friday to see some friends and also to watch my volleyball team play at the high school!  The team was made up of girls that I had coached for two years in middle school, and it was awesome to watch them play now!  Almost of them are taller than me now, and they have all become much better players!  They played some great games against the other team and made me proud!  It was great to see all of them again...I miss them!!

Here's some video I took of some amazing rallies.  I couldn't believe how well they were playing!!

The twins are here!!

On September 29, Carson Alan and Avery Elizabeth were born!  Avery weighed six pounds, and Carson was 5 pounds, 10 ounces.  The babies are precious, and we can't wait to go visit our new niece and nephew in Dallas!