Pretty Pretty Princess

I'm allowed to say that Violet is my favorite girl in the whole wide world, and that she's my favorite niece, and I'm allowed to post a blog ALL about her-

because she's the only princess in our family.
(besides me)

Violet with her new "Julie Andrews" hair cut.

So cute I wanna pinch her cheeks!

V is obsessed with my makeup bag

She got jealous of her baby brothers hat, so she made us put it on her instead-
hence the elf look.

There's just something so special about little girls.

Don't get crazy, I still love Johnny Jay Eli and Zac.

Seriously?

Seems a bit dangerous to me.

3SOME

PREFACE: Brandon is in a tri-companionship right now. There is an odd number of elders in his mission, so his mission president put the oddball in with Brandon and his companion.

Anyways, he wrote me a letter that said this:

"Being in a threesome is challenging at times but also can be enjoyable."

That's what she said.

Anniversary?

Brandon and I started dating in Austin a couple years ago. He being the salesman that he is, just assumed the sale, instead of having a DTR with me to find out if I even WANTED to be "official". Well, lucky for him I'd had a crush on him since my freshman year in high school, so I wasn't complaining. Anyways, since we never had an official start, I go off of the day he kissed me, which was 2 years ago today. Well, first I dodged his kiss (I thought he was going for a hug, turned out I was wrong..and humiliated) But he went in for it a second time and got it.
He's been on his mission for almost 6 months now so I'm not sure if we're allowed to celebrate our 2 year anniversary, since technically we've only been together in person for a year and a half, but whatever.

This was on our 1 year. We were in Houston and the ONLY place that was open when he got off work was Chilis-woohoo. But, it's better than where he's taking me this year...

I love how little he looks. This was the first picture we ever took together. It was 4th of July in Austin and I was SO nervous to ask him to take a picture
(good thing my best friend's mom is a photographer)


Cabo cruise! We went on an excursion up in some mountains riding off-roading jeeps, hence the bandanas.
Galveston, last year. Definitely not California beaches, but we didn't get in the water so it's okay.
And now my little missionary man! I'm so proud of him, he's absolutely loving it out in Idaho, if you were wondering. Crazy to think that by the time he gets home we'll have been apart longer than we've been together. It's so funny looking back on the first few weeks of our relationship knowing what I know now. I was paranoid that he was going to stop liking me, and I analyzed EVERYTHING he did and said. But it was worth all the stress, he's an amazing person and I'm so lucky I got to spend so much time with him before he left on his mission.

HAPPY 2 YEARS BRANDON!

xoxo

ps. if anybody wants to take me out to dinner in place of Brandon, feel free.

BHOYT

I've been out of the blogging world for a while now, mainly because I have nothing to blog about. Well, I still don't.

I just wanted to share this picture:

I was looking at my online photo album and I caught a glimpse of this picture and it made my stomach drop. I forgot how much I miss his face!

Love his baby blues, and his cute nose, and his dimples, and cheekbones, and chisled jaw.

Okay I'm done obsessing, enjoy.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!!!!!

(I just love this picture of my sisters and I...we all are spacing out haha)

Today is Laura's Birthday, and what kind of sister would I be if I didn't post a "shout out" blog for her?

(...I'd be the Cassie kind, who doesn't do Happy Birthday posts...)

ANYWAYS I picked my 23 favorite reasons why I love Laura:

1. She is so blatantly honest it's hilarious

2. She's the most forgiving person I've EVER met

3. I've never known her to do a bad thing in her entire life, seriously.

4. She's the farthest thing from a hypocrite

5. She'd give you the shirt off her back without thinking twice

6. Joke improver.

7. Tells the most ridiculously lame stories (sorry Laura) but that just makes them even more funny

8. Amazing mom. I love Eli to death, but I don't know anyone else who could have put up with him from 0-5 months

9. She's the most patient person I know

10. Growing up she would ALWAYS let me hang out with her and her friends when I was a loser and had nothing to do

11. When we were little, if I got scared she would let me sleep in her bed and hold my hand

12. Morris and Morris Detective Company: We'll Solve Any Crime By Dinner Time!

(yes we copied Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen)

13. She's the best secret keeper

14. Never goes back on her word

15. Can always make the best out of any situation

16. She has perfectly shaped eyes, lips, cheekbones, and nose..and doesn't even know it

17. Lets me use her computer/anything whenever I ask

18. She is always watching out for me, even if sometimes it's overbearing and annoying

19. It rarely happens, but when she gets annoyed at someone it's really funny to watch her reactions

20. Doesn't give a crap what other people think

21. One night I was crying at work and she was on a date with her boyfriend (now husband) in Escondido, and she left and drove all the way home to bring me makeup..TRUE SISTER.

22. One of the funniest people I know (I say that about all my sisters, but it's true)

23. Even if she had none of the qualities above, she produced Eli, which is more than enough reason to love her forever

Happy 23 Birthday Laura!

You are by far my FAVORITE sister born on February 16th!

New Found Love

So I know I'm super late, but I've recently discovered this band:

...and I am obsessed with them!! I just downloaded all the songs I could find, and I love them all. If you haven't heard them yet, go listen now!

(I wish I knew how to make a cool link on the word "listen" that takes you to one of their songs, but I'm not that computer-literate, so just go to iTunes and do it yourself, lazy)

Birthday Boy!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY JAYMS!!!
My sweet nephew turned 3 today! Crazy how you can love a kid so much that isn't even your own. But then again...how could you not love that cute face?

(my friend Spencer gave this outfit as a gift to Jay when he was born...3 years later it finally fits!)

We had a Diego themed birthday party for Jay on Saturday...

Don't know who thought it would be a good idea to give the crazy 3 year old a motorized vehicle, but he sure loved it!

Frosting, not lipstick.

Haha! Such a good sport.

Love you so much Jayms,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

Missionary Man

Who knew that Missionaries can send packages as well as receive them?

Well, leave it to Brandon to figure that one out. He's the sweetest.
I get home from running a million errands, trying to get a birthday package ready to send to him, and see a package waiting on the stairs for me.
It made it all worth it.
He sent me a pad of paper with a sticky note on it saying:
"tell me when you run out of this pad and I'll send you another. I LOVE YOU!!"
He also sent a few pre-addressed and pre-stamped envelopes to send him, which worked out perfectly because I just ran out of stamps.
He sent a pen, and a 2 page front AND back letter
(very rare for Brandon-he was never a man of many words)
BUT, my favorite part of the package was the tape!
I didn't even realize how much I had been missing his voice until I listened to that tape.
To be able to hear him tell me funny stories, then hear him laugh at himself was just the icing on top. It's so amazing to hear how much fun he's having and how much he loves his mission and companion.
I'd say he's a pretty smart guy because the excitement of his package caused me to go out today and buy all the necessities of a Valentine's Day package. He is one spoiled missionary.

If anybody knows Brandon and wants to write to him, he would love it.
Email me Claire_morris89@yahoo.com and I'll give you his address!

Whale Watching!

My mom planned a trip for the whole family to go out to Dana Point Harbor and do some whale watching! It was a B-E-A-UTIFUL day out on the boat-I definitely recommend this little day trip!My sisters were all yelling at me because I kept telling them to SIT STILL and take one good picture, so I gave up and this is the one we got.
I hope you all are embarrassed.

So, unfortunately we did not see a whale. We did, however, see an Albino Dolphin which is just as, if not more, rare than a whale. So because of this sighting I considered this day a success.

Until I went again and had even better sightings...

Courtney wasn't able to come with us when we all went, so I went out the next week to go again with her, and we had much better luck!

There were SO many dolphins and sea lions it was incredible! And they were swimming along side the boat and jumping like crazy!

AND...

Courtney and I were able to see (drum roll please)...

A GREY WHALE!!!!

We got so close it was awesome. It was a baby whale, only about 4 years old.

Needless to say, my family was very jealous that we didn't see a whale on our trip. Courtney and I just picked the right day I guess!

I'm kind of obsessed with Whale Watching now. I plan on going again very soon.

Tic Tac

I would first like to say that, yes, I am well aware that this story is going to make me sound super bratty. But I'm sharing it anyways because it shows how sweet Brandon is.
So don't judge me.

I open this letter from my missionary man (don't mind the stickers) and I find a half eaten box of tic tacs. I immediately turn to Laura and say "Ugh, why would he send me an opened box of candy?".... thinking that he just threw them in the envelope to be funny, and he probably found them somewhere. So I open the letter and immediately feel guilty because I read this:
"I sent you a half eaten box of tic tacs because we always share things so I figured you could share these tic tacs with me."
Kill me now, how stinkin cute is that?

Lesson to be learned: Don't judge a book by it's cover.
a.k.a. I need to stop being such a brat.

(In my defense I'm about to start my . )

Let the Letter-Writing Begin...

So Brandon decided to ditch us all and go on a mission. He was called to Pocatello, Idaho (yes, he was really excited) and reported to the M.T.C. on December 9th. Of course his family, friends, and I will miss him dearly but we are all SO proud of him and the decision he made to go! Anyways, the last few weeks he was here we tried to do as many fun things as we could squeeze in! Here are some of my favorites:

Since Brandon will be spending Christmas in the M.T.C. we decided to celebrate early and exchange gifts before he left. I guess it's true that the more time you spend with someone the more you think alike; we both got each other a Sony cybershot, memory card, and case. Of course the one he got me was way nicer, but what missionary needs a nice camera, right??

Brandon's farewell partaaaaay! It took about 10 attempts to catch him doing a real smile.

Went to the duck pond and realized how GROSS ducks are. Got bird crap on my camera case, keys, and ALMOST on both of our heads. SICK.

Of course we had to spend some time at the happiest place on earth! It was so fun, not crowded, and a nice day out. Perfect way to spend our last day together!

(This is the annoying couple who cut in front of us (the girl is in front). They just walked straight over the ropes because we left a small gap in between us and the people in front. So annoying. But not annoying enough for me to let Brandon say anything...I'm a baby.)

He would find ice cream in a desert.

The afternoon before he got set apart we went on our last date to B.J.'s.

I had a countdown going in my head the whole day.

Josh, Brandon, and Mike reminding us all to CTR.

...After he was officially "Elder Hoyt".

So I guess for the next 2 years I'll learn how to become an excellent writer. Any gift or other cute ideas I could do for him while he's away, please tell!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!