Halloween, awards, and randoms

Sorry it has been so long since the last post! I don't really have good excuses, but I'll try anyway: Ben and I were really sick for a while, we haven't had a free weekend, that's all I got.

I guess I'll start with Halloween weekend because that's where the pictures start. Ben and I went as Mario and Princess Peach. Ben made this awesome ? box like the ones Mario hits in the game and you get coins or mushrooms or flowers. It was a big hit. When he fist-pumped, a huge mushroom came out of the top of the box. Everyone loved it. He also made me a parasol just like Princess Peach. We went to Ben's co-worker's house and had a GREAT time. There were lots of people and dancing and it was so fun. Ben's boss even made an appearance. Here are some pictures from the Halloween party:

Ben and I as Mario and Princess Peach (note the painted on overalls on Ben!)



Ben, me, Seana, Eli, and Noel (in the front--didn't they make great zombies?!)



Group shot of (most) everyone at Graham and Seana's party

The following night we went to an awards ceremony at the Lighthouse Resort right in Bunbury. It's actually almost across the street from Graham's apartment (Graham is the one that had the Halloween party and the one that was accepting the award.) It was really fun. There were a bunch of people at our table including Nancy, Ben's boss, her friend Jan (who got me information for some local dance studios that I hadn't been able to find online, so I automatically love her), Nancy's sister, Graham and his Irish roomie Seana, and a few others. Graham accepted his award for "Young Engineer of the Year" award--which is really cool, because he is the first regional winner. Every year it's someone from Perth but not this year! He had actually already accepted the award, but the city of Bunbury was so proud that we had a regional winner that they did another award ceremony to honor Graham. Here's a picture of him re-accepting his award:

Graham, Seana, Ben, and me at the Lighthouse Resort after the awards

Here are a few random pictures of Ben and I. Notice how we are always standing in the same area of our house? It's because there's a kitchen counter that we can set the camera on and it lines up perfectly with the doorway so we can set the timer. :)

Random picture 1

Random picture 2 (I'm sporting the leopard sweater Sarah got me as a going away gift!)

Also, flowers are in FULL bloom here. We have rose bushes in front of our windows and they are incredible! Everyone here has roses. It must just be a perfect climate here for them or something. Anyway, here are a few pictures of our flowers:

Those are our windows...so we see these bushes all the time. They're so pretty!

Memere will love these!

Aren't these gorgeous? Are they peonies? It doesn't quite look like a rose

To get an idea of how big these flowers are--the flower is actually bigger than my whole fist:

We have also applied for an apartment! It's a lot smaller (A LOT) than the place we're in now, but it's literally across from the beach! It's all renovated with new appliances and stuff, and a little patio and grassy area out front. And it's a two bedroom so we will have a guest bedroom for all of you that will be visiting. The rent is the same as what we're paying now. The whole apartment has air conditioning and water is included in the rent. We should know next week if we got it or not.

That's about it for now. We miss you guys...can't believe it's been 5 months since we've been home. Getting cold yet?