Headed to the Polls!

A few months ago, my dad decided to go after one of his goals to become a member of City Council in Coppell. This was something that many of his friends in the city had been encouraging him to do for what seems like for forever.

Before going into too much detail, let me tell you that my dad in incredible. He was valedictorian at his high school, made incredible grades while at Texas A&M, served as president of his fraternity, married his college sweetheart, raised the three of us crazy kids, runs an great business with my grandfather, and is always volunteering or signing up for some new group. When my dad has a goal he goes after it. I can't think of a time I saw him go after something that he didn't achieve. He is always looking for groups to become a member of or some fun outing to do with the family. When he said he was running for City Council we were far from surprised.

At first we were thinking it would be a no brainer win. Until, someone decided to run against him. This is when the fun began. After putting out signs, having campaign parties and making shirts we all spent a day out at the polls! My dad got there at about 5:45, my mom 7:30, my brothers 10, and Dustin and I at 11. We were there until about 8:30 passing out flyers, talking my dad up, looking for people we knew to vote, and sending out texts and Facebook messages letting people know to stop by. After waiting, for what seemed forever after the polls closed, we found out my dad had won! I couldn't be more proud of him. While it was long day and we were exhausted, I ate up every second of my flyer-passing job. When would I ever get to do it again?

 My mom, brother Josh's girlfriend Alexa, and brother Jared

 My sweet parents

 Nina was showing her support

Vote for Gary Roden 

The whole fam at the victory party!

Girls Night In!

A few weeks ago The Hardline from The Ticket, a sports talk radio station, was coming to our most favorite place Chimy's for a broadcast. Dustin and our brother-in-law, Brent, are HUGE fans of the show and were dying to go. My sister-in-law Mendy wanted to meet up with them; so this means I got to watch our cute little niece for the night!

I was super worried because Morgan takes a little while to warm up to people. I was terrified when she woke up from her nap she was going to be so scared that it was me there. It was the complete opposite. After taking her everywhere she pointed to see if anyone else was home, she was happy and content to have a girls night in with her favorite and only aunt. I had so much fun spending time with this sweet little girl. We danced to music on the iPad, played with toys, and sat outside. I seriously could not get enough of her. Here are some cute pics from the night.

Happy 1st Birthday Morgan!

We had a fabulous weekend! Friday we had a quiet night at home in preparation for what was to come on Saturday.

In my very first blog post I wrote about mine and Dustin's niece being born. Well, Saturday we went and celebrated her 1st birthday! I cannot believe she is already a year. It has been so much fun to watch Morgan grow, and I can't believe how quickly the time is going. She is learning to walk and can already take a few steps at a time. She is not a performer though. In front of us she would only take a few steps, but once we left that night she was pretty much making laps. She loves to make noises and give sweet kisses. She isn't quite sure what she thinks of her Aunt Taylor and Uncle Dustin yet. We don't see her very often, so it takes her a bit to warm up. We eventually came to if her and I had a sink/table between us or someone was holding her next to me she was my best friend. Any closer and it was game over! I did get 4 kisses without even asking though! I can't wait to see her again.

 Dustin and I headed over to Mendy and Brent's house early Saturday and spent some time with his parents and Morgan before everyone came over. The house looked so cute! My mother-in-law has such an eye for creativity! It makes me super jealous of her. She and Mendy did a great job at putting everything together. The theme was Minnie Mouse and everything was pink and black which are two of my favorite colors. Once everyone got over we had cake and opened presents. Morgan wasn't quite sure what to do with her smash cake.

Dustin's parents stayed with the baby and we headed out for a night on the town. We love to go out with Mendy and Brent, and especially love to go out in Fort Worth. We had a great time!

Bring on the pictures!

 The kitchen set up for the party

 Morgan's chair ans smash cake

 This cake was SO good!

 Birthday girl!

 Morgan and PawPaw

 Mendy, Morgan, and Brent

 Uncle Dustin, Morgan, and Aunt Taylor

 Nana and Morgan

 Cruisin' in her new wheels!

 Morgan sitting in her chair we got her with her new sock monkey

 Trying to figure out what to do with this cake

 Pink!

 These two pictures crack me up!!! Morgan hanging out with her new laptop in her new chair

Mendy and I out in Fort Worth

I'm Alive! I Promise!

Gees, school starts back up and I become MIA! Don't think I haven't thought about posting, because I have. Just about every day. Right now, close your eyes, and picture the most wonderful postings. You laughed, you cried, some you even told your friends about. Can you picture it? Good. Because I thought about writing every single one of those! Seriously, every day when I look at all my fabulous blogs I follow or when I actually do something fun in my boring life, I think... maybe I'll actually turn on my laptop tonight. I swear, these iPads are the best things ever, but I'm awful at typing on them. So I only actually write posts on my laptop, which I never use anymore.

There really has not been a lot going on since I was alive in the blogging world. But I thought I'd share with you in pictures...

Awhile back I talked about how nervous I was to be the head 7th grade coach this year. Since getting back from Christmas (which is just about the last time you heard from me), my life has been consumed by basketball. I had a great group of girls this year. They got 3rd place in our district! I was so proud of them. I have never seen a team have heart like they did. They wanted it so bad, and they fought every step of the way. I was truly blessed to have a group of a girls like I did for my first year. Next year's team has big shoes to fill.

Coach Kenney learning how to Dougie in the locker room before an 8th grade game

Two weeks ago, I flew to Lubbock for literally 24 hours and had a fabulous time! My good friend Brooks was getting married Saturday night. Steph and I decided to make it a girls' weekend and left the boys at home. Steph lives in New Mexico and we NEVER get to see each other. She is getting married in May and I'm super excited. I flew it Saturday morning and got to meet up with my friend Lindsey, another who I never get to see. She picked me up from the airport and we did lunch with her sister, Ally, and hubby, Kuhrt. (who by the way is the drummer of a fabulous band called A Road Less Traveled. Check them out) After that we ran a few errands and caught up at our favorite place Chimy's. That night was Brooks and Amye's wedding. It was beautiful. They had the wedding on campus and I loved getting to be at a place that we all knew so well. We had a fabulous time hanging out with all of our friends.

So Lindsey and I didn't take pictures while I was there, but I couldn't leave her out. This is a picture from about 4-5 years ago. Can't you tell by the college/sorority girl kissy face?

Steph and I in our one moment of being classy.

Classic of the first picture we have.

 Our other half for the night. Brooke and JPatt

 So Amye totally broke out into a dance on the floor. Literally. In wedding dress and all. She is one brave woman and I love her even more for doing it.

 Calvert and Taylour. I'd say Calvert and I avoided being friends in every way, but somehow our weird twisted lives kept showing us it was a must.

Calvert giving his speech 

The fabulous Mrs. and Mr. Brooks Jay

The Hotchkiss duo has also been hanging out with family! My brother and his girlfriend came over last weekend to hangout for a bit. We have so much fun together. My brother, Josh, is hilarious. Probably the funniest person I've ever known, and Alexa keeps him grounded and somewhat normal. Josh somehow always ends up being "that guy" whenever we go out. Never in a bad way, but the guy you are talking about his one-liners days after. His latest thing is to Yo-Yo while he is out. Most of you may think this is weird, but being around him for 23 1/2 years has just made me used to it. We also got to FINALLY meet Baby Bryce. I talked about the Erwins earlier. Baby Bryce was born in September and is just the cutest thing.

 My brother Josh showing everyone how to walk the dog

 Alexa showing us her skills

 Dustin learning

Baby Bryce!

A Very Belated Christmas

Well, I'd say I fell off my rocker just a bit! After our 6 Christmases (is that a word?), I was exhausted and going back to school left me super tired!

We had a great first Christmas as a little Hotchkiss family. We went to Houston where I got to finally see Stefanie. I talked a little about her here. I had not seen her since the wedding because her adorable little family moved to Idaho and just moved back to Houston. I had so much fun getting to see her cute kiddos minus the fact that I couldn't speak a word to her. Now let me tell ya, that was awful! Not getting to talk to one of your best friends that you  haven't seen in almost 6 months! It was the worst. Especially, because her two year old son Easton had no idea what was going on. He just kept saying my name over and over, but didn't understand why I couldn't answer him. We had a great time with my family. I forgot my camera though and only was able to use my phone.

Our Dallas Christmas was great. We spent Christmas Eve at my parents' opening presents and went home to open presents of our own. Dustin got a new iphone, shirts, and books while I got a new camera that I was super excited about. The next day we went to church and hung out with my mom's side of the family. We had a blast playing games. At this point I gave up not talking. I went 6 days, but it was just impossible to go any longer. I was over it!

 Aiden playing with his toys

 Easton was completely into the trains

 Dad playing with my cousins Nate and Gwen

 Our first Christmas

 My brothers, Jared and Josh

 Two of my cousins Celine and Jocelyn. Aren't they gorgeous?

 Playing Catch Phrase. I wasn't allowed to yell so became the photographer/score keeper

 My family's favorite game! Mexican Train dominos. If you haven't played you totally should

Tales From a Mute Day 3

Today was a hard day with the whole not talking thing. I hung around this morning and tried to rest. I think I have figured out that I am just pretty bad at resting when I'm told to do so. Being lazy on Saturday and Sunday? No problem. Rest because I had surgery and need it? Impossible! I finally got up and did all the laundry and cleaned the apartment until I ran out of paper towels. Annie came by and we went up to the mall, Target, and Starbucks. I think this is when the no talking thing really got to me. Annie and I haven't seen each other in like years it seems like (really like a month) and I just really wanted to talk to her. Instead, I had to motion things out to her and write on a dry erase board. Although it was pretty funny to watch Annie guess what I was trying to say. **Warning! Never have Annie be your partner in a Charades. She stinks at it**

Tonight Dustin and I went over to my mom's cousins house. Some of our family members that we never get to see were in town. Dustin was driving and had no idea where he was going and I was trying to give directions. This can be very tricky if it's dark and he can't see where I'm pointing. Let's just say there was a lot of banging on the dash board to get his attention and a lot of furious writing on the dry erase board. I'm sure if it had been a comedy movie it would have been hilarious. We hung out awhile at the Family Get Together, but I started to not feel well. In our chaos of trying to get where we needed to go, I accidentally used my voice and swelled up really bad. It was a sad parting though because my cousin Allie that I never get to see was in town. Her and her husband Nat just got married a year and a half ago. Nat has been overseas since the morning after their wedding pretty much, so they are really doing all the newlywed stuff at the same time as us. I so badly wanted to just sit and catch up with her and exchange stories about everything. We were able to communicate a little via dry erase board, but I was still so frustrated. Luckily, they are stationed in Kansas right now so maybe we can get together soon.

Headed to Houston for the 3rd of 6 Christmas' tomorrow. I get to see the Sprague family and I can't wait!

A Very Hotchkiss Christmas

 This past weekend I had my very first Hotchkiss Christmas. I have to say that I consider myself very blessed with the in-laws that I have. I have always felt like I was part of the family and that is just extremely comforting to me.

We got there Friday after sitting in traffic for forever. I have to say that is the only bad part about driving to Abilene. It goes down to one lane for forever and it becomes a parking lot. Friday night we opened up all of our presents and Dustin and I were surprised with iPad 2s. I knew Dustin was getting one, but I had no idea that I was going to too. It was an awesome surprise and we are already very much addicted to them. We can barely put them down. It has been helpful since I can't talk. We have been able to message back and forth on them, and my dad even found an app where I can type what to say and it repeats it for me. I'm still using the laptop for blogging. Do any of you blog from your iPads?

We also got to celebrate Morgan's first Hotchkiss Christmas too! It was fun to see her become so interested by her toys. Dustin and I got her a jacket that looks like a mini north face and a little lovie that has her name on it. She kept kissing the lovie, it was absolutely adorable. She also got a few toys from her Nana and PaPa. Can you believe she is already 8 months? She is going to be walking in no time. I think sometimes she thinks she can and tries to just take off while you hold her up.

Later on, Dustin ended up some how locking the oven door shut for two days and setting his brand new iPad cover on fire. Both on accident and both hilarious stories. How does that happen? He leaned on the oven and shorted out the button. So when the oven locked we couldn't get it unlocked. He finally pried it open with a fork on Sunday. Then he accidentally leaned on the oven again and turned the stove on which burned the iPad cover. Needless to say, Dustin is not allowed anywhere near the oven any more.

Saturday we hung out all day and went to eat at Perini Ranch steak restaurant. It was delicious! Dustin's aunt and uncle and our good friends Mark and Kim came over to hangout. Mark and Dustin have been best friends since elementary school. They have the sweetest little 6 month old daughter named Paisley that we loved getting to play with.

Here a few pictures from the weekend!

 Morgan opening her first gift.

 Loving on her lovie that Uncle Dustin and Aunt Taylor got her

 Her mini little jacket. She immediately tried to eat the zippers off.

 Playing with Uncle Dustin

 Fixing the oven

 New iPad 2s!

 Morgan and Paisley becoming friends.

Paisley and Kim.