Recent Happenings

My schedule seem to have been crazy packed lately. The end of school was ridiculously exhausting. Other than that I'm not quite sure I could tell you what we have been doing, but I guess it is a lot since I seem to never see my friends anymore!

 A fabulous day date to the horse races with the hubby

 I even won some money for once

 We took my sweet niece to Abilene to hangout with my in-laws. I'm still amazed at how she can work an iPad at 13 months.

We went to my favorite college/adult hangout the Chimy's Fort Worth

I had a night out on the town with these people and became super excited to go to Mexico with them in jut a few days. 

 Dustin and I watched an eclipse from our balcony. Breathtaking. 

Happy Birthday!

Two weeks ago I celebrated my 26th birthday. I have to say that I handled this one better than 25. I hate getting old. I love my life more than anything and I'm super blessed with friends and family, but I just don't want to get old. Could I stay in my 20s for forever?

As much as I hate turning old, I had the best birthday. My friends and family turned it into a full birthday week! Went to eat and hangout with friends Saturday, birthday Tuesday where Dustin completely spoiled me, birthday with my team of teachers at school Thursday, Friday morning breakfast in Athletics, and Saturday lunch with the family. Thanks guys! I love each and every one of you!

Cookie cake Morgan brought to my birthday dinner

My sweet husband! Paid for everything on the night out with my friends, helped out with my plane ticket to Albuquerque for Steph's wedding, flowers, birthday dinner, and a Starbucks gift card. He rocks!

Sweet friends out on my birthday!

Cab ride on the way home had strobe lights and fog machine. It was awesome. 

Flowers from the hubs

Birthday cards from my Great Aunt and Uncle, Sammie and Richard, my little Jasmijn, and my mother-in-law Janet

One of my students knows how much I love the salsa her dad makes. So she gave me two jars. She also knows my creepy obsession with duct tape and made me this bag out of it!

She even attached a little charm with duct tape bows!

Happy Birthday donut in the breakfast the athletic girls had

Thanks again guys!

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!

Erin Condren Bliss

I have to say that I cannot take credit for finding this new little obsession I have. My sorority sister Mandell writes Nameless for Now that I just love. Mandell just got engaged a few months ago and I love following her excitement of planning a wedding. I do have to say it is more fun watching some one else plan than me be the one that is stressing. I loved planning my wedding and I couldn't be happier with how it turned out, but planning one was enough.

Anyways, Mandell did this post, and I immediately went to Erin Condren's site and just about fell in love. It has so many things that you can personalize. It took forever for me to find what I wanted. My mom gave me a gift card for Christmas to buy some things off her site. I spent forever looking and finally decided on a new day planner and a pad of paper to make lists on.

Here comes another little freak part about me... I love planning things. I'm crazy about it. I set a whole day to color coordinate my planner and I carry 1000 markers around with me so that I always have all my colors ready to plan. I love to make lists of all kind: wish lists, to do lists, grocery lists, party lists, book lists. I could go on for forever. I'm obsessed. Literally. I think there is something wrong with me. My favorite aisle at Target is the one where they have all the organization things. They have all those pads of paper for grocery lists or planning out your meals. If you came to our apartment you would see bits and pieces of this organization, but at school every one thinks I'm nuts. I plan way out in advance with my lessons because I just love to plan and I'm super organized inside of my room. I can't wait to have kids and have their little areas organized for them to drop off their back packs and such.

Okay... moving on before you start to think I'm too weird and stop reading. I finally decided on  the 2012 Life Planner. If you wait until August you can get the 2012-2013 one. I almost did that because school wise those calendars are just easiest for me, but I couldn't wait. I chose to the picture collage cover so I could decorate mine with wedding pictures since that is obviously my current phase of pictures I adore. The planner is awesome. It has pages in the front for important dates. It goes week by week breaking your days into morning, afternoon, night. I love this because I can look at a certain time frame, and since I'm trying to lose weight I can monitor my eating habits easier. It has a zipper pouch plus a pocket in the back to keep things in. In my case, I can keep appointment reminders and my 1000 pens to color coordinate.It has great motivational quotes for each month too. I also got a pad of paper to make lists, of course, for my desk at school. Love! Erin Condren has so many other things you can look at on her site. You should totally check it out.

 The box!!! Isn't it cute?

 The wapping when I first opened it. I obviously took this picture after opening. I was just too excited.

The cover of my planner

 It has my name and my favorite bible verse

 The pad of paper I got. It has a notes, doodles, and to do section. I like the calendar at the bottom as well

 From the desk of Taylor Hotchkiss

There was a little envelope inside that had gift cards with my name on them. There were only a few to show as a sample, but I love them!

Tales from a Mute - The conclusion (hopefully)

Like I mentioned in my previous post, I made it 6 days without talking. I was for the most part pretty silent. I seemed to always forget when I first woke up in the morning and when a frog sound came out was quickly reminded. Christmas Eve I started to talk a little bit. It was a little hard getting my vocal chords to work at first. Sunday I tried to go back to not talking, but it was just about impossible. I was over it, and couldn't stay silent for a moment longer. I was a little sore Sunday night, but after that could speak pretty easily.

I went to the doctor on the 27th. He said that my vocal chords looked great, but my voice didn't sound like it should. It was still a little hoarse and not strong at all. His directions were to not strain my voice for two weeks. I was good for the rest of Christmas break, but I had to tell him once school started up that would be near impossible. He told me to do my best and that I couldn't coach my game on Thursday. School on Tuesday was really hard. I was not used to talking that much, and by lunch was in a lot of pain. The rest of the week was alright. I tried to do a lot of independent activities so that I wasn't talking to the class as a whole. Projecting my voice to the entire classroom was hard after awhile. I didn't call any of my friends or talk much once I got home. It was just sort of uncomfortable. Thursday night was pretty bad though. I did pretty good not yelling in my game until the end. My assistant coach did most of the yelling until we were 25-25 with about 2 minutes to go. I gave up there. I had to yell, my girls needed me. This is my first year to be the A Team 7th grade basketball coach. I was really nervous at first. I don't know all that much about basketball, enough to get me by, and I have never lead something like this before. I was luckily blessed with two great assistant coaches that understand I'm learning and a team of girls who have enough skills that make it look like I know what I'm doing. They, too, get that this is my first time to be the head coach so they are patient with me. Anyway, I was in a lot of pain Thursday night. Took a pain pill and woke up crying in the middle of the night. Friday was pretty hard too. I go back to the doctor today, so we will see what he says. Hopefully, he'll have some answers for me.

Have a good rest of the week!

Tales From a Mute Days 1 and 2

Well, it's official. I am mute until at least next Tuesday. Maybe even longer if the doctor feels like my vocal chords nees to heal a little more at my post-op appointment.

Monday morning Dustin and I woke up bright and early, picked up my mom, and checked into the hospital at 8:15. This was when I started to get pretty nervous. I have not been in the hospital since the day I was born. I've had two other surgeries, Lasik and getting my wisdom teeth pulled. Neither I had to put on a hospital gown, lay in a hospital  bed, or have an IV. I was a little freaked out. My mom and Dustin were able to sit with me until the end. I don't remember much after that. I remember them carting me into another room and moving to the other bed. After that I got nothing. The next thing I remember is a nurse asking me if I needed any pain meds. My throat was hurting, but it was not extremely painful. I was uncomfortable and very drowsy. Even though I wasn't supposed to be talking I think I remember telling one of the nurses that I felt like I was in a dream. The same nurse kept asking me if I needed more pain meds and kept telling me I could still have more. I think I finally got to a point where I thought... eh, why not?

I finally got carted off to another room where my mom and Dustin could come sit with me. This is where the waiting began. This may be a little TMI so I apologize now but, they wouldn't let me leave until I peed. Which for some reason was completely impossible. I guess I got really dehydrated during the surgery and didn't drink as many liquids as I should have the day before. During school, I am really good about drinking water. I go through a whole 24 pack in about 4 days. When I am out of school I just don't think about. Anyways, after TWO IV bags, a glass of apple juice, two glasses of tea, jello, 2 things of apple sauce, chugging two glasses of water, and one threat of a catheter, I finally went after only 3 1/2 hours. It was ridiculous. We spent the rest of the day hanging out at my parents house and laughing at me not being able to talk. Luckily, I am not on any diet restrictions except that it can't be something that will poke at my throat like chips. I am dying without chips and queso.

I am on a pain medicine I take every 4 hours and some steroids to help my throat not swell and help me not clear my throat or cough. This morning was interesting. Since it is really just a sore throat I forget I still need to rest. I got up this morning and went shopping with my mom and Nana. I carried around a dry erase board with me all day. At one point in Buy Buy Baby, I lost my mom and needed help finding something. When the lady asked if I needed help I whipped out the dry erase board and just started writing. My mom was moritified when she came by and  I was communicating with this lady on a board. Morgan came over later and took me to Target where I got the rest of my Christmas shopping done. I am officially finished Christmas shopping which I am super excited about. I finally came home, wrapped my presents, and crashed. My throat was killing me and it was really hard to swallow. After my nap, I felt a billion times better. Just shows that I push myself too much and need to learn to rest. I have ordered myself to the couch tomorrow and will rest.

I have forgotten three times that I can't talk. I got onto the dog this morning for jumping up at the counter and that really hurt. Twice I talked to Dustin, but caught myself. My voice sounds funny though. Hopefully it will all work out. The doctor said not to expect immediate results.

Dustin has been super sweet. I thought he was going to drive me nuts, but he has been taking care of me. His favorite thing to say is "You know, you must be really mad because you haven't said two words to me all day" or when I try to mouth something out to him and he say "what?! speak up!"

 They put this "Fall Risk" braclet on me, and I thought it was hilarious. In fact, I'm still wearing it.

Trying to avoid my mom while she takes a picture of me. That gown looks massive on me doesn't it? 

I am Thankful!

I have a ton of blessings that I am thankful for. I could go on and on naming every single one of them. All to which I'm sure you would get bored with pretty quickly. I did want to mention a few things that I just can't seem to get off my mind. I have been the happiest I have ever been in my entire life these past few months. It goes to a lot of things. I have a great family and wonderful friends that I couldn't live without. Sometimes though things just stop me and I can't help, but be thankful.

First off, my sweet husband! Dustin has just been so wonderful. I have to admit I was really worried when school started up and I was going to be so busy with sports and teaching. I didn't know how Dustin would handle me not being home much. He has been such a great help. He runs errands, helps with the cleaning, and especially helps with Ferguson. He has been so patient when I say I'll clean the apartment tomorrow and don't get to it. He has been understanding when I'm too exhausted to do anything. He even surprised me with my favorite candy, twizzlers yesterday when he knew I was exhausted from running around and being sick. Love ya babe!

Also for my family. My family has been extremely sensitive with me. I have been so sad missing Thanksgiving this year. I still have all 4 grandparents and I'm the oldest grandchild which means I'm the only one that is married and missing the holiday. It makes me so sad and they have been suepr nice. I'm also thankful for my in-laws. They are wonderful. I've had so many people comment "Wednesday to Saturday with the in-laws that is a loooong time." I don't feel that way at all. They are so much fun to be around.

The third thing I have been counting my blessings for lately... MY JOB! Lately I have been so happy with my job. It is hard sometimes. 12 and 13 year olds just don't get that you have a life outside of school sometimes. This year I was a tad worried about the kiddos coming up to us, but they are absolutely wonderful. They are great kids. I had one student the other day make me a "Mrs. Hotchkiss' Coloring Book" when she found out how much I loved to color. I love the people I work with too. We have so much fun every day and everyone is so supportive. Sometimes I hear these horror stories of teams or administration not getting along or being supportive. I just enjoy the people I work with.

I also love... that even in 7th grade my students can make hand turkeys! After they finished their quiz and school work they could make a hand turkey on the board Friday. I love how they created each one to be their own.

I have been so productive this Thanksgiving break. I feel a huge weight off my shoulders. I went to the ENT yesterday. In college I lived in a house that had some mold that used to make my roommate and I sick all the time. We were constantly coughing and I noticed my voice has never been the same since. This year it had gotten worse. I could hardly talk by the end of the week and my voice has constantly been raspy. The ENT stuck this awful thing up my nose and down my throat and found that almost like a blood vessel had burst and something had grown on top of that right where my vocal chords open. I'm having a small procedure on that in December. I won't be able to talk for a whole week though. Along with that I have: changed my name at the social security office FINALLY, driven to a DMV thinking it was a DPS, driven to 3 DPS places (in 2 days. Everytime I went the lines were way too long), bought some jeans and took those back because they forgot to take off the sensor, gone to a Dr. to get a Z-Pack for being sick, sat on the phone with 2 credit card companies to change my name, went to the bank to change my name, went to the eye doctor, sat at the pharmacy, got my hair cut, and took a huge chunk off my Christmas shopping list. WAHOO!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

The Past 10

I'm sitting here bored out of my mind because I called in sick to school. I have appreciated the time at home though because I'm feeling completely  better now. I felt awful Monday and Tuesday and couldn't decide what to do last night. I figured if I went to school I would be miserably sick again and if I didn't go to school I'd feel fine which is about what happened. I woke up this morning feeling like I could have gone to school and was frustrated I ruined my plans for not. I've slept all day though, and just woke up and I'm feeling like a million bucks so I guess it was worth the day off.

Anyway, the whole point of this post... today, well the past few days, I've been thinking about all I've done in 10 years. 9/11 obviously sparked a lot of memories of everything that has happened in the last decade. This morning on TV they were was some channel playing all the number 1 hits from the 2000s. This definitely brought up a lot as I started thinking of everything I've accomplished/been through since the year 2000. I started to wonder if I had lived my life to the fullest. Did I waste it or did I live every day to make it count? This is basically a list I came up with since 2000...

• graduated middle school (wahoo!)
• started high school
• joined my Life Teen at church and learned a lot of valuable lessons. This is also what helped guide me through much of 4 years of high school and were numerous friendships began.
• learned to drive
• had my first serious relationship
• had my big heart break that really devastated me for a long time.
• learned the in's and out's of depression.
• ran cross country and varsity track
• had my first job
• got in trouble with the law for the first time (and only)
• learned the importance of friendship and keeping them
• learned to stay true to who I was
• graduated high school
• went to Tech
• joined a sorority
• learned that to be truly happy I would have to shed some walls and allow myself to risk getting hurt
• made new friends
• graduated college
• learned every friendship doesn't have to last
• learned an important lesson about love
• learned you can't live with certain friends
• started my big girl job
• got a big girl apartment
• learned that credit card debt is the devil
• found the love of my life
• took a chance and did the National Writing Project and it developed me into the teacher I wanted to be
• learned to coach which turned out to be one of the highlights of teaching
• got married to my very best friend

and I'm sure there are many others that I didn't think of. I feel like I have lived my life, and I'm proud of where I am. Everything I ever wanted is happening to me now and I'm so grateful for it. I truly am the happiest that I have ever been right now. Who knows what 10 years from now I will have, but I know I have a list of things I want to happen. Own a house, start a family, write a book on teaching and have it published, are just a few.

Have a good rest of the week everyone!

Thirteen Reasons

Have you all heard of the book called Thirteen Reasons Why.

I have to warn you before you read it that this book is really intense. It really got me thinking and I had a really hard time sleeping last night. A quick summary of the book... Hannah Baker committed suicide, but she had a few last things to say. Before taking a lot of pills, Hannah records 13 cassette tapes. Each tape is "dedicated" to a person who affected her life in some way or another. Many in a negative way. The rules... listen to all 13 tapes, pass them on to the next person, if you don't listen a 2nd set of tapes gets released to the public. The narrator of the book, Clay, always had a crush on Hannah, but never knew how to tell her. Now he has received the tapes, but can't figure out what he could have ever done to hurt Hannah so badly to kill herself.

Before reading this, I was hoping, based off the back of the book, that I could share the book with my class. Such a powerful message. Most of the things that Hannah speaks about on her tapes are negative comments/actions that most of the people probably thought were jokes. Unfortunately, it is a complete high school book. Lots of mature content is in the book. I just kept thinking what a great example at how just a little "joke" at a another's expense could change their friends, the way the feel about themselves, their entire lives.

This book really had me thinking. I literally could not put it down. Although when I did make myself put it down I couldn't stop thinking. I started to think of all the people who changed my life for the good or bad. If I were to write thirteen letters/tapes to thirteen people who would they be? Obviously, not for a suicidal reason. I just was really thinking hypothetically if I were to write these 13 letters who would they go to. I was really surprised at some of the people who I thought of. I won't go into detail of who all I thought of that would make too long of a post and quite personal. It was sort of funny to think that some people I thought of were in my life for such a small amount of time, but they made such a big impact.

Anyways, I really enjoyed the book. It was dark, very dark, but it was interesting.I really felt myself connect with the character. A lot of the feelings she had I could go back to my 16/17 year old self and relate to them.


(picture from http://www.waterstones.com/)

Ode to the Erwins

We had a wonderful weekend. Dustin and I went to Houston with my parents and stayed at my grandparents house. Going to their house is probably my most favorite place on earth. It is just peaceful. Whether the whole family (aunts, uncles, and cousins) or it's just us I always feel like I can relax. We never feel like we HAVE to do something, and my grandparents love to sit around and just catch up or as they call it "fartin' around." Our real reason for heading out there was for the Erwin baby shower. Dustin's best friend Adam and his wife Christie are expecting their first baby, Bryce, at the end of September They are such great friends of ours that I figured I'd dedicate this post to them. I somehow managed to get away without taking pictures this weekend of us; so I'm using old ones.

Dustin and Adam are the definition of bro-mance. They met through Dustin's brother-in-law, Brent. To be honest, I think it was love at first sight. They are both literally obsessed with Texas Country Music, being in a band, the Rangers, and their colleges (Tech and OU).  They lived together for a year in Dallas which is when I came along. I pretty much had two boyfriends.

                                              Dustin and Adam at Texas Mardi Gras 2009

Dustin and Adam at a Cory Morrow Concert 2010

Adam and Dustin also are the two star members of the Chase Roberts Band. While they whole band has never played together, they do play guitar and write songs. This weekend they even took band pictures. I think my favorite part about the two of them is how much Adam can pull out of Dustin's personality. Dustin can sometimes be quiet and a bit shy. Especially if it comes to making himself look like a fool in public. While anything I do out of the ordinary normally causes Dustin to walk away or ask me if I forgot my helmet at home, Adam always somehow gets Dustin out of his shell and have fun.

My other favorite part about Adam.... He's always included me. It is always scary being "the girlfriend" that comes into a bro-mance. I have always felt like Adam was my friend too. I never felt like I was being 3rd wheel or that he was. He probably invited me over more then Dustin did when we first started dating. In Adam's best man speech at the wedding, I completely expected the speech to be more about their friendship and stories they had. Adam did such a great job at making the speech about us (and when I say us, I mean the 3 of us). He even gave me his half of the best friend necklace that him and Dustin jokingly have.

Copyright Erica Joyce Photography

Copyright Erica Joyce Photograhy

A few years ago Adam told us about Christie. I have to say I was skeptical at first. He had been such a single guy in Dallas that knowing he had found someone in Houston had me completely shocked. Adam and Christie are very different and I was curious to see how this was going to work. After being around them I got it. Christie lets Adam be Adam. She loves him for the goofy, outgoing person he is. She has a kind heart and even encourages the Chase Roberts Band more than I do. While we haven't gotten to spend a lot of time together, I have loved every moment we have had. I felt a little weird going this weekend because I knew we really weren't going to know anyone at the shower. When Christie walked in the door, she gave us the biggest smile. It made me feel so comfortable to be there. My favorite thing about Christie.... I think her and I have a "look" down. Whenever Dustin and Adam start off in their crazy ways we can just look at each other and know "here they go again."

                                             At a Cory Morrow Concert for Adam's Birthday

                                                  Copyright Erica Joyce Photography

Adam and Christie, I am so excited for Baby Bryce to be here. You two are going to make wonderful parents. I can't wait to hold him. Thank you for being such good friends to us.

Another quick little picture from this weekend. My grandmother's window broke. It was stuck down and wouldn't go back up. My Pop decided to fix it and my dad decorated it. I found it hilarious.

Epitome of Lazy

Dustin and I were the epitome of lazy this weekend. Especially, today. It wasn't even that we had nothing to do because we did. We were just little hermits and I absolutely loved it! Friday night we went to eat at Fuzzys. We really keep trying to make the one near us our "hangout," but it is too much in suburbia to be a place to hangout for happy hour. Then we went to see Horrible Bosses which was hilarious! We really enjoyed it. We went to Studio Movie Grill which is Dustin's favorite. Yesterday we enjoyed the cool weather in the morning by drinking coffee out on the balcony. I did poetry research and planned for school. We have been back for two days, but I've hardly had a chance in my room with all the meetings and training we had. Last night we were supposed to go meet with our friends the Shumakes and Dinsmores, but we were so tired and it was about a 45 minute drive. Instead, we cooked steaks and shrimp and made some mashed potatoes. Yum! Then we hung out with Kendall up at Centro and caught up. Today, ABSOLUTE LAZINESS! I mean it was bad. We sat and did NOTHING all day. A bit ago I did the dishes and folded laundry just to say I had done something today.

I know most of you all that read this (if there is anyone out there) follow me on Facebook and saw all the wedding pictures. I thought I would still post a few of our favorites on here. I went a little crazy with the few part, but it was hard to pick.I have to apologize because they are a little out of order.  

 My dress hanging at my parents house on the front door.

 The wizard behind the curtain. My mama who did absolutely everything for this wedding. She was wonderful.

 Mrs. Hotchkiss hanger my dress was hung on

Bridesmaids watching our first look 

 Having our first look. I was so thankful to have this time with Dustin. It calmed my nerves and just let us have a time by ourselves. After this we were with people until about 3am.

 Nine of the most beautiful, wonderful best friends.

Sweet Easton  (Sprague's son). I love this kiddo and miss him and his baby brudder tons.

 Caroline and John Joseph. They were wonderful and a huge hit at the reception

 Dustin's best friends. He very rarely sees his friends and to have all them in one city was a huge deal for him. I love Easton's glasses in this picture.

 Just me and my daddy

 I loved that Logan and Luke were our alter servers. I have known these boys since they were in diapers. Even changed some of them.

 Our wonderful parents that made the day so special.

 Attempting to get a bite to eat

 My other flower girl that has the most precious smile. How I love her.

 4/5 of our Wrecking Crew. Let me tell you how much this group loves Texas Tech. It is ridiculous.

 I absolutely love this picture.

 Straight Ballin' of course

 Felt so special to have my Theta sisters that mean the world to me there.

 A little Texas Tech Fight Song action

 Our friends Jerry and Carolyn started this dance tunnel. When I turned and saw Dustin coming out of it I just about lost it. He looked so cute.

 Mr. and Mrs. Hotchkiss

 Dustin's Cake. Texas Tech ice chest with real Miller Lite bottles

Walking out to the RAIDER! POWER!.

We had so much fun at the wedding, and can't thank our friends and family being there for us!