The 'super froggy' wading poolWednesday, October 31, 2007
Yeah! we are finally all moved in and finally have our computer up and running again. I have been going crazy feeling 'left out of the loop'. I just spent the last three hours reading and looking at all the great pictures and stories that you all have posted on your blog pages and I feel like I've got a great big dose of family love now to carry me through the ills of everyday trials. Wow, it is great to see and read about all of your lives. I wish I could comment on all of your pages but, time is truly in short supply for me now. New news on the Hotchner family: We just moved into our very first real home in October, located at 10552 Gibbous Moon Drive, Las Vegas, NV 89129. It is up on the foot of Lone Mountain on the extreme North West end of the valley. It is far away from the city and seems a little secluded, which I love. We live in a great new housing complex named Hillside for Astoria Holmes and is named so for the fantastic veiw of Las Vegas that we see when turning into the development. The house is a two story, 3 bedroom with 2.5 baths. It has a cute little loft where Zoey has laid claim on the couch and TV set for her 'cartoon time'. We dont have a front or back yard, just a back patio where our porch swing and BBQ fit but, we do have a cute little balcony right off of the master bedroom facing out over the front of the house and we also have a great community complex park, complete with swingset and slide, swimming pool and basketball court, right around the corner, past the mailboxes. We like our new neighbors and have even had a friend and her daughter over for dinner one night. We are trying to become more sociable. She is really little and fun and wants to plan a neighborhood BBQ at our park to get the neighbors together and find out more about one another. It seems like this is going to be a fun place to live. The move itself went pretty smoothly, considering I was able to pack and unpack everything in a matter of just two weeks. Of course, I had to work like a little maniac to complete the task but, it has paid off as everything is already put away, pictures are even hung up and it almost feels like we have been living here for months. As far as my life goes and as some of you may already know, I returned to UNLV this fall to switch my major from Fine Arts and to pursue a Bachelors degree in Elementary Education instead. I have exactly three years to complete the requirements and then, I will be liscened to teach in Nevada. I just finished my 25 hours of student observations last week in Mrs. Zoltosky's 3rd grade classroom at Conners ES; the same school that Zoey will be going to when she gets old enough and it was a great experience. I really learned a lot; enough to show me what it will all be like and also, in which things I am scared to death about being responsible for, such as, lesson planning, grading, curiculum requirements, testing and teacher accountability, school policys, rules and children with learning disbilities or English as a second language. I actually wrote so many notes during my time in her class that it took me a total of 10 hours yesterday to get all 15 pages typed up and proofread. I am actually doing really well in school; especially with my writing and I have been told by two of my proffesors after recieving A+ on my midterm papers and essays that I have incredible writing skills with graduate level responces and that I would do well continuing on towards a Masters Degree. "Don't stop here. You are going to go places with writing like this." That is what my Cultural Diversity teacher told me as she handed me back my paper. It feels great to finally be recognized and appreciated for what I have always known I am capable of doing. I just needed to find a focus and decide to make a choice to do something worthwhile. Also, I know that it is because of all the great changes that I have made in my life that I am finally becoming successful and finding true happiness. Next, I needed to find a job, since we are in a new house with a mortgage and bills and so, after searching for two months, putting in applications for cashiering at a bunch of random places, I finally got hired at Sam's Club. I started last week and after completing my computer based learning, I had to learn everything about cashiering in a day and half. It is very busy, highly stressful and the standing, stretching and lifting heavy bulk items is really killing me. I still have two herniated discs in my lower back, degenerative spine disease, shoulder bursitis and pitiful flat feet with orthotics to boot! I had to go to the doctor on Monday to get another injection of Cortizone into my right shoulder and have had to do so every 6 months since last Christmas. So, what am I thinking? I will tell you, no one else would hire me with no work experience after being at home for 7 years on Social Security, going to school, sick with Hyperthyroidism, pregnant and then, raising a child. I have found that all this is still no excuse in the eyes of any prospective employeer. So, I suppose, I must start at the bottom and work my way to the top. Although, Mom has mentioned looking at UNLV for an on campus job and honestly, at this point, the idea is sounding great! Brian is still working as an independant courier for Office Depot, close to 60-70 hours a week. He comes home exausted but, still finds time and energy to play with Zoey and have special movie and ice cream nights with me. Sundays are all about church and we are are finally starting to get to know some of the couples in our new ward. It was hard for us to move away from all the friends and families that we had made in our old ward but, change is invevitable and I know that it provides us with opportunity to grow and move forward. Brian recently had his interveiw with the Bishop to be ordained a Priest and we are loking foward to the blessing that will come with having a Priesthood holder in our home. He is most excited about the prospect of getting to bless and baptize Zoey and all of our future children. Oh yes, there are more in store. At least one, for sure and if it is not a boy, you can bet we will be trying again. We've even got the names picked out: Thaydon for a boy and Savannah for a girl. Just so you all know, we've got dubs on those baby names! Zoey is doing wonderfully and growing up smart and strong. She is turning two next month and has turned into a little monkey, climbing up, in and out of everything. We already packed up the playpen that she was using as a jungle gym apparatis and now, she can climb right up the front of her changing table by using the drawer handles as foot holds and then, flops up and over the end of her crib to get inside. She climbs out the same way when she wakes up and has started trying to change herself lately, or more accuratley, for the past two months, leading to major clean ups that I will spare you all the vivid and lovely details of. However, just feel sorry for me because this is a common occurance happening at least once a week. She used her potty chair for the first time last Sunday and I could barely stop cheering for her even as I watched pee spraying all over the place because she was laughing so hard at her silly Mommy acting like her own personal cheerleader. Zoey talks a lot now, including words like "tebe" for TV, "Boovee" for movies, "naks" for snacks, "jew" for juice, and she recently discovered the word "no", telling me "nnnnoo" whenver I ask her questions like, "Are you ready for bed?" She also folds her little arms and says the prayer with us at dinner time and can even say "na-mea" for Amen. She loves going to the park, watching cartoons and hanging out with Mom and Dad. She goes to her Hotchner Grandparents 3 days aweek and to Liz, my best friend from our old church ward, for the other 2 while Mommy is at school or work. Well, that's all folks! I love you all, It is good to be back online and I promise to post new photos as soon as humanly possible.
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