Zoey is enthralled with the grass, she acts like she has never seen any before and I guess, she really hasn't. Here she is acting like she is swimming in it and tasting a few blades.

"Oh, what a beautiful flower. I need to get a better look.."

"Hmm, I wonder what this tastes like.."

"Yuck, that doesn't taste as good as I thought it would."

A cool toy to play with up on the slide.

Here is Zoey on the swingset. She loves it when I push her really high and here, she is laughing so hard that she started drooling!

Zoey at the bottom of the slide. "Hi Mama!"

Mommy and Baby after a fun day at the park.

Our Housing Complex & Park

Mom and Dad asked what our housing complex, park and area looked like so here are some photos and descriptive details. Since, as you will soon read, we have some not-so-great neighbors, I thought that I would add in that we do have a super fun set of neighbors right across from us and have already had them over for dinner. You win some, You lose some, right?

A side View.

This is the three story on the right side of us. First, we don't know what ethnicity they are but, when they argue, they switch from English to a foriegn tongue and can get quite loud. Brian and I are only upset because we figure if weve got to listen to it, they could, at least, make it interesting for us by making it in a language that we can understand and eavesdrop on! Second, They have ridiculously loud parties until 3 or 4 in the morning, playing some crazy Greek or Indian drum circle music, which, normally, I would think was cool but, not while we are all trying to sleep. Otherwise, the rest of our neighbors seem freindly enough or else they are just never home, like us, working all the time.

This is our street facing South West. The big mountain is part of the Western mountain range. We are nestled back iside of them. It makes it feel like we are living in Utah or some other place to wake up in the "mountains".

This is a photo of the model homes from our park. The swimming pool and other mountains are just off to the right, Lone mountain is to the left, the 215 and city strip is straight ahead to the east and behind me is the western mountain range.

This is our complex pool area. Behind it our the model homes. Recognize the third one over? Thats our model.

Zoey standing and posing in front of our pool area on the park side.

This is Zoey running down the side of the ampitheatere-like grassy feild at our park. It will be fun to have outdoor BBQs and family and friends over to play here next summer.

This is our park within the housing complex. It is only about a 3 minute walk from our house.

This is Zoey's favorite place. The park has a slide, swing set and sand pit where she likes to get mouth fulls of dirt when I am not paying attention. They even have a little baby climbing wall, which, I recently discovered, she can actually successfully climb up; little monkey.

Here are some photos of the veiws from our park. This is Lone mountain to the North of us. The empty dirt lots are where the next phase of houses are waiting to be built.

Here is the daytime veiw of the city and the strip taken from the picnic area of our mini park. The white strip between the two 50 ft. walls at the bottom of the photo is the 215 freeway; only 5 minutes from home.

This is the nighttime veiw of the entire city strip that we see when coming home into our complex.

Okay, here is me with my new glasses. (and wrinkles!)

As promised..here is the 'Desitin mess' that I spoke of in my 'I got Tagged' session. She actually did this twice in one day because Mama was such a goof, I forgot what I was doing and out of habit put it right back into the drawer when I was done cleaning it off. By the way, in case you wondered, Desitin is about the most difficult thing to clean up; especially out of hair but, not the messiest nor the most disgusting. No, No...just imagine everywhere you see white turned to a lovely shade of brown and then add in a horrific smell along with an entire crib covered in "choclate pudding paint". Now that is a sight to see! I calculated once that on average, if I forget to put little Zoey monster to sleep in jammies with snaps or zippers, the diaper 'extraveganza' happens nearly once every week and has for about the last three months. Something to look forward to for all you new moms out there!

I Got Tagged!

Okay, we just got our computer back again and it 4:01 am. I just finished all my papers that are due and so; it is, of course, time to play on blogspot.com, my new favorite pastime that is bordering on an obsession and “lo and behold”, I find out that Mom has tagged me! Not knowing what the heck that meant, I read Mom’s entries, assumed that I was supposed to just rant and rave about whatever odd thing came to mind and so, that’s just what I did. Then, I read Erica’s and realized how to play the game and so I tried my best to make everything fit into 6 things and they are definitely things I don’t think anybody would know. Enjoy! Especially since I don’t even have someone left to tag! You should only get to tag one person.

1. I work at Sam’s Club now and it kills my bad back, shoulder and feet and I suspect that I will soon have arthritis too. So, to make my job more enjoyable and keep me from going insane, I have found pleasure and bizarre enjoyment in the repetition of swiping the items past the scanner, hearing the little beeping noise and pushing the buttons as fast as I can with a little flourish of my wrist at the end. I especially enjoy using the scanning gun, laying everything across the belt on its front and then going from one side to the other, scanning everything super fast. The game is to see if I can make a constant beeping noise without a pause before I am done. If I have to pause, then it is because I didn’t catch a bar code fast enough and then, I lose points in my deranged head game. I also like flipping items from one hand to another and pretending that I am the Tetris master when I am loading the items into the carts. (We don’t have bags and almost everything is either a box or a cylinder shape; fun, fun, fun). My favorite part is trying to read people’s names on their club cards before I hand them back to them and I have been complimented many a time on my accuracy in pronouncing Spanish, Russian, Polish, Asian and Indian names, just to name a few.

2. At school, I am doing really well in my classes and I just finished a six hour marathon of typing and retyping papers or essays to go into my final portfolio for teaching (that is due in a week) since we just got our computer back after sending in for repairs for the second time this month. Tomorrow, I will be writing and typing my entire Cultural Diversity paper that is due next Tuesday in one day, like usual. My favorite quark about school and writing papers is that I can type fast and finish my paper within an hour or two but, will sit for another half hour, monkeying with fonts and type sizes, underlining, bold and adding decorative bullets.

3. I take pictures of everything and then, all of my pictures get lost in the camera or in the computer never to be heard of again. I especially like to take pictures of Zoey’s disasters, such as, her lovely poo-poo creations after she has taken off her diaper or the latest extravaganza, smearing desitin all over her body, clothing, face and hair after climbing out of the crib and onto the changing table. (Yes, pictures will be coming soon to my blog of that episode.) Zoey is turning two this month and driving me crazy with all her antics. Sometimes to get back at her, I wait until she is totally involved in her cartoon and then, I come over and drive her crazy, trying to hug her to death, tickle her, talk to her or ask silly questions or steal kisses, which makes her scream, “nnnnoo”. I also like to squirt her with my spray bottle when she won’t get out of my stuff in the bathroom and I flick water on her like Mom used to do to us from the kitchen sink.

4. I wear glasses now and I think they look great when I am going for the preppy, smart school girl look but, the rest of the time they drive me crazy and I look at them as an accessory that doesn’t match. I am turning 30 this year and I am starting to get wrinkles. My skin doesn’t seem to be elastic any more and I am starting to look ‘older’. Therefore, I am close to a nervous breakdown any day. I have almost stopped caring how I look now and get dressed in the first available outfit that matches and feels ‘comfy’. My hair is driving me crazy because it is winter time and static electricity is my enemy. So, I end up wearing it in a ponytail half the time which makes me look like a dork. Add in the glasses and the dork costume is complete!

5. When I drive in the car, I like to listen to country music. My favorites are Brad Paisley, Taylor Swift, Kenny Chesney, Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith, etc. I love to sing along and sometimes I think that I should join the choir at church because I sing pretty well. When Zoey is in the car, she goes nuts and rocks from side to side, making the entire car jiggle if we are stopped at a red light, snapping her fingers and clicking her tongue with wild eyes to the beat of the music.

6. My favorite snack that I am stuck on right now are peanut and almond bars that are stuck together with some kind of delicious crunchy honey ‘goop’substance with plenty of additives and probably, yellow #1 to boot. Since I have started working and going to school full time, I have started understanding the value of microwave/ instant foods, family size pre-made oven dinners and I have even finally invested in a deluxe bag of chicken nuggets for Zoey. I even use the dish washer now that I am not home all day to wash each fork by hand and I snicker about the idea that I once had that kind of time.

OUR NEW HOUSE

Our New Home!

Here is a great shot of how the kitchen is connected to the living room by the bar counter top. That way, I can still talk and spend time with Brian and Zoey while they are playing in the living room or watching TV if I am in the kitchen cooking or washing dishes. Nice feature.

Looking out from the kitchen you can see our dining room and the door to the back patio.

A side veiw of the kitchen

Here is our Kichen. We picked out black appliances, dark wood cabinets and grey and black speckled laminate for the counter tops. The laminate resembles Granite but, is actually affordable. We think the color combination turned out really nice.

The veiw down the entry hall from the living room couch. Zoey uses this area as her runway for singing and dancing when we put on CMT country music videos. We have since packed away the playpen because she started crawling in and out of it, using at as a jungle gym.

The other half of the living room-the couch is kitty corner to TV in this veiw. The Kitchen and dining room are off to the right.

Our dining room-the table is from the Bowmans' back in Seaside and the table decor is what Brian and I picked out with some of our wedding money. Fancy and beautiful. We light the candles every night at dinner time.

The special fan in our living room that I got to pick out-it is like a faux tourtise shell.

My favorite two photos of Zoey

Our downstairs living room-we got the couch from his parents and the coffe table as a wedding gift from his grandmother.

Our entry hallway-I have always thought that a house rich in family photos makes a home rich in love.

Our office-'Brian's side'

Our office-'Jenn's side'

Zoey's bedroom in shades of lavender and Cream.

Our bathroom with double sinks-finally!

Our bed and beautiful bedspread wedding set from the Bowmans'. Notice little Zoey in the corner trying to sneak into my pictures?

Walking into our bedroom with the new furniture set that the Hotchners' bought for us.

The entertainment center in the loft that houses Zoey's TV set and the doorway to the master bedroom.

The couch in the loft that Zoey has laid claim to for cartoon time.

We have see through glass panes along the stairs that look great with five hundred little Zoey hand prints, as she uses them to feel her way down the stairs.

Walking in through the front door you see the living room and the loft is right up the stairs

The Backyard

The 'super froggy' wading pool

Here is Brian and I right before the Tim McGraw & Faith Hill concert in August.

Striking a pose!

Zoey at the park in her cowgirl getup.

Zoey on our new bedspread-check out her curls!

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.