Hammock Chair!!!!!!

It was actually a very quiet weekend for the Hoke's. Heath returned from his "Guys' Weekend" Saturday morning--maybe that only makes it a "Guys' Couple of Days"?? Layne had her Colorado Juniors volleyball league Saturday morning. I drove Layne, a friend and her mom--after dropping off the girls we had a fabulous breakfast in Monument--nice little place where we sat outside and enjoyed the beautiful Colorado morning. Monument is a small town about 30 minutes north of Colorado Springs--has a wonderful small town feel and a great farmer's market every weekend. What we did for a good part of the day, will have to wait for the next blog--I have to get some photos ready!! Really, it isn't even close to being as exciting as I am making it sound.

Sunday was for sleeping in a bit! A Hoke favorite. Did some stuff around the house and headed to Colorado College for volleyball clinic. Layne was involved in the clinic and Heath and I did some coaching. It was nice to get back into the gym. After we had a nice late lunch downtown and then home for more stuff. I finally got Layne's room finished--we had to make a chalk wall-so, now just a little touch up from the green and it is FINISHED!! Only two more rooms left to do. Did I mention that one room is the entire first floor--that include our 20 ft vaulted ceilings. Really can't wait, maybe that is why I am leaving that for last.

We hung Layne's hammock chair up in her room (in front of the chalk wall) and she was so excited. It was almost impossible to get her out of it--I think she would sleep in it. So glad she liked it.

Pedro likes it also!!

I forgot to mention that after our lunch downtown today, we stopped by the library. Layne has a couple big projects coming up and she needed some research materials. We are so proud of Heath, he checked out a couple of books and is even reading them! They are just about hiking, which is the only thing he ever wants to do--maybe reading about it will keep him satisfied!!!??

Have a good Monday--enjoy the changing of the seasons!!!

Tori

Bachelorette, haircut, wedding, track............

September 13 was our great friend June's bachelorette party. As always, the girls had too much fun. In this photo we all seem to be asleep, but we aren't. It was a fun night!!!


Last Friday I decided to get a hair cut, then tried to get a good photo of it--that didn't work. Anyway, I got about 4-5 inches taken off. When it is straight it's OK, but when I let it go curly--I get real nervous because it tends to remind me of some mushroom-like styles I had in school. I really get scared--brings back bad memories.

Last Saturday was June's wedding. It was a beautiful ceremonies by the Garden of the God's and the reception was a blast--we did some serious dancing!!!






Layne had her third track meet this past Tuesday. She doesn't seem to be the fastest kid, but she works really had and enjoys herself. It have to give her respect, I wouldn't even go out for track--she even runs the hurdles!! I find that amazing.







Heath left today to spend a few days in Westcliffe--his boss has a home there and they are having a "Boy's Weekend"!! He doesn't have the camera so I hope someone else does. I am trying real hard to get him and Layne to contribute to OUR blog.

Have a great weekend. Watch Dancing With The Stars on Monday and make sure you vote for Misty May-Treanor!!!

Tori

Olympic Celebration

Last Thursday (9/11/08) our office had an Olympic party, celebrating our teams' exciting finish in Beijing. Just in case you didn't watch TV in August--our women's beach team won gold, men's beach team also won gold, our indoor women's team won silver and our indoor men's team won gold. Just last weekend our women's sitting team won silver in Beijing at the Paralympics. Very exciting for USA Volleyball!!! We will have some really cool shirts for sale soon.



Heath, Layne and I at the party. We had a very good time and it was nice to celebrate our teams' accomplishments.

Colorado Part III

Last summer, my mom, Jessica and Hayes came to visit and we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. After going through the zoo and doing all the zoo things--we stopped to have a snack at the entrance and Layne fed a little critter. It was the highlight of the day.

For Layne's 11th birthday (which would have been 7/7/07) she decided that she wanted to go to the Royal Gorge. This was the first birthday that we didn't have 11+ screaming girls in our home. Since we had just moved here, she had no one to invite over and we wanted to do something special for her. It was a wonderful day.

The next photo was from Steve's visit last year (2007). We are at the Garden of the God's--another Hoke favorite for guests!! Steve and Layne are attempting to hold up Balanced Rock. I think they are doing a great job. Well, maybe Steve is trying to hold it up and Layne is just frightened??

While he was here, we also took the Pikes Peak Highway to the top of Pikes Peak (if you are keeping up--there are a few ways of getting to the top). We stopped at a roadside tourist trap so Layne could pan for gold. She found some nice colorful rocks, but no gold.

The two following photos are from 6th grade track--her first attempt at the sport. She does a good job and works really hard!! :) Love you Layne.

This is Layne with her track coach at the end of season banquet.


Heath and I.

Since we don't let Roxy sit in her favorite chair, she feels that she has to lay on or in something. I guess the floor isn't good enough. Technically this basket is for blankets and really not big enough for her--it sure is funny to watch her get in it. We just say to her, "ohhhh, Roxy".

Sully (and all the dogs) like to be right where you are. Here Sully is taking a break while I get ready to unload the dishwasher. As you can see, Baly is right by me and Roxy is poking her nose from behind the island.
Pedro really loves to lay by the fireplace in the winter. OK, we have weird dogs.

This one is from Vail. I mentioned before that they have a Father's Day tourney on Sunday and Heath and Layne played and finished second. It is really amazing to see all the grass courts and the great mountains in the background. What a place to play volleyball.

Even though we have been here over a year, we still didn't throw Layne a big party with friends for her 12th birthday this summer. This year I got tickets for the two of us to go to the AVP in Boulder. It was so cool and if the tour ever comes close to you--you should go. We were lucky enough to see Misty and Kerri play before Beijing. We spent the night in downtown Denver and had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory--one of our favorites.

In mid-July of this year my grandparents and cousin came out to visit. It was great to have Dana out here. She went to play volleyball with Layne at the outdoor league she was doing. I think they had fun.

My grandma, Dana (cousin) and Heath at the Garden of the God's. Remember, where we take all of our guests.

In May, my niece was born and this is a photo of Hayes, Layne and Camrin. Layne is still suppose to be that size.

I really think I am close to being done with this "catch-up" stuff. I just keep finding photos that I want to share with all of you.

Have a great weekend and don't forget to check back soon. I am going to a bachelorette party of a co-worker Saturday--so I may have some good photos and stories to tell after that. :)

Tori

Colorado Part II

I have determined that I will not fully get everything in that we have done over the last year +. I will try to get the important things or just the pictures that I like. I will start off with our day trip to a reservoir about an hour from Colorado Springs. It is a little tricky to get to and Layne and I were afraid of running into a bear. There were signs up everywhere!! It was very beautiful and peaceful once we got to the water.

Last November, Layne experienced what most kids her age get to go through--braces. Just a little history on her mouth (I know she will love me for all the details I am going to give about her in this and subsequent blogs) none of her teeth were coming out, so about 3 years ago she had 6 pulled. Four on top and two on the bottom and today only 4 have fully come in. Because of this, she only had two front teeth to put braces on--so cute!!

To help make room and hopefully get those others to come down, a pallet expander was put in. Now, the joy of this contraption is that she made this hissing-like sound every time she ate. It still happens but she seems to better manouver her food these days.

There are some wonderful parks close to town and the one below is Helen Hunt Falls. This a popular spot for the Hoke's--we take most of our guest here. It is so beautiful and free.

I had previously introduced you to our late Jeep Wagoneer--to replace that we purchased a 1983 Toyota Landcruiser (not better on gas, but really cool). Heath really loves this car and I am in the process of trying to convince him we need to sell this one too. It is really cool and fun to drive in the mountains. I will continue to keep you posted on the status of our vehicles.

This past January we made our only trip snowboarding. We had free passes and a guest, Colleen, she was one of our Fusion Volleyball coaches and now works for the Iowa Region (actually my old job). It was a very cold and windy day but fun. We are hoping to get on the slopes more than once this coming winter--it is very hard to get a free weekend during club season.

We spent Easter in the mountains. We have friends that have a wonderful home in the mountains and we stayed the weekend there--so peaceful. Everyone went snowshoeing and it was very funny when the big shoe didn't hold and you would sink in the snow up to your knee!!

One of our many day trips to hike in the mountains close to our house.

The picture of Hayes in Vail that I promised for the last blog. He is such a cheese-ball and loves to make funny faces for the camera. He is the funniest little guy and I really miss seeing him on a regular basis.



Heath really enjoys a good game of Guitar Hero.

Heath's dad (Steve) came to visit at the begining of August. They did all the fun stuff and the photo below was the day they took the cog railroad to the top of Pikes Peak

One day they drove into the mountains and had a full day of hiking--I, unfortunately, had to be at work.

Another photo of Layne's first day of school. She started 7th grade this year and it is truly unbelievable to me. Just yesterday she was a baby and now she is a young woman. She is currently running track and doing very well in school. She is also involved in band and plays the marimba--don't ask me to explain what that is.


So, of course all of you are aware that the Olympics just happened. Working for USA Volleyball and just being interested in volleyball--it was an amazing and exciting games. Volleyball medaled in every discipline for both men and women. The indoor women's team trains in Colorado Springs and we planned a wonderful homecoming for them at the airport. The following photos are Layne with a few of the players. The first is Stacy Sykora and Layne was super excited to get a photo with her.

Next up is Logan Tom

Finally, Kim Willoughby.

Over Labor Day we decided to go camping. We headed for Breckenridge and camped at Lake Dillon.

We stopped to grill lunch on the other side of Lake Dillon and found this wonderful, quiet spot. Everything was great until a family of 20 people invaded our space. Keep in mind that there was a whole lake and plenty of other room, but no they wanted to be right by us!!

I am going to close this blog with that. In the mean time, I am going to check all of our photos an see what I have forgotten.

Tori

Colorado--Our First Year.

I will begin this blog by trying to get all of you up to speed on what we have been doing since we moved to Colorado Springs. I will start out by showing you our house. If you had ever had the pleasure of seeing our house in Iowa, you will appreciate what I tell you next. This house is NOTHING like that house. This house is 9 years old compare to 80. It is in suberbia and we only need to walk a few feet to find another one just like ours!!!

The house looks slightly different than when we moved in. We have added new lights, (which I turned on for you) new door knob and we just painted it to that wonderful reddish color. It had been green and just didn't look right. We have done some landscaping (yes, we have lilies from Iowa--more specifically Wilson's garden's). The plants will look better in two more summers. I will NOT be showing you the back yard at this point--let's just say it needs some work. Maybe when we are done I will give you a before and after.

This picture will take care of two things--it will show you some of our view of the mountains from our front yard and let you see Layne on her first day of school.

Now, for those of you who are familiar with our family--I will introduce our dogs, and you will surely see more of them in future posts. Above is our youngest, Pedro, he is a full blooded chihuahua. He was Layne's birthday present two years ago. He is wonderful to have around, loves to cuddle but is a little embarrassing to take on a walk. He weighs in at 5 pounds. Heath refers to him as the Rat.

Next up--Roxy, Sully and Baly (top to bottom). This was sometime this winter in our back yard (I will show you with snow covering the ground). Also, this was the most snow we got this past winter--I will not rub it in. Roxy will be 7 in just a few weeks, Sully is 4 and Baly is 6. And yes, we have four dogs. They definitely make things interesting.

Every Labor Day weekend there is a balloon festival in Colorado Springs and the balloons fly right over our house. This balloon was landing in the park right behind our development. It is really wonderful to just walk out the front door and see all the beautiful balloons with the mountains in the background.

This is the very cool 1988 Jeep Wagoneer Heath purchased before I arrived. It really was cool and I say 'was' because we have sold it. The 10 miles per gallon were not helpful as gas prices climbed. It was a great "Colorado" vehicle.

This past (2007) Thanksgiving we hosted at our house. There were several from our office that weren't going home so we celebrated together. It was a huge challenge for Heath and I, but we pulled it off.

USA Volleyball hosts a very nice staff holiday party. It was a lot of fun to dress up and go out for the evening.

I did end up coaching Layne's team this past season. We were Stellar 12 National. They were a wonderful group of girls and they were amazing to train--the most talented 12 year olds I have coached. We ended up 3rd in the region!!

This picture was from the Crossroads Qualifier in Denver and the guy in the middle is Danny Kinda (just google or youtube him if you don't know already). He is super funny and becoming a volleyball celebrity. The girls had so much fun meeting him.

Layne and a couple of her teammates tried out for the USA Volleyball High Performance team (that would be Heath's department). Layne is still about two years young for the youngest age group, so we weren't expecting much. All three girls made the Development A2 camp that was held at Colorado College in downtown Colorado Springs. It was an overnight camp and lasted 5 days with 3 session each day. Layne was pooped, but she made it!!

Over Father's Day weekend there is a big grass volleyball tournament in Vail. This was our second trip up there and Layne's first to play with a partner in the 12U division. They finished first and got some great prizes. On Sunday is the Father/Daughter or Father/Son tournament. Heath and Layne played last year but did much better this year getting second.

Heath got some good sun in Vail. We were also lucky enough to have Jessica, Zach, Hayes and Camrin in Vail with us. As soon as I find those photos I will get them up.

After Vail we headed to Denver for a few days and went to Elitch Gardens and the big REI Store!! Layne won this gigantic Stewey doll--very cool.

I am going to end my first post there. I feel this is getting quite long. Keep checking back--there will be more any day!!

TORI