Hatch Christmas Highlights

*Going with Sean to the "World Trade Center" to pick up his wedding ring for Kellye... talking about marriage and life... it was fun to see how excited Sean was about his ring....Listening to Sean tell Kellye his first lie about not having the ring yet.... and trying to help Sean pick a date for his engagement.... Later, taking a million pictures of the ring so other family could see it.

* Driving to Tyler's B-ball game with Shayne (even though it ended up being a 3 1/2 hour drive). It gave us the chance to talk about life and visit one-on-one, which we haven't been able to do it years.

* Remembering how "different" it is to be in Texas, especially Killeen, Texas, where Tyler played basketball....instantly brought me back to when I was more competitive and would get angry with the referees......by the way, Tyler also got a technical foul that game...good job, Tyler!!.... Afraid that we would get lynched outside the gym if we said anything to the refs...

* Eating dinner at Chili's with the family....Thanks mom and dad for "footin" the bill!!

* Staying up late every single night, but especially the two nights before Christmas.... spending time talking to family while wrapping presents.... making fun of Sean because he decided to wrap Kellye's presents in Hannakah paper ..... making a paper snowflake to put on the outside of her other present that color cooridinated... it taking him three hours to do these two things...Sherrie and I had a good time making fun of him!

*Watching Annika love Bryce so much....she was attached to him right from the beginning...she has so much personality and spunk... in fact, at one point, Bryce and I were laughing about something she did, and she ran around the kitchen bar and hit Bryce.... it was really funny.... She loves jewelry, purses, and one shoe!

*Spending Christmas Eve shopping with Sherrie, Sean, and Tyler..helping Sean by all of his little things for his engagement.

*Sitting around at Sherries house Christmas Night waiting for Sean to call and tell us he was finally engaged.....hearing how excited he was when it happened..(more details will be explained below)

* Bryce walking through the bathroom at mom and dad's and tapping Kellye's butt..... totally thinking that it was Sherrie...whoops!! Sorry Kellye....

*Eating ice cream and watching a dumb movie with Sean, Kellye, Bryce, Amanda, and Tyler....watching National Treasure with Tyler and Amanda...while Tyler was holding Amanda's hand, I was holding his other hand, stroking it softly.....he slapped my hand away and told me I was so dumb after the movie...it was fun though!!

*Eating...Eating....Eating....all the good dips at Sherrie's house, which include the best queso in the world...homemade guacamole....and artichoke/jalepeno dip....and those were just the beginning of the good food we ate...(check my favorites to see my best restaurants)

* Watching Cooper, Wesley, and Micaela on Christmas morning...it is awesome to have young kids around to bring the Christmas Spirit to the house....they were so excited....watching Cooper get excited every time Wesley opened one of his presents...and seeing Cooper try to roller skate through the house

*Running into my high school basketball teammate and friend at Blockbuster....I love seeing friends when I come into town....doesn't happen very often, but it is still neat to catch up with old friends and see how they are doing.

*Cooper had so much fun at grandma and grandpa's house... he found all sorts of new toys there...he loved to play chase around the kitchen with Bandit....he enjoyed wondering around the back yard because he actually could (no snow!!), and he loved getting in the hot tub(with the tree frogs) with Tyler and Bryce...Cooper got to spend alot of time with Grandma and Grandpa while we went out to eat...thanks mom and dad for doing that for us....We appreciate it!!

*The last thing that Cooper wanted to do before we left for the airport was to go on a walk with Papa.... he went on alot of walks with grandpa and Bandit.

*Watching Tyler play basketball in Anderson.....he scored 16 points the first game and 21 the second game...we were really impressed with your skills, Tyler, and we really enjoyed watching you play...good luck with the rest of the season!!

* Stopping in West, on the way to Dallas, to pick up some fresh made kolaches.... peach, apricot, strawberry cheesecake, and sausage for dad...yum.yum.....

* Watching

A&M in their bowl game in a really nice theatre room at one of our friends houses...eating wings and popcorn and queso

*Listening to Ava tell me how "special" everything and everyone is.... laughing inside because I know her dad teaches her all sorts of things!! And her mom's not much better!!

*Kellye and Seans Engagement: The Story Begins: Sean tells Kellye that he will be late coming to her house because he went to Alvin and the Chipmunks with family(lie #1), telling her that Cooper just loved it and even laughed (Lie # 2) , telling her that he was out in he hall with Annika through alot of the movie(lie # 3), Kellye turns around and tells her parents this whole story, (they are laughing inside because they are part of the whole setup), Kellye's family goes to the movie and in the meantime, Sean is setting up the loft in the barn with candles, pictures, ornaments, and of course, Godiva cheesecake, After the movie, Kellye's parents decide to take a detour to get some milk, Kellye says she has a sinus headache and that she will need some medicine when she gets home, her mom and dad decide to take her to a pharmacy, Kellye says, "I just take medicine when I get home, we have plenty." To which her mom replies, "I gave it all to our house keeper"(lie #4)... Kellye thinks that is odd since they have a whole cupboard designated just for sinus medicine....Her parents are trying to stall for Sean, so Kellye's father says that he needs to go the bathroom at the pharmacy and that Kellye should to, because it will help alleviate her headache!!!(lie #5)... So, Kellye goes to the bathroom and lo and behold, her headache did feel better.....wow, the power of positive thinking!! They finally get home and they go to fee the horses...she realizes that her dog is stuck in the barn, and that's when she goes in and realizes what is going on....the tears start flowing...Sean sings her a song that he wrote especially for her... in the song it asks her to marry him... of which she replied yes!!!

We are so excited to have Kellye be a new member of our family. We already love her so much. You are a great person, Kellye and I know that you and Sean will take care of each other. I witnessed that when I was in College Station. Thank you for treating my brother so well. YOu are the world to him.....We love you....