My first decorated cake....

So tonight I was brave and decided to bake Christmas cakes to take to work. They look big in the pictures but they are small. Anyway it took me 3 hours but here they are:

The Christmas Tree cake:
I know it's not the best looking but hey, I tried! Ha ha!


The Snowman Cake...
Is my favorite!!! I think this one is sooo cute! I hope they are edible!
So, I've really no update right now. Things at work have been hectic w/ the year closing and there has been lots to do! I've been very busy. I go to my first training/meeting as Deputy Auditor on Friday and I'm kinda nervous, but those who know me well know that I am nervous ALL THE TIME! Ha ha! Anyway...my boss gave me a review a few weeks ago and she wants me to start doing some "deed" work so I'll be learning how to read property deeds very soon and how to transfer, exciting right??

If you don't hear from me again this year....MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR!

An Island Christmas

Last Sunday the teens put on their Christmas program "An Island Christmas" which I directed. The program was a musical about giving. It took place on an Island where a missionary family came to the island to build a new church. The island people searched for buried treasure, found the treasure, and gave it all to the missionaries to help build the church! The music was awesome and the dialogue was full of humor! The performance was amazing. I am so very proud of these 12 teenagers for their dedication to this program for the past 8 weeks! Below are only a few pictures of the stage/cast!

One view of the stage...Thanks Lyman & Teens for helping me set it up!

Another shot of the stage....
Some of the cast at our Dress Rehearsal...
The cast minus ONE!

Now that the play is over I won't know what to do with all of my time & energy!

Secret Sisters....Revealed!

Last Thursday we had our Secret Sister's Christmas Party where we revealed ourselves to our Secret Sister that we had for a whole year! Everyone had a good time and enjoyed seeing who everyone had for the year. Below are some pictures from the evening. Blogger was too slow or I would have posted some more. Enjoy!


Passing around presents....
Jamie opening her gift....

Laveda being silly.....we had such a great time!

Esther (in the red) was given gifts all year long but didn't sign up to be in Secret Sisters....Beverly decided she'd have 2 secret sisters this year and she surprised Esther in a great way!

We have already passed the papers around to start it up again for 2009! I am already excited to see who I get this year and to start buying! :)

What a weekend....

I had a pretty good Thanksgiving! I visited with family and when I got back home, I packed a bag and headed up to Indy to babysit for my sister's 4 kids! It was a lot of fun...I even got a GPS system out of it! :) I've been wanting one for a long time and I got a really good deal on one!

Here are some pictures from Thanksgiving.....

Friday night Regan and her kids went to the Brazil Christmas In the Park Parade. We started off having hot chocolate & cookies at the courthouse (my work) before watching the parade. Here are a few pictures:


Rayanne & Ryleigh waitin' on the Parade to start!
My work:
Rayanne & I in front of the tree at my work!
Steph & Mom takin' a break...
And....tonight Mom and I put our tree up....The finished product:
I had a very busy weekend...and it's only gonna get worse this month!

A big UPDATE

It's been almost a year since I've been on this thing. I utilize Myspace more frequently and so I don't think about blogger much...except to view my sister Sandy's!

Anyway...I am Deputy Auditor--Claims Deputy @ Clay County Courthouse and have been here since Aug. 22, 2008! I LOVE IT! I have found the perfect job for me. I enjoy going every day and I love doing what I'm doing! Not only are the pay & benefits nice...I've met some great people here and I hope to stay here until I can no longer work!

I've purchased my very first car this year. In April 2008 I got a 2007 Ford Escape and I love it.

I'm still very involved with the youth at church. I am the Jr. High leader for Wednesday nights & Sunday morning. It is quite challenging but very rewarding. A week from Saturday we will perform "An Island Christmas" for our church. Mom usually helps me direct but not this year! I'm on my own....

In January I will be starting a project entitled "30 Hour Famine" and that is where the teens/adults of our church will go 30 Hours without food. We'll do service projects, make gifts for people in other countries, do a Tribal game like Survivor, have Bible studies, and of course sleep! This will take up a lot of my time so I am looking forward to staying busy with that.

I'm really ready for the holidays....good food, family, and giving presents! I'm really excited to see what's in store for me in the year 2009!

I hope to keep this updated more often.....

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!! (just in case!)

NEW HAIR!

Today I went to the beauty salon for a new look. I was scared to death before I went in and I was even more scared when I left. I've posted some pictures...although I'm going back on Tuesday to get a part of it fixed and to take some more length off.

This is me last weekend....before I got my hair cut.

This is my new look! I got about 6 inches taken off.
I like it, but it's short for me.
Like I said, it will look better on Tuesday!
I'll post some new pictures later~

A day with the Brown's!

On Friday night, I headed to Seymour with 4 teenage girls. We stayed the night at my sister Regan's and it was pretty fun. When I got there Friday night it was 11pm, the girls were in bed and I thought "ok...we'll get to go to bed early". I was wrong! I woke up Rayanne because I was informed that she wanted me to. So, we partied until almost 2am with a 5 yr old and a 3 yr old! After taking the teen girls to Columbus for their church activity, I got to spend the day with Rayanne and Ryleigh. It was nice. I wish I would have gotten some more pictures, but it was a busy day! So, enjoy the ones I have:

Rayanne posing before going to Sandy's.
Ryleigh posing before going to Sandy's.
Rayanne, Myself, and Ryleigh...posing before going to Sandy's.
I can't believe how big all of the kids are getting...it makes me sad, but they are really fun at this age!!!!!

New Addition to the family!

On Saturday, I got to see Sandy's kids. She recently added a new addition, Isabelle to her family. She's absolutely beautiful! She was so happy and content. I just couldn't leave her alone. Although it was hectic there, I still enjoyed getting to see everyone. Here are some pictures from the evening:

These are all of my nieces and nephews. From L to R..Ryleigh (3), Rayanne (5), Abby (2), Evan (5), Hayleigh (12), Isabelle (10 months), and Aidan (5). What a crew!


This is Isabelle! Precious, huh?

Isabelle & I
Stephanie & Isabelle
Sarah & Isabelle
Mr. Police Officer (aka...Aidan)
The Princess Clan....Evan, Rayanne, and Abby...Evan wore this the whole time I was there!
I loved seeing all of my favorite kids together! They are so funny. After hours of loudness, messiness, and crowdedness....I'm sure Sandy is glad we are gone and things get back to "normal"....if there is a norm!

Another Christmas...gone

In our family, Christmas seems to last the whole month of December. We have so many places to go so that we can fit every part of our family in during the season. This year we traveled to Odon once and we had 2 "parties" in Brazil. It was nice to not have to get up early and go anywhere on Christmas Day. Here are a few pictures from the three Christmas Celebrations of 2007.Nana & Abby

Sarah & Ryleigh on Christmas Day @ my Aunt Nancy's house
Stephanie & Regan on Christmas Day @ Aunt Nancy's
Evan, Ryleigh, Rayanne, Abby, and Aidan taking time out to take a group photo...we're missing Hayleigh Hatch in this one!
Evan got a purple semi from Nana, he liked it I think;)
Rayanne making Christmas cookies for our Christmas party!
Abby with her water baby she got from Granny. I thought this was a sweet picture.
Me, Rayanne, and Ryleigh before the Christmas Eve service at church.
Aidan and Abby @ the Bechtel Christmas.
Me & Papaw at the Bechtel Christmas.

I can't believe that it is 2008 already! Where does the time go? I hope everyone finished the year on a good note and started THIS year on an even better note! Keep checkin' back for more pictures...I have tons!