2008 in Review

It has been a packed year for me in 2008! Here are the highlights.

In April, I spent 18 days in Russia with a group of nursing students in my school. We went to Moscow, St. Petersburg and Cheylabinsk.

In May I graduated from nursing school. Here is Joe and I in my nurses cap.

Adopted Cooper and added him to our family.

Also in May I got married!

We went on our honeymoon to Gatlinburgh and Myrtle Beach.



Moved to North Vernon, IN (pop. 6,515)--a big adjustment from where I am from and starting decorating my house. Became a Registered Nurse and started my job at Columbus Pediatrics.
Became a Pastor's Wife

Went to Chicago for our birthdays.



Found Levi and added him to our family.


And as of today became the owners of a 2008 Ford Escape

I am looking forward to maybe a little quieter 2009 without major life changes!

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Personalized

I love decorating with personalized things. In this post I painted letters to spell Mayes. Now I want to show you the personalized things around our living room.

I just bought this off of Etsy and I love it! I think this will always be hung in our family.

This is a memory box of wedding momentos like our invitation and wedding program with the wedding announcement and a picture. Cute, huh.

The last two are wedding gifts we received from Joe's aunt.

Do you have any other personalization ideas?

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Christmas Cooper

Here are some Christmas Cooper pictures. My favorite is the one of him and Santa! Joe took Cooper to Evansville in November and the Humane Society was having a fundraiser. Joe said everyone loved Cooper there! He was also very generous this year and gave out that picture to both sets of grandparents.

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Our Christmas

It was our first married Christmas together. It had its good and not so good. The good was spending time with our families, the Christmas Eve service at our church, and the great presents we received (including a sewing machine!)

The not so good happened on the way to my parents when Joe's jeep died on the interstate. Now if you know Joe you know that he loves his jeep while I wasn't a huge fan but thankful for a vehicle. So now instead of a house hunt, we are on a car hunt. This time we are thinking a car that is family car. We are also blessed because a family in the church are letting us use their truck as long as needed.

We also saw Marley and Me on Christmas day. It was really good! I loved the book and it made me appreciate Cooper a little more! :)

Did you have a good Christmas?



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Houseguest

This is Waldo.

He is our houseguest for the week. His parents are on a cruise for the week.

Now if you are thinking, your house must be a zoo with the other two dogs and the cat and the answer to that would be YES!

In other exciting news, Joe and I are looking for houses for sale in the NV so stay tuned!

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O Christmas Tree

O Christmas tree, how lovely are your branches

Here is our Christmas tree! There are even presents under the tree!









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Christmas

We finally have our tree up! We have a real Christmas tree this year which I have never had before. After Joe cut off some, its up and full of ornaments. We just need our tree topper and then I will post some pictures!

This weekend was full of Christmas parties and our choir cantata at church. We had to sing in both services this morning! After church I was tired. I also sang my first solo at Bethel.

Tomorrow we are going Christmas shopping which we have our list so hopefully it can be quick!

I am also reminded of the real reason we celebrate Christmas because of the birth of our Savior. HE is the reason why we are so blessed with families and churches to celebrate this season!



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An Exciting Monday

Joe and I had a fun day. We left (early in the morning) for Cincinnati and went to the Creation Museum. The church had bought us tickets last year and we had never used them before. It was really neat to have a museum dedicated to presenting how a powerful and awesome God created the universe.

After that Joe and I went to Ikea! I had never been and I thought it was really great! I went to get a certain bookshelf. After going through all of the showroom and the Marketplace and filled my cart we go to pick up the shelf and realize that the box won't fit in the jeep! I was bummed. Joe wanted to go to Dave and Busters for lunch and of course went to the game area.

I convinced Joe to take me to Target and found a shelf that was very similar to the shelf in Ikea and cheaper and that fit in the jeep! We ran home and went to a Christmas party for underpriviledged children. I was the picture taker when they were on Santa's lap! And I ran home and put together my bookshelf by myself! I am pretty proud of myself!

Did you do anything fun today?



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Christmas Season

When did Christmas get here?

Ask me how many presents I have bought.....yeah none...yikes!

But I did buy two stockings for Joe and I to hang up on our pretend mantle we have to find. I just need little ones for Cooper Bella and Levi! :) I also put our Nativity Scene we got as a wedding present.

I do enjoy that we can make our own Christmas traditions together. We still need to get our tree inside and I have got to find some decorations.

What are some of your Christmas traditions?



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Thanksgiving 2008

I am home in the NV after Thanksgiving. I started getting sick on Sunday and by Tuesday I was really looking bad. It was an interesting Thanksgiving to know that good food is around but you cannot taste it! I was real cute bringing my kleenex box wherever I went! It was also sad because we saw a friend's baby and I couldn't even hold it! The break was nice and I even got four new tires for my car and a new ipod but I won't say why I needed a new one.

Here is a couple pictures of my family's thanksgiving photo session.



Did you have a happy thanksgiving?



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Christmas List

Did you miss me? I have been absent from the blogging world for a little bit. Because I am working full time and do not have access to the internet all day, I have been slacking.

So in honor, of my 100th post and the upcoming holiday season I decided to think of my Christmas list. I was talking with my mom about what I wanted for Christmas after some searching and thinking I have come up with my Christmas list

1. Sewing Machine

2. Emma on DVD
3. Electric Skillet
4. Any yarn for knitting/crocheting projects

5. Cookbooks

6. The ESV Study Bible

7. This Bookshelf from Ikea in White

Bella and Cooper would like more cute clothes!

What do you want for Christmas?

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Life with a Kitten

I have not had a cat since I was little and even then, I am not sure how much I like it. But before Levi came into our lives, I was wanting a cat. I pictured a cat that would sit in my lap as I read and snuggled up with him on the couch.

Life after Levi's entrance to our family has been interesting. I have learned that kitten's do not understand no. He is all play and no cuddle He is very interested in whatever food I am eating and repeatedly tries to put his head in the food. He loves Joe's big toe, whenever he sees a big toe, he pounces. My hands always look like I got in a fight with scissors. Plastic bags are his favorite noisemakers and he will jump on them no matter where they are. And Levi loves to torture Bella and Cooper. He loves theirs ears and tails and anything he can get his little mouth around. And don't think that Bella and Cooper ignore him, he consistently find Bella with her mouth all the way around Levi. Nothing is safe with Levi, including my purse or Bella's tail.

But he has some sweet moments, when he purrs so loudly when you feed him and he is starting to cuddle more, and he irritates Joe which is always good for a laugh!

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Happy Anniversary

Today at work after running to grab some food, I came back to the desk where I was anwering phone calls to find this at my desk.

Hubby sent me flowers for our four year anniversary. November 7th was the day we first got together and he remembered!

Even Levi had to stop and smell the flowers!

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My License

Sorry I have been absent for a few days. But I wanted to show what I got in the mail on Monday!













Here is my license to prove that I am a Registered Nurse. I need to get a frame and hang it up! I already knew that I passed my boards but it was very excited to have this!

Did you get anything exciting this week?



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What a Weekend!

Our weekend was packed! Friday our youth had our Halloween Outreach in North Vernon, They passed out 750 bags of candy with tracts and information about Bethel in them. We also had cotton candy and popcorn so there was always a line! I dressed Bella in a Cinderella costume and she was Cinderbella and I made Cooper a cape with an S on it and he was Super Cooper! Cooper had a blast and loves to be in the center of attention. Some kids even wanted their pictures taken with them! And we called them the street cleaners. I don't even want to know how much popcorn they had!

Also this weekend, Joseph and Ashley Swords came to our church in view of call of a youth minister. We are excited for what God has in store for our youth and our church!

I also voted on Saturday. I wanted to avoid some of the rush Tuesday. You can still vote early today!

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