hi!

I know it's been a while... I don't have any pictures... they are all on the camera still.

Here's what's been goin on though!

We went on a mini vacation!!! Yeah! Phil and I celebrated our 4th anniversary with our 1st vacation! Meaning, we weren't going anywhere in particular, and we were by ourselves! It was great, and a much needed rest.

We spent Thursday by going to Cantiny (Wheaton, IL) then went to find a hotel room in Schaumburg, IL. This is where we wanted to spend the bulk of our time. Oh, and we had to stop for supper at PF Changs. I was dying for it! We had these in TN, and it was one of our favorite places. Brought back old memories... with Bill & Meg, and Nat stickin the chopsticks in her nose... oh those were the days! So from there... we went hotel shopping. Because Phil doesn't like to make reservations. We found this SUPER nice hotel... when they said the price, Phil looked at me, and I said.... NOPE! and we walked out... Well, guess who ended up back there an hour later?!?!?! Us. Come to find out, hotels in the suburbs are super high Monday - Thursday, and are cheap on the weekend! Seriously! They have so many corporate people that stay during the week, that they jack their prices up!!! We ended LOVING our room, and staying an extra night! It was very retro, and new... we had a kitchenette fully stocked, a pullout couch with a huge ottoman, and a large flat screen tv!!! It was seriously awesome.

Friday we slept in, then went to IKEA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Which was even better than I expected. Like, OMG, I could have spent all day there. We found our bathroom vanity for 123.00!!! (we had to buy the sinks and faucets) God is so good! That is such a good price! And it's very... us. Okay, so then we went to the famous "Woodfield Mall" which... was... to put it nicely... a crappy mall. They have ONE plus size store! I told my mom, that it would be a nice mall if like I was going Christmas shopping or something... but anyways... after that we went to the hotel and got cleaned up and made our way to Mideval Times. Pretty cool. Food was horrible, but the show and Phil enjoying it made it worth it.

Saturday we slept in a long time, and went and did some shopping around the town... we found a very cool aquarium store and that just made Phil's day. We ended with a movie and PF Changs to go!

Sunday afternoon we went to Shedd Aquarium, then to the Hershey store in downtown... then we headed home. Sunday afternoon ended up being horrible, because Soldier Field parking decks are stupid. We ended up paying 30.00 for parking, and ended with rude people. Then, we get to the Hershey parking deck, and it's 17.00 to park!! Boy are we glad we don't live in Chicago!!! (Hopefully, I'll post pics soon)

We had a garage sale this past weekend and made 200.00!!! yay! Phil is even happier that he has a garage now!

We started a new thing at church that will last eight weeks... It's for the Sunday School hour... Each kid will go to a different class each week, and they have a passport to get stamped in each class! The classrooms are decorated superbly! I'll post pics about that too, it's the coolest thing though, and the kids love it! I'm so proud of my hubby... he has worked so hard to organize it!

Um, we are getting close to the date that we start counting down my birthday.... Just so you know... it's August 31st, and I'll be 25! But, I'm like a kid when it comes to my birthday!!! :)

oh, I found out yesterday that Mike and Kris are coming in two weeks!!! yay! Can't wait to see them!

The best thing: I got to talk to Trey last night... he said "Aunt Emmy, I'm so excited, I asked Jesus to come into my heart" Isn't that awesome! I said "oh Trey! That's so neat! Now you get to go to Heaven!" He said " Yeah, and now when I say something bad...." and his voice trailed off... so I lost something there... lol Congrats to my nephew Trey... on making the greatest decision ever. Here is a pic of him in his honor... I love you Trey!!!

Trey with Uncle Phil and Daddy!

~Piglet~

okay, I don't have long... but I had to show you our new addition! (of the furry sort) :)





Introducing... Piglet!

Isn't she just precious?!?!?! She's 6 weeks old! We've had her for about a week and a half, and she is doing just great! She loves her bed (last picture) and uses her potty like a good kitty! :) Although, she's having to fight for her food, cause Ginger for some reason, likes it! By the way, if you are wondering... Ginger and Piglet get along great! They play all the time. Seriously, all the time. Then when they are done once in a while, they come and snuggle with us. Anway... just thought I'd share!

Oh, and pray for our friends Bill & Meg Howell and their daughter Shelbie. They are moving back to TN, and are stopping at our house on thier way back!! Can we say excited?!?!?! Please pray for thier safety, and for thier sanity. Meg said Shelbie isn't that big on riding in a car... can you imagine what they are going through? I'm sure she'll be a perfect angel! Also pray that their time with us will go slowly... we miss them so much and want to enjoy every moment we can! :)

G'day and Happy hump day.

Misc Stuff

This is what's been goin on... On Saturday, we celebrated my grandpa's 85th Birthday! He is big into gardening with my mom... so I made it a garden, and made "dirt" from crushed cookies, then put a sign for all they planted. It was even in order of how they planted them. Gramps thought that was so cool!

(Please forgive my messy table and my shoes on the floor... Noone is allowed in my house when/after I make a cake... it's soooo messy! LOL)

Last night, Phil went and helped my brother Matt do some things in his yard, so I stayed home and cleaned like mad! (We've been fishing the past two weekends and my house has suffered big time!) These two pictures are of Ginger... waiting for her daddy to come home! Every noise she heard, she'd run to the door and look out, then she'd go back to her post in the picture below...

Me and Kaiden! He's gettin so big!!!
Noelle, and young lady in our church... her and her mom are moving to Virginia... so we had a fellowship Sunday night in her honor... I made her this cake... it says -

Noelle

Sending our

Love & Prayers

You can't really see it, but I put tons of flowers varying in type and size all over it. It was yellow, purple and pink... very girlie!

We've caught a total of about 35 catfish over the past two weekends... we now have 3 1/2 gallons of fillets! We're saving up for a big fish fry!! :)

(: (: (: Food :) :) :)

This was going to be a post about our trip to TN, but I thought that might be too long, so here is the food category from our TN trip :)

Proceed with CAUTION: Pictures might cause hunger pains!!!!

Then there was food, and Emily saw that it was good...

Wasabi Sushi... the best there is. I love sushi! (Thanks to Hayley and all the people at LeBlanc who got me addicted!) (not pictured: Yummi Yummi... the best. period.)
OMG, I crave this just seein the picture. This is a chocolate burrito. It's from a Mexican restaurant. I took the picture too soon, the next bite? Chocolate came pouring out... they take and wrap a chocolate bar with tortilla then fry it!!
Biggest piece of pizza I've ever had. And it was darn good.

Phil just had to have a picture of me stuffing my face with it.

Anybody that knows me, knows that I love candy. Especially chocolate. I'm not big on this kind of candy, but I thought it was a cool picture. There are all kinds of these stores in Gatlinburg... Candy just calling out "eat me! eat me!"

Hope you enjoy... cause I surely did!

Cakes!

So, this week, I made two cakes :) One I found out about less than 24 hours before it needed to be done, and one I got a couple days... lol you can obviously tell which one is which...

Brad, a guy in our church, celebrated his birthday this week. We had a young adult fellowship after church, this is the one Mr. Opey asked me to make... "quick like" :)
This, is my nephews birthday cake... thier birthday's are all like within three weeks, so they had thier party with thier friends this weekend. Pretty cute huh? I asked them what they wanted and they were like "LLLLLLLEEEEEEEEGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSS!!!!!!!!!!! So, guess what Aunt Emmy put on thier cake? Legos! :) I wish you could see the border better, because that was one of the cute parts!
Here they are! Aren't they cute?!?! They loved thier cake! Happy Birthday guys! I love ya!

Sorry the pictures aren't that great, they were taken with camera phones!

Kaiden Paul Anderson

So... this is another big thing that has happened recently... he now probably holds the world record for having the most pictures on my camera... ;) inside mommy and out! Congrats to Tess... the wonderful mommy that God gave him... Motesem are really excited he's finally here!

Here are some pics I hope you all enjoy.

This is how motessem spent a good part of thier time together... always pushin 'him tellin him to move! :) We had great times doin this...
Awww....

Tessa, and the baby shower cake I made... aren't the feet cute?!?!? So hard to do though!!!
Tess, Mo, Core n' Me!
A very cute picture... I just had to put it on here...

It's the day!!!
Here he is!!!! March 22nd 8:30 p.m.
The little man himself... 8 pds 3oz 21.5 in!
A very cool picture...

Hello World!!!
Kaiden and his wonderful mommy!!! Congrats Tess!

My Calendar of Chocolate

Self Control: Saving half your box of chocolates until "later".

Update with Pictures!

So, I know I've been absolutely horrible with updating and pictures... but ya gotta give a busy lady some slack okay? :) I'll just update by pictures....
Last November, Phil and I went to a Sunday School Convention... on the way back we stayed the weekend watching my brother's kids. On Monday morning, they took us to thier schools... here are some of the cutest pics ever... Hope you enjoy Mike N' Kris... We love you all so very much!



More coming!

Me N' Papa...

So, I can't type a ton right now, but I wanted to put this picture on really quick... This is Papa n' me this past Sunday! Aren't we so cute?!?! I love you Papa!

This is also an okay picture of my hair... you can see where I got 4 inches cut off! :) Hope everyone is having a wonderful day, and I'll post more later. I have TONS of pictures to put on!

Love from me...

So, happy new year to you too!

Holy Cow. So it's been forever since I've posted. And I have alot to catch up on! I haven't had time to clean my house, let alone do a post, so leave me alone!

This is what Phil had a blast doing in the late fall... he made salsa! If you know my husband, you know that he absolutely loves hot stuff. So he made some that is "mild" (in his sence) for me, then he made hot, and extra HOT. He had brought some jalepeno's (I think that's what they were, they were the hottest pepper you can buy) home from work, and we dried them. They looked super cute in my kitchen, but he crushed them up, and added them to his salsa... he had a blast making it!

As many of you know, I LOVE to decorate cakes. Here is one I made last fall for a guy in our church who is a HUGE Star Trek fan. Don't you just love my clouds? :)
Finally! A picture of my hair when it got highlighted! LOL lame, I know... but here it is!

Here is my latest cake creation, I had never used chocolate to decorate with... It was a fun! All you see on this cake, is chocolate. It is a double layer fudge cake, with white chocolate filling, then frosted with double fudge frosting. All the decor you see is made from me melting chocolate, making the designs and then placing them on the cake. Interesting huh? I made it for a girl at work that loves chocolate :)




Here is the Christmas tree from 2007 (notice my red wall... isn't it beautiful?)
So, my best buddie Mo turned 17 on Jan 5th. I picked up her two other best friends and we decorated the car... then we showed up at Mo's house and banged on her door, sang Happy Birthday and off we went!
We spent the day going to Washington Square and of course when mo aand I are together, we have to go to Cato and Walmart! Happy Birthday Mo, I lovers you tons!
Here we are again... seems like we are always posing for pictures :)
Here is the most latest news... We now have a Children's Chior in our church! Phil and I will be working with them... We had our first practice this past Sunday, I had them all gather around the piano for one song... they loved it, and so did I! There are more on the left, but this was the best pic... aren't they cute holding thier hymnals?
And lastly... Phil got us tickets to the Trans-Siberian Orchestra from Christmas!!! It was really fun, and I totally enjoyed it! :) Thanks baby!

Signing off for now... Emily

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

So I wanted to wish everyone a very blessed and safe Thanksgiving! Also, I wanted to share two of my favorite recipes! They are yummylicious!!!!

Love to you all!


Pumpkin Surprise Cake:

Bottom Crust: 1 yellow cake mix (minus 1 cup to be used for crumble)
1 egg
1 stick margerine (melted)
Mix together, and pat into bottom of 9x13 pan

Middle filling: 1 large can Pumpkin pie MIX
2 eggs
2/3 cup milk (I use evaporated milk)
Mix together, and put on top of bottom crust

Top Crumble: 1 cup cake mix
1/4 cup margerine
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
Makes a crumble for the top of cake... Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes depending on your oven. Mine usually takes longer.



Cheesy Corn Casserole:

1 can Cream Style Corn
1 can Corn (do not drain)
1 stick margerine (melted)
2 eggs (beaten)
1 cup sour cream
1 cup Cheddar Cheese
1 box Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix

Mix together, and place in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 350 for 45 - 50 minutes. Is done when sides are slightly golden. 5 minutes before it's done, pull out and put as much cheese on top as you want :) This is wonderful and is one of my families "must have's"

:) Em

Guess who's still here?

Hi all!

I hope everyone is just having a wonderful day, and enjoying the fall weather!

Things have been incredibly busy and I even had three days off of work! The Lord has been so good, and has given us so much to be grateful for.

We were able to go to the Loving and Leading Conference in Milford, OH this past weekend. We left at 5 a.m. on Thursday Morning, and spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday Morning there. You hit the floor running! But I can't even begin to tell you what it did for my heart. We learnt so much, and got so many new idea's, that we just couldn't wait to get home!!! More importantly, God gave me a renewed vision of my heart for Children and also strengthened my walk for Him. Each hour, you had a different session that you could go to, then we would meet back up for a general session a few times a day. One of the sessions I chose to go to, was the Bearing Precious Seed Tour... here are a few pictures... talk about a mind opener... Wow!

This is what you saw when you first walked in. See the white cone lookin thing? That's paper that's about 2 ft wide, and it's been printed on both sides, and this machine folds it. It was unbelievable! This is what was coming out of that machine...
I should have written the numbers down of how many/much/etc... but these are rolls of paper. This is the most expensive part of making the Bibles...
These are the ones that are half done, they just have to be trimmed, then binded. Most of these are John and Romans.

Then... on Saturday afternoon, we met back at my brother's house in Indy, and we adopted 4 kids for the weekend! It was a blast, but so tiring! They are getting so big, and I love them to death! I have a few more pictures, but these are the ones that are off of my phone...

Doesn't her face just say enough??? This is Audrey... and her eyes speak for her... ;) Trey was excited that Phil was there... someone to play Crash with him for hours on end!!!! Doesn't Phil look confused? lol They had a great time together...
Yup, this is Ginger. Boy was she glad we were home! She slept for forever! A huge thank you to Betty and Jason for watching her for us... they were a lifesaver! They have a dog named Libby... and Ginger got played out!!! :) Phil was just as glad as Ginger was to be home, and be able to have his buddy back!

There's a little update! I'll have more pics whenver I can get them off of my camera... I have pictures of me with pink hair!!! ahhh!!! :)

Happy Wednesday!!!

Red