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We had a great anniversary! Brad took the afternoon off and we had lunch on the patio at one of our favorite restaurants.  It was a perfect spring day and reminded us a lot of our wedding day. We had a fun, laid back afternoon and then headed downtown for the evening.  I loved everything about it. 

I believe that Amy and Zach win for the shortest dating period. They married only eight short months after they began dating and Jenifer and Jeremy win for the longest.  They put our six years of dating to shame with a whopping seven and a half years. You know you like someone when your dating years out last many marriages!

I got an iPhone for Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to me! I was surprised because I was set on not getting a new phone until mine went to the grave, but I love it.  I'm determined not to be a junkie like someone I know... not to mention any names... but I fear

 that I am following in his footsteps.

Before Brad even gave me my phone, he signed me up for Twitter. It wasn't an option for me. Follow me @Ingramgang.  It will prove to be as boring as this blog. You in? :)

We have a contract on our house!!! We have to be out in a few weeks and have a lot of work ahead of us.  It makes me tired just thinking of it, but I'm really excited and feel super blessed to have our house sell so quickly. 

I had lunch Saturday with two of my very best friends. Happy late birthday, Sarah!!!  You are one hot twenty seven year old!

My mom kept had Noah and Kayt this weekend, so Brad and I enjoyed our quiet Saturday. Thanks mom, you're the best!!!

Hope you had a great weekend also!

Let the wedding season begin.

Kayt and I were sad this evening. We had to let Brad take Noah to the rehearsal for the wedding he is in tomorrow because we are still both feeling mucky. 

I am going to the wedding. Period. Even if I spread my 'junk.' 

Maybe I will wear a mask? Probably not. I don't think it would go with my outfit. 

So, we had a girl's night at home. We snuggled up on the couch and honked our noses. It was lovely! 

These are Kayt's Barney pajamas. If the picture were in color, you could see that they are purple pjs with footsie's. She does look like a dinosaur with a big belly in them. It's cute. 

This wedding made me think of the first wedding that Noah was in. Mandy and Sam were married just two months after Noah was born. He was quite a stud in his tuxedo onesy. He rode down the aisle in a doll carriage and the older kids pushing him had his pacifier crammed in his mouth. It was awesome. 

Weddings are tiring, what can I say?

My mom brought Noah up to the church because I was doing my matron of honor duties. She had spiked his hair. I thought it was cute; Brad was appalled. 

Tonight, he is rehearsing to be in his second wedding. This is his friend Molly. He adores Molly. He does everything that Molly says, almost to a fault. Last summer, we were at the park with Molly and she told Noah to go over to the tree on the other side of the park and pee on it. He took off running. When I finally caught up to him and I asked him what he was doing, he said oh, I'm going to pee on that tree way over there, like it was no big deal. I'm hoping Molly uses her powers over Noah to convince him that walking down the aisle is a good idea. I am so sad that I missed seeing this. Isn't he so grown up?

Brad was sweet to send me pictures from his phone so I could feel like I was part of the action.

When I told him he was going to be in the wedding and walk down the aisle, his bottom lip started trembling. He said, I cannot walk to the church. I cannott cross the street because a car might run over me. Since that day, he is convinced that being in a wedding means I am going to make him walk to a church. It's been a source of stress for my definite first-born. And from one first born to another, I understand little buddy, I understand. Brad said he did such a great job tonight. Just cause I like to be real, I cried when he told me what a great job Noah did. He. Is. Just. So. Big. and I am so proud of him. 

I cannot wait to post pictures from a successful walk down the aisle tomorrow. 

I'm off to rest. 

I've got a wedding to attend!

You So Ugly

Friday night our small group hosted an Ugly Sweater Christmas Party. It was a blast!

I could not believe the terrible sweaters everyone wore. I don't even have pictures of half of the couples. I'm hoping we make this a yearly tradition.

I went with my fierce candy cane red nail polish for fullest affect. I borrowed Kayt's hair bow. The joys of having another girl in the house.

 Brad was proud to sport a homemade sweater, lovingly crafted by his Meme. She wore it many years ago and now the family fashion trend continues. Maybe one day we can pass our fashions onto our children. I put a shiny new penny in each of his penny loafers. And he wore my stripped Christmas socks. There were paper thin on his feet, seeing as how I wear a six and he wears a twelve (or thirteen). 

Our super, stylin' husbands.

Hillside's finest. What church wouldn't be proud to employ these fellas?

A few pictures I have of couples at their ugliest:

Sparkmans

Ingrams

Murphrees

Andrews

Attaways

Bunches

Soon-to-be Melugins

This is my cousin, Brenna. She is marrying one of our friends on the 19th of December. Aren't they cute? 

Ugliest Sweater Winners...the Beukelmans!

I wanted to show pictures of the CUTE ornament that I stole during the exchange, but blogger isn't cooperating. Maybe later. 

We had such a great time playing games and hanging out. Anyone want to come next year? :)

You may not think I'm crazy, but I am. Seriously.

Yesterday evening, I met my friend, Ashley, at Starbucks for coffee. We had the best time catching up and enjoying our time alone, without any kids. Ashley was the first friend I made when we moved to Amarillo. We actually met her and her husband when we were in town interviewing for Brad's job. After we moved, we found out that our boys were only a few months apart, and Ashley was pregnant with her second. Not long after, I found out I was pregnant with Kayt. Since that time, Ashley has had another baby. She now has three children under the age of three. She is amazing! 

After coffee, I went to see the midnight showing of Twilight with a few friends. I loaded up on caffeine, seeing as how I typically object to the ten o'clock showing of movies because my eye lids begin to close when I enter a dark room late at night. So, midnight was really pushing it for me, but I wanted to see the movie. 

(Judy's friends, Kristen and Carrie, Judy, Donna, me)

For me, this adventure was crazy. I felt like I was living on the edge being out until the early hours of the morning with all of the high school students. 

The movie was....okay. I mean, I liked it, but I didn't love it. If you have read the books, you should definitely go see the movie, but I cannot imagine how it would be very entertaining if you did not already know the story line. If you have seen it, what did you think? I am curious to hear other's opinions. I think the girls I went with liked it more than I did. It did go by very quickly, and they captured most of the book sequencing correctly so I guess that makes it a successful movie. 

Today, it is Christmas decorating! After my boys get home from Dudes and Donuts, we are going to get to work decking the walls. Tonight we have Brad's staff Christmas party. A day full of Christmas, and it isn't even Thanksgiving yet...love it!

I love my Red Raiders!

Go Tech Go!

Small Group with BIG Personality

We have such a wonderful small group from our church. Over the past year, we met every Tuesday night, rotating from one home to another. On the week that group was at your home, you provided dinner for everyone; I loved eating together! After dinner, we pressed hard into the Lord and had so many life changing evenings. We grew to cherish each person in the group. Isn't it amazing how a group of strangers with many different personalities and interests can grow to be so close and have so much in common? Recently, our group  decided to multiply and start several new groups. Since that time, we have not been meeting together, and until tonight, I didn't realize how much I missed having weekly time with our great friends. 

Tiffney's birthday is tomorrow and her husband, Bradey, gathered everyone for a surprise dinner for her. As soon as we entered the restaurant, I realized how much I miss seeing everyone. 

I'm not sure if Tiffney was eating the taco or if the taco was eating her, but either way she is a cute birthday girl!

See, don't they just look like fun people?

Don't tell the others, but this was the 'cool' end of the table. Shhhh...

And the best part of the night was when the boys all went back to the Murphree's house to play poker and the girls went to Starbucks. It was so fun to sip our warm drinks outside laughing, catching up, talking about t.v. show gossip, reminiscing over NKOTB crushes and discussing our latest, greatest bra findings. 

Thank you Jesus for wonderful friends!

Baby Blythe

Throughout the day Thursday I was on the phone periodically with my friend, Ashley, who was expecting her baby anytime. After talking to her that night, I went over to her house sometime around 11:30pm to stay with her sleeping boys so that her husband could take her to the hospital. 

At 12:42, she gave birth to her 6lb 12oz sweet baby girl. Talk about a speedy delivery, they barely made it to the hospital on time.

Blythe Abany Sparkman was born on September 26th, Ashley's birthday. Wouldn't it be fun to share a birthday with your daughter?

Congratulations Friends!

A Punch in the Face

Last night I helped host a baby shower for my sweet friend. Ashley is expecting her third child and first little girl in less than 2 weeks. Her first two boys are 15 months apart and this baby will be less than 17 months younger than the second.  Is she brave or what? She will have three babies in just over 2 and a half years. She is such a great mother, full of energy and patience. 

I made a punch that I simply love. It is a recipe from my mother-in-laws and always turns out beautifully.

Southern Breeze

Mix together:

1 can of lemonade concentrate (thawed)

1 packed of Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid

1 cup of sugar

7 cups of water

Pour the liquid into ice  cube containers and freeze.

Mix equal parts Ginger Ale and Pineapple Juice 

Pour over the frozen ice cubes.

We used glass flutes and placed several ice cubes in each flute. I mixed the juices in a pitcher and poured it over the ice cubes. 

Following the actual recipe produces blue cubes (great for a boy's shower). Since the shower we hosted was for a baby girl, I supplemented the Blue Raspberry Kool-Aid for Pink Lemonade Kool-Aid and made pink ice cubes. Viola! A simple, eloquent punch. 

I would not recommend pouring all of this into a punch bowl because the cubes would melt too quickly; just my opinion.

Friends Galore

We had a great, busy weekend last weekend. Friday we had great family time and played at the mall and then ventured to the park to top the night off. A few friends had called me and they were going out for a late dinner and girls evening and Brad was so wonderful to insist that I join them. He loves for me to spend time with friends and is always willing  to watch the kids so that I can have some time away. I am so thankful for him. It was such a fun night; I had already had dinner with the family so I just joined them for conversation. We didn't go out until 8:30 so the kids were headed to bed and then we were home by a little after 10. So fun and refreshing!

Saturday evening we had a wedding and enjoyed an evening together seeing old friends. Our friends Brooke and Matt had a beautiful wedding. I loved everything about it. From the colors to the contemporary choices in music, it was spectacular. I wish I had more pictures of the decor because Brooke did a great job planning! 

My little jokester made a quick decision not to smile. He is sweet!

These are our dearest friends, the Wilsons. Doesn't Sarah look great for having just been in the hospital days before? I'm so glad you are feeling better Sarah. We all went to dinner after skipping out on the reception a bit early. We ALWAYS enjoy spending time together.

It was fun seeing you Dacia! You are just as endearing as always. I'll be working on a hookup! Don't you just love really tan friends? Blah.

Brad's brother Clay was in town. His friend Ryan is on the left and Clay is on the right. They aren't a couple, just friends ;-)  Sorry Clay, I had to make sure no one was confused.

Brad's family came to church with us on Sunday morning and so many of our friends there had never met his brother.  Every where we go, people make comments about how much Brad and Clay look and act alike. One of our really good friends walked up to Clay, asked him a question and stood there waiting for a response thinking he was Brad. It makes me laugh.

Sunday evening Brad had a high school party at the park. It was so much fun and there was such a great turn out. He just threw it together and there were hundreds of kids. Noah and Kayt had a ball!  They l.o.v.e the high schoolers and the students are so great with them. I was able to just hang out and talk with people because they passed the kids around and played with them the entire time. I wish I had taken pictures...next time.

And there is a late re-cap from our weekend! Happy Wednesday.

Arte y pico

I have the memory of an elephant. 

The saddest part is that I used to have a great memory. Or at least I would like to think that I did. My best theory (I have a theory for everything) is that the Lord took my memory away in order to give my children a great memory. I'm okay with that.

I cannot tell you how many times lately someone has brought up an event or instance that has obviously been impacting and they begin to recall the events to me. I can tell by the excitement in their eyes that I too, should be remembering a play-by-play of what they are talking about. I do have wheels spinning in my mind, but they are saying something a bit different. Rather than recalling the event, my thoughts sound more like: Think. Think. Come on Ashley. You were there. Don't you remember? Just think."

Nothing. 

I can come up with nothing. 

It's almost as if I was never a part of large portions of my life. 

It frustrates me.

Kayt is asleep and Noah is having 'room time' so I decided to make myself a rare, late morning cup of coffee.  As I was brewing my joe, I suddenly recalled a thoughtful award that Tiffany at Southern Sass gave to me quite some time ago.

To Tiffany I would like to say thank you for your thoughtfulness.  At the time, we were in the middle of a busy traveling schedule and I remember thinking that when I got home and things settled down I would respond. And then I forgot. 

________________________________________________________________________

This is the beautiful Arte y pico Award! 

-Since I would consider myself a blogging-novice, I don't fully understand bloggy terms and such so the idea of awards is a bit unknown to me. None the less, I would never want to not pass along something that implies that someone thought of me. Especially someone I have never actually met!-

My 5 recipients for creativity, intellect, design or such are...

1)My dear friend, Lezlie Andrew is such a talented photographer and her work is amazing! Her talent is impossible to deny. She deserves more than a blogging award for her work, but since this is what I have to pass along I hope it will suffice. 

2)Magen's design on her soon-to-be-born daughter, Anna Grace's wall can't be passed up. You can tell from the pictures she is a great decorator and very creative!

3)I am very impressed by Emily's intent on learning so many new skills. Her aprons look great and her photoshop efforts are inspiring.

4)Amelia's blog is really fun to read. She is such a funny person; you can tell by her writing.

5)Brooke is new to the blogging world! Gotta welcome a new girl with a little love, right?

Thanks Tiffany!

Rules:

Pick 5 blogs you consider deserving of this award, whether for creativity, design, interesting material or contributions to the blogging community (no matter what language). Name each nominee and link to blog.

Show the award and include the name of the person you received the award from.

Link to Arte y Pico so that everyone knows the origin of the award

Post Rules

To the Birthday Girl

~Happy Birthday Mandy~ 

We love you!

I Have One friend...

I have one friend. Actually, I have more than one. I have many friends. Many great friends. 

I have one friend who has been my friend since elementary Girl Scouts. She is funny and talented and treats me like a sister. She is the only sister I've ever known. We've schemed together, prayed together, cooked together, laughed together, cried together, dreamed together; we enjoy being together. She has taught me that it is never too late to take up a new hobby. She has also taught me that when you start it, finish it and do the best job you possibly can. I've learned that she handles adversity better than I do. I've also learned that, through Jesus, friends can grow closer with each passing year.  

I have one friend who joined my life when I needed a spark of creativity and energy. She keeps me up on the latest, the greatest, the trendiest.  Each time I am around her, I am reminded of how real she is. She is honest, she knows herself, she knows me and she still loves me for all of my shortcomings. This girl has rhythm.  She is dramatic, funny and full of life. She makes everyone feel comfortable and as though they are her best friend. The Lord has shaped her and changed her and blessed me through her. Because of her, I have learned that the Lord has my greatest desires in mind and is able to do more than I can ever ask or imagine. She is a great teacher, daughter, wife and friend.

I have one friend who knew my husband long before I did. This girl knows how to trust. She is a testimony of God's faithfulness and provision and the way she chooses to live her life reminds me of these attributes. She knows the truths of God and they are always on her lips.  I complain to her and she lets me. Then, she gently rebukes me and sharpens me in the sweetest, most loving manner. I see her often, but much less than I would like to. She is a precious fragrance in my life. She, her husband and her children have brought so much laughter and joy to my family. Together, the Lord has changed our hearts from knowing only the facts of Jesus' love, to the ways he still chooses to work in the hearts and lives of believers.  She is gentle and patient and accepting and prayerful and encouraging.

I have one friend who is so similar to me. She thinks much like I do, she lives much like I do and she is precious to me. I admire her and respect her. I love her pure, deep love for Christ and the way he woos her heart to his each day. She is funny and strong and wise and a deep-thinker. I have sought her counsel and trusted her advice.  She is a great mother and wife and really loves the people in her life. I love her stability and intensity.  She has taught me to treasure each moment and to find simple ways to remind those around me of my love for them. She is as refreshing as the ocean breeze!

I have one friend who gives. And then she gives some more. And more and more and more. She is one of the greatest friends I have known. She is funny, witty, like-able and strong. She has not let life's set-backs impel her future. She serves the Lord and people with no reservations. She gives of her time, her money and her talents. She is true, down-to-earth, and loved by so many. Her life of ministry has had far greater reach than she will ever know. I can testify; it has reached so far down into my heart that I am more in love with Jesus because of her. I watch her, I study her and then I thank Jesus that he placed that precious heart inside of my friend. She is a treasure!

I have one friend who is family. I loved her before she was family, but being family has strengthened my love for her. She is prepared, thorough and kind-hearted. She has shown me what forgiveness means. Forgiveness is a lifestyle, a daily choice. Through her, I've grown to understand the discipline of following Christ. She is a fabulous mother and friend. She is a loving sister and daughter. She is an encourager and a perfectionist. She is sensitive to others and speaks only kind words. She is open, honest, witty and fun. I am so thankful that we are family!

I have one friend who is the life of the party. When she shows up, memories are made. She is smart and talented. She is also honest and giving. She pours her self into her tasks and always produces perfection. She is adveturous and spontaneous. She is a supporter.  She goes out of her way to give to others. Because of her, I've laughed until my side hurt on too many occasions.

I have one friend who is new. She has been a huge blessing in my life. We are similar in spirit, in heart and in life. She has encouraged me in motherhood and been available to me. She is easy to be around, loved by all and so special to me.  She is beautiful, genuine, a steward and full of energy. She pours herself into her family and because of that, her children will call her blessed. She has given me her time, her ear, her love and her resources. I am so thankful for my newest friend.

The Lord has poured loving and pure women into my life. The greatest thing about each of these friendships is that, in the end, they all reflect the love of Jesus. The creative, perfect, genuine, joyful, real, wise love of my Savior. Thank you Jesus for friends! 

I am so grateful for my one friend. 

Real Us

Over the Christmas holiday, Stevi, a dear friend from high school was in town. Lucky for me we were able to spend a good deal of time together, seeing as she was here for a few weeks.  Stevi is just one of those people. You know? One of those great, kind-hearted, easy-to-be around, gentle nature, sweet-spirited people. Those people. I enjoyed her so much, and to top it all off she photographed my kids!  Stevi is an independent photographer in Chicago and does beautiful work. On one of the days she came to the house, she captured some of our normal activities. She came on one of those days. You know? One of those days where you've been too busy playing to comb hair or fix yourself up. Those days. When she came both of my kids were dressed. By the time she left, they had both gone through a 'no-pant' phase, as well as a 'diaper only' phase, and they each had new outfits on as she walked out the door. Although Noah was overdue for a hair cut and I was in VERY unphotographable (yes I made up this word, but if you had seen me you would see a need to make up this word too) form, I love the pictures. They are just so real. Like most of our days: real.  Real playing. Real laughing. Real love. 

Here are a few favs...

Found you Mr. Football. Now you can join your 46 other football friends.

Gotta love 3 month old toes. Yummy!

Self-explaitory

Precious Kayt

Are we finished? I neeeed a nap.

Hope you enjoyed our real day pictures. Thanks Stevi! I love you for more than your photography skills, but what a nice perk.