Celebrating Marriage!

As I writing this blog tonight and look at the clock... I think about where I was a year ago today... I was most likely dancing the night away with my new Husband and celebrating with our closets friends and family!  Maybe cutting the cake or tossing the bouquet.  I can't believe how fast the last 365 days have gone by.  It seems like just a few weeks ago we arrived back from our amazing honeymoon in Maui... and that last week we hosted our 1st Crawfish Boil, or that yesterday we saw the Grand Canyon.

As we celebrated our 1st Anniversary this weekend we found ourselves looking back on the many memories and adventures we shared together.  Those precious stories all point to one thing... we are so incredibly blessed!  As we left church today we decided to make a conscious effort to keep the mindset of thankfulness.  It is natural to be thankful during the Holiday Season... but as we shared favorite stories from the year it was so clear how thankful we truly are.  Blessed by our jobs, our family, our friends, our church, our community, our country... and the list goes on.  So as we recognize how the Lord has blessed us, our prayer is that we would pass those blessing on through us... in our jobs, in our families, our friends, our church, our community, our country... and so on.  And as we are in the season of celebrating Marriage I thought I would share this special note that I found while going through wedding cards we received a year ago.

Marriage Is...
A commitment.  Its success doesn't depend on circumstances, feelings, or moods - but on two people who are loyal to each other and the vows they took on their wedding day...

Marriage Is...
A relationship where two people must listen, compromise, and respect.  It's a arrangement that requires a multitude of decisions to be made together.  Listening, respecting, and compromising go a long way towards keeping peace and harmony.

A union in which two people learn from their mistakes, accept each other's flatus, and willingly adjust behaviors that need to be changed.  It's caring enough about each other to work through disappointing and hurtful times and believing in the love that brought you together in the first place.

Patience and forgiveness.  It's being open and hones, thoughtful and kind.  Marriage means talking things out, making necessary changes, and forgiving each other.  It's unconditional love at its most understanding and vulnerable - love that supports, comforts, and is determined to triumph over every challenge and adversity.

Marriage is a partnership of two unique people who bring out the very best in each other and who know that even though they are wonderful as individuals... they are even better together.

- Barbara Cage

And a few photos from our weekend celebrating 1 year!!!

Dinner at Flemming's!

Jay arranged for flowers and a replica of our cake to be at the table when we arrived!

So full... amazing dinner at Flemming's!

When we arrived home Saturday afternoon we had this waiting for us!

My mom had the florist make an arrangement from our reception, a 2010 bottle of wine and the original top layer of our cake!

As tradition says... we ate our cake and it was actually really good! 

Then we had a piece of the replica and it was better!

Many Blessings to you and yours!

Photo Booth Fun!

This weekend we hosted our 2nd Annual Ornament Exchange Christmas Party and this year we added a new fun festive activity with a Photo Booth.  I found the idea on Pinterest, just like all the other creative things I have done lately, and it was a huge hit!  Here are a few photos from the booth!

via Pinterest (Printable Christmas Props for Photo Booth).

It's December!

December has finally arrived and I couldn't be more excited!  I love this time of year and am so looking forward to the next few weeks of Christmas Festivities and parties we have coming up.

I wish you a very merry 25 days leading up to Christmas and challenge all of us to take special time to pause in our busyness and remember, celebrate and praise the true reason for this beautiful season!  The birth of baby Jesus!

And the angel answered her, "The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy-the Son of God.
Luke 1:35

Happy December 1st!

The Four Days of Thanksgiving!

The last four days have been the most relaxing, wonderful days we have had in a long time.  We have been so busy this fall and been looking forward to these past four days off to enjoy family, friends and much needed rest and relaxation.  And those three things are exactly what we did... along with lots of eating!

Wednesday, evening we put up our Christmas decorations.  I loved going through our ornaments as we hung them on the tree, each holds a special memory from a trip, special event or occasion.  We have a great start to a tree filled with so many special memories.  I look forward to many more ornaments with special memories to add to our tree in the years to come!

Thursday, we enjoyed the day at my patents house preparing for the famous "Overbeck Fried Turkey" with all the fixings.  It was a perfect day of football, food, laughter, a nap, and the unfortunate ending to the Texas vs. Texas A&M Football game.  I am a Longhorn by birth, but an Aggie by marriage, so I choose to support my hubby and suited up in maroon and hoped for the best... but against our best wishes the Aggs lost.  Even though the game didn't end up like we had hoped it was still a great day with family and a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Friday, we spent the day watching a handful of great College Football games along with some yummy football snacks, some I tried out for the first time.  The new recipe I tried was Fried Pickles and Fried Jalapenos!  They were SOOOOO good.  I saw a recipe and it inspired me to give it a try... I ended up using a batter recipe and they turned out great, but if you are up for the task give this one a a try... I found it on Pintrest!

And Friday evening we enjoyed drinks at Jaspers with some of my favorite people.  We have been friends for as long as I can remember and share so many memories and years together!  Michelle and Kim, it was so great to hang out and catch up... like a day never passed since the last time we saw each other.  And our hubbies also joined in on the fun!

Saturday, we spent 95% of the day on the sofa... the other 5% having a late lunch/early dinner at The Counter (aka my favorite burger place in The Woodlands hands down!)  Saturday was by far our most favorite day... what can be better than a relaxing day on the sofa with the one you love!

Sunday, aka today, was filled with church, errands, Christmas shopping, and a very special little boy's 1st Birthday Party.  Now we are catching up on house chores, final touches on our Christmas decor and a full week back at the office.

The Birthday Boy!  Happy Birthday William!

I hope that the last few days have been just as relaxing and enjoyable as ours have been.  We are so incredibly blessed and thankful and we pray many blessings and love to each of you throughout this Christmas season and into the New Year.

With much love and thankful hearts - The Ingram's!

Living Room Furniture

Since I said I would do a special post just for our new furniture here it is... we have definitely enjoyed every second on our new sofa and leather chair/ottoman!

Here is the back story... in July we decided that we would use the remainder of our Pottery Barn credit and registry completion discount to purchase the sofa of our dreams (that is a little exaggerated but somewhat true) and finally pulled the trigger.  We did know when we ordered the sectional sofa that it would be 8-10 weeks before it was delivered but it ended up being 12+ weeks.  So we both learned a lot about patience during this process.  Any who, the sofa was finally delivered along with the end tables, and coffee tables we also ordered and with a handful of trips to Pottery Barn our living room is finished!  (The reason for the trips to PB was they delivered our coffee table with a huge gash in the box, which meant the table had a HUGE scratch on it! Why USP would you deliver a box like that?)  But we are 100% satisfied and enjoying our new furniture!

A few photos from the process!

Before...

After...

 Jay's new favorite chair in the entire house!!!

The Very GRAND Canyon

This past week Jay and I had the amazing opportunity to go to the Grand Canyon (GC) while we were in Phoenix for a friends wedding.  This was our first time to the GC and it was breath taking and just unbelievable.  If you have not been... you must put it on your bucket list!  Here are a few photos from our adventure to the GC.

Words can't say how spectacular it was!

 Ice sickles... Yes, it was that cold!

The ceremony was just beautiful!  We sang "How Great is our God" and it was so special to worship with Blake and Melissa on their special day!

The Bride and Groom with the groomsmen and ushers!  A good looking group!

The Famous In & Out Burger!  It was good, but I think Five Guys Burgers is better!

Sorry for the blurry photos, this was at the rehearsal dinner.

Happy Halloween!

Via eighteen25

Via Crafts by Amanda

We wish you a Happy and Safe Halloween!

Mellow Mondays!

So I have been following numerous blogs that do fun theme posts on certain days of the week... so I thought I'll take a shot at it!  Here is my game plan... Mellow Mondays, Wordless Wednesdays and  every now and again Fashion Friday!  I know you all are super excited to get this new fun blogging started so here goes nothing!

Mellow Mondays!
The past few weeks have been quite busy for the Ingram family so we were blessed this weekend with few things to do on our list... Friday, we finally received our long awaited living room furniture we ordered back in July; Saturday was filled with a good ole garage sale, Kids in The Kitchen event (I'm on this committee for Junior League), a baby shower and dinner out with friends; Sunday - church, lunch and lots of laying on our new sofa!  It was a fantastic weekend.  But now it is Monday... back to work and back to the office!

In other news I believe "fall" is officially here... well as much as it can be for Texas.  It is still in the 70's during the day... maybe even 80's but down in the 60's at night!  That is a HUGE upgrade for weather than we have had the past few months.  I have officially switched our my summer cloths for my fall/winter wardrobe which is very exciting since I haven't worn any of them since February!  It is almost like a new closet.

And as I write this post, I'm lounging on our new sofa (I'll do a separate post with photo and the full story soon) watching the exciting Texas Rangers fight it out with the St. Louis Cardinals in the World Series... come on Rangers!!!!  We believe!!!!

Well, I hope you all had a mellow Monday like we have had!  Enjoy your Monday evening and goooo Rangers!

On hearing this, Jesus said to them, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.  I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners."  Mark 2:17

Lately...

This week is the first "normal week" in a while... finally back in the office, and busy busy busy!  We had a great time traveling this fall, but we are excited to be home for a while till our next trip.

Two weekends ago, Jay and I drove up to Dallas for the Texas A&M vs. Arkansas football game, enjoyed the Texas State Fair (a little too much by the way) and had a fabulous time with family.  Jessica and Spencer (Jay's sister and husband) even flew in for the weekend!  We had a great time and look forward to that weekend every year!

I then stayed up in Ft. Worth for the rest of the week attending a conference.  I had a wonderful time and learned a TON... it was great to be able to drive home at the end of the conference and not have to spend a day traveling in airports and planes!

Then last weekend we enjoyed a sleepy Saturday with lots of college football watching and a night out on the town for The Woodlands Home Town Heros Gala.  We were so excited to get to catch the end of the Texas A&M game in the hotel bar... the last few weeks have been rough for the Ags, but last weekend was a good win!  And Sunday we headed down town for the Texans game... what a heartbreaker ending.  I have never seen a stadium clear out so quickly and with a sever thunderstorm outside also.  We ran to the car and were completely drenched, then sat in parking lot traffic for a good 30 minutes or so.   Oh well... we still had a great time at the game, even though we lost.

So this week has been somewhat back to normal with work and catching up on my house chores.  This weekend is going to be filled with fun festivities, bachlor party for Jay's buddy Brad, baby shower for a friend of mine, and a bachelorette party for Skyler.  We are looking forward to celebrating these exciting events and also looking forward to a relaxing Sunday of church and football watching on the couch!

Here are a few of the photos from the last few weeks... more on our Texas State Fair experience later... It deserves it own post!

 In line at Fletchers Corny dogs!  First stop at the Fair!

 Fun memories... everyone has their beer and Fletchers corny dog... doesn't get much better than that!

 At the IFEA Conference... the CVB won the Gold Pinnacle award for best newsletter!  Very exciting!

 All dressed up at the Home Town Heros Gala.

At the Texans game!  Good game but sad ending!

More travels!

This last week Jay and I spent a relaxing 5 days in South Padre with his parents.  It was super relaxing and just what we needed.  Time away from work, stress and great beach weather perfect for laying, reading and napping.  Here are a few quick photos from our trip.

 Aye matees!  A fun restaurant called Pirates Landing.

Jay and I rented an electric scooter one morning and explored the island.  And yes, we are wearing bicycle helmets, too funny!   

Jay and Darrell enjoying the waves. 

We enjoyed the first half of the Texas ATM game... we all know how the second half went. 

Our last night in Padre... the wind was crazy thus the crazy hair. 

My wonderful in-laws... we had a great vacation and look forward to many more trips to come. 

Beautiful sunset! 

Tomorrow it is back to work... But the good news is we are headed to Dallas this weekend for the Texas State Fair and the Texas A&M.  Fried food... we hear you calling us! :)