A Boy and His Loon

Brad told me it was 'time to update the blog' and he was right. I have been pretty lazy about blogging lately. My mind thinks of posts but I haven't put any energy into actually posting anything. I took these pictures a few weeks ago with intentions of posting them, so here we go.


Will loves balloons. He calls them 'loon'(s). Sometimes he rolls his tongue and it becomes 'lllloon'. Its really cute. Every time we go to Kroger he starts saying 'loon loon loon'. Ms. Bertha, Kroger's florist, always gives him a free one. It usually matches his shirt. He also starts shouting for them when we go to Chik-fil-a. But generally only one doesn't satisfy him. He wants all of the balloons. Anyway, it's a really cute obsession he has.

Such a sweet little man.

He will carry his loon everywhere.

Checking out a military cargo plane

Stopping to examine a mushroom.

Oreos, anyone?

Will, have you seen the oreos?

Nope, definitely not.

Not one morsel.

Out with the old...in with the new

There have been a couple of recent outdoor changes at the Sharp house. One was planned, the other was not. One cost a little bit, the other, a lot! One was frivolous, the other, a necessity.

This was our mailbox. It must be original to the house, which means it was likely close to my age. The door wouldn't shut all the way. The wood was splintered, cracked and fading. It was sad.

So my very talented father came to the rescue and built us this nice new post. It probably took him about 5 minutes. He's good like that. We picked out a new box. We weren't planning on getting one this large but I liked the decorative touch and it closes like it's a Cadillac. Then we (Brad) stained it, set the post and mounted the box. We had bought numbers for it but when it was time to put those on we realized one of them was broken. Brad actually went and got another one today and put it on the post but I had already taken this picture. I hope to plant some flowers around the bottom, but it's hot outside and I'm 6 months pregnant, so don't count on that happening too soon. I think it's a vast improvement from the original, though!

After we had the mailbox stuff together but before it was in the ground, life decided to throw us a curveball and let our air conditioner die. I came home one Thursday afternoon to an unusually warm house. The air was blowing and it wasn't hot but it definitely wasn't cold. The first thing I checked was the thermostat to make sure what I was feeling was not just the hormones of pregnancy. Nope, it wasn't the baby's fault. It really was warm.

I checked the breaker box and the AC breaker was flipped. I flipped it back and tried to get the air to come on but it didn't. I went outside to check the unit and nothing was happening. We had our inside unit replaced nearly 3 years ago and they said the outside unit was fine and still had some life in it. That life had come to an end (sniff). I came back inside and Will was standing by the hall door looking stressed. He pointed down the hall and made his 'I need something' noise which sounds something like 'eh eh'. He looked like it was very important/urgent. I followed him not knowing what I was about to find. This is what he was up to while I was outside: cans in the can! I really need to bug Brad more to install the toilet lid lock.

Boy was I glad he didn't try to flush! After I called my husband, which I'm sure just made his day, I did what any girl in my situation would do: I called my father and my brother to come fix it! Then I called my in-laws and asked if we could bunk with them. Unfortunately there was nothing my heroes could do. It was July, I'm pregnant, and we live in Mississippi. We needed a new system. We needed a professional.

The guys came out Saturday morning and ripped out our old system (which is pictured in the back of the truck). I had planned to go out of town with my mom so my sweet dad came and stayed in the warm house while the AC guys finished up.

When I got back on Sunday I had a nice new Trane outside and some cool temperatures waiting for me inside. We definitely wouldn't have chosen to spend money on a new AC with a new baby coming, but it is nice to know that we should have nearly a decade of cool temps in this house.

Our Wedding

Kelly's Korner is hosting a new "Show Us Your Life" series. I missed the wedding dress post last week so thought I'd join in on this week's wedding post. Sorry for the terrible quality. I took pics of the pics because I have NO digital ones from our wedding. I didn't edit these so you can still see some matting in a few of them.

The wedding party

This was the main pic in our Mississippi Magazine announcement and is a favorite of the two of us. I made the whole wedding party walk up the hill to take pics and though it was a pain and our shoes got muddy, all the pictuers turned out great and are definitely favorites of mine.

Brad and I got married at 2:00 pm October 16, 2004 after dating for 5 years. The weather was PERFECT. The day started out pretty rough for me. I think I stressed myself out trying to do a lot of the preparations myself and woke up sick. I pretty much threw up from the time I got out of the shower until we arrived at the church 4 hours later. My poor bridesmaids, hairdresser and makeup artist were so patient with me. My hair wasn't quite as practiced but I was too tired from being sick to really care or get her to fix it. Thank goodness my florist's husband was a doctor and they were able to give me something that curbed the nausea without making me drowsy. It was not the way I pictured my wedding morning but the rest of the day went great.

My dress was a ballgown with pearl and rhinestone beaded bodice with an organza full skirt. It had sheer cap sleaves and a pearl/rhinestone banding around the neckline, waist and hem. I first saw it in a Bride's magazine and loved it. My mom and I drove to Low's in Arkansas after I had looked at a few other shops and tried several on. Low's was awesome! We went during their semi-annual sale so our appointment time was slightly limited but we still had a great time. My mom was rooting for another dress that I previously had my eye on but once I put on this one, I knew that was it. I found my tiara at Hancocks for only $15! I chose a simple white tulle veil that I think was 3 layers. My shoes came from Payless and I loved them. Now when I watch "Say Yes to the Dress" on TLC and watch Bride's trying on $5,000 gowns, I just can't imagine spending that much!

My boquet was gorgeous! I think they were black magic and charlotte red roses and they were secured with white satin. It was exactly what I had imagined. The bridesmaids flowers and the other arrangements were very pretty, but not quite as I pictured. I loved the bright colors and fall flowers, though and they looked great with the Apple Red bridesmaids dresses.

My bridesmaids were all friends from college except for Kirstin who was my best friend in junior high. The other girls were Alyssa, Haven, Cathryn and Laura who was my maid of honor. I was the first to get married so this was new to all of us! Everyone except Laura has gotten married since and I have been in all of their weddings. The only thing I would change about who I had would be to include Lea Ann. I couldn't talk Brad into having another groomsman and I wanted an even number of attendants but if I could go back I would have included her. She was there for all the events anyhow!

Another fave from the hill

I had the girls sign my shoes. Supposedly the first name to wear off is the next to be married. I think it came true! I think Alyssa and Kirstin's names were the most worn and they got married the next summer, 2 weeks apart

One of my faves from right before I went to wait in the foyer for the ceremony to start

Brad's best man was his dad. The other groomsmen were his brother Andrew and friends John, Brandon and Justin. I could not get the picture of the guys to focus at all!

My nieces Hannah and Emma Claire were the cutest flower girls ever!

I used this pic (below) in Mississippi Magazine's Bridal edition

I decided to make the unity candle the center of the decorations and had them placed center stage on the Lord's Supper table. I had 2 runners monogrammed with a "G" and "S" and they were placed on either side of the unity candle with each of our candles on top. I still have the candlesticks we used for them.

My dad hired a string quartet for the music. It was so beautiful! He also had a friend from church sing "Jesu Joy of Man's desiring". I had been imagining how it would sound and when we were at the back of the church and Lawton being to sing, I became overwhelmed and cried. My friend Paula also sang during the ceremony. I had planned for a college friend to sing "How Beautiful" but she backed out 2 weeks before the wedding and Paula stepped in. She did great!

My mom, me and my new mother-in-lawUs and our parents

Us and my family. Oliver was so little (about 15 months) and Alex hadn't even been born yet!

Beach Pics

Just a few of my favorites...