a happy summer friday!!

happy friday, y'all!!   blakey & i are super excited about this weekend - it is our first free weekend since april.  that's pretty huge.  we get to spend a relaxing saturday at the pool.  rest, sun, & a weekend together.  we certainly couldn't ask for more.

 {strawberry donuts with real strawberries

& a strawberry glaze}

friday night while blakey works, i am going to plan our fourth of july meal.  pretty excited about that too.  i am pretty sure my favorite pioneer woman's dr pepper pulled pork with going to be involved.  it's tradition.  & it's delicious.  we'll see what else joins the menu.

 {glazed honey poppyseed donuts}

on sunday, i think i'm going to cook!  i have no idea what yet. but it sounds like a lovely activity for my newfound day of rest sunday.  

 {23 lbs of powdered sugar used in one day.

that's impressive even for me.}

{lemon sunshine bars with a lemon glaze}

we hope you & yours have a lovely weekend!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - an ice cream date.

i have been a little under the weather over the last few days - it might be a cold or might just be pesky alabama allergies.  either way, it has not been the most fun thing ever.  so earlier this week, blakey took me to get ice cream for dinner to soothe my sore throat & tired eyes!  he found an adorable little sweets place with ice cream & snow cones, so i could get whatever i wanted.  he's so darn cute.

i went with a delicious two-scoop ice cream cone with coffee ice cream & peanut butter chocolate chunk ice cream.  yum!  & blakey shared his watermelon snow cone too.  he's the best.  we enjoyed our treats in the back of blake's car, so tanky could join in the fun.

thankful for date nights with my sweet sweet husband.

i hope you can think of something today for which you are thankful.

love love,
kjp.

my little brother is married!

my little brother is married!!  to a beautiful, gorgeous woman, both inside & out.  ally truly is a joy to be around & brings out the super fun man in brent.  we are incredibly excited for the beginning of their very fun life together as husband & wife.  so without further ado, introducing mr & mrs brentalan!!

the wedding & reception were held at the gorgeous farmer's market in oklahoma city.  i love the historic beauty of the building with the modern touches.  the sparkly lights & white lanterns, the crackly brick walls, & the fabulous view of downtown okc...

 {the devon tour is so tall.  ridiculously tall.}

as soon as brent saw his bride walking down the isle, the tears formed into his eyes.  i've never seen brent cry {ok ok, maybe as a very small child when i stole his racecars or beat him at nintendo}, so it was amazing to see the joy & true feelings in his face.

my bro-in-law, benny boo, officiated the ceremony.  the words were sincere & whitty & loving & perfectly brent & ally. 

& the reception was crazy fun!!  our family favorite band, ij ganem band, played the night away.  we danced, we laughed, & we celebrated the wonderful couple.  so much fun.

the one & only amy cakes made the stunning wedding cakes!  all five of them!  amy cakes is pretty much the best cake maker ever.  she made my wedding cake {here} & makes my favorite cake in the entire world - amy cake's lemon cake.  oh, i love that cake.

 {the five cakes & the best man & maid of honor speeches}

 {the new mr & mrs taking a little dance break}

{my dad & my sisters!}

{& my little mini-me!
miss siena,
my 11 year old, much prettier than i, niece}

{the cutest little nine month old in the world:
mr malcolm man}

{the vandaveer family of 3!}

{so happy to see you, ashley & ryan!!
harvey loft reunion!!}

a gorgeous wedding, a fantastic reception, & a wonderful evening with our family & friends.  a perfect night to for brent & ally to get married.  congratulations, mr & mrs stanley!!

love love,

kjp.

happy summer solstice!!

happy summer solstice, y'all!  julie & dad - i win!!!  we can totally celebrate my win this afternoon.  how about a day in the sun, poolside, with the cutest nine month old in the world?  deal.

{update: my dad won.  i thought the three o'clock post would do it, but, alas, he swooped in with the midnight calling.  well played, dad.  well played.}

 {yes, that's right.

sweet cornbread donuts with a honey glaze.

delish.}

super excited to see many of my family & friends this weekend.  super excited to hold my little malcolm man & watch him crawl & see those adorable cheeks.  oh my goodness. 

 {super soft nutella cookies

with housemade nutella!}

oh!  since i missed {read: didn't feel like typing up a blog post} thankful thursday yesterday: our sweet & wonderful neighbors went to san fransisco this past weekend to run a half-marathon, visit family, & enjoy sonoma.  while they were gone, i watered their garden a couple of times.  it rained two days, so, really, i didn't do much at all.  but cassie & davis are the so great that they brought us a bottle of wine from their favorite sonoma winery!  so thankful for awesome neighbors.  & thankful for a delicious bottle of wine.

happy friday, y'all!  & i hope you can think of something today for which you are thankful.

love love,
kjp.

honoring you, chiefs.

we've celebrated & sent off an incredible class of doctors.  they've been great friends & dinner double dates. they've been fun at happy hour & the pool.  & they've certainly been mentors & teachers & leaders to blakey in residency.

blakey & i are so incredibly happy to be sending dr jared roberts & his wife to our oklaHOMEa!  we so look forward to continuing our friendship with them, watching their beautiful children grow, & seeing them thrive as a couple & as a family & as a doctor in norman.  so so happy for y'all!

of course, my favorite resident party partner in crime, ashley, was there to celebrate with us!

cocktails, dinner, awards, dancing, friends, & so much fun! it was a fabulous party.  & oh yeah!  blakey won an award!  he was awarded the best resident research day award.  so so proud of him.  he worked so hard on that research project... that he had been stressing about for three years.  he did so well.  & it is so finished.  thank God.

a fantastic send-off for a fantastic group of doctors.  congratulations, chiefs!

love love,

kjp.

a toast & roast of the chiefs.

last weekend, the celebrations began to send off the outgoing chief class with the annual toast & roast.  every year, the third year class is in charge of roasting the chief class, so blakey & his classmates had a great time with this honor.

they had costumes & props & powerpoint slides & videos.  there were faux text messages between attendings, an ever shrinking wig, a game of "what actually is in this backpack," appearances by the ninja, & so much more.  it was hilarious.

a fun night had by all celebrating the great group of doctors heading out into the world.

love love,

kjp.

officially three years down!

as of today, blakey is officially a fourth year resident!  oh my goodness, i cannot believe it.  three years down.  one to go.  just one more year.  wow.

 {orange baked donuts with chocolate orange ganache}

i'm so proud of him.  how hard he's worked, how little he's slept, how much he's learned, how much he's grown.

 {our new decorations above our baking table!}

i cannot say it's gone by fast.  moving to birmy three years ago seems like a lifetime ago.  a wonderful, fun, & amazing lifetime ago.

 {mexican lime bars with a graham cracker crust & a hint of spice!

what kind of spice??  sri racha!!

in the whipped cream, in the lime bar, & in the crust.

this might be my favorite thing i've made in awhile.

more spice next time :)}

to everyone who said the greatest thing we could do for our marriage was move away - you were totally right.  it's been amazing & challenging & we've done it all together.  

{nutella cream cheese brownies with housemade nutella}

our big black tie party for the outgoing chiefs is this weekend.  a great group of people.  some fabulous friends.  super excited to celebrate them.  super excited for them all.  

love love,

kjp.

a beautiful ceremony of love in beautiful napa.

the highlight of our napa trip was an absolutely gorgeous wedding of one of blake's best friends from college & his beautiful bride.  we are so thankful to have shared in their big day, so thankful to see so many of the wonderful friends blake made in college, so thankful to experience a lovely example of love.

the wedding took place at an amazing estate in the napa valley, full of vineyards & gardens, a lovely home, & an amazing view.

{the isle the bride walked down to her groom}

the ceremony was so unique, so special.  the bride & the groom each had written a love letter to the other during their engagements.  words of respect, words of awe, words of fun, words of joy, & words of love.  each letter was shared during the ceremony.  it truly was a neat experience.  we had not yet met the bride, but we felt like we knew her by the end of the ceremony.  & we certainly learned why a-mar was so smitten with his now bride.

{introducing the new mr & mrs martin}

for those wonderful friends that were in our wedding, this was the first time we had seen them in three years.  for the other amazing people, blakey hadn't seen them since college!  {that's seven years, if you're counting :) } 

{grahamy & jess!}

it was so great to meet even more of the awesome people that shaped blakey's college days.  as has happened every time, i am amazed at the quality of people from depauw.

{three stellar gentlemen}

{so happy to have finally met you, kate!}

{dylan!}

after the beautiful wedding was a fantastic party.  we danced, we toasted, we laughed, we took a pretty fabulous photo flip book, & we even got to spend some time with the happy couple.  it was a great party.

{he boys!}

{good quality man love}

{what favor do you give at a napa wedding?
wine, of course.}

the perfect end to the perfect vacation.

love love,

kjp.