Picture Gallery Wall

Our master bedroom has this huge blank wall that I’ve been trying to figure out what to do with.  A few weeks ago I finally decided to do a collage of pictures  to cover the blank space. I’ve been collecting the frames we had already as well as other wall hangings around the house.  I also bought a couple of cheap-o frames at the thrift store and spray painted them the colors I wanted them to be! (All of the gray & white frames you see were spray painted). This was my first attempt at spray painting picture frames & it really worked well! Overall,  I really like how it turned out. It’s a mixture of all of our favorite pictures. And by golly,  it sure is a LOT of pictures!

Here we go…

Below are frame ideas from Pinterest..

 Click here to see the burlap frame with the verse written in sharpie marker.
The marker is easy to remove & change the writing with finger-nail polish remover.

Click here to see the heart map picture frame idea. 
These hearts represent four significant places:
1.Where we met (Waco, Texas)
2. Where we got engaged (Chicago, Illinois)
3. Where we go married (Abilene, Texas)
4. Where we live now (Dallas, Texas)


Many of the pictures are from our years of dating.  If you look closely, you can see a few photos from various Baylor functions, the day of our first kiss in downtown Chicago in the snow, and even when Kyle was the coach of my sorority’s intramural soccer team my sophomore year of college.  This was before we were even dating & before we really knew each other! But, someone captured the picture of us standing next to each other in the huddle during the prayer before the game. We had no idea what was coming our way!!! 

And, of course, many of the photos are from our wedding day!


I also found one of the most helpful tips {from Pinterest} to hang these frames.  One of the most FRUSTRATING things in the entire world is making sure the nail is in the right spot when you are attempting to hang frames or art.  You know what I mean? You could end up with 42 holes in your wall after trying to hang just a few frames! Next time you decide to drill a nail into your wall, check this trick out: Using toothpaste to hang picture frames.

The lady from this blog used toothpaste, but I found that lotion worked better for me.  It wasn’t as messy and I could just wipe off the dot of lotion on the wall onto my hand instead of cleaning it off with a towel.

All you have to do is put a dot of lotion on the back of your picture frame that you want to hang. Place the lotion on the picture hook on the back of the frame, hold the frame on the wall exactly where you want it to go, & then remove the frame.
You should have a small dot of lotion on the wall that will tell you where to place the nail!


This method worked GREAT for me. I didn’t have to re-nail any of my frames!

And now I have a wall full of lovely memories to look at each morning when I wake up.

Graduation

This past weekend, we celebrated my brother’s graduation from Baylor!

Friday night, we visited with family that was in town to see everyone & celebrate Randall.
We got to see this cutie-pa-tootie, Mr. Ethan who is now 18 months!

                                                                                                                         {blowing kisses}

We also hung out at Common Grounds with Kyle’s cousins & Aunt who were also in town for Taylor’s graduation!


Then, we watched Randall graduate on Saturday!




We had lunch together, too!




Congratulations Randall!

Celebrate!

I love our church in Dallas. This past weekend was my favorite Sunday of the year. It was Watermark’s Baptism Celebration day…and a celebration it was!

Outside our church building, there is a little pond (it’s actually a swimming pool, but it was made to look like a pond). It has a little waterfall and it’s surrounded by steps, rocking chairs and other benches.  Every year in May on a specific Sunday, the church has a "Baptism Day” where anyone who has accepted Christ to be their Lord and Savior gets an opportunity to share their testimony and be baptized.

The day is all spent outside. We start the morning off with some incredible worship by our worship team, followed by some amazing testimonies, then hundreds of baptisms….and after that, its time for some SERIOUS celebration!!!

Here are some pictures from last year I found on the Watermark website.  These are not my pictures, but the product of some amazing Watermark photographers. I wanted to post these because it truly captures the JOY that fills this special day!

Last year, one of the guys in our community (newly married) group was baptized.  Kyle and the rest of the guys in our group got in the water with our friend & his wife and they were all there to help baptize him. It was one of those incredible moments we’ll never forget. 

I grew up in a church that did baptisms in a more traditional way on Sunday mornings during the service.  So, to do baptisms this way was really different at first.  I think BOTH ways are excellent…but I just love the concept of truly CELEBRATING all of the new lives that have been dedicated to the Lord and are now at work to enhance His kingdom & bring Him glory! And, do this is altogether as a church body! This really does call for a day full of celebration!

I love the picture that it portrays to the little kiddos running around & the people who have never been to church before.  Or, maybe people who have attended church all of their lives, but they never really understood the JOY of salvation through Christ alone!  It’s a great opportunity to share the gospel to others in such a natural way.

 

Here are a few pictures I took from THIS year. 

After the baptisms, they served hamburgers, hotdogs, chips, & drinks for lunch.  They also had popcorn and snow cone stands! And there were some out-of-control air castles, obstacle courses, zip lines and other awesome games.  Kids were running around everywhere.  It was so much fun…

We even got ourselves a snow cone with The Collins!

Can’t wait til’ the next Baptism Celebration Day!