What a Difference a Year Makes...

Today we are celebrating THREE YEARS as husband and wife...really?!  & what a difference a year makes.  Last year when Jake and I were on our anniversary vacation in Nashville, we were walking around on Broadway one night popping into bars here and there and stopped in at a piano bar.  There was a blank song request paper on our table, and since it was so loud that we couldn't really hear and talk to each other, we started writing. 

We wrote down a wish... "Here's to hoping that next year on our 3rd anniversary we will be a family of 3..." 

Little did we know, we would find out that we were pregnant just days later.

And here we are.  Our little family of 3. 

It's been a wild year that I don't really think you can prepare for, no matter how ready you think you are to have a child.  But we wouldn't have it any other way :)


[and yes, I still have that paper!]

 

Adding another branch to the Family Tree....BABY WALDEN!

Yes, it's true and we are so excited!  Jake and I are going to be welcoming a little one into the world sometime at the end of February [Due Date Feb 25th]! 

I'm 11 weeks right now, and we have been pretty much bursting at the seams so we decided it's time to share with the world.  It's still pretty surreal. 


How I found out...
The good Lord above gave us the best anniversary present we could have asked for this year, with a positive test very, very early in the morning back on June 11th :)  We had just gotten back the night before from our anniversary vacation to Nashville, super tired, and the dogs woke me up in the middle of the night to go outside.  I thought--heck, why not, I'm going to take a test [I was a few days late at this point but took a test before our trip that was negative so not feeling very optimistic]...Well, maybe it was early or maybe I was impatient, but I looked at the test right away and saw one bold line.  Yes, I know it says "May take up to 3 minutes to appear" but I was looking for the instant gratification.  Well, thinking it was another negative test I just set it down on the counter and let the dogs back inside.  On my way back upstairs I picked it up to throw it away and looked again.......I FROZE.  I kept blinking and rubbing my eyes to make sure that I saw that second, beautiful, faint pink line.  I couldn't believe it. 

Can you see the 2nd line? So faint, but you don't get false positives!
I also ended up taking 3 more in the following days that were much bolder...

I had my own little dance party in the kitchen.  My heart was beating so fast and I couldn't stop smiling.  But, it was 4am, and I didn't want to wake Jake up because I had always thought that, just like the guy gets to do the marriage proposal, this was my special thing.  I wanted it to be really memorable.  Of course, I couldn't fall back to sleep because my mind was going a mile a minute, so I just tossed and turned and daydreamed for the next 3 hours before my alarm went off to get ready for work.  I didn't know exactly how I would tell him, but I knew that by the time I got home from work I better have a plan!


How I told Jake...
So, on my drive home from work I came up with this--call him and tell him I'm running late because of traffic.  Totally believable..thanks I-77.  I quick went to Books-a-Million searching for the perfect children's book.  Something that we would be able to hold onto for years, make memories with, and something that would represent the bond of father & child.  That's when I found the absolutely most fitting bedtime story possible.  I quickly paid and drove home, hoping that I would get there before him.  Nope.  I pulled into the driveway and tried to figure out how to cram the book into my purse and get upstairs to hide it from him.  I needed to wrap it and write a note to him.  Our plans that night were to meet some friends at a pizzeria for a 21st birthday party [yes, on our anniversary. But we had just gotten back into town from 4 days of "date time" and we missed our friends! Just call us social butterflies...] so I hid in our closet while I was changing and did a laughable wrapping job and scribbled a note out.  I was so worried he would find me mid-scheming, but thankfully he didn't!  I brought the gift out to him and said "I know we weren't supposed to get each other any more presents, but this is just something little..." to which I was fussed at because he said "You always do this! and I didn't get you anything!" I kept telling him to just open it, it was something small and it was okay.  He didn't realize what the book was a first because he saw the back cover, but then he saw the note fall out and read..."Daddy, I thought you might want to practice reading this to me...I can't wait to meet you in February!"

So, it's overwhelming and crazy and we are so blessed.  Thank you all so much for your love, support, and kind words!  Follow along on here if you want to read more updates on Baby Walden :)

 

2nd Anniversary Trip to Nashville

Got things started off right...

 

We got into Nashville around 2:30 in the afternoon, got checked in at the hotel and took a nap, knowing that we had been up since 6am and were going to have a late night! 

 

Got up, ran to good ol' Target to get rain jackets because we forgot ours at home, ate a quick dinner at Backyard Burger, then headed over to LP Field!

 

[If you are planning to go to CMA Fest in the future, one piece of advice I can offer you is do not purchase their parking pass online.  It's $60+service fees making it around $80 for a 4-day parking pass.  They make it seem like there is no other parking.  Not true!  All of the businesses beside the stadium let you pay to park in their lots, and it's a quick and very well patroled walk across the street to the stadium.  We only spent a total of $40 for parking all weekend.]

 

Night 1:

National Anthem sung by Gloriana

Randy Travis

Kip Moore

Little Big Town

Hunter Hayes

Lady Antebellum

Blake Shelton

 

Randy Travis

Kip Moore...I tear up every time I hear him sing "Hey Pretty Girl".  Such a sweet and vulnerable song.

Little Big Town

They brought out Sheryl Crow as a surprise guest and sang a song with her.  Then she sang her single "Easy" by herself.  She was awesome and I was so excited to get the chance to see her.  I'm sure my dad is jealous!!

 

Hunter Hayes

Hunter brought out Jason Mraz as a surprise to sing a song with him that is on Hunter's new album.  It was pretty cool, although Jake didn't even know who he was! [Only country radio for my husband!]



Lady Antebellum...one of my favorites!

How cool does the sky look in this picture of Storme Warren and his son?

Cool shot of the stadium

Blake Shelton, anothe favorite!

 

Things got a little bit delayed because of the rain, so Blake Shelton didn't even get on stage until around midnight.  We watched most of his set and then headed back to the hotel to rest up for our early morning.

 

Day 2

9am Celebrity Softball Game

3pm The Opry at Ryman Auditorium

Evening Concert Line-Up:

National Anthem sung by Brett Eldridge

The Oak Ridge Boys

Florida Georgia Line

Dierks Bentley

Kelly Clarkson

Keith Urban

 

 

City of Hope charity Celebrity softball game at the Nashville Sounds minor league stadium.  Lots of cool players, such as the boys from Florida Georgia Line, Chase Rice, Aaron Lewis [former lead singer of Staind], and many more.  They also had two child cancer survivors [since the charity raises money for cancer research] and two amputee Wounded Warriors.  So inspirational!

 

Lunch....can we PLEASE get a Famous Dave's somewhere near Charlotte?!  This place was mind-blowingly good!  I had pulled pork with grilled pineapple, and Jake had their pulled chicken BBQ plate.

 

Beautiful stained glass at the Ryman Auditorium

Us at the Ryman...sadly one of the only pictures of us all weekend!

Mark Wills...Jake and I both got chills when he sang "Don't Laugh at Me"...an oldie but a goodie...He is so talented!

Joey & Rory...I have loved them ever since they competed on Can You Duet.  Sweet, down to earth couple.

There were about 8 different acts in the show at Ryman.  Some were older country and bluegrass acts that I wasn't familiar with, and one was celebrating their 50th anniversary as an Opry member, pretty impressive!  Others that I did know of were Kristen Kelly, Mark Wills, Chris Janson, and Joey & Rory.

 

After this show we walked down Broadway street to check out some of the other festival-related stuff going on downtown.  We met up with some friends from college who now live in Nashville after we ate dinner at the Riverfront Grill. 

 

After dinner we headed over to LP field for Night 2!

 

Brett Eldridge.  He was so nervous but he is so good!  He's definitely on his way to the top!
[He sings "Don't Ya"]

Florida Georgia Line

Lenny Kravitz was a surprise performer, and he rocked it for the first 20 minutes of his set, with Jason Aldean who he brought out on stage also as a surprise to sing a couple of Lenny's more well known songs.  Unfortunately, he had to ruin that towards the end.  I think he forgot he was at CMA Fest and not Bonneroo....
 

We ended up leaving the concert shortly after Lenny Kravitz' set because we weren't interested in hearing Dierks Bentley or Kelly Clarkson.  It would have been cool to see Keith Urban, but not worth waiting around.  We walked back over to Broadway and went into Big Bang, their dueling piano bar.  It was really fun.  We sat there listening to the songs, and we wrote down some little promises/wishes/love notes for our 3rd  year of marriage on one of the song request cards, haha!  I kept it and it will end up in a memory box for the trip.  Then we walked to the car, got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales since they were in stalls set up for the day/night, and went back to the hotel. 

 

We slept in a little bit on Sunday [until like 9am..not very late but much later than the previous two days] and then got ready to go to Fan Fair X and our meet & greet with Duck Dynasty

 

Stayed there for a few hours going around to all the booths.  We got some EP's and CD's for new emerging artists, our favorite of which is Gary Ray who already sounds radio-ready.  I'm sad his EP only has 5 songs on it, we were listening to it on repeat!

 

After FFX we went to lunch at a cute rooftop place called Bailey's, met up with our friends again at the Wildhorse Saloon.  One of my friends/sorority sisters from college is married to Doug McCormick, so we went to watch his show...

Doug performing at Wildhorse

 

Wildhorse Saloon is so cool.  I feel like it's very similar to Coyote Joe's here in Charlotte, except way better and more professional. 

 

After the show we went back to the hotel and got dinner at J. Alexander's, a nice formal dining/steak place.  I got crab cakes, and they were to.die.for.  LOVED it there.  Kind of like an upscale Olive Garden/Red Lobster meshed together.

 

Then, LP field Night 3:

National Anthem sung by Lorrie Morgan and Pam Tillis

Lee Greenwood

Gary Allan

Brad Paisley

The Band Perry

Jake Owen

Carrie Underwood

 

Gary Allan

 

Brad Paisley

During Brad Paisley singing "Beat This Summer", everyone was supposed to take out their phones and use his new Light Show app, which picks up on his music and does a color changing light show.  Such a cool experience. It's crazy what people can do with technology these days.

Maisy and Lennon Stella, the sisters who play Rayna's daughters on the ABC show Nashville.  Loved them!!  They were surprise performers and sang a cover of "Ho Hey" just like they did on the show.

Carrie Underwood

Fireworks after the end of the show

Nashville, TN Skyline



We had the best time.  We both agree that we would love to go back to that festival in the future.  It was a pretty affordable trip to, I recommend it for anyone looking for something out-of-the-box but semi-local.

On our way home Monday, we Jake decided he wanted to relax and enjoy the ride home, stopping off at different locations wherever we felt like it. At first I was not into the idea at all, I wanted to get home to our house and our dogs and get settled in, but it was fun and a nice way to break up the 7hr drive.   We were going to go to the Knoxville Zoo but because of the time change didn't make it there in time.  Instead, we ate lunch at Calhoun's on the Tennessee River, which had a pretty nice view...

 

 Then we decided to stop at the outlets in Gaffney on the way home.  We treated each other to some new clothes/accessories...Jake got a pair of Costa Del Mar sunglasses and some new crocs to wear at the lake [he loves them, haha...camo of course!]  and I got a dress, skirt, and summery top from Loft.  Hey, your 2nd anniversary is supposed to be "Cloth" right?!

Hope you enjoyed this book.  Love yall!

 

 

So apparently my phone can take Panoramic photos!

Something that I discovered over the long weekend in Nashville...We are still settling in and having a very busy week, but I promise I'll do a full re-cap later.  For now, here's one of the fun shots I got during the concerts.  This was during Florida-Georgia Line's performance at LP Field...

 

Yippee!!!

 

 

 

It's Vacation Week!!!!  Friday can't come soon enough :)

 

 

 

And in other exciting news...I entered Jake and I both in to a drawing for winning artist & celebrity meet and greet/autographs while in Nashville, and my lucky husband won!!  You get two tickets, so we will both be meeting the Robertson's of Duck Dynasty on Sunday :)  Jake is pretty darn excited.  If you have any questions or life advice you would like for him to ask Uncle Si, let us know. haha

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Sneak Peek

If you have been to our house, you know that a lot of the photos/artwork revolve around our wedding.  Well, as we approach our 2nd anniversary [holy cow, that's gone fast!] and our vacation, I had the thought to start a fun collage wall upstairs that would be a unique reminder of celebrating us.  Not just our wedding day, but the fun experiences we have had since that day.  Mostly trips that we have taken and memories from them.  I was inspired by things like this:

City Heart Map

City, State Print

 

and then one day browsing online, I found this:

Vinyl Wall Quote
Can we take a minute to recognize what a great deal this was?!  The font of mine was a little different.
 

That quote just really stuck with me.  Maybe it's because of moving around while growing up, or maybe it's because of the unexpected tracks that Jake's and my life took individually before we met, or maybe it's my love of travelling.  But whatever it is, I love feeling I get and the message of it every time I read it.  So, from there, the idea was born.  It's not done yet, but here's your sneak peek...

On the long wall upstairs

5x7 size, Wedding outfits, rings, and Flowers



7x5 size, Smoky mountains, Cabin, and Moonshine [of course]

I still need to get frames.  The wall quote is black lettering, so I'm thinking something dark brown/black.  I want the frames low profile and simple so that the color of the drawings stands out.  I have more to do [Phoenix/Grand Canyon, Las Vegas, Athens GA], but I think it will be really neat to start filling up the wall.  It's something we will continually add to as we go on vacations each  year. 

Hopefully we will get them up on the walls soon.  I'll share updated pictures once we do :)


 
 

Countdown: 31 Days!!!

More performers were announced on Friday for the CMA Festival that we are leaving to go to in one month!!!  These are the performers who will be at the Riverfront Stage [there are 9 venues involved]:

Lead singer from Staind, who has broken out with a solo career singing Alternative Country.  Staind is one of my favorite bands and I love how raw his voice is.  SOOOO excited about seeing him!

Sings the new "Don't Ya" song.  Really like him!

from X Factor

We actually saw her perform a few years back with Brantley Gilbert, when she was just trying to get exposure and perform in front of live audiences. 



    

  

  

  

  

  

        

I can't wait!!


Also, here is a cool deal that I heard about on one of my favorite deal blogs, Frugal Coupon Living.  Click the link and you will learn about the Target Style box.  It's similar to a Birch Box from what I understand [I've never actually gotten one of those] but super cheap at only $5 including shipping.  They send out some samples of their beauty products.  Who knows what will be in it, but for $5 and guarantee of at least 5 items, I'm in!  I've tried the Target brands before and I actually have really like Sonia Kushak tinted moisturizer--especially in the summer time.  There's a limited number so head over now to get yours!

New Target Style "Beauty Box"