Bless This House

I FINALLY can tell our great news! We are buying a house! We've been going back and forth with the sellers, waiting on appraisals, and inspections but as of last Friday, everything is good to go! We will get the keys 5 weeks from yesterday and we couldn't be more excited.

 

We are moving to Hendersonville and will be living in the Waters Edge Subdivision. The house is two story, 3 bedroom, 2 and 1/2 bathroom. It is hardwood floors throughout the entire house and I love the layout. Plus it has super cute curb appeal!

 

 

We love the beautiful back, the spacious deck which we plan to use during these upcoming fall months. 

 

 

And the backyard is amazing! Zeppelin will love it and I can't wait until we have a few children to run around back there as well. There is a peach tree and two plum trees in the yard as well...hopefully next year we will be able to plant a small garden.

 

 

The day we get the keys, we will prep to paint. Then that first weekend and part of the next week, we will be painting most of the house. We are hoping to move in the following weekend. That would give us a full week to get set up before our 2 year anniversary! How awesome would that be?!?!

 

Thanks for all the prayers during this exciting time in our lives. God has blessed us immensely during this process and we are ready for our next adventure!

Summer Lovin'

August has been such a great month for the Gardner house! Work has been going well for both of us and we have been enjoying our evenings together with Zeppelin. My boys are adorable!

 

We have been loving our summer dinner meals and I have been branching out with what I am cooking. Spinach and Avocado Portobellos are definitely one of our favorites from this year.

 

This weekend has been one of the best of the summer! On Friday, Chris had to work late so Mom and I ate dinner at the Corks and then the ladies crafted. I thoroughly love spending time with these two exceptional women and feel so blessed to have them in my life! And it helps that we almost always make some cute craft or yummy treat!

 

 

On Saturday, Chris and I were lucky enough to get to go to the Titans game with the Corks! The weather was the most absolutely perfect it has been all summer and the Titans won!!!!

 

Chris had to work today, so I went to church and then met Dad for lunch. We then drove around and looked at the ridiculous houses in Brentwood and then watched the Little League World Series. Dad and I don't get to spend time just the two of us very often and I treasure days like this!

 

There are so many things going on in our lives right now and God is blessing us every day. He takes such great care of us and I am so thankful for his guidance during this time in our lives. Can't wait to share more very soon!

HAP-PAY HAP-PAY HAP-PAY

Chris's 30th was a few weeks ago and we have been celebrating since the week before! We started with a get together for my family where we went to Fuji for Hibachi and then opened some pretty cool presents. Matt joined us so that was really nice as well!

 

Chris made out like a bandit with a new pair of jeans, a few seasons of some of his favorite TV shows, and a Duck Dynasty shirt.

 

The whole clan (minus Matt who was kind enough to take a picture)

If you know Chris, you know he doesn't like sweets. So we got him the smallest cupcake ever...I still got to eat it while he enjoyed his ice cream!

 

 

Mom got the cutest decorations. Love celebrating my main squeeze!

 

Since Chris's birthday was a Monday and the weekend before was tax-free weekend, dad came over on Sunday to set up a super nice surround sound system for Chris's parents and I. It's a pretty awesome system which he really likes! On Monday, Chris drove up to Kentucky to go searching for some of his favorite beer. I got off work early and we headed to dinner at the Pharmacy.

 

It was so good! We sat outside on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful weather and their nice biergarten.

 

Both of our burgers were fantastic! Chris had the Farm Burger which had an egg, ham, and bacon on it. I had the Mexican burger which had guacamole and pico de gallo on it. Yummy!

 

I am so glad that we went to this new restaurant and tried it out. It was a fun time and the food was really good. I am so thankful to get to celebrate Chris and another year he has been blessed with!

 

In my family, we celebrate birthdays big. Chris has grown accustomed to this by now, so of course, we had to celebrate him one more time with his family. They came in this weekend and we all went to dinner at PF Changs. The waitress asked if we were celebrating anything and Chris quickly said, "NO!", to which she responded, "Happy Birthday." HAHAHAHA!

 

Glad we got to spend a weekend with Kim, Dan, and Matt. Can't wait to update about everything else that is going on in our lives. Such a fun time in our lives!

 

Craziness of Life

Wow, it's been a long while since I have posted. It's definitely not because we haven't been busy, I just have been slacking on posting. 

 

July 7th is Chris's late sister's birthday and so after a date day at the mall looking for new shoes for Chris, we stopped and grabbed a piece of cookie cake in remembrance of Kimberlee. 

 

I came across a great appetizer on Pinterest, which Chris LOVES. It is avocado, cream cheese, wrapped in prosciutto. Also made a very super good dinner, Caprese Chicken. We definitely enjoy eating well and eating healthy.



We have been scrimping and saving for months on end for a down payment for a house. This has included a very small eating out and date night budget. Sometimes you just have to got out and have a little fun to make it all worth it. Chris planned a nice date night for us where he took me to Pei Wei and then for Baskin Robbins afterward. It was good to just relax and come home to a kitchen that hadn't been used to make dinner.

 



 

On the subject of a house, we have been looking and are narrowing down on a few properties that we really like. Keep us in your prayers as we try to find a house that will be a great fit for us and our future family!

Dancing In The Rain

"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain."

I have always loved that quote. Today, we did just that! I got off early and Chris was off today, so we decided to go to the pool. It was beautiful outside so we put on swimsuits, sunscreen, grabbed some towels, and headed outside. Before we even made it to the end of our breezeway, it started raining. Since I was in pool gear, I took off running and spinning in the rain. I was laughing and having a blast! I even forced Chris to come out with me. Here's to dancing in the rain and acting like 5 year olds! 

Words Just Aren't Enough

Words truly fail you sometimes. It doesn't seem often that this happens for me, but this past week they did. I'm still going to try to :)

Last week, I got a text message for Mrs. Pamela, who is my second mom. Her dad was in the hospital and wasn't expected to make it. God's hands were all over him, because all of the family was able to see him and even talk to him before he passed away. My heart was breaking for this sweet family all week. Mom and I even drove to Knoxville to pay our respects and be there for our friends during the funeral. So what does this have to do with my lack of words?

The Corks are truly my family. They were our next door neighbors when we moved to Tennessee and we all became fast friends. Our parents enjoyed hanging out and Whitney, Nicholas, Michelle, and I spent just about everyday of our childhood. 

I feel so incredibly blessed to call them my family. It's awesome to have a brother and another sister. I love spending time with all of them and I can't imagine my life without them. God sure knew what He was doing when he moved us to Mapleview Trail. I am so thankful for this family and the millions of memories we have and the lifetime of memories we have yet to make. 

Please keep them in your prayers as this is an incredibly hard time for them. I wish I could take away their pain!!!! 

                                    

                                              

It's A Splash, Splash, Splash

On Sunday morning last week, we drove back from Knoxville and headed straight to the Cork's house to celebrate Nicholas's birthday.

Whitney and Justin were in town, so I GOT TO SEE MY PERSON!!!! She looked adorable in that hat!

We all had a great time hanging out and messing around.

And dad had a blast messing around with my camera and some of the pictures are awesome. Like this one...

...and this one! Love the fast action feature on my camera.

Justin, Nicholas, and Whitney decided to show off their skills.

                                   

And then we played keep the ball up for a long time. We couldn't get to 50 until our dads joined in, and we made it the first time.

Such pretty ladies enjoying time together. I am so glad that they are best friends and are such great examples of Godly women. I just hope Whitney and I look that good in 25 years!

My parents are adorable!

The whole day was a blast and I love spending time with my most favorite people. It was definitely a much needed break for the Corks and I am glad we got to celebrate the best brother I've ever had! Can't wait until we are all back together again!