Nashville Flea Market

This weekend Grant and I stayed in Nashville and did a little looking around and shopping for the new house!  Friday night after work, we were both exhausted from a long week.  So, we grabbed a bite to eat at Pei Wei and then headed home to relax for the night!

 

Saturday morning we woke up and got ready to go to the Nashville Flea Market!  The Flea Market happens every fourth weekend, and surprisingly this was my first time to go!  We made it there around 9:00 and got to work!  Some of the booths reminded me of Tater Day (a fair in KY) but we ended up finding some really good things!  I've got a few projects going for the house (that sound good in my head, so I hope they turn out ok) and I was on the hunt to see if I could find anything to use.  I didn't realize the fair was so big and it was freezzziinnnggg, but it was worth the trip!

 

 

These old window panes and empty frames we found for two of my projects!

 

And this old door for another project! Grant's grandmother on his dad's side passed away a couple of years ago.  We were going through her barn and found an old door that I thought would be neat to fix up and put in our house somewhere.  I've got a project in my head for using three doors, so I need to find one more!

 

After the flea market, we headed to a few different stores to check out hardwood and compare prices.  We are going to redo the flooring in basically the entire downstairs, so we were just trying to get an idea of what all is out there.  We finished off the day eating at Carrabba's, because we had a gift card. Yummy!  Such a fun day shopping around town with Grant looking at things for our house!! 

 

Sunday morning we went to Church and were dismissed early to go to the grocery and buy whatever we could to help the hungry people around Nashville.  It was awesome to see the grocery stores full of people from church!  They loaded it up in UHauls and seeing some of the pictures throughout the day on Instagram, it looks like they collected a lot of food!!

 

We finished the weekend by laying on the couch, catching up around the house, wrapping some Christmas presents, and watching football!  Thank goodness it's a short week and we are headed to Kentucky on Wednesday night for Thanksgiving!

 

Happy Thanksgiving Week!



Celebrating Landon

This time last year were some one of the hardest few days that Grant's family has ever had to go through.  Wednesday marked the one year anniversary of Landon going to be with Jesus.  It's so hard to believe it has already been a year, but it feels like its been an eternity in so many ways.  I will never forget the pain of that day.  Seeing a mother and father, brother and sister, grandparents, family, and friends say goodbye to a fun, loving, smart, 19 year old girl, was something I never imagined we would have to do.  As we gathered around her bed and Grant led a prayer before the hospital staff was going take her away, I couldn't help but question why in the world did we have to do this?  Why did God have to make Trent and Lisa suffer so much?  None of it made much sense.  The six months that she was in the hospital were a complete blur and the three months that Trent and Lisa lived with us is even fuzzier. 

 

Over the course of this last year, though, I can definitely see glimpses of God's plan in taking Landon.  It was her time, and he has used her to bring our family even closer to each other and to Him.  I've watch Trent and Lisa hold their family together by being strong and trusting God.  I've watched them grow spiritually throughout this year and be awesome examples of faith!  I've watch her brother and sister grow and mature to young adults.  It's brought a community together, and its reminded us that no matter what happens or what God's plan might be, we are never in it alone.

 

Although it is a sad time and something that I never want to have to go through again, I know God has a plan.  He always knows what he's doing.  If there is one thing I have learned in life so far, its that life isn't fair.  It just isn't.  That's why we have Jesus and the hope of one day spending eternity with him...without the pain, without the tears, and without worry.  We are one year closer to seeing Landon again, and one year closer to getting to spend eternity with Jesus and those that have already gone on.  I can't wait to be able to hug some of these people again!  Lisa posted the below on Facebook on Wednesday.  I wanted to put it on here so that people can see how awesome she is!  She's been through so much this past year, but she's made me look up to her even more!

 

 We love and miss you, Landon!  Can't wait to see you soon!

 

 



Pharmacy Thanksmus

It's hard to believe that last night was our 4th Thanksmus with the College of Pharmacy at Lipscomb!  Every year before Thanksgiving break, the whole college and their families get together to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Since all of Grant's class has been in rotations and not in the classroom, it was fun to get everyone back together and catch up!

 

The whole crew!  So Thankful Grant has had so many great people to go through school with.  We sure are going to miss these guys!

 

My Nashvegas BFF :)

 

My P4!  Almost there!

 

Only one week left until Thanksgiving, and we have so much to be thankful for this year!  Can't wait for some time off from work and spending time with family!

 

Happy Thanksmus!

The Lovett's Come to Town

Since we think we have everything settled with the house, we decided to stay in Nashville this weekend.  Gabbi had a soccer tournament in Hendersonville, so the Lovett's came to stay with us!

 

When Landon was in the hospital last year, there was a older couple, the Vaughn's, that would always come visit and pray with Trent and Lisa.  We hadn't seen them since Landon left, so on Friday night we met up with them for dinner.  It was hysterical!  They are in their seventies and can't drive at night, so Trent and Lisa picked them up on their way in and we met them at Dalt's.  It was hard to get a word in with Mrs. Vaughn!  She got three different types of dressing for her side salad, an expensive meal because Trent was paying, and spent the entire dinner telling hilarious stories about themselves.  We had lots to laugh about once we made it back home that night!

 

Saturday morning Gabbi had a soccer game.  We all went to watch her win, then Lisa and I skipped out and headed to the Christmas Village at the Tennessee State Fair grounds.  It was crazy, but a lot of fun!  I actually bought more decorations for the new house than I did Christmas presents, but it was a successful day of shopping.  We met back up with Trent, Grant, and Gabbi for dinner, had some coldstone ice cream for dessert, and then ran to Target and TJ Maxx before heading home exhausted!

 

Lisa and I in our matching shirts!

 

Sunday morning we went to church and then headed back to the soccer fields in the pouring rain to watch Gabbi's game!  It was nasty and muddy, but the girls had a blast getting all dirty and I got to finally try out my new rain boots!

 

They passed the test! Love them!

 



She's not afraid to get dirty!

 

Lisa and I matched all weekend!  We're so trendy :) ha!

 



After saying Goodbye to the Lovett's, Curt, Lindsey, and Todd came over to watch the Sunday night football game.  We ate pizza, Linds and I might have slept a little (surprise), and we did a pretty good impromptu commentary of the game!

 

I actually got quite a few things accomplished this weekend for the house and for Christmas!  We always love having the Lovett's come to visit.  I'm kind of sad that when we move back they won't be coming to stay with us anymore!

 



 

 

 

 



We are HOMEOWNERS (Almost)

We put in an offer on one of the houses that we have been looking at and they accepted on Friday!!  YAY!!  We are finally on our way to being homeowners!

 

We let our real estate agent know on Tuesday that we were ready to submit an offer.  She sent over all kinds of paperwork for us to sign, and turned in our initial offer to the sellers on Thursday morning.  It wasn't hardly any time at all until they came right back, but they only came down $3,000 off the original asking price.  Grant and I were starting to get nervous that we wouldn't get the house, because they wouldn't be willing to come down enough and meet us in the middle.  So, we thought we would go ahead and make a second offer and just see what they said.  Surprisingly they countered back again coming down an additional almost $9K!  This put us right where we wanted to be and we said we would take it!!  We signed our paper work and got the confirmation that they signed, as well, on Friday afternoon.

 

As long as the inspection and everything else goes ok, we have a house!  I can't believe we are going to actually own a real house!! I can't wait to decorate, have people over, have a yard, and a garage!  So exciting!

 

 

Welcome to the Mathis home!



Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

This last week I took down all of my fall decor and skipped right on over to Christmas!!  Before you give me that face or the Thanksgiving speech, I have a good excuse!

 

I love Christmas, and I love love decorating for Christmas.  Since we are going to be moving this year during December, our Christmas tree is probably going to have to come down pretty early.  So, I decided to put it up early so we have plenty of time to enjoy!!

 

Here are a few pictures of our house decorated.  I basically only brought my tree home, so ignore that there is not more fun things going on.  I am really sad that I'm not able to use my Christmas dishes this year.  It was just too much effort to bring it all to Nashville only to pack it up and take it right back to Kentucky in a few weeks.

 

My only Christmas decor I'm allowing myself this season is this cute pillow from Target!  Love it!



 

And...that's about it!  Although I'm not getting to use even half (maybe a fourth) of my Christmas decor, our house still feels so homey and ready for the holidays...especially since it's been so cold this week!

 

Can't wait to get some presents under the tree in the next few weeks. Bring on the Christmas season!!

 

 

 

 

 



Mom Visits, House Hunting, Family Time

This weekend my mom came in from Michigan to spend some time with us in Kentucky!  I had to work a little late on Friday night to finish up close, but we made it to Kentucky around 8 o'clock and just in time to see Corynne modeling her princess outfit!

 

She is loving Tangled, Ariel, and anything Princess right now!

 

Saturday morning, Grant and I had to make a quick trip to Paducah to get/sign our preapproval letter, and then we met my mom, Kem, and Ray at a house for a showing.  Going into Saturday we had three choices left.  We took Ray so that he could look at the structure, under the house, the walls, and see if he could see anything weird with the way that they were built.  One house we had been looking at Ray wasn't crazy about the structure and we weren't completely crazy about the layout, so it got knocked off the list!  So, at the end of Saturday, we had narrowed it down to two houses.  We both really like both places, they both have good things, and some just ok things, and we keep going back and forth on which one we want to try to go for first!  Hopefully this week, we will make our first offer on one!  (Yay!! Exciting!!)

 

Saturday night we met my uncle for dinner at Catfish Kitchen, and then went back to my grandparents house and played cards with everyone. Fun times!

 

Sunday we went to church with my grandparents, ate lunch, talked to Ray about the houses again, said goodbye to my Mom and sister, and then got to go spend some quality time with baby Lovett!

 

Uncle Grant got in some quality bonding time with Lovett

 

Isn't he just the cutest baby you've ever seen?!

 

We finally made our way back to Nashville late Sunday night after a great weekend with family!  We actually got quite a few things accomplished this weekend and we are getting close on a house! 

 

I forgot to mention, Grant started his Sixth rotation last week at the VA in Nashville!  Only 4 more to go!! Whoo hoo!

 

 



 

 



House Hunting We Go

Monday we got approved for our house loan!! YAY!

 

We've been in Kentucky the last three weekends looking at places that we thought would probably be in our price range.  We have it narrowed down to three, and now that we have our actual approval amount we can really get the process moving!

 

Can't wait to finally be homeowners!

 

 

(yes, this was blog post worthy.  When you've lived in an apartment for the last seven years, being approved for a loan and having a house is extra exciting!)

 

This is us celebrating with some Cold Stone Ice Cream!  You just can't beat it! :)

 

 



Sweet 16 Birthday Party!

This past weekend we had a birthday party for Tucker and Karson.  Tucker turned 16 in October and Karson's 16th is today!  We had their parties with the family already, so Saturday night we did their party with their friends.  A few months ago, Courtney had the idea to have the party at Kurt and Tracy's house in their barn.  She was going to come down, have line dancing, food, etc.  Well, Courtney ended up not being able to come, so Grant and I got to decorate, chaperone, and entertain 25 teenagers by our self!  Thanks Court! :) 

 

Pre-Party Pics!  Can't believe they are 16!!

 

Contemplating their last 16 years haha!

 

Love these three!!

 

Typical picture with Klein!

 

The party was a success!  We had a bon fire, decorated the barn with Christmas lights, had a photo booth, played corn hole, and did hide-n-seek in their fields.  It was coollllddd, but turned out great!

 

Birthday cake!

 

The whole group

 

Photo booth fun!

 



 

I literally can't believe that when Grant and I started dating Tucker and Karson were just 5 and 6 years old.  Now they are driving!! And actually starting to look like adults!!  Crazy!  We love spending time with them and are so thankful that we have the relationship that we do!

 

 

Happy 16th Karson and Tucker!

 

 







Lovett Cole is Here

Yay for the healthy arrival of our new nephew, Lovett Cole Mathis!  He was born on Thursday, October 31st - a Halloween baby!  He weighed 7lbs 4oz and is the most precious baby ever!

 

Wednesday night we got a call from Grant's brother that Blair (my sis-in-law) had been to the doctor that morning and her labs for that day showed some signs of preeclampsia.  The doctors sent her straight to labor and delivery, and decided that they needed to go ahead and induce her labor.  She wasn't due for a couple more weeks, so they were shocked to be in the hospital that soon!  She spent all night Wednesday night on a Pitocin drip and finally on Thursday morning (Halloween) they broke her water and gave her the epidural.  After two hours of pushing (eek!) little Lovett arrived!  Grant and I could not get back to KY fast enough.  He had Friday off from rotations, so I took off and we headed to the hospital on Friday morning to meet our nephew. 

 

Meeting Lovett!

He is the seriously the sweetest baby ever!

 

 

 

Look how precious!!

 



Kip, Blair, and Lovett!

 

Because Blair was in labor all night Wednesday night, they were exhausted by the time we got there on Friday!  All three are doing great, though, and Lovett is such a lucky little guy to get these two as his mom and dad!

 

We love you Lovett Cole!

 



awwwww.....