Our Changed Lives Since October 2011

I realized the last time I posted was October 17, 2011. Now that is just sad. Although anyone who reads this already knows every detail of our lives I'm going to update anyway. Since October of 2011 we have been EXTREMELY blessed. Here are a few highlights and how our lives have changed in the past year and three months:

January 2012, we celebrated our two year anniversary!  Went on a trip to Pigeon Forge and of course took Zoey. 

In April one of my very best friends, Rachel, had a baby, named Caden.

me, Mama Rachel & Caden, Catherine

In June we found out we were EXPECTING our first child.

In July we were blessed with yet another nephew, Judah Tripp Grant.

Mama Laura

Daddy Tripp

Baby Judah

Big bro David

In August we we went on vacation with our best friends from Chattanooga, The Keetons! 

In September Jacky was offered a new job at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville.

In September we found out we were having a girl and named her Olyvia Joy King.

My Aunt Olivia is who Olyvia is being named after. :)

October 26th we said goodbye to Chattanooga and hello to Hendersonville and moved into our new house.

Best movers in Chatt! Mom,  Sherri, Noah, Sam, Roger, Travis and Lauren. So blessed by each of them!

New house and so blessed by great neighbors

November we found a new church home Redeemer Church.

December we visited Mississippi for Christmas for the first time together.

Oh, you know, just hangin' out in Judah's bouncer.

December we had our last Christmas with just the three of us (Jacky, me and Zoey)

Now we sit here and wait for our precious gift that our Lord has so graciously blessed us with.

These are the highlights people. I tell ya', our world has been turned upside down in the best way possible. Our God has shown us how faithful he is in this past year and has provided for us in ways we can't even describe. I will do my very best in trying to keep up with this blog considering our lives are about to seriously change. Jacky told Zoey the other day "Olyvia is coming, Zoey, and she is going to rock our world". This girl's dream is coming true, becoming a mama and I have been blessed with the best person to enjoy it with, my husband Jacky. 

Happy Harvest in Chicago!

So Jacky and I just visited Tripp, Laura and baby David in Chicago for a few days. It was such a pleasant and relaxing visit. We walked so much my feet were swollen. :) David is just growing like a weed.. and is getting cuter by the second. I love learning from Tripp and Laura about parenting... Jacky and I discussed how we were taking notes on some of the meals David ate... and threw up. HA! :) 

Time is so precious with them. I have the best brother any girl can ask for. A sister-in-law I wouldn't trade for a thing. AND a nephew I can't get enough of. Not to mention I have the best travel partner ever... my husband. What blessings each of these individuals are to me. When I leave I already can't wait for the next visit. Which leads to me saying...We can't wait to visit for Thanksgiving!

To Laura: I told someone the other day that not only are you the best snl ever, but one of my closest friends. It made my heart more than happy when I read your blog. Thank you for that.

On another note..David is a drooly mess!  Here is Jacky's version of David. :) Below are some more pictures of the eventful visit.

buddies

Ann Sathers is a must.

Master Bath Disaster

We had an unfortunate event occur in our bathroom.. Did you know there is a wax ring on the bottom of your toilet?! We didn't. We found out though. Needless to say our bathroom has been totally renovated.. All that is left is a few wall hangings and new cabinet hardware... and maybe a fresh coat of paint. New paint can wait. 

With the help of Chattanooga dad Roger, we ripped up the floor replaced the wood underneath and it is as good as new. Jacky got a few handy man 101s during the process. :) 

Here are a few pictures of the demolition and the end product.

Please note Jacky's face

Eww

 

Hammering 101

Sawing 101

Before

After

Evangelina is THREE!

Last month Evangelina hit the big #3. She is talking 100 miles/hour and is the biggest copy cat I have ever met. It is precious, she wants to do everything Evan does.. EVERYTHING! We celebrated her birthday at Nana's house in the scorching hot weather with a slip and slide, cake, ice cream and lots of family and friends... She would whoop me if I left out Zoey. So of course, Zoey was also there to celebrate E's birthday and I believe was her favorite guest. Sidenote on E and Z: Evangelina supposedly loves Zoey more than me, Jacky, Evan, Nana and her mom. Any time I talk to her on the phone the question is always 1. Where is Zoey? and 2.  I want to talk to Zoey. When we arrive at the house... "I want Zoey" are her first words. Too cute. Just thought I would share a few pics of the Birthday gal! 

Blowing out the big 3! Please note Evan's face. :)

Seriously, she is gorgeous.

4th of July Weekend

I needed this weekend... desperately. It was spent with several close friends and family. We started the weekend at Mom and Big Jacky's house. It is always a breath of fresh air to be in that house and playing with the niece and nephew-- Well sometimes. :)  We stayed Saturday and Sunday night at Ashley and Cale's house with lots of quality time-- which never happens. Sunday, I enjoyed driving around Hendersonville reliving many memories that were created in the past-- while talking Jacky's head off telling him ALL about them. Bless his heart. We also got to spend time with Catherine and Blake. We all know that Catherine is my best friend in the world and now there is never enough time spent with her. This is the first time we have lived in different places, but now when we get to see each other no time is wasted. Our mouths never stop talking. :) That night we cooked out with them and then went to see fireworks.. afterwards having ice cream with the Rices (2nd night in a row) and the Garners. 

Nothing beats Monday. 

We met up with Tripp, Laura and baby David downtown at Monell's. Such a sweet time with such sweet company. After lunch Jacky and I gave baby David his birthday gifts. The tonka truck is not age appropriate, but believe it or not I think he loved it! We also gave him this little workbench thing that lights up and plays music. Didn't get to try that out considering it didn't come with all the things it was supposed to. Hopefully he is enjoying it anyway. :) 

I can never spend enough time with them and I feel sorry for Jacky every time it is time to leave because...I dread the goodbye. Make fun of me, but I cry every stinkin' time!

We said our goodbyes to Hendersonville and headed to Carthage. We ended our weekend with a cookout with the fam. Needless to say.. could the weekend get any better?! I believe not. Thanks to all that we got to spend a wonderful time with!

Here are a few highlights of the weekend.. or at least some of the wonderful faces from it! :)

The Rices-- Ice cream 2nd night in a row

The Garners

Every little boy needs a tonka, right?!

How does this work?

We are family.. Jacky can you take our picture?? :)

He can't get any cuter.

Please note that Evangelina is chasing Jacky with a stick.

Miss Thang

View on the way back to Chattanooga.

Cookout Anyone?!

I promise I will blog on more things than just purchases... but I had to share this.

Since we have a nice peaceful private backyard I have been desperately WANTING (Not needing) patio furniture for our mighty large patio/deck. As we all know that stuff can be expensive. So I kept saying I wouldn't buy anything until the end of the summer when all the patio stuff was on clearance.. Well people the time is HERE--- But at the time... only at one store.. Walmart. Jacky and I went "looking". I never had any intention on buying anything that day. So we went to all kinds of stores and they were all around $300 to $500. Jacky said, "I just can't imagine paying $500 for something that is going outside". Last stop.. Walmart. There two things sat for the same price. Well, then I pondered for at least 30 minutes if I wanted a loveseat, two chairs and a coffee table OR four chairs and a table. Needless to say, Jacky got a little frustrated with my indecisiveness. :) This was my final decision all for $150. GOLDEN! Now I'm just looking for some new throw pillows... but don't tell Jacky. :) 

During the complete madness 

Have to keep the chair people shaded.. so we bought an umbrella, too.

That night, I literally sat out there forever enjoying the night in awe of God's creation. If it will stop raining... I would love to do that way more!

 So... Who is coming over for a cookout?!

Jacky's Here . . . Well at Least for this One Post

  What's up world, I mean followers of Cayte's blog, all 3-4 of you :) This is Jacky coming to you for a moment. I found it somewhat necessary for me to make a post.

1. Cayte hasn't posted in a long time
2. The blog does have my name in it, though I didn't agree to it, but I didn't disagree with it either.
3. Cayte has put up all this stuff around the house without mentioning a single thing of my room

So, for those of you interested or who have at least managed to keep reading at this point, here's some news on my room. 

When we originally got the house, the room was green along with the carpet being green, too. I think the Incredible Hulk was the interior designer. . . . Just check out these pics

 

What can I say besides, thank God for paint and friends that help.

Not much happened afterwards, we filled the room with what furniture we had at the time which happened to be half of the sectional that's down there now. The other half went upstairs until our other couch arrived from Ashley.

Blah, blah, blah time passed. Sometime later I got bored and wanted to do something for the room. So, I built a table.

  

Abra cadabra, poof bam and here's the room:

 

 

So, I had my room, my area to relax, play some games, watch movies with the wife, but once again, I got bored with it . . . and made a dvd/video game shelf.

Sorry for the non-HD photo, this was taken with my cell phone

Blah, blah, blah more time has passed, and yet again, I got bored/not fully satisfied with the room. I still needed a little something extra to give it my own mark. With thoughts brewing, it finally hit me, and I decided to incorporate football which means it has to be the Cowboys. 

**Special note: now that I am married to a Titans fan, that means Titans have to be included, too; sure, I know what some people may think, "you're the man, it's your room" but as any man in a good marriage knows,  you must keep the wife happy.