Nashville, TN

We recently went to Nashville, TN with our Irish dance friends, 

the Kerscher family, 

for the American Pride Feis. 

We got to know Sara and Rob Kerscher because their daughter

 Abby (seen above with Brinley) dances with Avery and Brinley.

We have been able to go to several competitions together. The location of this one presented a chance for both of our families to take a little weekend trip to a fun place.

(Lunch after Avery's competitions but before Brinley's)

We stayed in the Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel, 

which was by far the most enormous

 non-gambling hotel I have ever been in. 

The Feis was held in one of the convention sections.

Avery, Abby and Brinley all did a wonderful job!

Above: Avery exhausted after her competitions were over.

Below: Brinley lining up on stage for her fist competition of the day.

We got a special keepsake for each of the girls at the competition.
Aspen is now taking lessons as well,
 although it will still be a while before she starts to compete.

Cody has officially joined the "Irish dance Dad" club.

After the Feis we went to a Mexican restaurant at the hotel before heading off to the

Grand 'Ole Opry!

It was fun to experience one of the "must do" tourist things in Nashville, but seeing as neither of our families are the biggest country fans...it was just OKAY.
Most of the singers that night had hits back in like 1823 or something.

The next day presented an opportunity for  

walking around the main downtown area.

Boot shops are a dime a dozen.

We were able to watch some talented young street performers...

sorry Rob, caught you mid-bite!

Every single restaurant/bar had live singers...REALLY GOOD live singers.

We stopped in and watched these two guys for a bit and they were very good.

Forget the abundant talent that surrounded us, 

the kids favorite part of our quick trip downtown was the candy factory hands down!

After making our way through the downtown scene we were off to experience the 

#1 rated attraction  in Nashville...

which surprisingly enough happens to be a game called...

THE ESCAPE GAME

You can link to the site to learn more about this fun adventure.

It seemed as though they had never seen a group with quite as many youngsters.

We had a great time but did not escape within the hour. We were SO CLOSE though and the moments leading up to our time being over was filled with frantic racing and screaming and fun.

Had we been give 3-5 more minutes we would have escaped, 

which they said was impressive seeing that we had some many little teammates.

This is just a cool painted wall of famous singers near some recording studios.

At the end of the second day we watched a water fountain show set to music inside the hotel.

It was a fun, fast weekend and we are thankful that we could experience it with the Kerscher family and for Tessa and Robby
who cared for Reese and Ollie while we were gone.

And to the parents who made this trip possible...that is us girls.

We are building a H O M E

After a relentless and ongoing search for the past several years we have finally 

found a little piece of heaven to plant our roots and build our home!

Originally we were proceeding with a different builder 

 in a different location.

The process was not moving along well and we had several mixed feelings about the situation...

fortunately we were able to back out just in time and we are SO glad that we did.

We are now working with a builder we feel much better about. 

 (Trees start getting cleared out beginning of June)

Our new home is situated on a private cul-de-sac with a total of 14 properties.

We could not be more thrilled about our lot.

Below is the plot map that showing our home situated on our lot.

At first our lot was filled with trees. 

We had to have many of them removed to make space for our home and backyard, 

but we still have lots of trees in the back of the lot.

 (Foundation begins June 24th)

Behind our property line is reserve land, meaning no one can ever develop it. 

The girls are tickled pink that we have a small  

stream running along the back line of our property.

WE are tickled pink that we will have access to over 

100 miles of bike paths right from our front door!

There will also be a community club house and pool just down the street.

(Foundation wall are poured)

Since last winter our calender has been booked with meetings and decisions 

 in a way we had never expected. 

(Exterior insulation installed)

We will never look at any house the same way!

Who knew we would become proficient in the "R" value rating of insulation 

or understanding every pro and con to the various types of water heaters, become versed in the various hard wood species not to mention grout booster options, plumbing brands and finishes, granite processing from start to finish and on and on and on...

it sure has been quite the educational experience.

 (Framing begins)

Our "couple time" conversations consist primarily of  

decision making and to-do's for the house.

Our "family activities" are often visits to the house...

which we have learned are absolutely necessary to stay on top of little issues that arise.

(Framing continues)

Our "dates" consist of meetings with our builder 

(who also happens to be one of our new neighbors), 

meetings at the design center, 

meetings with the electrician, the plumbing supply store, the Amish flooring master, the low-voltage guys, our realtor, our designer, the lighting supplier and on and on and on...

(These are the type of pictures that fill up my phone...like hundreds of them!)

but we know in the end that the goal of creating a happy and safe place 

for our family to thrive in is worth all the time and energy and sleepless nights.

 Day or night, rain or shine, pj's or post gym clothes, this is our new playground!

Kind of fun breaking into your own home basement!

Tyvek goes on, next were roof shingles.

A view looking up to the house from the backyard. 

Since this picture was taken we have had countless  

loads of dirt brought in to level out the yard. 

The dirt is now right up to the top of the orange exterior foundation line.

Sometimes Ollie joins us!

Then the windows and doors were installed.

The front door will be stained right before we move in.

Since the windows and doors went in there have been several weeks of plumbing and electrical work happening...so not a whole lot of exciting visual changes.

Front entryway.

Perhaps the third selfie Cody and I have ever taken.

Girls playing in the backyard.

Hardy plank goes up. 

It will be painted soon.

Stone will start to go up next week 

 all along the front where the Tyvek is still showing.

 Below you can see Avery and Brinley peeking out the girls' upstairs loft space.

Insulation started last week and will be completed this week, then drywall starts to go up.

Once drywall is complete we will have a move-in date...

which is really important because we are now on the 

verge of getting our current house ready to put on the market. 

We are beyond excited about this incredible blessing in our lives.

We have pondered over this decision for many years and there have been so many pieces of the puzzle that have slowly moved into place to make this the right place for our family to grow.

We will keep you posted!