Igniting the Move....

August 30th, 2013 was a day that would forever change mine and Kev's lives.

It was this day that one chapter for us would close and the next one was about to start. 

That day Kev said goodbye to his former employer/company of 5 years and as divine intervention would have it, Kev also, on that same day, received an offer on his dream job. The.very.same day. Funny how things like that work out huh?

Kev took a leap of faith and knew what was best for our family. After months of teetering back and forth if we would pick up our lives and move to Atlanta for his current job at the time, he decided it was time to walk away. We booth took a walk of faith that the next opportunity would come along and we vowed not to stress about it. I have never been so proud of him.

For a man to walk away from a position that most people would dream of due to moral principles such as integrity, character and happiness..... and not have all the details worked out for the next job is so courageous and faithful.

He never blinked an eye. He never worried. He never stressed. He knew it would all work out. 

Kev and I both knew that God would always provide for us and that the right opportunity would come along. However, I have never seen Kev's faith be as strong as it was in those weeks. 

I was so proud of him. So amazed at how he had grown as a Christian man. 

And several opportunities did come along, much faster than expected. But the right opportunity came exactly on Kev's last day of work. 

I remember him calling me with the news that he had been offered that position.  I burst into happy tears when we hung up the phone. I prayed out loud in my car thanking the Big Man for all our blessings. We truly don't deserve his forever mercy, grace and blessings that he pours upon his. 

A week earlier, Kev had also told me he had never wanted something as bad as he had wanted this career opportunity.  

August 30th was a big day for us. We had already made plans to attend a going-away patio party on his last day in Cincinnati and we decided we would not share the news. 

I put my dress on and curled my hair and got ready to charm the co-workers. 

It was definitely a mixture of emotions saying goodbyes, but trying to contain our excitement for the next chapter to start. 

After dinner and drinks, we drove by Kev's office to turn in all his technology equipment.

He was like a giddy little boy. 

And afterwards we celebrated with cheesecake and mojitos at Cheesecake Factory in Kenwood.

Mojitos and cheesecake there are our thing. 

I remember looking at him at the restaurant and being so proud of him. I thanked him for always trusting his gut and doing what is best for our family. 

Our first over night date in 2009 was in Cincy. We went to cheesecake and both ordered mojitos that were potent! I remember having to get it together in the bathroom or the boy I was trying to impress at the time (kev) was going to think I was a lush. Turns out Kev was having the exact same thoughts as I was at the exact same time in the men's room. hehe. ohhh memory lane

The next morning we started house hunting in the Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati area. We knew relocating was required with this new job.....but how fast that move would happen could have never been expected. 

All the pieces have just fallen into place for us and we know this was the path we were supposed to take.

Thank you Kevin Rex for bringing me along to watch your greatness. Thank you for providing for our family every.single.day. You never cease to amaze me and I am so lucky and happy to be your wife!

Blake Shelton Comes to Lex

September 2013

During the chaos of living the hotel life and all the craze of the move, we still made time to do one of our favorite things - Spend a little time with one of our favorite country music singers.

Kev and I can't get enough of country music, especially country music concerts!

So when we heard Blake Shelton was coming to Lexington, we jumped on the first opportunity to see him at Rupp Arena. 

Baby brother and Brittany joined us. We love double dating with them! 

We headed downtown lex early to get an outdoor table and have dinner and drinks before the show. We setup at Horse and Barrel Pub to get in a country state of mind before making our way to croon with Blake,Easton Corbin and Jenna Kramer. 

After the concert, we met up with my bestie and her hubby to celebrate his 30th birthday at good ol' Redmon's. 

and the night ended up looking a little something like this.....

Side note - Blake Shelton was hands down one of, if the not theee, best country music indoor concert I have ever been to. And this gal knows her country music. He was amazing. He played all his new and fun hits plus the good classics like Old Red, Austin and Some Beach. He even covered a Cee Lo song and gave us a little inside scoop on The Voice.
Jenna Kramer was amazing live and Eastin Corbin is so likable. I swear that man sounds just like George Straight.
All in all, it was such a fun night. I would definitely recommend you go see Blake if you are a country music fan and he is in a city near you. You will not be disappointed.

Next on our country music concert list....Luke Bryan. Oh yessssssssss! 

Family Filled Weekend

This past weekend was low key and filled with family. 

Soooo my style! 

Got my hair all did right before the weekend. I just sat down and let my girl, Brooke, do her thang!

Ombre' is what she choose and I am loving the results.

My hair looks super long on the left and I am loving that! 

Kev had to work late friday and take care of the pups as sweet Bailey still has stitches and has turned into Houdini and escapes every cone, e-collar and even t shirt i put on him.  Talk about a nightmare.....sheesh. 

The fam and I had plans of attending Baby Brother's girlfriend's last home soccer game on friday afternoon. 

We are pretty much obsessed with Brittany! I often refer to her as my future sissy-in-law. She's such a peach! 

I met up with them in Richmond at the EKU soccer field.

Although from the pic below it may look cold, it was a gorgeous sunny day with that perfect fall crispness in the air.

I, however, had to keep my face wrapped and out of the sun due to a recent chemical peel. That's a story for a whole other post. This is my second deep chemical peel (trying to get rid of bad decisions regarding the sun in my young twenties) and boy are the peels a pain in my social life. No makeup, no spray tan, constant ointment and moisturizer and flakey/peeling skin for days. I knew friday and Saturday would be my worst days - and boy were they!! My face was falling off all weekend. My family got a kick out of this one....let me tell you. 

I know, I know.....I am absolutely ridiculous. My brother was a constant reminder of that ;-)

I think they are pretty stinking cute if I do say so myself!

And while Britt's team lost in OT, we still had a fun evening.
We made a trip to Buffalo Wild Wings for wings and beer post game and to celebrate Britt's senior year coming to a close soon. So proud of her! 

Friday evening my parents and brother helped me load up some more items from our storage unit in Lexington. Still can't believe we have more stuff in there. Ugh, I feel like we will never get everything unpacked and put away.

We got back to NKY late and called it a night.
The next morning momma and I cooked it up in the kitchen while the boys watched a little ESPN.
It was the first home cooked meal we shared as a family at the table in our new house. 

*Saturday evening was spent watching college football on the couch 

*shopping at hobby lobby, home goods and some antiquing for some finishing touches on the house 

*i picked up the cutest antique bookshelf for the office nook/den 

*we had BBQ for dinner and a late evening target run

Picture perfect Saturday indeed! 

It was a weekend filled with hardly any photo -ops though...not because my skin was falling off haha, but because it was a weekend filled with soaking up each other as family. 

Trying to be present and in the moment as much as possible.

I feel like the weekend flew by and it's always hard to say goodbye on Sunday afternoon, but we are very blessed with time we were able to spend together.

Family is not an important thing. It's everything. - Michael J. Fox

Family really is everything to Kev and I.
Everything! 

Closing Day at Our New Home

9-27-13

The day we officially closed on our new home.

After looking at several houses in NKY, we came back to the very 1st one we saw.  For me it was the front porch and the plantation shutters all over the house (Our seller had good taste) and for Kev it was the backyard and kitchen nook. It was just the one.

This house will be the house Kev and I could potentially call home for 10 plus years. That is an amazing feeling....a house where one day you plan to raise your future children.

We are absolutely in love with it and almost 4 weeks later, we know 110 percent that made the right decision. 

Thank you sweet Dana for holding our hands through this process and making our new home a reality. 

Take a peek at closing day photos. 

More to come ....i promise! 

We were overwhelmed with the amount of generosity our sellers showed Kevin and I.

They left us so many things that were just so thoughtful. Everything from a stocked fridge of wine and beer to cleaning supplies and tools, planters, patio furniture......mind blowing!

Not to mention the round pottery barn table they surprised us with as a gift at final walk through. Who does that? I was speechless and humbled. 

And check out some of our housewarming gifts that Dana, our realtor, showed up with. You know I am obsessed with them! 

 

And here she is....our home sweet home 

A couple of quick details 

- She's only 4 years old with one owner before us who left the house immaculate. I swear it feels brand spanking new. And I am such a new construction snob, and this house has stolen my heart.

-4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, with plans for a full bath in the basement that has been roughed in

-2 story with humongo basement that is partially finished. The house has so much room for Kevin and I to grow into. Once we finish out the basement, we will have  a little over 4500 square feet to play with. I love that even with a few kiddos we will still have plenty of room. Such a great feeling to know we can setup shot here for a long, long time.  

-1st floor master. Kev and I are obsessed with a first floor master and I never thought we would be, but I will never go back. Added bonus for our aging dogs to avoid steps 

- back yard is heaven. so much room for us and the doggies

-we have a pool and park in our neighborhood, pretty pumped for that this summer!! 

- and i am just in absolute love with having a front porch :-)

The doggies are loving it too! 

                 

Home tour to come. It's such a process to unpack and get things just the way you want them, but we are making progress everyday!

Such an exciting time for Kev and I!
We have been so blessed with the moving process and are so thankful for new beginnings

Saying our goodbyes

So our move happened much faster than expected, we knew it was coming, but never imagined how fast paced it would be.

Kev and I spent our last two weeks in Lex jam packing our schedule with dinners and happy hours with friends. Soaking up friendships, eating at our favorite restaurants and getting our Lexington fix on. So glad we carved out the time in our crazy schedules to make extra time for our nearest and dearest. 

Dinner with baby bro, Britt, aka my future sissy-in law, and Kev at West Sixth Brewery 

Brunch with Megs and her hubby after church at Josie's in Chevy Chase 

Our sweet friend, Ron, hosted us a small going away party "celebrate the next chapter" party. 

So thoughtful! 

I somehow managed to meet up with two of my besties who were in town for keeneland to have lunch at Harry's in Palomar. I didn't think our schedules were going to work out, but it happened! 

Happy hour and going away dinner at Grey Goose with co-workers 

Some of my favorite bloggy gals turned IRL besties at Drakes 

I am sure you may recognize Allison/Dana/Brooke/Jill 

Kev and I doubled dated with Dana and her hubby at Merrick Inn where we just so happened to run into Toby Keith who was in town for the horse sales. An older lady ruined our potential for photo ops. #epicfail

So lucky to have these friendships in a town I have called home for almost 12 years. Friendships that will continue to grow....because 76 miles ain't nothing to keep us apart. 

Life in the Hotel

After packing up our house in less than a week, Kev and I setup shop at the Residence Inn for a long two weeks with the doggies. And while I would much rather spend our Marriott points on a beach vacay, we spent them in Lexington. Waaahhhh

Now don't get me wrong, the first few days of hotel living were great. Who doesn't love clean linens, somebody picking up after you and free breakfast???

This girl sure does! 

However, it got old really fast.....really fast. Especially when we had to always schedule room service as they dogs needed to be out of the room. And room service hours were usually 730-3ish every day. So I could either be late for work, or try to leave work early.....total headache.

Kev also started his new job during this time....in Cincinnati. Bless his heart, a 1.5 hour commute at 530am stinks. He starts his workday at 7am which is probably normal for a lot of people. Let's just remember Kev has worked for 5 years remotely and was able to walk downstairs in our home to his office, in his pajamas if he choose, and never before 8am. 

So this was quite the adjustment for him, but of course he adjusted super fast and we made it work. The 445 wake up calls for me and the doggies were the pits. 

One morning I swear Bailey hid under the covers with me. 

Oh and let me not forget about how bad sharing a single vanity sink was - i believe in not even sharing a bathroom haha.....let alone one sink.

Here is what life in the hotel looked like ......hotel living was for the dogs ha! 

Bailey got used to our bed very fast.....

While Uggie Sue preferred the couch ....

Can we talk about how I had a homemade waffle every morning for nearly two weeks? And a couple pounds added to my thighs.....The waffle maker was always steaming hot with a little batter machine right next to it. The hotel employees could see me coming a mile away. It got to the point they would ask if I was having a waffle this morning? Hilarious. The free waffles and coffee were probably my favorite things in those two weeks...tis true so don't judge. 

And we found ways to entertain ourselves....

After two weeks, we closed on our new home! Yay! But did not move right in :-(

Kev and I decided to schedule painting, new carpet and hardwood floor sanding/re-staining before we moved in. Did it stink? Yes! But so worth the wait!

So instead of moving into our new home after closing, back to the hotel we went but this time in Northern KY. I got to suck it up and do the commute for my last three days of work. 

So close to moving into our new home....and we are just obsessed with it!