{you can see ALL the pictures from ALL of these events by clicking on this link and visiting the album on Picasa Web Albums.}
The month of June is coming to an end and here I sit again wondering where did it go? We have had SUCH a great first month to summer. Seriously. Brent and I were just saying last night that we "thrive" in the summer months. We have had a lot going on with every single event being just as fun as the previous.

We started off the month with being in Lexington, KY with the best travel friends anyone could ask for. We decided to spend Memorial Day doing something fun but of course had to limit it to a quick drive - Lexington was a perfect fit!
We stayed with Brittany's sister and had SUCH a great time doing a variety of fun things including a tour of the Woodford Reserve - the premier bourbon distillery in the U.S. It was interesting, just probably not the most family-friendly setting with 2 toddlers and a newborn while going through a walking, talking tour. Let's just say the tour guide stopped what she was saying on multiple occasions to get onto our girls: both of which are really well-behaved children. We just laughed about it and realized it was way more fun to make light of the situation than to get frustrated. The rest of the weekend was spent with our BFF's having fun adult time (we hired sitters that Brittany's sister knew really well) and then having a HUGE get together with a friend of Britt's sister - he has a HUGE Italian family and I think we all became envious of their camaraderie. It was so fun!


Two weeks after Lexington we attended the Annual CMA Fest at LP Field. It's hard to believe this is our third year attending - our first time was right after we had moved to Nashville and we lucked up on tickets. {and I thought I had blogged about it back then, but I guess not} Now it's become a tradition with each year growing with the number of friends attending with us and making more memories! This year our friends the Parsons and Moncriefs were not able to attend, which was really strange - they were "original" members of our CMA crew. This one's from last year where we snuck in some cupcakes to celebrate Brent's 29th' birthday and Gabbie was sound asleep in the bathroom the whole time. HA
But this year, we had the biggest group yet - Brent and I relished the various friendships represented in the room. Not to mention, the incredible performances on stage!
CMA Fest was an even bigger deal this year because it was in integral part of a HUGE surprise party I threw for Brent the following weekend. I had planned the party for over a month, with a lot of different moving parts. I had told Brent that I had a big surprise but really didn't want to tell him. Finally, he convinced me to tell him so I did: I had set up a golf game for him and a few of his friends (really true) and then we were all going to go to Margaritaville in downtown Nashville (not real) once they got home. He was PUMPED. Of course, then I started getting nervous that he was going to be disappointed that we didn't actually go to Margaritaville - ha.
Anyway, while he is out playing golf on Saturday, pretty much 45 of our closest friends showed up at our house, parked in the back of our neighborhood and were shuttled to our house.


They were THE biggest troopers as most of them had arrived over 1 hour before Brent finally arrived (because of the rain that day, it took longer for them to wrap up their golf game). Before Brent left, I asked that he give me a call so that I could have some snacks and food ready for us to munch on before we headed downtown {wink wink}. I had so much fun getting this party together. The overall theme was all about Brent - keeping it simple from the entertainment {I got him an iPod Touch as his gift and had it loaded up ready to go with party attendees adding their favorite songs to the play lists}, to the food {hot dogs and chips}, dessert {red velvet cupcakes & snow cones} and games {a 2 man team tournament of ladder golf, corn hole and home run derby}. We really had such a great time and the weather was nothing less than perfect. Because of the storms earlier in the day (threatening to sabotage the entire day), the evening was unseasonably cool - with temps in the high 80s and zero humidity. {score!}
By far, though, the best part of the entire event was the look on Brent's face when he walked through the patio door, and all 40 of our friends yelled "SURPRISE!" He looked at me and mouthed, "I had no idea." It was sooo cool and such a feeling of accomplishment that I had managed to pull of such a big surprise. So. Much. Fun.
Needless to say he had a great time, with so many friends making the trek up from Chattanooga as well as all our friends locally - we are so thankful for each and every one of them that came.


Next up was a beach trip with my parents. A few months ago my mom called and was so excited she had booked a condo for her and my dad in St Augustine. After explaining that she had asked everyone if they could come, she said she had given up and they were just going to enjoy it to themselves - possibly taking my niece. Well, being the good daughter I am, I invited ourselves to go along! We had so much fun doing all those fun things you do on a beach vacation: sleep in, pack up everything you own for a morning on the beach, picnic lunches on the beach, afternoon naps during afternoon storms, afternoons spent by the pool and then of course yummy seafood dinners. Brent and I went to St Augustine years ago before we were married and my entire extended family went for a week. This time around was way different, but I have decided the secret to a trip with a toddler is to take along grandparents: one of them will always be on the same nap schedule as your toddler. {ha} While Gabbie had been to the ocean at the first of the year in San Francisco, you might remember we looked a lot more like we worked for the Weather Channel than we looked like beach-goers. So actually this was her first true beach trip. I was anxious to see how she handled the whole sand on my hands, dirty, thing, but she loved it. I mean LOVED it. She couldn't get enough of running back and forth between the sand and the water especially playing with my niece.


She also really loved chasing all the seagulls and other birds. She even loved walking into the water, waves splashing and everything. She does not however like going under the water (she's that way even in the pool) but as long as she was attached to Brent or me, she was good. Crazy story: one day we were sitting out on this sand bar literally 40 feet from the shore line. Brent and I had closed our eyes and were relaxing then out of no where I hear, "HOLY COW!" from Brent. A small shark had swam up beside us while we were in our chairs. It was so crazy!
Overall we had a great time in St. Augustine. We had to get back on Wednesday because I had a wedding order for the 4th of July weekend, but we had a good, solid 5 days with my parents and niece. There's not much better in life than a fabulous beach vacation that involves relaxation and good memories.
Once we got back to Nashville, it was 4th of July weekend and I had a big wedding cake order. I had to miss out on the annual Whitaker family gathering at the lakehouse, but Brent and Gabbie hit the road and represented the Little Whitakers. There are several pictures from that weekend as well.
Oh and here are some pictures from the wedding order I had as well: 350 chocolate chip cookies, 6 strawberry cakes, 3 pecan pies and 3 blueberry pies. They were all a huge hit and I was extremely flattered at the numerous compliments from all the desserts. I also thought this was such a neat idea on an alternative to the traditional wedding cake especially when the Bride and or groom don't care for cake!

Wow ok that was a LOT. I started writing this blog post on July 1st - 11 days ago. Seriously? WoW. We've already experienced even more to blog about, but that will come later or maybe not at all.
Let's just say we've experienced a U2 concert, an incredible trip to an incredible Lakehouse and even more. I'm even crazy and thinking of embarking on a potty training adventure in the next 24 hours: YIKES.
Stay tuned opp knockers and thanks for your patience while I try to get back in to a better blogging schedule!

Yep, I'm 30. I'm ok with it. I feel as though I need to share my 30 Years of Wisdom. Ready? Here it is...it's pretty life changing (I have a friend who was speechless after I told him...)

30 years: Life is a book. God writes every chapter very carefully for us. Don't rush through each chapter, skimming over each line. Instead, cherish every chapter because you're going to want to go back and take your time.

So soak that in....see how it affects your life and how you live it. Then stop and realize to cherish every minute of your life NOW. Don't worry about what is to come or where you're supposed to be in the future. Be where you are now.

I did it! I completed the St. Jude Memphis half marathon AND I could still walk the next day- woo hoo.
My mom, and nephews, Tre and Bronson, all ran the 5K that was occurring on the same morning of the marathon/half marathon, so we all packed up and got them started on their race.

Then, Brent walked with me to the start for my half marathon - it was there that it started to sink in what I was about to do. I've decided that's just emotionally how I operate: I am ok with everything emotionally leading up to an event, then right before I usually get bombarded with emotions
(ie: wedding day - fine until the doors opened and I cried the entire time down the aisle; moving to Nashville - fine until the day I left TVFCU and cried when I said goodbye to everyone; race day - fine until I was waiting around for the start (i didn't cry, it just sank in what I was about to do - and then I was like holy cow!).
So as we're standing around waiting for the start, we just happen to run into our friends the Meriwethers who were also running in the race. It was great to have some people to chat with for the 30 minutes leading up to the race.
So I got in line to start (it's a wave start, meaning they release a group of people every 2 minutes - there were 8,000 people in the half marathon and 5,000 people in the full marathon = a ton of people!)
Brent was so great - he was walking along the side taking pictures and cheering me on. I guess it definitely helps to know what a runner needs once you've done it yourself - he completed the Music City Half Marathon when I was pregnant with Gabbie back in 2009.
Anyway, I felt so great for the first 5 or 6 miles - I felt like I was going to definitely blow my goal of finishing under 3 hours out of the water. That is, until "it" hit me and unfortunately I had to make a pit stop in one of the hundreds of portable toilets along the course. UGH. YUCK.
I emerged from the nastiness a little lighter and ready to hit the ground running - literally.
I was still feeling great - we ran through the hospital property which was lined with all the nurses, doctors, a few patients and TONS of other supporters. It was quite emotional, but I did everything I could to fight back tears knowing I could potentially hyperventilate if I got too upset. I was determined to run as much as possible, including the 1 mile path through the hospital property.
From there, my body started telling me it was feeling the pounding pavement.
By mile 9 I started having a few physical pains - my thighs were starting to cramp. Feeling as though they were about to charley horse - I had to pull over twice to stretch to prevent from cramping. Then, my Achilles tendon started SCREAMING to stop. It was pretty painful even thought I tried pushing through the pain. I came to a tough realization if I didn't stop running, I might not be able to finish. So I walked mile 10, which of course really hurt my time.
By the time I reached mile 11, I was so excited that I was just 2 miles from the finish - WOW.
I didn't have a watch, but at every mile there was a clock with the race time. Because of the wave finish, we started 23 minutes into the race start time, so not only was I running, drinking water, pacing myself, I was doing math at every mile to figure out my current time so I could make sure I finished under 3 miles.
Around mile 11.5, I passed a couple talking about the time and that we had 9 minutes to make it to the finish line before the 3 hour mark. Suddenly, I decided to push through the pain, and get to my finish line in my goal.
The race finished inside AutoZone park in Memphis, which was so cool. I crossed the finish line and ran right past all of my family and best friend.


It was such a neat experience and so very surreal. I had just finished 13.1 miles and while I know there are SOOO many bigger races that require MUCH more physical endurance (ie: JimmyMoncrief and Ironman Louisville), this was a huge accomplishment for me. A top 10 bucket list for my life and I had just completed it. Even through the crazy pain in my legs, I knew that this would not be my last race. I believe it's safe to say I have "the bug" to run again.


I took a quick pic with Elvis (gotta love Memphis), then hiked up the stairs to grab some food and drinks. While I thought eating would not sound good post-race, I was completely wrong. I immediately scarfed down a slice of pizza, some yummy soup and the best cup of beer I've had in my life followed up by chocolate milk. All of that sounds disgusting (especially the beer), but man it was amazing. I finally got to meet up with my fans: Brent, Mom, Dad, Jennifer, Tre, Brittany, Bronson, Brian, David, Uncle John, Casey, Brad, Brittany & Ada. They were such good sports to wait on me and watch for me for the entire race time. It was incredible to have such great support. I have to say, if you ever have someone competing in something like this you really should go support them. Even if you only see them once or twice along the course, having support there to cheer you on, is absolutely incredible and exactly what you need to get through such a physical competition.

I really appreciate everyone who came - I really appreciate my husband forcing me to take an ice bath. And yes, it was as terrible as it sounds. T E R R I B L E. I sat in a bath tub with ice for about 6 minutes. Jimmy tells me next time it has to be 15 minutes - YIKES.
However, I got through it by knowing immediately following I would be able to take a hot shower AND the next day, I knew I'd be able to walk. And you know - I was right! woo hoo

So looking back on the race, it really went well. I am really proud of my time of 2:52:40. I made it under 3 hours which was my goal. I ran a great pace and the few problems I did have are nothing in comparison with what could have potentially happened. I know what I need to do for training for my next race and I am pumped to get back out there and run again.
Running truly is just as much a physical event as it is mental. I knew that going into it and remembered it consistently throughout the course.
Thank you all for your support - kind words and donations to meet my goal to be a St Jude Hero. The race raised over $2.8 million for St Jude Children's Research Hospital! WOW. Incredible.
SUCH an inspirational race and one with a great cause. I was so proud of my family for not only being there, but running the 5k. I know it was super special for Tre - a 12 1/2 year survivor and St Jude patient. Amazing.

Thank you all again!

Bring it, 30.

Here's a link to some pictures and a video of me crossing the finish line.

She definitely doesn't know any different, but today I took a few photos because it's my first official day that I can say I am a stay at home mom. It's a long story, but basically it all worked out amazingly for me to get to stay at home permanently with Gabbie girl. I am ecstatic to say the least. God continues to show Brent and I that He will provide more than enough for us and take care of us. If we ever needed confirmation that we made the right decision, the way everything played out with my job was definitely what we needed.
I thought I'd mark the day by posting a whole bunch of pictures of my sweet little girl.
Every day she does something amazing and cute and adorable. I know I'm probably the only one to think that but hey, it's my blog and I get to post what I want, right?


































































She LOVES this giraffe right now! I think because she can actually hold it and it always goes in her mouth - of course.














This picture cracks me up - it's like she knows she's not really supposed to be watching tv. No matter how I turn her, she manages to find the tv.

This past weekend was very eventful at the Whitaker household. Our good friends the Moncriefs came in town on Thursday afternoon to kick start what was sure to be a busy, eventful weekend. Brent, Jimmy and Dusty were participating in the Country Music Marathon/Half Marathon in Nashville. We had made plans months in advance for the Cranes and Moncriefs to stay at the house as well as to host a pre-race pasta party the night before. We were so excited to have Katie and Owen, as well as the Garzas join in on the pasta dinner. It was a great UTC gathering at our new home!

Friday we spent the day downtown at the Health and Fitness Expo where there were a plethora of vendors and attractions related to the race. Also the guys had to get registered, get all their gear together and make sure they were fully prepared for the next day.

We saw some pretty neat things at the expo including Denise Austin, the work-out video lady. We also saw Dan and Dane from this season's Biggest Loser.

Friday was rather eventful with the dinner at our house with all of our great friends as well as Brent's aunt, uncle and their three kids from Birmingham. Their oldest daughter, MaryAnne was running the race so they came to support her.

As the night went on, we quickly realized something was terribly wrong with our air conditioner as the house continued to get warmer and warmer. Unfortunately, it would not work which made for a very balmy night's sleep.

Saturday morning came early - 4:15 to be exact as the guys started getting together and left our house around 4:30 to head downtown. It was a rough start to the morning as we had one camper that required a 2am drive around the town and another camper have a bad dream. (which actually we figured out later was really the beginning of an ear infection)

With just a few hours of sleep under their belts, we wished the boys well and they hit the road.

By 5:30 all the girls loaded up and followed suit to downtown. We had quite an eventful morning trying to determine the best spectator spot. We parked at the finish line, rode a "participant shuttle" to the start line and were fortunate enough to at least see Dusty on his way. Jimmy had already started with all the Kenyans and Brent was no where to be found.

We quickly determined we had quite the hike back to the finish line where we originally parked. I am pretty sure we hoofed about 4 miles that morning, babies in tow, with a cool 90+ degree temperature day.

We finally made it to the finish line, searched for Jimmy to no avail, then settled into a spot to watch for Brent. He rounded the corner on the last mile and looked fantastic! I was so proud of him. A few hours later, we all cheered on Dusty as he wrapped up his 5 hour, 26 mile trek.

We finally found Jimmy who had been finished for quite some time, but was walking aimlessly around searching for his "supporters." ha!

It was a great weekend, needless to say. Tackling many milestones: Brent completing his first half marathon (13.1 miles) in less than 3 hours and Dusty completing his first full marathon in less than 5 hours! We were very proud of all of them. (Even Jimmy, who hung with the Kenyans!)



There were RIDICULOUS lines pre-race to all of the port-o-toilets. We had to walk behind this huge long line and MAN did they stink!! I think it was safe to say there were a lot of nervous bellies... YUCK


This is hard to see, but these are some of the racers waiting to get to their spot on the start line. There were 31 corrals with 1,000 runners in each corral. They let them start every 2-3 minutes, so the start took over an hour for every runner to get through.

There's a guy in this pic without his shirt on, which was funny because Brent kept saying he was going to run shirtless because he couldn't find the right attire...


The girls waiting to see our guys.





The line of runners was infinite! I was amazing at how far down the street they were lined up.



Yep, more port-o-toilets...different spot...different line...same funky smell.




The official start line.


I could never find Brent, but I did find his corral number right before they crossed the start line. He's in there some where...






Brent - post-race after he changed out of his shirt. He just looked like a by-stander, all calm and cool. Other runners looked like they were going to die...literally!

All of the finishers:

Brent, Dusty (full) and Jimmy

So we're finally in our new house - officially! YAY Brent and I stayed at the house on Friday for the first time. Yes, it was strange mainly because we weren't sure how to sleep without all the apartment noise we had come to enjoy. I mean what's a good night's sleep without hearing your neighbors partying, smelling cigarette smoke through your closed windows, or better yet hearing the 2 little boys below us run back and forth at 11:00 at night? Man, we'll miss that place...

The plan was to finish moving all of our furniture on Saturday - Brandi, JJ and the boys were coming up from Chattanooga to help along with Brad and Casey. The only problem with that plan was that it rained: All. Day. Long. Nothing ruins moving plans more than rain, so we made the executive decision to just enjoy the day with our family. We ate THE best pizza/calzones I've ever had at Joey's Pizza (YUM!) then finished it up with some treats from GiGi's Cupcakes (even MORE YUM). Brandi and I devised a fantastic plan: Hayden and Caleb went with Brent and JJ back to the house for a sugar-induced nap, which she and I went shopping! "I need to go to SuperTarget..."

A few hours later, we returned to the house with more food (I promise we did more than just eat) then hung out in our camping chairs in the middle of our living room.

Sunday: the weather finally cooperated and we were able to move all of our furniture out of our apartment to our house thanks to the Jacksons and the Sapps. Our house is finally looking like our home with our furniture, but there's still plenty to do!

We've had several requests for photos - I have a few to post, but these are mostly "before" pictures and some while my parents and sister were up working last weekend (Thanks again to them for working like slaves!!) I'll post the "afters" once we've had time to clear the boxes and make the house look like we actually live in it.

Apartment: many may think there were tears shed as we hiked the 3 flights of stairs to our front door for the last time, however - we said our farewells and finished our last night in "Brent-hood" eating at our favorite mexican restaurant: Mazatlan. Brent has the final walk through today: keep your fingers crossed that our little mischievous Fiona's carpet-eating habit won't destroy our chances of getting our deposit back. Brent's carpet cleaning days came in handy on this one: he was able to patch the carpet in the middle of the living room and you can't even tell Fiona decided to try her teeth at carving carpet!

Here are some "before" and painting pictures:

Looking at the kitchen from the living room.

This is to show all the patch-work Brent had to do throughout the house. It was as if the previous owners literally ripped off their belongings from the walls. (Don't you love how your dogs always have to end up in the picture?)

Mi familia working hard panting.

My sister is a little excited about the baby on the way.
I can see the writing on the wall... har har har

So I guess it's about time for a "real" blog post. Sorry for the delay in updates, Brent and I have been UBER busy for the past few weeks. Let's see...where to start:

At the beginning of February we celebrated Ada's first birthday with a HUGE birthday bash. She was one of the cutest little one year old I've seen in a long time.

That same weekend, we decided to share some exciting news with all our "UTC friends." Besides our families, these girls had a great reaction, even though I later found out that most of them were suspicious that I had an announcement to make. (side note: I'm not sure why I look surprised in this picture as well...I think I was just caught up in the moment. AND check out all those new additions to our group! Aren't they adorable? ... I especially LOVE Emma looking up at me. It's cute)

By this point in the game, we've told pretty much all of our family and friends that we're expecting a little baby Whitaker this August. We tried to tell as many people as we could in person or over the phone - please don't be offended if you had to find out through the blog. It's quite overwhelming to keep up with telling everyone, as well as requesting that those you've told keep it a secret. (now THAT was the hardest part!) We chose to tell our parents and sisters at Christmas, even though I was just 5 weeks along. I wish I had captured those moments when we told them on camera, but it truly was priceless! Especially when my sister just about tackled me.

Now back to February...we have been super busy this month. We actually are closing on a new house this Friday in the Nashville area. We knew we wanted to purchase a home here and thought we would wait until the summer, but with our newest family member on the way, we decided it would probably be a wise choice to get the ball moving. Within the first week of our serious searching, we found a great deal and after 2 weeks of negotiating with the bank, we finalized the deal! We close this Friday and hopefully over the next few weeks we'll be moving out of our apartment into our new home! YAY

For Valentine's Day this year, our really good friend Jeremy got married in Virginia, so Brent and I made the trek to VA and stayed in a beautiful bed and breakfast in Appomattox, VA. The wedding was nice and we were thrilled to finally meet Mrs. Jeremy Day. Here are a few pictures from the weekend:

The room we stayed in was huge. It was actually a 2 bedroom this is just the front entry way leading into the main room and a HUGE bathroom. It was a beautiful B&B.

Jeremy and Brent - it was a beautiful sunny day...too bad their eyes aren't WIDE open!

The bridal party (LtoR): The Bride's Grandmother, Sister, Bride (Tiffany), Groom (Jeremy), Groom's Dad and Groom's Cousin.

The most difficult part that no one prepares you for: repeating your vows!

On our way back on Sunday, we stopped in Blacksburg, VA home of Virginia Tech which was a beautiful campus. They had a great memorial established for the 33 individuals killed in 2007.

Brent has been really busy this month as well - this week alone he's performed at Zanies comedy club here in Nashville AND competed (and won) in an International Speech Competition for Toastmasters. We're praying that he continues to move through the various competitions and wins - it's on to the regionals next then we'll see from there! Exciting times and great opportunities continue to abound as he develops his speaking career.

So that's all for now, folks. That's our little update.