Here's what we've been up to :)

We celebrated a very special 2 year old!

Dan and I took the Honeymoon we never got :)

Cameron hit some major big-boy milestones!

Summer hit... and we are definitely not too thrilled about it.

Sweet things

 Mr. Cam turned 6 months old!

Coffee Date

Silly Girl

We are loving this sweet season in our lives. Feeling super blessed with where God has us right now and can't wait to see what else is in store for us. I have a feeling 2013 has some BIG things ahead for us ;)

Be Still

Let me just start you off with a little picture of what my life looks like at the moment. I cleaned, yes it's true. Both kids are napping. The shades are pulled to keep out the 117 degree weather but there's just enough sunlight peeping through to make it feel like sweet summertime. The hour in which I hear my husband's keys jiggle in the door is fast approaching, and i'm sipping on some dark roast iced coffee while listening to some inspiring tunes.

Hold on let me adjust myself in this incredibly oversized plush chair. (Sigh) Life is just wonderful right now.

It doesn't happen often people- but when it does it is a MIRACLE and I treasure the beauty in the slow-down. The time in between 1 kid going down and the other getting up. When Dora isn't singing to me and peanut butter/jelly fingers are giving me a facial. I can eat whatever I want and don't have to share. I can finish a thought and pay a bill. Take a breath. slow down.

Lately i've felt like God has gone above and beyond in the area of provision. He hasn't just provided so faithfully for my family. He has given us a torrential downpour of blessing after blessing- more than what we ever needed but so graciously bestows upon us. I wonder if He gets giddy watching our faces light up in excitement like the way I do when I give a totally undeserved gift to Emma (I mean the terrible 2's in no way warrant any gifts). This is one of those moments where I feel so unbelievably blessed. In approximately 17 minutes I will hear the first signs of this peaceful me-time coming to an end. The bewitching hour won't be too far behind that, and this home will soon become rampant with miniature dictators leaving me helpless and more than likely...overwhelmed. Thank goodness I still have time to sit and enjoy this coffee, being still, reflecting on how blessed we are. This feeling just might help me get through dinner time ;)

-AG

Goodbyes are never fun.

Why is that? I spent so many days wondering when my family would be able to move to a better neighborhood and now that it's here, i'm sad. HELLO?! sad? What am I going to miss? The gunshots at night? The shady shade people down my street.. I don't think so. I guess it's the laughter, first steps, pregnancies, and memories that i'll miss. The incredibly sleepless nights, early mornings, dinnertime meltdowns, bath time sea explorations, diaper changes, job promotions, date nights, movie-thons, and countless roll-on-the-floor tickle fests that dad insisted upon doing right before bed. Those special moments that occurred within these walls of my home. What a blessing to have made this house our home for the last 2 years. Sure, often times I looked around and thought in disbelief "I live here?" and most nights saw our neighborhood on the news. Are you starting to get a picture of where this memory-filled home is? Shady town people, straight up shady town. But i'm still sad. God has been so good to us, so faithful with His promises of provision and protection. He helped soften this mama bear's heart and see this home as a haven to grow our family until He moved us elsewhere. And He did. Back to the 85250! I'm coming home folks- lookout! The Golden's are back. in. town.

So bring on the boxes, paper plates, take-out, and home depot trips to cover up the AWFUL unique color-choice in the kitchen. This girl's about to make another house a home. Let's do this! Maybe I should make some coffee first. Coffee? Yeah. I'll start there. And maybe a sandwich for lunch? Iced coffee and a sandwich. Yeah, and I'll relax for like a couple minutes, maybe 5. I should probably just nap while the kids are napping. Yeah, i'll get some rest, eat some lunch, drink some coffee. yeah, good plan. So excited to see what's in store for our family in these next couple months!

-AG

Emma "drama like her momma" Maren

I know, you don't have to tell me. "Hi, my name's Alyssa, and I'm a chronic blog neglecter." Blame it on the fact that having a baby has left me permanently brain damaged... or perhaps the fact that I choose to go to the bathroom in the 5 minutes I have to myself nowadays than update my blog. Whatever the reason, I'm sorry eh deal with it! My little peanut is growing up so fast it's ridiculous. Can't believe that it was 6 weeks ago that we were meeting her for the first time... and apologizing in advance that we were the crazies she was stuck with. So much has gone on so i'll try my best to condense it (I make no promises).


Well- she's like her momma, sassy as they come and darn-right stubborn ;) This kid could stay awake all day if I let her... and believe you me I don't! Momma needs a breather every now and then. She basically tells the neighborhood that she hates bath time and I often wonder if the water is indeed killing her... nah I know she's all drama. She has "toesies" like her daddy (poor thing) and will pick up her blanket with them in her carseat! Not gonna lie, kind of weird. And there's a reason I call her my peanut because she's still wearing newborn clothes! Lord knows where she got that from... definitely not her momma! We're loving our time with her and everyday is a new adventure discovering sweet things about her. 


Love this one.. we caught her smiling. Cutest little dimple!

(I apologize for the picture quality- they're off my cellphone)

1 month old!

Tummy time- look at that little bum bum!

See... traumatized. "mommy, why would you ever give me a bath so I can smell good and clean?"

We finally closed escrow on our home and the renovating has begun! Emma was such a big girl and came with us to sign the final loan documents and pick up the keys to our new house. I can't wait to finally set up her crib and move out of (eh-hem) mom and dad's. Dan and my dad and brother have been working so hard to get the house finished so we can move in as soon as possible. So proud of them and so appreciative!

So in love with my little emmers!

-AG

Extended Snuggle Time

Well this is by far the most i've ever updated my blog... twice in one day?! I must be approaching mommy-hood or something because that's all I'm going to do once she's here right? Praise the Lord that I'm writing this post from the comfort of my bed right now and not those terrible hospital beds that make my booty fall asleep! Dan and I went in to the hospital tonight to check all my levels again (blood pressure, swelling, and protein) and although they went down, they were still a little high. They're concerned that I'm becoming preeclamptic so they've decided to induce on monday- apparently Friday nights get wild and crazy on the labor and delivery floor and they didn't have enough staff to induce me tonight. AND I AM OKAY WITH THAT :) I'll go in on Sunday for prepidil (softens the cervix) and then we'll get called in to be induce early Monday morning... but I'm secretly praying the prepidil does a super job and I go into labor myself ;)

Until then, they've put me on "strict" bed rest... but what does that really mean to this family huh? At least Dan and I get some wonderful, extended snuggle time before there's a little one sharing our thoughts, patience, and space. Thank you for the prayers and we'll continue to update as we prepare the arrival of a sweet little girl!

-AG

Iced Decaf Skinny Vanilla Updates on Emma

Let me just start by painting you a picture of the little piece of heaven I find myself in right now. It's most beautiful part of the morning where it streams through the curtains and hits my coffee on the table- don't worry, it's decaf- and the beautiful green Starbucks logo smiles at me. Dang, it's so good! Colbie Caillet is playing through the laptop and I feel my precious little girl moving in my belly as if she's dancing to the music with me this morning. We serve such a beautiful God that gives us these precious moments when we need them most. Because the truth is, as wonderful as this morning is, I know Dan and I have a long and hard road ahead of us. I guess that's the incredible thing about a relationship with the Lord though; if our lives were hunky dory... I think i'd be a little worried. The trial that I feel right now is such another sweet reminder that our Maker is hard at work in us.

One sec, just taking a sip of my delicious "iced grande decaf skinny vanilla latte with 1 splenda" it's okay- you can be jealous. I won't judge.

I definitely didn't update my blog at all about my pregnancy but don't worry (because I know you were) it was incredibly smooth.. until about four weeks ago. I started to notice at work that my vision was a little blurry, apparently momma needed to update her prescription. Long story short, at the same time that my blurry vision came about I had a spike in my blood pressure and increased swelling (even after drinking 80oz of water a day!). My Dr. was worried that I was becoming preeclamptic, soo we took a bunch of blood and bodda-bing-bodda-boom, I was fine. A couple weeks passed and I began to show baby steps of progress, (aka I was dilated to 1cm) woo! I know- pathetic. So then I really got on it and started walking EVERYWHERE. I was so excited to get to my appointment to see if I'd begun to efface or dilated a little more- yeah, total let down. Nothing changed... nothing! What?! You mean to tell me that I moved this booty all week long for nothing?! My cervix was still so high that she couldn't even strip my membranes haha total fail. We were about to end the appointment when she glanced at my blood pressure and said she wanted me to go into the hospital to be monitored because it was so high again. Wonderful, not only have I not progressed but now I have to tell my husband that he has to come meet me in triage and sit with me for three hours for them to tell me i'm fine. Bummer.

After we got settled into the room I began to notice that every time my blood pressure cuff would go off it would beep and flash a sign saying "admit patient" haha goodness Alyssa, control your blood pressure why don't ya! It finally settled down and we then just had to wait on the results for my blood and (ahem) pee-pee. As we sat there listening to our little bean we found out that she has an irregular heart beat. Apparently very common and often times it corrects itself within a couple days after birth- but nonetheless kind of cute (only because they said it's harmless) that she already has a little something unique to her. The results came back showing elevated signs of protein in my urine which is concern for preeclampsia. So I'll have to go back in tonight for a second monitoring and if the levels haven't gone down then they'll probably induce me :(

So pray, pray, pray! Pray that either my levels all go back to normal or that she decides to come on her own today! Dan and I are excited but nervous that this may be our last day to spend together as a 2 person family. I can't wait to kiss those sweet cheeks on my little Emma Maren, just praying it's all in God's timing and not the doctors. Sorry this was so long, but then again, maybe no one made it this far.. so you wouldn't know the difference. Well i'm off to enjoy the rest of my starbucks (holla!) and maybe indulge myself in a little HGTV... guilty!

-AG

Little Beans and Big News

Well I know it's been quite some time since I last posted but I promise I have a good excuse! This reason has made me a little crankier, a bit fatter, and believe me, a lot more emotional. WE'RE EXPECTING! At first I didn't believe it, I couldn't believe this little stick telling me my life was going to change FOR-EV-VER. Dan and I had just gotten back from celebrating our First Anniversary in California and I wasn't feeling myself. For example, I was sitting in one of my lectures and all of a sudden my stomach started growling ferociously. Now i'm not just talking about a little rumble, it was so embarrassingly audible that the person sitting TWO seats away looked at me.. okay kill me now. So that was suspicion #1. The Second was the fact that I had spotted a week early. I kept praying for something else to happen but nope.. nothing ever came and it's really unusual for me to do that. Lastly, it seemed that whatever I ate gave me THE WORST heart burn, ever. So I put these three things together and had a little chit chat with God. "I thought you were going with MY timeline, didn't we decide this was better?" "I swear, If I get home and I find out i'm pregnant, you and me, we're going to have a little word of prayer!" Okay so maybe it didn't go over quite like that but nonetheless, I left school and immediately got a pregnancy test.

The moment of truth. I was soo convinced I was wasn't pregnant that I took it by myself... I don't suggest this. After waiting those crazy-long 3 minutes I ran in, with my heart pounding, to read the results. In my furry I knocked it on the ground. BHAAAAA! What does it say!! (II) Two lines. Oh boy. I just started giggling, then i'd walk out of the room, walk back in and giggle, and repeat about three more times. I was in complete shock.

And life has been crazy ever since. We're expecting our little bean to arrive late June and every time I see it's beautiful little hands and feet wiggle in my belly my heart can't wait to hold it one day. Dan and I are also in the process of trying to purchase a home and we're just waiting to hear back from the bank... got to love short sales ;) Once the the bustle of Christmas settles down i'll head back into the studio to finish up harmonies and then it's off to Nashville for the final mix down. We're so close! Hopefully I can get some pictures up soon too... once I pass the not-pregnant-just-awkwardly-fat stage :)

-AG