Living in Nashville, Pursuing Acting & the End of 2 Under 2
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Are you thinking about moving to Nashville? To be completely transparent, more than ever I've actually thought of that, but I don't think we'd ever leave Phoenix, right? Never say never. Abby just submitted her first audition for a role in a movie. I want my boys to look at their mom and say, wow, my mom is a woman that is willing to take a risk. She's willing to put herself out there and she's willing to pursue her talents, which is all things

- All things that I want my kids to do. - How do you feel about our son being two years old now? I love this age he's at right now. I just don't want him to grow up. - While it hurts me that I'm like experiencing days we're never gonna get back with them, each day keeps getting freaking better.

What's up dudes and welcome back to the unplanned podcast. I feel way more comfortable saying that without guests. Same but it just feels it just feels so hype like I feel like you can wake up in the morning and be like what's up dudes and just saying that it's gonna make you have a better day.

It's not that I'm an insecure person. I'm like wondering what our guests are going to think about us. It's more so like when we have an episode with a guest on it, I just, we just have a conversation and I don't want to feel like we're like forcing them to say anything. I don't know though. If we're just having an honest, genuine conversation. I like doing weird stuff like that because you quickly find out who thinks they're too big for their, like who's too big for their britches. And like, you don't want to be friends with those people. Like if they think, if they automatically are like, I don't want to be friends with that person because they're saying what's up dudes. Is that how you determine if someone's in their britches or not?

I don't know. I just learned that from you. I've learned from you. Like you got to be yourself. And then like, you're naturally going to find like the real ones that way. You don't need to like put on some sort of, you know, fake persona, just be you, you know? And so if that means shouting, what's up dudes at the top of your lungs. But if it's just not their persona, like who they are. That's true. And then, but, but that's like what makes people interesting. Like when you find somebody, I love people that are weird. And that just, me too. It,

It keeps things interesting. It makes life entertaining. - That's why I married you, babe. - Thank you. - You know, she probably isn't listening to this or maybe she is, but my best friend growing up, we actually just went to her bachelorette party a couple weeks ago. But anyway, growing up and like all through middle school, like I always thought it was so cool to be weird. And I would always be like, you're so weird, like as a compliment because like I loved that she was weird and like did funny things.

And she would kind of get insecure about that word, which just shows how people just interpret that word differently or they have different ideas surrounding that word. So she'd be like, oh, you mean weird in a cool way, right? And so now we keep joking. Even today, I'm like, you're weird in a cool way. Morgan, don't worry. How was that, by the way? How was that bachelorette trip? It was so fun. Matt, if there's one thing about me, I am a girl's girl.

Through and through. Like, I just, like, love being around girls so much. And so it was so fun being around her. And it's, like, we grew up being, like, basically sisters. Like, best, best friends. I didn't have a sister. She was, like, my sister. Her and our other friend, Taylor, we were, like, the three amigos. And so now that, like, this...

Thing happens when you become an adult and you get married and you have your own family. Like, and you move. I think that's the main thing is that I just moved to a different state and life changed a lot that you just like... I hate the phrase grow apart because...

I mean, essentially that's what it was, but it doesn't, it feels more like dramatic or sad than what it really was. It was just like, we had built separate lives at that point while still having like a lot in common at our core and like could still relate on a lot of things. But anyway, just being back together, um,

In the Midwest and like just in a house full of girls, like women. It was just, it was so fun. By the way, side note for you guys. We are currently in Nashville, which I feel like the bachelorette trip would have been perfect in Nashville because I feel like Nashville is the perfect place for bachelorette trips.

There's just so many good restaurants. This is what it costs more money for everyone. Yeah, it is. It can be expensive over here. Especially, there's so many people from California moving to Nashville, and I feel like that's made the real estate here go crazy. Yeah, no. In St. Louis, I'm pretty sure for the weekend, my portion of the Airbnb was like $90. That's amazing. Maybe less. Congratulations to whoever planned that out, because that is some serious budgeting. No, they did it so... That's the thing.

I will say this. The expectations for bridesmaids nowadays has gotten insane. People going on massive trips like Cabo. Like that's where we went.

as a couple on her anniversary that's one thing but to make all your entire bridal party pay to go to Cabo or go to Miami I feel like that's another bachelorette spot like that's crazy plus they have to buy so many things for the wedding they have to get a gift they have to get the hotel for the weekend they have to get like there's so many being a bridesmaid can be so expensive nowadays and so the fact that like her sisters that were planning that were so mindful of that

that was that was awesome that is awesome it's tough too because like I totally see the the draw of like if your friends can't afford to go to Cabo that sounds freaking amazing to do a trip to Cabo but then like yeah you just don't know everyone's financial situation and that can be tricky because you don't want to leave somebody out because they can't afford it I don't know oh for sure and people are like going broke trying to be bridesmaids in weddings I promise you so sad I feel

feel like that's the case because like especially if you have more than one wedding in a summer that's a lot of money yeah there's a lot that and it's just hard and I think the older you get like since I got married at 20 we stayed over at my house like we didn't have like an Airbnb or a hotel even we just stayed at the my college rental house which was amazing it was

incredible. It wasn't about, you know, the glitz or the glamour, but, and they made so many meaningful, because we didn't have budget, like, we had to get creative, and I didn't say we, because, like, they planned it for me, my, Morgan did, and that same friend, and they got creative, and we had so much fun, and also, there was no alcohol. I had the most unconvinced,

like untraditional bachelorette party nowadays. Same. I think the craziest thing that we did at my bachelor party was I think I smoked like part of a cigar. Not even the whole thing. That's actually kind of crazy, man. Your dad was there too, right? But like that's the thing. You couldn't get too crazy. That's like an old fashioned thing. Like my dad. Yeah. I've seen my dad smoke cigar before. No, for sure. But it's not like he always did that. I would see him do that like once every two years. It's a tradition, right? Like especially when you have a baby, I think it's a tradition.

I actually don't like it. Like, I don't think I'll ever smoke a cigar ever again because I hate the way it makes me feel. I feel like I'm inhaling cancer into my body. Like, the whole time I'm just like, this doesn't feel right, you know? Yeah, I wouldn't recommend it. But for whatever reason, culturally, that was a cool thing. So I was like, you know what? At my bachelor party, we're going to have some cigars. Yeah, maybe not anymore, especially with my grandpa getting lung cancer. Yeah.

I'm just... But I think you're right though. You can have so much fun and you just got to get creative with it. It doesn't have to cost that much to have fun. Well, I think then that shows that you're like actually having fun too. Yeah. And it's not like just like these substances that are tricking you into thinking you're having fun. Yes.

Yeah, I think it's all about balance, right? You know what they did for my bachelorette party? Did you even know that we did this? We went to the Branson Landing. And then you had to go... I had to go on a scavenger hunt. Oh my God. So I had to find another couple that had like a big height difference or find somebody else named Matt. And like, I just had to go and talk to all these random people and, you know, it being Southern Missouri, like...

People don't really like to just be approached, I guess. Like, here's the thing. It's such a warm and friendly area, but people don't like, they don't want to take part in any kind of games, you know? Yeah. And in general, like some people were like, awesome, sweet sports. But some people, I was like, this is so embarrassing. But that's why it was funny because we just made funny memories doing it. And it was a good time. That's hilarious. I had to ask like an older couple their best,

advice or I had to ask someone to sing a song to me or something like that. That's hilarious. It was fun. Did you ever do those things growing up like where you were with like a certain youth group and you'd go to like the mall and try to get someone to like trade socks with you or you had to like sing to everyone in line at a grocery store or ask to like sing into the intercom. It was like a game and whoever could, you know, get the most points won and you had like teams. Yeah. Yeah.

Oh yeah. I did that just with friends. Like it wasn't even like an organized thing. Why is that so fun? In a small town, like you make your own fun. Oh yeah. I wasn't even from a small town, but that was so fun. We had to go to, I remember one of them was we had to go to the mall and get a sample of red lipstick and pretend we were Miranda Sings. No way. Nowadays as an adult, I'm just curious why people are so grumpy sometimes with stuff like that.

Like, I can understand if you are, like, actually, like, making a mess or being extremely disruptive or being rude. Like, none of that's acceptable. But if kids are just, like, having fun, I don't understand why anyone would be, like, so upset about that. Like, if kids were doing that when I was out in public, I feel like I would –

I would think it was funny and sweet. You know, in today's generation, kids are getting into less trouble and doing less, you know. Oh, really? Well, yeah. I feel like all these kids are just on their phones now. Like everyone's just on their phone. They're scrolling. They're playing video games. Getting in trouble online though. I kind of want our kids... I would prefer it for our kids to get into some trouble and like live a little bit than be stuck behind an iPad watching shows. Oh, 1000%. Actually, there's so much...

from getting in trouble, I feel like. Because even just the thing of allowing your kids to have risky play, they learn where the boundary is and they learn how to have confidence in themselves to take risks. And then they also know how to learn from mistakes. Whereas if they never make a mistake or never get hurt or never step outside their comfort zone in a way that wasn't...

validated in every ounce of what they were expecting then they don't know how to handle it and i just don't think that's right something that blows my mind is how often like if you have kids you know this but just how often little kids get hurt and it's not like they're getting seriously hurt it's just like a little fall here a little bump here but it happens constantly throughout the day and there's literally nothing you can do about it like sure you could rock you could wrap your kid in bubble wrap but i mean they need to learn how to balance and learn like

how to control their bodies so that they protect themselves while they're little because when they're big if they fell backwards onto their head standing up everyone learns you would crack your head open but when you're little like you're only 12 inches off the ground right

So I don't know. It just, it blows my mind how you kind of have to fail to learn and to grow. For sure. And it's cool. It's just cool though. Watching our kids. Now Griffin says kiss it better to me. Yeah. I don't even know how that even happened because I don't really recall saying that. I probably did and I just don't really remember it. But now that he's doing all these things that like you used to see other, every little kid does it. Like every other, every little kid thinks that kiss makes it better. So like, that's so sweet. I love that.

I love that our kids are playing outside so much right now because they can. We're staying at a house that has a big yard and there's a little playhouse in the back. And one of my favorite things to do with Griffin, our now two-year-old, we'll have to talk more about his birthday here in a second. But one of my favorite things is he'll make me ice cream. So there's these like fake ice cream scoops. And he's like, he's like, dada, ice cream. And I go back and I'm like, oh,

oh yes and i go and he laughs so hard every time when i when i do this stupid like pretending to eat the ice cream he thinks it's the funniest thing in the whole entire world and then i get augie to eat the ice cream too and then griffin will just like smack it to the side and it'll all fall apart and then i'll go pick it up and do it all over again but i'm so glad that our kids are just getting to be kids and play outside and we're avoiding screen time

as much as possible with them, with them being outside. And I think it's just, I think it's so good for their development. I mean, yeah, we always have avoided screen time pretty much. Like there's been, like we're not anti-screens, but like definitely want them to like use their imagination and creativity and play and also be okay with being bored. Like I'm okay with our kids being bored. I was bored a lot as a kid and that's how I like it.

developed me as a person i'm so glad that the weather allows for our children to be outside in july because right now in phoenix where we came from we're out of phoenix right now for a whole month it is so hot in phoenix you literally cannot take your kids outside in the month of july it is it doesn't even get below 100 um unless it might like maybe at like 5 a.m it'll be like maybe 98 but

Other than that, yeah, it's kind of hard. Yeah, I mean, you can bring your kids in the pool, but it's just kind of a bummer how hot it is because it's just not safe for your kids to play outside when it's sunny. The way I see it, though, is pretty much anywhere you live, most places, you're going to have a season where you can't go outside.

And in Phoenix, it's just like July and August. Whereas like a lot of places, it's January, December. I mean, I guess you're right. Like here in Nashville in the wintertime when it snows or when it gets really cold, I'm sure that's not the best. But your kids can still throw in a coat. But I... We're going to throw Augie in a coat and just send him in a snow drift. Maybe. That's what you plan on doing? Maybe. Maybe.

But yeah, I'm just thankful that here the weather has been a lot better. It's funny though hearing people complain about the weather in Asheville because I grew up in St. Louis, which is just a few hours away from Nashville. The weather is so similar. I grew up with the same weather and everyone that moved to Nashville from California, which is so many people here, are like, oh my gosh, it's so hot here. It's crazy. And sure, it can get like a little hot sometimes at four o'clock if it's really sunny out, but

It's nothing compared to Phoenix. I mean, even last night we went to a movie in the park in downtown Nashville. Yeah, we needed blankets. We did this beautiful outdoor movie and it was cold. Like it literally got cold. You don't get cold in Phoenix in the summertime. No, no, no. Yeah, no.

I have a blanket on right now and a hot coffee because it's raining and it's like kind of cozy vibes. Like I just want to sit and read that book over there and curl up on the couch. Isn't that vibey? Isn't the rain awesome? But I will say I love the sunshine. I'm a sunshine girl. Yeah, I do too. I just love that Arizona is always sunny. Thank you to Rocket Money for sponsoring this portion of today's episode. Are you wasting your money on unwanted subscriptions? Because we've been there. We actually might still be there. We need to check our Rocket Money.

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What I've realized, Abby, is I love change. And so in my brain growing up in Missouri, I was like, man, I just got to get out of Missouri and see the world. But I've realized like even in Hawaii, when we lived in Hawaii, if we were there for too long and we didn't like get out and do something different, I would get bored of Hawaii and it's called island fever. So I think, you know, finding ways to switch it up, keep your life going.

kind of fun and, you know, live on the edge. That's the way to do it. I just want to like constantly keep things fresh and like our life and our marriage and our, like with our kids, um,

because I think that can kind of be the trap of like this stage of life where it's like we got so used to the kids routine that like this is how every day looks and I kind of want to push against that even if it's just like in small ways like for us instead of going to dinner on a day night like I was like what if we went to like a murder mystery dinner party like that just sounds fun and crazy or like yeah you know just something different and I don't know

I like that. I like that a lot. I want to do things like that. There's one here in Nashville that we might try out. I love being friends with other couples because they just get it. They understand, you know... We've always clicked really well with other couples. We do. And sometimes I'm like, man, I...

I don't have a lot of friends outside of couple friends. I know exactly how you feel. The only friends that I have really outside of couple friends now are my gym buddy and then everyone that I write music with. Like I've met a lot of single people and a lot of people that aren't couples through music now, which is kind of cool. But yeah, something about being friends with couples is just awesome. Yeah, and then like when you have friends that are also parents too, when you're parents, it obviously feels like you've got a kindred spirit. Yeah.

Yeah, I love that. They just get it, you know? Other parents understand the struggle. Yeah, and like we're getting dinner tonight with another couple that doesn't have kids. And that's where in a sense I'm like, okay, well, we're going to have to wait till after the kids go to bed and make sure we have childcare lined up to watch the monitors. Because it's just not the same when you're with a couple that doesn't have kids and you bring your kids along. You know what I mean? It's kind of like if they had kids, I'd bring them along and plan an earlier dinner. But it's just...

They kind of change the atmosphere and the conversation ability. It's kind of fun just being me and you. Like last night on our date, it was just you and I in the car. I feel like that never happens. And I don't know. It kind of brought me back to when we were newlyweds and everything felt like an adventure. It reminded me of when we went to Colorado on a spur of the moment trip to just go hiking and...

That time was so exciting because, you know, we didn't live together before we were married and we hadn't really vacationed together, just the two of us. And so, yeah, last night was just like this, you know, mind opening experience of, oh my gosh, like, I feel like I'm young again. I feel like we can, we still got it. You are young.

You're 26. I guess that is young. I feel so old though. Do you not feel old? No, I feel young. I look at these kids though and I'm like an 18 year old. I'm eight years older than an 18 year old now. Isn't that crazy? Who cares? Crazy, right?

You have the confidence of a 26 year old. Think about how insecure you were as an 18 year old. True. I don't know. So it's weird. I still, I just feel so similar to how I felt when I was younger. Yeah, me too. And I've seen videos of like older people opening up about their life and things that they would have changed. You know, those videos about, yeah, just like pop up on your feed.

And there was this lady who was 75 talking about how she felt like she was still 26. And that just got me thinking, dang, when I'm 75, hopefully I may get that long. But when I'm 75 one day, I think I'll probably still feel the same way. I mean, your mom's told us all the time that she feels like she's still in college. So your mom's in her 50s. But I think that's why you got to just like enjoy the moment and fully be present and all the good stuff going on. Mm-hmm.

Sorry. I feel like I'm taking this conversation like in a very sentimental. You always go so deep. And I'm just like, can we talk about the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders documentary? Let's talk about the Dallas Cowboys. Wait, you've been like so into that show. I am. I'm so into it. Okay. Talk to me about it. Okay. Well, so many reasons. Why do you love it so much? Number one, I.

love the girl camaraderie. That's the word I'm looking for. I love how when girls, like in the beginning of the documentary, okay, so basically it's a documentary you already know about it. It's on Netflix. It's like number one or something. It's like the Dallas Cowboys NFL team's cheerleaders tryouts process and whenever girls have gotten cut, the other girls are sobbing with them and they're

all rooting each other on it's not like someone gets cut and they're like oh great one more down that makes my chances higher of making it actually on the final team like no they are rooting each other on they're telling them no you can change their mind like they're helping each other learn the choreography they're critiquing them they're they're like it's a girl gang and that's I love that because former dancer you know I danced in high school basically well all growing up and then in high school

Nothing to that level, but I still had and I was on palm in high school I had That girl team like I love having that constant contact with other girls and like having something you're working for together You're doing hard things together. You're pushing each other No matter what you still have practice you still have to show up you if you have to show up for game day You have to show up for performances. I like I

I love that so much. And there's just, I just love watching it because I can relate even in a tiny degree. It's funny you say that because I obviously never did competitive dance or anything like that. But because I did dance growing up, I saw how strict these dance teachers could be on the girls. They were never strict on me because I was the dude. So it was like, oh, really? They were easier on you? Oh, they were so much easier on me. Like it was like, I was like the one dude.

Oh, you were the one. And out of that, I was like the one straight dude. So it was just like, for whatever reason, I feel like I had this... Like they were going to go, he's like, oh, it's just Matt. Like we don't expect him to look pretty while he's dancing. Yeah, maybe if you were gay, they would have a little bit more of a standard for you. But no, with the girls, they were strict. And so it brought back memories of that as well. And I remember you telling me that you saw people on social media getting mad at the coaches and...

And the documentary. Kelly. Why are they being so strict with these girls? I don't think people realize like how tough it is when it comes to dance. That was like, you're not a former dancer without saying you're not a former dancer. Because any dancer that watched a documentary didn't bat an eye. Yeah. Because you just see a coach that cares about the girls and want to see them reach their fullest potential. There was never a time where I was like, oh, she's out of line there. That was just rude. It was like, it was always firm, but.

you know, things that they can work on. And it was never like evil or mean, I don't think. And here's the other thing too, is that like those...

were watching a documentary of a football coach talking to the football players and they were talking in that same tone you wouldn't even think twice you might even be like wow he's going easy on them you know it's just for some reason with dancers it's like oh they think that they can't handle it's like well no they actually can't handle it they're tough they're it's their sport for whatever reason I've always liked the strict coaches I've always loved that like I want them to be hard on me I want to improve especially if it's something that I care about yeah I agree like when I played volleyball in high school I had a coach who was

And I respected her and I, and I wanted to push myself to be the best that I could possibly be. Yeah. Do you, do you feel the same way? Like, do you think that the coaches for you in your life were more effective? I think so too. And I think it's because I also, it might, I might have felt differently if it was really strict at home too, because then I might've been like, okay, this is like, I don't feel close with any adult, but, um, cause it is harder to have a relationship and get close with like a leader figure like that if they are so strict. But like,

but like I would go to a practice or whatever and like say it was a little bit more strict and you know less emotional then I got to come home and I had like loving gentle parents so like it's coming from my perspective of like what my home life was like but I did like it when people pushed me but I also was kind of sensitive but I would I would never like show it at practice like I would always just like cry when I got in the car

Really? Yeah. What are your thoughts on comments from dance coaches about the look of your body and having that dancer look? When do you think it's appropriate? When do you think it goes too far? I'm curious what your take is on that. Okay. So growing up- Sorry, that's a very controversial question. Yeah, it is very controversial, but I guess I'll just say how I-

Okay, so growing up, I always knew I was not going to be a Rockette. I am 5'2". I think you have to be like what? 5'10"? Yeah. 5'9"? Yeah. Really tall. There's a look for sure. No matter what I do, I will not be that height. Therefore, I already knew I was not going to be eligible to be a Rockette. Yeah. And I...

And I don't really think that in, especially like if I'm looking at that scenario, I don't think there's anything wrong with them saying, this is what we want it to look like. And this is what we want the whole group to look like. And if you are five, two, and we have people's legs that are, you know, on a five, 10 body, it's just not going to look the same. It's not going to mess up the lines. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I don't feel like that was like,

like toxic exclusivity, I guess. What about a weight requirement though? Like obviously having a height requirement makes sense. Should there be a weight requirement for dancers?

See, that's where it gets tough because I also knew even just the capacity that I did dance. Like, I knew what the expectation was to look like in the costume, in your tutu. Those little platter tutus do you no favors. Like, you know, I knew what the expectation was. I knew that to do lifts with guys, like, there was a certain... I knew all those things and so...

It's hard. I don't really know what to say about that. Even from the guy's standpoint, I remember when I was getting older doing theater, they were telling us to work out. They were like, guys, we need you to lift the girls. You need to be strong enough to lift up these women because that's what it is. If you want to dance at a high level and you want to be able to do all these different maneuvers and lifts, you can't be some skinny dude who can't lift up a girl. You have to have the strength. So they were literally telling us to go to the gym and

We were. Like a lot of us were. Luckily, I had been doing sports. So I wasn't – like the gym wasn't a new thing for me. But there were some guys who like really took it seriously because they wanted to be able to do the dance to the best of their ability. So I think it's tough though because you don't want to cause somebody an eating disorder. You don't want to – No, no, no, no. You don't want to body shame someone. You have to be really, really careful. I think maybe to avoid that –

You be up front with your expectations. And so like with the Dallas Cowboys cheerleaders, everyone knew what they look like. Yeah. You know? And so I think, I don't know. My knee jerk reaction is to say like, I really don't think there's anything wrong with it. I think that with anything in life, there's requirements.

And like if you don't fit the requirements, then you're not made for that position. And I think that sounds terrible probably to some people. But I mean, it's really, really tough. I think it's easy to say that from afar. But if I had a daughter that was like their main goal was to be on that team and they just did not fit those requirements.

that size or didn't have the right body type that I would be frustrated as a parent or especially as that girl would be like I'm doing everything I can and I still can't get that but that's just how life is sometimes you do everything you can you're just it's still not right and I think yeah I think that's just a reality that we all have to learn to live with as much as that sounds harsh something that really motivated me from just the one episode of the Dallas Cowboys documentary that I watched with you it was cool how like

they don't have room for error. Like they have to perform at such a high level. And it was motivating for me because I don't know when I'm recording a new song in the studio, if I mess up the lyrics, I can go back and rerecord it. It's okay.

And they have a dedication to excellence that I respect so much. Exactly. And even like, okay, if you look at actor, there's a difference. We've had a lot of, uh, you know, Hollywood actors on our, on our show. We've interviewed people that have been on Disney. If you're doing film versus stage, like when you're on stage, you cannot mess up. You have to do it right. There's an audience there. You need to give them the best performance you have. But when it comes to film, you can do,

film the scene 10 different times 20 different times as many times as you need to to nail the moment you can do that and so i feel that way as a singer when i go in the studio

It's like, oh, I can mess this up. It's not a big deal. But I think there's something special about like, no, I'm going to get this right. I'm going to do my absolute best from the get-go. And I feel like it almost raises the standard a bit. So I just thought it was so cool how they were really working out there. Like really – like they're dancing –

They're dancing their butts off and it's like 95 degrees outside as they're rehearsing and there's no room for error. I thought that was just really motivating. So much respect. And even, not to keep talking about this, but like their coach has, they have so many professional photographers on the field at games. She goes and looks at each picture that they have, zooms in and looks and she's like, oh, you have a little bit too much mascara on your lower lashes. Are you kidding me? Or she's like, you need to pluck your eyebrows. Oh my gosh. It goes, it's from, like we said, we were talking about like she has, they have an image to uphold. Yeah. And,

not even that, but like their nails, they're like, they can't bite your nails because if you're signing autographs, like, and they look down and you have like a chewed on finger, that's gonna like ruin the image. And then when they go out in the public, they're supposed to be

something that they also talked about that was really interesting what they're not allowed to be touched like they're beautiful women and so they have a very strict rule that you cannot touch them and so when they're taking pictures they especially like with men they hand them a football to hold so then they're not even thinking about like putting their arm around them that is actually really interesting which i also respect too because it's like it's all about protecting these girls and like i don't know i just like i don't really care about football and

Truth to be told, I don't really care about cheerleading, but this documentary, I was like, wow, this is everything. Like, I loved it. Thank you to Skylight Calendar for sponsoring this portion of today's episode. The Mental Load of Pair

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I don't understand why they're not paid more though. I feel like they should be paid enough to where they don't have to work a job to pay their bills outside of cheerleading. They're holding them to such a high standard that

That it just, it blows my mind that they have to hold a job outside of it. I think they, I think there's a lot of value to it that's outside of like monetary for them. And I get that. It's like an honor. But do you know how much money is in the NFL? Do you know how much money these owners have? That's true. How much do those football players make? They can afford, and they pay the players very, very well. So they can afford to pay their cheerleaders more. Yeah, it's only 36 girls. How many guys are on the team?

And I'm not saying anything crazy. How many guys are on a football team? A lot. I don't even know. Like 100? Yeah.

I mean, like a full roster, not over. I'm going to definitely say this wrong, but I feel like they probably have 50 people per team. Like they have a deep bench. And then you have the guys that are like ready to step in. Well, that's the thing about the cheerleaders. There's no bench. Every single girl. There's 36 spots. There's 36 girls. That's what I'm saying. They need to pay them more. Also, hopefully we can manifest this into existence. But I think we might have...

some people from the show on the podcast. So stay tuned. I would die. Abby's obsessed with the show right now. So she's really hoping it works out. I love Reese so much. And Kelsey. Oh my gosh. Okay.

well justice for ari as a short girl dude i was pissed why did they cut ari i don't get it hauling she was making it i don't know i think other people were mad about ari too so sometimes you just don't make it i'm rooting for her i hope she makes it this year they're about to have training camp oh my gosh see that's the thing i just like i never even really cared that much about it but now i do care as a female how do you feel about her son being two years old now

It just keeps getting more and more fun. Like, while it hurts me that I'm like, we're experiencing days we're never going to get back with them, each day keeps getting freaking better. I'm going to cry because it's just so fun. And, like, we're planning his birthday, which I know he already had his birthday, and his birthday party is going to be, like, literally over a month after his birthday, but sometimes that happens. And now he just keeps getting more and more hype for it. It's just...

How do you feel about it? I just don't. You've been getting kind of moshi about it. I know. I just don't want him to grow up. Like, I love this age he's at right now. Yes. And it is so much fun. Just the way, like, he literally thinks I'm a superhero. Yeah. He literally thinks I'm the coolest person on this planet and I'm far from it. And yet he just, every time he sees me, he just screams, da, da, and just runs up to me and gives me a hug. Like, there's nothing better than getting our kids up in the morning because they're just so happy to see us.

We place these like blackout tents on top of our kids' cribs. That way they can sleep well and there's not a lot of noise and not a lot of light during their sleep. And we're the very first thing they see in the morning. When we unzip the tent and we're getting them out of bed, literally our face is the first thing they see. And so they are so excited. They're beaming. Like both of our kids will just start laughing. Start laughing when they see us because they're so happy. Just start cracking up. And...

Oh my gosh. It's just, it's the best way to start off your day. They are incredible. Augie was sitting on that high chair over there during lunch today and me and Griffin kept running over and giving him a kiss on the head and Augie was tipping his head so Griffin could kiss him on the head. And it was just like so sweet seeing them interact. Like it's been happening more and more. And that is like, there's something so rewarding about that. I was like, these are our two children and they love each other and they love us. And like, we love them. It's just, I like feel so happy.

complete and I don't I don't know if this is like I want to be mindful of people that are like struggling to build the family that they want and hope for someday and if that's you I like I really really am rooting for you and I hope you get there and I hope you get what you dream of for your family but I also can say as someone that's a mother like it is

Is everything and more than I thought it was going to be. Like I remember you telling me like Abby. Being a mom is not going to fix all your problems. And guess what? It has. I mean obviously no it hasn't fixed all my problems. But like wow. I just feel like. I always say this and it's just the best way I can describe it. Like my whole person was a puzzle. Being a mom was like a centerpiece of it. That like once you put that piece in it's like oh.

I can see everything so much clearer now. I don't know. That's so dramatic. My new favorite activity is putting Griffin on our bike and following the trash truck around in the neighborhood when they come to pick up trash. You would think that the trash truck guy is like a pop star or something. No, he-

Is Superman in our household? Yeah, I don't know. I mean, like in... The trash truck guy. In Griffin's mind, the coolest people in the world are his parents and the trash truck man. Yes. And the trash truck itself. The trash truck itself, yeah. Our friends for Griffin's birthday gave him a mini trash truck and he plays with that trash truck

at least an hour a day well you say many but it's actually huge and we still packed it in our suitcase we brought it with us because he loves it that much we only had two suitcases with personal items and that trash truck took up about 20% well I say it many because it's not a life-size trash truck but it's like but it's it's still big it's like I don't know probably a foot and a half oh yeah it's very big it's a really cool trash truck it is it makes sounds it says beep beep

And now I understand why people spend so much money on their kids because you love them so much. You just want to give them everything. Oh, I know. I'm like, oh, he shows any kind of interest? Yeah, I want to get you that. But then I'm like, no, probably shouldn't spoil him. Yeah. I'm beginning to understand now why...

unhealthy relationships develop between parents and kids where like parents spoil their kids and their kids can't do anything do anything for themselves because their parents do everything for them you know I can see that because like I love our kids so much I just want to help them and I just want to be there for them in everything and so it kind of it's clicked now like ah that's why these problems occur because out of love parents do all this stuff for their kids and it ends up hindering them in the long run yeah

Right. Like I just want to buy him all the trash trucks. Can we just let's just get him every single one. You know. Yeah. He know he has discovered that there's a store here in Franklin that we went we've been to a couple of times because it's just like downtown. It's really cute. But yeah they have a big basket of moon pies at

at the checkout area and we were there this week getting a gift for a birthday party this weekend for one of his like a little girl that's turning two and so we went to go get the gift we got her like a little tutu and a sticker book and he recognized the basket of moon pies and he knew that last time he squished one and therefore he got to eat it because i had to buy it so he squished it so he squished another oh my gosh i really think the whole thought process went through his head but i was like

Okay. Okay, let's talk about... I couldn't tell if he did it intentionally or if he just squeezed it because he was so excited. Okay. Did you give it to him though? Yeah, I did. Ooh, okay. Let's talk about this though because I feel like we're entering the stage where Griffin is self-aware. He knows what's going on. Yeah. He's still very young, so we have to be mindful of that. But like, I don't want to just give him everything he wants. For sure. No, no, no. I don't either. I just...

Like I do, but I don't because I don't want to turn him into a spoiled brat. I try to look at like what is his heart behind what he did. Yeah. And in my mind in that situation, I was like, he was excited and he squeezed it. Like it could have been as simple as that. And it really wasn't a big deal in the grand scheme of things in my mind. So I was like, oh, it's fine. But like when he does things like recently with him, when he gets really worked up, which

which doesn't really, he's a good kid. He doesn't like throw a lot of tantrums, but if he's starting to get frustrated or like doesn't want to share, I just ask him, I'm like, do you want to take a break? And I kind of leave it in his hands and he, he doesn't view it as a negative thing.

And so he just views it as a time to like be away from wherever he's at. It'd be a new situation, be in a new setting and kind of calm down. And so he'll be saying, yeah, bake, give him some, you just give him some grapes, you know, like yesterday, yesterday and had some grapes. He ate like a whole entire container of grapes during his break yesterday. I think he's at an age right now where this will always be the appropriate reaction. But right now he's at an age where I think distraction is a good reaction because, um,

Like it's really not as serious as it feels. It's not like everything needs to be a learning lesson. They're already learning so much in their day. It's more just like we just need to get our mind off of it and then we'll move on. Whereas like down the line, that probably won't be my first response. My big thing is I just don't want to reward tantrums. Like if he's throwing a tantrum to get something that he wants, I want to be very careful for him to know that that doesn't work. Yeah. Right. That's a good point.

There are circumstances where, okay, maybe he's throwing a tantrum because he's actually like something's wrong. Or maybe we could have been more mindful of Griffin and his feelings and stuff. But I just want to be really careful with the tantrum thing because, I don't know, you see kids that, again, their parents out of love, care about them so much, they just want to do whatever their kid wants.

But then you end up creating this little monster that just knows if they freak out and scream and yell, they'll get anything. Well, I think also, yes, I totally agree. And I have definitely been known to just give him what he wants, which I'm working against because it's hard for him to know though. And I think like with things, communication, just like we want communication, they want communication too. And so I'll give him warnings. I'll be like, okay, like we're about to be home. Whenever we're home, this is going to happen. And like,

I'm like, oh, we don't do this at this time. Like things like that. I don't know. I can't think of a great, great example, but like just communicating with him. So then he's not caught off guard and then like frustrated that something's not happening that he wishes was happening. That makes sense. Yeah. I'm not an expert parent or I'm trying to work on it. I, in my mind he can do no wrong. So I'm like, no, no,

I think that's your problem. Yeah, that's my problem. Are we getting rid of binkies pretty soon? What do you think about that? Because he's two, right? So like once you're two, it's kind of time to get rid of them. I mean, he only has them at nap and bedtime. Yeah. So it's not like serious, serious. But I was thinking I was going to have a conversation with his pediatrician at his two-year appointment. So when we get home.

We need to buy him a new toothbrush because his electric one got lost somehow. And I feel like it cleanses. You left it at a hotel. That's what happened. Yeah, I probably did do that. But I think the electric one cleans his teeth so much better. And that kid does not. We need to brush Augie's teeth, Matt. Oh, frick. We have not been doing that. Yeah, he definitely needs those teeth brushed for sure. Yeah.

Oh my gosh. I can't believe it. He's almost one too. It's funny. Their birthday parties are literally going to be a week apart. They're almost the same size. What do you think? Yeah, they are. They look like twins. What do you think about combined birthday parties?

I don't have a problem with it. I think that's a cool concept, especially when your kids are little. They have no idea what's going on. Yeah. Okay. Yes. Once again, when they have no idea what's going on, I understand that. But I go back and forth because I'm like combined birthday parties, you can go more over the top because it's for both of them rather than splitting it between two. But then I'm also like the whole point of a birthday party is that they have a celebration that's special just for them. Yeah. Yeah.

So then I'm like, I go back and forth like what we'll do because their birthdays are a month apart basically. Yeah. I think right now we should combine the parties because it just, it's easier for family to be there, for friends to be there. That's true. But as they get older, like maybe by the time Griffin is five, I think he would love to have his own, you know? Well, he's having his own this year. Oh, that one's not combined. I thought it was like a combined thing. No, we're doing a family one for Augie the week after. Oh, okay. Yeah.

I mean, here's the thing. I think first birthday is like, go over the top if you want. For our family, what works the best is just doing a small one because, I mean, they are turning one. Like, they can't party very hardy. And so...

But like with Griffin, we had a small first birthday, smallish. And then for a second, we like had learned his personality by then. I was like, this dude is a social butterfly. He loves a good party. He loves having people over. So that's why I was like, we'll go over the top for the second. But maybe down the line, we'll combine them. Who knows? I can't wait to see Augie's little personality develop more. He just seems to be so like hammy, like laid back.

He has the best laugh ever. It's funny that he is eating more food now than Griffin. I know, which is like what Griffin did at this age, though. Griffin used to eat whole turkey burgers. Remember? He's growing like a weed. So he just needs the fuel. And Griffin is just like refusing. Like he'll take one bite of his dinner now and then we'll have to give him a bottle of milk before bed because he does not have a bottle. Let's get that. Oh, sorry. A cup of milk, not a bottle, a cup of milk.

Yeah. Crazy. And Augie is now, by the way, in case you guys didn't know this, is now drinking cow's milk because our pediatrician said that at 11 months we could give him cow's milk. I know. That's probably something that's going to get...

People riled up, but... Oh, really? I don't know. That's literally what our doctor told us to do. I don't know. People really care about milk. I think he's doing fine. I think there's a huge group of people that just don't even think anyone should drink cow's milk. Really? There's a lot of people that think that. But I mean, we're Midwest raised. We love our milk. Yeah. I don't think we should mistreat animals, but I don't think there's anything wrong with drinking a cow's milk. Oh, no. I don't think it's related to that. I think it's related to health. Thank you to HIA for sponsoring this portion of today's episode. We've got a two-year-old!

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fun tradition for them in the mornings. Plus, they taste delicious. What's nice about Haya is you don't have to be worried about there being all these sugars and added ingredients into the gummies. Most gummies have five grams of sugar. That is crazy. That's so much sugar, especially for a little kid. Especially when

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Abby potentially could be in a movie at some point. No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Abby just submitted her first audition last night for a role in a movie. How do you feel? I was really impressed. It was impulsive. Dude, you memorized your lines so fast. I would have needed at least quadruple the time to memorize those lines. I suck at memorizing lines. I'm so bad at it. I'm so impressed with you and how you did that. Well, thank you. I hope you get the part.

I'm not going to. I think you have a chance of getting it. You're such a hype man. I think you're a really good actress. Like, I think they would be stupid not to choose you. Matt, you're crazy. I'm sure a million people submitted for this. And honestly, for us, it was, for me, it was impulsive. Like, it was like, okay, I'm so tired of just like,

There's just something about me that was like, this is the right timing. Like, boom, just start. I love that you're doing something for yourself though, which like, look, nothing wrong at all. Like if doing something for yourself is just fully embracing motherhood and not trying to do any business things outside of that and just fully being a stay at home mom, that is so cool. And I respect that. But

I love that like little Abby who wanted to be an actress is now as a mom who's 25 years old submitting auditions for movies, which is so freaking sick. Thank you. Whether or not you get the part, like I just think it's cool that you're actually doing it. I'm definitely not going to get the part, but it was the whole premise of like, I just want to do something that is like a passion outside of motherhood. I didn't feel like I had the capacity for it until like literally this month.

when I was pregnant and then obviously with two really young babies, I was like, there's just no way. It's not important to me right now. I can't even think about something like that. But then now, I just feel really like in a place where I can have margin to just make it a hobby. That's realistically what it's gonna be is a hobby. There's no way this is gonna be like, there's no way I'm willing, first of all,

I doubt that people would want to hire me in large capacity. I disagree. I think you're a very good actor. Secondly, I'm not trying to knock myself down, but I'm just trying to be realistic. And secondly, I'm not willing to sacrifice what that would take. But...

I think it'd be really cool to have a hobby, but most importantly, I want my boys to look at their mom and say, wow, my mom is a woman that has passions. She, well, first and foremost, she loves me and her main passion and priority in her life is her family, us and their dad and our dad. But secondly, that she, you know, is willing to take a risk. She's willing to put herself out there and she's willing to pursue her talents, which is all things that I want my kids to do. So then I was like,

want them to do these things that I need to model that behavior and obviously there's a time and a place for it and we're finally getting to like a stage where I feel like I am able to some moms probably would not feel this way you know

they would feel this way sooner they'd feel this way later who knows but like this felt like a good time for me and it just felt impulsive to just send it I feel like I checked off the box just by submitting the audition like it's not about getting the part it's not about like getting validation from any casting agency or anything like that it's really just about doing it and I did it yeah and I think if you have fun and I don't think it was good

I think you did great. I did a horrible job reading the lines. Oh my gosh. I was like messing up every word. It was also midnight. I was like holding an iPhone like this at like midnight and recording Abby. And I'm like holding the script in my other hand, reading the lines for her. And I'm just botching every line. But you did great. It was so nice that you were willing to do that. You were so encouraging too. Thank you. Hopefully my horrible performance made you look even better. They're like, gosh, whoever was reading the lines for Abby, like behind the camera sucks. Yeah.

And she's amazing. Like, I hope that's what they think. And then you'll just get the job. But okay. What I wanted to tell you though, is no matter how successful you are in any industry at all, there's going to be someone better than you and crushing it more than you. And it's crazy to me how like, especially right. I've been, I've written like 10 songs here in Nashville. I'm not going to put them all out, but I'm picking out which ones I think are the best to release on Spotify. Um, as I build out my music catalog. Um,

But what's crazy is like I've worked with some artists and producers and songwriters who are like really, really talented. But then we'll get in these deep combos and they're like, yeah, I don't feel – I feel like I'm like failing. I feel like I'm not doing the best. And I'm like, oh my gosh. Like if someone –

if someone else like looked at you and saw how you're crushing it, like you had like say someone the other day, by the way, who was telling me this has half a million monthly listeners on Spotify. I was like, dude, you don't realize how many people are looking at you and wishing that they were in your shoes. Right. And so I think you just have to be thankful no matter what stage you're in, no matter what your life looks like in its current moment. Cause like there's someone who's looking at you as that person of, Oh, I just wish I was them.

And I think you got to be thankful for what you have because there's always going to be someone who has it better than you. So just like be thankful with your circumstances. And I think, I think like in your case, that means you,

if you're having fun just doing these auditions, keep doing them. And then maybe you actually land one of the roles, which I think I truly believe you will. And just like, enjoy it. Right. That's how I feel. I feel like I, there's nothing about me that is like desperate about this. Like it's really just not because I think that I'm going to just get so much work. It's just not, it's not that at all. It's really just that, like I,

I am fully content with my life currently, but I just feel like this would just be a fun hobby to pursue. And I'm proud of myself for doing it because I think that the older you get, the more like, I don't know, established in life, I guess, which I'm meaning that being like, okay,

okay, we have our career now. We have our family. We have, you know, the harder it is to want to step outside that and put yourself out there. And for me, like I kind of use our family as like a safety umbrella. Like anything that was like me as an individual was not, I want to say scary, but like it was slightly intimidating. Whereas like I was like so comfortable in this role. So anyway, it was just...

If you're a mom out there that just feels like guilty, I guess, about wanting to do something beyond the home or your family, which you shouldn't and you know that. But just know that I'm also saying that you shouldn't. I don't know. That I'm also doing something for myself. I'm really glad that you are. And we submitted it at midnight and it really wasn't good, but I just did it. I think it was good. I think you did great. And I think they'd be stupid not to hire you. You are crazy. They should at least give you a call back. You are crazy.

It's all I'm saying. I'm literally expecting nothing. Isn't it fun though? I'm expecting crickets from this team. Okay. What's so interesting about you... Okay. Yeah. Like luckily you're not reliant on acting to pay your bills. Oh yeah. Also that comes from a place of privilege, of course. Yeah. You're very lucky. And I think...

like no matter what industry you're in, like if you're in a creative job, there's a lot of people that do theater because they love theater, but they also have to do commercials and all these things in film just to pay their bills because theater does not pay that well. There's not that much money in theater. And so I don't know. I think it's like, it's cool that you can do this more of like as a passion project. And for sure, I think like,

That that's just like a really neat place to be. Well, and I gave it up for the past like six years. Like we went to college for this at one point. And then like as soon as I realized that it wasn't going to be in the best interest of the family that we envisioned for ourselves, I was like, no, it wasn't like I was even sad about it. It was an easy thing to be like, OK, yeah, no, it's good. It's a no for me. It's not worth it.

And I was fine with that. I was comfortable with that. But then now that it's not a place where it's like, this is, this is, I need this to keep the lights on or to, you know, take care of my family. Then it's like a lot more comfortable place to be. I shared some demos with you the other day of music I've been working on recently while we've been in Nashville. I'm curious of the demos I showed you, which, which song to you is your favorite? You know, that's what I'm going to say. The one about the,

being our kid's hero. Yes. First of all, I love the concept of it, but then I also love the folky sound because you've never done one like that. Thank you. Yeah, I'm diving a little bit more into folk these days. Noah Khan is like a really big artist right now and I feel like because of Noah-

Everyone is like, wait, folk music is freaking awesome. And so now there's this explosion of all these new folk songs coming out. Stargazing by Miles Smith is a huge song. It's always been out. I think now people are just letting it get popular. I feel like Johnny Swim has always been folk. True. And I've always loved Johnny Swim.

But I've been doing some more folk, which has been fun. But yeah, I guess what Abby's saying is I wrote this song the other day about coming clean to our son that I'm actually not a superhero. I'm just a guy. It's so cute. I'm literally just a dude. But when you're a kid, you think your dad is Superman. No, you are their Superman. Which is wild.

So wild. But I love that. I think this song could be fun to market though. I kind of envision myself in like a cape with maybe a superhero like mask on or something. And I'm just like singing this song. I love it. Which I think is. I'll be your hero while I can. And I whistle in it too. I didn't realize this. Not everybody can whistle. Like I thought. I can't. This is me whistling. Oh, what? Good job. I can't do a pitch though. That's really good. Oh, see, it's gone now. My whistler is broken again. Oh.

you know my grandpa used to whistle a lot so that's who I learned to whistle from but yeah I'm like whistling in the songs and stuff I don't know my mouth doesn't do that I think you're I think that was pretty impressive

I don't get it. Do you know what's blown my mind recently, Abby? What? So I wrote some music with somebody the other day and all they had to make music was their computer, a microphone, and a guitar. That is literally it. I love that. It was eye-opening because I think like when you conceptualize, oh man, I wish I could make freaking awesome songs like...

all these big artists and their music is amazing. And you don't think about how modern music is made and it's truly like on a computer. And they didn't even have treatment in the rooms. There was no noise canceling panels. I didn't even know that existed. What do you mean? Treatment on the walls. Like, you know, if you go to a studio, how they have all this stuff on the walls, like paneling to make sure there's no echo to make sure the sound is perfect.

They just had an SM7B, which is the mic that we're talking on. SM7B. This is an SM7B, the microphone we're recording for our podcast. This is like a nice microphone though. It is a good microphone, but it's nothing crazy fancy though. Because you just think of people having this crazy fancy equipment. And this person's music is really, really good. And I was hyped to be writing a song with them.

And it just kind of opened my eyes to how music is evolving these days. There's so many like big labels who are pushing the biggest artists out there and pushing all these songs to be popularized. But then you have all these like indie artists and all these independent artists who just have their computer and a mic and that's it. And I thought that was just like really inspiring how you don't have to have that much. You don't have to have some big fancy setup to make good music.

And we wrote a song together and I'm stoked. I think it's a good one. I'm proud of you. Thank you. Wait, you're actually proud of me? Yeah. Really? You didn't know that? Like, why though? Like, in what way? Because we've come here and you've filled your time doing exactly what you said you were going to do. And I know it's hard for you to sacrifice what you're already working on to like pursue something new and it's scary to go into a new area. Yeah.

And you've like really dove in and you've remained strong and it hasn't been easy and you've continued. And I feel like 99% of people would have quit by now. Thanks. And 99% of people have quit. You have resilience. Thank you. And you have real talent and you're creative and you're freaking smart. I'm really, really excited for the new music that's coming out. And I've been really enjoying being here because I think

like flying into Nashville just for a day to record has like hindered the, my growth, I think with, with the music and with what I've been able to do. So just being here and having a full month to really just write a ton and record a ton. And you did it. You seized the opportunity really well. Thanks. I've, I've been like so thankful to have that. So it's cool to like be here while you're doing that too, because even though I'm not like in the room with you, I'm like, I appreciate what a creative commitment it is.

Can I just say something? I think I just want to ask everybody listening right now. It doesn't even have to be me because I don't even care. Like,

I only only listen to my music if you actually want to listen to it but like go whenever you're listening to music go like try to find an independent artist or try to go find somebody that's like new that doesn't have over a million monthly listeners on Spotify and try them out like try just listen to their catalog listen to their stuff because how do you find them um I feel like discoverability is hard for a new artist it really is honestly tiktok

And Instagram reels. Like when I find people that come up on my feed, I go stream their stuff because I'm like, I think it's so cool that they're pursuing their passion. And if they have a good song, I'm like, good for you. You might not be some big artist with a big label behind you, but...

really working hard to pursue your dream. So I've been listening to a lot more independent artists recently and a lot more smaller artists. And sure, sometimes can the quality of the music not be as strong? Sometimes, yeah, that's true. Because, you know, if you don't have the luxury of all this money from a label backing you to make everything top of the top of the top, sure, sometimes the quality won't be there. But I think you'd be shocked at like how many amazing songs there are coming from people that have, you

even less than 100,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. It's really cool how much talent there is out there. And I don't know, I think there's just so much

and recognition for all the people at the top of the top. But I think it's important to go focus on the little guys. It's kind of like shopping in a small business, you know? Like sure, can you get something cheaper at Walmart? Yeah. But you want to support local because you're actually helping an individual out rather than a corporation. Right. Yeah. So anyway, that was just kind of like a little PSA I wanted to say. You want to shout out a small artist you've been listening to?

You guys should go check out Jake Clark. He's a friend of mine. His music's actually really good. He has 120,000 monthly listeners, but he deserves a lot more. His music's really good. Oh, yeah. Jake Clark. Listen to Give You Away by Jake Clark. Oh, that one's so good. Song is a freaking banger. Okay? That was a good little shout out there. Yeah. Support the little guys. Right.

Since we've been here in Nashville for a month, almost, a question we get asked a lot, or I don't know if you've been asked this, but like, will you move to Nashville? Are you thinking about moving to Nashville? To be completely transparent, more than ever, I've actually thought of that myself because I do actually like it here a lot. Like I do love the people here.

It's kind of like you get a good mix of, you know, small town vibes, but then you have the city, which is so full of life and there's so much to do. And then especially as someone who's pursuing music and releasing music consistently, it's cool to be around a lot of other people that are doing the same thing. But I don't think we'll, at least for the future, I don't think we'd ever have, we'd ever like leave Phoenix, right? I would never say never. I think that...

Pretty soon, I would want to be stable for while our kids are in the house. Yeah. Unless something happens. Obviously, life circumstances happen that you don't foresee. But the goal would be to have kids raised in one area. I think that's just better for them. If possible. Yeah.

As far as that place being Nashville, I don't think so. Just because we don't have family here and we have family in Arizona now. And that's ultimately the most important thing in our book. So as far as like making frequent trips here, oh yeah. Especially for your music.

Something though that I love about the state of Tennessee is there's no state income taxes. That's true. Same thing with Texas. Same thing with Nevada. I believe Wyoming has no state income taxes. But don't people always say they make up for other places? I do think the property taxes here are higher than they are in Arizona. Yeah. But...

Yeah. I mean, like, we wouldn't have to necessarily own property here, right? We could always, like, rent something. I am a fan of buying. I think, like, if you're going to live somewhere, you should, you know, probably lean in the direction of buying because you can build up equity. What if you just had, like, a...

We can talk about this off camera. Never mind. Yeah, we'll talk about that off camera. But yeah, I think, okay, people have been confused though. A lot of our friends have been like, wait, okay, you're going to Nashville all the time. You guys are there for a whole month. You've been talking about moving. Oh, so you're moving to Nashville. The answer is no. We're not actually like moving to Nashville, moving, moving there. But-

I do see ourselves taking extended trips here like we have been. Oh, yeah. Because we do like it here. It's an awesome area. I just don't want to be here in the wintertime. Yeah. The thing is like... I hate winter. We do live in Phoenix and we are going to leave the city of Phoenix at some point, probably this year. But...

We're not like leaving the general area. Like we're still going to stay in that general city limit, right? Um, yeah, it's not like we're like moving states. People, people, when we, when we said we were moving out of Phoenix, people thought we were like literally like moving States. No, no, no. Yeah. Moving to a different city in Arizona. That's close to Phoenix. Exactly. Um,

Yeah, but not to Franklin or not to Nashville. I think that this is a lovely area. And if we had family here and if we had roots here, then it would be a no brainer. We would be here. But, um,

I think it's just a great place to visit now. And we've had an awesome summer here with this house and meeting new friends and revisiting older friends. Like, it's been dreamy, to say the least. This town is so sweet. Like, the little parade and the shops and the restaurants. It's been incredible. And I feel like people are very warm and friendly here. So, maybe someday. Who knows? How do you feel...

Now that we've had, your parents have lived with us for over a year now. I know. How do you feel about that being a long-term thing? You know, I feel like it's one of those things where you cannot understand unless you're

you were in our family, you had this same house set up and you had the same relationship with your parents or if you had the same relationship with your in-laws and they had the same boundaries. You just don't know what you don't know. And I wouldn't have even thought this a year ago, but it's wonderful. Like we love, I like love it. And, um, I just have so much respect for my parents and yeah, I love living with them. And I was,

I would live with so many people though. That's the thing. Like I have, I was always one that like loved cohabitating. Like it, it's just comes naturally to me. I don't have like, would you say I like have a strict way of like living that really? Yeah. I feel like we're both flexible people. We are very flexible. I legit, like, wouldn't it be fun to like make a commune? Yeah. Like let's have,

Everyone move in. I just... I love having people around. It just keeps things so happy and alive. So joyful. And there's always someone to talk to, right? Like, you go to do something down in the kitchen. You're like, I want to go grab coffee. Can I... Does someone want to hop in with me? Yes. Like, I'm going to go to the grocery store. Like, it's just...

I love being around people and it's just my personality and obviously that's not to say like sometimes I'm very like I need to be alone and that's the thing that's great about my parents and great around with everyone that like lives with us which is just our parents and you but like I can say hey I need alone time right now and it's totally respected yeah I don't think people realize this we have this conversation probably bi-weekly with them where it's like are you still happy and comfortable with this or is there like and then they ask

us are like only if you're still happy it's like it's always revisited and it's just so happy in this house our house is full and I love a full house yeah and it's sweet and it's precious and I feel like more than anything I'm so grateful that our kids are like raised where they just feel

like if they had a word to describe their childhood, I think they would say it felt safe because there's just so many people that love and care for them surrounding them at all times. Yeah. I love that. And I kind of was raised like that. I was very, very, very, very close to my grandparents. Still am. Obviously we lost...

And that was like really hard. And it's because we were so close. Like they were like another, I want to say parent, but they were a grandparent, but they were a parent that a grandparent that was there as much as my parents. And so, yeah, it's just so, it shaped me in so many ways. And I'm grateful that my kids can have that same relationship with their grandparents, your parents too. They're so close with them. Griffin talks about them all the time. We FaceTime, send pictures, talk to them about, we talk about them a lot.

And they just love, they love their family. It's been sweet while we've been here since the drive isn't very far from Nashville to St. Louis. My parents have been popping in, like hanging out with us and being with the kids. And your mom brought the grandmas. Yeah. The great grandmas. That's, that's happening too. By the time you guys are listening to this, we're going to have every single grandma over at our house or over here. I guess your grandma who's in Arizona isn't going to be here, but

A lot of grandmas and great grandmas here coming to see our kids, which is just so, so cool. I love it. Actually, it's funny because growing up, I didn't really know my grandparents that well, but I knew my great grandparents pretty well. And I love that our kids have both. Very thankful for that. Oh, it's going to make me cry. Yeah. It's cool, right? Well, it's just going to make me cry because people that aren't here, but I don't want to think like that. Yeah. That is sad. That's the thing about grief. It just pops up.

Yeah. I'm sorry. Yeah, it recently popped up because I was going through old photos and I saw so many old photos and videos of me FaceTiming Popoff. And it was like they were like frozen in time. It was like I could almost pretend like I was currently FaceTiming him.

It's so weird in a modern era with our phones and our phone videos. Cause like when you see pictures and videos, like even looking at the videos from our wedding with both your grandpas there, it really felt like they were still here. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I literally still haven't deleted my text conversation with Papa because it just feels like in a way I can pretend that he'll respond. I don't know. Why is this episode going to this? We got to end it. Sorry that you're sad. I'm okay.

I'll be okay. I don't need another episode of me crying. You haven't been crying very much. I know. Actually, I've been the one crying more. Yeah. Recently. Because we've been watching a lot of Disney movies. And now that I'm a dad, stuff gets to me. Yeah. Like the movie Coco. My dad...

was watching Coco with me and Griffin when he was visiting. And my dad was shocked that I bawled my eyes out during that movie. And I was shocked too. I did not expect it. It like, it was the scene where Coco's dad is singing to her and saying, like saying, remember me. And he's going back on the road to pursue music. And, you know, cause he's in the movie. Coco's dad is a singer, songwriter, performer.

And he loves his daughter so much. Wait, why did I think Coco was a boy? Coco's actually, it's Grandma Coco. So the main character's grandma, that, yeah, that's Coco. And then Coco's dad is the one who's like a really pivotal role in the show. I don't want to spoil the movie Coco because it's one of my favorite Disney movies. But yeah, bawled my eyes out because I just like, I could so relate. But you didn't cry during Inside Out 2. I didn't cry during Inside Out 2. I don't.

didn't cry I didn't even feel tempted to cry during that one that movie was really good it was amazing though but it didn't it didn't strike the same chord that Coco did and I think the reason Coco did is because Coco when you see her dad singing to her she's like this little girl who's like Griffin's age and I just like I could just see me me and Griffin in that moment and I just like melted right there so yeah now two freaking Pixar movies have made me cry up and

That was like a year ago. That's a train wreck of a movie. Bald my eyes out. Well, in the sense of emotions. Yeah. Didn't even cry the first few times I saw that movie. But now that I'm married, that movie made me cry. And now that I'm a father, Coco made me cry. Disney does differently. Well, thank you guys for watching.

stay in tune with her podcast we really appreciate that you're here if you haven't already left a comment or left us a review for the podcast it really means a lot we're so thankful that you're here with us each and every week it wouldn't be possible without you so thank you for being here and as always three two one peace out dudes