The Nick Bare Podcast - 192: Stef and I Answer Your Questions (Marriage, Social Life, Parenting & More)

Episode Date: September 21, 2026

Stef joins me again to talk about marriage, faith, family, community, and the season we’re currently walking through. We unpack how following Christ has changed our relationship, what we’re learning about love and respect, why we’re craving deeper community, our desire to move back to Tennessee, and learning to fear God over people.CHAPTERS:00:00 Intro00:50 US Open Tennis Obsession04:10 Kids, Cookies & Family Routines06:56 The Sweet Treat Debate11:16 How Faith Changed Our Marriage17:51 Love Languages, Love & Respect24:49 Our Current Social Life in Texas30:19 Why We’re Craving Real Community31:38 The Tradeoffs of This Season33:25 Brotherhood, Friendship & Accountability37:09 Why We’re Moving Back to Tennessee40:09 Our Favorite Memories Together50:56 Our BPN Supplement Staples56:19 Fearing God Instead of People01:03:58 ClosingJOIN THE APP AND GET READY FOR UPDATEShttps://www.nickbarefitness.app/ORDER MY BOOK HERE: ⁠https://www.amazon.com/Go-One-More-Intentional-Life-Changing/dp/1637746210FOLLOW:Become a BPN member FOR FREE - Unlock 25% off FOR LIFE ⁠https://www.bareperformancenutrition.com/collections/performance-nutritionIG: ⁠instagram.com/nickbarefitness/⁠YT: ⁠youtube.com/@nickbarefitnessThis podcast is for informational purposes only and should not be considered legal [health or profession] advice. Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN) is not responsible for any losses, damages, or liabilities that may arise from the use of this podcast. This podcast is not intended to replace professional medical advice.This podcast may not be republished without the written consent of Bare Performance Nutrition (BPN)

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to another episode of the podcast. Today, returning guest, my wife, Steph Bear. Hello. Caviar Cowboy. That's what your hat says. Yeah. You have good taste. What does that mean?

You know, everyone always asks me when I have this hat on and it's just a brand. Because it's typically cowboy caviar, right? The dip that you make. What does it say? Caviar Cowboy. Oh, yeah. Yeah, it's just a brand. Fun little brand.

Their hats are great. You have good taste. Good structure, right amount of trucker, snap back. All right. I like it. Thank you. Thanks for having me back. Thank you for making the time.

All right, first day I want to talk about U.S. Open. Tell me about it. You didn't see that one coming. Didn't add that one to the notes that I shared with you. I am in the world of the U.S. open. Oh, I know. I know. I've been going to bed alone lately. Last night I feel, last night I was like, maybe this is what it feels like in a marriage when the man loves sports and the wife just wants attention. Yeah, we had a little tiff last night. But reverse. Because I was laying in bed

waiting to go to bed with my wife and you're out on the couch watching tennis. Yeah, I can't explain the obsession. You got to admit, though, you sat for a little bit yesterday. I mean, that girl is a tank. Which one? Arena. Yeah. Yeah. Animal. It was just good timing because I've been sick.

So I've been on the couch lot and I just, it just so happened to be on. And this just so happened to be the first year that I am a tennis player. And man, it is addicting. Like, I love sports. I love watching sports. That makes one of us. it does but someone's got to do it but i mean i just i love a cultural moment when everyone can come together i love the stories of each players their their personalities and then the tennis is just

so high level you cannot even comprehend it it is so fun to watch and i've learned a lot about because the scoring of tennis is very complicated as a beginner like myself and it's really taught me a lot so i am ready to get back on the court it's been two and a half weeks you're playing today, right? I'm going to go and support my friends. We'll see. I might throw a few serves. Steph is recovering from pneumonia. Yeah. Right now.

Yeah. We had a crazy month of travel in August. We all got sick. And then pneumonia. Yeah. So the whole family's in recovery right now. I don't like regular season, sports, but I have a growing appreciation for the U.S. Open, World Cup.

Yeah. Masters. Kentucky Derby. Never watched shit, but I want to go. What do you talk about the Masters? You didn't watch the Masters this year. I didn't watch the Masters, but I have an appreciation for the Masters. Because there moments.

I would like to be there. Yes. Yeah. And next year we're going to the U.S. Open. Yes. We have to. I find interest in like these celebrations of the elite of the elite throwing down at the best of the best. Yeah.

But I don't. I don't find interest in regular season stuff. No, I get that. Like, football is on every week. It's kind of anticlimatic until the end. But when you have, like, tournament-style events, like, you know, the U.S. Open, it is exciting. It is so exciting. I can see why people gamble.

Maybe you should get into sport betting. No, no, no. I just, I love it. I love it. I just, and last night. That could be your new hobby. Maybe that's your gift. Sport betting?

Sport betting. Nah, it doesn't sound like a very holy habit. What's cool, though, that I've noticed is like our kids are excited about whatever we're excited about. So now it's like, I guess, you know, and I was like showing you like the stance they all do when they're waiting to return. And then like Nico was doing it. The kids are sitting down on the couch with me and they just get excited because number one, they were just able to stay up late. But it's just cute how they enter whatever world you're in. They were probably waiting for cookies, too.

Yeah. Because there's a routine of when you guys watch shows or TV on the couch, there are cookies associated with it. Dancing with the stars starts next week. It's like training dogs. We got to get you on dancing with the stars. Like actually dancing. I would lose my mind. I would move the whole family to Los Angeles.

That can be great for the brand. If anyone watching or listening to this episode or now has a connection to dancing with the stars. I love you, honey. I don't know if you've reached that level of startup. Although there's a lot of people I don't know on this season. If anyone has the pool or connection. Oh my God. I'm not saying I'm a star,

but I'm just a guy who wants to be a performer. I think they should do a dancing with the influencer season. Then you would be. I don't, I'm not an influencer. Okay, but like you are. Dancing with the entrepreneurs. Sure. How about that?

Oh, but man, I would put you with. I put you with Emma because she's goofy. She's always with like the fat guys. That's one of the most offensive things you've ever said to me. No, because you need someone that will make it fun and they don't care about winning. Because I just don't think you'd be that gifted. I'm just going to stop. That comment right there is in line of what you told me before my birthday.

Before my birthday, Steph made a plan to take the family to Florida. We went back to Seaside and she said, we'll celebrate you and Nico's birthday in Florida. I didn't say that. Because both you and Nico don't have friends. No, I said, Nico doesn't have friends yet. I said, I did not say you. I did not say you. You told that story to a lot of people and I'm just letting it go. I did not say that. I rebuke that. So now I'm fat and friendless. Beautiful. Anywho, U.S. Open. What a time. Linal's are this weekend. So I need you to put the kids, you know, take on bath and bedtime.

Fine. All right. Anyway, anyway. That was our opener. No pun intended. True. The opener with the U.S. Open. Yeah.

And now we're moving into some question and answers. We opened up on Instagram yesterday. Some great questions, actually. Some different questions. Let's actually start with another icebreaker before we get in some meteor topics. Okay. Your favorite sweet treat. I was thinking about this last night, actually.

I was thinking, I think they asked, here we go, talking about the U.S. Open again. They asked Arina, like, what do you do to prepare for the final? Do you have any routines? And she says she goes to this, like, restaurant or something. I don't know. And I was thinking, like, if I just won the U.S. Open, Like, what would I want to celebrate? I can tell you exactly what I'd want, but go ahead.

Well, you go first. No, you go first. Okay. What I would want, if we're talking like a sweet treat, I would just want like a skillet cookie with a scoop of cold vanilla ice cream on top. That's what I want. I love a chocolate chip cookie, a simple, got to have a little sea salt on there, but it's something about a skillet cookie that you can just like share with people.

And it's like so warm in the skillet, that's what I would want. That's how I would celebrate. I would actually celebrate with something not sweet, but I will then get into my sweet treat. Okay. I would celebrate the U.S. Open if I want with, I'd want someone to take a big bone-in ribby steak and multiple of them, like three of them, and then cook them over an oak flame. but I'd want them to cut them where it's just the bone and like an inch and a half

of meat off the bone and I'd want to eat them like chicken wings. Okay. Like the meat off the bone like multiple of them. Yep. What's the drink at the U.S. Open again?

Honeydew. So it's like, they spell it like dew like deuce. So it's cute. And the little honey dew, they're like little honey dew melon balls like tennis balls in the drink. I don't know what the liquor is though.

The drink of the U.S. Open. Maybe we should make them this. can. Maybe we should. Maybe we won't. My favorite sweet treat. So I'm not a huge sweet person, as you know. You're not. Like my morning protein shake is sweet enough for me to curb that craving. Or figs. Or dried figs, yeah. Yeah. That's like perfect sweet for me. You know, like at night when I eat my Greek yogurt, I put cacao nibs on it. You're plain sour. It's sour. It's sour. cream with plain Greek yogurt with cacao nibs. But there are two desserts that I enjoy that we get when we go to dinner.

Yeah. One, the sticky toffee date pudding from peacock. Goaded. Mediterranean restaurant in the proper hotel in Austin, Texas. That comes in a skillet. That's incredible. Yes. Whenever you and I go for date night there, we finish that off.

Yeah. And I think the first time we went, he was like, they pushed that. on you. Like they push that dessert on you. They're like people come here just for this or they come and get takeout just for this. Although I feel like it would not be good takeout. It's got like a gold flake on top. So good. I don't know what it is. Yeah. And the second sweet treat is the milk and cereal dessert from Uchiko. Yeah. Really good. Really unique. Yeah. So those are if I needed or wanted a sweet treat, that's what I'd be pulled to. Yeah.

But on a daily, something with chocolate protein powder, dried figs, some honey, fowal nibs, that's enough for me. Yeah. I find myself, when I don't have sweets, I don't care about them. I don't crave them. But as Dancing with Star season is approaching, I promise Charlie a cookie every time we watch it, that's when I'm like, I want a cookie, you know? It is very, very true. If you eliminate sweet treats, you just don't really care about them.

So if you make your diet boring, it's easier to stick to your diet. Absolutely. Absolutely. All right, let's dive into some of these questions. Okay. Question number one, how has your family and marriage changed since committing your life to following Christ? I'll let you dive in first. Okay. It's completely changed. I would say, that it's a, it changed everything. It's a different marriage completely. It's, it actually stands on something and stands for something. I look back at our marriage before we were committed to Christ together and it just seems like silly to me. It doesn't even, it seems like, I don't even know, it's very hard to express like in words. It's just a feeling, but, but,

I can't even remember what it feels like to not have Christ at the center and be our foundation. I'm just even confused. I'm confused what our marriage was even built on before. I know that's not articulated in the best way, but it really is just like a feeling in my heart. But it's completely different. I feel like we have reached a different level of team and unity. And I think it's in Genesis right off the bat. he talks about being one flesh

and that is what that's what happened to us like we have the same convictions we have this we live by the same truth same standard we believe in the same things

and what we might have it's like it it just it's confident if that makes sense it's very confident it's building in marriage it's built on a unified rock

as opposed to I think before like you had your morals, beliefs, and values. I had my morals, beliefs, and values. They weren't one. Right. We weren't unified.

And we were truly living for the world. Yeah. Like what the world said we should chase and strive for, we were pursuing those things. We were building a life that the world and society said was a good life. Yeah. And like some of the things I wrote down

as notes for this question there's now a different level of peace, joy and satisfaction that we didn't have before and there's just

acknowledgement that there's a lot of pride I had a lot of pride at least I think we had a lot of pride in our marriage before being unified and following Christ that we could do it all on our own and when you

finally realize you can't do it all on your own and you have to surrender, which every day you have to surrender. That's the hardest part of this entire journey. Yeah. And being a Christian, it's waking up every single day, surrendering, dying to yourself, picking up your cross and following Jesus Christ. You have to make that decision every single day and it's really hard, especially when the world is trying a pulse in a million different directions. And I saw this post on Instagram a few days ago. And it was this clip of this guy, running. And the caption said, running is my savior.

Like, running has saved me. Running has saved me. I thought about this for a while because I at one point my life would have said that. Yeah. running in fitness for me now, it's an outlet, but it's not my savior. And I think we only can have one savior, and that is Jesus Christ. And now that both you and I believe that and live for that, it is shaped the way we view marriage, the way we view relationships, the way we view challenge and difficulties. and

hardships that we're trying to navigate. Yeah. It's given us a, when we are going through something hard, let's go back to what we are rooted in. Gets to the blueprint, yeah. And ask for the guidance and advice and trust of God to help us through this challenging time.

Yeah. It's the, I don't want to say the third party we needed. but it is. Another thing, too, I'm thinking about a lot because I'm reading this book right now called Love and Respect. I do not know the author. My friend Kinsey recommended it.

It's a marriage book with a Christian foundation. It is so good and it is so applicable to, I think, every marriage, but especially ours, I feel like. And it's based on Ephesians. It talks about how there's tons of stuff in the Bible that can be, I don't want to say taken out of context, but it's not written about marriage,

but we can use it and look at it through a marriage lens, which is fine. We're doing it correctly. But Ephesians really lays it out, and it says, men are called to love their women as Christ loves the church, and women are called to respect their husbands

and submit to their husbands. And that is like very boldly placed in the Bible about marriage. And that's what this whole book is about. And the whole concept is at the root of any marital problem, no matter what it's about, it pretty much always comes down to the man not either, the man not feeling respected or the woman not feeling loved. And that really resonated with me a lot. and I feel like it's really just having Christ in the center of our marriage

has really let me dive into that and that is now like a foundation like that scripture, Ephesians 5, whatever it is is now really in my head a lot because I know that's what you need, that's what God calls me to do as a wife. Let's hang out there for a little bit because that kind of begins to answer another question that

someone submitted was what lifestyle differences have you had to navigate that have caused conflict in your marriage and I think this is something we talk about frequently actually is what's that that book about the love languages? It's called the five love languages

like Gary Chapman, yep. Five love languages and you know, for me, before, we got engaged and got married, I just assumed that everyone received and gave or shown love in the same way.

Yeah. And, you know, when we get into conflict, if we boil it down, it is to what you just said. Yeah. Like, you want, as the woman, want love. Yep. I as the man in the relationship want respect. Yeah.

And that's what all of our conflict. Mm-hmm. always boils down to. Yes. I don't want to seem like I don't respect you, but it's like even little tiny things. It's tiny things.

Yeah, like little tiny things. It can be boiled down to like that overarching theme for sure. Do you have any examples? No, but... Like how would you want to be loved more? Okay. So I don't have an example,

but you bring up love language I feel like is good because in our marriage, I think it took us a while and the whole concept of love language is you have one yourself, right? Like you would say, I would say yours is, I don't know, do you know yours?

And what are the five love languages? Acts of service, physical touch, quality time, gifts, and words of affirmation. Probably words of affirmation and acts of service. Yeah, that's what I would say. So that's how you receive. Yes.

And when I show you love that way, you in turn, like innately, you feel respected. Yes. Yeah. And so that's one side of it. But I feel like one side that we did not really understand until recently, we're still working through it, is you can't give love the way that you want to feel it. You have to realize, okay, I feel super love and respected when Steph is doing something of service to me. but she might not feel loved if I'm doing something of service to her because that's not her love language.

And I think that's something that we really talked about a lot because you are a huge acts of service guy, huge acts of service guy. But in turn, like this morning, I thought about it. Here's an example, perfect. You asked if you wanted me, if I wanted lunch today. He's like, can I make you lunch to bring it to BPN for after the podcast? And I was like, sure, thank you. Great. And I was getting ready. And I was thinking, okay, Stephanie. sit here and remember he is showing love to you right now even though this doesn't feel like love to me at all this is Nick's way

is it the correct way for me no but this is his natural way of showing love so I made that little mental note and I gave myself a little pep talk because that is but for me like acts of service you could unwash dishwasher unload

dishwashers all day and pack all the lunches do all the things and I wouldn't feel any more loved because I think my last my last besides gifts would probably be the last but besides gifts acts of service is probably the least way I feel loved

so I unfortunate all of this to say it comes down to love and respect for sure but the love language things has I think completely changed marriage in the world and it's like a household

book and topic with talking about now because it's so accurate. Yeah. You know, like you have to, you can receive one way, but you have to give the way your partner receives it. You can't give the way that you like it to be received. Yeah, here's an example. The other night, Steph does, she washes our sheets every Sunday.

So it's Sunday evening. She was busy doing some stuff. I came in the bedroom. I saw that the bed wasn't made yet. I was sick. Yeah, you were sick. Yeah. So I was like, all right.

I'm going to do something really nice for now. I'm going to make this bed. So I put the pillow sheets on the pillow, or the pillow cases on the pillows. I put the scrunchy bed sheet down, then the loose bed sheet down, and I put the comfort on top. And I get into bed. I'm reading a book. I wait for her to come in the room to see the bed made. I'm like, oh, she's about to be so happy. And she goes, you made the bed? I said, yes, I did.

And then you said, you did it wrong. I was like, oh. No, I just said, oh, you just don't do it tight. You don't make it tight. So that was me showing you love in the way that I receive. And just like surrendering, I have to wake up every day. I have to die to myself. I have to realize that the way you receive love

is not the way that I receive love. I have to take up my bed sheets and follow you. So that is what I'm learning in marriage right now is... Yeah. It's tough because we naturally want to show love in the way that we receive love. For sure. And I think for me, like my... The way I like to...

The way I feel the most loved when probably a mix between words of affirmation and physical touch. So I think, but I don't really, I don't know. I will say, back to the bed sheets. I put that up on Instagram, on a story, and I had so many people who message me saying so many dads and husbands that they can relate, that their wives make the bed so tight that their toenails hurt.

sounds like a toenown problem when i get into bed sunday evening those sheets are so tight i try to kick with my feet to break the bed sheets away from the creases it is and my toes hurt i love it the next morning i like a loose fitting bed sheet i want to feel like a baby and a swaddle all right moving on what does your social life outside of work look like right now and what do you want it to look like in the future?

So interesting enough, this past Sunday church service was all about community, doing life with other people. And one of the notes I wrote down, because typically what I do during service is there's like these envelopes in the back. Yeah, you waste valuable giving paper. There's these envelopes. Sorry, celebration. in the back of the seat. They're tithing envelopes, yeah. The tithing envelopes.

I take one of those envelopes, and I grab a pen, and I make notes on that of the service. And one of the things I wrote down was that isolation, living a life of isolation, can make you wealthy. But in the process,

it will also make you ill and sick. Meaning that doing life with other people community is very important and the older we get we believe that more and more and more. Yeah, you can do life by yourself. Not even just you alone, but you and your family, but life is so much better when done with other people. Ecclesiastes, four, nine through 12, two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. If either of them falls down, one can help the other up.

But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A court of three strands is not quickly broken. I love that. Those three strands are two individuals and then. Christ. Right. So what does our social life outside of work look like right now? Well, I think it's

different for you and different for me. Well, let's talk about that. Yeah. I think I'm an extrovert, you're an introvert, which works. But I recharge. I come to life. I spiritually, socially, everything, refuel from people. Like, I just love being around people. So this move to Texas

has had a lot of hard seasons for me because I'm not from here. We've made some really good friends. There's been lots of moving and all that. So it's been tough because, like, growing up,

like, I was just a friend's girl, a girl's girl, a family girl, just always around people. So. We have a few. really good friends, but we don't have a big community. No, and I don't think that's needed.

That's not needed. No, yeah. But I think a social life in social relationships, just given our different responsibilities in life, has a different weight for me than it does for you, especially in this past season. Like, I need it like it's air. You are better at pushing it to the back burner because you know you have other heavy. lofty responsibilities, which I don't always agree with that order of, you know, moving things around. But I know it has to be done and you serve and protect and provide for our family.

But for me, I always, it's always a, I mean, even in seasons where I feel like we're really busy, like I just am always trying to make it a priority. And especially since we've had kids, because I want our kids to be around people. So I feel like if I had to say how full my like social tank is, I would say mine's pretty full most of the time. But I could always use more. I love getting together with friends, talking with friends, going to get coffee. I need that. And I'm always a person that is like overcommitting us, saying yes to everything.

because I'm like a golden retriever that wants to go. Let's do it. You would say your social tank is full right now? Um, I would say not as full as I would want it to be. I would say like 70%, 60%. What do you want to feel like? It's been more full, but we're entering a season right now where it looks a little different.

What do you want to, like ideally, what would a week look like in terms of social interaction and gathering and community. I'm really excited to enter the school phase of life for our kids. We just have a tiny glimpse of it right now, but not really. It's just church preschool really. But I would love it to be a mix of, I think, neighbors are super important. And I think if you can have neighbors that you can do life with, that's game-changing. We don't have that.

So that's been really, really tough. but I feel like a mix of like spontaneous neighbor socialization would be incredible, like how we grew up in the 90s, right? Like, oh, so-and-so down the streets doing burgers or like, I'll feed the kids tonight or the ice cream trucks down there, like, let's go down there and then play basketball in their driveway. Like, it just doesn't exist in our life like that. I wish we had that, truly.

Yeah. Truly, truly. Because I feel like that just so effortlessly fills up your social tank, just being around people like that, you know? And then a mix of just like you and I going out together and doing something, like a double day every now and then. I love going to like a concert or something like that. And then for me to also having like solo time with girls. Like Phoebe's my best friend here. Our girls are best friends.

And that's just been like the biggest blessing. in my life, hands down. And it's just a very effortless friendship where I'm like, it can be last minute and we just get together. Like, that's what I love and that's what I need. Yeah. Not like the social status. We get invited to this and we go to this and we're making an appearance of this. It's like the effortless relationships, you know? Yeah, yeah. Yep, my whole take on all of this, my social life outside of work right now is zero. I spend my time either working or with family. And I say no to everything else.

And I think there's seasons where that just has to be the thing. I work a lot. My brain is always on and firing, which is a blessing and a curse. and when I am not working, I make it a very hard effort to be at home. I leave the office at an appropriate time every day. I'm home in the mornings, most mornings, unless we're filming something. But I don't want it to always look like that.

I view that as a season right now of, it's been a season for a long time now. And it's really all I know. Yeah, I don't really know. I've never seen you be like, hey, Steph, can I go do this with the guys? I don't think that's ever. Yeah, I've said no to friendships a long time ago. Yeah. So that I could go all in on my work and building what has been built.

And I do think that was a requirement to get us in this place to where it is today. I do firmly believe that. But I think that my life, our life requires change in this next season. What will I want the future to look like? I want our family to do life with other families. I want spontaneous people coming in our house on a Tuesday night for dinner. Yeah. And just pure chaos.

And I want brotherhood in this next chapter. you know, Proverbs 2717 as iron sharpens iron so one person sharpens another. I do believe that scripture is taken out of context quite frequently. Yeah, we were just talking about that. Like what that means to me

and I believe what scripture is intended to mean in this case is that you need to have other people in your life that hold you accountable to keep you on the straight and narrow path. When you are doing something that you shouldn't be doing or you are doing wrong, they correct you. It's not doing a hard workout out with a brother

who is telling you to push harder and do another rep. It is having someone who is not a yes man in your life, who is guiding you, you're doing life together, you sharpen one another to be better. Men, in my case, leaders, husbands, fathers, Christians. And I just want brothers that I am doing life with, not to go golf, not to go on a hunting trip.

What's wrong with those things? I'm not saying there's anything wrong with those things, but not just to do that. Oh, okay. I don't want to go golf with the boys and drink beers on a Saturday afternoon. I want to spend quality time with brothers, whether that's golfing or training or in a small group or whatever it is, like sharpening each other, doing life together. Meaningful. So that we personally and professionally grow into the men that we are becoming.

So I want our social life as a couple, individually, as a family, to look different than it does right now. I think a lot of people that are in our phase of life can, I think, relate to this. because parenthood and early parenthood can be very isolating. You're adjusting to this new life, new schedules, new responsibilities, new fears, new anxieties. It's a really big transitional phase. And I think like years zero through three, four can be super lonely if you aren't around family or around those people in close proximity. Like when you are in young parenthood, proximity and convenience is every. when it comes to your relationships because it's a whole lot easier, you know, to pop in on a neighbor

down the street or a friend down the street rather than to like arrange a FaceTime call with someone states away because you just don't have that time when you're a parent. So I think being close in proximity and just the convenience factor is huge. But I think, again, I'm really excited to go into the school years and sports and all that. Yeah, I think it's just very important to note that it takes work and it takes a lot of sometimes uncomfortable yeses or yeses that are like, do I really want to do this right now, but do I think it's going to benefit me and my family? Then let's do it. Whether that means less sleep, change of plans, you know, someone compromising if they're not in the mood, like I think you have to power through those things to bear the fruit. Yeah.

on that note, would you guys ever consider moving back to Tennessee? I would. That's always, it's always been the plan. Yeah. You know, when we moved to Tennessee in 2023, we thought that was the move forever. And then plans change. The business needed you. Needed me to come back to Texas.

And we've now been back in Texas. for two and a half years. Two and a half years. It's crazy. I was just talking to someone about that the day, how fast time goes. I remember when you sat me down and told me we had to come back. You're like, just give me a year. And I was like, I don't want any more time stamps on this life.

Let's just go live our life. Yeah. So the plan was, it has always been, to get back to Tennessee at some point. But it was doing things differently this time around compared to, the way we approached it in 2023. Yeah. And that just takes time. Yeah.

To set it up properly, set the team up properly, do it in the right way. So over this last year, we had been building a house in Tennessee. Yeah. And we've been building it to be our long-term house. And we're working on that project right now, and the plan is that we moved to Tennessee when that project is complete. and our kids go to school in Tennessee

and you know, that is our future and that's the plan and always has been and we're putting those those actions into into existence to make that come to life.

Yeah, I think we're building a house but we've also been building a life like keeping relationships alive and we have friends there and investing in those even from a far away like yeah. I'm very excited. And yeah, I feel like the context of our last couple questions will all make sense because we are going to be entering a new face of life.

And I feel like we are doing a really good job of aligning and setting up our life to really put all the things we just talked about that we want into fruition. And I feel like the Lord has really, you know, given us a long, windy, route to get back there, but this timing just feels so ordained by God that it's very peaceful. And I'm very excited and go walls, podcast producer Matt. It's balls fan. Oh, I know what you're talking about. What do you mean? Vols.

Go balls. Yeah, Tennessee. It's going to be our team. I mean, obviously not a big sports guy, so I had no clue what you were talking about. I'll help you. All right, what is your favorite memory as a couple? Okay. I have one that's like a bigger pattern of memories and then I have one really recently.

Share both. Well, I think my favorite memory that we just keep building over time is going to the beach. Like I love our time in 30A so much that we carve out that time. time a couple times each year and we've done it dating. We've gone engaged. We've gone married. We've gone when we've been trying to have babies. We've gone when we've been pregnant. We've gone through every season of life. And I can just like picture the different Airbnbs we've stayed in during those seasons and like the memories that we've had. And it's just, it's so happy because it's just a place that you and I both equally love. And there's been times where we both vacations really

hard and then there's been times where we both, like, you've had to work. And it's just, it's been this place where we've revisited so many times as different versions of ourselves. But every trip just like fills up my cup. And I just have the best memories there, like truly. So I, that's, that's my favorite. Like, and I just love that it's a place that we go back to with our kids. And our kids are involved now. Yeah. That's a really good observation. Yeah. I didn't think of it that way. Yeah. It's just something that even though we go to the same restaurants and now we go to the same house, I am equally just so stoked to go every single year. I feel like my soul is at rest at the beach and I love it so much. I do love it there. And then my most recent one, and this, like, I don't want to come off in a different way that I'm, I'll explain. So it would be, I don't think we've talked about this yet, but we went to the forest freight con. concert about a month ago.

I'm not going to lie, I thought you were going to say the day that I play on your birthday. I love you, but no. That wasn't like a marriage thing, though. No, but I thought I really redeemed myself. You did, but what wasn't gifts and acts of service? But it was just the intention. It was, it was. It was the best birthday I have ever had in my 34 years of life, because of you.

I'm sorry. But not a marriage memory. Anywho. We went to the Forrest Frank concert about a month ago, and some things lined up and Forrest ended up working out with you here earlier that day. And we play his music all the time. I respect him immensely. I just think he's a great role model for this next up and coming generation. Just love what I know of the guy. So we were stoked about that. And he was here. You guys had a really great day together. had some really great, like, life-given conversation, it sounds like, just a good dude, good dudes hanging out. And then we took Charlie to the concert. And we sat in our seats,

and we were just getting ready for the show to start. And he kind of does, if you guys know, how Morgan Wallen does his, like, walkouts, like, you know, the whole place goes dark. The camera goes on Morgan, in this case, it was Forrest, like, walking out of, I don't know, his dressing room, like, going through backstage. And you can, like, see him walking, making his way to the stage. And they're playing, like, some, what song was it? It was like a pump-up music. Yeah.

It's like a very sporty walkout song. And I saw it first, but he was wearing a BPN t-shirt. And he wasn't just wearing like the one you have on. He was wearing the most like bold, loud BPN t-shirt. To go on more on the front and we fuel performance the back. It is, it screamed BPN, okay? And I've seen all of the social media footage. Forrest only wears like solid t-shirts.

He's never, ever worn. a brand or made a statement with his clothing ever at one of his shows. And this isn't me like fan-girling, but it's one of my favorite moments now because I very rarely get to see you be really excited and surprised by something and have like genuine in the moment emotion that I can just like see pouring into your eyes and you get flushed. Like that just you're a very chill, consistent dude. Yes. There's not a lot of highs and lows.

Like, you do a very good job of just, like, staying at 70 degrees all the time. But in that moment, though, when we saw that. And we're in a arena with, what, 25,000 people? Something like that. He's, I would say arguably one of the, he is the top Christian artist right now.

And it's not the fact that he wore BPN t-shirt. Like, it is the fact that you spent the day with him. And I don't know, I've just, I've seen you have your career highs and lows and emotions and how hard you work. and you were just such a good person and you're so hard on yourself and for me that was just a moment

that was like I just felt like you were seen and I could just tell you felt super respected and just I can't help him crying about this but I don't know it was just really cool

because you were just really surprised and I could tell it like filled up your cup in a different way because you're getting choked up right now it was it was so cool And it just feels like we've been so bold in our faith the last year on social media.

Do you want to cry? Put this in the trailer. Oh my gosh. We've been so bold in our faith. And it's been so hard. And we've had so many people tell us, y'all are going to be bold in your faith and life's going to get way harder. Like, welcome to this world. And it's been very true.

like it's been really hard. So to just have, I don't know, it just felt like a God moment. He was like, keep going guys. Like, and they all just came from forest wearing a t-shirt, which is just silly. But like, it was just a really cool moment.

And I was really proud of you and happy for you. Well, thank you. I can't believe I make you cry. Well, it did mean, it meant a lot to me. Because I know after spending time with him what he

does with his work and the real deal and the message he shares that he is the real deal and for someone to trust me enough to wear my brand t-shirt

your name yeah to put his name behind me and walk on stage with that shirt meant a lot. Yeah. Yeah.

So now, see, this just affirms. This is a great marriage development. It was just one of those moments where I was just so bursting with happiness. And I was so proud of you. So that's my recent one. Well, thank you. What's yours?

Helen got me. Dang it, Forrest. There's very few moments where I feel that much. energy and surprise and excitement. And for it to be you, me and Charlie, at that show, and for Charlie to see that. In the season we're in right now. Yeah.

Yeah. I mean, I did take that as the way that I took that was Forrest spent the day here. And God put on Forest's heart, do this to keep inspiring. Yeah. Nick to be. He needs this.

Strong in his faith. Okay. What's yours? Okay. It's probably silly. No, it's not really silly. It's when you first moved to Texas. And you drove through the parking gate?

No, that's not bad. Oh, okay. So at this point in our life, we were not committed Christians. No, if I could go back and change anything? Don't live with your partner, y'all, until you get married. We moved in together before we were even engaged. We were freshly dating. We ran into a house together.

You live and you learn. Yes, we do. These are the decisions we made as sinners when we were young and naive. Staff moved to Austin. We were running a house together downtown Austin. and the day we moved into that house, I remember we had all these boxes of all of our stuff. And it was March,

weather was beautiful, like perfect, our backyard was immaculate. We were half mile from the lake and downtown on the trail. I just remember unpacking our house that day. And we ordered pizza, and we had a bottle of wine and we were up to like 3 a.m.

unpacking a house. And you just lose track of time. You don't care about what time it is, what you're doing. It was like time stood still. And that was like the mark of beginning the rest of our lives. And before that it was just us living our own life separately.

But that day was like the initiation of everything that led to getting engaged and getting married and having kids and the moves and the business and just like the complexities and craziness of life. But that moment where time literally stood still or eating pizza, drinking wine, breaking down boxes, like laughing and it was, that night was so much fun that that's always a core memory for me, which was like the beginning of our life now. Yeah. Yeah, that was. You know, sometimes you can't remember things from like a year ago. Like, I remember that night, like, so equally.

And yeah, that was, it was fun. It was just when life was, like, playful and fun. And we had responsibilities, but nothing too serious. Nothing like we have now. No. It was sick. It was such a different phase of life. All right.

But don't live with your partner until you're married, folks. Yes. A lot of people ask, what are your favorite BPN supplements? So if you had a choose like three or four, what are your go-toes and why? Okay, so I guess favorites would be how much, like what I use the most, right? Or like whatever you get the most benefit from. Protein powder, number one for sure. I love our isolate.

It's just a very convenient, easy, delicious way to hit protein. Just convenience factor. I can't tell you the last day I have gone without a scoop for sure. We got great vegan, great weight isolate, great way concentrate. So good. My favorite flavor is vanilla or vanilla slaps. It reminds me of just like the perfect, I don't know, it goes in pancakes. When people ask me how our vanilla is, I'm like, it just goes in pancakes like so seamlessly.

That's the only way I can describe it. It's so good. It's a cakey. vanilla. Yeah. Yeah. It's so yummy. I mean, our isolate too. So since we launched the isolate, Steph and I have both been using the isolate. Yeah. A way protein isolate goes through additional filtration and processing to remove most of the lactose. Yeah. So it's much easier to digest. Very easy on the stomach. Yeah. Our isolate is grass fed. It is truly grass fed, verified. We source it from these small family farms in Ireland.

that's how it has the truly grass-fed certification. It is NSF certified for sport. So it goes through third-party testing showing that what we say is in this product is actually in this product. It's tested for banned and prohibited substances.

It's naturally sweetened. Our way protein isolate is, in my honest opinion, like the best of the best, the best you can get. So that is the protein source that you and I use on a regular basis. Yeah.

And just the phase of life I'm in, like I don't have time sometimes in the morning to make a million eggs. Like, it's just so convenient. So I use that every day. I love it. Also, our way concentrate. Is that my saying not right? Concentrate, yeah. Concentrate.

Blends, bakes, mixes flawlessly. It is so good. Like, if you want to bake with protein powder, ours cannot be beat. And it's the casein, right? Like the level of casein. Yeah. An isolate is just naturally leaner and a little thinner. Yeah.

So a concentrate's better for baking. It's better for like protein oats. Yes. It's better for overnight oats. Consistency, yeah. If you want like a thicker shake, it's going to be better. It's better for sludge. An isolate is just very thin.

Yeah. Because it is leaner. Yeah, I'm using isolates and smoothies and it shakes, mostly, for sure. Okay, that and then electrolytes, just something that I take every single day, just to get me back up to my baseline, I feel like. ours are delicious. Flavors are so good. That's just something that I, again, don't go a day without most days. I'm taking like two servings, especially in the Texas summer. I think creatine, I would say. Creatine is something that I've taken probably for three years now, through pregnancies, through nursing, talk to your doctor, but I've done research and I feel good about taking it, and especially ours, because ours is derived from Critipure, right? Yep.

The purest form you can get. And I've just seen major, major wins and improvements in my strength, my performance, body recomp ability. I just, I love it so much. And I just, I never had the water, the bloating, the hard time with ours, which I've had with other brands in the past. Ours just, I kind of forget that I even take it. I just reap the benefits of it. What I'm super excited about is the creatine shoes. Oh my gosh.

So right now we just have creatine in a powder. Yeah. Unflavored, raw ingredient, creepure powder. On our website, you can get it in 30 and 60 serving containers. On Amazon, you can get a hundred serving container of creepure, which is performing very well in Amazon right now. And then this fall, we are launching creatine shoes. So we have a few bags at our house right. now. It's very hard to not overconsume. I, so I do a scoop, a heaping scoop of creatine in the

morning, and I will do three creatine chews throughout the day because three creatine chews is a serving to get five grams. So I'm doing 10 to 15 grams probably a day at this point. But we're launching in three different flavors, peach, juicy watermelon and pink lemonade. I've only had, is it called juicy watermelon? We have the juicy watermelon at the house for now. It tastes like if y'all ever had now and laters, like that's what it tastes like to me. They're so good. Oh my goodness. Our kids love them too.

So good. I know. Charlie always wants them. Yeah. So I would say those three. I mean, there's a bunch more that I take, but those are my like top three greatest of all time. I take every day no matter what. Sups.

All right. The last thing I want to touch one. It's more of a statement, but I just want to. get your this is the way you think about this. It's a lot fear. What does it mean to fear the Lord

versus fearing man or people? Galatians 1 10 am I now trying to win the approval of human beings or of God or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please

people, I would not be a servant of Christ. And the reason I put this on here and that I wanted to talk about it personally is because this is one of my personal struggles that I'm always battling. I am a people pleaser in my business online with my content, community. it's really easy to be tempted by and having a fear of man of people to try to win the approval of people and every time I find myself going down this road where I'm being tempted, guided, I have a fear of man, fear of people, it pulls me further away from God. and it's this constant thing that I have to remember and reinforce and remind myself of,

which is why it's so important going back to Proverbs 2717, having a brother in my case who is close to me, sharpening me, or finding me. Because if we don't have a fear of the Lord, we have a fear of man, and that's where we start making decisions to try to win the approving. of human beings. Which is not what we're called to do. Which is not what we're called to do. So what's your take on all of that?

Maybe I struggle more with that than... Yeah. Yeah, but I also feel like you've taught me a lot about this, though. We've had a lot of conversations about this, because we both read The All of God by John Bevere. And before I read that book, that was one of the first books that I think... Not one of the first books I've read.

But, like, as soon as I think we were aligned from a Christ standpoint, that was one of the first books I think we both kind of read. Yeah. And I really didn't fully even understand. I'm like, what does this mean? Like, am I supposed to be scared of the Lord? Like, what? I truly, like, back to the basics, did not understand the concept. And then this book, highly recommend, is beautifully written. It is very easy to understand. Yeah, it totally changes it. And it's, it's, It's the awe of God is kind of what he changed it to.

Because I think when people say, like, fear the Lord, fear of the Lord, that can be a little confusing, especially to someone maybe new Christianity. It can turn you off. For sure. So, John Bevere kind of, he hasn't replaced the word fear with awe, but he explains it in a different way. The awe of God. It's almost like the power, like. Awesomeness.

Yes. The goodness. And I think how I see it now is I have a fear of not being close to the Lord. That is what the fear of the Lord should be. Like you should be so afraid of not being close to him, even though he is so accessible. He's accessible all the time. But I am, it's conviction. It's learning what conviction is.

And for me, it's like at the end of every day, I look back and I'm like, what did I do today? what do I feel convicted about? What can I confess? What can I just place my convictions in front of the Lord and just say, I'm sorry, like, I will do better tomorrow. Because I'm scared of not being close to him and being given the gift of eternal life, even though we all are when we're saved and we believe, you know, that he's our Lord and Savior. For me, it's just, I know I'm a better wife, mother, everything. when I'm in the word when it's very clear to me

what is true and what is right versus what is wrong. It's giving me confidence. Again, it's like a blueprint for me. So that's how I see it now. I'm afraid of strength. I'm confident that I will never stray. Like we all have our moments when we're, we feel a little bit more distant from the Lord

than other seasons. But I know that I, I'm confident that I will never, fully stray. That's hard to say because I have no idea what life's going to throw at me. But that's the level of confidence that I have. It's really easy to lose proximity. Yeah. As soon as life throws you a curveball and you start chasing after this curveball, you can become distant pretty quickly. And that's why like when I find myself, in a season of stress and overworked and anxious and anger.

It's because I find myself chasing this rabbit that's tempting me and creating distance between me and my relationship with Christ. That's why we have to wake up every day, die of our ourselves, take up our cross, follow him. And it's really hard. It's really hard to do that. every single day. I think it looks differently

for both of us too. Like, I know that's how, that's when you feel distant, right? When you have that rabbit out in front of you, like chase this,

come get this. Yeah. Whether it's success, work, whatever. For me, when I feel distant, it's when,

it's more of, it's like an anxiety thing. Like, I have really bad health anxiety since becoming a mom. And when I kept myself in those spirals, I could still be in the Bible

every day, but my mind is off, doing other different things. That's when I know that my fear of the Lord is not in check because I'm still letting my thoughts, my fears take over my day, my mind, my actions, my words, everything. It just looks different. Where are you the most, you trust God the least? Yeah. it exposes you to your vulnerabilities and weaknesses. It's hard. It's an ongoing thing.

Committing your life to Christ and surrendering it's a daily decision. Yeah. They told us it would be more difficult. That they did. Well, this was a great conversation. We laughed. We cried.

We have never cried on a podcast before. Dang it, Forrest. Dang it, Forrest. Gotcha. I mean, I can count on my one hand the times I've seen you cry. And today, September 11th, 2016, I think that's probably number five. Man. That was good.

Thanks. Thanks for coming on. Thank you. We got your beef and rice waiting for you in my office. acts of service. Yep. Until next time. I feel loved.

Thank you. Love you. Love you.