The Unplanned Podcast with Matt & Abby - Our origin story, marriage advice, & 2026 resolutions

Episode Date: January 2, 2026

It’s episode one! The Abbys dive into how they first met, catch up on pop culture, talk New Year’s resolutions, and introduce their new “Ask Abbys” call-in line. Welcome to your new favorite cozy corner of the internet. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

I was really scared of you. We were not friends. I didn't know what you were. You always felt edgy to be. Oh, wow. I need to schedule dentists of women. Oh, no. I don't even want to say how many years.

Wait, years. Since before you had CJ? I don't know if this is inappropriate for the podcast, but I put kiss more. Matt will kiss me and sometimes I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. We do that. Like a smooch kiss. What is your best advice for being a wife? Always here to share the hope and the hard with heart and humor.

Welcome to Always Here. We're your host Abby Howard and Abby Howard. Wow. This is crazy. I feel very nervous, to be honest. Yeah. I have butterflies, mostly just because I'm excited, but I have full confidence in this being really natural for us

because we talk all the time. Totally. And we got Adi here on the production mic. Hello. It's a family affair. It's a family affair. I know it's fun to just watch you guys in the studio on the outside. It's kind of weird.

I like it. Less pressure on me to look good every episode. True. True. I feel like we just filmed our announcement video right before this. And it was like a scripted fun thing. And I feel like I'm talking like I'm on a script. Like I have to turn off my acting brain because I've never had an acting brain.

You're natural though. I appreciate that. We should probably first address for those that don't know why we have the exact same name. Oh, yeah, that's a good part. We always make that stupid joke. Yeah, it's either really convenient or really confusing. Oh, or our family couldn't afford me. I think that's from Zach and Cody.

It is from Zach and Cody. Our family could only afford one, no. Yeah. No, but we are, technically you're Abigail, and I'm really going to train myself for the sake of this podcast to call you Abigail, but I've called you Abby for a decade now. Yeah, I know. It's crazy how long we've known each other.

Yeah. Well, a decade, actually. A decade, yeah, a whole 10 years. But to be fair, the early years, we were not friends I didn't know what you were I love to do we should get into that so different yeah let's get into it okay so we're both Abby Abigail for her my full name's just Abby for those of you that may not have known that but um we married brothers yep Caleb and Matt they're 18 months apart they're pretty close yeah yeah always closer than I think Caleb seems like such an older brother so I always feel like he's much older I think too because Caleb and Matt weren't super close for a lot of their like lifetime until we all got married and we're in the same life stage that I feel like now they're closer and they feel less of an age gap but I feel like growing up there felt like a big big age gap yeah because we're all high school sweethearts which is also wild yeah yeah that is fun okay so

kind of get into it okay do you remember the first time you met me I don't okay yeah so we started dating we both started dating in high school yes I started dating Caleb when I was a senior and he was a junior and then we dated all through high school college and I remember you coming into the picture i think maybe when i was still in high school no no i'm sorry i was a sophomore in college because you and matt started dating your senior year right after junior year yeah yeah so i was maybe right before you went into sophomore year yes so i feel like we never really had a ton of time together because you lived in a different city i was in college just so far apart yeah but i have distinct memories of you from the beginning i was really scared of you i think that's so crazy

every time you say that you're like you were so cool I was never cool I've never been cool really I feel like you're pretty cool and comparison to me Abby let's be fair I don't think you had like you guys always did fun crazy things with your friends I feel like I was just I didn't I just had like a small group I don't know I just wasn't like the cool girl that I feel like you probably had me built up to be in your head well we didn't go to the same high school so in my mind you were like city girl you'd know in the family so much longer than me. You were so much more comfortable. You had like cool style and you always felt edgy to me. So I was like, she's just so cool. I was intimidated you. This is intimidated by you.

This was my first memory of you. I don't know if I've ever told you this, but we were eating at the Howard's house, like at their kitchen table. And I was like, gosh, she's so comfortable. And like, I was so nervous around their family for so long. And like I like would get a stomach cake. I'm like so nervous. I just really wanted them to like me, but I also like didn't know how to behave. I was just really awkward. And then I remember I'm sitting across from you and you're sitting next to Josh and he's eating watermelon. You remember the food. Yeah, because you're like, Josh, you're eating kind of loud. You like corrected his eating and I was like, gosh, she's so comfortable. Like I don't think he could ever say anything like that ever. Why did I feel

so comfortable saying that? It wasn't rude. It was just like you were like you, he felt like your brother. Yeah, he did. I met Josh when he was nine years old. Yeah. Yeah. He's 20. now. Crazy. Isn't that wild? I know. So he kind of was, he's my little brother. Yeah. Yeah. That is really funny. I feel like my first impressions of you, I don't remember the first time we met in person, but I remember Matt talking about you all the time. And we were all like, we get it. You love her. And he'd be like, I'm going to marry Abby. I'm going to marry Abby. And I was like, okay, you sound crazy. You sound crazy. Because you guys were like 18. 17. 17. He said, I'm going to marry her. And I'm like, okay.

I knew you were amazing from what Matt said, but I didn't. I don't remember like actually beating you for the first time. I remember. So then, okay, we keep dating, kind of just like crossing paths really at just like holidays and stuff. And not really talking too much, to be honest. I was so scared. And then we got engaged. I was at your engagement.

You were. Yeah. That's fun. I thought we had pictures from that together. Yeah. And then we had bridal showers together. This is where it's a little awkward, in my opinion. This is where I feel like we became friends.

Yeah, starting to become friends. But we're getting married at the same time. We're having shared showers, which is a little awkward to begin with. Then you have me being like extra awkward. And then us not also being like super close. Well, it was kind of funny because everyone thought we both were child brides. You know? We were.

I was 23. You were 20. Yeah. Like my family thought I was a child bride. I was called a child. So it's like, the two children just sitting there at their bridal showers. Yeah, I mean, it was really sweet for them to host those showers and like very generous. But they were beautiful. Still not super close. We were

at each other's weddings. Mm-hmm. I know sometimes I wonder, I'm like, man, I wonder if it would have been fun to have you as a bridesmaid. And like, I think going back, I'm like, totally what you would have been like my main. Like, I mean, all these things. But I'm like, also, our relationship just wasn't like that yet totally and who would have known what was going to come of it but I feel like a specific turning point was when you came to visit Matt and I in Springfield and you guys stayed at our one bedroom apartment with us you can't you get close with someone when you share a one bedroom apartment we went to Silver Dollar City yeah like made meals together that was really fun that was really fun I did that was the first time I saw your personality and Matt's personality too

like I always knew Matt as like the younger brother and you know he was always busy with his acting and stuff. And so actually getting to spend quality time with you guys was so fun. I remember we baked and, yeah, we took our dog at the time was a puppy and you let us bring him to your apartment. And we just, I mean, we literally just ran around Springfield and we just, I don't know, I was like, wow, they're so fun. That was a good time.

And then we did a couple more trips together. And then you ended up moving to Arizona. And I feel like then, like we were already close by then. And so, but like ever since then it's just like, I really feel like we're all sisters. and then Addie joined the mix with Blake like gosh three years ago now yeah three and a half well we've been married three and a half yeah crazy and five and now we're all in Arizona together all the sisters I know so fun I'm wow we're all here yeah it's fun it's a good time oh addie's married to my brother for context yeah so but we all college Abby Howard is the middle person

Abby in the pink if you're if you're watching on video I've been referring to you as my bonus sister-in-law and I kind of like that I think that's perfect I have to admit an insecurity I feel you guys both have like biological sisters so sometimes I feel like I'm overstepping when I'm like my sisters so like if I type it out I usually say sister-in-law out of respect I don't think my sister would care I'm not I'm not taking your place I'm don't think I'm equal to you oh I bet my sister's like that I'm like sister-in-law see my sister probably doesn't care that's sweet that's if I didn't know you did that every time then I'm like do they think it's weird that I'm separating

being sister-in-law, but I'm glad I got that out there. What about you? And now we can just say sisters, and we all know we're not trying to overstep. I think I did that for your birthday on my story. I was like, can I put sister? Like, is she okay with that? Like, me being your sister? That works great.

I mean, my sisters love you, so it's not like weird about it. That's so sweet. Oh, boy. Should we start our first segment? We should. Okay. This segment is called, wow, that's crazy. Wow, that's crazy.

That's crazy. The inception of it is that Abby and I say that all the time. and to the point now where my son C.J. says it. He goes, that's crazy. And then I was like, why do I say that so much? And I think it's because we say it all the time. I didn't even realize we were saying it. I didn't either until C.J. started saying it. And I started paying attention. I said, Abby says it a lot. I say it a lot. So it must be something we feed. So we thought it'd be a funny idea for a segment on the podcast. And Abby right now is currently offline. And you have been for a while. I post. Post and ghost. Yeah. But you don't like scroll. I have been for, wow. We could do the exact math but like two and a half months wow that's really healthy it feels great I'm currently breastfeeding so I feel like I'm chronically online that's the time we have good balance here but I do want I think that is an insecurity of like going offline it's like it's so much better for my mental health and like my productivity so many other things but I'm also like I feel like I'm getting left behind sometimes well that's why we have this segment

that's great we're going to keep you in the loop and then we'll get your opinions on what's going on okay we do want this to be like non-gossipy it's just going to be fun lighthearted and chatty but we're going to keep you in the loopie okay loopie new word um we're going to start with like a this is kind of just more an impressive one the world has a new youngest female self-made billionaire did you know this no that's like this is not what you're expecting gosh wow the youngest how many are there okay i took notes okay i've propped for this i know so in the world there are three around three thousand total billionaires okay but out of that only four to 430 are female that's a huge four to 400 oh 400 to 430 of those billionaires are

female why don't we have the exact number well I don't actually know that's why there's like a 30 range there okay and then around a quarter of those are only are self-made so okay about 124 are self-made female billionaires the rest became billionaires by inheritance oh okay I know some of these yeah so it's very impressive yes and we have have the new youngest. She's 29 years old. Okay. My age, so I got one year to catch up. Well, you got about a billion. Billion dollars to catch up with me. I need a billion more dollars. Her name is, I hope I say this right. Luana, Lopez, Lara. Okay. Luana, Lopez, Lara. There's a couple different ways you could say that. Maybe just one to her. But she co-founded

Kalshi, and it's a regulated exchange for event-based trading. So think about gambling on elections, weather, sports, all kinds of different things. So that's pretty big news. I wonder if most of her users are male or female. I would be pretty confident that male. Yeah. Yes. She did have a co-founder who was a male.

But I think it's, I mean, I'm very impressed that she's like, young female entrepreneur became a billionaire. That's insane. But then also I'm like, dang, it's kind of gambling. Yeah. Kind of taboo a little bit. Oh, really? Do you think it is?

I mean, I don't personally. do it but I feel like my dad grew up I feel like my dad kind of he played party poker so it wasn't like it's not sports betting sports betting like which I feel like is a different yes Blake does sports betting I feel like it's different than gambling it wasn't really conversation honestly you see those in the same realm I guess betting and gambling yes but because in Missouri where I'm from before we moved here it was always illegal it's legal now as of a couple days ago right so i think that's why there's this hard shift where like my dad used to drive over state lines to illinois to sports bet but we would always consider it gambling because it was always

kind of on the same playing field i've always i feel like the conversation was always like don't ever get started on that like you'll waste all your save you'll ruin all squander all your savings yeah i've never done it i've never actually even felt tempted to do it i wonder if it's like if the number that is based on like the amount spent like blake puts like $20 in like a month like it's not like a lot of money so i wonder if like that's why i'm like it's not gambling because yeah it's like it's controlled yeah controlled uh-huh it's just interesting i thought it's funny we're really proud of you loana luana lewana good good for you girl that's the first one i thought we start with something light and kind of interesting love that for women go girls

okay the second one is maybe the opposite of go have you heard about the hair by christie drama no i know that there's something but that's literally the extent of what i know Okay. I think this is a very interesting debate. Okay, so TikToker at Not Famous 808, made a viral video about how she went to Habit Salon and was charged $4,000 for her hair extensions and service. She was charged $2,974 for the quote, Chrissy service in which she claims that Chrissy personally only touched her hair for 60 seconds. And in this TikTok, she kind of goes through it. She's like, she came through and she go, okay, tone. And then her assistance would come in and deal of her work. So Chrissy then responded by making, making many TikToks in response, like kind of mocking her, which is where everyone that started chiming in online about like Chrissy's response. And then the other girl who created the original video would respond to Chrissy. And it kind of just went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. So there was a lot of debate about Chrissy's response. She did make merchandise kind of mocking her. It got really ugly. Okay. So then I guess I don't really feel like

it's a problem to talk about it. If she clearly kind of fed into it and made merchandise, so it's like she wants, she likes this conversation. Yes. But also, I don't know, because now her comment, Addy told me her comments are turned off on TikTok. Isn't that interesting? But here's my question. She was mad because it was so expensive. Well, she said she paid almost $3,000 for the Chrissy service and then Chrissy did not touch her hair. Okay.

Barely. And so the debate online is like, well, what do you expect? She's a celebrity hairstylist. She's super busy. You go in, you're paying for a premium for her name and then you're going to get her assistant's work. Or people are saying, no, that's crazy. You got ripped off. And that's not transparent pricing because.

you're expecting Chrissy to do your hair and then she's not. So I'm curious, your thoughts before. What are your thoughts on this? Well, I feel like from a business perspective, I understand Chrissy. Like, she can't do everyone's hair. You know, she's built up her business and her reputation to a point where she's training people to do it her way. And if she is coming through and making face, I'm like, okay, get that.

What was her response? Like, what was she, like, defending herself or, okay, yeah, what was her defense? basic I don't really remember Addie do you remember what I did I also went to go look for those response videos and I didn't see them on the page a lot of them were like in her caption she'd be like me and my million assistants or me and my team of assistants like she kind of was taking what the girl said and making videos directly and saying she doesn't actually have that many assistants like no but I think she was just saying I feel like she also maybe I'd put stuff on her Instagram story is maybe what I saw some a lot of tickets okay well I kind of

kind of feel like if you're paying thousands of dollars for the quote unquote chrissey experience i kind of see where she feels misled by that uh-huh because i feel like it's one thing like i feel like that type of thing i would expect if i go if i'm just going to chrissey's salon or habit if i'm going to have it then i expect that the assistants will be doing it and she trained them and she might even be there but if you pay for that specific service i feel like that does that does kind of make it feel like that's that's different from what you'd be getting otherwise you know what I mean then I get yeah I didn't think about that like obviously you're expecting okay I'm going to have it I'm going to have a different hairstylist but then if you're paying for christie service you would think

then oh I'm getting Christy she got extensions uh-huh okay I mean I feel like those are you know that those are going to be really expensive which she said that she expected the price okay and she agreed to the price yeah right she got there she was confused by the actual service then I can see that I can see that I know I feel like this is when I see both sides. Yeah. Yeah, I see both sides. Because it's high demand. Right. What is she going to do? Yeah, but maybe don't offer that if you can't really give them more than 60 seconds. Yeah, that's true. Yeah. Yeah. That's tough. I personally, I can't understand the world of hair extensions in general. Like, let alone the price to do them, the upkeep, but the fact that you can't scrub your scalp,

that makes me feel angry. I honestly know nothing about hair. I need to scrub. Well, they have like, there's those like tracks I think is what they're called like on your head and then they move down and then you have to take them out and move them back up I think that's old school now they do like K tips I don't know we're getting in the weeds of that but they have tons of different they still require a lot of upkeep and you can't like just dig in your scout like when I wash my hair I'm like gooder good in there oh that's crazy I know wow that's crazy that's dark that struck a lot a debate online okay now i know opinion addie oh i was also just going to say did you say that they both made merch about the they she mentioned that she made merch she made the other girl made

merch too the other girl made merch too now this just feels like a circus on it and not so famous adaway it's kind of famous now she got a lot of followers yeah well one thing that i saw which is kind of interesting and might be i'd be interested to know your guys's takes on it is so here by chrissey she reposts a lot of videos of like past services she's done because she's just posting on socials and on her TikTok page. So then she's posting influencers who have gotten their hair done there in the past in the middle of the controversy. So then it looks like those people are like supporting Chrissy.

Like someone made a video that was like, hey, my hair is short right now. I did not get my hair. They're like asking if she went to Chrissy while during this time. Now it's become a witch hunt. I hate that stuff. I hate that stuff. But yeah, I mean. So I thought that was interesting.

What a circus. This is like this is something that's so funny to me. being on the side of like not like watching the videos and like reading the comments and seeing like the speed in which these things accelerate just being filled in on I'm like wow that's crazy that that became a big deal and merch was sold about it I know isn't that well did you buy merch everybody I did not buy merch this girl got a ton of followers too yeah her first review video was very kind yes it wasn't slanderous I think that's why people got mad at Chrissy for her response because it was like you could have just taken the review kindly and just

washed under the rug or even not drawn attention to it but she got it agitated her i'm pretty sure i met her one time i don't remember she's really tiny she's really cute yeah yeah that's crazy that's crazy i think um with it being the start of the new year 2026 i mean really this year was went fast it's a great time to talk about resolutions now i know abby personally isn't a resolution girly but we asked her to come up with some for this year and i'm pretty sure Caleb would really appreciate this. He likes, he's a goal setter, right? He is. I feel like every year I have a like a pew-poo stuck to my head and he's like, we're going to write goals. A pew, pew, pew. And I'm like doing it. I like sweat. I'm like, but he's right. I'm wrong. I like, well, Matt's not really

quite organized enough. He like loves big goals, but they could come at any day. Like, it could be like Tuesday at five in October. He's like, what is the most important thing you want to get out of life? And I'm like, happens all the time. Okay, I have a question for you guys. You say you're making goals. Do you remember the acronym for smart goals? Yeah, I actually think about it. Specific, measurable, attainable, relatable, timely.

Or is what art? Pretty close. Specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Oh, relevant. I didn't refer to that. I've actually never heard of that. I was going to say these goals are not those. But that's why I was a little, it didn't have to be that.

Oh, it didn't work. Well, they didn't have to be. like my are achievable. Well, you have to write out, I would like to achieve this by like the specific goal. Oh. Measurable. Like you have to make all of those within the goal. It's like a sentence goal. Five points. We used to, that was like workshop in school. Maybe that's why I hate doing goals because I'm like, all right. One thing has to do five things. And I never did that. I never did that. I felt overwhelming. Okay, that's crazy. Um, but first, let's talk about some of our goals for this podcast because I feel like this kind of came out of nowhere, but also a lot of people are doing podcasts.

Why should you listen to Always Here? This has been something we've talked about for a long time. Years, actually. I mean, before you guys started unplanned, we kind of threw the idea around and we've always kind of come back to it throughout the years to say how fun it would be. I do think that there is a gap. Like, I love podcasts that are girly and fun, but there's not a ton that aren't, I would say maybe super salacious or just gossip-centered, which those are have like a time and a place.

But I feel like we can fill that gap of being a podcast where it feels like friendly, casual, sweet, but also we're going to talk about real things in our life. Yeah. And I feel like we have a shared mission and how we share those things. I don't know if you want to touch on that. You want me to get in. Yeah. I mean, we've had a lot of conversations and actually like developing it.

So this like Abby said, it's been a conversation for a while since before we started unplanned the podcast I do with my husband and like I think when we brought up the on plan you're like well dang it you stole my idea I was like that and I kind of always knew in the back of my head that this would like come to be but just like the timing and I feel like the timing of this is like honestly perfect because we are in the early motherhood stage we our wives we're living our like trying to do I just feel like this is a time where community is but also like more important than ever and I think online it can and I'm not going to try to just like gas myself up and this isn't a generalization it just isn't I'm not even thinking of anyone specifically at all totally but just it can feel like you know a time suck or like maybe you leave and you just feel more anxious or less I don't know I think that we both just had a lot of conversations about wanting this to be a place that makes you feel uplifted related to maybe we'll share what we're making for dinner.

Maybe we'll share a book we read or a TV show or a great fun date night idea or an activity for your toddlers, just like a place where we can find a community of other people that are in the same season of life, miss the season of life, or are anticipating the season of life. Yeah, totally. Did I say that right? Yeah, I think that's great. And when we share hard things, we want them to be sharing in a way that feels hopeful.

Like, it's so easy to get up here with a microphone and like dog on your husband or dog on your kids and being a mom or, you know, and it's like, that's not in the long run like beneficial and we want to kind of share like yeah life can be hard but we can also be hopeful and like have fun through the hard things yeah we have such a purpose in that like hard things so we did create a mission mission statement yeah we did it took us a while but took us a while but here's what we landed on so i mean this is also for you guys to keep us accountable as well each other everyone on the team um always here to share the hope and the hard with heart and humor yeah we want to laugh a lot yeah i mean we're not we're most

going to be laughing. We're not serious, honestly, genuinely. I mean, we can be, but overall. So that's kind of like our goal for always here. And it's been really sweet and fun doing this as sisters and starting this. It's like such a blessing that we have our relationship, but also like the fact that we have our community of friends in real life. And now we're going to have an online community. That's really fun. Now our personal goals. Okay, did you come up with 10? I had three and then you said 10, so I piggybacked to the drawing board. Okay. So I have 10. Okay. Okay. Long way I would say that. So my first one is I want Caleb and I could do one planned date out a month at least. And we used to be really good about doing weekly date nights before kids. And then we fell into a season of being really financially broke if we didn't do any dates. And we also had a child. So it was like, well, we'll just sit on the couch tonight again. And I think it's been a really easy habit to fall out of. So I want to prioritize at least we can have a babysitter come once a month and go out to dinner, like easily, you know?

So just like putting that on the calendar and following through with that. That's sweet. Yeah. I put Kissmore and write more love notes. Yes. I put them in the same one because Kissmore actually was one of my resolutions from a previous year, but I want to bring it back again. And I feel like I told Matt this when I made that my goal a couple years ago.

I'm like, we love each other a lot. We touch a lot. And we're like always close to each other. Let's just kiss sometimes. Like, I don't know if this is inappropriate for the podcast, but why is it that when you're, I feel like we, okay, Caleb, I've been married, we've, well, we've been married almost seven years now. We're going on seven years. Yeah.

And I'm like, well, kiss me. Yes. I'm not your buddy. Oh, no, Matt will kiss me. And sometimes I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. We do that. Like a smooch kiss. And so, no, actually, that was a thing.

So, like, he was like, sometimes I feel like I kiss you and I feel like you like lean away. I'm like, why do I do that? Like, I like kissing you. So now I'm like, I want to be, I need to initiate more kisses so I can break whatever happened. I feel like something when we had kids, I was just kind of like, well, I think because when you're pregnant, you can't touch, you can't roll out. Like, you have a pregnancy below. Like, it started then I was like, I'm, people are touching me too much. And so he would kiss me when I was breastfeeding. I was like, ah. I'm just like, I freaked out. And then I'm clearly

not breastfeeding. So I'm like, I, it just carried it over. And so kiss more and write more love notes because my husband's words of affirmation man. And he saves all of our notes, like, very very I found the stack and I was like it's those are getting old oh that's sweet I need to add new ones to that stack so I'm like maybe I could maybe once a month yeah put a number on it that's sweet I love that yeah there you go measurable measurable once a month adding it kiss once a month my next marriage goal is I want to take a trip this year just Caleb and I a trip just as too that's so good always we last year we went it was like for his work conference and so we gone and we did like an extra day but kilb was also in entering into work mode so it's like we just

I want like even if it's just a weekend or something so fun we haven't done that in a long time yeah we'll watch the kids thanks and I actually have a travel one as well but I said travel with friends oh we're opposite I like we travel together for work and for fun for like 24 hours a lot and I love that I want to keep the same amount of that in but I want to travel with friends specifically with kids the same age as ours so it just that just feels so fun like at a big house everyone comes we like have game nights and movie nights with the kids we all make food in and just like have a kid trip yeah but with our friends too i don't personally love all inclusives like that's where we've gone for kilbs work trips this is not like my favorite type of vacation but i do think an all

inclusive is fun would be fun for a friend trip like that yeah because you're all contained in one area but like if you need to go back for naps or you want to go to food or someone it's like everything's right there yeah so you can be on the same schedule but not at the same time yeah i get that well i was picturing like getting a big arabubian like cooking dinners together oh no that is impossible to do with friends been there and done that and no it's really fun but it's like you can't stay together sure too big okay so moving off my goals i'm recently postpartum so i'm like 10 weeks out getting back into fitness is kind of interesting and I'm really excited about it. I do have a goal to run a half marathon. Oh,

you're going to do it. Uh-huh. I did that with CJ when I was seven months postpartum. And I think I'm going to try to make that a goal with every baby to try to do a half marathon within the first year postpartum. Wow. I don't know why. I just think if I give myself a challenge, I'll actually do it. See, for the turkey trot this year, I did 10 minute miles and that was pretty gas for three miles. I mean, not running it fast. Did you run the whole time? I did run the whole time. That's a goal in itself. I don't think I could run a 10-minute mile and run the whole time. You could, Eddie.

No. That's a mental thing. It is. I don't have grit. Oh, okay. I do know. No, I hate running. I'm going to take that up.

Like, I don't have that thing to keep me going, which I feel like you need to have for running. Abby has good grit. Thanks. You do. You just need a good podcast. Always here. Fuck. Get it on your run, ladies.

Always to do it again. Yeah, literally. You're like, no, I can't listen to it anymore. Running for me, I'm like, maybe I'll get into that when I'm like an empty nester. Yeah. Not my season for running. It is hard with littles. I just, yeah.

It takes too long. It's so therapeutic. I wish I felt that way about it. I feel like I'm. I'm stressed. It's not therapeutic at all. I just want to stop. Okay, similarly, I have on my list of goals go on more walks.

Nice. I just feel so much better. I started that after the loss. And I was like, I just feel so much better. Just being outside, slowing down. And actually, I'm talking about independent walks. I love him. It's like, let me go with you.

And I'm like, yes. Now I have to go do my own laps now. Yeah. Because it's just like that's kind of part of it. I feel like I don't have a lot of alone time in my days. And I don't think that mattered to me or stood out to me as like something that I wanted to change until like more recently. And I was like, oh gosh, I actually really feel like I need to like kind of recoup

independently, like a little bit every single day. and I don't think I'll be able to do this daily like that just doesn't feel realistic but I just said on more walks and I like love it I like turn on a sometimes I'll just listen to music or usually I just like listen to a podcast I've been listening to Dr. Arthur Brooks podcast like about happiness while I'm walking I'm like this just feels this feels like self-care this feels like really good yeah so that is on mine to just do that more often especially in Arizona now it's like a great time to walk for sure for sure

really nice i love that i like that i like that one a lot um another one i have is get a pull-up i kind of had that before i got pregnant with my daughter why did i think of like p-p diaper pull-ups i really just want to get back i'm like they're easy to do a pull-up okay yeah i like to get a pull-up okay yeah i like to get a pull-up again that was something that i never envisioned from myself ever in my entire life even from a child remember when we used to do the physical fitness test in school like elementary school i always missed out on the blue ribbon because i couldn't do a pull-up dang it i know i feel like i've seen you do pull-ups you work out yes i got one down right before i got pregnant again so i want to get it back okay that's a goal of mine too get the pull-ups back

after after having babies yeah that strength is gone gone it's gone i tried i was like oh i'm not there anymore i know i just want to get strong again it was so fun so that's that's my goal. I actually have zero fitness goals now that I'm looking at my list. That's probably healthy. I feel like I want to keep doing exactly what I'm doing on that. I just want to keep red. I've had that same goal just to show up. We're going to ride that wave. We're going to ride that exactly how we're doing it. Another one I have is that I want to take more pictures. I got a camera and I feel like this happens a lot where I'm like, oh yeah, I want to like share this thing that I did even to my story or like text it in the family group chat. I'm like zero pictures. No

documentation of that day which you would think I have a lot of documentation which I do I have like video things but it's not like stuff that I'm like I want to I can go back on and be like that's that moment and our kids are only little for so long they're changing so fast yeah like I specifically want to get pictures of my kids but me with my friends like I have a lot of friends I see every day I don't have a single picture with now will it be awkward to take out my little camera that I got and be like take a picture at the park yeah it'll be awkward but it's always I'm shameless I feel like it's always fun when you have pictures like I want to organize them in some fashion so I can find them I'm always grateful when people remember to take

pictures yeah me too I'm like it's never annoying but I feel annoying if I ask to do it yeah it feels like you're putting people on the spot but I don't personally feel that way I think it's also because we are comfortable what I do for my job I'm like I feel like I can't pull up my camera or phone or be weird but sure everyone understands I think yeah I think if it's just personal use yeah I'm gonna put it my spampas okay my next one is my next one is I need to schedule a dentist appointment. Oh, no. That's been about, I don't even want to say how many years.

Abby, that's actually scary. Wait, years. Okay. Listen, let me explain. Since before you had CJ, Abby, you know you're more prone to cavies when you're pregnant. I know. Six after having Griffin.

Yes. I've never had a cavity in my life. Oh. So I don't think I'm a prone person. No. But I have not gone since I was 26. you have really good teeth thank you i floss daily i water pick i brush twice a day i'm very on top of my oral hygiene but it is disgusting and embarrassing to admit i have not been to the dentist

not long but after i turned 26 and i went off my parents insurance i just didn't think that i could afford going to a dentist which i actually don't think that's the case but then we did get into sticky financial situation and i really we really couldn't afford to go to the dentist so now i'm like okay like we're normal we should we should schedule a dentist appointment maybe just one visit yeah for the kids i have like it's not even like they're on insurance they have a membership at their dentist office i feel like we should do that they probably have that for adults too yeah cute yeah just get a cleaning actually you know what teresa one year for christmas our mother-in-law got me a dental cleaning for christmas ask her for that's a great gift idea i know she got that for me

a couple years ago wow okay i'm by a couple i mean more than that okay um okay um um This one's relatively rant. I have a couple kid ones, so maybe I'll just fire them both off. But check out books from the library. Oh, yeah. That was such a classic thing I did as a kid. Like, I would go every Saturday morning with my dad, and we would just, like, stock up on books. And, like, I'm still a big reader to this day, and I think a lot of it has to do with those, like, traditions of going with my dad.

And my dad would also, like, it wasn't just like he's going to get children's books with me. He would also go and, like, he had, like, a stack of books on hold to check out for himself and read. And it was like, I feel like that made me want, like a lifelong reader because I saw my dad doing it for fun. And it was also just like, fun to go to the library. I'm like, it's free. I feel like the kids could like pick it out on their own. And my boys already love to read. And I think this would just be like a fun thing to do.

And also fun in the community. I mean, heck, you never know who you can meet at the library. They have a lot of events. We go to the library story times somewhat frequently. But I never check out books. I got my first library card. a couple weeks ago since the first time I was literally a small child and you know what they told me they said we don't charge for late books and in my head anymore in my head I thought that's nice but

I feel like you should have some accountability of these people like I need accountability to return my books yeah so I'm pro bringing the charge back if that's what I'm saying maybe people just weren't paying them because it's like what are they going to do yeah truly going to send the cost couldn't come back to get their books back. I don't know. Yeah, I guess I don't want to discourage people from checking out books. They're like, take out a lien on your house. You need to return.

Return my chapter book. Another lighthearted one, though, I have, like, related to the kids is work on letters and numbers with the kids more. This came because my kids can count, but I realize if I were to point to a number, they don't know, which I think is developmentally normal. Yeah. But they don't know what the numbers look like, and they really don't know what the letters look like either.

Like we talk a lot about like, hey, Apple. Like we do all that. We count with the numbers. But I'm like, I haven't done the extra step of like, this is what it looks like. Like if you want to recreate it, this is what it needs to look like. Yeah, that's good. We're going to work on that step in the new year. It is interesting when you start realizing your kids are ready to learn.

Yeah. Like there is like a fast shift in that. Well, and also since our kids stay home, like I feel like if they do go to preschool, they're like really kept to like their milestones more so. Totally. Which is a good thing about that. But we can also get that at home. Yeah, I agree.

It's a great one. I want to do 10 minutes a day of uninterrupted play with the kids. And we've been talking about this a lot. But I have noticed a huge difference, especially when I'm working from home. I try to keep work time to naps, but obviously that's just sometimes not feasible. And if I'm busy running around the house, doing things, and I can tell when CJ starts to get anxious and want my attention more because they'll start to act out. And I'm like, man, I just need to sit down and have 10 minutes with him. and I've noticed a huge, a huge shift in the day when I've done that.

So I want to continue that and try to make that a goal daily. That's a really good one. It's so simple. It's just like I feel like we get in these modes of wanting to do our tasks and clean and cook and, you know, get our work done. And it can be easy to miss. But it's been really beneficial. I think that comes from Dr. Amon.

Like I feel like a lot of people say that, but he said that like 10 minutes of specifically child led play, like where they like kind of pick what you're doing or like, like, you impressed me too because you're like the other day I was climbing under the table with CJ. I'm like, good, good on you. Oh my gosh, my neck hurts over. You're like, this is fun. I was in a full half under the table. A little full half up. Yeah, that's how I feel because Griffin's thing is always asking me to chase him. And sometimes I'm like, I need to be sure to say yes sometimes. Because sometimes I'm like, I can't right now. I can't chase you. You're exhausted. Sometimes I watch you do that. I'm like, Dang, she's got good stature.

I'm like, I actually get really tired of right about now. But then sometimes he wants me to catch him and sometimes he doesn't want me catch him. Oh, yeah. I messed up. I'm trying to read the room right now. I'm a me catch you type of thing. I accidentally knocked him over.

I was catching him one time. I was like, oh my gosh, my bad. He's like, my leg. He said, no, do that. Don't do that, mama. So sad. That's a good goal. Yeah, I think that's an easy one.

This one is kind of boring, but like it needs to happen. And honestly, some of you listeners, you need to hear one too I need to organize the pain points in my house oh yeah and create a system not just organize it but create a system so it doesn't happen again I'm thinking about my mudroom every time I will walk through that space I'm just not happy I'm like this is just a mess so I want to create like a system for it to like find a thing find what to do with the kids

shoes our shoes the socks how can they get back in there how can we organize that Think about the, that'll be the first one I tackle. But then I feel like once I get one done, I'll be inspired to do the other pain points. Probably my pantry, maybe that could use some work. Like, my pantry is crazy. Create a system there. Yeah. So, yeah.

I like that. That's a good, that's a very good goal. And you just start with one thing at a time. One thing at a time. I always, I like the question, are you, there are three things, clean, tidy, organized? Yeah. I would say I'm clean and I'm tidy, but I'm not organized. My house is no systems.

I would give myself clean and tidy. Yeah. I feel like we're very similar. Not organized. But here's the thing. It bothers me when it's not organized. It's not like I'm like, oh, no big deal.

Like, it does kind of bother me. Like I look at the kids clubhouse in our house. It's just a closet with toys. It's a bomb. It's a bomb. I'm like, how do they walk in here? I don't know. And when I have to go back there, I'm like, ow, ow.

Like, it's so that, that can't be the first one though. No. I'll have aneurysm if I'm trying to do that. Honestly, maybe I need to document that journey. It's literally so spooky in there. I love that. Yeah, clubhouse is really a stretch. Let's be honest.

It's a closet with where a bomb went off. I feel like kids need a space where they can just be a bomb, though. I agree. That's what Matt says, but I'm also like, what about just a couple bins to put them in? Yeah. So we have floor space to walk. Sure. That's reasonable.

Yeah. I'll never be. Here's what I'll never be. I'll mark my words. I probably. never be but you know what maybe I'll change my mind down the line I don't think I could be a toy rotation mom no I had hopes and dreams and you know what I have a bag of toys that sat in our shed for about a year and a half they've never rotated in oh they're brand new um no oh but you just took them

away not not yeah they're they're not going to rotate in there's a way to do it like I have a way to do it like I have to have one that you can do this with one that you can do this this and I was Like, oh my gosh. I feel like that's complicating motherhood more than we need. I don't want another, I don't want to complicate it. I don't need another thing. Maybe we just need to keep a room where we just chuck all the toys. The playroom.

The club house. Or the clubhouse. I will say I do keep, I try to keep his toys minimal. Yeah. Like in his play area, I'll take some out and I'll put him back in his room. Yeah. And I'll switch those out. But I'm not like intentionally rotating them.

I'm just like he's not playing with this one. I'll throw in his room and I'll bring out a different one. That's better with a one-story house. It is. story house I'm right my problem is is like toys part of the toys end up downstairs and part of them end up upstairs and I'm like this is too much too many steps well I've got a new one um we've been rotating our toys just because the dogs have been eating them okay so pretzel is probably gonna start eating some toys we love force rotation yeah force love why are you eat you're rotating or she

the dogs ate something so you're rotating them or you're throwing them away we're throwing them away she's but then we get her new toys because they're get they got eaten I will Also, I feel like Lewis has done that, Lewis is our dog. He's done that list with Vivian's toys. Like, CJ, he was so excited with all the new toys and they were all squeaky. He doesn't care anymore. They like the rubber ones. Uh-huh.

Like the bath, they got them out of the bathroom. Oh, the teething toys? Bye-bye. Bye-bye. Yeah. Bye-bye. Also, that is why I also wrote go on more walks as my goal is because now I have a dog. So I want to take her on walks when she learns how to walk on a leash.

Yes. Better. Well, Lewis is a great walker, but he's so big that I have to literally tie him to my body. So that's like a personal problem. That's not a pretzel problem. okay it's just my dog is more of a horse so when i take him a walk i love them like wrestling half the time oh my god well he's also big okay well then why do you like if he stops to pee my whole body yanks oh wow i'm like halted yeah that's just crazy it's just different i ain't dog i'm like it's

actually not restful like the sandlot dog yeah literally i mean he's gotten a lot better and i take him on walks but i think pretzel girl trained at 16 weeks so hopefully they can He turned out to pull. Yeah. And to walk. I don't think they're supposed to walk ahead, but not, obviously not pull. Yeah. But right now she's just a puppy, so she's distracted by every cent,

and then I have to sometimes pick her up. Yeah. Yeah, the puppy phase is horrible. She's like, she'll do a decent, but then there comes a point where we just end up carrying her. Sure, sure. This is a more serious one. I want to get back into a regular Bible study routine and read at least four times a week. I feel like I was really good about this, even with CJ when he was a newborn,

but now being pregnant and having a toddler, I would wake up before C.J. before I got pregnant. And then I was so tired when I was pregnant that I would not wake up to read my Bible. And so then I was like, uh, ooh, I just got out of the habit. So I'm trying to like once, now that like I'm not up as much in the night, I can hopefully get back into a better routine of waking up before C.J. And reading. It's just good for me to start the day like that. I love that. It took me getting into like an actual study before I was like, okay, this has five days and I'm going to see them in seven. So I only got too Accountability's good Yeah, no, it was really good And then I was like If I don't have this done I'm gonna feel disappointed internally

But also I will have nothing to contribute So I need a little public shame You can join mine Or not mine The one I'm in Yeah, yeah So I need a little public shame I need someone to be like

Abby you failed this week You really let us down You let us down First of all most of all you let God down And I just need to like to sit on that I just think my Abby She would be the most receptive to that I think you're right.

Thank you for that feedback. You like the feedback. You're so good about that. I need to work. That's not how it works, but I just need to know. Well, if a friend's telling you, like, God, down, maybe that's... Maybe that's a little harsh. We might need to review that.

I don't think that's how that works. Turn back to the scriptures. This one's, uh, not serious. Good, switch it up. I want to learn how to make a good steak. Ooh. I love steak. Sure.

I really, really love steak, but it was something that I was something that I was, I was just like, I have no business cooking that. Like, I need to only go out to eat that. Sure. I think it's attainable to cook at home. Totally. And I have a cast iron. I've tried before, believe it or not, to make a steak at home.

People are like, you just need a lot of butter and some time and, like, keep going. Or rosemary and just keep, it didn't turn out that good. The thing about that that sucks is it's like an expensive mistake. You're like, dang, that's a good 15 piece of meat right there. That might have been where I messed up, though. Oh, you bought cheap steak. you gotta go sirloin or nothing baby i don't know what cuts to get i don't know where to get it how do you tell if it's good like do you get the what do you get what kind of cut do you get i don't

know i feel like filet's the best i get sirloin but sirloin when you're like buying it from the wait is sirloin just cow no filet no no no sirloin is a different cut okay and filet is a different sirloin's the leanest isn't it yeah my family used to do sirloin's um well done that's how my mom does it the most dry thin hard see i like fat i like fat on my meat. This is maybe the one area in our lives we differ in. No, we have a couple. You're doing desserts. We don't like the same types of dessert. That's true. But yeah, I think maybe maybe our palettes are the one thing that we differ on. Yeah, our taste palettes. Our taste butts. I like, no, we have so many differences. Abby, whenever we do a pot roast, Abby loves to leave

the fat in there and I'm like, it's the flavor. Abby asked Abigail to cut the beat at Sunday or like pull it apart. And Abigail just has a whole side of just the fat. She's like, that's not good. If Blake goes up, he's like, why is this all here? You know, your family is like, mate. I go, I'm going to turn around now and you put it back in there. And I won't watch.

I'm my best part of the roast, girl. That is good. Oh, yeah. No, I mean, I get it. A lot of people don't like it. I just can't really. I like, I like fat. Wake up at or before 7 a.m.

Again. I don't have to expand on that. That's pretty self-explanatory. The days of me sleep in past seven are probably over, respectfully. So you got to have one or two days a week to sleep in. Maybe one is fine. Do you wonder currently how this is going? I set my alarm for seven.

I lay in bed. You set your alarm for seven. Yes. But I don't wake up until at least 7.30. That's when CJ's hatchlight turns green and he walks into my bedroom because Caleb's gone for work way earlier than I wake up. So CJ walks in and he goes, Mama, the light's green. and then he climbs in bed and I lay there until eight that is a blessing honestly happy i don't know

i feel like maybe you should just milk this for all it's worth the fact i know but it's stressful it oh okay because then it's like i have to wake up and nurse and feed cj all at the same time and it's just too much so are you just going to get less sleep or you're going to go to bed earlier here's the thing this is a pipe dream okay it's a pipe goal it's never going to happen i'll text you yeah text me at 7 am wake up gosh well i mean i feel like we'll get there your unique toddler mom that's sense that your kids will allow this to happen. I know. See,

he's golden. Such a chill guy, but also loves to sleep. He's your son. He really does love to. Okay, well, I mean, I only have one more. I have two more.

You have one more. Yeah, you did skit me, but I didn't take it personally. Sorry about that. It's okay. I forgive you. Caleb and I've been talking about dopamine and we're going to do a,

well, this sounds like the most dreadful thing ever, but we're going to do a dopamine fast in the new year. Okay, well, I don't really know what that entails, but apparently it takes all the joy out of life. So no sugar,

for a week. Listen, Abby, I told you I do not want to do this. You guys have done this before. No. And it's honestly hard on everybody. Like, let's get ice cream and it's like, oh, no, I know. Well, yeah, I know. And we're getting, no screens, no TV, no stimulation, no brain, like nothing,

nothing stimulates the brain. So how are you going to work? Well, yeah See, that's my loophole Maybe make a YouTube video of it So then you're working But you can't do anything else Yeah, that's good

I like that idea But then you can't post But then it'll be the most boring YouTube video of all time No, I feel like people have done that before Really? Yeah, it's just me laying on the floor I'm so bored That's the thing you're gonna end up

Finding other things to do You're gonna get creative I know No, I feel like this is good But I just don't know why sugar is included in that Well, I think it really lights my brain up Okay I really love sugar

I really love it. Yeah, we really into sugar in our family. Anyway, dopamine fast. And hopefully trying to just be creative and quiet our brains. Yeah, maybe. We haven't dialed in on the details. Okay.

I feel like that's probably what science would say. Wow. Three days or seven days. That sounds good. Yeah, I think that'll be healthy. I'll just say my last one quickly. It's short. I want to do a monthly one-on-one date with CJ and Vivy when she gets older.

Cute. One-on-one dates, especially with CJ now. I could do that. That's really cute. just we're adding more kids of the fam so giving them more one-on-one time we did do this and the kids were so sad that they weren't together oh i told you that auggy was in the car and he goes what griffie are you like in the car just like kept yelling it but yeah i do want to do that but they really love to stick together that's sweet yeah but i think it'd be good for them yeah they're just attached

at the hip they really are um okay my last one this one i have had on my resolutions and I gotta be honest failed at it miserably I got to do it this year volunteer more I think I've made every excuse in the book of like oh my kids are too little like I have to whatever I have to do I just want to be more involved in our community and serving more because I just feel like it's a discipline that I used to have a lot you guys used to volunteer all the time yeah thank you and I just I hate that I genuinely have lost it We're at zero percent for that. And it's something that I'm like, okay, well, I can make all these excuses.

But if I don't continue this now, like, I'll never continue it. And also model it for our children. And we have an organization that I really want to volunteer with here locally. And so no more excuses, got to do it this year. Well, let me know when you do it because we'll join. Yeah, it sounds like a zero percent on volunteering. So I'm not much, I'm not any better in my area. Okay, those were great.

Those are good. Okay. We'll check back in later. It was accountable. We're going to keep you account on your dopamine fast. Wow. Wow. That's crazy. That's really crazy and scary. Can you text? I don't know. I'll let Caleb set the rules and I'll just support a minute. I'll just send you a note in the mail. Yeah, just send me letters all week. I'll get Chi on Sunday. Yeah, I can do us out to the fast.

So, should we explain our Ask Abby segment? Yes. What is it? I'm just kidding. We're going to ask Abby's. Ask, Ask, Ask, Ask, Abbeys. So this is exciting. We wanted to do something where we could incorporate the audience. And I think this is like a thing. Isn't it like Ask Abby? Ask Abby is already a thing. There's another, there's another Abby who started this.

So we're taking her inspiration. I think it was a column in the newspaper like a while ago. Don't quote me on that. But we're giving her credit. This is not an original idea. And we're not the first Abby's to do this. No, we have a phone number that you guys can actually call in and leave us any type of question whether it's a personal question for abby and i adding like all of us if it's

an advice question for yourself get to know us whatever it may be do you have the phone number it is 602-4569690 and we'll put it in the instagram bio sure the description of the show the description of the show so you can call in whenever it's best i'm really excited for this like i'm excited to like actually get to hear from you guys and this is fun I think so too see the phone I wish that was the actual phone that that is the tie would ring yeah literally oh that could be scary these are vetted we are vetting this question for this first episode we thought it would be fun to reach out to your guys as friends and family to ask questions or ask advice and so we'll play a couple of those now babies have never heard these so this will be the first time

they've heard them. I'm nervous. I'm excited because it's just our friends and family. That was really sweet of them. That is sweet. So this is the first one. Some of them don't have their names, so I'm interested to see if you can tell. Oh, I'll be.

Hello. I was wondering how you guys thought of always here. Yay, I'm so excited for you guys. Oh, cute. Is that Amber? Oh, I love Amber. Okay, so I feel like I got to give you credit for this one. Abby, Abigail. That's kind. It was, I mean, we were trying to think, we had a lot, a lot of

brainstorming sessions about the name. Turns out a lot of our ideas were not creative. They were not creative. Already existing. And turns out Chad GBT's ideas weren't creative either. So, Chad GBT is plagiarism. It's plagiarism. So we were thinking, you know, I was kind of like, what is what do we have in common that we would want the logo to be? The logo for the show will probably be our initials, A.H, because we're both Abby Howard. We were thinking of a lot of names that had Abby Howard in it and none of them were. Yeah the biggest what was the biggest one Abby Howard two one yeah Abby Howard squared Abby Howard squared like we're not mathematicians like that was recommended by many different sources

but I was like okay a H is our logo that's what we have in common so if we can find a podcast name that the first letter begins with an A and the second later letter in H that would be probably would make a lot of sense and so we typed it into chat and we were like okay give us some options and always here was on that list I love it. And there's kind of the tie-in of we're always here for each other, we're family, we're best friends, and we're always here for you guys, our community. And so there's kind of a, yeah, a communal element to it.

Me too. Hi, guys. Okay, so since I'm getting married next year, my question to you is, what is your best advice for being a wife in transitioning into that role? Okay, love you both. Bye. Oh, Mary, Mandy. Oh, sweet.

I'm so excited for her. The number one thing I always tell people, it's very simple and it's silly a little bit, but I think you just really have to remind yourself to be kind to one another. There's so much going on in the engagement planning process, the wedding. It's stressful and fun at the same time. Then you move in together for the first time, like in our case, we didn't live together before. So then you're navigating all of these first together living with someone and you're meshing your life together. it can be very easy to be impatient or snippy or like get into a lot of small arguments

and I feel like I found myself a lot of time just being like just respond kindly and I feel like that saved us a lot from small petty bickering fights of just like taking a deep breath and just being like okay like you know what I mean I think just reminding remembering to be nice like you're nice to them when you're dating yeah you don't want to lose that when you're married you know just because now you have the covenant I don't know it's silly and it's simple but just being Yeah, I guess, I mean, it's because it's easy. It's like, I know you're going to stay. Yeah.

Mine is very much along the same lines, but I feel like say sorry often and quickly. And I feel like that is something that I still need to work on all the time, where it's like, okay, you know what? Me trying to win this thing, because what do they say? If you're winning or if they're winning, you're both losing. And so it can feel, I feel like it's just like my own self-righteousness. I mean, that's just like, I don't need to do it. I feel so justified in how I'm behaving. but like just like quickly be say sorry quickly and often yeah and I think that would just

resolve a lot of things keep life moving because also you're still living in the same house you're still sleeping the same bed you're still waking up together in the morning no point in dragging these things out and I think that can also become a pattern too like in marriage it's like oh we're just going to be silent or you know hold the scrudge for a certain extended amount of time Yeah, that's good. Get in that practice. Yeah, don't be stubborn and don't keep score. And I think it's also reciprocated, too.

Yeah, and you do that. Like, usually, you need to tell your partner. Don't do it because you're expecting it to be reciprocated, but I think that it will also benefit you in the end. Yeah, totally. Hi, Abby and Abby. I know you guys to start your new podcast and you're chasing questions, and I have a question for you, girls.

So I know that your husband, Matt, Caleb, are from St. Louis, and I know that Abigail is from St. Moes. So do you guys ever have any plans to ever move back to St. Moor? But you can enjoy the four seasons and maybe have more family around. Just curious. Thank you. Bye. Not the sales pitch in her voicemail. I love Turk. That was so cute. That's so cute. So sweet. You mom, you ask me this daily. I don't know. I don't think the answers change. I feel like she needs to move to Arizona. That's what I'm saying. She loves it here. I know. We're starting to petition to get everyone out here.

Is your answer no? I mean, for right now, yeah, I don't ever see that happening. But sorry, Mom, I love you so much. I love my family. Hi, Mom. Thanks for the question. That was really sweet. Love me.

You did not answer that. Hi. I'm super excited that you two are starting this new podcast. So, my question is, do you have any special Christmas traditions from when you were a kid that you feel you might also continue with your own kids? thanks bye that's cute that's so sweet that's my mom and she actually brought us sparkling apple juice and lindor chocolates to celebrate today which is so sweet we love our supportive

families um Christmas traditions okay this actually maybe is the time to implement my resolution that I forgot to put in oh I'm really big in traditions but I'm also really big into weekly traditions because they truly shaped my childhood. So I can think of several, but like I knew that every Friday night, oh my gosh, I'm getting up thinking about my grandpa. I knew that every Friday night I was going to stay at my grandparents' house and every morning I was going to wake up and have blueberry, Igo waffles and hot chocolate with my grandparents and I was going to go to the library with my dad.

Sometimes we go bowling like Wednesday nights, we would get dinner with my grandparents. Sundays we had dinner at my grandparents. Like we had a lot of weekly traditions that truthfully are the things that stand out the most when I look back on being a kid and it's not like I really loved our memories at Disney I really loved our memories from traveling but like when I think about like that nostalgic feeling of just like being a kid it really always takes me back to like those Friday nights so Sunday afternoons like those weekly things and so I have always this has been something I've been really aware of the entire time you've had kids I'm like especially because I don't live in my hometown and I

we didn't have family out here when we first had kids I was like I want to have weekly traditions And so I started doing Sunday dinner, but, so I have Sunday dinner on, we host it at our house every week, most of the time, unless something comes up. But I really try to stick to that. And then I want to instate two new weekly traditions, one or two new this year. That's very ambitious, but they don't have to be huge. Like I'm like, Friday night, we could get pizza and watch a movie. Or we could do like, oh, we play games on this night or something like that. But I had a lot of traditions in my own house.

We played games like every single night. Growing up, that's my mom right there. We played a lot of games. We played banana grams. And I was like, when I got married, I was like, we're going to play banana grams all the time. Matt hates banana grams. Oh, no.

So this is part of starting your traditions. We play Monopoly Deal, the two of us. Ooh, that's good marriage advice. If you're mad, find a game that you can play where you don't have to talk and you can, like, avoid the subject of whatever's making you mad. And by the end of playing the game might not matter so much anymore. Yeah, it's lighthearted. It's lighthearted.

It's just fun. It helps get you. And then you're like, we're actually friends. This is our game that we put together. Yeah, that's sweet. All that to say, Christmas traditions. We had a lot of them. But I remember so many, like really fondly.

You start because I just talked a lot. Oh, well, I was thinking about it. I think that's true. I like the idea of traditions. And I, that's something killed. I've talked a lot about it too. For Christmas, I loved the night before Christmas, obviously. We would put cookies out for Santa and carrots out for the reindeer.

And that was always very fun and exciting. always make a big deal about it. So I want to do that with CJ. And also we did St. Nick on December 5th, I think, which I didn't do that with CJ this year, but we'd put our shoe on our fireplace and St. Nick would come and give us like a pre-gift for Christmas, which was so fun. Because you know the anticipation until Christmas Day is so crazy. Can you get all the presents at once?

Yes. And so it was always fun having that little like taste of, and it was kind of the intro into the holiday season. So I think that'd be cute to continue. That's really sweet. Yeah. From when I was really little at, like, the more traditional church we would go to as a kid, they did a Christmas pageant every year of like the Christmas story.

And they would always give the biggest candy bags. I remember this every year. That's what I remember. They gave the best, like, candy bags, all the assortment. I really remember that. I also remember me and my brother both are very fixated on traditions. I feel like, can you? Definitely.

Yeah, definitely it's that way. Yeah, we're both like that. Um, we would always get Taco Bell on Christmas Eve and play Monopoly. Oh, that's fine. We did that one year and then the next year, we're like, we didn't even have to have a conversation. Like, we're doing that again. We're going to do this. We're going to do this often.

And so now every year on Christmas Eve, I'm like, this just feels kind of weird that we're not eating Taco Bell and play Monopoly. Well, that's like last year, Blake made a roast for either Christmas Day or Christmas Eve. And he's like, so should I do a roast again? Like, he's like, we did that last year. So are we like going to keep this going and it be a tradition? I really think it gave us such. a sense of like stability yeah i felt very safe as a kid and i feel like that played a role in that yeah i think i always hear about your guys's traditions like i know your traditions like i can tell you

that on friday night you spent your night at your grandparents house and then you'd watch cartoons in the morning with the ego waffles like you didn't need to tell me that blake has told me that like so many times yeah that's sweet we like really locked in on those things i think it was like our family though too like they really prioritized family time it was nothing like extravagant yeah but like that just made me feel so safe as a kid and like it also played into Christmas like also we would get Christmas dinner with our Amish family I love that made great food I believe it okay I have two more and they're each directed towards each of you one of you hello always here ladies I have a comment and a question oh it's Caleb or Abby first off want to say I'm so proud of you and the woman you are and the mom you are

He's talking about me, right. Excited for your guys' podcasts and journey. I'm excited to see where this goes. So my question is, what is something that I do sometimes but wish I did more frequently in marriage? So I'll leave it with that. Love you. That is so sweet. Caleb is so tender.

It was just my birthday, and he sent, like, probably the nicest text of everything. He read it to me and said, oh, my gosh, that was nice than when I sent her. So sweet. I was like, that's amazing. So nice. I know. I love that he sent that. Okay. That's cute. Something that he does in marriage, I wish he did more. That's a good question. Oh, I don't want to like put him on the spot. Hey, he invited it. I think he should write me more love notes. He used to write me a love notes all the time. And I have like, I have pages of them. I save them like Matt does. And yeah, they're getting a little stale, babe. Refresh. We're a little refresh on the notes. Thanks for asking. last one. Hey, cutie.

It's your husband, Matt. I just wanted to call on him, first of all, say how insanely proud I am of you for launching the show. This is a really big deal. And I just, I actually can't believe you're doing this. I know you've talked about doing your own show with Abby for actually years now. So I'm so proud of you. I'm so proud of you guys.

But my question for you is, what does it look like for a husband to adore his wife in a way she can feel every day, right? Because I think there's big gestures that we can make us. husbands to make our wives feel adored and loved but you know what's what's maybe like a small thing a daily thing that goes a long way and something maybe that really matters to you so i love you uh i'm so proud of you and uh i can't wait to listen to the first episode go you that's sweet so sweet i thought of two things but one of them's just so like why is it a big deal but why do i like feel so taking care of when he makes my coffee in the morning

me. I'm like, oh, that just makes me. I don't know about adored. But like, I don't know. I think I'm a service girl. So like your words of affirmation are you? I'm all of them. Okay. Yeah, there's. Fully time is my biggest one. Okay. Yeah. Well, um, like he's made my coffee the past like several mornings. Like he just comes in with it. I'm like, oh, you knew I needed that. Oh, that's super sweet. It just makes me, it feels like a movie whenever that happens. I'm like, I feel like I'm just living in a romcom where I just wake up and my husband, super. hot and makes me cough um but another one I think um that I also want to do more of myself is just like acknowledging efforts because sometimes I feel like with the daily life especially as a

mom and a wife like your role it's just easy it's just it becomes routine and so it just becomes like okay like this is what I do and this is what you do but like I think it goes both ways like okay yes this is an expectation that we do this every single day basically or every week but just acknowledging it every single time or like a lot of the times still makes me just feel really seen and like appreciated and ultimately adored when that happens he's like gosh this dinner's delicious like thank you so much I'm like thanks you're welcome thank you yeah I've made it for you 500 times you love it that's really sweet yeah oh we love you guys I love her husband I can't believe we did this I feel I'm sweating so I am sweating as well

I am excited this is like the biggest thing I've committed to in a really long time and I feel very honored that you asked and that you trust me at this and that I feel like you're right this timing was perfect and I'm excited to go on this journey with you guys yeah I just shout out to everyone for all the work that came in a lot of work for everyone yeah a lot of work going in especially Addie like thank you so much we'll get some of the kinks worked out as future episodes go but this was really fun and just really appreciate you. you all supporting the show and tuning into our first episode called the number if you feel so inspired and we'd love to listen to you on the show and remember we're always here