Fall started for Lauren Akins in August. At that point, she'd had enough of the heat and was ready to channel a little autumn in her Nashville home. She enlisted Willa Gray, 3, and Ada James, 2—her kids with husband Thomas Rhett Akins—to help bake a Halloween snack. All were feeling festive as they decorated ghosts and black cat cookies—until they were caught in the midst of their chocolate-covered fever.
“Thomas Rhett walked in and he was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me. Lauren, it is August,’” she says, laughing. “I said, ‘Honey, I know. But we needed a new craft, so we’re giving fall a good kickoff here at the Akins household.'”
Lauren's passion for the season made her the obvious choice to host a Halloween party for Country Living's October issue. She proudly wore a DIY scarecrow costume as she sipped apple cider and played candy corn ring toss with Willa Gray and Ada James, who dressed as an ear of corn and an apple bushel.
“Gosh, I just about died when I saw them,” she says. “They’re the cutest things.”
Their fun-filled afternoon is only a peek inside the idyllic family that's taken over country music. Lauren and Thomas Rhett are the picture of an ideal southern couple down to the last detail, including Lauren's habit of referring to both her husband and their kids by their first and middle names.
But on the off chance you haven’t heard the songs that detail their marriage, the tune goes something like this: Thomas Rhett and Lauren, both 29, met in grade school, and were best friends for years before they started dating. They tied the knot at age 22, and are now parents to Willa Gray, who they welcomed home from Uganda in 2017, and Ada James.
Their relationship is so much a fairytale that some might say it’s the key to Thomas Rhett’s success, inspiring hits like “Look What God Gave Her” and “Die a Happy Man," which he's currently performing on his nationwide Center Point Road tour. And the chart-topping fairy tale is far from over—Thomas Rhett and Lauren are expecting their third daughter early next year, though both predicted a son.
"I don’t know why I thought it was a boy, because I’ve been more sick this pregnancy than with Ada James, and typically girls make you way more sick," she says. "I think it’s the thought of three girls that sounds so overwhelming.”
Still, she was relieved when she heard the news. They’re used to raising daughters by now, and she loves being surrounded by easygoing Willa Gray and sweetly “skeptical” Ada James, who both adore their mother.
“When Thomas Rhett and I get ready to go to a red carpet or an event, my girls just live for when I get dressed up,” she says. “They make me feel 10 times more beautiful than my husband has ever made me feel, because they look at me so starry eyed.”
But being an experienced mom hasn’t made this pregnancy any easier. She’s only 18 weeks along, yet it seems she’s a lot farther. “I feel so much more pregnant,” she laughs.
There is, however, a major silver lining to having done this before. “I can see the changes in my body quicker, and I’ve felt her move already,” she says. “It’s cool experiencing it once, and then kind of knowing what I’m getting into this time. I can be a little more excited and a little less anxious.”
As far as Willa Gray and Ada James go, they are “thrilled” to have another sister in the mix. Willa Gray prays for her every night, and Ada James is crazy for babies.
“I can already see how my girls are going to mother her,” she says. “They’re going to have a lot of fun with it. And I will welcome the extra help.”
While they wait to become a party of 5, Lauren is going to fill every second with fall traditions they’ll always treasure, which she believes is "essential to us, coming from his crazy world."
That also gives her a good excuse to dream of crisp nights by the fire and scour Pinterest for red and orange decorations in the throes of summer.
“I’d be lying if I told you that we haven’t already seen a couple of Halloween movies this year,” she says.
Of course, this is all the precursor to Lauren’s favorite pastime: carving pumpkins, roasting the seeds, and curling up for a night in with the kids and Thomas Rhett. Who, by the way, is just as into the seasonal activities as his wife.
“He enjoys it probably as much as we do,” she says. “It’s a change of pace from the stage life and doing the shows, and he turns into a little kid all over again. It’s sweet to watch.”
It’s officially September now, and Lauren is likely in full-on fall mode. At this very moment, she could be calling friends to set up trick-or-treating in their neighborhood, or planning their annual trip to the pumpkin patch. But whatever she has in mind, her family’s at the center of it.
“When he’s off the road, we do whatever we can to be home and make memories with our kids here,” she says. “That’s our favorite thing to do.”
Megan Stein is the executive editor for The Pioneer Woman, and oversees entertainment, features, and news for the website. Whether it's catching up on the latest true crime podcast, or re-watching the best '80s movies for the zillionth time, she's always here to talk about anything and everything relating to pop culture.
