Challenges Behind Them, Chris Lane and Wife Lauren Celebrate 'Our Best Days' (Exclusive)

“I hope the honeymoon phase never ends. If it happens, I’m out!”

Those words could haunt any husband, but Chris Lane and Lauren Bushnell Lane now just burst out laughing when they were reminded that that’s exactly what Chris had said five years ago, just days before he and Lauren were to get married.

“I can assure you there was a time when the honeymoon phase was definitely not there!” says Lauren, now mom to the Lanes’ two rambunctious boys, Dutton, 3½, and Baker, 2.

“I’m still here!” Chris assures.

And of course, the 40-year-old hitmaker notes, he was only teasing when he and Lauren sat down in 2019 to talk to PEOPLE about their upcoming wedding and their future together. Five years later, it’s clear that their fun side – Lauren also gives it her best – is still part of the glue that binds them together.

Lauren Bushnell Lane and Chris Lane Relationship Timeline

Yes, they agree, the honeymoon is over, especially with two little boys happily snuggling in their big bed. But what they have now, they say, is even better.

“I love her more today than the day we got married,” says Chris, “and I think that will only grow as our family grows.”

The Lanes chat as they settle into a cozy breakfast nook in their Nashville home, brightly decorated for Christmas. But as much as they celebrate these holidays, they also celebrate this time of their life together. Recent years have brought challenges for both the Lanes at work and at home, but Lauren, 34, says she now believes this is a time she will one day look back on as “our best days”.

Chris is thriving at his new label, is pumped for new music and is set to join Rascal Flatts early next year on their highly anticipated reunion tour. Lauren, a powerful social influencer with 1.4 million Instagram followers, says she’s refocused on appreciating and enjoying her home life. And it’s clear that what she calls their two “roaring little dinosaurs” has become the focus of their lives.

Not that parenthood hasn’t come with significant adjustment. “I feel like the hardest time was when we first had kids,” says Lauren. It was mourning the life we ​​built together. I was so happy because we had these beautiful children, but then all the things that made us fall in love and the things we enjoyed together had to take a back seat. And that was very difficult, especially the first two, probably three years.”

Chris admits that being the main breadwinner, especially in such an unpredictable profession, was very difficult for him at the time.

“It’s a business that can disappear quickly if you don’t have hit songs,” he says. “So I think for me it was always just a concern. I want to make sure I can provide for my family the way I feel I should. I’ve always felt like if I don’t say yes to this show, one day I won’t get the chance to say yes to shows.”

In the early days of their marriage, Lauren often went on tour with Chris, but the trips stopped when their boyfriends arrived and she had to get used to being apart.

“When he left, I didn’t have what felt like a support system here,” she says. “I felt like I was just alone with the kids here. We didn’t have a babysitter or a babysitter. I had no family here.”

But that changed a few years ago when her parents pulled up stakes in Oregon and moved into a house down the block from the Lanes. The nanny also now helps out when both Chris and Lauren have work commitments.

“Big, big plans”

Having family nearby, Lauren says, “I’ve always missed a part of Nashville. I’m just very close to my family.” Their presence, Chris says, has also eased his worries when he’s away.

While he admits he’s still trying to find work-life balance, he’s also grateful that he’s “at a point in my career where I don’t have to play as many shows a year as I did when we got married. Even when we had Dutton, I was on tour for most of that year.”

Less going out, of course, means more family time, and Chris enjoys being what he calls a “drama dad.”

“Think WWE Dramatically!” Lauren interjects.

Chris recounts picking Dutton up from his preschool: “As soon as we make eye contact, I’m jumping up and down. I’m honestly embarrassed…”

Lauren says, “I get messages from other moms like, oh my god!”

But, says Chris, “Dutton loves it, so I keep doing it. He just gets that big smile on his face, runs up to me and jumps into my arms.”

Lauren adds, “It’s so cute.”

Chris Lane on the hardest part of parenting for him: ‘Our little man doesn’t like to sleep’

Other dad moments happen in a bounce house in the couple’s backyard. “We come out here almost every afternoon,” says Chris, “and they want me to tackle them. They love to attack me and jump on me, and whenever they jump on me, it doesn’t hurt, but I act like it’s the worst injury I’ve ever had, and they love it!”

Meanwhile, Lauren devoted herself to her role as a housewife. Baking is her current obsession.

“Greetings Nicole Combs [Luke’s wife]because she brought me everything you need for sourdough,” she shares. Ginger Molasses Cookies are another frequent visitor to her oven.

During the warmer months, she and the boys are in the yard tending to the vegetable garden. “It makes me happy and I enjoy it,” she says. “It, like, seriously calms my nervous system, and it’s so much fun with the guys. They love it.”

Family time has become so precious, Lauren reveals, that she recently shifted her priorities, pausing her clothing line venture after a successful first drop this fall.

“I’m self-funded, so no one else is telling me what I can and can’t do,” she says. “I think when I launched it, I wanted a creative outlet. I am very entrepreneurial at heart. But I feel like I had an epiphany recently about how fast things move with our kids and how fast they grow. And the years just seem to go by alarmingly fast. So I was trying to slow down when it came to everything, and it was really nice.”

Family life clearly has an impact on the Lanes’ emotions, and sobered up, they realize the high stakes of their investment.

“Our kids can just run around the house, laughing, attacking each other, and Lauren will just cry out of nowhere,” says Chris. “She’ll say, ‘If anything ever happens to me, please make sure our boys know how much I love them.'”

Lauren explains: “It’s a strange thing that happens when you become a parent. It’s like your heart is outside your body and somehow you become very vulnerable.”

Coincidentally, Chris got a song called “If I Die Before You”, which reflects all these fears. He immediately knew he had to have it. “It became one of those songs,” he says, “that I felt every bit of the word.”

“If I Die Before You”

Now Chris’ latest single, the song still brings Lauren to tears every time she hears it. “It’s just a bittersweet feeling because to relate to that song, you have to love someone very much,” she says. “It’s so fortunate in a way that you have such a deep connection with another person and share a family, but yes… then the puzzle is only complete if that person is still in your life. Obviously, life doesn’t always go the way you plan.”

And for the Lanes, there’s actually a recorded plan: Chris’ No. 1 hit, “Big, Big Plans.” Originally written as an accompaniment to his 2019 proposal to Lauren in her parents’ backyard, the lyrics predict “a little house on some beautiful land” and “a little island where we’d go tan” and one day “take our children.” Although not a little, their beloved home and their regular retreats to the Florida sun at least echo the spirit of those words, and Chris is proud to discover the plural nature of their future offspring.

“Here we are with two children,” he notes. “I could have messed up. There could only be one, you know!”

Chris Lane If I Die Before You.

Red Street Records

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When Lauren hears “Big, Big Plans” now, she says, “it always brings me back down to earth and makes me realize how much our lives have changed since that song. It’s so amazing to remember that time. But it’s also amazing to think about where we are now.”

And what are their big, big plans now?

For Chris, it’s being able to release what he considers “the best music I’ve ever had in my career… It’s kind of a cliché to say that because I feel like every artist says that about what’s coming out next. But I really feel that way in my heart. I think — fingers crossed — they’ll be career-changing songs.”

They’re also both excited that Lauren and the boys will be able to join him on some of the Rascal Flatts tour dates. Dutton, who turns 4 in June, got to see Chris live for the first time at a recent Grand Ole Opry performance, and his reaction delighted his father.

Rascal Flatts Reunite For 25th Anniversary Tour After Hiatus: ‘We’re Ready’

“I’ve never seen Dutton look at me like this,” Chris recalls. “When I walked off that stage, I saw his face, and he must have thought it was the coolest thing he’d ever seen. He just ran up to me and said, ‘Dad!'”

“He was so proud,” says Lauren. “It was very sweet. He was kind of delighted.”

“It’s literally what it looked like,” agrees Chris. “It was so sweet.”

But leave it to the little boy to keep this dad grounded too. Ten minutes later, Lauren says, Dutton found something else that captivated him: a backstage vending machine with some of his favorite orange crackers.

Chris just laughs at the memory – and the way his life turned out.

“I was definitely one of those guys who never saw himself getting married, never wanted kids — you know, the whole thing,” he says.

Chris Lane.

Sam Aldrich

He surveys his surroundings – his wife by his side, the happy squeals coming down the hall from his playful sons, their two dogs underfoot, the sparkling Christmas tree in the living room, the bouncy house in the backyard.

“I’m so thankful that the good Lord didn’t listen to me when I said I didn’t want any of that,” he says. “I mean, look at this. We have a nice life.”

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Source: HIS Education