Raised on Midwest charm and a love for the outdoors, I grew up an only child. I spent hours on the lake, at my aunt's farm, and running around the college campus that employed my mom. Long summer days gave me back to back weeks of youth camp or mission trips where I took hundreds of pictures on disposable cameras. And so began my passion.
Now you can find me playing card games with my family, laughing it up at gym class, on my deck with a cold beer, fishing with my dad, or making friends with a cute retired couple in any checkout line anywhere.
Raised on Midwest charm and a love for the outdoors, I grew up an only child. I spent hours on the lake....
my story
If there's one thing to know about me it is that I fiercely love my kids. Parenting is quite possibly the hardest and most incredible journey I will walk this side of heaven. They teach me, challenge me, and breathe life into our home. And I'd like to confess that I. like. teenagers.Yeah, I was just as shocked as you might be reading this.
We had McKenzie a few years after we were married and I spent over a decade as a full-time mom. Shortly after she came we added Kyle, Maya, and Eli- who was not in our plan but has been the perfect bookend to our family. One is independent and relational, another has the sharpest mind and quickest wit. One of them is a natural empath and gets viciously hangry, the other has athletic ability and no fear.
But each of them has my heart.
Our family
I was a young bride. And when I say I was a young bride, I mean I was just shy of my 18th birthday on our wedding day. {I know!} Don't worry, I'll tell you the condensed version when you book me.
Since 2001 Chase and I have grown up together and done this life. We've built houses, brought babies into the world, and keep learning how to love each other. Each loss, hardship, and celebration has been OUR story.
With him, I laugh too hard. With him, I am home.
our love story
Being late
Grocery shopping
my least favorite things
2. That light right before sunrise
3. Frasier, Friends, The Office, Three's Company, and Seinfeld in that order
4. country music concerts
5. My chickens
6. True Crime anything
7. Dark roast and cream in the morning, Cabernet and steak in the evening
8. The way kids say things almost correctly
9. Authentic conversation
10. Matching all the socks on laundry day
10. Sarcastic humor
My favorite things
Curls that tightened with the heat of Midwest summer, too big adult teeth making crooked
the smaller ones in my mouth, and an independence like wildfire in my bones. These are just a few of the things that define me but they're only a fraction of who I am.
TURNING 40: WHAT I'VE LEARNED ABOUT MYSELF AND LIFE SO FAR
CONTINUE READING...
