Random Stuff About Me

History

I am the fifth out of ten kids (7 girls and 3 boys) in a big Latter-Day Saint family. I grew up in the eastern panhandle of West Virginia. During my pre-college schooling, I spent all of my time in music. I played the alto saxophone for eight years and sang in every vocal group during that time as well. I decided after high school to attend Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah. I majored in elementary education, graduated, and started teaching right away.

Love Story <3

My husband Doug and met the first time at a church dance when we were 14. He fell hopelessly in love with me at first sight. I barely remember meeting him. We lived two hours away from each other, so we really only saw each other at the church dances once a month. We were acquaintances/friends all through our teenage years and kept in touch occasionally through email. We met up again at college and Doug's persistence eventually paid off after asking me out on a few dates. We dated for two years and then were engaged for almost a year before getting married in 2005. He's pretty awesome!

Teaching

I started my first year of teaching before I actually graduated. I took an internship teaching second grade in Provo. I taught there for just one year. When Doug graduated, we headed out east for him to accept a job and I accepted a job teaching fourth grade. I taught in the same school for six years and I LOVED my job! I am now "retired" and staying home to raise my daughter. At home, I spend nap times creating teaching units and reading comprehension companions for children's books that I sell on TeachersPayTeachers.com as a way to bring in some income.

Motherhood

Motherhood was not something that came easy to me. After a miscarriage and years of trying, we were left empty handed. After several doctor's visits and a cancer scare, I was diagnosed with endometriosis and had surgery to remove some of it. A year later and some ineffective fertility treatments later, I had given up the idea of naturally conceiving. We were going on vacation and coming home to start the process for IVF when I found out that I was pregnant! Motherhood has been an absolute blessing and joy in my life and I just feel lucky every day that I get to be a mom.

Interests

I love any sort of technology. I'm not nearly as good as my husband is, but I know my way around a computer. People at work call me a geek. Also, I LOVE LOVE LOVE photography.  I'm not really interested in scenery, but I do love taking pictures of people. I bought myself a Nikon D40 a few years back and I'm trying to learn how to use it better. One of these days, I'll take a photography class. When I get the chance I love to read as well. I mostly read children's literature, but occasionally I'll pick up a young adult novel.

Here's a word cloud describing me that I made on Wordle.