My life in a nutshell...

Happy Mother's Day to all of my favorite mom's out there! I've been wanting to jump on the band wagon and start blogging for some time now...I've just had a hard time coming up with a blog name, pictures and the focus to actually do it. But here we are...Mother's Day...and I'm feeling the motivation hit me...so quick! I'd better get started.

I am a 29 year old mom of two, plus one on the way. I stay at home full time, and work three evenings a week as a Licensed Massage Therapist. It's really the best of both worlds because I'm home with my kids throughout the day, and yet I still get some time in the professional world, too. I was born and raised in North Bend, OR, which is a small town on the Southern Coast of Oregon. I left at 16 when I was an exchange student in Norway for my junior year of high school. I returned, graduated a Bulldog and then went to a term at the local community college. But...alas...this was not the life for me. I packed up my bags and moved to Boise for no good reason. I stayed there temporarily, moved to a small town in Utah called Morgan and lived there even more temporarily. Then I went on to Roseburg Oregon before spending a summer in Pennsylvania. After, I journeyed back to my parents home for a few months before turning in an application to serve a mission for The Church Of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints. Even though it doesn't seem like I accomplished much in these years it was important time of growth. Sometimes the greatest education we can have is through our experiences.

When I left for my mission, I knew it would be a life altering experience. And I wasn't disappointed! I began referring to my pre-mission, during mission and post-mission life because to me, they were three seperate and distinct lives. (Since then I've started referring to my pre-children and post-children lives...) About 7 months after I got home from my mission, I was living in Provo, Utah going to Provo College studying in the Therapeutic Massage Program. And along came Ben. Ben and I had dated pre-mission, but had broken up about a year before we left on our missions. We kept in loose contact over those three years but had actually lost contact about six months before he came home. So I was a bit surprised when suddenly out of the blue he called. Apparently he was very motivated to get married, as that is the next step in life, right? So he sat down and made a list of all the girls he knew and slowly checked each one of them off as un-marriage material. Until mine was the last on the list. Hmmm. Romantic, isn't it? Well, our whirlwind engagement (yes, we skipped the whole dating part and went straight to engagement) threw everyone into a tailspin except for us. We were in LOVE and life was great! We were married three months after he came home, on July 15th, 2003.

We stayed in Provo until I finished school. We moved to The Dalles (Eastern Oregon) and lived there for a year. Our daughter, Kiersley Anne was born on Oct. 26, 2005. Shortly after (like a week) we moved to Roseburg. Our son, Benji Bear, was born Aug. 7, 2007. And baby Acacia Layne will be coming here soon (TBA). Out of all of the places I've lived, Roseburg is by far my favorite. I'm in love with the house we bought. I enjoy the different activities in the area. And most of all, we're close to family and friends who inspire me in every venue of life.

I'm grateful for Princess Kiersley and little Benji Bear who are helping me fulfill the dreams I've always had of raising an "eternal family".

And certainly I'm amazed and impressed by my husband. He is wise beyond his short years. And he's a pretty good kisser, too :)