A big “hello” from our little family of 4! You can’t truly get to know me without meeting my family. In our house, family is our everything – we eat, sleep, and breathe our family. It is the cornerstone to the life that we have created and strive each and every day to teach our children the importance of loving and relying on one another. All families are unique and each special in their own way. Welcome to ours.
First comes love, then comes marriage
Long story short on how I met the co-pilot of our crazy bus: In 2012, a year and half out of college and trying to make ends meet on substitute teacher pay, I could no longer afford my upbeat lifestyle in Uptown Minneapolis and had to move back to Rinky-Dink Smalltown, Minnesota. Although I do adore small-towns and the closeness of my family that comes along with it, at the time, it was a somewhat doom and gloom prospect. I was back to sharing a bedroom with my younger sister (and with that came sharing everything else). My outlook looked bleak and the thought of affording my own home and finding someone to build a life with wasn’t in the cards. All hope was seemingly lost. [Insert loud sobs of despair here.]
Thankfully, (emphasis on thankfully) a family friend took note of my apparently obvious desperation and dire situation and set me up on a blind date. I didn’t have much optimism, but figured, hey, I’ll at least get a few free drinks outta the deal, right? Little did I know that when I walked through the door of the hole in the wall bar, it would be love at first sight (I know, way corny…). But really! Erik was sitting there at a 2 person high-top table, and before the night was over, we basically fell in love, got engaged, and were married before the night was over.
Okay, maybe not quite that fast, but we were engaged in about 4 months and were married about 7 months after that. Literally, in a blink of an eye – we met, got engaged, and were married…and even built a house together all within a year of meeting. That’s a quick hop skip and jump from doom and gloom, ain’t it?! It’s one of my most favorite stories!
Erik has been the best partner in crime, and every single day I thank my lucky stars I found him. Before we had kids, we worked tirelessly on our new little farmstead. Erik quickly learned he had untapped carpentry skills and began building pole sheds, insulating and finishing garages, and building all sorts of furniture items (because we were too poor to buy anything at a real furniture store). He is behind most of the house related blog posts, and I honestly couldn’t achieve all of my dreams without him.
Then comes babies in a baby carriage
Once we felt settled into our new home we decided to expand our family beyond pets and give parenting a go. (I will make an effort to keep this short and sweet because I could seriously go on and on forever about my kids.)
Our first born is the lovely Miss Jules. She is classy, sassy, and a bit smart assy. She takes gruff from no one, calls the shots, and has a knack for getting her way. She makes me want to give her all the hugs and pull my hair out at the same time. The world seems to revolve around this one. When I was pregnant with Jules, all we thought about was her. And when we were pregnant with our second, it seemed we still only thought about Jules. She has a personality that fills the room and consumes your attention. She is smart, witty, and incredibly clever. She catches on to everything so fast and has a prepared argument for everything. (God help us through the teenage years.)
and another
Two years after being blessed with our daughter, our second was born – Little Odi Boy. Like his sister, he is absolutely adorable. Unlike his sister, he is chill and the most laid back toddler you’ll ever meet. He is compliant, happy go lucky, and Mr. Go With the Flow. Pretty much everything that Jules (and Erik and I) are not. I truly believe that God knew exactly what he was doing when he blessed our family with this little ham. Jules and Odi balance each other out and are (usually) the best of friends. You can’t help but look at Odi and immediately want to give him snuggles and tell him how much you love him.
Among the chaos
In the year 2021, with two crazy toddlers, a farm and home to maintain, and the chaos of one of the most outrageous year on earth, we continue to find ourselves happy and content. Our family of four is absolute perfection in every way…in my eyes. From the outside looking in, on a daily basis, we are chaos, we are full throttle, and we are always saying “here’s the plan”. And I wouldn’t have it any other way. We are in love with each other, and we say to each other often.
I cannot wait to share more about our life around our house with you. My hope is to show you that perfection is in the eye of the beholder (or beer-holder on some days). We are happy and appreciative for all that we have. But even in our unhappiness we find grace; we find unity; we find enduring love.
