About Me

I grew up a Navy brat, moving every two years.  I tell most folks that I was born in Virginia, my dad retired in California and I was raised somewhere in between.  My folks owned an RV and we used to take 30-day trips traveling across the country as we re-located from one coast to the other.  While in high school we lived overseas for a time too.  To say that I had variety in my life while growing up would be an understatement.

I met my husband in 1988 while he was in the Navy stationed in California.  He was born and raised in Montana and I knew, from the moment I met him, that one day we'd wind up living in Montana. I told him that he was lucky I am adaptable!

We moved to Great Falls, Montana in 1999, after living for a time in Colorado, California, and New Jersey.

We have two boys, Justin is 21 and a junior at the University of Montana (Go Grizzlies!) and Jared is 19 in his 2nd year of a 3-year program and working at a local restaurant.  As Jared says, both of my boys will graduate from 'college' in 2012.

Jared was born when I was 24, in 1991 and was diagnosed with Down syndrome shortly after he was born.  I have always believed that there is a reason for everything and I believe that Jared was given to us so that we could educate others.  Even though I felt that my life was leading up to having him, I was very unaware about what Down syndrome was, how it happened, and what it would mean for our family.  But I became educated very quickly and we have spent the past 19+ years educating others.  The most important thing for us as a family has been to raise our two boys as much alike as possible.