About Us

Hi! Welcome to our blog!
Here is a little bit about us.

Kaela--
I am 25 years old and I grew up in Logan, Utah. I have two older brothers who live in Utah and my awesome parents just relocated to Kentucky to take care of my grandpa.

I attended and graduated, with my associates degree, from Snow College in 2011.  While attending Snow, I had the opportunity to work with 3 different therapists at the college and I was a peer mentor. I also was able to fill the position of the anti-tobacco grant coordinator and planned activities for students as well as plan presentations for middle school children. This is where I really grew and was able to discover my true passion for helping people.

In 2012 we had our son, Asher, and in 2013 I was accepted to attend the University of Utah. Even though I struggled to decide on becoming a therapist, I felt really compelled to go into Marriage and Family Therapy when many of my friends started getting divorces. I felt like I needed to do something about it. I jumped in the Human Development and Family Studies major in hopes that I would eventually find my niche in the therapy world. This finally happened when I discovered John and Julie Gottman's decades of research on marriage and how they could predict if a couple would make it or not. With this information, I just know I can help save marriages!

I am in the last semester of my Bachelors Degree program and will graduate in May and hope to be accepted into the Marriage and Family Therapy program at BYU in the Fall of 2016. I plan to get training in the Gottman program between now and then and teach his book in the community.

In 2009, I taught English in Moscow, Russia for a semester and it was amazing! I love to travel, hike, camp, read about World War II, and garden. Photography is another past time that I love. I also have a black belt in martial arts. I suppose you could say that I'm well rounded! Learning new things, for me, is fun!

My family is the light of my life out of everything that I may have accomplished so far. There's no doubt it's been a challenge for me to be a mother but it sure comes with it's upsides! I love watching my son experience new things!

Sam--
I am 26 years old. I am nerd by day and outdoor sports enthusiast by night. When I am not at work or trying to learn more about science and engineering, I'm spending time with my wife and son doing fun and adventurous things. I love mountain biking, snowboarding, backpacking and to play pretty much any sport. I come from Gunnison, Utah, and I'm the youngest of seven children. Both my parents still live in Gunnison and we like to occasionally visit to get out of the city.

In 2010 I returned home from my mission in Capetown, South Africa. I jumped right into the pre-engineering program at Snow College and married my wife Kaela. It was a busy year to say the least, and we've been working hard together ever since! In 2012 we made the transition to the big SLC to continue both our educations at the University of Utah. Now that 2015 is finally here, we are excited to test out the new post-grad chapter of our lives.

Although I will have a career salary and a full time engineer position in South Salt Lake, we are looking to save money on our housing expenses by house sitting and living cheaply while we pay down our car and school loans. With a family of soon-to-be four, we are striving to live within our means and save for a down payment on a house within 3-5 years. If there is anything we are good at, it is being able to roll up our sleeves and get to work on reaching our goals. All the while finding joy and excitement in our journey.



Asher--
Asher is a 3 year old miracle! He decided to come into the world a good 2 months early. I was diagnosed with preeclampsia and was rushed to a hospital that was equipped with a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). They were able to control my blood pressure for a few more days and then my blood pressure spiked. He got here quick but we were blessed with a healthy little boy. He hardly had any complications and he was released from the hospital a month later.
He did take some time to crawl and walk but everything else has seemed to come easy to him. He's brilliant!
Asher loves dinosaurs, tools, cutting paper, swimming, and playing outside.






Baby J--
We have another little one coming in July 2015! It's a boy and we have yet to pick a name. Asher still thinks he's got a baby growing in his tummy but we hope he'll understand more when he feels the baby move.  We hope this pregnancy goes a little more normal than last time.
























Other things about us---
Our little family is pretty great! We love having adventures together and spending time outdoors when it's warm!

We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and are active, participating members. Currently, Sam is the executive secretary for the Bishopric and Kaela is the primary president.

When Sam and I first got married we managed about 300 student apartments.

Sam and I met in high school during our senior year when I moved to Manti, Utah from Kentucky. We became good friends and when Sam left for a mission in 2008 we began writing each other. For two, long, years we wrote and really got to know each other in a fun way. When Sam came home in 2010, we were engaged in 3 1/2 weeks and married in the Manti, LDS temple 4 months later. We have never regretted getting married when we did and our marriage has seemed so short....but we feel we've been married forever!


We hope that this helps you get to know us better and if you have any questions...please ask!