I grew up on my parent’s dairy farm in Cornelius, OR.  Until recently, my parents milked up to 500 head of holstein dairy cows.  My parents, Richard and Sandra, still live on the dairy farm and also own a large hay farm in Culver, OR.  I have an older sister, Kellie, and a younger brother, Joseph.  Kellie and her husband of two years just had their first baby, Franklin.  Joseph is an officer in the United States Army and will be deployed in the spring of 2009 to serve our country somewhere in the Middle East.  Growing up we always ate dinner together as a family and would go on various family outings every Sunday.

From fourth grade to the summer after my senior year of high school I showed my horse, a pig, and cows in 4-H at the Washington County Fair.  In 2004 I was the Washington County Dairy Princess-Ambassador.  I spent the year traveling to schools around Oregon, as well as going to multiple agriculture events, to speak about the importance of milk in one’s daily diet.

I was a competitive gymnast for 10 years and am currently the competitive level 4 team coach at Flightschool Gymnastics Center.  We won our first two meets!  I played volleyball all four years of high school at Hillsboro High School and played two years at Chemeketa Community College and two years at Pacific University. 

My first two years of college were at Chemeketa Community College in Salem, OR.  At Chemeketa I took general business classes and participated in varsity volleyball.  I was named to the 2004 NWAAC All Academic Team and was voted captain my sophomore year.

The next three years of my undergraduate schooling was at Pacific University.  At Pacific I continued to play volleyball and was again voted captain my senior year.  I graduated from Pacific University in 2006 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Administration. 

I am now in the 5th year Master of Arts in Teaching degree at Pacific University.  My ideal age group to teach would be first through third grade.