Overview

I am originally from Mankato, MN. I decided Des Moines was the perfect distance from home--I can still go home for the weekend and have my separate life in Des Moines. I'm the youngest of 4 kids. I have two brothers and one sister who are currently 38, 36, and 34 years old. It has been nice being the youngest. They all had different expectations of me, though. Jeff always pushed education, Dave pushed sports, and Lori, of course, wanted a sister to save her from her two brothers. I've become very close to all of them and family has always been a big part of my life. We tell each other almost everything, so secrets are hard to keep in this family. If I tell my sister something important, I can probably expect calls from my brothers and my mom within a day or two asking why I didn't tell them first.

I also have 8 nephews and nieces so my family is growing continually. It's fun to see how different all of their personalities are. I'm not asked to babysit much, but that's probably because I made it pretty clear to call me only as a last resort. I'm not a very big kid person, which I'm sure sounds horrible. I love my nieces and nephews, but I get along with them much better after they've learned to walk and talk. Then I can at least teach them new tricks to annoy their parents.