About Me

Let me introduce myself.

I’m Jennifer.

To make it short and sweet: I’m an Army wife, a homeschooling mom, an obsessed genealogist, a photo enthusiast, an avid traveler and a self-professed bookaholic.

And the longer version:

I grew up on a small island in the Puget Sound.  It was quiet and quaint.  We had 5 acres of woods up a deserted dirt road.  We didn’t have any neighbors until I was a teenager, so we roamed the entire road and the forest like it was our own.  I have to admit though, I was more of a bookworm than a tomboy.  I would more likely have been found in my room with my nose in a book than playing in the dirt.

I’m the oldest of 4 kids.  I lived in the same house my whole life (well except for the first few years- and who really remembers those?).  I graduated high school with people I went to Kindergarten with.  Besides a few months we spent in California while my dad was working a temporary job, a road trip to Iowa with my grandparents,  and the month I spent as a foreign exchange student to Germany, I spent most of my life right there in Washington state.

I did well in school – I was a bookworm, remember?  I studied hard and played lots of sports.  I was best at volleyball, and went to community college on a scholarship.  After 2 years of school, I really didn’t have any idea what I wanted to do.  Why spend money on an expensive college when you’re clueless?  I knew that I wanted to travel and I always loved languages, so I decided to join the Air Force as a linguist.

I ended up studying Russian for a year at the Defense Language Institute.  After more training in Texas, I finally got to work in San Antonio.  That’s where I married my husband and our first daughter was born.  I decided to get out of the Air Force a few months before I had her. Life as a dual military couple was hard and I really couldn’t bear the thought of putting my baby in daycare.  That was the last time that I worked – well the last time I got paid for working!!

I thank my husband dearly for allowing me to stay at home with the kids. We have 5 of them by the way.  We actually had one in each house we lived in up until now.  That really worried my husband.  He was afraid to move again!  I think that we are done now though.  I think.  I really want to adopt one more, but we’ll see if I can talk Andy into that later.  We already have the 15-passenger van, why not fill it right?

I made the decision very early on to homeschool our children.  I started researching and planning when I was still pregnant. I’m strange, I know.  Homeschooling has always been a way of life for us.

About the time that Ellie was born, I began to work on family history.  12 years later and I’m still hooked.  Genealogy is a passion of mine.  Searching through old records and stomping through cemeteries is fun for me.  My ideal vacation is equal parts beautiful sites and genealogical research.  My poor family!  I actually maintain an entirely separate blog solely devoted to my genealogy.  Yes, I’m a nerd.  You can head over there to find links on how to start climbing your own family tree.

I love to take pictures.  I’m learning new things all of the time.  My kids are often hiding from the camera.

I still love to read.  Once a bookworm, always a bookworm.  I don’t read as much as I would like to (remember – I homeschool and do genealogy and blog and take pictures)  but I still manage to fit it in here and there.  You can see my reading list here.

I also live for traveling.  Good thing I married a soldier!

If you’re dying to know even more, here is a list of 101 Absolutely Random Facts About Me.

If you’d like to contact me, here you go!