Hi. I'm Stefani. I was born in November of 1983 in Utah. When I was about 6 months old, my parents moved our family to Chandler, Arizona and that is where I grew up and where I claim as "home". I am the middle child of three surrounded by a brother on both sides. Because of this, I grew up a bit of a tomboy, at least in most aspects. But as the only girl, my mom ensured there was a bit of a girly side to me as well. My parents wanted their children to be well rounded and to have many opportunities to learn and grow. This drove my parents to signing us up for everything and anything. (This also kept us busy and out of trouble). Since I can remember and probably before hand, I was involved in many activities, including cheer leading, dancing, children choirs, gymnastics, soccer, basketball, softball, piano lessons, and even flute lessons. My parents allowed us to try many different things, but they were adamant that we join a swim team. Arizona is so hot, that many people have pools in their backyard. This is also pretty much all you can do during the summer to stay cool. My parents never wanted to worry about our safety around water, and so.... we swam. Gymnastics and swimming became two activities which I enjoyed and showed talent. Eventually, I combined the two pleasures into springboard diving. This passion continued throughout high school and even college.
Education was also something that my parents valued. My brothers and I were always encouraged in our educational endeavors. I was very lucky and had exceptional teachers very young in life, and so school became something I enjoyed and succeeded in. Enough so, that I was able to skip 6th grade. This was one of the best decisions that my parents made for me. It allowed me to have to stretch and grow and work hard in order to keep up with my classmates rather than having things be too easy.
Being the middle child, I definitely inherited an independent nature. I have always been stubborn, independent and a hard worker. I learned early the satisfaction of working hard and earning money for my own things. I babysat as soon as people began to trust me with their children (around 9 or 10) and had my first real job at 14. It was only natural that my first job would involve water (since my life was encompassed by water all the time)...so I became a lifeguard. This job actually led to my discovery of my passion and eventually my career. After my first year of life guarding and teaching swim lessons, I was asked to help coach the Special Olympics swim team. I did it, and had so much fun! It was incredibly rewarding. Following the swim season, I was asked to help coach the Special Olympics cheer team. It was beyond adorable and I was hooked! I wanted to know how I could do this for the rest of my life, and so I decided to study Therapeutic Recreation (TR) in college.
My parents also valued religion. I was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. I was taught about our Savior Jesus Christ and our loving Heavenly Father and his plan of happiness for all his children. I learned about temples and the importance of covenants that seal our families together for more than just "to death do us part", but for time and all eternity. I learned to pray, to read scriptures, to serve others and to love. The time came when I chose to adopt these principles as my own and now I try to live my life so that it might be pleasing unto the Lord. This aspect of my life has truly been the greatest blessing to me. I am grateful for my parents' values and virtues and for the blessings it has brought to my life.
While I was pursuing my career ambitions, I met and instantly fell in love with my wonderful husband Eldon. Our story is under the "together" page of this blog. We were married in August of 2006 in the Mesa Arizona temple and have been incredibly happy together ever since. After two years of marriage, we decided that the time felt right to start to add to our family. This unfortunately didn't happen like we had hoped. Not only did we experience a year with no results, but the following year brought 3 miscarriage and the stillbirth of our twin sons, Ethan and Tommy. This story continues on the "our infertility" page of this blog. While we were waiting to be blessed with children we decided that we wanted to have the right environment to raise our children once they arrived and so we bought our first home in Mesa. Owning a home allowed me to discover more talents and pleasures as I began updating our home and learning how to decorate a house and to create a "home". Being home owners also meant having a yard, which allowed us to get a fuzzy addition to our family. In November of 2008, we found our adorable puppy Zeus! He was an early Christmas present, and he has brought so much joy and fun to our lives. 
My entire life, from helping with my younger brother as a baby, to babysitting, to teaching swim lessons, to Special Olympics and beyond, I have desired and prepared to be a mother. I have been blessed to get a great education and to have a very successful career thus far, but my true ambition in life is to be a stay at home mom. I was very fortunate to have a mother who was in the home and I believe that played a big role in the successes I achieved early in life and the path I was set on as I grew up. I hope that all I have accomplished in my life can bless my children and help me to be a good mother.
I am now 27 years old. I love being a wife to my husband, being an aunt to our 29 nieces and nephews, being a daughter and sister to my family and being a friend to those I am blessed to associate with. I am currently working as an HR supervisor for a Police Department (I was forced to leave my passion and desired career due to the economic situation of the times, but have been blessed to find a job that is still stimulating and provides daily opportunities to learn and grow as a professional). I enjoy spending time with my sweetheart, playing with our puppy, blogging, scrapbooking, decorating my home, swimming, socializing and looking for ways to improve myself.
Life has truly been an adventure thus far and I am excited to see what wild rides are store for us in the days ahead. Life has definitely been a roller coaster ride to say the least. We have had some amazing ups and some very scary drops and turns, but through it all I am grateful for the ride.
