We met the summer before Buddy's freshman year of high school when he was 14-years old. Fellow Bellevue East alum Jeremy Reimer introduced us, and we became regulars playing pick-up basketball at open gym sessions at Bellevue East. In fact, Buddy and I became best friends, hanging out and bonding over our shared love of the game of basketball. Because of our two-year age difference, I left Bellevue first, heading to play basketball at UNK. When Buddy graduated, he got drafted to play professional baseball, and his long career in MLB began. We stayed close throughout my college years and Buddy's first years as a professional baseball player, always each other's first phone calls when something big or important happened in our lives. Buddy got his first big league call up the same year I had the opportunity to play professional basketball in the Netherlands, and when I got back from Europe, I got my first teaching and coaching job at Boys Town. That same fall, Buddy returned to spend his off-season in Omaha, and the rest is history---I got to marry my best friend.

Our greatest accomplishments as a couple are without a doubt our 23-year marriage and our two incredible kids, Carter (21) and Kennedy (18). Our son Carter is a senior finance major at Texas A&M, and our daughter Kennedy is a freshman playing basketball and majoring in communications at Utah Valley University. As a family, we have lived just about everywhere during Buddy's baseball career: Omaha, San Diego, Las Vegas, Seoul, Tokyo, Sapporo, New York City, Buffalo, Los Angeles, Atlanta, etc. Now that Buddy is retired from MLB, he is the pitching coordinator for the Tampa Bay Rays after serving as the Angel’s pitching coordinator for 6 years. Throughout my professional career, I have furthered my education, adding an M.S. in English and Secondary Ed. while becoming certified in ESL and Special Ed. I have been teaching high school English and coaching varsity girl’s basketball throughout my professional career, then stopped coaching to be able to cheer my kids on through their own basketball seasons. Currently, I am teaching English and working as an interventionist at Rouse High School, and with a newly “empty nest” plan to do a bit more traveling, spending more time with Buddy during the baseball season. Our home base is in Cedar Park, Texas (an Austin suburb), but with Buddy’s love of fishing and my love of white sand and ocean breezes, we will likely eventually spend as much time in coastal areas as possible. As a family, we love spending time on the lake, traveling, playing and watching basketball, Husker football, golfing, fishing, and attending Northpoint Church.