Where were you born, raised, and currently reside?

H: Born and raised in a small town on the east side of Fort Wayne, Indiana where my most of my family still lives I ventured off to college Ball State University and never returned to Fort Wayne.  Upon graduation, I took my first teaching job in Indianapolis, met my husband and he swept me away to the north-side suburbs… here I am and I love every minute of it!

J:  Born in Cleveland, OH & moved to the north-side suburbs of Indianapolis when I was in kindergarten.  I lived there until I attended college at Hanover College.  Upon graduation I did some fun moving around while I worked as an account manager for an entertainment licensing firm (Beverly Hills, CA was my furthest place of residence!) & then finally settled down back in the north-side suburbs upon meeting my hubby.  I couldn’t be happier here!

Tell us about your family.

H: My husband, Josh is the rock of our family and works hard as the Vice President of Sales & Marketing to allow us to be home with our children. He is my #1 fan and supporter, and has been encouraging me for years to, “write”.  We have an almost-2-year-old daughter, Claire, who has changed our lives.  She has made us slow down, appreciate the small things, and really enjoy life.  We also have baby #2 (the gender a surprise) coming in September.

My parents, brother, sister & sister-in-law are also very dear to me.  I come from a very close-knit family and we like to spend time together as much as possible often taking turns making the 2-hour trek to visit one another on the weekends.  My brother is in the Navy and he and my and sister-in-law live in Virginia, but we make the most of the time we have together and have regular “FaceTime Dates”.

J:  Family is the most important thing in the world to me!  The hubs works super hard as Vice-President in a family business which allows me to be the “stay-at-home WORKING mommy” I am!  We’ve been blessed with two children – Maguire (“Mac”) who is 6 and Parker who is 4.  They are the light of our lives and I’m grateful EVERY day that I have a job which allows me to stay at home with them.  Mac is a Leg0-loving, rule-following, super sweet and gentle future golf star and Parker is an adventurous, pink-loving, extremely social little lady – there’s never a quiet moment with her!

Like Hollie, I am also extremely close to my family & am so thankful they live so close to us (although not close enough as I’d love for my parents to live next door!)  We get together as often as we can for big family dinners – we appreciate good food and even better wine!

What is your favorite activity to do with your family?

H: Josh and I have always enjoyed going on runs together whether it be during his lunch, in the evenings, or a long training run on the weekends.  Claire also joins us by riding in the BOB and becoming part of our resistance training.  This summer we also purchased bikes and a bike trailer and have enjoy Sunday bike rides as a family.  We usually stop at a park for her to play halfway through our ride.  We really enjoy anything that allows us to be active together whether it be at the park, in the pool, or just running around the backyard.  Josh and I also LOVE Indiana basketball and Colts football.

My mom is also an avid runner and group exercise instructor and growing up we always lived a very active lifestyle.  Getting together with my family usually means running a race, playing volleyball in the backyard or participating in some type of activity that keeps us moving (and usually ultra competitive).

J:  Opposite of Hollie & as I mentioned above, my family loves to COOK together!  While I do involve my kids in my at-home workouts as much as possible, you are more likely to find ALL of us in the kitchen together!  Whether it’s just the 4 of us here, or the ENTIRE family (including my parents, my brother & sis-in-law, my niece, the hubs and my 2) crammed into my parent’s small kitchen, this is just how we love being together as a family.  Every summer both my dad and I enjoy tending to vegetable gardens, so you can imagine the fresh things we enjoy straight from the garden (and grill) during these warm months!

That said, my mom IS one of my favorite workout partners & I can only HOPE that I look as fit and awesome as she does when I am a “Mimi” some day!  During our vacation last month she and I worked out EVERY MORNING – yep, true story.  We all know how hard it is to stick to a routine while on vacation, but we did it!  We take a Les Mills Body Pump class together every Saturday here at home.

Check out our other Q&A posts:

Q&A #2

Q&A #3