More about our family!

Our hope is to grow our family!

Five things we love about our family…

1). We love the closeness and special bond we have as a family. The simple act of enjoying being together, whether it is watching a movie on the couch, or going shopping together we have always been close, which keeps our bond strong.
2). We love adventures, camping, boating, snorkeling, swimming with the dolphins, scuba diving, visiting the ancient Mayan cities in the Rivera Maya, visiting the haunted Rose Hall in Jamaica, camping in the Oregon mountains, we love to explore new things, and believe it is important for our children to be well rounded in culture and life.
3). Our Traditions: creating the annual puking pumpkin at Halloween, sitting around the fire pit while kids go trick or treating on Halloween, the pumpkin patch, sledding in the winter, building snowman, attending church for Christmas Eve, Easter, and times in between, putting the star on the tree at Christmas, all of these things and more are important to us and to give our family those memories and consistency as we grow.
4). Our Relationships
– What Rebecca loves about Kurt and Riley’s relationship “the way Kurt and Riley joke around and constantly keep me laughing and on my toes”
– Kurt and Riley say “their relationship is based around the love they both have for football, followed by dance recitals, ballet, and tap dancing (except they really just love football, wrestling, and baseball.)
– Rebecca and Riley say together we laugh a lot, we have moments that are just ours where one of us does something only the other understands and we start laughing hysterically, wherever we are.
5). We just love us our family, the time we have had together is nothing short of a gift, we love our faith, the time we have with our extended family, and the love we have is something we want to be able to share with others.

A little more About Us…

Kurt’s Favorites
  • Favorite Vacation: Rivera Maya, Mexico, Hard Rock Resort and Hotel, the three of us, swimming, snorkeling, deep sea fishing, climbing ropes, trip to the Mayan Ruins at Tulum.
  • Favorite Color: Red.
  • Favorite Food: All Food especially authentic Mexican.
  • Favorite Activity: Building things.
  • Best Day Ever: Any day with his family is a good day but Rebecca knows he would love to take Riley to a Green Bay Packers Game.
  • Favorite Book: Where the Red Fern Grows.
  • Favorite Movie: Top Gun or Field of Dreams or Longest Yard.
  • Favorite Team: Green Bay Packers – Oregon Ducks – Nebraska Huskers.
  • What Is Your Passion: Helping Others.
  • The Best Thing About You: Giving personality, caring, will do anything to keep his family safe.
  • Most Important Thing to You: My faith and my family.
  • What Inspires You: Other people.
  • Most Important Person: His son Riley.
  • Most Influential Person in Your Life: My brother.
Rebecca’s Favorites
  • Favorite Vacation: Rivera Maya, Mexico, Oregon Beach, Virgin Islands, St. Thomas.
  • Favorite Color: Purple, Blue, Pink.
  • Favorite Food: Italian and Mexican.
  • Favorite Activity: Being with my boys, gardening, watching movies.
  • Best Day Ever: Perfect days, when we are all together, summer, grilling on the patio while Riley and his friends run from house to house being kids.
  • Favorite Book: Outlander Series.
  • Favorite Movie: The Last of the Mohicans – The Goonies.
  • Favorite Football Team: Oregon Ducks – Nebraska Huskers.
  • What Is Your Passion: Helping and giving to others especially working with children.
  • The Best Thing About You: My faith, my empathy, compassion.
  • Most Important Thing to You: My faith and my family.
  • What Inspires You: Seeing the goodness in others.
  • Most Important Person: Kurt, Riley, my sisters, my mom, my nieces and nephews.
  • Most Influential Person in Your Life: My father, he passed away four years ago in April, growing up you don’t often see the impact your parents have until you’re an adult, and as an adult watching as a father, a grandfather, a husband, he taught me so much, he taught us all, I think of him every day and know that as he had a hand in raising and teaching us, he has a hand in watching over us.
Riley’s Favorites
  • Favorite Vacation: Rivera Maya, Mexico, Hard Rock Resort and Hotel.
  • Favorite Color: He has a lot.
  • Favorite Food: Chicken Nuggets.
  • Favorite Activity: Sports-being outside – jumping on the trampoline-swimming.
  • Best Day Ever: Eating chicken nuggets while driving a Go Cart.
  • Favorite Book: Magic Tree House Books (when he was a kid).
  • Favorite Movie: Spider-Man with Andrew Garfield.
  • Favorite Football /Baseball/Basketball Team: Green Bay Packers – Oregon Ducks – Nebraska Huskers —-New York Yankees—-Chicago Bulls.
  • What Is Your Passion: He is 13 and still finding it.
  • The Best Thing About You: He is a giving, caring, kid that is growing into a wonderful teenager that loves others and watches out for them.
  • Most Important Thing to You: Family and friends.
  • What inspires you, influences, or is important to Riley, so many things, he is thirteen and growing, his life experiences are still being shaped but the idea of being a big brother is important to him, he is excited to be a big brother which is beautiful to watch.

Favorite things….

Kurt and Rebecca – spending time together is important to us as a couple and as a family. Once in a while we still have a night to ourselves and we love to go to dinner, to a movie, or just sit at home together. We have always had a comfortable relationship and enjoy our closeness, being able to relax around each other, and laugh…we love to laugh, and when were together we do it often.

Rebecca’s Mom, Riley, and Kurt – at the Oregon Duck vs. Nebraska Husker game in the Fall of 2016. This was Riley’s first college football game and the first college football game she has been to in over a decade. It was a huge game, a great experience, and a lot of fun to be able to share it together. Football, is a big deal in our house, born in Nebraska, Rebecca will always be a dedicated Husker Fan and Kurt born in Oregon will always be a dedicated Oregon Duck fan and Riley gets the best of both worlds.

Riley with his cousin and Rebecca’s Sister in the background walking the rocks by Lake Superior. Extended family is extremely important to us. We have an amazing support network with our sisters, parents, brothers, and cousins. We see our family as often as we can, with them visiting us or us visiting them. Riley and his cousins are more like brothers and sisters, being the oldest, the little ones especially look up to him and believe he will keep them safe from anything.

Kurt, his dad, his brother, and Riley – three generations at his parent’s house in Oregon. It isn’t as easy to get to Oregon but we make it work and get there once a year and Kurt’s mom is great about coming out to stay with Riley or her granddaughter in Illinois when we need help.

Riley and his little cousin Kate, she pretty much has stolen his heart, she calls to tell him Hi and she loves him. She particularly believes Riley will save her from anything bad.

Rebecca and her niece Kate, for us our sisters and brother’s kids are more than nieces and nephews they are an extension of our family and children. Having a close relationship to them and having them have that Aunt and Uncle they can always call is a strength in our family.

Rebecca and her new niece, we can never get enough time snuggling with the babies.

Rebecca and Riley, Rivera Maya, 2016, we love vacations and new adventures. We try to take a vacation at least once a year. This year we were fortunate to go to the Hard Rock Hotel and Resort at the Rivera Maya, Mexico, it was beautiful.

Kurt and Riley on Kurt’s birthday, one of the important things we celebrate besides other Holidays, we always make sure that everyone’s Birthday is recognized and important. We always get birthday cards and make sure we take Riley out to pick out a card for the other parent and let him get something to give to us, more for him then for us. This year Riley turned 13 and we lined the stairs to his room with 13 balloons to celebrate every year of his life that we have been blessed to be his parents.

Kurt and his brother Jake, Jake lives in Illinois not far from us so we get there to see his wife and his beautiful little girl as often as we can. They have a relationship as brothers that is close and fun to watch, they work in sync when they are together and usually have us all laughing. As his brother, Jake is one of those people that has and does influence Kurt and it is just one of those people in Kurt’s life he would be lost without.

Kurt and his niece Lucy playing a game of hide and seek.

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