The Wertz Family

Our family is composed of 4 people and a dog.

Bryan (aka Dad) is a 31-year-old graphic designer. He's a brilliant artist with a great eye for detail. He exudes coolness, but it's totally effortless. He is VERY introverted, but I feel that I have brought him out of his shell a little in the 6 1/2 years we have been together. Bryan is the cleanest man I know without being OCD about it. He's a fantastic dad and husband, and he's my very best friend.

I, Kristen (aka Mom) am a 28-year-old traffic director for a local radio station. Traffic meaning 'radio traffic', not 'road traffic'. I've always been kind of chubby...ok very chubby. I have low self esteem about my physical appearance, but I'm very confident about my social skills. I'm kind of lazy, but I'm working on that. I graduated from college last year in the field of phlebotomy, which was really difficult because of the whole lazy thing. I couldn't find a job in my field so I looked elsewhere and found this job in radio. I've been a reader my whole life. I taught myself to read when I was 4-years-old, and I never stopped. Another hobby of mine is cooking. I just had my first paying catering gig a few weeks ago. I've cooked for groups ranging from 4 people to 300 people. I LOVE IT. I'm passionate about my food and I love to try new things. Be sure that there will be at least a few blog posts about food. I'm very much into music and finding new things to listen to. I like NPR, movies and tv, but I'm not very fond of reality tv beyond things like the Food Network or the Discovery channel. I think I'm a pretty good mom...I love my kids more than anything and I want the very best in life for them. Of all of the things I have done in my life to make me feel good, nothing compares my kiddos giving me hugs. It's like a drug. I wonder if there's a sticker that says, "I get high on hugs"?

Kennedy is an 8-year-old 2nd grader. She has inherited her daddy's shyness. However, she warms up to people pretty easily and then shows her true self. She's a pretty smart kid. She likes to ride her bike, play her Nintendo DS, play with her friends, and her favorite band is Weezer. She's a very good swimmer and she can hit a softball like you wouldn't believe. It's fun watching her develop into a little adult. She's figuring out who she is, what she likes, and what her boundaries are. Kennedy is very tall for her age. She's about a head taller than all of her friends. I'm not tall so I don't know where she gets it from. We are currently in the process of Bryan adopting Kennedy. Hopefully that will be finalized soon!

Avery is the newest addition to our family. She is currently 5 months old. Ave will take after her big sis in so many ways, I can already tell. She loves it when people sing to her, and she has recently discovered her hands and what to do with them. Aves is a very sweet and pleasant baby most of the time. However, when she does get upset, she has a vile temper.

Zona (short for Arizona) is our 2 year old pit bull mix. I don't know what she's mixed with, but it's something smaller than a pit. She's a beautiful dog, and she picks up on things pretty quickly as long as you keep up with training. But again, I'm lazy. Zones (as Kennedy likes to call her) is afraid of almost everything: the vacuum, hairdryer, any loud sudden noises, soccer balls and boxes. Yes, boxes. Like if I am carrying a box in from the garage, she runs from me. We think she may have been abused before we adopted her. Maybe abused by boxes? Or maybe soccer balls?

This blog will cover our adventures as a family. We don't lead terribly exciting lives, but we have a lot of fun and we do lots of stuff together. We aren't the typical suburban family like the rest in our neighborhood. We don't have a minivan or SUV and I'm definately not the soccer mom type.  I wish I would have thought about blogging way before now. Last year was a very exciting year for us. We had a baby, I became a college graduate, Kennedy got 2nd place in her science fair, I became an aunt TWICE, we adopted Zona and Bryan and I had a superfun adventure in New York. Maybe I'll go back and re-live some of these adventures in this blog. They are definately worth sharing.