General Management
Saren Eyre Loosli, Executive Director
Saren and her husband, Jared, had five kids in five years, which wasn’t exactly planned. In fact, Saren has learned that very little about motherhood (or life in general) goes exactly as planned! Despite her control-freakish nature, she’s learning to exemplify her name more (Saren comes from the word “serendipity” which means “when, through sagacity, one finds something better than what one planned for”).
After growing up all over the place (Washington DC, London, Salt Lake City, Mexico, Japan, Boston), Saren graduated from Wellesley College and Harvard, spent 18 months doing service work in Eastern Europe, conducted regional conferences for educators and designed curriculum for schools and preschools. While motherhood is now her primary pursuit, she also runs some programs at her kids’ school and operates a little preschool curriculum company (The Joy School Company) as well as The Power of Moms. Yes, she’s a girl who has trouble saying “no.” She often struggles with balance but finds joy (and stress!) in being involved in many pursuits that help her make contributions to the larger world as well as her little world at home.
When she’s not trying to answer five different needs and questions at once, Saren loves reading and writing as well as traveling, hiking and biking with her family. The Loosli family lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for 6 years, then in St. George, UT for six years and now Ogden, UT is their home.
For more information, visit Saren’s blog: Five Kids in Five Years. For information on what led Saren to The Power of Moms, click here.
April Perry, Executive Director
April is the mother of four children, Alia, Grace, Ethan, and Spencer. She and her husband, Eric, live with their family in southern California—mainly because April REALLY likes sunshine, and Eric has the philosophy, “Happy wife, happy life.” She received her bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in family science…just two weeks before her first daughter was born.
April spends most of each day being “Mommy,” but she also enjoys actively participating in her church, writing, playing the piano, and organizing (clean closets and orderly files are her secret passion). Launching Mind Organization for Moms has been a great outlet, and she loves helping other people feel just as giddy about their system of lists and files.
As a mother, April is working towards achieving greater patience and living more in the moment. She appreciates the sweet, unexpected moments that pop up every day and make her work worthwhile, but she still feels that motherhood is a lot harder than anyone ever let on. Her hope is that The Power of Moms can help her and other mothers be the best they can be.
For April’s blog, click here.
Website Logistics and Content Management
Allyson Reynolds, Motherhood Matters Blog Director
Allyson is the mother of four children, Kate, Will, Elizabeth, and Rachael. She has lived 27 of her 30 something years in the Midwest (Iowa and Illinois), but has also lived in San Diego, Florida, Utah, Japan and Los Angeles. By the time you read this, she and her husband, Brandon, will have just recently moved from his childhood home near Los Angeles to the rather uncharted territory of Utah.
Allyson earned a B.A. in family science from Brigham Young University, and met her husband while living in Sendai, Japan as a missionary. When she can get a little “me time” (what’s that?) she enjoys reading and blogging, the great outdoors, cooking, digital scrapbooking, getting things done, living like a tourist, and date nights with her husband.
Surviving nine years of her husband’s medical training in Iowa while raising their first three children provided many award-winning memories such as shoveling snow and cutting grass with a baby on her back, and cleaning out the gutters on the roof of their house while pregnant. For her, the hardest part of motherhood is finding balance—and not just on the roof. She loves being a mom the most when she finds that “sweet spot” between getting things done and letting the less important things go so she can be in the moment before the moment is gone. For her, snuggling up with her kids and a good book is pure bliss. Allyson blogs at A Day in the Life.
Lisa Hawkins, Publications Director
When Lisa and Brad were first married they lived in Grenada, West Indies. After this hands-on learning experience, their desire to teach their children to respect other cultures and to appreciate the wonderful world they live in has been very strong. Lisa feels completely blessed that they’ve had the opportunity to take road trips to Mt. Rushmore, hike to volcanoes in Hawaii, and their most recent adventure, visiting London and Paris! Lisa feels that right now is a great time for being a mother to Maddie (14) and Sean (12). She believes it’s a wonderful feeling to be able to share with them and teach them about the world they live in. Her philosophy is, ”Life is an adventure and that there’s more to the world than just the little city we live in.”
Along with traveling, Lisa juggles working full time and mothering her wonderful kids. She is also on a bowling team, loves to plan parties, is a cheerleader for her daughter’s performances and helps her son achieve his goals in scouting. Quite recently, she has also started taking lessons to learn how to speak, sing, and dance in Hawaiian. Even with all the adventures that surround them, Lisa still feels the best part of motherhood is the spontaneous hugs, kisses and “I love you’s” from her kids.
Alisha Gale, Content Director
Alisha and her husband live in the Conejo Valley (in Southern California) with their three daughters and two sons. She and her husband both have degrees in philosophy; they met while working as editors for their university’s undergraduate philosophy journal. (It was much more thrilling than it sounds.) She once took a personality test that equated her with HAL (from 2001: A Space Odyssey); she accepts that she shares HAL’s brilliant command of logic, but maintains she uses it for benevolent purposes. She finds that her position as Content and Submissions Director perfectly dovetails her two primary passions: mothering, and ensuring the Internet does not obliterate proper English grammar and punctuation. She also enjoys reading, ballet and floral arranging, and believes there is no shame in using Google to complete the New York Times crossword puzzle.
Koni Smith, Communications Manager
You will find Koni and Ron in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwestern Virginia along with their four boys and one girl, ranging in age from 5 to 14. Koni is one of those “crazy coupon ladies” and loves to get free products, or even better, loves getting paid to buy them.
Koni’s favorite part of being a mom is hearing her kids laugh. It makes her feel that all is right with the world; that probably comes in handy for dealing with her least favorite part which is the laundry! What has she learned is different about being a mother than what she thought as a child? “I realize now that my mom knew WAY more than I ever gave her credit for.”
Mindy Thurston, Special Projects Manager
Mindy LOVES being a mom! She lives with her husband, Mike, in a small town in central Utah, with their blended family of six kids, ranging in age from 13 to 1. As a child she always wanted a home full of kids….and boy, did she get her wish! While it didn’t happen quite the way she had planned, she has learned much from the challenges she has had in her time as a divorced single mom, and now as a stepmom.
It is quite an adventure balancing a full time job (she works at a trucking company) and a house full of kids. Her favorite part of being a mom is watching her kids discover and learn to do new things. She loves the magic of looking at the world through the eyes of her little ones and she wishes doing dishes was as fun for her as it is for them! She loves hanging out with family and friends, photography, camping, snowboarding, reading a good book, Zumba, family dinners, and anything and everything “crafty”. Mindy is excited to be a part of such a fabulous network of women, promoting something she feels so passionate about and is looking forward to getting to know YOU!
Elsje Denison, Submissions Manager
“How do you say that?” Elsje (Elsha), named after her Dutch mother, lives by the creed, “Life is what you make it.” Never fully satisfied unless all the plates are spinning, she enjoys being involved and busy. Her number one credential is her amazing best friend and husband, Jay. After meeting in a small town two-year college, they embarked on a lifetime adventure. Their greatest accomplishments are three busy boys.
Elsje received her Bachelor’s degree at Utah State University in family and consumer science education with a music minor. Always a teacher at heart, she enjoys using her education in her job as a mother as well as teaching music lessons.
Her family spent the last few years living in Maryland and Texas, and has recently returned to the land of her nativity, Utah. Although she has recently come to the realization and acceptance that she fails at being a domestic diva, she is secure in her love of travel, running, hiking, writing, reading, gardening, and basking in the sunshine.
Anna Jenkins, Author Information Editor, Power of Moms Ambassador
Anna is our resident grandma. She and her husband, Mike, became grandparents in 2010. They are the proud parents of two great daughters—one’s the mother of their grandson and the other is a junior in college. The almost-empty-nesters live Davie County, North Carolina (ahhh…small town life) where Anna runs the box office for the local Arts Council. Anna’s interest in The Power of Moms is to help her to be a good grandmother—tips are appreciated! She hopes to help her daughters become the mothers she knows they can be by sharing what she is learning from our website. She says, “I really wish I could have had access to this wisdom when I was a young mom!”
“Grandma” Anna graduated from Brigham Young University, back in the day, with a B.S. in home and family development but has often been told she should have had some kind of English major. She has moved around a lot between North Carolina and Virginia, with a 6.5 year stint in El Paso, Texas—She LOVED IT! De-junking, organizing, going to the beach, and attending Zumba and Hip Hop classes at their local Y are some of her favorite things to do (for a good laugh you can catch her on YouTube under Zumba Mocksville). She also enjoys mowing the grass on her zero-turn mower, which she hopes is the only “hover ’round” she will ever need. Anna loves quotes! One of her favorites is from “The Ten Commandments” movie: “So let it be written, so let it be done!”
Rachelle Price, Spotlight and Picture Stories Manager
Rachelle lives in northern California with her husband and five children, ages 10, 8, 6 (twins), and 2. Rachelle is grateful for her bachelor’s degree in marriage, family and human development, as it has come in handy, but still wishes kids came with an instruction manual! She has had a photography business, but is not currently shooting. Rather, she’s enjoying her little ones while they are still at home.
Her favorite part of being a mom is the occasional, precious moments of serious connection with her kids. Whether it’s a lengthy conversation or giving a sincere compliment, those moments when your child looks in your eyes and you know you’ve connected are the best!
She has a passion for traditions and rituals that bind families together and identify who we are. Rachelle loves a good project, a thought-provoking book, and being with friends and family. She also enjoys reading, running, entertaining, traveling, and digital scrap booking. Her love of families and photography make her a perfect fit for our Picture Stories and Spotlight Manager.
Aubrey Degn, Book Summaries Manager, Content Editor
Aubrey lives with her husband and two children, ages 4 and 2, in a small town in Utah. A native Texan, she is still trying to adjust to the idea of winter lasting approximately six months, or so it seems. Aubrey graduated with a B.S. in sports medicine, which she now uses to fix “owies” and to live vicariously through her husband, who is a firefighter/paramedic. She also served a mission for her church in Chile and taught Spanish for a while after she returned. Before having her son, Aubrey worked for several years in student services for a university distance learning program. She has quickly learned that most of her tried-and-true tactics for calming frantic students do not translate to the world of two-year-old tantrums.
Aubrey loves being a mother even though it has been her most challenging adventure yet. She loves to read, play pretend and be outside with her children. They have taught her to notice and appreciate the small things and to laugh more. In her free time, Aubrey likes to read voraciously, play the piano, exercise, and ride horses.
Lacy Anderson, Podcast Director, Host
Lacy was born in the Bay Area, but grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah and is the third of four children. She met her husband, Brandon, while serving as a missionary for the LDS Church in Bucharest, Romania. They were married a year after returning home and have been blissfully happy for the last nine years.
Lacy graduated from the University of Utah with a bachelor’s degree in photography and she loves using her talents to take great pictures of her family. She also still shoots professionally sometimes. But, her full time job right now is mothering her two adorable children (and growing another one due in March, 2012).
She loves being part of The Power of Moms because it changed the way she views motherhood and the way she practices it. She does her best to be a deliberate mother and enjoy her children…even when they tried to “clean” her favorite canvas print with a spray bottle and wipes.
Caryn Payzant, Podcast Host
Married for 30 years, mother to three totally amazing grown children, mother-in-law to two terrific son-in-laws, and grandmother to one adorable grandson (so far), this 50ish California native found herself at the crossroads of what to do next with her life that would really matter. Always active in her community (she has served on her local school board the past 18 years) and with her church (currently she serves as the Public Affairs Director for her city), Caryn decided to try something totally new: writing a blog, The Midlife Guru. Using her life experiences, knowledge and interests, Caryn has developed a platform to share unique ideas and information to inspire and motivate women in finding joy, fulfillment and purpose in their midlife years. How to be the best wife, mother, and grandmother is at the top of her list of topics along with eating (bakery goods preferred), reading, and exercising.
Public Relations and Marketing
Chrysula Winegar, Director of Social Media Marketing
Chrysula says that being a mother is the hardest thing she’s ever done. She says, “Whilst it is something I have always wanted, it certainly didn’t feel natural or even instinctive! I’ve had to really work at it, to learn, to watch other mothers whom I admire and very consciously create the kind of mother I want to be. I thought I’d love nothing more than to get down on the floor and play trains with my kids. Turns out that’s about my least favorite thing to do!
“So I’m finding my own path, mothering in ways that give my children what they need and want, but also keep me sane and in tune with what matters most. My focus now is on what I do best, instead of how I think I am ‘supposed’ to be doing this. Mothers are powerful, especially when they are living lives that are balanced and purposeful, lives that honor deep desires to give and serve and contribute—not just to their families, but to the entire world.”
Chrysula is a writer, trainer and coach and is mildly obsessed with work/life balance research and issues. She has four children ages 2-8 years (two girls, two boys!) and is a recovering New Yorker, in denial that she now lives in the suburbs. When not mothering or hanging out here, you can find Chrysula at her blog.
Lyndsey Payzant Wells, Director of Public Relations
Lyndsey is a writer, public relations consultant, dessert fanatic and mother who grew up in sunny southern California. Now a resident of Utah thanks to her husband’s grad school, she tries to keep busy and warm. Lyndsey has worked in the communications field in New York City, Los Angeles and Salt Lake City and is currently attempting her most challenging project yet: learning to raise children. She spends her days blogging about fun paper products at The Stationery Place, freelancing, sewing, reading and—her favorite job—playing with her baby boy.
Rebecca Walters, Director of Photography and Graphic Design, Public Relations Assistant
Rebecca is the mother of two young children, Sydney and Talmage, who are just less than a year apart. She grew up in Manhattan, Kansas, and received a bachelor of fine arts with an emphasis in graphic design and advertising from Utah State University in 1999. She then served an LDS mission to Argentina and still loves to practice her Spanish with anyone who will talk to her! Since becoming a mother, Rebecca has lived in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Colorado and Texas, but is happy to be back in Utah.
Rebecca’s son, Talmage, was born with a life-threatening condition called Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH) and has been the recipient of amazing care and countless prayers. He has been through many surgeries, but Talmage is now a healthy 4-year-old boy and is being treated for Progressive Infantile Scoliosis at Shriners Hospital in Salt Lake City. Talmage has been in a torso cast since October 2010 to correct his scoliosis. Rebecca will be forever thankful to the skilled doctors and nurses who treated her million dollar baby.
After nearly nine years of marriage, Rebecca has added the title of “single mom” to her life resume. She didn’t ever plan on holding that position, but has learned a lot from this recent change. Although going through a divorce is definitely the hardest thing she has ever experienced, Rebecca has found strength by turning to God and relying on the support of wonderful family and friends. A former running-hater, Rebecca now enjoys running the mountain trails near her home.
Rebecca is so excited to be involved with The Power of Moms. Please submit any pictures you would allow to be published for The Power of Moms to rebecca@powerofmoms.com.
Chantol Sego, Blog Outreach Manager
Chantol married her high school sweetheart in 1998. They have two daughters, ages 7 and 10, and live in western Washington. She has her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Puget Sound and works full-time in the finance industry. But family definitely comes first. She says, “The best thing about being a mom is hanging out as a family. We love to play board games, do house projects, go camping, take road trips and attend the girls’ sporting events.”
In addition, she volunteers for the parent teacher organization. She helps coordinate the Giving Tree Project to support local families who need help around the holidays. Her girls work with her as “elves” and have assisted in organizing gifts for 150 kids over the past few years.
She’s addicted to organizing, making lists, and personal development books. She loves to read, write, and rearrange furniture at least monthly. (Her husband and kids pick on her constantly about this last one.) She strives to learn new things and to improve as a person, wife and mother. (“Learn to relax” is an item that is always on her to-do list.) She also enjoys writing on her blog, Organized Chaos, when she has time.
Danielle Monson, Special Groups Outreach Manager
Danielle and her husband Jordan are the parents of three children, Thais, Skyler and Grace. She is currently living in Utah while her husband is attending grad school but she grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and spent the last 13 years in Tucson, Arizona. Danielle and her husband met while attending the University of Arizona. Thankfully their love of sports (Jordan loved UA’s basketball team and Danielle was on their track team) brought them together from opposite ends of the country. It makes them happy to think that their move to the desert was so they could find each other.
Danielle never knew how much her time spent as a runner would help her as a mom. She has been blessed with VERY active toddlers and has had many experiences where she has had to run after one of them full speed (usually 7 or 8 months pregnant) before or after they have run out of a store or on to a very busy road, etc. Despite the chaos of raising energetic children, it is a role that has brought the most joy and fulfillment to Danielle’s life. Motherhood requires creativity, multitasking, organization, humor, compassion, determination, discipline, love, and a lot of energy. What an amazing way to stretch and grow!
Danielle has a bucket list a mile long of things she would like to do. One thing motherhood has taught her is that there is a time and season for it all. Things like traveling the world are put aside for now and she is doing things that fit into a busy mother’s schedule. Her hobbies currently consist of getting a shower in each day, devouring a good book, making up little jingles with her kids about getting along and table manners, exercising, trying new recipes, and learning to play the piano. She’s also started blogging.
She is excited to be part of The Power of Moms because she firmly believes that “the hands that rock the cradle rule the world!” Danielle has met so many beautiful hands through this wonderful organization.
Program Management
Tiffany Sowby, Trainer Manager
Tiffany and her husband, Mike, are the parents of five children, ranging in age from 12-2. While her University of Utah diploma is collecting dust somewhere on a shelf, Tiffany’s education continues in patience, times-table practicing, homework assignments, nursing scraped knees, spelling lists and counseling sibling rivals. Tiffany’s paychecks are nothing more than spontaneous thank-yous, slobbery kisses, handwritten notes, and hugs, yet motherhood is a job she would never trade. (Though Tiffany could certainly do without temper tantrums, picky eaters and unmade beds.) Tiffany loves playing games, hearing her children laugh, date nights with Mike, laundry (yes, you read that right!), writing, quiet time, baking, and shoes. Her motto for motherhood is, “Enjoy the little things in life. One day you’ll look back and realize they were the big things.” Tiffany lives in Utah and blogs at Our (Most of the Time) Happy Family
Amber Gillette, Learning Circles Director
Amber has four children, ranging in age from 6 to 1. She and her family live in southern Utah. She earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering and spent four exciting years as a transportation planner for the Salt Lake Olympic Committee. Amber wasn’t sure she would ever have another job that could top this experience, until she became a mom and realized this new “career path” was the most rewarding, fun, and challenging experience of her life.
Most of Amber’s time is spent playing with her children and taking care of their many different needs. Amber loves to squeeze in some time for playing the piano, reading, sewing and doing digital scrapbooking. After becoming a mom, she discovered several other hidden passions, including photography and teaching.
She and her family love outdoor activities and have learned to appreciate the adventures that come up with little ones in tow (at least some of them). Amber’s favorite quote is taped to her computer: “The work will wait while you show the child the rainbow, but the rainbow will not wait while you do the work.”
Kristine Jones, Mind Organization for Moms Manager, Friends Manager
Kristine and her husband are the parents of five children ages 10 to 1. She has lived most of her life in the Midwest and currently resides there now. While pregnant with her first child, she was pursuing a degree in microbiology and vowed to use latex gloves with each diaper change. Not many diapers and messes later, the glove idea had to be thrown out the window. She has since had ample opportunities to build a healthy immune system.
After her three-year-old daughter told her, “I want to be a mom. I want to be in a rush,” Kristine is attempting to slow down and enjoy her children each day a bit more, which means she is trying harder to get her housework done withher children and be more productive when she has a quiet moment. Each of her children are growing and learning so fast and she does not want to miss any of it! She cannot help but wish, however, that she could hit the pause button for a month to get caught up on projects and read a few books.
Dawn Wessman, Bloom Game Manager, Content Editor
Dawn Lammers Wessman is the mother of four entertaining children: Robyn, Holly, Mikey and Jonny. She and her husband Rob are 5’1″ and their resultant offspring are also tiny; thus their family creed is “By very small things are great things brought to pass.” What she loves and struggles with in her motherhood journey is the same: “Being a mother pushes me to face who I am in such a way that I can’t hide from myself. I am forced to deal with my weaknesses, and I am becoming ten million times a better person for it at a faster rate than other experiences could provide. It’s hard, but I love the wild ride of motherhood!” Her greatest desire is to not miss the lessons she is supposed to learn from or pass on to her children.
The pre-mommy Dawn taught Russian to LDS missionaries. She now is a pilates, yoga, cycle, and weight lifting instructor, a motivational speaker, and writes for blogs and magazines. She has produced three aerobics videos that are a challenging workouts but that she is pretty sure her children will tease her about later in life. She is a little afraid of Ferris Wheels and loves music. In Dawn’s free time you’ll catch her studying, writing, napping or dancing. Her current mothering mantra is “Kindness begins with me.” Dawn’s blog is the Courage Zone.
Chantelle Adams, Director of Family Volunteering
Chantelle lives in beautiful British Columbia with her husband and their four children. Together they enjoy many adventures, boating, skiing, motor-biking, camping and hiking, to name a few. But the little things are just as important: the pillow fights, dancing around the house, the late-night talks and snuggling up together to read a good book.
Her passion is educating kids, parents and educators about leading by example, making a difference, and living a life based on key values. Her company, Foundations For Success, has given her the perfect outlet to share this passion with the world.
Ever since she was a little girl, she has wanted to make a difference in the world and knows that raising four strong, responsible, compassionate children is helping her achieve that dream. Giving back in simple ways is one thing that has drawn her family closer and has provided countless moments of joy. Currently her children are spending their spare time raising money to build a school in Africa with Free the Children. Her desire to make a difference led her to become involved with The Power of Moms as the Director of Family Volunteering.
Mary Croxford, Value of the Month Manager
Mary loves kids and always knew she wanted to be a mother to a big family. She married her high school sweetie, Bryce. They reside in Highland, Utah. Their first three children are ages 26, 22, and 13. Originally they resolved to have a smaller family, but they learned that plans are rarely realized the way we make them. They do, however, turn out better than expected.
Nine years after their son was born they were blessed with twin sons, followed about a year later by another daughter, and then their little daughter caboose two years after that. To recap, the kids are ages 26, 22, 13, 4, 4, 2 and 1! Mary is also blessed to be “Grammy” to three grandsons with another grandbaby on the way. She has worked with children and youth most of her adult life through church and school involvement, including stints in preschool. Her number one passion is family, but she also enjoys the outdoors, composing music, and has a growing passion for photography.
Her least favorite part of motherhood is not being able to get enough sleep due to the challenge of juggling many demands and schedules. The best part is being rewarded with notes, pictures, hugs and kisses, service, one-on-one talks, and friendship. Motherhood has far exceeded her expectations and she never realized the depth of emotion that would be involved. Her favorite quote? “Live life in crescendo!”
Megan Stewart, Value of the Month Manager
Megan is the mother of three boys ages 4, 3 and 5 months. She and her husband, Wes, currently reside in Eagle Mountain, Utah. A full-time stay-at-home mommy, Megan also sells jewelry part-time. She loves to rock climb and bike as often as she can. She enjoys anything domestic—from decorating to knitting to gardening to cooking—but her greatest joy is her family. Not only does she have her little youngsters to raise, she is the oldest of seven children, five of whom still live at home with mom, four the same ages as her own kids. She never dreamed she’d be mothering alongside her own mother, but she feels so blessed and lucky to soak in the wisdom and love from her own mother, who lives close by, every day. She has a passion for teaching and playing with and cuddling her kids and siblings, and is excited to be on The Power of Moms board so she can draw ideas from women and moms everywhere.
Rachelle Heywood, Contest Manager, Trainer
Rachelle loves chasing three rambunctious—yet very cute—kids around their home in Mesa, Arizona. Her boys are five and three, and her daughter is one. Although she enjoys all of that running around, she does look forward to date nights with her husband, Chad. As a licensed cosmetologist, Rachelle enjoys coaxing innocent bystanders into her chair in order to enjoy some adult conversation. She does worry about the day when one of her kids decides to play hairdresser and takes a pair of scissors to someone else’s hair. Won’t that make a great photo opportunity? As a young girl, Rachelle often dreamed of endless days of laughing and playing with her kids. While she does enjoy doing just that, she never anticipated that so many other responsibilities were a part of the mom job description. Rachelle’s favorite part of motherhood is hearing her kids giggle, being smothered with hugs and kisses, and hearing them say “Mom, I love you really much!” These pleasures make the messes, smelly diapers and whining all worthwhile. Rachelle feels like there is nothing more important or rewarding than helping to raise the next generation. She has a strong desire to help mothers find joy and satisfaction in their role. This is what gave her the desire to become a part of The Power of Moms.
Brianna Monson, Giveaway Manager
Brianna and her husband Lance have two children, Michael and Arianna. She and her family live in south eastern Washington. Brianna graduated from Washington State University with a degree in elementary education. Brianna uses her degree every day as she teaches her son who was born with severe food allergies.
Brianna just loves spending time with her family! Some of her favorite things to do with her family are: going on vacations, having a family game or movie night, swimming, golfing, kid date nights, scrapbooking with her daughter, and playing at the park.
Brianna also enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, creating recipes that are safe and enjoyable for the whole family. She recently published a cookbook “Allergy Free for the Family”. You can visit her blog, The Allergy Free Family.
Editors
Mary Christensen, Content Editor
Mary has a B.S. in physical education with a K-12 teaching emphasis from Brigham Young University. She lives just outside of Boston, Massachusetts and is expecting her fifth child. She keeps busy teaching a once-a-week preschool in her home, serving in her church and school communities and being a taxi to her kids. She loves to exercise, teach, organize things, quilt, find an excuse to go to the beach, and go on dates with her husband. One of her biggest struggles as a mom has just been getting her children here! Her life as a mother has been significantly influenced by dealing with infertility and the loss of her son, Robert.
Shawnie Sutorius, Content Editor
Shawnie lives in Idaho in what her husband terms an “estrogen ocean”. She is mother to four daughters ranging in age from 5-13. (See what he means?) Her life is finger nail painting and make up, dress up and tea parties, and fixing lots of hair—with plenty of emotion thrown in.
Shawnie graduated from college in elementary education and uses her skills daily with her kids. Her favorite things to do include: making photo books online, baking blackberry pies, organizing closets, and public speaking. Her favorite quote is by Cardinal Mermillod: “A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one else can take.”
Ambassadors
Penny Tapp, Idaho Learning Circles Coordinator, Power of Moms Ambassador
As the mother of eight children, Penny has had a life filled with education and experience. Over the years she has read countless parenting books, gone to seminars and conventions, practiced numerous parenting strategies, and filled her mind and heart with the experiences needed to grow this family of individuals. One thing she has learned over the past five years is that she needed to open her mind to new principles so she could simplify and clarify what she really wanted to accomplish with her family.
As an Ambassador and a Learning Circles Coordinator, she hopes to help moms feel confident in what they are trying to accomplish with their families and make mothering simpler and clearer for mothers in all stages of motherhood.
Alecia English, Ambassador
Alecia, her husband, and their 3-year-old daughter live in South Carolina, where they are acclimating to Southern seasons after having lived in a much colder climate in the upper Midwest. She is a goal-setter by nature, but finds that it is hard to reach her goals in the way she did pre-motherhood. She has a graduate degree in analytical chemistry, and motherhood hasn’t fit into equations and logic (see tantrums) the way she’d hoped. The Bloom Game helps her keep on top of 3-5 goals per week and simultaneously be a more spontaneous, fun mother. She loves to learn from other mothers who want to balance caring for themselves, their families, and the world around them, so that everyone feels better.
Alecia tutors chemistry online, and loves to make the world more peaceful one ideal gas law problem at a time. (PV=nRT in case you forgot!) Whenever she has extra time, she’s reading, sewing, or talking to her sister.
Lindsay Ruiz, Power of Moms Ambassador
Lindsay is the mother of three girls ages 6, 4, and 3, and soon to be one little boy and lives in Provo, Utah with her husband, whom she met while attending Brigham Young University. This southern girl from Atlanta, Georgia fell in love on the ballroom dance floor and they both passed on their love of dance to their three girls—apparently the family that cha-chas together, stays together. Lindsay loves being a mother, as long as she’s not “shopping or walking through a parking lot with three kids.” She loves doing crafts and reading with her girls. She never knew how much you could love someone until she had children. She feels that motherhood is the greatest and most rewarding schooling you can get, “if you can survive it!”, and that active parenting is crucial in today’s world. One of Lindsay’s favorite mottos is by Thomas S. Monson: “Gaze Upward, Look Inward, Reach Outward, and Press Forward.”
Melanie Vilburn, Power of Moms Ambassador
Melanie, her husband, and their six silly goslings ages 12, 11, 8, 6, 4, and 2 months, live just outside of Tokyo, Japan in a traditional Japanese home. One of her favorite hobbies to do with her “flock” is cutting out paper butterflies, flowers, and winged unicorns to put up as shadow designs for when the moon shines through their sliding paper doors.
She has always dreamed of being a mom. She remembers an argument on the school bus with a fellow student over who was going to have the most children. The number climbed into the billions when the bus driver, who had finally had enough, stopped the bus, turned around and informed them that the bus wouldn’t go another inch until they were silent.
She is grateful that college (Brigham Young University) gave her an opportunity to pursue family science and she’s been able to use her studies as she helps set up community groups for moms and families in Japan.
Hilary Erickson, Power of Moms Ambassador
Hilary is a Utah girl, not-so-recently transplanted to the big state of California where she and her family have settled in to the Bay Area. A mother of three children, she calls herself a full-time mom with a part-time gig “recruiting” other moms as a labor and delivery nurse. Her favorite thing about being a mom is seeing her kids grow into some of the things she hopes for them. Hilary is married to the Music Man, Drew. He teaches all areas of music at the local high school, which gives her a bird’s eye view of how to—and how not to—deal with teenagers, when she gets to that point. Hilary believes Jim Croce got it right when he wished to save time in a bottle. Since no bottle is large enough to hold her life, she enjoys writing about her wild ride on her blog, Pulling Curls.
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