Our Story

Ever since I can remember, I've wanted to be a wife and mother. I would constantly count down the years until I was 16 because then I could start dating and find my prince charming. Then I turned 12. I became a rebellious teenager and thought I had all the answers. I always thought things would turn out differently than what my parents and others told me but they were always right! Being raised a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we are taught to refrain from alcohol, tobacco, drugs, one on one dating, and pre-marital sex and all that entails. Physically, I matured before most girls and received a lot of backlash from the older girls in school and a lot of attention from the older boys in school. I had one boyfriend from my freshman year to my senior year of high school and while we were also very good friends, I think we held each other back from enjoying our adolescence and quite honestly ruined our friendship. I completely understand why we are taught not to date exclusively and why we are taught to group date. After that relationship ended I went straight into another relationship which didn't last but a few months. After I graduated high school in May 2006 I began working at Westates, a local plumbing supply store, where I met my future husband Jake Cockrell. Jake was a salesman at Westates. I found out later that at the beginning of April when I was going to my job at the greenhouse, the "hot guy" I saw talking to our landscaper (Jake's best friend, Jerrett) and our neighbor (the owner of Westates) in my front yard was none other than Jake. The owner of Westates was offering Jake a job because he had recently moved back from Albuquerque. I happened upon the job through a teacher at the school who is related to the owner of Westates. *Jake happens to be 10 years older than me and grew up in the same town as I did. He graduated from the same high school as I did in 1997. He got a full ride scholarship to play football at UNM. After completing 3 years he was burnt out and decided to move to Oregon where his sister was and joined the Air Force in 2001. He was deployed to Iraq for operation Iraqi Freedom and when he returned he was stationed in Omaha, Nebraska. He ended up getting sent home in 2004 and shortly after, his first son, Noah was born.* We started hanging out as friends in June and in October of 2006 I took a job at Country Club Family Dental Care as a Scheduling Coordinator and we decided that since we no longer worked together to start officially dating. We had a pretty rocky first 8 months. He had been hurt in a lot of his previous relationships and my age scared him a bit too. He broke up with me for a week in May 2007 and told me that is when he realized how much he really loved me and cared for me. He said that he didn't like his life without me and he felt like I was the one. Obviously, we ended up getting back together. On April 21, 2008 we signed the papers to start the process of buying a house together. Later that day, I took a pregnancy test and we found out that we were pregnant with our first child together, due December 2008. Buying a house is stressful! We were told we would be in our house at the end of October, then before Thanksgiving, then before Christmas. When we still were not in our house for Christmas I lost it a little bit. Jake called our mortgage broker and told her that we either need to be in our house by the time we leave the hospital after our son is born or they can take it back. My son, AJ, was born on December 28, we signed the papers for the house in the hospital on December 29, and I went to my new home from the hospital on December 30.  Earlier that year in June, Jake had taken a job as a machinist at Hoerbiger. I continued to work full time at the dental office and became Office Manager in June 2010. Jake became branch manager at Hoerbiger in September 2010. We were married at the Glacier Club at Tamaron, CO on May, 23, 2009. On August 1, 2011 we found out we were expecting our 3rd child (2nd child together) in April 2012. That same week Jake took at job at CECO as a sales rep for NM, AZ, UT, CO, and southern WY. His job takes him out of town pretty much every week and since we were adding another child to our family we decided that it would be best for me to quit my job and be a stay at home mom. I resigned my position as Office Manager at Sundance Dental Care on December 31, 2011. I decided to quit a few months before my daughter's due date so that I could spend time with my boys before she was born. We welcomed her into our family on April 4, 2012. We are a crazy, hectic family that loves each other very much. My husband is a sports fanatic! He is the ultimate Dallas Cowboys fan. He loves hunting, camping, and golfing. I love being a mother, crafting, planning parties, organizing, budgeting, reading, my testimony of my savior and the gospel, and most recently working out! We appreciate your support in sharing our real life and everything that comes with it.