Q: What are 5 fun facts about you?

•  I was born and raised in small town St. Joseph, MO, where most of my family still lives.
• I worked several jobs prior to staying home with Olivia, including a lab associate at an ethanol research company, a consultant at a healthcare electronic medical records company, and up until going into labor with Olivia, I was a Sales Engineer at a fantastic GRC company.
• I was born on Mother’s Day. I was the only baby born that day in that year in St. Joseph, MO.
• I played soccer in college, but Greg is still better than me at soccer, somehow.
• I have a small obsession with Mario Kart on N64.

Q: How did you and Greg meet?

Greg and I met through mutual friends while he was in the minor leagues. We started out dating long distance while he was living in Memphis and I was working in Kansas City.

Q: Were you a baseball fan before you met Greg?

St. Joseph is right outside KC, MO. So my family loves the Royals, so I had been to some games with them. My family certainly loves baseball! 

Q: What’s one of the best and one of the hardest things about being a baseball wife?

The best thing about baseball life: two things – some of the amazing women you get to meet that you wouldn’t normally. I cannot say enough amazing things about the women in both the Cardinals organization and Padres, the only two organizations we’ve been in. I’ve made life long friends, and these women were there for me and continue to be there for me through my hardest life transition so far, parenthood.

My other favorite thing about baseball wife life is the amount of volunteer and charity events we have the honor of being a part of. All of the MLB teams are very philanthropic and provide many resources to allow us to give back, which is something Greg and I really value.

Before I mention the hard part, I think it’s important to outline how grateful and blessed we are to live the life we do. But something can be amazing, and yet still have challenges. The hardest thing about baseball life is handling the schedule and having Greg on the road so much. It’s hard to create routines because the schedule varies so much. When Greg is home, he spends the majority of the day at the field, going in early to prep for games. There is no PTO, or take a day-off here or there for a weekend trip, wedding, or vacation. There’s baseball season and off season. Shoutout to the military families that endure this at such a larger scale than us. We get a taste for what they go through, but not even comparable. 

Q: How do you balance your life with a toddler and Greg’s practice/game schedule?

Balancing baseball and a toddler can be difficult. We are extremely fortunate that our home base is San Diego. Many families move to their Spring Training facility, then their home ballpark city, and finally back to home base after about 8 months of being away.

It’s important that Greg gets time with Olivia, she certainly is a daddy’s girl. But his windows of free time are very small, so when he has them, he dedicates all of his free time to us. When Greg is on the road, it can be even harder. My entire family and my closest friends live back in the Midwest.

Fortunately, we have a wonderful village here! Greg’s family is local, and I spend a lot of time with my amazing mother-in-law! I have a neighborhood full of the sweetest families. I have made some really great friends here. I FaceTime my mom every single day. And the baseball wives stick together when the guys are on the road. Overall, I’m very fortunate to have so many outlets of help/friendship when Greg is away. Baseball and children are a balancing act, and I pull support from every part of my life!

Q: Do you have a game day routine? If so, what is it?

Our game day routines vary depending on the time of the game or if there is an event the wives are doing before or during the game. Based on all of that we will decide what time Greg needs to leave for the field, how much time can he spend with us before he leaves for the day, and do I need to attend the game. We certainly do not make it to every game, especially because we have a toddler right now. 

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Q: What’s your favorite baseball city (MLB or MiLB) and why?

So far I have only visited 10 ballparks! Can you believe it? Me neither! It’s hard to pick a favorite, so I’ll list the reasons why I really love a few ballparks. In St. Louis, the games are loaded with die hard fans and always sold out, it’s a fun atmosphere. In San Diego, the stadium is beautiful and the night games are full of the best food and great weather. Wrigley is full of character and has that old school baseball vibe that you just can’t beat, and the San Francisco Giants have a such a charming, breathtaking view. These are just some of my favorite ballparks!

Q: How are you and Greg keeping busy while the season is in limbo?

We certainly miss baseball, but we are thankful for the extra time we are getting as a family. Health and safety are important to us, and we are praying daily for those who are struggling in any way because of the pandemic. We have been and continue to stay home! Olivia is the happiest girl every day having her dad around. We are outside most of the time letting her explore (she loves finding Rollie pollies). We also play in the hose, take her for bike rides and jump in her bounce house. After Olivia goes to bed, Greg and I spend every evening hanging together, which means watching shows and playing games. Our current nights include watching Jack Ryan, I’m 0-6 against Greg in Mario Kart, and we finally completed a 1,000 piece puzzle. I am soaking up all of this extra time with Greg, and I’m forever grateful for essential workers that are still making our world go round right now. They are the real MVP’s!