Hello :) I'm Nicole. Welcome to "Keepsake"....it's named that because Todd (my wonderful hubby) & I built our home on the back of his parents farm. His dad passed away in 2000, so we chose to build here to be close to his mom. Most people thought I was crazy to want to live so close to my mother-in-law but she happens to be one of my dearest friends. It's an added bonus that our 3 kids can jump on their 4-wheelers & head to Granny's, drink a Coke, & come on home.
I was born in Virginia. I have an older sister and an older brother (he passed away in 2009), so yes....I'm the baby of the bunch! I have been a hair stylist for 24 years. When we built our home in 2002, we planned a salon in the house so I could be home with the kids. It works great for us.
I met Toddy when I was 18 years old. He was a WV boy that drove a big truck, had amazing legs, & a smile that was too sweet! He was a client of the salon I was working in. He happened to walk in one day & I was the stylist who had an opening, so he sat in my chair. As I trimmed his "mullet"...LOL...he asked me to go for a ride in his new truck. I turned him down! He called shortly after that and asked again...I turned him down! He called shortly after that and asked a 3rd time....I said Yes!!! We've now been married 20 years in January :)
We built our first home in 1994. It was a beautiful Cape Cod on 5-acres. I had no clue what "primitive" meant back then so I had mauve curtains, sponge-painted walls, & a purple bedroom. I'd love to get my hands on that house today...LOL! The problem was all the stairs. It was 2-story with a full basement. Laundry was in the basement. Two years later, our son was born. I would put him in the laundry basket and carry him up & down all those stairs with me. I soon learned that as much as I like the looks of a 2-story home, I like living my life in a 1-story home. We sold the house in 2000.
We had never thought of building a house on Todd's family's farm. We just happened to be riding 4-wheelers back here one day and I said to Toddy..."sure would be a pretty place for a house"...next thing I knew, we were building our home!
We moved into our home in August 2002. On New Year's Eve that year, I told Toddy our second baby was on the way. Our daughter was born in September 2003. Three months later, I was pregnant again! Our third baby came in September 2004 I'm not quite sure how we managed to put this home together in the midst of raising these babies, but here it is! I'm always dreaming up projects and life gets chaotic at times, but at the end of the day....this is our home!!!