Catching Up

Since I intend this blog to function in part as a history for our family, I thought I had better do a little catching up.

Our version of the Fredrickson Family began 16 years ago when Dalen and I got married.

We met in Provo, Utah while attending BYU. Our first date was to a haunted house in October of 1991. It was not love at first sight for either of us. However, we lived in the same apartment complex and attended the same BYU ward, so we saw each other frequently. Dalen was always trying to talk me into inviting his shy roommate over to my place for dinner. As a result, I did my best to avoid him. But I remember that people were always commenting about how NICE Dalen was. And I have to say that he is very nice, and I guess he grew on me because by February of 1992 we started dating a little more and by July we were engaged. We were married in October of 1992.

In March of 1992, Dalen started a business called Child Support Enforcement. Its purpose was to provide an alternative to the government's program for helping people collect delinquent child support. Dalen worked very hard and the company grew quickly, but starting your own company is anything but easy. Then one day in October of 1995, right out of the clear blue sky, the owner of SupportKids in Austin, Texas called Dalen and asked if he would consider selling his business to SupportKids and going to work for them. Dalen had only met this man once before in his life, and that was briefly at a conference they had both attended. It was an offer we (okay, especially I) couldn't refuse. It was a huge answer to my prayers and nothing short of a miracle in both of our lives. So, in January of 1996 we moved to Austin and we have been here ever since. Dalen worked at SupportKids for ten years and then left to pursue other employment options.

We LOVE it in Austin!! But how could you not? I mean, look at it. It's beautiful. Okay, it does get a little hot in the summer. But October through May, it's perfect.

After we had lived here a year or so, I decided to quit my job and go back to school. After all, Dalen had plenty of degrees (a bachelors, an MBA, and a law degree - that's enough I think), so I thought it would be a good idea for me to balance the scales a little. That, and we were having a hard time having kids. I figured that if we never had kids, then I at least ought to pursue a career that I would enjoy. Dalen was very supportive. I attended the University of Texas and eventually received a Master's degree in accounting. It took a little longer than I had originally anticipated, though, because I ended up getting pregnant. Seth and Aleah joined our family when I still had one semester left. I eventually finished the program when they were two years old.