First off, THANK YOU for reading this! There a million other things you could be doing right now, but you are here reading this. So THANK YOU!
This blog was created to bring you all sorts of fun, valuable information. Whether that is about workout gear, food choices or the honest truth about supplements. I am excited to share some fun info with y'all about all these things!
But first I wanted to give you a little information about myself, Jamie Lynn Smith (NO my mother and father did NOT name me after Jamie Lynn Spears! She was named after me. :) JK)
Family is #1
These are the people that have supported and loved me since day 1. They all still live in Nebraska. My dad and mom met in the same town Beau and I did. They are seriously THE BEST PARENTS. I look up to both of them in so many ways. You could call them my heroes!
My sista sista and I are 4 years apart. She is in her last year of grad school to become an OT. I am ultra proud of her and everything she is striving for. Fingers crossed she gets to do an internship in North Dallas this spring!
I just got to visit them this past July for the 4th in Nebraska. I cherish every minute I get to spend time with them! They are coming here to visit over Christmas! And I am OVER THE TOP EXCITED! It’s not easy living 10 hours away but I have a feeling that they may make the move down south soon :)
HUSKER
I am born and raised Nebraska girl. No I did not grow up on a farm, I grew up in Lincoln.
High School
I went to a Lutheran elementary school and high school and graduated with about 50 kids in my class. I played both soccer and basketball at Lincoln Lutheran High School.
University of Nebraska
I spent most of my summers as a kid traveling around the midwest and even down to Texas for basketball and soccer tournaments with the club teams I played on. I committed my junior year to the University of Nebraska to play soccer. After redshirting my freshman year, I played another 2 seasons with the Huskers then decided it was time for the next chapter.
Concordia
Midyear of my junior year, I transferred to Concordia University in Seward, NE, my dad's alma mater, where I finished my final 2 seasons of playing and graduated with my bachelor’s of education.
He FB messaged me…
During my time at Concordia I met my husband Beau, who had also transferred to Concordia from COS (College of the Sequioas) in Visalia, California to play basketball. And after one look at me, he knew! He facebook messaged me that night asking to hangout sometime. Of course I was all giddy when I woke up the next morning and read it. I showed my sister and started creeping on him but with all the excitement I guess I forgot to message him back, leaving him with the thought… “OMG I blew it!” Well we ended up hanging out, unplanned, at a Jersey Shore party and the rest is history!
After graduating from Concordia University, I took a job at Head Start in Lincoln, teaching as a pre-k teacher. Met some really great people and learned a lot! Beau had 1 year left at Concordia at the time. Yes, I am a cougar! And proud of it! Ha.
SWITZERLAND
After Beau finished his last year, we took a trip to Switzerland that led to a permanent vacation for 10 months. Remo offered Beau a full time gig with D&Rn after we got engaged in Lucerne on Europe's Oldest Wooden Covered Bridge. This made it a really tricky sitauation because I obviously wanted to start to planing the wedding ASAP! But we couldn’t turn down the chance to live in beautiful Switzerland. So Lucerne became home.
Team Schwyz
While living in Switzerland, I nannied for a sweet family and got the chance to lace up my cleats and take the field again, after thinking I was officially done. I still remember the day after my first game and the pain all over my body! I couldn't get out of bed all day!
Madrid
After leaving Switzerland, we visited my childhood friend Steph who was teaching in Madrid. I love you Steph but Tapas are not my friend.
Jeremiah 29:11
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."
After Madrid, we returned back to Texas late February of 2014, where we planned to get an apartment and begin our life together. We had set a date for our wedding, August 2, 2014. (We got engaged July 26, 2013 so while we were in Switzerland, my dad, mom and sister were all helping us plan the wedding in Lincoln) The details were pretty much all done. Save the dates had been ordered and I planned on mailing these out our first week back to the states.
The following morning after arriving back home, we opened our bag to get the money we had been saving for all these wonderful plans but it was gone. All of it. We had so many plans... get an apartment, help pay for the upcoming wedding... but plans had changed. Just like that. That day was on of the most devastating and life changing days I will never forget. I am not going to lie, we cried! A lot! But the next day, we sat down together took out a computer and started looking for jobs. Within a week, we each had 4-5 jobs lined up. We hustled. And we did it together with the support and love of our families right next to us. We did have to move the wedding back until the following May but it was a huge relief.
May 30, 2015
We tied the knot and partied all night long with our families and friends. Who might I add drank the place dry of Patron. It was a lot of fun!
our LOU LOU
We adopted Lou, originally known as “Mary Lou” (name the shelter gave her, obvi we dropped the Mary ASAP!) from Collin County Animal Shelter a week after the wedding. I had been begging Beau for a dog for about a year and we went “to just look”. We drove off with LouLou sitting on my lap. She is most adorable, adventurous, crazy, and has more facial expressions then I ever imagined a dog could have. She is also the most expensive $25 adoption EVER! But that’s a story for another time.
She is the R&G mascot. One day her face will be a mural on the wall. “Oh, hey Ryder and Dani, I have another project for you…”
our first logo
That following October of 2015, R&G began! We had 10 people sign up for training at 5:30am in the park that was lit from camping lanterns hanging on 3 basketball hoops. Rain or shine we trained.
“Namaste, y’all”
The weather became colder and we knew we were going to need an actual building to train in come winter. We rented out a Yoga studio that we crammed everyone into, which left us with the former memory of "Namaste, Y'all" ( a quote printed on pink walls with the mural of a flower next to it). Nothing about this place was fancy. Nothing! But it was the next step of R&G becoming what it is today.
“The Dungeon”
R&G continued to grow which lead us to our next rental space at an Anytime Fitness. We also personal trained in our apartment complex and eventually rented a garage where we held smaller group trainings at, formally known as “the dungeon".
The R&G House
We leased our very own first building of October 2016. This place has come A LONG WAY! From painting, to scrubbing the floors, to standing a ladder on top of MiMi and Papa Smith’s Expedition to change the light bulbs, to adding the rubbering flooring and all the equipment. This place is our baby! It’s our home.
…and NOW
Here we are 3 years later and in a 3,000 sq ft building providing personal and group trainings 6 days a week in the morning, afternoon and evening.
Retired Teacher
After teaching for 4 years, I have joined Beau full time working for R&G. This was not something we had expected to happen for awhile but God is again showing us that His plans are greater than our own.
Official title: CCO (Chief Culture Officer)
It’s everyday
Beau and I had no idea what the future had in store for us 7 years ago when we met in 2011.
God has given us the strength to get through many obstacles together! There is no one else I could imagine working with day in and day out. He pushes me to challenge myself, keeps me grounded, and provides in so many unseen ways.
I have no idea what the future holds for the both of us but I know that whatever we face, we will do it together …and with LouLou!