My Hubby… Ken

I’d like to introduce you to my WONDERFUL hubby, Ken & tell you a little about our story…

Ken & I met in January 2008 after I posted a personal ad on Craigslist. Yes… Craigslist! Go figure – LOL! It started as a New Years whim from a friend recommending it but once I started writing my post, I ended up taking it very seriously. I wrote a long VERY honest, ‘put it ALL out there’ ad and Ken responded to it a few days later. Despite all the other responses I’d gotten on even the 1^st day, there was just something special that stood out on his! We met for what we laugh was ‘try-outs’ in his book & ‘1^st date’ in mine… we’ve been pretty much inseparable ever since!

We spent our 1^st year getting to know each other, traveling together, eventually moving in together & finally getting engaged with a ring in my stocking Christmas morning. Ken & I are one of those ‘opposites attract’ couples & we know it… we think with different sides of our brains, see things differently & handle things differently. We can’t even seem to take the same route when driving from point A to point B and don’t understand why on earth the other would do it the way they are! 😉 He is pessimistic but playful & fun while I am more reserved & serious while being the (sometimes overly) optimistic dreamer in the family. The way we see it – we balance each other out & compliment each other! THAT is how we work so well despite our differences! Luckily, the one area we aren’t so opposite on is parenting… THAT… we are actually on very similar pages with! 🙂 We have wonderful days and days where we butt heads & argue… and we become even stronger for both!

Ken is an IT guy, a proudly self-proclaimed ‘geek’ (but not ‘nerd’… he says there’s a difference 😉 ), he loves Apple products & HATES Windows products. He most definitely has a love of vehicles… fast motorcycles like his Ducati Monster (he’s as opposed to Harley’s as he is to Windows), his little yellow 74 VW Bug convertible that he’s had since college & even restored (I openly admit that I hate it – will NOT & have not ever ridden in that thing!!) and the one I do love… his 57 Chevy BelAir! He also loves poker, cribbage, Phase 10 & other card games. He has a love for cigars that he learned from his late father, Ken Sr, and is also a self-proclaimed ‘beer snob’, mostly of IPA types! 🙂 Oh yeah… and if you pay ANY attention to my pics of him, you just ‘might’ (haha) be able to pick up on the fact that he’s a Clemson grad!

Ken had a big job adjusting to entering my ‘single mom’ world with a nearly teenage boy already in it. But… he took it all in stride and rose to the challenge! He & Tyler started off coincidentally enough discovering they have the same, not at all common middle names (“Stuart”). They loved playing video games or card games together & going paint-balling with old friends! They even spent some time restoring a 57 Chevy BelAir (unfortunately… that has been at a stand still since our family grew by 2 more!). Basically – they are 2 big boys 😀 (& know it!). Their relationship has definitely had it’s ups & downs, as probably all ‘step’ relationships do, but regardless of how they were getting along… Ken has ALWAYS stood by Tyler & been there through thick & thin no matter what! He’s been a great step-dad and now at 17, Tyler has even recently started calling him ‘dad’ some (yeah – I cried!)

Both of us grew up ‘Army Brats’ & coincidentally enough… in almost all the same places, just at different times! So, it was only natural when planning our wedding, that we chose to celebrate something so special in one of our common & favorite places from growing up… Maine. We wed in July 2009 at the Botanical Gardens in Boothbay Harbor, Maine with our very dearest of friends & family present. It was as perfect and wonderful of a wedding as I could ever imagine! We then honeymooned in Yarmouth Nova Scotia (LOL – to this day, Ken says he’s NEVER seen me SO relaxed, content & happy as our honeymoon days!). As the trend of our fairly speedy relationship would have it… yep… we got pregnant on that trip! Our lil ‘honeymoon-baby’, Lizzy joined us in April 2010, shortly thereafter followed by Trey (Ken III) in August 2011! In 5 short, very jam packed, whirl-wind years, we have built the most amazing life & family together! We have a beautiful home, 3 kids who exceed our dreams & a forever love for each other!

As it relates to my photography journey… Ken is the one who gave me my 1st ‘real’ (DSLR 🙂 ) camera, then later my portrait lens and even my 1st photography class! He sees ‘me’, my talent & my passions in a way/to a degree that I’ve never experienced from anyone else before. He’s been, understandably, a bit hesitant of this journey that I am leaping into but he has never wavered in his belief in my talents & is with time coming around to the reality that I could be successful at this as a ‘business’ too.

Above all else… Ken is an amazing husband and wonderful Daddy to our children! He is constantly horsing around and having a ball with them… and WOW, do I love the sound of all their laughter together!! Tyler looks up to him and Lizzy & Trey simply think he hung the moon 🙂 . For me… he is my rock, my shoulder to lean on & the one that stands beside me… he makes me laugh and gives me comfort to know that I am loved & supported as much as I love & support him! It took me a LONG time to find him and oh, was he SO worth the wait!! Kenneth Stuart Mink, Jr is my FOREVER LOVE and a blessing to my life that I will treasure & be thankful for always!!

PS… you might now understand why I’ve chosen the path I have with being so open & sharing all areas not just photography on this site – based on how I met Ken… being totally open, honest & putting myself out there is simply ‘me’ & apparently really ‘works for me’ 😉