I have been a lover of music my entire life! I started piano lessons at age 5 (and continued for 20 more years!) I sang my first solo in church at age 6 (I still remember my dad pulling a chair down from the choir loft so I could see over the pulpit), and wrote my 3rd grade report "what I want to be when I grow up" about being a professional singer. I grew up in Bend, OR and attended Bear Creek Elementary, Cascade AND Pilot Butte Middle Schools (thanks to boundary changes) and Bend Senior High School. I went to Milligan College, in Johnson City, Tennessee - where I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Vocal Music Education. I hold a teaching certificate for teaching Music K-12 in Oregon and Connecticut and recently (2016) got my Masters of Education in Curriculum and Instruction with an emphasis on Biblical Literacy from Concordia University in Portland, OR. The 2019-2020 school year is my sixth year of teaching music.

My husband and I met and married 21 years ago in Orlando, Florida. We met when I joined a musical theatre group that traveled nationwide on tour, and I happened to think the president of that group was pretty cool - cool enough that I said yes when he asked me to marry him! We have lived in a variety of places - Orlando, Florida - Springfield, Illinois - Sherwood, Oregon - Broken Arrow, Oklahoma and now, for the last five years, Bend, Oregon. We have five kids - Shira is 18 and about to finish college at COCC, after which she'll be moving to Arizona to attend ASU, study Forensic Criminology and hopefully work for the FBI one day. Tobin is 17 and is also going to school at COCC, working full-time at Empire Car Wash and hopes to be a cop someday. Micah is 13, in 7th grade at Sky View Middle School and plays the violin. Jora is 11, a 5th grader at North Star Elementary and hopes to be a You-Tuber someday. Carmen is 7 and a 2nd grader at North Star Elementary and just makes all of us smile all the time.

I love to learn! I'm currently completing school with the Institute for Integrative Nutrition to be a Health Coach - my hope is to help clients in my downtime and during the summer who want to focus on healthy eating and balancing a busy life...like we all have! I also work part-time for a functional medicine clinic in town as their Virtual Office Manager. In addition to all of that, I'm currently homeschooling my three youngest children (thanks to Covid-19) and I love to cook, read, go on walks with my family, explore new restaurants with my husband on date night and sing with the Sisters High Desert Chorale.

I have a busy life, but there's nothing I love doing more than making music with young people. It's a joy and an honor to be a part of the Sisters Outlaw family.