Amanda Louder is an amazingly talented woman. We are so lucky to have her in our ward. She is a woman who can run the world and I'm fortunate to be able to tell you about her.
Amanda grew up in Woods Cross Utah where she lived until her 9th grade year. Her father's job moved them to Maryland where they lived until her senior year in high school. She says living in Maryland was so different and such a culture shock to them all. It was different in every way. It was very liberal, but that her experiences living in the culture cemented her testimony and she completely learned who she was and what she believed in.
One of her highlights of living in Maryland was attending early morning seminary. She loved it. She said it isn't the same as regular released time. The kids who were there loved being there and they contributed to the class. She said the spirit was so strong and there was no better way to begin her day.
For her Senior year of high school, Amanda's family moved back to Bountiful and she attended Bountiful High. From there she went to BYU majoring in Business with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. She met her first husband and they were married after her Freshman year. She completed one more year but by then she was having a baby and they were moving to Texas for her husband's job.
Amanda and her husband ended up living in Texas for 11 years. First they lived in Dallas Ft. Worth for 3 years, then they moved to Austin for her husband’s graduate school. They spent a summer in San Francisco for an internship and then came back to Austin. When schooling was done, they took a job back in Dallas. The place they lived in was named McKinney and has been voted the #1 place to raise a family.
One of her favorite things about living outside of Utah was the close knit friendships she made. She still talks to some of these ladies weekly and even daily on the phone. She says outside of Utah, where people don't have family all around you, your friends become your family. She misses that.
While living in Texas, Amanda also sucessfully ran 2 very profitable businesses. First she hit the market at the perfect time, starting a digital scrapbooking company. It grew and became the largest digital scrapbooking company in the world. She eventually sold it. But then she gored bored so she started she a photography business where she worked as much as she wanted, but she didn't like the long hours away from her family on the weekends, so she mostly did newborn photography during the day while the kids were at school.
After 13 years of marriage, her first marriage came to an end. She felt strongly she was doing what the Lord wanted her to do. Through her difficult marriage she had come to understand the love the Lord had for her. She also learned of the plan he had for her all through the power of the atonement.
Little did she realize the happiest part of her life was just about to begin.
In order to have family support, she took her beautiful three children and moved to Kaysville with her parents. Her parents told her to just live there, take care of the kids and finish her schooling on-line. They told her they would take care of the kids one night a week so she could have a chance to go out with her friends and socialize with other adults.
With that one night a week, she started taking a mid-singles institute class. She had been attending the class for about 1 1/2 months when one night in November, her current husband, Kevin walked in. She had told the Lord she wasn't looking to marry again, but if he wanted her to, she needed to have a clear sign. When Kevin walked into the class for Amanda it was like a spotlight was on him and angels were singing.
He sat with her and her friends that night and afterwards they went to IHOP and then to a friend's house to play pool. They talked and talked and laughed and laughed. He asked for her phone number and called her as soon as they left each other. They then proceeded to talk until 6:30 in the morning when Kevin had to get ready for work. That night while driving home from work, Kevin had a very spiritual experience listening to the song, «God Bless This Broken Road . » When he got home he knelt down and prayed and the Lord told him that Amanda was his eternal companion. When he told Amanda how he was feeling, instead of being scared, she told him she was also feeling the same way. So within 24 hours of meeting each other, they both had received a confirmation that they were supposed to be together. The next week in the temple Amanda had a firm confirmation. They officially started dating in Jan and eloped (just the two of them) to the court house in July. The following year, after all the paperwork had gone through, they were sealed in the temple.
Amanda feels that with being married to Kevin she is free to be the person Heavenly Father wants to her to be. Kevin loves her and wants her to be the best she can be and she is rediscovering and learning new talents she has been blessed with because of the freedom he gives her to be herself.
I asked her what she likes to do now that she is free to do whatever she wants. She said, first of all she has 5 kids to take care of, three from her first marriage and 2 from Kevin's. She says she has learned she loves to build things, even helping Kevin build chicken coops and rabbit hutches. She said she likes to refurnish furniture and enjoys crafting and sewing.
Her true passion however, is organizing things. She said she has always loved that and in fact when she was younger and would babysit for people, after the kids went to bed, she would organize their pantries for them. (Some loved it, some didn't) She now writes a blog called, An Organized Family (AnOrganizedFamily.com) which is about the things she does everyday around their home and with their family. She says the trick to organizing is making the system easy to follow and teaching the others in the family habits so they will help keep the system running.
She is so grateful for her life now and that she is able to be happy and show her talents which she felt she had to hide for so long. How wonderful to be able to see her talents and learn from this inspiring woman! Her sister once told her that while growing up Amanda was so amazing and then she just seemed to shrivel up. Now she says she can see the old Amanda again.
Amanda grew up in Woods Cross Utah where she lived until her 9th grade year. Her father's job moved them to Maryland where they lived until her senior year in high school. She says living in Maryland was so different and such a culture shock to them all. It was different in every way. It was very liberal, but that her experiences living in the culture cemented her testimony and she completely learned who she was and what she believed in.
One of her highlights of living in Maryland was attending early morning seminary. She loved it. She said it isn't the same as regular released time. The kids who were there loved being there and they contributed to the class. She said the spirit was so strong and there was no better way to begin her day.
For her Senior year of high school, Amanda's family moved back to Bountiful and she attended Bountiful High. From there she went to BYU majoring in Business with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship. She met her first husband and they were married after her Freshman year. She completed one more year but by then she was having a baby and they were moving to Texas for her husband's job.
Amanda and her husband ended up living in Texas for 11 years. First they lived in Dallas Ft. Worth for 3 years, then they moved to Austin for her husband’s graduate school. They spent a summer in San Francisco for an internship and then came back to Austin. When schooling was done, they took a job back in Dallas. The place they lived in was named McKinney and has been voted the #1 place to raise a family.
One of her favorite things about living outside of Utah was the close knit friendships she made. She still talks to some of these ladies weekly and even daily on the phone. She says outside of Utah, where people don't have family all around you, your friends become your family. She misses that.
While living in Texas, Amanda also sucessfully ran 2 very profitable businesses. First she hit the market at the perfect time, starting a digital scrapbooking company. It grew and became the largest digital scrapbooking company in the world. She eventually sold it. But then she gored bored so she started she a photography business where she worked as much as she wanted, but she didn't like the long hours away from her family on the weekends, so she mostly did newborn photography during the day while the kids were at school.
After 13 years of marriage, her first marriage came to an end. She felt strongly she was doing what the Lord wanted her to do. Through her difficult marriage she had come to understand the love the Lord had for her. She also learned of the plan he had for her all through the power of the atonement.
Little did she realize the happiest part of her life was just about to begin.
In order to have family support, she took her beautiful three children and moved to Kaysville with her parents. Her parents told her to just live there, take care of the kids and finish her schooling on-line. They told her they would take care of the kids one night a week so she could have a chance to go out with her friends and socialize with other adults.
With that one night a week, she started taking a mid-singles institute class. She had been attending the class for about 1 1/2 months when one night in November, her current husband, Kevin walked in. She had told the Lord she wasn't looking to marry again, but if he wanted her to, she needed to have a clear sign. When Kevin walked into the class for Amanda it was like a spotlight was on him and angels were singing.
He sat with her and her friends that night and afterwards they went to IHOP and then to a friend's house to play pool. They talked and talked and laughed and laughed. He asked for her phone number and called her as soon as they left each other. They then proceeded to talk until 6:30 in the morning when Kevin had to get ready for work. That night while driving home from work, Kevin had a very spiritual experience listening to the song, «God Bless This Broken Road . » When he got home he knelt down and prayed and the Lord told him that Amanda was his eternal companion. When he told Amanda how he was feeling, instead of being scared, she told him she was also feeling the same way. So within 24 hours of meeting each other, they both had received a confirmation that they were supposed to be together. The next week in the temple Amanda had a firm confirmation. They officially started dating in Jan and eloped (just the two of them) to the court house in July. The following year, after all the paperwork had gone through, they were sealed in the temple.
Amanda feels that with being married to Kevin she is free to be the person Heavenly Father wants to her to be. Kevin loves her and wants her to be the best she can be and she is rediscovering and learning new talents she has been blessed with because of the freedom he gives her to be herself.
I asked her what she likes to do now that she is free to do whatever she wants. She said, first of all she has 5 kids to take care of, three from her first marriage and 2 from Kevin's. She says she has learned she loves to build things, even helping Kevin build chicken coops and rabbit hutches. She said she likes to refurnish furniture and enjoys crafting and sewing.
Her true passion however, is organizing things. She said she has always loved that and in fact when she was younger and would babysit for people, after the kids went to bed, she would organize their pantries for them. (Some loved it, some didn't) She now writes a blog called, An Organized Family (AnOrganizedFamily.com) which is about the things she does everyday around their home and with their family. She says the trick to organizing is making the system easy to follow and teaching the others in the family habits so they will help keep the system running.
She is so grateful for her life now and that she is able to be happy and show her talents which she felt she had to hide for so long. How wonderful to be able to see her talents and learn from this inspiring woman! Her sister once told her that while growing up Amanda was so amazing and then she just seemed to shrivel up. Now she says she can see the old Amanda again.
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