Each contributing author is a current or former staff member of Segullah: Writings by Latter-day Saint Women. Online at www.segullah.org.

Brooke Olsen Benton (That One in the Middle) was raised in California, but since graduating from BYU with a degree in English and a husband on her arm, she has called the Mountain West home. Brooke enjoys baking with her kids, playing with her kids, and writing about her kids. For more of their misadventures, visit her at brookebenton.blogspot.com.

Heather Harris Bergevin (Giraffes Kiss, poetry) lives in SC with her long-suffering husband, Noah, their two small children, and fifty bazillion mosquitoes. An avid poet, she is also writing a book of essays on adapting to chronic Lyme disease. Most of her ideas appear in the wee hours of the morning, when she can hear herself think for minutes at a time, and when the only sleepy whining is her own.

Jennifer Boyack (Strolling with Toddlers) lives in southern California, where she was raised. She earned a BA in English teaching from BYU. A week after graduation, she married her best friend, Andrew. Together they have seven children. Most of her days are dedicated to caring for family and the attempt to tame clutter and chaos. Jennifer adores good books, interesting conversation, and tasty food—which explains why she eagerly awaits book club each month.

Melonie Cannon (They Weren’t Mine to Keep, poetry) recently moved to Utah with her husband, Dr. James Uhl, and their four children under age nine. She has a BA in English and Italian literature from the University of Utah and the Universita di Firenze. Melonie received her M.Ed. and taught school before becoming an Army wife and living overseas. She loves to read, write, and try new things.

Brittney Poulsen Carman (Earthbound) lives in beautiful northern Idaho where she is pursuing a master of fine arts degree in creative nonfiction and teaching composition and creative writing at the University of Idaho. Brittney served a mission to Barcelona, Venezuela. She enjoys motorcycles, making Indian food, and fly-fishing with her four-year-old, Stella Blue.

Johnna Benson Cornett (poetry) began writing poetry in 2001 at the encouragement of a friend. A fifth-generation Californian, she lives in Palo Alto with her husband and four children. She’s a proud alumnus of UCLA, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a linguistics degree. Johnna considers any day she rides her bike a good day.

Megan Aikele Davies (The Tree of Life) lives in Orem, UT with her husband and two young daughters and one baby boy. She has finally landed her dream job—stay-at-home mom. She balances her time between parenting and church callings, and moonlights as a freelance graphic designer. She graduated from BYU in 2000 with a degree in graphic design, and enjoys art, cooking, and reading.

Justine Dorton (Was Barbie from the Triassic Period?) was raised in the Midwest and now lives in Utah with her husband and five children. She is actively involved in local community affairs, as well as writing. In addition to these, she spends most of her days doing laundry, teaching children, and making her kitchen floor shiny. Someday, she would like to leave the kitchen floor dull, not make noodles for lunch, and write a book.

Lisa Meadows Garfield (Grace and Glorie) is the mother of six and grandmother of four. She the author of For Love of a Child: Stories of Adoption (Agate Lake Publishing, 2005), an award-winning poet, a music teacher, and an avid traveler. She lives on five forested acres in the Pacific Northwest with her family, and loves hiking, trees, strawberries and cream, and sitting in puddles of sun.

Sharlee Mullins Glenn (poetry) lives in Pleasant Grove, Utah, with her husband and five children. She served a mission in Italy and earned a master’s degree in humanities from BYU, where she taught for a number of years. Her work has appeared in journals as varied as The Southern Literary Journal, Women’s Studies, and Ladybug magazine. She has also published a novel and several picture books for children.

Felicia Hanosek (Will it Ever Be Enough?), is a wanna-be survivalist living in Central Point, Oregon, with her husband and five children. She served a mission in Marseille, France, studied molecular biology at BYU, and is currently pursuing an MA in humanities from Cal State University—Dominguez Hills. Felicia enjoys volleyball, Constitutional law, gardening, and all things solar-powered. Despite numerous attempts she is still a Fly-lady flunkie.

Emily Halverson (Watch With Me) lives with her husband Jared and their four children in Nashville, Tennessee. Emily grew up in Penryn, California (with nine siblings she considers her best friends), graduated from BYU with a BA in English, and served a mission in France. She spends her days freelance editing, writing, reading, exercising (preferably all of these outdoors) and becoming a Christian through motherhood, which she adores.

Lisa Hardman (Wonder-Mold Mother) recently returned to school after an eighteen-year break to pursue a BA in English. She has been published in Literary Mama and the Highlands Ranch Herald, and has written numerous resource articles for FastWeb, the Internet’s leading scholarship search service. Lisa lives in Highlands Ranch, Colorado with her husband and five children. Her blog is found at www.brainymama.wordpress.com.

Heather Herrick (Creation out of Chaos, poetry) now resides in New York City, though she was raised in Orem, Utah. She served a mission in Canada and earned a BA in English teaching from BYU . After receiving her degree she taught middle school English in Texas for three years while her husband completed his graduate acting program. Now she “stays home” with her kids, writes a lot of first drafts, teaches preschool, falls asleep reading, and loves cooking.

Courtney Kendrick (Making the Grass Greener) lives in Provo, Utah, with her husband Christopher. She is an American with European tendencies, a housewife who spends most of her day at the computer, and a flighty soul who is nothing more than a homebody. Courtney served a mission to Canada, earned a degree in psychology from Utah Valley University, and taught gifted and talented classes at the elementary school level. Her blog is found at cjanerun.com.

Ailene Long (Intent to Do Good) was raised in northern California and now lives in Houston, Texas, with her husband and their four children. She served a mission in Finland and graduated from BYU with a double major in Russian and Spanish. She loves foreign languages, tennis, and long-distance running.

Emily Milner (Finding Myself on Google) lives in Utah with her husband and three children, and is an assistant editor for Segullah. She served in the Ecuador Guayaquil South mission. She graduated from BYU with a degree in comparative literature, and hopes to return one day to get a master’s in English. Or history. Or Spanish. Or TESOL. Or maybe a law degree . . .

Heather Oman (Tea Party Blessings) lives in Williamsburg, Virginia, with her husband, her two children, her dog, and a pet ball python. She graduated from The George Washington University with an MS in speech language pathology. Heather loves reading, yoga, and growing tomatoes the size of softballs.

Maralise Petersen (Natural-Born Mother) graduated cum laude from Brigham Young University in humanities and history. She is currently on leave from graduate study at Virginia Commonwealth University in order to follow her husband’s international career, which most recently has taken the family to Vienna, Austria. Besides grocery shopping daily, she works as a freelance and fine art photographer and serves as the editor of Blog Segullah. She also blogs as the Reluctant Nomad at mlphotodesign.com/blog.

Kristen Ridge (Expectations) lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, with her husband Perry and daughter Shaelynn. She graduated from BYU in 2004 with a degree in English literature and a minor in international development. After internships in South Africa and Ethiopia, she served a mission in Paraguay. Kristen spends her bits and pieces of spare time reading, writing, and keeping rabbits out of her garden.

Angela W. Schultz (Angel Mother) is a born-again Mormon, a wife, and a mother of five. Her hobbies include vacuuming, rotating her food storage, potty training, and homeschooling. She’s also really good at laundry. She has a bachelor’s degree in English and a master’s degree in social work from the University of Utah.

Allyson Smith (Going Up the Mountain) now calls the Cornbelt home, after thirty years in the mountain west. She lives in South Bend, Indiana, with her husband and their five children. She served a mission in Minnesota and earned a BA in history. Allyson now spends the bulk of her time writing non-history and trying to keep the home front intact.

Johanna Buchert Smith (Forty Weeks ‘Til Spring) was raised in the northwoods of Canada without electricity or a phone, and eventually made her way to Utah to attend BYU. She has a BA in linguistics, dreams of making artisan cheeses, and refuses to let her husband spray chemicals on the lawn. She lives in Pocatello, Idaho, with him and their daughter on five weedy, beautiful acres.

Kathryn Lynard Soper (Editor; Introduction: Beginning) is a mother of seven children, teenage to toddler. She is editor-in-chief of Segullah:Writings by Latter-day Saint Women (www.segullah.org) and editor of Gifts: Mothers Reflect on How Children with Down Syndrome Enrich Their Lives (Woodbine House, 2007). Kathryn grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland, and has lived in Utah ever since she came west to attend BYU, where she received a BA in English. Her website is www.kathrynlynardsoper.com.

Kylie Turley (The Measure of A Mother) grew up in Cody, Wyoming. She has one BA (political science), one MA (American studies), five kids, one husband, no pets, one house to clean, one garden to grow, and hundreds of unfinished projects to do. She enjoys teaching writing at BYU and researching Mormon women’s history, recently winning the Morris Rosenblatt/Charles Redd Center for Western Studies Award and the Colleen Whitley Scholarly and Creative Works Award.

Lani B. Whitney (Small Sacrifice, poetry) loves having a big yard with climbing trees and with children running around in it. She and her husband Lance, and five children live in a small southern Idaho town (which they vowed they’d never do) and actually like it. She dreams of picking the last weed out of the flower beds and keeping the laundry done, both to no avail. Most of all, she enjoys kissing fat, beautiful, flawless skin of babies and toddlers.

Darlene Young (poetry) lives in South Jordan, Utah, with her very supportive husband and four sons (even the cat is male). She has a degree in humanities and English teaching from BYU. She currently serves as secretary for the Association for Mormon Letters has published in Segullah, Dialogue, and Irreantum. She likes to read, sing, knit, eat chocolate, and do yoga (although not all at the same time—except for the chocolate part). She dreams of returning to school for an MFA.

Melissa Young (The Yoke of Wisdom) is a native of Utah and currently resides in Smithfield with her husband and four children. She graduated from BYU with a degree in communication studies and a music minor. She loves to dabble, and consequently knows a little about a lot of things but not a whole lot about anything.

photo credits
photographed by Maralise Petersen: Brooke Olsen Benton, Heather Harris Bergevin, Melonie Cannon, Brittney Poulsen Carman, Johnna Benson Cornett, Justine Dorton, Sharlee Mullins Glenn, Heather Herrick, Emily Milner, Heather Oman, Johanna Buchert Smith, Kathryn Lynard Soper, Kylie Turley, Darlene Young. and Melissa Young