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Packing for Plenty

Minnesota and world wide family travel

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Meet the family!

Steff and Pete at Oktoberfest in Munich
This sums us up pretty well: Me laughing hysterically at god knows what and Pete staring off into the distance likely thinking about when we get to eat next.

Hey There!

Maybe you landed here randomly or you arrived from our about page. Whatever the way, I’m happy you care enough to at least click on our super self-absorbed page allllllllllll about us! We promise not to bore you, we love talking about ourselves šŸ™‚

Steff at seven magic mountains las vegas nevada

Meet Stephanie

Stephanie is originally from Fort Worth, Texas but lived in upstate New York for a couple of years, and now calls beautiful Minneapolis, Minnesota her home.

She is the oldest of four children- two brothers, a sister, and has an enormous extended family, largely in part to her grandparents who had like 17 siblings. That’s not a joke. 

After getting a degree in biology from Texas Tech University she worked various research positions including her most favorite, a gray whale research gig in British Columbia! 

whales in British Columbia Canada

Along with acquiring a degree, she acquired a puppy named Izzie. 

Izzie sitting on the couch

She is now a 13-year-old Yorkie who loves to dress up for the holidays…

Yorkie Halloween costume

Not.

Yorkie Halloween costume

A few years later she went back to school, this time for nursing and started working in an intensive care unit. All of that was just fine, but something was missing. 

In December 2015 she made the cross-country move to join her family in Minnesota. It’s unclear what she was thinking because Minnesota in December isn’t always ever a pleasant place.

Moving to Minnesota
Drove that a thousand miles….all by myself!
#ladyboss

Shortly after moving to Minnesota she met Pete. They dated for a little over a year and went on many great adventures – including Mexico just 3 short months into their relationship. Is that crazy? Probably definitely. They also ventured to Morocco and Portugal as well as several states for nearby weekend trips.

Soon after their 1-year dating-versary they got engaged and then married on an epic hiking vacation at Zion National Park just a few months later.

A few months after that they found out a baby was on the way! She was born in July 2019 and they have already taken her out on many great adventures. She went on her first road trip at 5 weeks old, her first airplane to a new country at 6 months old, and her first camping trip at 11 months old!

Stephanie’s favorite things

  • Pete, Ella, and Izzie
  • TRAVEL
  • BAKING
  • Teal, coral, blue, and purple anything
  • Game of Thrones, The Office, Parks & Rec, Justified, and The Good Place
  • Online shopping at Amazon, REI, Nordstrom…online shopping in general
  • Sushi, Indian, and local artisanal foods/tasting menus
  • Dream vacation- Churchill Manitoba and Vanuatu
  • Loves the Lion King, Hector and the Search for Happiness, andĀ Bridesmaids
  • Yoga, camping, hiking, kayaking, snowshoeing, swimming
  • Crafty things like photography projects, sentimental projects, home dĆ©cor, etc.

Pete snowshoeing in Minnesota

Meet Pete

Pete was born in Chicago, Illinois and mainly grew up around Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He is the middle child of three boys.

He made the trek up to Minneapolis to attend undergrad at the University of Minnesota where he graduated with a degree in some English stuff. Shortly after he made the sometimes always questionable decision to attend law school back in Wisconsin.

After graduating law school he worked for a bit in Wisconsin before deciding to move back to Minneapolis just 4 months before Stephanie did. Fate, anyone?  

And as you already know, shortly after being in Minnesota he met the lovely Stephanie and the rest is history.

Pete’s favorite things

  • Steff, Ella, and Izzie
  • Travel
  • Hiking, camping, kayaking
  • Homebrewing and video games
  • Game of Thrones, West World, and Justified
  • Mindlessly browsing for things at REI
  • Eating at boujeeĀ restaurants and artisanal coffee shops
  • Dream vacation: Japan

Meet Izzie

Izzie is a 13-year-old Yorkie who originally hails from Texas but calls anywhere her mommy is home. She was less than thrilled moving from warm and sunny Texas up to bitterly cold and frozen Minnesota, but after 5 years she’s pretty much gotten over it. Except when it’s below zero – she protests harrrrrd against that.

Other than being forced to go outside when she doesn’t want, Izzie has a pretty cush life. Believe it or not, she’s also done a lot of traveling! Izzie sadly doesn’t have a passport šŸ˜‰ so she’s never been abroad, but she has flown on many airplanes and survived several long-haul road trips.

Izzie’s favorite things

  • Mommy, daddy, and maybe Ella – the jury is out on that
  • Camping, hiking, kayaking, swimming
  • Going for long romantic walks through the woods
  • Dog-friendly patios with a doggy dinner menu
  • Chasing squirrels and rabbits
  • Dog parks, treats, belly rubs, and being brushed
  • Sitting on the back of the couch barking at humans, dogs, squirrels, and sometimes just the wind
  • Early morning cuddles

Ella

Awww look how cute she is! Ella made her grand entrance into the world in July 2019- a week overdue and after 3 days of labor. Her parents need to work on her promptness!

She spends her days eating, napping, playing, listening to mommy sing songs and read books, watching Izzie run around the house, meeting up with all her baby friends, and going to the zoo.

Ella’s favorite things

  • Mommy
  • Daddy
  • Going for long walks through Target
  • Laughing, smiling, and babbling
  • Reading books
  • Taking naps
  • Eating

So, now that you’ve met us – don’t you think we’re pretty cool? Or at the very least okay fun people!? Hah…I hope so! But please, pull up a chair and stick around for a while.

If you wanna see more of our travels and be inspired to take your own, be sure to check out the travel timeline! Or take a walk down memory lane with the ABCs of Travel!

If you want to catch up with us in real-time follow us below!

Instagram-We hang out here quite frequently

Pinterest – Who doesn’t love browsing page after page of beautiful travel photos?

Facebook– A fun place to connect with like-minded travelers

Twitter– quickly becoming our favorite hangout!

Nice to meet ya!

Steff, Pete, Ella, and Izzie xx

© Copyright 2020 Packing for plenty

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