Crazy runs in the blood. At least in my family! From my grandparents, to my parents, to my siblings and myself, this drive to always reach for the next thing is generational. It’s a type of discontentment that is different than what you might first think. Each one of us is very happy and thankful for what we have been blessed with, in that sense I would say we are very satisfied! At the same time however, I think it’s a stagnant feeling that comes over us when we don’t have a project to work on. Always driving for the next goal, even if that goal is vague or shifting, it’s forward. This is how our family business was born, and with it a driving force in each of us to build something we love.

My paternal grandparents, or Pake and Beppe as we call them (a bajillion bonus points if you can tell me what language those are from), both immigrated individually to the states post WWII. All my Pake (grandpa) wanted was to serve his Lord and to be a dairy farmer. Beppe (grandma) I’m pretty sure just decided it would be the smart choice and up and did it. Because she’s awesome like that. Both of these young people packed up their lives, traveled by themselves, to a country with a foreign language, foreign people, foreign everything. I don’t care how crazy my family first thought I was for choosing makeup a career choice.

“I would never have the guts to move to a country where I couldn’t even speak the language. Especially pre-smart phone!”

Fast forward to the next generation, 2 brothers in their early 20’s, newly married, babies coming fast, take the steps to buy their father’s dairy farm.

“My dad and uncle had grown up on this farm. Their father’s dream realized, but what had supported one family couldn’t support two.”

Logistically, that didn’t make any sense. Continually moving forward, the Lord literally brought the opportunity to start making cheese to their front door in the form of a German gentleman named Heinz. Now one business has turned into two!

It was these brothers dream to create a business that would not only support their families, but grow to support the next generation as well. A legacy of hard work and faith to pass down the line. Our family continued to grow along with the business, until each and every one of the kids (6 total between the two families) were able to plug into jobs that could thrive under our unique strengths. That's my older brother (Erika's husband!) Chris above on the tractor! Had I not found something I absolutely ADORED, I would still be there, no problem. I am the only one of my siblings who has yet to find their way back to the farm, but there’s still time. ;)

“March 2018 marks my 6th year in the beauty industry and over a year since I clocked out for the last time at the farm!”

March 2018 marks my 6th year in the beauty industry and over a year since I clocked out for the last time at the farm! If you had told little baby Lizzy that her one week makeup certificate would lead to a full time job, she probably would have run the other way FAST. Anything more than a small side hustle was far too overwhelming for me to think about, but that first year happened, and the second…Honestly kind of dragging me along for the ride! Pretty soon I started to get a taste for the momentum and started pushing forward. Currently I have (what I think are) pretty big dreams for my little business, but they are always shifting into something a little different, a little better. Some goals I’ve had to chill out on for a bit, and some have happened faster than ever, but I’ll keep taking steps forward, one at a time.

Every day I think "How would my dad handle this situation?". I've learned so much from working alongside my family through out the years. No matter how far away you may think farming and cheese making is from beauty land, good business is good business.