I talk about my Dad a lot because you all see him so much on the show, so today I thought it would be fun to talk a little bit about the man that helps everything run smoothly at home! We have so many cute babies, I post a lot about them and thought you all might like to know more about the man behind the screens I’m mean scenes 😜that helps make all the magic happen!

He is a huge supporter of my dreams and and encourages everything Bargain Mansions and all of the craziness that comes with that! He also is a huge supporter financially. He is a fantastic financial planner and helps make sure all of the finances are in order for all of the houses, which is huge for me because I am the creative and he is the numbers! See opposites attract!

He is so supportive that in 2009 when I started painting furniture in the driveway, he didn’t get that upset that I made the brilliant decision to paint without using a drop cloth! Still to this day, there are lots of things painted in our driveway. You name it, there is every color of paint on the driveway. If you have a solution on how to get this out of the driveway, let me know 🙂

Bill and I met in 1998, which makes me feel like I’m old!! We met New Years eve week at Bartle Hall in Kansas City. I was selling credit cards and t-shirts, he was a financial planner and our booths were next to each other! Even though he pronounced my name wrong (it’s Tamara not tomorrow) 6 months later we went on our first date! Despite that, we were inseparable ever since! We got married in November of 2000 🙂 Our first house was a diaster and we did a lot of the work ourselves! That was the first time I’ve actually worked on a house that was in bad shape. Mom and Dad always bought houses that were minimally built new construction and Dad would finish them from there! My parents hadn’t ever bought a house that we were renovating, we were always finishing houses! As you can imagine this was a huge project for Bill and I! We lived in the house while we did construction and just did one thing at a time! I remember I would not walk through the house without flip flops on ever until it was finished, it was pretty gross, but we got it done!

In 2004, we had our first born son, Henry. I remember when Henry was a baby, we just loved holding him! Bill said to me “well, you get to hold him every day all day, it’s my turn!” Sweet Henry was never set down! Actually, none of our babies were ever set down!! I held onto all of them as tight as I could and sometimes I’d have to share with him 😉 Talk about attachment parenting hahaha!

Bill has a ton of hobbies, one of those being he LOVES boating! He calls me a flatlander because I grew up in Kansas. We didn’t go boating when I was a kid because my Dad hates boats because boats hate him. He has sunk somewhere between 1-5 boats in his life and maybe more that he hasn’t admitted to! You’ll have to ask him 🙂 Our family vacations were always skiing or to the desert in Arizona, so this is a whole new thing to me! Bills family had a house boat in the Ozarks and boating was their thing! His family stories sound like he grew up in a storybook time of nothing but fun in the sun!

Kids from left to right: Thomas, Bobby, Henry!

The kids will tell you that he is the funny parent, which I have to give him credit for. He is a big fan of movie quotes, which my kids think is hilarious! One last night that we heard was “Do you have something to say? because now’s a good time to keep your mouth shut!” “What’s happening hot ssstuff” “I said no! N. O. E.! ” “so we figured the next logical step was to have us a critter” “I come from a long line of frontiersman and outdoor types”

I am not a movie quote person, I cannot remember any quotes. He is also a great story teller, at dinner time, he has us all rolling around on the floor laughing! Our kids always beg to hear the peanut story, which only he can tell!! 🙂

This Father’s Day he’s excited because we just got a boat this winter and this will be our first Summer as boat owners with the kids! He makes fun of me because I am not a lake girl, I like seeing my feet! I’m a fan of the pool and beach where I can see my feet! The lake kind of freaks me out because I can’t see my feet!! But I’m getting more and more used to it 🙂 and the kids are certain this is the best summer ever!

Bill was an only child (yay for those special people and the special people that put up with only children!) I however, am the oldest of 4, so I am used to the chaos!! And yay for the special person that is an only child and puts up with the chaos of 4 kids, ha!! Bill’s parents were very involved and took him everywhere, and I love that he does the same with our kids! He is very inclusive with doing a lot of things with them, which is awesome! We do a lot of traveling, sports, fishing and all kinds of fun stuff! Both of us like engaging the kids in the work we are doing on the house, chores etc. Instead of just letting them go off and do their thing and our own thing. We involve our kids and I love that he helps make sure that happens!

We LOVE to travel together! Our favorite trip was Hawaii, we went surfing everyday and he crushed it! Even though I’m a flat lander, I’m pretty darn good at surfing and so are my kids even thought they haven’t had many opportunities to do it!

Other hobbies he loves are bike riding, we take lots of family bike rides. There is more than one picture of him with a kid in a trailer. We even trek our bikes out to Colorado, so we can do family bike rides in the mountains during the Summer time!

Have a great Father’s day!

-Tamara

What I ended up getting Bill for Father’s Day:

Thomas: Navy Blue Swim Trunks

Henry: Waterproof Speaker

Bobby: Hydroflask

Nora: Beat the Parents Board Game