Meet Lianna Cornally, CRMB Managing Editor
Hello, I’m Lianna! I am a born and raised Iowa girl with a passion for Iowa’s Creative Corridor. After growing up in a small town in Northwest Iowa, I came to the University of Iowa for college and never left. I met my husband, Shawn, (a Cedar Rapids native!), during undergrad at Iowa, and it wasn’t hard for us to decide that this was the place we wanted to put down roots. Eastern Iowa had my heart from the moment I stepped foot here, and I have thoroughly enjoyed experiencing the transition from excited college kid to invested, connected adult.
Shawn and I got married, added three kids to our family (ages 5, 3, and 1), and moved onto an acreage in the country near Cedar Rapids. We got chickens, planted huge gardens that we can never keep up with, brought home two dwarf goats that provide endless entertainment, and started raising our kids surrounded by trees, animals, dirt, and love.
I am the proud founder of Wondergarten Early Enrichment Home, a small, multi-age childcare program. I have a deep appreciation for the rich and dynamic zeal for life that children possess, and I take delight in supporting the early childhood years as the foundation for a life of learning and connection.
I love canning our garden’s bounty (jams, salsa, pickles), experimenting with crafty endeavors (knitting, painting, photography, sewing), and teaching my kids to appreciate the vast beauty and joy that comes from a life connected with nature. I thrive when connecting with other moms, and I can’t wait to see the community of support and encouragement that we can build here in Cedar Rapids.
Meet Natalie Ivory
Hello! I’m Natalie, wife to my wonderful husband Greg, and mommy to my sweet toddler boy Leo and another baby on the way this fall. I am a proud Iowa native who grew up in a really small town called Traer. After high school, I spent a year at the University of Colorado before eventually coming back to Iowa and graduating from the University of Iowa in 2007 with a marketing degree. While at Iowa, I joined the sorority Zeta Tau Alpha where I met some of the most amazing women who I am blessed to still call friends to this day, and I remain active with our area alumnae group.
After college, I moved to Des Moines where a college friend introduced me to his childhood friend, Greg on the day before my birthday, July 29, 2007. Little did we know, we would go on to become great friends, start dating, get engaged and married, and then had our first son on July 29, 2014—7 years to the day after we first met.
Besides Des Moines, Greg and I also spent time living in Dayton, Ohio for a while before ultimately deciding to call Cedar Rapids our home in 2011. We love being near our families and friends, and experiencing all the wonderful things The Corridor has to offer. I work full-time as a Brand Strategist at ACT, Inc. and am also going to school for my MBA. As you can probably guess, life keeps me really busy. But when I’m not working, chasing a toddler, or doing homework, I love traveling, spending time with family and friends, listening to live music, and watching pretty much any TV show written by Shonda Rhimes.
Meet Lindsey Swearinger
Hello, everyone! I’m Lindsey, fiancé to Nick and mother to b/g twins, Emerson and Brayden. We also have a wild, and rather large four-legged baby, Legend! I grew up in Davenport, currently reside in Buffalo, and will be moving to the Cedar Rapids area this summer when Nick begins a new career in Marion. After graduating high school from Davenport Assumption, I spent the next two and a half years at the University of Northern Iowa. After finding out my little ones were on the way, I moved home and pursued my career in Cosmetology and have worked full time doing hair for the last six years! I am currently enrolled through Ashford online, taking classes to obtain my Bachelor’s Degree in Organizational Management. I have big dreams of eventually opening my own salon, or running a business of some sort. I love helping women feel beautiful, and the artistic freedom that comes with the beauty industry!
Nick proposed this past Thanksgiving, and we are busy planning our November 26th wedding for this coming fall! Emerson and Brayden stay active playing various sports and are involved in school organizations at Buffalo Elementary. They cannot wait to move and explore our new home, along with making new friends at school. We rescued Legend from a shelter in February of 2015, and never imagined we could love a non-human so much. He still manages to fit all 63 pounds on our laps at night and loves to explore the neighborhood.
My “free time” is spent at the gym, where I love to lift and run. I have run two half-marathons but decided to mix things up and focus more on lifting for the time being. I am also an avid reader and am always seeking new suggestions for a good book to get lost in. We enjoy watching all of our teams on TV, all of which hail from Chicago! We also enjoy traveling when time permits, our favorite location being Florida.
Our little family stays busy and cannot wait for this next adventure to begin. It is bittersweet to leave the place you grew up but the new possibilities are endless. This blog will be a wonderful starting place to meet other moms and learn more about the area!
Meet Jennifer Fritz
Hi! I’m Jennifer Fritz, Jenn if you will, and I live on the SW side of Cedar Rapids in the Cherry Hill area. I moved here with my family 9 years ago and fell into an Iowa way of life. I grew up in Kalamazoo, MI. My husband Ben and I met in Latin class in high school and after playing Pluto and Proserpina in a competition we fell in love. In 2004 we married and have been that overly sappy couple since. We have three children; our oldest is Erin (15), the middle is Robbie (9), and the youngest is Penelope (8). All of them are lovingly referred to as Fritzlings.
We moved here in June 2007 after Ben was hired at Rockwell Collins. It wasn’t long before we fell in love with the state of Iowa and the “Iowa nice” mantra that so many people live by. While my primary focus right now is within the home, I have dabbled on and off in retail. Currently, I work a small part-time position at Yankee Candle and love it there. Otherwise, I’m the keeper of the family schedule and all things kiddo related. If I had to define my parenting style I’m mostly a free-range mom, part cool mom, with a smidge of crunchy mom, and a dash of hot-mess mom.
I am a writer at heart. I love a good book, though I’ll read most anything, and have a penchant for excellent coffee. My all-time favorite activity is to curl up with a book during a thunderstorm. Aside from that, I like gardening and landscaping, cooking, baking, playing computer games, lying in the sun, swimming, cycling, hiking, camping, and many more outdoorsy type things. We discovered RAGBRAI four years ago and participate every year in one way or another. I am also involved in scouting, serving as co-leader and cookie mom for my younger daughter’s troop and serving as a committee member and camping lead for my son’s pack.
I am excited to be part of the Cedar Rapids Moms Blog team and to be able to share my experiences as a mother raising little, “Iowa nice”, humans.
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