Family

Grow Old With Me

Some of you may be asking yourself, “Who are The Holts?” The Holts are part Holt and part Zemke. We are of European and Native American descent…though at this point, it’s a pretty small percentage of Cherokee Indian. We have family throughout the United States, mostly settled in Oregon and California. Our families have worked in the education field, dental industry, technology industry, small business management, and child-rearing sector…by far the most challenging, but most rewarding.

Since meeting each other in July 2001, we have moved every year or two to find new adventures in our lives. As a couple, we have lived in California, Oregon, Washington, and Armenia. Our careers have included educator and wildland firefighter. Today, we are settled in the Seattle, Washington area where Laura works a full time job of mother, while Brett finds welcomed challenges as a mitigation planner.

We have two beautiful children named Ethan and Autumn. Our two children are our lives and we work hard to provide the best for them. We strive to teach them to be kind, respect the earth and each other, share their toys, play hard,  and eat lots of ice cream.

We welcome you to read about our family, our adventures, our lives. Before venturing off to read about our family, continue on to read how the whole story started.

As told by Laura in March 2004…

During the summer of 2001 Brett and I met on several occasions. Our first meeting in June, lasted mere minutes while my cousin Scottie introduced Brett (a new firefighter to Burns) and me at the Burns 5K run. After our quick meeting we both said good-bye not imagining that our paths would cross again. I went back to Portland while he stayed in Burns. Almost two months later on July 28, I was back in Burns for my cousin Missy’s wedding where things took on a different twist. With a little encouragement from Scottie and Shari, Brett came up to me and reintroduced himself. For the next few hours we sat and talked while others around us danced the night away. We hit it off immediately! At the end of the night Brett asked me for my phone number. Two days later he actually called me. I had never given my phone number to anyone so I was a bit surprised. Soon we were talking on the phone for hours and hours, writing letters and visiting each other either in Spokane, WA or Burns, OR. Mind you it’s an 8-hour drive through windy mountain roads so we made the trip once a month with Brett only taking out one deer in the process.

It is said that, time flies when you are having a good time and from our experience time also flies when you are in love. When I finished college in May 2002 I decided to join Brett in Burns. It just happened that he was barely around that summer due to firefighting. A few months later Brett and I made the decision to move to Mineral, California. Brett got the wonderful opportunity to be a part of the fire program at Lassen Volcanic National Park while I substitute taught all around the area. As Christmas neared Brett popped the “big” question! Much to my surprise, Brett flew home from his two weeks of fighting fire in Hawaii with a wedding ring. While he was away in Hawaii I spent a week in hell with no power, 5 feet of new snow and a daily 2 hour one way commute to work. Exactly 11 months later, on November 22, 2003, we were married in Wilsonville, Oregon surrounded by many loving friends and family members. Our memorable wedding marked a new stage in our lives.

Since we met in 2001, we’ve moved every year or two. What a better to show where we’ve lived than with a map. We decided to expand it beyond just the time we’ve known each other and encompass our entire lives. We only captured the different cities we’ve lived in and not the number of homes we’ve lived in.

We recommend that you view the Places We’ve Called Home (Birth to Present) Map on our Google My Maps.