We both grew up in tiny prairie towns along the western side of the Canadian Rockies, just minutes from the Montana border and not far from each other.  My hometown had two stoplights, and David’s didn’t have any!

I attended Cardston High School in Cardston, Alberta, Canada, and have a Bachelor of Arts in Communications/print journalism from Brigham Young University. David attended Magrath High School in Magrath, Alberta, Canada, and has a Bachelor of Science in genetics, also from BYU. 

David and I met through mutual friends when we were at BYU and married in 2010.  It’s ironic that we are both from small towns in Alberta that are only a half hour away from each other, and we didn’t find each other until college in the US! It makes seeing family easy when we go back to visit! 

After our undergraduate degrees, we spent eight years in Dallas, TX, where David completed medical school and dermatology residency at UT Southwestern. 

David is a dermatologist at Hickory Dermatology at Viewmont, battling skin cancer on a daily basis.  We lived happily in Northeast Hickory for 2.5 years when we came to North Carolina for David's job.  We love the lake, and we had a boat stored at a local marina and used it 5-6 days per week from March-October!  We decided last fall that we wanted to live on the lake and moved into Moore’s Ferry in December!

We are big fans of the lake! You’ll pretty much always find us on our dock, kayaking, paddle boarding, or on the boat.  We are water people! The kids all love doing all the things behind the boat. Blake and Claire waterski, wake surf, kneeboard, and tube. Rose kneeboards and tubes and will wakesurf with Mom or Dad on the board, too; she'll be up on her own, though!!  We love hosting family and friends. 

David is a rower and can be spotted on the lake most mornings going by in his shell or getting a good slalom (water ski) run in before work. He has gotten into drone photography and captures the beauty of the lake, with his favorites being sunrise and sunset. He also loves trying new recipes on the Traeger.

I love planning trips, kayaking, documenting the #HarkerFive, keeping up with the kids, gathering friends and family, finding new recipes, eating ice cream, and everything turquoise!

The kids all swim on the YMCA swim team and enjoy tennis and golfing. The girls loved performing in Giselle, their first ballet, this Spring.  We love that there is a small mountain in Blowing Rock to teach the kids how to snow ski, so we can take the kids back to Canada to ski soon! We're a family of readers and love to read at home and on vacation. I always say, “There is no such thing as having too many books!”

We love visiting family in Alberta, Canada, regularly, love Lake James and the mountains,  and enjoy traveling to Mexico and Grand Cayman Island.  As far as local food, we are big fans of Udderly Delicious ice cream, Mas Amor Cantina, Cafe Gouda, Pepper Hola in Newton, and Backstreets.  We also enjoy golfing and going to Crawdad games!