Knowing I KANN

Hello, my name is Paula Rogers and this is my KANN story.

I was introduced to Keisha through my husband as she was once his coworker. Our friendship blossomed and getting to know Keisha as a person and having her in my corner has been very rewarding and uplifting.

She made me believe that I KANN accomplish more things than JUST being a stay at home mom. I put that lightly because that is a job in itself, but yet I just felt….incomplete.

One day I get a text “Will you run in Miss Wyoming with me?”

I immediately jumped on board “of course I’ll do it with you!”.

I wanted to run, until I saw there was a section where we’d be judged on bathing suit attire. Which immediately put a lump in my throat knowing I just simply wasn’t ready for anyone to see me with my postpartum body.

I respond back to Keisha “I’m sorry I’m just not comfortable with my body right now.”

She was understanding but most of all encouraging to take a risk, if I don’t do it this year…try next year!

Her encouragement and just overall compliment of thinking so highly of me to be able to compete with some amazing women well it made me think:

“You know what, I am destined for great things and I KANN accomplish ANYTHING I set my mind to!”

So that’s what I did.

It may not have been competing in Miss Wyoming but it set me up for greatness.

My mother and I started a business that took off like a rocket within the community. I started involving myself in more things and coming out of my shell a bit more.

I wasn’t “just a stay at home mom.”

I am also a business owner, a supporter of small businesses, a genuine friend, your favorite raver, a loving wife and someone my daughter can look up to.

No matter the obstacle, I’d think about how Keisha thought so highly of me. How she instilled the vision of “I KANN” in my head.

If it wasn’t for that push, I don’t believe I’d have the confidence I do now of KNOWING I KANN do anything I put forth the effort and energy into!

Maybe I KANN Too

I’ve learned that building something of your own sounds a lot prettier from the outside than it feels while you’re actually doing it.

I’ve been a photographer for years now, and there have been so many moments where I’ve questioned whether I should keep going. When you pour your heart into your work and someone doesn’t see the value in it. When you compare yourself to other photographers and wonder why you’re not where they are. When bookings are slow, bills still need paid, or you’re exhausted from trying to balance your business with being a mom and everything else life throws at you.

There have been times when one difficult situation after another made me think, Maybe this just isn’t meant for me. Maybe I should quit.

But then I remember why I started.

Photography began as something I loved long before it became a business. I’ve been taking pictures since I was a kid, and somehow that little girl with a camera turned into a woman who built something of her own.

It hasn’t been perfect. I’ve made mistakes. I’ve had hard seasons. I’ve doubted myself more times than I can count. But every time I’ve wanted to give up, I’ve somehow found a reason to keep going.

And I think that’s what “KANN” means to me.

It doesn’t mean things are easy. It doesn’t mean you never fail or never question yourself.

Sometimes it simply means you wake up, take a deep breath, and try again.

I’m still building. I’m still learning. I’m still figuring it all out.

But I’m still here.

And maybe that’s the story someone else needs to hear.

Because if you’re in the middle of something that feels too hard, too uncertain, or too far out of reach, I hope you remember:

You don’t have to know exactly how you’re going to get there. You just have to believe you KANN. ♥️

Welded Together

Our story began long before we ever knew what life would ask of us. Two high school kids — me, Kasey, and him, Jerad — falling in love in the kind of simple, sweet way that only teenagers KANN.

We were young, hopeful, and clueless about the beautiful, difficult, extraordinary life we were about to build together.

Over the years, we didn’t just grow side by side — we grew together. We built a family, welcoming three beautiful children who became the heart of everything we did. We built a home filled with noise, laughter, and the chaos that only comes from love.

We also built a career together — literally.

For the last 17 years, Jerad has worked as a welder, and I’ve been right there beside him as his helper. Day after day, shoulder to shoulder, sparks flying, metal burning, and us moving like two pieces that have always fit.

Not everyone gets the blessing of working with their soulmate, of living and working as partners in every sense of the word. But we did. And we still do because we KANN!

And then life challenged us in a way we never could’ve imagined.

Stage 3 breast cancer.

A diagnosis that shakes your world, steals your breath, and rearranges your priorities in an instant.

But even in that hardest chapter, I was never alone. Jerad held my hand through fear, through pain, through every uncertain moment. He became my strength when mine was slipping. He became my calm when everything felt terrifying.

He became the proof that love — real love — doesn’t run from the storm; it stands in it with you and even in the storms of life it KANN grow deeper and stronger then you could ever imagine!

Our children became my motivation. Our marriage became my anchor. Our faith in each other carried me through every treatment, every tear, every victory.

And when I look back, I see not just the battle, but the love that made it survivable. and with love, strength and grit you Kann survive the storms of life!

After everything, we didn’t just return to life — we returned stronger. Our bond deeper. Our gratitude sharper. Our love more intentional knowing that together we KANN survive and thrive this crazy life we have been blessed with!

Thirty-four years later, I look at Jerad and still see the boy I fell in love with in high school — but now I also see the man who welded our life together with loyalty, tenderness, humor, strength, and unshakeable devotion.

And I see myself, not the same girl he met, but a woman who survived, who fought, who lived, who KANN survive and come out stronger— because we faced every chapter side by side.

This is our love story:

A teenage spark that became a lifelong fire.

A marriage built on faith, grit, laughter, and teamwork.

A family that grew from our hearts.

A battle we faced together.

A love that didn’t just last — it thrived.

And after 34 years, I still choose him.

Every day. Every season. Every version of ourselves.

Our story isn’t perfect — but it’s ours.

And it’s beautiful. I give God all the glory for this beautiful life He has blessed me with. Through laughter and tears joy and heartache His mercy and grace has given me the will to know I Kann! ❤️🙏❤️

Sobriety, it does make sense

Where does one start when it comes to the story of their life of soberity? Do they start the story when they got sober? The night they changed their mindset?

Maybe but mine started at 14 as a broke high school kid trying to fit in, spending the weekends drinking turned into 16 year curse of a problem that only went from drinking on the weekends to a nightly/daily curse for 16 years!

Wasn't even about fitting in anymore it was about just drowning myself away in the bottom of a bottle.

For 14 years it became a nightly thing to wake up hungover, we'll in my early 30s waking up in a jail cell was the last time I would ever be hungover, for the first 6 months everyone said it would be the hardest on someone like me to get sober, and i thought so as well, but than covid hit, social distancing became the new thing.

But so did unemployment lines, first hit was losing my job not because my stint in jail but because trucking took a big hit and mechanics weren't needed if trucks weren't moving.

Not to fear I'll start my own mechanics shop, which went great hired my best friend and we had a good time, werent making millions but we were surviving, but one small detail hadn't unfolded yet.

I hadn't got sentenced for my crime, well that day came along and I was sentenced to the 9 month program at CRC, well thats great right?

Wrong for them you can't work for yourself and can't work for anyone out side of who they approve.

So back to the job market I went, and landed on my feet working for a friend's company that they approved, I completed their 9 month program in 6 months and was released back to the wild, not without hiccups boy do they like to keep people down in that program, but we made it through.

The story don't stop there though.

Before I went to CRC I lost my biggest role model in life, my dad in the first 1 I faced losing my job, losing a business, losing friends, family, my house, I than went to work the oilfields which as a sober person that is challenging but we triffled through the normal of drinking and drugs that run wild in the oil fields.

Thats when the second phone call hit, a year into working the patch, I got the call that I lost my older brother who had a seizure while driving and didnt make it, the man who had a wife and two kids.

That hit hard because why would someone like that get taken over me? Was it a plan or was it bad design, less than a year after losing my dad my older now gone.

That was a challenge most people don't face and stay sober to, I pulled my big boy pants up and carried on through it.

Than one day after a quick add on the ole snap chat came something I never thought would happen I met the woman I needed in my life, only problem was she lived 12 hours away.

Well you know what they say if you want something bad enough you'll do anything to get it.

So I transitioned back to the role of a shop foreman for a trucking company, got better situated and moved her across the country after countless days of FaceTime calls, phone calls, snaps, etc.

I moved her in with me, we started living great she got sober 5 months before leaving her town and took a gamble on me.

We lived in Wyoming for a year or so before having our son and taking the gamble of moving across the country and starting over together.

Thats when we found out we were having our daughter.

We have faced countless obstacles together, but I am going on 6+ years of soberity, and she is going on 3 years of soberity together.

Neither of us have ever been to a AA meeting or anything of the sorts, out of sheer will power of wanting a better life.

I am not saying this is the life everyone needs or wants but if you want a better life it starts with you!

I summarized this story up a lot and it probably makes not a lot of sense.

But 6+ years of b/s and hardships while getting sober, staying sober and maintaining my soberity.

I hope this helps someone even if it don't make sense