Catherine received her undergraduate degree in English at Brigham Young University and taught seventh-grade Language Arts for a year before her first child was born. She earned a Master's degree in Humanities with an emphasis in literature from California State, Dominguez Hills. She and her husband, David, are the parents of five children and enjoy vacationing at Elephant Butte Reservoir each summer near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. Catherine loves reading stories with her children, scrapbooking, exploring new places, and going on walks with her husband. She and her family recently moved back to Albuquerque after spending a year in the Boston area.