HGTV's Karen E. Laine Didn't Approve of Daughter Mina Starsiak's Husband at First

From Country Living

Mina Starsiak knew she had found "the one" in husband Stephen (Steve) Hawk because, as she puts it, "We had kind of met our match." A self-described workaholic, Mina is one half of the mother-daughter house-flipping duo that star on the hit HGTV show Good Bones.

"He's much more sentimental than I am," she said in an interview with CountryLiving.com. "I'll just go, go, go, with my head in the sand till I don't know when."

"—and he pulls you out," her mom, business partner, and costar Karen E. Laine, continued, prompting a nod from Mina.

The two women are tight, frequently finishing each other's sentences or teasing each other in the way that only mothers and daughters can. If their red hair and freckles don't clue you in on their relation, their similarly infectious laughs and quick wits do. They're even next-door neighbors. So it makes sense that while wooing Mina, Steve would have had to win over Karen, too.

It turns out, he almost blew it. Though they married in 2016 and are now expecting their first child together, Mina and Steve's road to happily ever after came with some bumps—namely, one big mistake that caused what Karen calls her inner "mother tiger" to come out.

How Mina (and Karen) Met Steve

The couple actually connected through mutual friends on Facebook. Mina saw a photo of him and thought he was cute, or as Karen put it, "stunningly handsome."

When the two finally met in real life while watching a basketball game as a group, though, "he ignored me all night," Mina told us. "He let his friend hit on me!" Still, she got his phone number and texted him: "We're going to try this again tomorrow—you get one more shot."

His first impression with Mina's mom was much better. "But then there was a second impression that was not so good," Karen told us, explaining that the couple went through a "difficult time" at the beginning of their relationship.

"They broke up for a while because he behaved really badly—in a phenomenally bad way," Karen continued, not specifying what exactly Steve did. "When they decided to get back together, the only thing I said to him was 'Don't ever hurt her again because you'll have me.'"

"—and me," Mina added, "and he believes both of us."

"We know how to hide a body," Karen laughed. "It's just that simple."

Now, things are obviously much better between Karen and her son-in-law. And on Instagram, Steve is extremely sweet and loving in captions about his wife.

"I don't really think first impressions matter, because I love him," Karen concluded. "I love him because we have been through some conflict and struggle together and we have grown in that. We have both committed to working through that."

Mina and Steve's Engagement and Wedding

To propose to Mina in 2015, Steve sent her on a scavenger hunt, then popped the question on the 50-yard-line of the Indianapolis Colts' training field.

The couple married June 11, 2016, in the same city where Mina's show is based: Indianapolis, Indiana.

The reception was held at the city's 1899 building, and instead of wedding cake, guests chowed down on 400 donuts. After taking 11 dance lessons in preparation, Mina and Steve spun around the dance floor for their first dance.

The Hawks' First Child

Now, nearly two years later, they're expecting their first baby, due sometime in August.

Though we still don't know the gender, Baby Hawk already has a nickname; Grandma Karen lovingly calls him or her "Fledgling."

And thanks to their experience as dog parents as well as foster parents to Mina's two-year-old niece, Mina and Steve already have a handle on the whole parenting thing. Steve will be the "softie," the mom-to-be says, and she'll be the "disciplinarian."

Once again, they'll balance each other out.

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