Welcome!!!

Welcome! We are grateful that you have taken a few minutes to get to know a little bit more about us. As we have not been able to have children of our own, we have come to appreciate more and more the blessing of adoption. Adoption is something that we have seen bless the lives of friends and family members. We know the decision that you are faced with is not an easy one, but it is one that will affect many, many people. We pray that the Lord will give you strength and courage during this difficult time and help you make the decision that is best for both you and your baby. Through the blessing of adoption we hope to be able to start our family. If you have any questions, please feel free to email us at dylanandemilyhope2adopt@gmail.com

Why Adoption?

Family has always been an important part of our lives, and we have always wanted a family of our own. After 3 and a half years of tests, treatments, surgeries, tears and heartache we hope to start our family through the miracle of adoption. Although this has been a very emotional and trying time in our lives we know that it is also a very challenging time in your life. Placing a baby for adoption is a difficult decision, one that must be decided through prayer and faith. We feel it is very important to let an adopted child know where they came from and that they are loved by their Birthmother and birth family.

About us!

We were both born and raised in Utah. During the 9^th grade, we met through mutual friends. Our friendship grew throughout high school. We were often in the same group for school dances but never went with each other. During high school, Dylan spent much of his time playing football, skiing and spending time with friends. Emily swam on the swim team, began her love for photography, and loved going to support school sports. Our paths crossed nearly every day and we enjoyed the friendship that we shared.

Soon after high school was over, Dylan served a mission for his church. He was able to learn Spanish and the joy of serving others. During his mission, we began to write to each other and became very close. Soon, Emily also decided to serve a mission for her church. This was not an easy thing. However, we were able to support and encourage each other. We learned about new cultures, new foods, new languages, and how to love people we’d never known. It brought challenges that we could never have expected, but through the Lord’s help we were able to overcome them and experience joy like we had never known.

We came home just 2 days apart in 2004. We began to spend a lot of time together and it soon became apparent that there was more than just friendship between us. We had only been home 6 months and we were engaged. We would drive up to a spot on the hill above where we lived and sit and talk for hours about our future together. That future always involved having a family. We loved spending time with Emily’s niece and nephew and knew we wanted children of our own someday soon.

We were married for time and all eternity in the Mount Timpanogos Temple on May 5, 2005. We shared this wonderful day with many of our family and friends and it was a day we will never forget. At that time we thought we couldn’t love each other any more than we did. However, we have found that each day we grow closer and our love grows deeper. Our challenges have helped us learn to rely on each other and the Lord.

These past 5 years have been wonderful, hard, exciting, challenging, fun, exhausting, exhilarating and every other emotion that is possible to experience. Dylan has been working full time while attending Utah Valley University. He will graduate this coming April with his Bachelor’s degree in History Education. Emily has started her own Photography company and loves what she does

(Sea World 2006)
(Bear Lake 2006)

(Going through negatives 2005- the beginning of her Photography company)

Some of our favorite pastimes are: Traveling with each other, spending time with family and friends, swimming, going on photo shoots together, and just hanging out at home together.

Sea Kayaking in Catalina Island 2006
Empire State Building, NYC 2008
Rock Band, Dylan & Scotty (Emily's little brother)

Swimming laps at the pool August 2009

About Dylan (written by Emily)

Dylan. . . .what can I say he is amazing. He’s my best friend in the whole world. He’s the one person I want to share all my secrets, sorrows, and ambitions with. When we came home from our missions, I was very sick. Dylan became my sidekick. He helped my mom get me to and from the doctor, and sat with me through many hard hard days. Some days I thought I couldn’t go on but he never let me give up and was and is my anchor and support through it all.

He has a kind, sensitive heart and is always helping others. He does cute little things for me everyday that make me smile. My very favorite one… reading me to sleep each night. We just finished Harry Potter 7 this past fall. He is a great listener and supports me with everything I do. He comes with me on photo shoots to carry all my equipment, make babies smile and any other random things that I need help with. He’s always encouraging me to keep learning and improve my skills and talents.

He has a fun-loving personality and knows how to make everyone laugh. He loves playing with our nieces and nephews and loves seeing them giggle at his silly face. He has a great talent for voice imitation for all sorts of voices, and can do new ones on the spot. My personal favorite Sean Connery. He is defiantly the person you want on your team during a game of charades, he is not afraid to look silly or let loose.

Dylan has always had a love for learning. He is a bookworm, reading whenever he has a spare moment. He will read anything from the news to science fiction to mystery even a textbook if that’s all that’s around. If he wants to know about something he will find the answer through reading. He is so smart and knows all sorts of random trivia. He loves to share his love for learning with others too. In both his work and church callings he has been a teacher. His passion for teaching is clearly evident through his energy and excitement when he teaches.

Dylan also likes to play around and have fun! He loves to play Rock Band, watch movies, go to BYU football games, watch the Jazz, go to dinner with friends, play board games with family.

Dylan has a strong testimony and isn’t afraid to share it with everyone around him. He is a great example to me I’m so blessed to have him as my husband. I love Dylan so much and know he will be a wonderful father when given the opportunity.

About Emily (written by Dylan)

I must admit that it is difficult for me to adequately express my feelings about Emily. She is my greatest fan and support in all that I do. She is an amazing person. She only knows how to care about people one way… completely. In the time that I have known her, I have learned that she is passionate, loyal, cheerful, optimistic, loving, trustworthy, and the list goes on and on. I never have to wonder if she loves me, she always lets me know. Emily is always quick to serve others and never tires of doing so. She is a great friend, and people love to spend time with her. Family is of the utmost importance to Emily. She loves to spend time with her family, especially our nieces and nephews. I can see how each member of her family has influenced and taught her. Emily loves to swim and during the summer she spends as much time as she can at the pool. She has even gotten me to enjoy swimming, which is no easy feat. Emily loves photography and has loved it for as long as I have known her. If I close my eyes and picture Em in my mind’s eye, she is holding a camera. Whenever we go on vacation, she has the camera ready to take pictures and make memories. What I love about Emily is her driven nature. She doesn’t let things stand in her way. Em is always working to improve herself. One of my favorite things about Emily is that many nights before we go to bed, she asks me to put on socks for her because her feet get cold. She usually ends up taking those socks off during the night, but she has trouble falling asleep without them.

Emily is a person of faith. It is something that she holds dear, and something that she wants to share. She encourages others and works hard in her church responsibilities to help those whom she serves to feel a sense of belonging. Emily has always been quick with an encouraging word to anybody who she senses that needs it. I love that she doesn’t try to be perfect; she understands that all we can do is our best. Emily never lets me give up on myself, no matter how badly I may want to. Throughout our marriage, she has always found little ways to serve me, and I love that about her. It may be something as simple as waking up before me and turning on my shower so that it is warm for me, or starting my car so that when I leave the house it is warm. She is not hesitant to put my needs in front of her own.
I know that when the time comes for us to start our family, that Emily will be an amazing mother.

Our Family

Dylan is the 1^st of 2 children in his family. Dylan’s little sister Kelsey was married 2 year ago to Murray. They live close and we love getting together with them often. They are both working and going to school.

Both Dylan’s parents live close as well. His mom works as a speech pathologist and loves working with all the kids at school each day. She is amazing! Dylan’s dad is a project manager for a local construction company. He was married 2 years ago to Anita who has 4 kids of her own.

(Dylan's family Fall 2009- Dylan & Emily, Cheryl (Dylan's mom), Kelsey & Murray)

(Dylan's Family Spring 2010, top left: Ernie (Dylan's dad), Anita Ernie's Wife,Daelyn, Middle row left: Dylan & Emily, Serene & Kyle, Brigham, Kelsey & Murray, Bottom row left: Shalise & Devin, Brooklyn, Jana & Dale, Rhett, Cole and Sydney)

Emily is the 2nd of 4 kids in her family. Her older sister Tiffany is married to Shawn and they have 4 amazing kids (Colby 7, Kayley 5, Weston 3 & Oakley 1). Jennie is Emily's younger sister and just got married this year to Mike. Mike is in school and Jennie works at the hospital. Scotty is 16, a sophomore in high school, & plays football.

Emily’s mom works in a dentist office as the office secretary. She is a wonderful mom and grandma! Emily's dad drives a truck for a local construction company, we love spending time with them!

(Emily's family at Jennie's Wedding Jan. 2010- Back row left to right Dylan & Emily, Scotty, Debbie & Bob, Shawn & Tiffany, Oakley. Back Row left to right Jennie & Mike, Colby, Weston and Kaylee.)

We are so lucky to live so close to all our family and have the opportunity to spend holidays and special occasions together. We often do dinners together on Sunday or double date on the weekend. We also love having our nieces and nephews over for play dates and sleepovers. In the summer we spend a lot of time with them at the pool. We are excited for our children to have grandparents and cousins to grow up with and make memories with.

Parenting

Although we don’t yet have children of our own, we often talk about how we will raise them and we would like to take a moment to share that with you.

We have been blessed to be able to spend time with many children that are in our family, ward and neighborhood. We love spending time with them and getting to experience a bit of what it will be like to be parents.

Through all the discussions we’ve had about being parents, we know that we want our home to be a place of:

Love

Where they will know they are loved by not only us, but by you too. We want them to know that they are so loved that they get two moms that love them. We want to teach our children that they are loved and accepted no matter what they do or have done.

Communication

Where our children see us communicate well with each other, and know they can talk to us about anything. We want to have family dinners each night where we can talk about our day, and where our children feel safe expressing opinions or concerns that they have.

Learning

We know education is important. We want our children to love learning from a young age through dance, sports, music, art and other wholesome activities. We want to spend time with them reading and making learning fun. We want to teach our children to set goals, and to feel the sense of accomplishment that comes with achieving those goals through hard work and determination.

Safety & Peace

We pray that our home will be a place of safety. A place where no matter what the world is like on the outside, our home will be a safe haven; one where they will want to be and want to bring their friends. A place they will want to come to after a hard day at school or after winning the game.

Spirituality

We want our home to be a sanctuary from the outside world. We want to teach our children to love serving others. We also want our children to be people of faith, and help them gain a testimony of principles of the gospel. We hope to teach them that by living the gospel, we can find joy in this life and beyond. We hope that by living the gospel ourselves, our children will see the blessings that it can bring.

Fun

We plan on having family time together. We want build unity within our family. We want to take family vacations, and have other memory-making activities. Some of our favorite memories have been made with our families, and we want to continue that with our children.

We are both so excited for the blessing of becoming parents. We feel that it is important that Emily stays home to take care of the children, while Dylan works to provide for all of our family’s needs. We want to be able to be the ones that are there for our children. We want to be involved with our children’s educations, and will support them in all their worthwhile pursuits.

Conclusion

We thank you for taking the time to learn a little bit more about us. If you have any other questions or want to know more about us, please feel free to email us. We pray for you, and hope that the Lord will bless you to make the best decision for you and for your baby. We know that Heavenly Father is aware of each of us and knows us better than we know ourselves. Again, thank you for taking a few minutes of your time to get to know us.

Dylan and Emily