Who We Are

We are Jared, Amanda, Max and Connor

Jared

Age: 31

Height: 6'6"
Build: Athletic
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Medium Blonde
Education: Bachelors of Arts Business Administration - Finance
Occupation: Account Specialist at a credit union, Small business consultant
Passions: Family, business, sports, serving the community


Amanda

Age: 29
Height: 5'5"
Build: Athletic
Eyes: Green/Blue
Hair: Depends on the season, but usually some mix of brown and blonde. Although it's been about every color and length imaginable.
Education: Associates of Science in Nursing
Occupation: Stay at home mom and PRN nurse at a clinic.
Passions: Family, music, running, photography, and chocolate.

Max

Age: 3
Height: Perfect for his age
Build: Lean, mean running machine
Eyes: Blue
Hair: Light brown
Education: Currently attending preschool where he has fallen in love with his teacher and strives to impress her.  He is a fast learner and asks a zillion questions a day.
Occupation: Big brother, resident comedian, aspiring athlete
Passions: Sports (especially baseball), playing outside, going on adventures, trains, and Lightning McQueen

Max is adopted. We have an open adoption with his birth mother and her family.

Connor

Age: almost 18 months
Height: Tall for his age
Build: Solid
Eyes: Brown
Hair: Dark Brown
Education:  Watches everything big brother does and copies.  He signs dog, more, please and thank you.  He can say Mom, Daddy, bubble, ball, and baby.
Occupation: Little brother, resident cuddler/kisser, aspiring line-backer
Passions: Music and dancing, balls, cars, "swimming" in the bath, eating, and walking on his own
Connor is adopted.  We have an open relationship with his birth mother and her family.

All About Jared

It is not the easiest thing in the world to describe oneself, but I will give it my best shot. I am a very analytical person. Whether that means I am helping someone at my job with financial situations, consulting with an individual about their business, or strategizing about a business I am interested in; I enjoy looking at the pieces of a business or financial puzzle and putting them together.

The best thing about my life is that I am married to my best friend. Amanda is my soul mate and I am glad that I know I will always have someone there by my side to celebrate with during the good days and feel sorrow with on the tough days. My family is the part of my life that I cherish the most and I am glad Max and Connor have been added to our family through adoption. They are both incredible sons and bring so much personality and happiness into our home.

I enjoy lifting weights and playing racquetball on a weekly basis. I look forward to times when we as a family can see a movie at the theater or at home. Amanda and I slip out every once and a while for a date where we go to a theater production and do things we enjoy together. I delight in keeping up with Max and Connor around the house and being a part of whatever they are involved in at the time. During the warmer months, I am always looking for chances to take the family on a hike or go camping. I played college basketball, so I relish times when I can get on a court and run up and down during a pickup game or at church basketball. Life to me is good when I am able to fill it with work I delight in, activities that are fun, and people that I love.

Amanda about Jared

It may sound cliché, but Jared really is the most amazing man I have ever met. He is a hard worker and has the best heart. This has made him a wonderful father and husband as he provides for our family, and takes such good care of us. One of the things that attracted me most to him was the genuine care and interest that he had for those around him. He has a true and loyal heart which makes him the truest of friends. He is also very silly and is lots of fun to be with. He has a sense of humor that never stops and he’s always able to brighten my glummest days. Jared is also very easy going and is able to roll with the punches. That is something that has been a real strength in our relationship. Jared loves to serve other people. One thing that is very important to him is being able to add value and make a positive impact on people’s lives. Max, Connor and I are just lucky to be the ones that get to receive all that his big heart has to give! It has been so fun for me to watch him become a father and has solidified in my mind what a great man I married.  He is an amazing father and our children just adore him.  It makes my heart happy. 


Jared's Favorites
Favorite Food - Lasagna
Favorite Cereal - Frosted Mini Wheats
Favorite TV Shows - Parenthood, Castle, So You Think You Can Dance
Favorite Music Artists - Brian McKnight, Usher
Favorite Restaurant - Sonora Grill, Roosters, Brick Oven
Favorite Book - Influencer

All About Amanda

I am the quintessential jack-of-all-trades. I enjoy doing many things, and always have my hands in many pies.The majority of my time now is spent as a stay-at-home-mom, working, loving and playing with my kids.  I am so grateful for the opportunity I have to spend time with them to watch them grow and teach them.  I have spent a lot of time in the past year working on becoming a better mother.  I have a really great group of friends that get together once a month like a book club and read articles on and discuss motherhood and how to be better mothers for our children. I have learned so much.  I love being a mom!  Some of my favorite things to do with my kids are things that I love to do anyway, and it warms my heart to see them learn.  We love to do crafts, read, cook, shop together (most of the time), garden, play games, listen to music, and have dance parties!  None of us are really great dancers, but we all pretend like we are.  I really like to be on the go, so we go on adventures quite often.  Some of our favorite adventure places include going on the train, going to the park, going on walks, bouncing down to the Kangaroo Zoo, or finding friends to play with.

 In my "spare" time I love to run, and play soccer. I have a friend I run with three times a week and my soccer team has been together for 8 years now and we still play every week.  I also love to play the piano, do photography, blog, organize, cook, decorate, do crafts, read, shop, travel, garden, go to events, eat, play games, and be with family and friends.  I love being a girl and doing girly things, but I also like sports and being active, and just scrubbin' it sometimes. I love life, and feel that it has much to offer if we will explore and accept it.  I love sharing that journey as a wife and mother with the people I love most.

Jared about Amanda

Amanda is my soul mate. She is a nurse by trade and shows those caring and loving characteristics in her daily life. Her intelligence in many areas of life has helped me to weigh options and decisions that we have had to make over the years. Her caring heart has helped me cope through disappointments and celebrated with me through triumphs. Her genuine goodness has not only blessed my life, but also touched the lives of many people that she associates with. I don’t know what I would do without her and am proud to call her my wife. She has blossomed even more as a wonderful mother to our kiddos. I love and adore her with all of my heart.

Amanda's Favorites

Favorite Food - Mashed potatoes, fruit, chocolate

Favorite Cereal - Kashi Go Lean Crunch, Lucky Charms

Favorite TV Shows - Parenthood, The Sing-Off, So You Think You Can Dance, Once Upon A Time

Favorite Music Artists - Adele, Cold Play, India.Arie, Alicia Keyes, One Republic, A Fine Frenzy, Bruno Mars, Josh Radin

Favorite Restaurant -  Sonora Grill, Bistro 258

Favorite Book - The Hunger Games Series, Jane Eyre, The Help

All About Max

Max came to us in June of 2008 through the miracle of adoption. From the beginning Max had lots of personality. You could sense how amazing he was just by holding him.

Max was born with a cleft lip. He was still beautiful to us. His cleft made his smile take up his whole face. It was absolutely the most adorable smile on earth. When he was 3 months old he had his lip repaired. Even with the repair, his smile still lit up his whole face. He has done very well through all of the doctors appointments, devices, and surgery. He is a trooper, and has never lost his happy, fun-loving spirit. The doctors have done an excellent job, and you can hardly even tell that he ever had a cleft at all.

 Yay for modern medicine. He sure is a handsome little guy.

Max is full of life and energy.  He brings a joy and sense of fun to our lives that wasn't there before he joined our family. He really melts our hearts. We love him more than words can ever express.

Max is very passionate about life. He loves to be on the go and doing something all the time.  Every morning the first thing he asks is where we are going and what adventure we are going to have.  He is currently in preschool and loves it!  He loves to be outside. He loves to explore and discover what the world has to offer. Max loves music. He will try and sing along with us when we sing to him, and dances anytime music is on in our house (which is most often). Max is all boy and loves balls, getting dirty, and being mischevous.  Max loves to laugh and play and looooves to be tickled. Our home is often filled with his laughter.  There is nothing better. He is just beyond adorable. Yes, yes he is.

Max's Favorites

Favorite Food - Chocolate Milk

Favorite Cereal - "Chucky Larms" (Lucky Charms) and Chex

Favorite TV Show - WordWorld, Thomas, Shaun the Sheep

Favorite Restaurant - Wendy's (it's all about the chicken nuggets and the frosty)

Favorite Book - Where the Wild Things Are, Clickety Clack Moo

All About Connor

Connor came into this world a beautiful baby and very laid back.  His easy going personality has been a blessing for all of us.  Connor has always been a lovey, cuddle bug.  Although he doesn't like to be cuddled so much any more, he still loves to give hugs and kisses, and loves to be tickled.

Connor's big smile and friendly personality makes him a charmer anywhere we go.  Connor loves people and will wave and say hi to everyone everywhere we go.  Connor still has a very laid back personality and is a very go-with-the-flow kiddo.  Although he has definite opinions about food and being fed on time.

Connor loves to play ball, loves to dance, and looooves water.  He is a little fish and would swim all day long if you would let him.  He is very curious and is always trying to figure out how things work.  Connor is very interested in helping and is currently obsessed with the broom and his toy vacuum.  He is so cute.  He is learning to talk and consistently says mom, daddy, bubble, cheese, tanks (for thank you), and baby.  He also signs more, milk and please.

He has so quickly become a little man and we are so in love with him!

Connor's Favorite

Favorite Food - All Food

Favorite Cereal - Frosted Mini Wheats

Favorite TV Show - No TV for him yet

Favorite Thing - His blanket

Favorite Book - That's Not My Train

Our Story

Our engagement picture
Jared and I were set up on our first date by some mutual friends. My best friend at the time was actually dating his roommate. Jared had just moved to Utah from Ohio after his mission to attend Weber State University and play basketball there. Our first date, you could say was interesting. We went to Bear Lake with a large group of people, and although I thought Jared was good looking, I did not want to date...anyone. So we didn't really start off on a bang. Jared was interested in me, but could tell that I was not, so did not pursue things at the time. Because my friend was dating his roommate, Jared and I crossed paths frequently. About a month after our first date we went on a big group outing to a concert. It was at this concert that I really started talking to Jared for the first time and realized that there was more to him than I was giving him credit for. And so our friendship began. We began dating casually, and progressively got to the point where we couldn't go a day without seeing or talking to each other. We became engaged in March 2002 and were married August 1, 2002. It was just the beginning of our adventures together.

One of our wedding pictures

About a year after getting married we felt like we were supposed to start trying to have a family. After years of testing, heartache and sorrow, we were told that we would never be able to have children of our own. We were devistated. At this point we felt like we were to pursue adoption.  We first had a failed private adoption and then decided to go with an agency and got approved to adopt through LDS Family Services.  About a year after we got approved, Max joined our family. 

Feeding Max when he was a day old at the hospital.

A little over 2 years later Connor joined our crew.  Max was THRILLED to have a brother!

Now we are hoping to expand our family again.  We can't wait to see who comes next!

Jared's Family

Jared is the youngest in his family of 3 boys.  Although the youngest, he still manages to be the tallest; quite a feat in his family.  Although all of his family live far away from us, we still enjoy getting together whenever we can.

Jared's family summer of 2011.

Amanda's Family

Amanda is the oldest of 4 kids in her family, and is the shortest.  She has 2 brothers and 1 sister.  She is very close to her family, and they are a great support to us.  They live nearby and we love having family close.

Amanda's Family September 2009

How We Feel About Open Adoption

Joelle with Connor and Ashlee with Max at Connot's sealing.

Let us just start by saying that we truly love open adoption.  We have been so very blessed to have open relationships with both Max’s and Connor’s birth mothers and their families.  We have learned that every open relationship works a little differently, but the common tie is most definitely the love we all share for these children.  We have been overwhelmed with the love that both birth families have shown for both of our children and us as they have just accepted our entire family into theirs.  We love that our boys will always know where they came from, who they are, and that they have always been and always will be loved.  We look forward to expanding our family circle as we add another child and their birth family to ours.

We also feel strongly that we are here to be a support to you throughout your life.  You will always be important to us and we want to be a part of your life.