Angela: Well, here we are! 30-days of posting... This picture was from November of last year. I love it because it’s a very sweet, candid one of the three of us laughing (thank you Utah + Destination Wedding Videographer - @curtisjensenfilms). … As I mentioned yesterday, thank you all so much for following us on this journey (and not just for the last 30-days). We appreciate your love, support, encouragement and prayers more than words can say. We’ll still post as life unfold

Angela: We want people to see that our hearts are aligned and full of love. We value kindness, integrity, service, learning and growing. We love each other, love being parents and are so grateful for the love, kindness and prayers from those in our lives. Thank you so much for being on this journey with us. This picture is from a trip with family to Bear Lake this summer after playing pickleball one morning (so fun!).

Angela: I’m really grateful with how aligned Brian and I are, and I don’t want to speak for him, so I’ll speak for myself here. There’s a scripture that is very close to my heart that I have leaned on over the years during different seasons of my life. It is: Psalm 27:14, “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” In this phase of my life, I’m learning (again) how close the Savior is to us in our lives, our hopes and

Angela: I would say that in our regular day-to-day, we really thrive on structure (especially during the week). I really love it when we come together in the evenings. We enjoy dinner together and often go outside for a walk after. It’s a wonderful way for all of us to connect. Here’s a picture of us (Brian with Corinne and me as the photographer) doing a little off-roading on a walk a few weeks ago.

Angela: There is so much in life that we can’t promise… that we can’t guarantee. In this life there’s so much vulnerability and uncertainty. We can’t promise a life free of struggle, free of trials or free of ambiguity. These are things that are a part of the human experience. So, what can we promise our children? We can promise loving hands that will hold theirs during the trials… Outstretched arms to hold them during the struggle… Words of encouragement when spirits are low

Angela: We want a birth mother and family to know that we love the idea of an open adoption. We have learned a lot about how this can be so beautiful and healing for all involved. We also understand that this may be difficult for a birth mother and family, so we would honor and respect whatever they decide. We would love to talk about and explore what that would look like so that it is comfortable and healthy for all involved. Also… With it being the 25th anniversary of 9/11,

Angela: I hope we provide a loving, stable, faith-filled, love-filled, laughter-filled life for Corinne and any precious little one(s) we are blessed to join in our family. We hope they will always feel our love, our support, our encouragement and our understanding. For a child who may be placed in our family, we hope they will know that their birth mother loves them so much and that she made the most difficult, selfless and courageous decision to place them in another family

Angela: To say it means SO MUCH to us doesn’t seem to encompass just how much. I would say that it feels sacred. We feel that Heavenly Father told us years ago that this was in our future. It’s following and trusting His plan for us. It’s acknowledging (a huge understatement) the very difficult position of birth moms who want to place their children in loving homes. It’s honoring these courageous mothers for their deep, deep love and their unimaginable sacrifice. It’s so hard

Angela: I feel like the best way to convey the hope of what a birth mother knows about us can best be said by a little letter… Mama to Mama… Dear Mama, Before I share what I hope for you to know about us, we want to know anything you want to share about YOU. You are the courageous, strong, loving mother of this sweet little one. This child will come into this world because of YOU and your love, your care, your sacrifice. I want you to know that we honor you and always will. Y

Angela: When we did our 60-days “Hoping to Adopt” posts last year, one of them was on a similar topic. Instead of writing it out again, I’ve included the blogpost below. I’m adding a few more thoughts here that I’ve never posted before: This picture is the first time I got to hold Corinne after she was born. It’s a tender, vulnerable picture because not only do I see my sweet girl’s face tucked under my own, and her sweet body snuggled against mine, I see a few other things.

Angela: I would say that we are building a home built on our faith in Jesus Christ, love, trust, kindness, gratitude, teaching and learning with a lot of play, fun and laughter, too. These pictures are from the last two Halloweens as a family. We’re not into the spooky nature of the holiday, but we do love the weather, and seeing family, friends and neighbors. We’re definitely more into the “Harvest” and “Fall” part of the season... and... dressing up as a family really is so

Angela: I feel like there are so many things that we hope to teach our children. I’ll bullet point what comes to my mind here: - Jesus is real. Heavenly Father is real. Building a personal relationship with Them will bless your life beyond measure. - Heavenly Father hears every.single.prayer… He answers them in His timing and His wisdom. - You can feel the closeness of heaven when you pray and trust. - Family matters. - Friendships matter. - Cultivating these relationships is

Angela: Do we all have hard days here and there? Yes, certainly. I prefer to look at them as “Hard Moments”. I feel like we do our best to stay present, stay calm, take deep breaths and to talk through feelings as they come. I feel like these practices have helped us to keep a healthy perspective when tough moments arise. It’s also really neat to teach Corinne when she’s struggling to do deep breathing with us and to see her body start to settle. I can’t think of any pictures

Day 17: “What We Value as a Family” Angela: There are many things we value as a family: our faith, kindness, respect, love, cultivating relationships, self-reflection & improvement and serving others (to name a few). I feel like these values epitomize those the Savior taught us, and we do all we can to follow Him. This is a picture from July 2025 of us having fun as a family (with family) handing out freezer pops at an Independence Day Children’s Parade.

Angela: I would say that our faith in Jesus Christ would be our top priority. I feel like as long as we keep Him as the center-focus of our family, everything else falls into place: love, kindness, respect, quality time… all things that Jesus focused on, taught and emulated. We have a strong, abiding love for and testimony of Jesus Christ, and sharing that as a couple and teaching & modeling that for Corinne has been one of the most meaningful, sacred and beautiful callings o

Angela: I would describe our parenting style as: loving, clear communication, being compassionate & encouraging, providing structure, teaching, modeling behavior, being a safe space to hold all feelings and practicing consistency. It is really important to us to teach and guide by clearly communicating and modeling behaviors. When correction is needed, we talk about it, teach it and encourage it. We do our best to teach about and name emotions, we try to be steady and even wh

Angela: We love meals together, evening walks after dinner, longer Sunday walks before dinner, playing, exploring new things and (I know I’ve shared this before), we love baking shows (especially the Great British Baking Show - for grown-ups and kids). Here are pictures and videos I took of Brian and Corinne making pudding, and it was really fun!

Angela: We have things about our house that we love, but our home, in my opinion, is more of a feeling. What do we do to make our home feel special, safe, peaceful, fun? We do our best to be very intentional with our time together as a couple and as a family. Barring any evening commitments, we enjoy dinner together, we like to watch baking shows together, we pray, study scriptures and sing together. We make sure there’s time for fun & play, and we also make time to teach abo

Angela: We had a plan this week of activities we were going to do for a few days as a family. Long story short, not everything went as we planned (nothing bad, just circumstances didn’t shake out like we thought). There were at least three things (maybe more) that didn’t work out like we thought. We adjusted, and I’m so glad we did because we had some new and wonderful experiences as a family. Instead of staying in the initial disappointment, we leaned into the shifting of pl

Angela: Brian and I met at church in our Singles Ward in 2021. The first time I saw him in the hall, I thought I knew him, and I said a very friendly-knowing, “Hi!” I remember when he kindly said, “Hi” back that I quickly realized that I had never actually seen him before in my life. I internally went from, “I know him” to “Oh… I do NOT know him”... to… “He is VERY good looking”. We would see each other here and there, but our first real conversation was after church one day