Intro to Us...

We met at Utah State University our senior years. It’s actually a pretty funny story. It was the first week of school and the ward was hosting a retreat at Bear Lake that weekend. Leslie had to drive up by herself in her little car that kept breaking down. When she arrived she was told she had to park out on the beach. She begged to park somewhere else knowing her car would get stuck in the sand. Sure enough, Leslie wasn’t more than 4 feet onto the sand when her car got stuck and the wheels started spinning. Everyone just stared at her! After sinking down in her seat from total humiliation she noticed two guys running towards her. She also noticed they weren’t too bad looking either! They pulled her car out and even parked it down on the beach. Leslie didn’t get a chance to learn their names before they ran off. Later that night she noticed one of her “knights in shining armor” was playing beach volleyball so she decided to join his team. It was Leslie’s turn to serve and her “knight” was standing directly in front of her. Leslie went to serve and instead of going over the net, the ball went directly into Jeremy’s head. Leslie claims it’s because she’s only 5’4” and Jeremy is 6’4”. Jeremy claims he was bending over and Leslie needs more lessons in serving a volleyball! Leslie was completely embarrassed and vowed she’d never be able to talk to him again. Luckily, someone was watching out for their destiny and the next Sunday at church, Jeremy and Leslie were put in the same Family Home Evening group. We became best friends instantly. Four months later we kissed for the first time, were engaged 2 months after that, and were married in the Salt Lake Temple four months later.


We have loved being married and having so many adventures. Our goal is to have fun and enjoy doing everything. We have both lived places neither of us wanted to live and had jobs that neither of us liked. Our one constant was each other and making the best out of it. One experience we fondly remember is first being married and living far away from our families, friends and anything familiar. We were too broke to do much of anything, even going to a campsite. Instead we brought camping into our living room. We pitched our tent, roasted hot dogs and s’mores over our stove, decorated our apartment with glow in the dark stars and plastic bugs, and just enjoyed being together. Out of all the date nights we have since enjoyed, this still ranks one of the highest.



Our adoption journey began shortly after being married. We knew of our infertility struggles but desired to become parents as soon as possible. We waited and waited and finally 3 years later our daughter was born and placed in our family through a loving birthmother.


Emma is now an active 2 year old who loves to run, giggle, and do somersaults. She loves to read books with Mommy, wrestle and be tickled by Daddy, and play outside as much as possible. She is a total performer - she loves to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" and try to copy all their moves all while wearing a tutu, high heels, and tiara. She will sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider" and "Popcorn Popping" until you can take it no more! Emma is patient with just enough stubbornness that we believe she’ll accomplish anything she sets her mind on. She is truly the light of our lives.



As a family we love to have fun. We love to be silly and to laugh as much as possible. We enjoy being outdoors whether it’s going swimming, spending time up in the canyon, swinging on the playground, enjoying a great water fight or making snow angels in the freshly fallen snow. We love to travel and hope to go many places around the world. We mostly love being together and having fun. We have many great family traditions such as Santa letters, hot air balloons and water fights on the 4th of July, and having a green feast on St. Patrick’s Day. When we’re at home we play games or snuggle up in bed watching a movie and eating popcorn and M&M’s- a family favorite snack.