Dallas and Lauren

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From Us to You

It all starts with you. Although we haven’t met, we’ve been thinking about and praying for you for a long time. Adoption is such a gift – a gift of love, a gift of strength, a gift of self. We want you to know how amazing we think you are. The sacrifices you are making are seen and noticed, and we are just in awe of you. We recognize the choices you’re considering may be full of emotional and physical challenges, but we pledge our support to be there for you.

While dating, we discussed our desire to use adoption to grow our family, even before we knew the struggles it would take for us to have biological children. We were blessed with Keaton three years after trying to conceive a child, and again when Gunner was born in 2021. Adoption has played a large role in our extended families and we have seen the love and joy that can come from adoption. We feel strongly that another child is waiting to join our family soon, through adoption.

We love our life and are so excited to welcome another member of our family! We know Keaton and Gunner will be incredible big brothers and probably smother their new sibling with all the love and affection they already have with each other. And in turn we hope your child will have a chance to smother additional siblings down the road, adopted and biological. The matching Christmas jammies, Easter egg throwing contests and fall pumpkin patch snapshots of their life we hope to fill with family, laughter and fun.

One of our greatest desires is to offer the world to our children. To help them learn and understand hard work, love, and true and lasting happiness. For them to have strong moral values and great personal character. We certainly aren’t perfect parents, but it is a job we love more than almost anything else. We will happily attend every soccer game and dance recital, watch Baby Shark ten trillion times and support your child in every possible way we know how, because we love it. And we love our family.

If you choose us, we promise an eternity of love and support for your child. We are grateful to you for taking the time to consider us and wish you all the best. We hope everything in your life works out for the better and again are so inspired by your gift of adoption to your child.

Love,
Dallas & Lauren

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About Dallas

Dallas is the most hard-working and diligent person I know. His willingness to serve others and the importance he places on his family and friends really drew me to him in college. One of the things that attracted me to him initially was how much his friends and family love him, and his drive to succeed. Dallas is my greatest blessing and biggest supporter. Dallas’ personality and thoughtfulness are a fantastic balance to my constant go, go, go. He looks at situations and circumstances, analyzes and educates himself, then reacts. His easy-going nature and love for fun fills our home with peace and happiness. In his free time, he loves following sports (especially the BYU Cougars), playing softball, adventuring outdoors and spending time with our family and our extended families.

Fun facts:

• Dallas speaks three languages fluently (English, Spanish and Portuguese) and would love to learn more.
• He and his siblings regularly quote movies and shows they know and love to see if others can pick up on the quotes (favorites include Seinfeld, The Office, any of the Oceans movies, and more and more Disney movies to keep up with Lauren’s ability)
• Dallas loves pasta and pizza!

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About Lauren

Lauren is my absolute best friend. There are so many things to look for in a spouse, but I believe that being friends has to be near the top. There’s so much goodness in Lauren that still makes me want to get to know her more and more. Observing and watching her go to work is fun for me. I’ve never met anyone that has her kind of drive to get things done. She’s very creative and loves to create things as small as home décor to as large as a six-foot giant witch’s nose for a kids carnival at church. Kids are drawn to Lauren. She’s full of fun ideas, is good at helping them think through their choices, and discover what they want to do. She’s so good with them because she keeps her life’s perspective simple. This is part of what draws her to ALL THINGS DISNEY. From being able to quote a select few Disney movies entirely from start to finish, to randomly busting out in Disney song, to asking me when we can plan our next Disney trip. Her love runs deep. Lauren stays busy caring for our sons, but she also runs a couple of side businesses: Lauren teaches singing lessons in our home and is an aerobics instructor. Marriage and family are daily decisions. She’s the best decision I get to make every day.

Fun facts:

• Lauren loves to bake! She is most famous for her chocolate-chocolate chip bundt cake.
• She is a fitness enthusiast and loves participating in everything from running to Crossfit to dancing.
• Lauren loves when we match or coordinate as a family. From matching Christmas jammies and t-shirts on our Disney trips, to Halloween costumes planned months in advance.

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Siblings are the Best!

Gunner joined our family in November of 2021 and Keaton has loved his new big brother role! Gunnie was born with bilateral club feet and has undergone casting and surgery to correct them. He now wears boots and a bar to keep them corrected until he’s more mobile. Gunner LOVES Keaton and the entertainment he provides with his silliness and imagination. Keaton is a great helper and regularly sings to Gunner to help him when he’s upset or will quickly bring him a toy. We’ve loved watching this relationship grow and are excited to see another little human added to the mix.

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Our Home and Neighborhood

We live in a small subdivision in an incredible neighborhood, and we truly love our home. The whole family loves to be outside and we’ve made our back yard a fun oasis of sorts to pull us out there to play and have fun together. We also keep a small garden and love growing some veggies each spring/summer. Our area has tons of libraries, parks, outdoor gardens/arboretums and fun, family focused activities that we love to frequent.

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Our Families

Dallas is the middle of seven children. His family is one of the most fun-loving groups of people you’ll ever meet. With 24 grandkids and counting, your child will have tons of cousins to play with and lots of aunts and uncles to spoil them. Dallas’ dad, Grandpa, is known to all the grandkids as the one who supplies the chocolate milk and his mom, Grandma, loves to craft and read with the grandkids. We have a family reunion every other year and love traveling to visit one another’s families in-between. We’re spread all over the United States in Iowa, Connecticut, Texas, Colorado, Utah and Washington State.

Lauren comes from a smaller family of two children so there are only three grandbabies so far for PawPaw (Lauren’s dad) and Gran (Lauren’s mom) to spoil. They live about two hours away from us, so we are frequent guests at their home and vice versa. We also love to visit Lauren’s niece, Elle, who we love and adore. She is half Hispanic, half white and her family has been so gracious in allowing us to be part of her life. She lives here in Texas, six hours away, and we go and visit their family regularly. It has been fun getting to know her and her Hispanic family and culture and we love it!

Grandpa, Grandma, PawPaw and Gran, along with all the aunts, uncles, and cousins are so excited to welcome a new addition into our family!

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Our Faith

We are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and are very active in our faith. Some basic beliefs we hold dear to our hearts are 1) Jesus Christ is our Savior and Redeemer, 2) Loving Heavenly Parents sent us to earth to gain a body and to learn and grow, 3) The atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ makes it possible for ALL of us to return to live in Heaven, and 4) we are ALL divine and loved children of God. Although we believe strongly in these principles, we understand our children may not and we honor their agency to make that decision. We sincerely hope our children will gain a personal relationship with God and would never force a belief system on anyone.

Racial and Cultural Diversity

We truly believe we are ALL children of God and strive continually to love our neighbors as ourselves. It is incredibly important to us to raise any child that is racially or culturally different from ourselves in a community where they can see their own people and culture. Whether that is through ethnic dance or music classes, seeking out and creating relationships with families that look similar to them, and especially making sure they have a strong role model who is of their same heritage and someone they can turn to when/if they have questions about racial prejudice or race in general. We acknowledge we have a lot to learn if a child of a different race/culture were to be added to our family, however we promise diligent effort, love and concern for that child’s growth and wellbeing in helping them become a strong, proud member of their race and culture.

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Our Lifestyle

Our lifestyle is simple, fun and family filled. Dallas runs his own commercial real estate company and loves his work and job. And the best part is he works from home! Lauren is a stay-at-home mom, a.k.a. adventure coordinator. She loves finding new parks, libraries, and trails to explore with Gunner and Keaton when he’s not in preschool. At the end of the day we have family time; we eat supper together as a family then play outside, go for a walk or just chill in the playroom, building or pretending. On the weekends we enjoy spending time outside and just being together as a family. We travel regularly, either to visit Disney or extended family. Being together is something we’ve all come to cherish and the time we spend together is fun and full of love and laughter.

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What We will Teach Your Child

We will teach our children how to work hard and enjoy the fruits of their labor. Everything in life worth having takes effort; relationships, earning an income, hobbies, staying healthy – everything. Additionally, we will teach them to live with integrity—to do the right thing when no one else is watching. Being an overall good person with talents and strengths that add to our family and society is our goal for our kids. We will nurture, educate and love our children so they know who they are and why they are here on this earth. Life is such a gift and we hope they learn to love and cherish it.

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Family Traditions

Some of our favorite traditions are Christmas jammies, fall pumpkin patch trips, family Halloween costumes, Easter egg throwing contests, and Brigham Young University football. We love celebrating major holidays with family and friends and the peace we feel when spending time with those we love. The Christmas jammies tradition comes from Dallas’ side of the family who has done pajamas on Christmas Eve since the kids were little. Our family loves the fall, especially the cooler temperatures it brings, and we enjoy visiting a couple different pumpkin patches each year. With fall comes Halloween and Lauren’s love for a coordinated family costume is always a hit and fun to plan together. Everyone’s heard of Easter eggs, but our family throws them. After boiling a dozen eggs we pick a faraway tree and see who can hit it or get the closest to it. Dallas and Lauren went to the same college, so cheering on our school comes naturally. We love attending games at the school when possible or just cheering from home.

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Our Fun, Family Vacations

We take Disney vacations as often as we can! It’s Lauren’s happy place and we all love the happiness and joy we feel there. When we need to just get away from the heaviness of the real world we escape to a place where magic is real, and dreams come true. We’ve loved sharing our love for Disney with Keaton and now Gunner and can’t wait to share it with your child. Besides Disney, we make regular trips to visit Dallas’s family who is scattered all over the US and a yearly trip to Michigan to visit Lauren’s extended family.

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Why We are Choosing to Adopt

Adoption has played a large role in the lives of our extended families, and we have seen the love and joy that comes from adoption. While dating, we discussed our desire that one day we would take the path of adoption to grow our family, even before we knew the struggles it would take for us to have biological children.  We have been happily married since January of 2014, and after 3 and a half years we were finally blessed with the birth of our first little boy in August of 2017.  Our desire to grow our family and to share our love with another child led us to begin our journey to adoption in 2020 and during that time we welcomed the birth of our second son in November of 2021.  Our love continues to grow, and it is our hearts’ desire to welcome your child into our family through the blessing of adoption.

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What We will Tell Your Child about You

We will share age-appropriate things with your child about their adoption, you, their birth story, the whole gamut as they age and progress through life. They will be taught to love you. Your child’s backstory is unique and critical to understanding who they are. You provided the DNA running through their veins and so many other aspects of who they are and will become. Although we may provide the means for them to accomplish their dreams; their innate talents and abilities, heritage and life are all made possible because of you, their incredible birth mother.

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Our Promise to You

If you choose us, we promise an eternity of love and support for your child. As our child’s mother, and an important part of their life story, we promise that your child will be raised to love you—someone who loves them and is willing to sacrifice on their behalf. We can’t express enough how much we look up to you for considering adoption and we promise your child a life of love, care, and admiration for their identity. We promise to teach, encourage and foster a love for learning and personal development within your child. It seems fair to say that you, as their birth mother, and we, as their adoptive parents want your child to soar, succeed, and thrive in every possible way and we promise to do our very best to achieve this outcome. The choices you’re considering may be full of emotional, physical, and mental anguish and struggle and we want you to know that we see you. The brilliant, amazing woman who is striving to do the very best for her unborn child. We promise to love not just your child, but you as well.