Ashton & Drew In Utah

The first time Ashton saw Drew was over the top of a bookshelf at the BYU bookstore. As an athlete, she thought that she knew all of the tall people on campus, but she had never seen this tall, dark and handsome manly man! She was too nervous to say or do anything so she left and couldn't get this "Bookstore Boy," as he became known to her roommates, off of her mind. She saw him at a social function two days later and this time she basically chased him down when he turned to leave. Haha. It worked! He got her info and their first date was ice skating. We hit it off and connected deeply early on.

Ashton had a year left in her program and was now a starter on the volleyball team living her dream. Drew had just been accepted to Stanford, the top mechanical engineering program in the nation, his dream. What were we to do? We decided to pray about next steps. We came together and both ended up sharing that we would give up our own dreams to support the other in pursuing their dream. That is when we knew that this was going to work!

We were married and continued the adventure of life together. We have four beautiful children and we love partnering together as a team to raise them in a good, loving, supportive Christ-centered home. We now live in the beautiful Ogden, UT area where we are beginning to write the next chapter of our story.

Drew is hardworking, patient, loving, respectful and supportive. He is an engineer and currently works as a chief technical officer at a medical device company. He is a wonderful provider for our family. He graduated with his master’s degree from Stanford University, he loves to compete in triathlons and recently earned his black belt in Tae Kwando. Ashton is passionate, friendly, athletic, fun, adventurous and is a truth seeker. She is a homemaker and also recently graduated with her master’s degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. She is very passionate about the work of healing the body, mind, spirit and soul.

When we asked our kids to share words that describe our family, they collectively said: fun, adventure, love, courage, connection, truth, peace, shine, joy and keeping our promises. We will do our part to provide the baby in our hearts with a life of fullness, growth and joy. The new baby will be so loved, doted on by older siblings/cousins and will fit right into the flow of our family.

We call Ogden, UT home. The Ogden area has magnificent mountain views, breathtaking
sunsets and beautiful hiking trails. We love our spacious home and have felt so blessed to be a part of such a welcoming and warm neighborhood and community. We have a gorgeous mountain view from our back deck. We have been thrilled to find a wonderful family gym where the kids ask to go frequently. We have loved going to nearby lakes, exploring new hikes, discovering fun parks, riding bikes and scooters through the neighborhood and frequenting the nearby dinosaur museum, discovery museum and library.

One of our favorite things about living here is having Grandma and Grandpa, Ashton's brother and wife, and six cousins so close by! The cousins all have so much fun making memories together. Our kids love playing games, having movie nights, eating Grammy's amazing baking and milkshakes and having sleepovers at Grandma and Grandpa's.

We have four beautiful children. All of our children are super excited at the thought of bringing home a new baby and they pray for the baby each night.

Brooklyn (12) is determined, responsible, adventurous, friendly and fun. She is the best babysitter and supports us when we go on our date nights. She has a burning desire to be a NICU nurse one day, and if there is one thing to know about Brooklyn it is that when she sets her mind to something she accomplishes it. She loves pandas, adores being in musicals and rocks a messy bun.

Harrison (10) is one of the funniest and smartest people we know. He is charming, witty, helpful, thoughtful and fun. He has been memorizing the chemistry periodic table and working diligently to master pull-ups. He loves manta rays, soft blankets and wants to be an engineer when he grows up.

Isaac (8) is one of the happiest, most cheerful, light, tender and fun people you will ever meet. He loves to use his imagination and to build incredibly creative things out of any type of building material. He loves dragons, back scratches and making people smile and laugh.

Alyssa (3) is very sweet and and also sassy. She loves horses, playing with princess figurines, dressing up and playing with cousins. She knows almost all the lyrics to Andy Grammer songs and belts them out along with mom. Her favorite things on earth: her uncle Jake and her stuffed Lambie.

If you could be in our home and see a snapshot of our family, the following are some of the norms and family traditions that you might experience. You would see our family attending church each Sunday, kneeling in prayer and reading scriptures together regularly to keep our relationship with God and our family strong. You’d see Drew and Ashton, as best friends, prioritizing our weekly date night to help keep our love thriving. You would see us sitting with our four vivacious children enjoying healthy, home-cooked dinner meals sharing our highs and lows of the day. You would hear us laughing and connecting deeply with family and friends as we host game nights, and dinners and have frequent get-togethers with cousins and grandparents.

You would experience us singing around the piano together. You would watch us lace up our shoes and grab our gear to go into nature to hike, mountain bike, camp, paddle in the lake or ski together as a family. You would see us all making mistakes and seeking to be humble, honest and responsible as we make reparations for any damage done. You would quickly find that we spend time regularly out of the house doing fun things, staying active and going on adventures together. You’d see us riding bikes, taking walks in our neighborhood, exploring new parks in our community, frequenting children’s museums, going to theme parks, experiencing the local fair, parades, zoos, and farmer’s markets, going to the gym together, feeling soft blankets at the Minky store, training for triathlons together, trying new restaurants, picking pumpkins to carve at the pumpkin patch, and doing secret Santa for less fortunate families during the holidays. You would notice us packing our bags to go travel together. Hawaii, Florida, Europe, southern Utah, and California are among our favorite places to explore.

You would see us cozy up along with the kids as we read aloud to them before bed. You might watch the delight of the kids playing and interacting together up in the playroom building things out of Legos, blocks, fort materials and playing dress-up. You’d see us playing together and working together: Family Fun Night/movie nights and working together each Saturday to complete our “Saturday Work Day” tasks where we all pitch in to take care of our home and yard. You’d observe us modeling to the kids how to live a life that is connected to higher power, self and others. You’d see us teaching our kids life skills, having one-on-one check-ins and taking them on parent-child dates.

We would love to have another child. Years of trying to continue to expand our family that have resulted in several painful and sad miscarriages. We feel like our family is not complete, and we feel that adoption is our next step.