"Everywhere in nature we are taught the lessons of patience and waiting. We want
things a long time before we get them, and the fact that we want them a long time makes
them all the more precious when they come. " ~Joseph F. Smith
Hi! We're Dave and Kara. We have
been married for almost 10 years. Our life together has been filled with
adventure and laughter, and of course, some trials as well. We met while
attending college in Provo, Utah. Dave had just returned home from serving a
two-year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in
Guayaquil, Ecuador, and Kara was enjoying her first semester of college. Our
first date was Salsa dancing lessons! We weren't very good, but sure had a fun
time laughing at each other as we tried. We really seemed to connect right
away and have been inseparable ever since.
As we were both poor college
students, our favorite thing to do was to cook together. Often times, our dates
consisted of cooking a nice meal, something that hasn't changed in our 10 years
together. After three and a half short months of dating we both came to the
conclusion that it was meant to be! We took a quick road trip to New Mexico so
that Dave could meet Kara's family and ask her dad for permission to take her
hand in marriage.
That special day happened to fall on Valentine’s Day, and
Dave included one of Kara’s all time favorite candies into the proposal. You
see, Kara loves candy conversation
hearts, so Dave got her a small box. As she jumped in to enjoy them out came
her ring tied to a “marry me” candy heart. By the time she could turn to Dave,
he was already on his knee! She said yes, of course!
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| Our Wedding Day |
We were married for time and all
eternity four months later in the beautiful San Diego Temple on June
27th, 2003. We enjoyed a honeymoon at Disneyland and the beach--we'll
never grow too old to enjoy Disneyland! Since that wonderful summer day 10 years ago, we have had so many wonderful memories and
adventures together. We truly are each other's best friend!
We have had the opportunity to live
in several areas throughout our marriage and have always loved the
chance to make new friends and meet new people. We enjoyed a summer in Las
Vegas, NV where Dave had an internship while in college. Then, two years after we were married,
Dave graduated from BYU and we moved to northern Utah where we bought
our first home. Kara transferred to Weber State University
to continue her schooling as Dave started out in his career.
In September of 2007, Dave accepted a new job which took us to
Phoenix, Arizona for a brief six months and then finally to Little Rock,
Arkansas in March of 2008.
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| Signing for Our Second Home |
We are often asked how we liked
each area. One thing we have learned is there are positives and negatives no
matter where you live... it all just depends on what you choose to make of it! We
have really enjoyed our five years here in Little Rock. We believe the area is
one of the best kept secrets in the United States: the people are friendly and the scenery is
often breath taking!
They always say that opposites
attract, but we are very much alike in a lot of ways. We are both a little
stubborn and hardheaded, and we often joke that it is the Lord's way of
teaching us to be patient! We love being around each other. We enjoy hiking,
cuddling in front of a good movie, long walks with our dogs, playing board
games, traveling to new places, trying new foods, water parks and amusement
rides, and watching America's Funniest Home Videos. Some might label
us "health nuts," but we sure know how to enjoy some good pizza and
ice cream.
We often make up our own lyrics to songs while being silly or doing housework, but luckily it has not been caught on tape yet! Sometimes we have tickle wars. Sometimes
we jump out from behind doors to scare each other. Sometimes we stay up late just to talk. Our home is always filled with laughter, which
we believe is the best medicine for getting through the frustrations of this
earthly life.
Although, our struggle
with infertility has been difficult, we also see it as a tremendous
blessing and recognize the role that is has played in our lives and
relationship. Adoption has always had a place in our hearts: it was something we even talked about before
we were married. We are so excited for the opportunity to be parents. We have
prayed for this chance for a long time now and could not be more elated that
this blessing will come to us through adoption.
Thank you for considering us!
A little about our dogs...
We love our dogs and thought that they should be included in our blog as well! Here is a little about them.
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| Sadie Pup |
Sadie: We got, Sadie, our pure bread German Shepherd, in 2006 while living in Utah. She was a present to each other to celebrate our 3rd anniversary. She has proven to be a very loyal companion and has often helped "bandage" the pain of infertility. When she is in the house she will follow us from room to room and then lay down and relax. When she is outside she does the same thing! Whatever room we are in, Sadie is right there at that room's window watching over us.
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| Sadie, Our German Shepherd |
She is very energetic and playful. Her world lights up when our friends bring their kids over to play. She is often found with a ball in her mouth and she loves to play fetch. She also loves to play hide and go seek and tag. She is much smarter than we even know what to do with. She knows over 20 commands, some of which include: sit, stay, lay down, circle, speak, roll over, play dead, go to bed, leave it, shake, back up, and even close the gate. She constantly wants to please us, which is the German Shepherd personality.
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| Tucker Pup |
Tucker: We adopted Tucker as a puppy from an animal rescue while living in Arizona in 2008. He is a Border Collie mix. Sadie needed a friend and he filled the role perfectly. Tucker is a big cuddler and loves to be petted. He has what we call a very quirky personality. He always makes us laugh with the strange things he does. Tucker is often found in the backyard laying on his back basking in the sunshine. He is a little mischievous and loves to explore.
Tucker has more hair than we ever know what to do with. He is our big ball of fur. He also was very easy to train and knows every command Sadie does-with the exception of "speak", which we have never been able to get him to do! He even will shake your hand based off of which paw we tell him to use (right or left). He has an easy going and carefree personality.
Together: They are the best of friends and will love having children around to entertain. It was very important to us that they were acclimated to children since we did not have our own at the time. We also made sure that they were used to the way children often play with dogs and so we tugged on their tails and ears sometimes and played in their food so they were used to it. They bring us lots of laughter as they are both full of personality.
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| Tug-of-war |
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| Snoozing Together |
