Holding Hands...

About Us

2009-10-04T19:51:00.001-04:00

Hi! We are so glad you came to visit!

We are Steve and LeeAnn and we are currently looking to adopt our first child. We've designed this website so that you could look around and get to know us a little better. Our official website with our adoption agency (LDS Family Services) is at www.itsaboutlove.org. You can find us on their site using our profile number: 17785494. Or, by typing in Steve and LeeAnn and our fine state of South Carolina in the search field. Or, you can do the easiest thing of all and click the "Contact Us" link on the sidebar and be taken directly there.

To tell you a little about us up front. We are members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We met through a mutual friend/at institute/in a singles ward (yes, all three), became best friends/fell in love, and were married for eternity in the Bountiful, Utah Temple. Due to problems with infertility, we do not currently have children. We moved to the fine state of South Carolina when Steve joined the US Navy to serve his country, and get his education. When he completes his tour in a few months he will be returning to civilian life, and with his masters degree in aeronautical science he will begin work in the aerospace industry. LeeAnn has had many jobs -- her favorite out-of-the-home job was as a computer-based training author with a software company -- and is currently the happiest and busiest she's ever been working as a housewife. Much of her time is spent serving in her church calling and helping her friends and neighbors. She looks forward to upgrading her job title to stay-at-home mom.

We encourage you to look around, to visit our website at www.itsaboutlove.org, and to visit again as we continue to update this blogsite with more details about who we are, what we believe in, and how we feel about infertility and adoption.

Thanks again for visiting! Sincerely - LeeAnn & Steve

Vacations

2009-10-03T19:49:00.004-04:00

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LeeAnn Graduates

2009-10-03T19:48:00.009-04:00

I had an absolutely wonderful time in college! I majored in English, focusing on Literature, and graduated with my Bachelor of English degree. I did not minor in a specific field; instead exploring and cultivating many different talents, especially in the arts and dance. I also spent an amazing semester abroad in Israel.

Graduation Day

Graduation Day with my Mom

Graduation Day with my Dad

Study Abroad in Israel

We began hiking in the early morning to reach the top of Mount Sinai and watch the sunrise. It was breath taking, and I sat to write a poem about it. It is still one of my favorites.

A hilltop in Jerusalem that gave you a beautiful view of the city.

How We Met

2009-10-03T19:48:00.001-04:00

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Our Engagement

2009-10-03T19:47:00.002-04:00

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Our Wedding

2009-10-03T19:47:00.001-04:00

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Our Letter to Birth Parents

2009-09-28T17:58:00.001-04:00

Dear Birth Parents,

We are so excited about the prospect of becoming parents and words cannot express our appreciation and gratitude for your willingness and sacrifice to give us, or someone like us, the opportunity to be parents. We know that you are working on making the best, most loving and caring decision for your baby’s future. We pray for your happiness and know that Heavenly Father will guide you towards decisions that can secure peace for you and your child.
.....

LeeAnn about Steve:

Steve is my very best friend. He is the kindest, most generous, patient and fun man I have ever known. He makes me laugh and smile! My life with him is wonderful!

Steve loves to be doing things; he’s always got some sort of project going on. He works hard at everything he does, and cares a lot about the people around him. He loves his job in the Navy, and works hard to help everyone around him progress. He’s finishing his Master’s degree in Aeronautical Science, emphasizing in Space Studies and Aviation/Aerospace Management (yes I married a rocket scientist:) ), and next year when he finishes with the Navy he wants to work in the aerospace industry. It would not be a surprise then to know that he loves astronomy and that we have a large telescope that he plays with, and takes to youth functions when they ask him. He loves indoor plants, and sneaks in new ones in a variety of ways; and he also really enjoys gardening outdoors. His way of relaxing is playing a video game on the computer, surfing the internet for cool gadgets, or reading a good book. He likes hiking, camping, and as we’ve just discovered recently, sailing!

I also can’t wait to see Steve as a father. He is so fun to watch with children! Because of his calling, he shakes a lot of peoples hands at church, and he always makes sure to include the kids. They love him for it, and he's even got some of the shy ones smiling at him. He’s so kind and patient and gentle.

I have learned so many things from my husband. His kind example has made me a kinder, more generous and patient person. I love him so very much, and can honestly say that he brings happiness into my life. I am so grateful that we will be together forever!
.....

Steve about LeeAnn:

LeeAnn is “mi media naranja” meaning “my half orange” in Spanish. The meaning is that she is my better half, the part that compliments my abilities and weaknesses in such a way that together, we are whole. I have also jokingly given her the titles of C.F.O. (Chief Financial Officer) because she manages our family’s finances and C.O.O. (Chief Operations Officer) of our home. LeeAnn has an inner drive to accomplish great things and be the best that she can. She is perceptive to the needs of others and cares deeply for their comfort and happiness. LeeAnn doesn’t accept anything done halfway. She does the best in all that she does and manages the daily running of our home expertly.

LeeAnn is also the light of my life. Her playful personality counterbalances my usual even-keel personality, ensuring that neither one of us is ever too serious. Some of LeeAnn’s interests include writing (hopefully she’ll be published someday), games, reading, photography (she is quite the shutterbug), dancing and nature walks. Many of which we enjoy together. LeeAnn and I enjoy a wonderful close marriage, in which we have developed the ability to communicate clearly with each other without fear of retribution or harsh and angry words. She is my best friend, companion, and eternal dance partner on the great journey of life.
.....

Thank you so much for taking the time to get to know us a little better. We wish you the best in your endeavors and decisions, and pray that the Lord will be with you as you decide the paths that you will follow.

Sincerely -- Steve and LeeAnn

Our List of Hobbies and Interests We Love to do Together

2009-09-27T23:00:00.001-04:00

• Dancing together!
• Landscape gardening
• Home improvement projects
• Watching (and critiquing) movies together
• Reading
• A new found love for sailing
• Hiking
• Service
• Dinner parties
• Vacationing together
• Going on a couples mission someday

Dancing

2009-09-27T22:00:00.000-04:00

Dancing is one of our favorite things to do together; whether we are dancing in the living room, the kitchen or at an actual dance! Our favorite is swing dancing, but we love to try all kinds of other types, too.

Below you will see pictures from our dinner/dance that we planned and hosted (yellow shirts), a halloween dance our ward put on (we dressed as the prom queen going out with the jock), a picture taken with friends before going to a swing dance, and us taking a turn dancing at a youth conference we chaperoned.

Sailing

2009-09-27T21:30:00.000-04:00

We just discovered on a recent trip to Bear Lake, Utah that we absolutely love sailing! It is so relaxing, and quiet, and beautiful out on the water. Steve came home and immediately went looking for a class to learn more about it, and will finish taking the hands on class soon. LeeAnn also consistently finds him dreaming over sailboats on the internet:)

Wiring the House for Sound

2009-09-27T21:00:00.000-04:00

We had a blast wiring our house for our sound system. We had intended to do only the family room; but when we found we could only buy the wire in bulk, we went all out. In fact, we can listen to our music in every room in the house -- including the garage!

Landscape Gardening

2009-09-27T17:00:00.001-04:00

We have discovered a love for gardening together. Here you can see us creating and landscaping a new garden from the original one that was planted by the builders at our new home. We have had a great time together designing, creating, and taking care of this garden and have learned a lot about each other and our talents and things we like to do. LeeAnn also included two of her favorite pictures from our rose bushes.

House Projects

2009-09-27T16:45:00.000-04:00

We have absolutely loved purchasing and living in our very own home. Part of that love is the fact that we can do so many different types of house projects together. We have found a lot of satisfaction and had a lot of fun working together as we have built, or designed, or refinished, or put together a variety of different projects. Some you will see here are: refinishing some of our furniture, adding storage space to closets, putting together simple furniture, designing and building our two computer desks, building garden boxes, planing a new door and designing and building a picture frame.

Feeding the Birds

2009-09-27T16:30:00.000-04:00

We love to watch the birds around our house:) Thus far, we've put up feeders for seed and for hummingbird food. We get all sorts of birds -- and squirrels -- which are so funny to watch:)

LeeAnn's List of Hobbies and Interests

2009-09-26T14:36:00.000-04:00

• Reading (I love sci-fi/fantasy & clean love stories)
• Taking pictures & digital scrapbooking
• Dancing!!! Especially with Steve
• Watching Movies (I want to write/direct one someday)
• Writing (I hope my novels get published)
• Gardening & Landscaping
• Crocheting
• Sewing clothes & household things (like curtains)
• Crafts I design myself
• Learning new things
• Home improvement projects with Steve
• Walking & Hiking
• Having people over for dinner parties
• Decorating
• Cooking
• Making friends
• Editing
• Traveling/Touring
• Being a couple missionary someday
• Board Games with family
• Singing

Photography

2009-09-26T14:35:00.000-04:00

I LOVE taking pictures! I have literally thousands of them. Steve often calls me a shutterbug, and waits patiently for me as I take tons of pictures wherever we go. Most of my pictures I'm taking of us, of our families, friends, places we go, holiday's, etc. Almost all of the pictures on our website I have taken (a few of the ones we are in together we asked someone to take for us). In this section I wanted to show a few of my favorite shots that were more "artsy".

Digital Scrapbooking

2009-09-26T14:34:00.000-04:00

Along with taking pictures, I love to do digital scrapbooking. It's a fun and creative way to show off my pictures, as well as a fun way to journal about some of the things we've done. I also like creating all of my own backgrounds, and fixing up my own pictures. Below you can see a few pages I've created.

Crocheting

2009-09-26T14:33:00.000-04:00

I absolutely love to crochet. I taught myself how as a way to make inexpensive, but cute Christmas presents one year -- and it developed into making a blanket for each of my siblings as a wedding gift. I've made five blankets now, and have requests for more from other family members now. I've even taught a few family members and friends how to crochet -- which was fun:) Below are three examples of my blankets.

Sewing

2009-09-26T14:32:00.000-04:00

Sewing is something I've enjoyed for a long time. My mother is an incredible seamstress, sewing many, many gowns for me -- and I've learned a great deal from her. Some examples of a few things I've done are below: a skirt that I made, working on some curtains for our kitchen, kneeling in front of the bedroom curtains I made and my grandmother's chair I made the cushions for, and my ultimate favorite -- my wedding dress -- that I spent three months helping my mother make!

Steve's List of Hobbies and Interests

2009-09-25T23:00:00.000-04:00

• Astronomy
• Hiking
• Landscaping
• Woodworking
• Home Improvement Projects
• Reading
• Computer Games
• Music
• Singing
• Movies
• Camping
• Cooking
• Dancing with LeeAnn
• Bird Watching
• Gardening
• Building Computers
• Electronic Circuits

Astronomy

2009-09-25T22:00:00.000-04:00

I love astronomy. I use to work as the assistant director of a planetarium and routinely taught customers about the night sky and showed them the wonders of the heavens through the telescopes we had at our observatory. Within the last couple of years I acquired my first useful telescope (not a little tiny fancy monocular that you find at most department stores). I am often called on to bring my telescope to scout camp outs or other group activities, and enjoy doing so. These pictures include the day I received my telescope, “some assembly required”, and a couple of photos with friends looking through the telescope at a party. There are also some pictures we took of the moon during a lunar eclipse. The moon looks darkened because the moon was passing through the Earth’s shadow.

Computers and Electronics

2009-09-25T19:00:00.000-04:00

One of my hobbies is electronics. Part of this hobby is building/repairing computers. I usually refer to myself as a Doctor Frankenstein of computers. Self-named since I put together a mixture of old and new parts to upgrade our home computer. These are some pictures that the shutterbug (LeeAnn) took while I was working on upgrading one of our computers. Since then I have built an entirely new system; but still included some old pieces in it (I am, after all, Dr. Frankenstein).

The Great Wall

2009-09-25T18:00:00.000-04:00

One Summer I had some extra time just before our move to South Carolina. LeeAnn’s mom commissioned me to build a retaining wall and terrace on the slope behind their home. We refer to it as the Great Wall (unoriginal, I know) and it is one of the most awesome landscaping projects I have ever done.

Steve Graduates

2009-09-10T15:45:00.009-04:00

Undergraduate graduation. Here are some pictures of when I graduated with my Bachelors degree in Physics, with a minor in Math and Spanish. I will graduate for the second time soon, with a Master's degree in Aeronautical Science, emphasizing in Space Studies and Aviation/Aerospace Management.

Christmas

2009-09-02T16:40:00.004-04:00

We love following traditions (our own and ones from our childhoods) as well as doing fun things over Christmas time! One of our favorite traditions, although not pictured here, is spending Christmas Eve together as a family. We read the Christmas story and enjoy one another's company all evening. Then on Christmas day we go visit family and friends:)

Steve's family always received small boxes of sugar cereal in their stockings for Christmas -- which they got to eat that morning. Here we are enjoying that tradition together.

A tradition we created together is with our Christmas stockings. Every year since our first Christmas we have added the date to our stockings. Our children will get their stockings on their first Christmas:)

Another Christmas tradition that we've done since we were very first married is to buy, or make a Christmas tree ornament that represents the year. Our first ornament was a gold dipped maple leaf that we bought on our honeymoon, to represent our marriage. The year we moved 3 times we bought a little toy truck and the year we bought our house we got a house ornament. This year LeeAnn made a scroll from paper and ribbon, to represent our year of paperwork (as in the adoption paperwork and also as a joke about Steve becoming a director at work:) We always hang these ornaments up in order, and then hang the current years up together.

Another fun, and practical, tradition LeeAnn has done since she was a kid was to take a picture sitting in front of all of the opened Christmas gifts. It's fun to look back and see what you received each year, as well as being able to remember who gave it to you and when you received it.

We love to see the Christmas light displays. We drive through the neighborhoods frequently during the holiday's to see what people have done; as well as going to the professional light displays -- like Temple Square and Festivals in city parks.

And of course spending lots of time together, and with family and friends, is the best part of the Christmas holidays! Here we are cutting into the Christmas turkey, doing gingerbread houses with LeeAnn's family, calling our parents on a Christmas day when we were too far away to travel to see them, hosting a dinner with our friends who couldn't travel home either, and just spending some wonderful quality time together.

Thanksgiving

2009-09-02T16:20:00.003-04:00

Thanksgiving is a wonderful time to spend with family when we are close, or with friends when we are far away. Our first Thanksgiving away from home we decided we would invite over a bunch of other military families that were away from home and have a large Thanksgiving dinner together. It was our first time cooking a whole turkey ourselves, and LeeAnn had a blast making pies. It was so much fun, people still talk about it and we've had fun doing it again. Below you'll see some pictures from that day, then some from our second Thanksgiving with friends, and then the last three are some fabulous Thanksgivings with our families.

Easter

2009-09-02T16:15:00.003-04:00

We're still kind of working on traditions for Easter. One we enjoy is, of course, coloring eggs -- which we have done quite a few times over the years. We're also working on coming up with more spiritual traditions for this holiday season.

Halloween

2009-09-02T16:00:00.006-04:00

Both of us have had a lot of fun dressing up for various Halloweens. We've had a great time with our wards Halloween parties, as well as family parties. Below are a few of the costumes we've had fun rummaging through our closets to piece together. There's the Prom Queen with the Football player; LeeAnn as a black cat with her brother and nephews (Steve was gone for his military training); and our colorful Spanish costumes we came up with.

Valentine's Day

2009-09-02T10:00:00.000-04:00

We take turns each year as to who gets to plan Valentine's day, and we've had a lot of fun with it. We've done everything from making a huge heart shaped cookie to go with a BBQ chicken dinner; to pulling the mattress to the living room to watch movies (I know taking the TV into the room would have been easier, but much less creative); to making a big star poster with the days activities numbered and hung from it; to perfume shopping and a night out on the town; to putting valentines all over the house.

Donating My Hair

2009-09-01T19:59:00.000-04:00

I think it's fun that I've been able to donate my hair a couple of times. Below are some pictures of when my sister and I went a few years ago and cut our hair together, and then donated it to "Locks For Love". The last five pictures are when I did it again a few months ago; showing how it is both straight and curly:)

Birthday's

2009-09-01T19:49:00.000-04:00

We have a lot of fun with birthdays. Here are just a few pictures from random birthday's that we have thrown for each other.

For LeeAnn's 30th birthday Steve wrote the script for a murder mystery dinner, planned it all out, made a five course meal, and invited all of LeeAnn's siblings for the surprise party. It was an absolute blast! LeeAnn was the recent widow, and Steve was the Butler, with LeeAnn's siblings ranging from the gardener, to the psychic, to the mobster and all in between. We had a great time acting out our parts and solving the murder mystery through dinner.

LeeAnn consistently teases Steve about how excited he gets about getting things in the mail. He'll check the tracking information online everyday to see where it is, and how long until it comes. So for Steve's 30th birthday LeeAnn gave him a card with lines to write in tracking numbers for his gift. In other words, he was given a tracking number to watch his gift coming and when it showed up he was given another one. His various gifts came for the span of a few months. At the end she threw him a big surprise dinner party with friends to celebrate.

One year LeeAnn gave Steve a bunch of five dollar bills and chocolate gold coins for his birthday gift. She loves these pictures of Steve tossing the "money" in the air:)

These are some random pictures of LeeAnn's birthdays. The bottom one being a dinner Steve took her to at a fondue restaurant. YUM:)

Date Nights

2009-09-01T19:48:00.000-04:00

We have a lot of fun with date nights. Sometimes they're as simple as dinner on the couch while we relax and watch a movie together. Other times we go all out and get really creative:)

One we did recently was setting up a mini-golf course throughout the house. We had a really nice dinner first. Then we took putters and wiffle balls and had a fabulous time laughing our way through the course (and we actually tied!). To finish it off we had a fabulous dessert while we watched a movie:)