Rick is 38 years old, and he grew up in Prescott, Arizona. He is the oldest of four boys and three girls. In high school, he played the saxophone in the jazz band and also participated in the drama department’s presentations of Oklahoma and Bye, Bye Birdie. Rick served a mission in Toronto, Canada, Spanish speaking, returned home and received a bachelor’s degree in English Literature with a minor in Spanish from BYU, a second bachelor’s in Horticulture from Utah State, and has his master’s in English Literature from Northern Arizona University. Learning is definitely one of his greatest loves. He taught English at the high school for three and a half years–a profession that he truly loved. Rick now has an insurance practice with New York Life–another profession that he has fallen in love with, as well as teaching English part-time at our local community college. Additionally, in his spare time he does volunteer work with the Boy Scouts and loves to dabble in landscape photography.
Ashlee is 32 years old, and she grew up in Cedar Fort, Utah. She is the middle child of seven girls. Growing up in a small town, she grew to love the outdoors. Her Dad taught her to throw a softball and to play football. Her Mom was determined to turn her into a lady and so she played the piano and has danced all her life. She was a cheerleader in high school and enjoyed being with friends. She moved to Mesa, Arizona, when she was 18 years old to attend court reporting school. She graduated with a bachelor’s in Court Reporting and she currently works part-time as a freelance reporter. In her spare time, Ashlee is an avid reader, she loves to run, ran her first marathon in ‘07 and enjoys gardening and scrapbooking. She coached cheerleading at the local high school for two years and now teaches aerobics three mornings a week. She volunteers some of her time with the local Cub Scout Pack where she is a Den Leader.
Brody is three years old and we love him more than we ever imagined. He loves to chase our 20 chickens around our yard. He collects their eggs and is a little farmer. This summer he has helped Ashlee in the garden and would haul his little plastic wheelbarrow over to the garden to pick "begetables." He has recently started coming up with his own phrases like, "Good grief," and "That's amazing" and one of our favorites, "Crazy." We have enjoyed watching him discover new things and the world around him. He has a happy personality, he’s tons of fun, and he loves to be outside. He loves airplanes, trains, and helicopters. He loves to work and is always trying to be helpful with a shovel or a broom. In a nutshell, Brody is all boy.
This is our little family. After being married for six years, we were blessed to have adopted Brody. He truly is a joy and we are so excited to add to our family once again through adoption. He is excited to have a brother or sister and we are, too. We love being a family and are blessed to be able to spend the majority of our free time together. We enjoy evening walks, going to the movies, flyfishing, mountain biking, camping, doing service, and exercising. In the past, we have run a few 10K races as well as a half marathon. We have a love for the TV show Lost and can’t wait for the new season to start. We also enjoy spending time with our extended family. Each of us have family members who live relatively close by, which allows us to get together with our family members often.