Our Family

"Every Couple Has A Love Story, but I Like Ours the Best!"

Ryan and I are one in the same.  This probably stems from the many years we have spent in each other's lives!   He and I more or less grew up together, as I was one of his sister's closest friends.  We traveled together, shared parties, supported each other's family events, etc long before we dated or fell in love.  We know each other's hearts, minds and interests inside and out!  It was only after years of dating each others best friends that we finally got the right idea and started dating each other! 5 years later, we were married in the Salt Lake Temple on May 21, 2010!  13+ years have passed since we met on the green couch in his parents' basement, and each of those years has been an adventure.  In July 2014 we were blessed to bring Chloe, our now toddler, into our family through adoption and our capacity to love has grown 10-fold!  We are so fortunate to call ourselves parents to this perfect, beautiful, busy little girl and can imagine no greater joy than to further expand our family, provide Chloe a brother or sister, and spend all our energies making our children's lives love-packed, exciting, joyful and meaningful!

Our Reasons to Live and Breath: Chloe and Cooper

Chloe Valynne Stephens (soon to be 4 yrs)
See "Chloe & Her Adoption Story" tab

Cooper (age 4)
See "Our Puppy" tab

Our Professional Life: 

Ryan currently works as a technology specialist for a nearby University.  Working close means he gets to join us for lunches, which Chloe (and Mom) loves!  He loves his job and is adored there.  He is always being commended for his people-first approach to solving the world's multimedia problems. His current work benefits include paid vacation/sick leave, great medical and dental insurance, life insurance and a pension, among others.  Always stretching, he recently certified in Security+ and is looking for opportunities to expand his skills!  He currently serves as a home teacher and as the First Assistant to the High Priest Group Leader for our church.  He works very hard to fulfill his responsibilities and is a great provider for our family.

Tanya graduated with her Bachelors in dental hygiene and currently works minimally for a dentist in Northern Utah (1-2 days a week) while she and Ryan put money aside for adoption.  She loves the flexibility of her work schedule, which enables her to prioritize home life with Chloe while still contributing to the family income, as needed.  One beautiful element of Tanya's job is that she can call on any one of 100's of local hygienists to fill in for her at work if Chloe gets sick or if family plans are scheduled.  She is always able to be where she is needed most, and that was critical in her consideration of careers.  When Tanya is working, Chloe is watched by her grandparents or a close friend who has a daughter her age.  It couldn't be a better arrangement because each set of grandparents live around the corner and Chloe is adored and doted upon by everyone, especially her family. Tanya currently serves as a church activity committee member, visiting teacher, Ward Music Coordinator and as the Sacrament Chorister for their church.

Our Hobbies:

We thirst for fun and adventure as a family and rarely experience a weekend without an activity planned or family and friends involved!  Our Favorite Things tab is dedicated to sharing our most-loved family activities with you, but here are a few favorite pictures to give you a taste:

Our Home:

We own a home that's tucked up right along the Rocky Mountains in Northern Utah.  A short trip through Weber Canyon leads us to 3 excellent ski resorts, countless hiking trails, camping sites, and a beautiful lake that we find ourselves visiting often through the summer.  We live in a newer home (2007) in a young, vibrant, very safe community!  Our home is always welcome to friends and family.  We are within 5 miles from both sets of our parents and have an amazing ward family.  Our neighborhood is filled with children and there is a park and splash pad right around the corner!  Our kids will be able to attend the same great schools Tanya attended while growing up.  We have an open, private bedroom prepared, just waiting to be decorated once we know the gender of our next little bundle! Tanya is thinking about a forest/woodsy theme for a boy; or a gold/pink and white combo for a girl. Here are a couple of the idea board pictures Tanya has pulled from Pinterest.

Looking forward, we can say that so many of our hopes and aspirations have been realized already! We have a special little family, already blessed by the gift of adoption, we've completed our education, we each have served LDS missions (Ryan-Minnesota, Tanya-Hawaii), we have a comfortable home, supportive families and a good, healthy life.  Still, we SoOo look forward to sharing our lives with more children and would love for Chloe to have siblings.  We know how significant a role siblings have played in our lives and nothing on this earth would bring us greater joy see her grow with brothers and/or sisters to love and support.

Random Extras:

Our family was featured in a Ford Fusion Commercial a couple years back, before Chloe arrived.  It may give you great insight into our family life with extended family:

Our Wedding Video -- May 21, 2010

Tanya & Ryan (SLC Temple) from Reflection Wedding Videos on Vimeo.