Hello and welcome! We are Pat & Paul along with our daughter, Poppy, from Los Angeles, California! We can’t imagine how you are feeling right now, but we’re extremely grateful for this moment of your time to get to know us a little better. In the next few pages, we hope to give you a sense of our life and how your baby will help us grow our loving family.

The first time we met was in 2009 after Adele played her first major concert in Los Angeles - nothing like sad break-up songs to kick things off! We spent the next year and a half as friends and got to know each other well and discovered that we had a million things in common.

As we started to go on more vacations together, attend more concerts together, the universe finally pushed us into one another and we started to date. In early 2014, we got spontaneously engaged at our favorite hole-in-the-wall sushi joint and we got married the following August at Pat’s family’s restaurant in Washington State.

I grew up in a small waterfront town north of Seattle, Washington called Mukilteo with my parents, my siblings (sister, Kelly, and two half siblings: Brian & Lisa), and some great pets, like Scooter. For my whole life, my dad has owned a restaurant and my mom has been a dental hygienist, which meant that I could eat well and maintain a healthy smile while I did it! I loved growing up in a time before mobile devices: I spent my summers on my bike riding between my friend’s houses or down to my dad’s restaurant to get a cup of clam chowder. I loved being out on the Puget Sound - one of my favorite childhood memories was inner tubing behind the boat at our family friends’ cabin. I came to California for college and moved to Los Angeles, where I now work as a movie marketing executive at Disney. I had always dreamed of getting to an age where I could find someone to marry and have kids, but I could never have imagined I’d be lucky enough to find someone like Paul to share that with. I’ve been fortunate enough to start a family with him and we can’t wait to expand that family even more.

I was born and raised in a suburb of San Diego called San Marcos with my parents Tom & Susan and my younger brother Chris. Family hasn’t just been a big part of my life, it has been a defining part of my life. I have a family that operates as a big supportive unit: Everyone is always checking in on each other, organizing get togethers, or starting a phone tree to brag about an accomplishment someone in the family has achieved. In addition to my family, I’ve also got an amazing group of friends that have been by my side before I had my growth spurt (I used to be very tiny!) - two of them, Jessica & Lauren, were in my wedding party! I was always very active in school and was even the President of my class my Senior Year of High School. I went to college at UCLA and stayed in Los Angeles as I started my career in accounting. Currently, I work for a video game company and I’ve loved living in a city that offers so much for us to do. Pat and I love to explore and soak in the culture of Los Angeles, and we look forward to continuing to experience this as a family.

Two months into an initial lockdown, we were lucky enough to adopt our first child, Poppy, from North Carolina. We have a great relationship with her birth mother and keep in touch with her often, sending pictures and checking in. Being home so much the last couple of years allowed us to experience every milestone in Poppy’s early years and we have loved every second of it. Poppy is 4 and she’s grown up to be a hilarious, independent, and curious little girl who loves spending time with her daddies.

She cannot wait to have a little brother or sister to play with!

We’re lucky to be situated in an area of Los Angeles where we can walk to a great park, restaurant, or mall, but we can also take a quick drive to a beach, museum, or theme park. We moved here last year and have enjoyed having a ton of space to play and relax – whether that be in the yard or in our pool – and we’ve loved having so much for our daughter to do in the area. Our closest friends and their kids can often be found at our place playing party games, in the pool, or enjoying a meal while one of Paul’s carefully curated playlists plays in the background.

Beverly Leslie (Bev, for short) & Deeley. Bev is a munchkin cat (aka a party trick as her front legs are half the size of normal cats!) and Deeley is a longhair. Bev is a snuggler and Deeley is a diva and we spend a lot of our time vying for their affection. They love rubbing up against Poppy and exploring her room. Poppy says good morning to them every day and they’ve been great with their new sister.

Family is a massive part of our life together. Pat’s mom and Paul’s dad both come from a family of 9, so we grew up around tons of cousins, aunts, uncles, and extended family. Growing up in Washington State, Pat spent every holiday - and most weekends - around his family. They often all gathered at his father’s restaurant and fought to be the loudest one in the room. In San Diego, Paul’s family all lived near each other. It was common for aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas, and grandpas, to stop by as he was growing up. To this day, a trip to San Diego is usually an excuse to get everyone together to play with Poppy and enjoy a giant family meal.

Hopefully, you’ve gotten a sense for how important family is to us. We both come from families that have always been supportive, loving, and accepting, and we want to be able to share that with our children.

As parents, we promise your child will grow up in a home where they will be surrounded by love and support and be part of an extended family that will love them from the start. They will be raised to be confident, respectful, and imaginative. Both of us were given the opportunity to explore our passions and we want to pass that on to our children. And along the way, we want to make sure they’re having as much fun as humanly possible.

We can’t thank you enough for taking the time to read a bit more about us. We hope you were able to see the importance of fun, love, and care in our everyday lives, and how your child will be a part of it! We know how difficult this decision is for you and we continue to marvel at the strength you have to make it. We can’t wait to hear from you!

All our love, Pat & Paul