60 Things about us

Recently we accepted a challenge #hopingtoadopt60days. The challenge is to post on instagram every day according to a schedule of subjects. The purpose of the challenge is to help people get to know us better in an informal way and to spread the word that we are hoping to adopt. While all of these posts can be seen on instagram @timandkaitlynhopetoadopt, we have put them here too for convenience. To the right is a master list of our subjects. Enjoy!

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Day 1: US

This is us: Tim, Kaitlyn, and Kaylee. Tim and Kaitlyn have been married 8 years. Tim works as a business and marketing teacher and Kaitlyn is a stay-at-home mom that teaches jump rope on the side. Kaylee was adopted at birth. She was born in Anchorage. We have an open adoption and enjoy visiting with her birth family periodically. We would love to adopt more children. We currently live in Utah but have also lived in Alaska and Idaho. 

Day 2: Our View Outside our door

Each day for the next 60 days I will be posting a picture that shares a little about us. The hope is that we can spread the word that we are hoping to adopt and give people the chance to get to know us better. Today is a view from our door. We live in a cozy apartment. We're super close to Tim's work and close to family too. I love the mountains near our house, especially when the fog and clouds settle in around them. It makes me think of living in southeast Alaska where Tim and I met.

Day 3: Our favorite place in our town

I still feel like we're new in town and learning our way around. We've lived here for 6 months. This is a place we frequent though: the pool. Kaylee, our daughter, loves to go to the pool. She kicks around (while I hang onto her) and says swim, swim, swim. We make it to the pool about once a week. 

Day 4: Siblings

 We LOVE our siblings. Tim is the 2nd of 5 kids and the only boy. Kaitlyn is the 10th of 13! 

Day 5: Life

I'll admit I struggled with this one a bit. Our day to day life is pretty simple. Tim works in education. Kaitlyn is a stay at home mom that feels like a lot of her day is spent in the kitchen making meals and bread. The living room is usually filled with toys that Kaylee is playing with.

Day 6: Home cooked Meal

Today's lunch was lemony orzo veggie salad with chicken. We have been trying LOTS of new meals at our house the last month or so as we are trying to eat healthier. 

Day 7: Favorite board/card game

We LOVE games. Kaitlyn would probably play them all day long every day if she could. We can't pick a favorite, but two we play most often are Bohnanza and Ticket to Ride.

Day 8: Favorite color

Tim loves blue, it's hard to find a shirt of his that isn't blue. Kaitlyn loves green. We're not sure about Kaylee. She seems to like pink a lot, but perhaps that is just because 95% of her things are pink. She sure likes to color with orange and purple.

Day 9: Talents

Tim is a great baker and cook. He is also really good at helping/training others in using technology. Kaitlyn can jump rope like you can't believe and is great at routines/schedules/goal-keeping. Kaylee can count to 10 and is quite good at puzzles.

Day 10: Favorite Vacation

It's hard to choose a favorite, but taking an RV around inland Alaska was definitely a favorite. 

Day 11: Best Gift Ever Given

Tim got Kaitlyn a sewing machine when she graduated from college and she LOVES it. Kaitlyn got Tim his first iPhone and he LOVES it. 

Day 12: Best Gift Ever Received

Parenthood. How can you ever thank someone for giving you the gift of parenthood? Kaylee's middle name is Cikiun, meaning gift in Y'upik Eskimo. We lived among the Y'upik people when we adopted Kaylee. 

Day 13: Biggest Fear

Tim does NOT like heights, so also has zero desire to ride roller coasters. Kaitlyn gets very nervous walking on shale or other loose rock. She had a bad experience once involving a large boulder hitting her head.

Day 14: Favorite Cereal/Breakfast Food

We LOVE food, especially hot breakfast food. Tim and Kaylee prefer bacon; Kaitlyn prefers sausage. Tim's all time favorite meal may be chicken fried steak. Our most common breakfast however is a green smoothie. It's quick, easy, portable, healthy, and tasty (well Kaitlyn thinks so anyway).

Day 15: Favorite Fast Food Chain

Tim likes Wendy's. Kaitlyn likes Little Caesers. Kaylee likes any fries, chicken nuggets, or a frosty.

Day 16: Favorite book

Tim's is Deception Point by Dan Brown. Kaitlyn's is Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. Kaylee loves Hand Hand Fingers Thumb, Little Loon And Papa, and I Want My Hat Back.

Day 17: Favorite Sport/Team

We generally prefer to participate over spectate. Tim has coached or competed in wrestling much of his life. Kaitlyn has coached, instructed, performed, and competed in the sport of jump rope for 18 years.

Day 18: My Ride

We have a 2013 Nissan Altima. These are comfy cars.

Day 19: Hero

My Mom! Kaitlyn's mom is an amazing woman. She is such a hard worker, always happy, and has endless energy. Not to mention she and my Dad have raised 13 awesome kids.

Day 20: Favorite Shoes You Own

Tim wears his Dunham shoes every day. Even though Kaitlyn hasn't worn her Xtratuf boots since leaving Alaska, she can't part with them. Kaylee still tries to wear her pink sandals even though they are two sizes too small.

Day 21: Favorite Smell

Tim loves the smell of the crisp air before it snows. Kaitlyn loves the smell of breakfast cooking, especially when she's still in bed 😉

Day 22: My Collection

We have quite the collection of native crafts from Alaska. Kaitlyn also had a crazy number of jump rope t-shirts.

Day 23: I Believe

Our Father in Heaven knows us, loves us, and cares about us. We can learn of His commandments and eternal truths from the scriptures and prophets. We will be happy if we keep His commandments. Through Christ we can be forgiven of our sins and become more like Him.

Day 24: Favorite Movie

Tim choose the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Kaitlyn loves romantic comedies like Return To Me, Ever After, and While You Were Sleeping. Kaylee's favorites are Frozen (of course) and Pocahontas.

Day 25: Our Family

Kaitlyn comes from a family of 15. Tim comes from a family of 7. We are a family of 3.

Day 26: Best Friend

Tim's best friend is Warren, and there's a funny story behind how they met. Kaitlyn is really bad at picking favorites, so she picked three best friends, one from each of the last three places we lived: Heather, Lacey, and Staci.

Day 27: Job

Tim works as a business and marketing teacher at a K-12 school but hopes to find his career job in educational technology. Kaitlyn is a stay-at-home mom who works as a jump rope instructor and childcare worker on the side.

Day 28: Favorite Artist/Musician

To be honest we're struggling with this one. But here are a few groups in our playlists: Maroon 5, Owl City, and Barenaked Ladies. Kaitlyn plays the piano and one of her favorite composers is Mozart. She loves Fantasy in D Minor.

Day 29: Guilty Pleasure

Tim loves a Mountain Dew especially if it's from the fountain. Kaitlyn is always up for having a bowl of ice cream. She's not picky about flavors but prefers vanilla ice cream with candies, caramel, chocolate, nuts, or peanut butter mixed in.

Day 30: Makes You Laugh

I'm not sure if Tim has ever laughed harder than when we watched Nacho Libre. I (Kaitlyn) love to laugh with good friends. Tim is especially good at making me laugh.

Day 31: Favorite Holiday

Tim loves Christmas. He loves the decorations and is a great gift giver. Kaitlyn loves Halloween. She loves how laid back it is and that she gets to dress herself and her family up in costumes.

Day 32: In My Fridge

Our fridge is filled with lots of produce like peppers, kale, spinach, cauliflower, and broccoli. We have been trying to be more healthy. We used to have two dozen eggs until Kaylee pulled them all out of the fridge yesterday and broke them. Whoops.

Day 33: Tradition

We always make a homemade dessert to celebrate birthdays and it's rarely a typical cake. Instead we have chocolate pudding, eclairs, ice cream cake, or cherry pie.

Day 34: Favorite Genre of Music

Tim likes country and pop. Kaitlyn rather take a back seat and let someone else pick the music (as long as it is clean). When she's alone she usually picks alternative rock or classical.

Day 35: Favorite Sound

Tim loves the sound of a good storm: thunder and rain. Kaitlyn picked three favorites: birds chirping in the morning, Tim and Kaylee giggling with each other, and double dutch ropes turning. Kaylee loves to hear airplanes and trains.

Day 36: Favorite Zoo Animal

Kaitlyn loves tigers. As a child she may have dreamed of living in a big mansion raising white tiger cubs. Kaylee is intrigued with the Mara, a rodent that looks like a large rabbit. Tim doesn't have a favorite zoo animal, but he likes moose and other Alaskan wildlife.

Day 37: Favorite Sense (5 Senses)

Tim and I (Kaitlyn) both picked sight as our favorite sense. Although smell and taste and hearing and touch are close seconds. 😉 Kaylee can't really tell me her favorite but I'm guessing it's hearing. She LOVES music and loves to sing along.

DAy 38: Who I Want to Meet

Two of Kaitlyn's older sisters passed away before Kaitlyn was born. She looks forward to meeting them some day. Tim would like to meet Joseph Smith.

Day 39: Favorite Genre of Food

We love food! Tim likes Mexican and Chinese. Particularly chimichangas, rice and beans, and sweet and sour pork. Kaitlyn likes Thai food and Indian food.

Day 40: Pet Peeves

Tim does not like it when Kaylee wastes "daddy cereal". If she asks for daddy cereal she better finish her whole bowl. Kaitlyn does not like dirty dishes put anywhere near the dish towel with clean dishes on it.

Day 41: Hardest Thing I've Ever Done

Wrestling in high school was physically and mentally demanding for Tim. Kaitlyn felt like she wouldn't survive her first year teaching. She is a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to lesson planning and worked herself sick.

Day 42: Favorite Author

To be candid, we're totally pulling this one from thin air. Tim chose Dan Brown and Kaitlyn chose JK Rowling; she did a fantastic job on the Harry Potter series. Ever listened to Harry Potter on audiobook? It is awesome.

Day 43: Introvert/Extrovert

Kaitlyn easily considers herself an introvert. It takes a lot of will power for her to be outgoing. Tim is 2/3 extrovert, 1/3 introvert. Sometimes he's shy, but he's also very friendly and likes to tell people about us and our experiences.

Day 44: I Want To Visit

It may sound cliche but Kaitlyn wants to visit Italy. Tim would love to go to New Zealand.

Day 45: My Kitchen

It's nothing special but it works. We LOVE having a dishwasher.

Day 46: My Person

Being a spouse is all about being there for each other during the good times, the bad times, for silly things, and serious things. We are each other's "go to person". There is no one better to fill that role :)

Day 47: Favorite TV Show

We love Castle: the continuing story, the awkward romance, childish Castle. What's not to love? It's tradition to watch it every week.

Day 48: Favorite Pet

Dog! No hesitation. Tim had a cocker spaniel poodle mix growing up and Kaitlyn had a German Shepard. We both want a dog some day and have been thinking of getting a boxer.

Day 49: Quirks

Tim is very particular about the direction of his hangers. He must have all his shirts hung up with the hanger facing the correct way. Kaitlyn always organizes her hanging clothes by color.

Day 50: When I Grow Up . . . 

We want a nice house with a picket fence, a bunch of happy kids, and a dog. Ah, wouldn't that be nice.

Day 51: I Admire . . . 

Kaitlyn admires genuinely kind people; those that are kind even when it appears kindness isn't deserved and are able to make any other person feel loved and important. Tim admires computer developers. They have skills he wished he had.

DAy 52: #1 on My Bucket List . . .

Travel overseas! This is really more on Kaitlyn's bucket list than Tim's, but he's a good spouse so he goes along with it 😉 We do get to go to South Africa for our 10th anniversary!

Day 53: My Super Hero Power I Would Choose . . . 

Tim would love the power to be invisible. Kaitlyn would love to snap her fingers and instantaneously be in another place (remember Sabrina the Teenage Witch). Just to be clear, we know Sabrina is not a super hero, but just go with us on this one.

Day 54: What I Would Rescue In a Fire

Assuming all of us are safe and we get to save some THING, we both picked our laptops. They have a lot of things we've created, pictures, journals and documents.

DAy 55: Favorite Dessert

Is it even possible to pick a favorite dessert? We can each think of about 10 we could call favorites. Tim is going with fruit pies. Kaitlyn loves eclairs (although if we're going less fancy, she's always up for brownies and ice cream). Kaylee loves ice cream.

Day 56: Real Life

Life is full of going to work, household chores, little messes (and sometimes big messes), grocery shopping with a toddler, toys, sewing, and relaxing to a television show. (Tim and Kaylee love to watch "daddy shows" together). We also cook a lot of food and frequently hang out with family.

DAy 57: DealBreaker

Tim can't stand swearing (Kaitlyn has never heard a foul word from his mouth). Kaitlyn doesn't like when people repeatedly do something hurtful. Kaylee can't eat her oatmeal if someone puts her honey and cinnamon and sugar on for her.

DAy 58: Nickname

Timothy goes by Tim most often. His family often call him Timmy. Kaitlyn calls him Huz. Kaitlyn's family and close friends call her Kait or sometimes Kaity. Make sure you spell them correctly. Tim often calls her Wife. Kaylee gets called Kaylee Kid, Cik or Ciki (said "chick" or "chicky"). Her middle name is Cikiun, meaning gift.

DAy 59: Favorite Drink

Tim loves fountain Mountain Dew. Kaitlyn loves water, really that is her favorite. Kaylee loves apple juice. Any time we go out to eat that is what she asks for, no food, just apple juice. I can't believe we're already to day 59! Only one post left!

Day 60: I Wish . . .

Obviously we wish we had more kids; but we'll assume that's a given. Kaitlyn wishes there were 2 Saturdays in every week. Can you imagine how much you could get done & how much more time we'd all have to do fun things?! Tim wishes we had a dog. It will happen, someday. Kaylee is usually wishing to go to a friend's house or the pool.