The Story of Us

From Solo Acts to Adoption

Reed & Mercedes Sitting in a Tree...

Our story begins like all the best stories do - completely by accident. Mercedes walked into the apartment Reed had just moved into looking for his roommates, but Reed was the only one there. Reed was shocked to see some random girl walk in and make herself at home. Confused but curious, he started taking Mercedes up on her offers to jump into rivers, go to parties, and most importantly, to join her acoustic jam sessions on the porch.

6 months and one disastrous first date later, we decided to skip to the good part and turn our friendship into something better. 9 months of campfire acoustic sets, laughing til we cried, and long moonlit walks later, the leaves were just starting to turn when Reed decided to propose in the branches of a massive tree.

We were married on the longest night of the year in 2017, at the Provo City Center Temple, followed by a huge Christmas Party at Mercedes' parents home for our reception - no formal line or speeches - just cream puffs stacked to the ceiling, a house bustling with happy conversation, and music floating between every lovingly handmade evergreen bough laced with red poppies (Mercedes' favorite flower).

Married and Moving Forward

The first 4.5 years of our marriage were filled with birds in walls, finding spooky objects in hidden drawers, and generally making old, creepy apartments feel like home while we both finished college.

We both graduated from Utah State University - Mercedes as a Landscape Designer in 2018 and Reed as a Structural Engineer in 2021. We worked hard, sang at the top of our lungs on road-trips, weathered the pandemic, and experienced pregnancy loss.

Just after Halloween of 2021, we found out we were expecting our miracle baby. After a scary pregnancy, she came several weeks early, which seemed to foreshadow the fact that she loves to run full speed into every stage and march to the beat of her own drum.

Why We Chose Adoption

While we had always known that being unable to grow our family the traditional way was a possibility for us, given Mercedes' personal and family history of extensive fertility problems, that didn't fully become a reality until about six months after the birth of our daughter. There had been complications with her birth that had led to permanent and irreversible damage that ultimately resulted in Mercedes needing a hysterectomy.

We adore our wild, sweet little girl - she quickly became the music that filled our lives, and we mulled over the possibility of her being an only child for almost 2 years. We were content with our beautiful little family soundtrack, but it started to feel a little off-beat. When our daughter started showing an interest in caring for her friends younger siblings, we realized that we all had a lot of love left to give, and that it was time to start looking for the next big hit to add to our family mix.

After that, things moved quickly. We met with councilors, talked with family who had adopted, and completed our home study as fast as we possibly could. Now we are searching for another amazing song to add to the music of our lives - we can't wait to hear it.