Colin & Christina

**the puppies** Jake is a 7 year old Golden Retriever who believes that he is a lap dog. He is never more than a couple feet away from us at any time. You will often find him curled up on the couch between us. His favorite activities are napping, snacking, and the occasional short walk. Jake's personality is best described as sweet, kind and loving. He's a big softie. Ethel is a 3ish year old Golden Retriever and Great Pyrenees mix. We adopted her during COVID and she brings so much spunk and fun to our family. She also loves to snuggle but she is also more independent than Jake. She is fiercely protective of her people, especially our little nieces and nephews. Without a doubt, her favorite activity is bothering her brother. Ethel's big personality is best described as playful and engaging. Both of our dogs have special needs, specifically orthopedic impairments, that require additional care and support. **colin's extended family** Colin is the youngest of 3 boys and has a close relationship with his brothers. They all share a similar sense of humor and love for sports! He also has two half sisters, Rachel and Reilly. Clay lives close by with his family. We love spending time playing games, going to movies or having dinner with our niece and nephew. ​ Charlie and his family live in Kansas City. We get together with them and their 3 girls, as often as possible. Colin has one living grandmother who lives in East Texas, who we see semi-regularly. **christina's extended family** ​Christina is the older sister to Catherine, who was and still is her best friend, even though they had their moments growing up - little sisters can be annoying at times. ​Her mom, Becca, and her fiance live in the area and often host the whole family (including dogs) for pool parties. ​Trace and his wife recently moved to Ajijic, Mexico on an early retirement adventure. They make trips up to see us as often as possible. ​We enjoy spending time with Catherine and her family, which includes a young niece and nephew. Our nephew loves having sleepovers at "Nina's house". Christina has one living grandmother who lives in Denton. **friends** We have a close knit group of friends who we consider our family. We have close friends who we travel with, go to concerts, have pizza nights at home and play games. We are surrounded by some of the most loving and supportive people - our future child will be spoiled by so many aunts and uncles. One of our closest friends just adopted their beautiful son a little over a year ago. Watching them go through this process filled us with so much hope for our own family one day. We also have bonus grandma's that live close by and love to spend time with our current nieces and nephews; they even offer to babysit!

We live in one of the best smaller suburbs of Dallas, Garland. It has all the small town charm and people but is close to all the fun things to do. We are connecting with business owners and other community members to build a sense of a true community in our town. We are walking distance to our downtown square that houses our favorite coffee shop, Mexican restaurant and yoga studio. We purchased our home about 4 years ago and it was a project house from the get go, but we have personally changed/touched every inch of this house to make it our own. As my 3 year old nephew describes it, our home is "peaceful" and "happy". We aren't afraid of color and have too many plants to count. Our home is truly our sanctuary and we love just being there together.