Samuel & Chelsey

We've updated our website to include some more information. This includes captions for pictures, some alternate text for accessibility, and an update on our book list. On our website, you can also see a glimpse of our Instagram page to learn more about us and see what we are up to right now. With several pages to share our information, each one is a little bit different, due to the differences in each platform. For example, our website has easy access to information about us, that does not change often, while Instagram lets us give daily updates on things we're doing, which can include pictures and videos. These can also be sent to Facebook to reach our friends on there. TikTok only allows videos up to several minutes, but Facebook only allows 30 second Reels (at the time of this post). So, if one style doesn't help you get to know us better, feel free to check out another page, or reach out with specific concerns or questions. We want to make sure we are transparent in who we are, because we want to form a life-long relationship with baby's birth family, because we believe that is best for baby to have answers to the questions they may have.

We've had a lot of fun creating different ways to share our names and have friends & family share our information. We have bookmarks; business cards; social media pages on Facebook, Instagram, & TikTok; t-shirts; stickers; flyers; and now we have a resume! You can check it out at the following link: https://www.canva.com/design/DAFHV1RXf94/fOhWr4BroBobPNKct5Ud8w/view?utm_content=DAFHV1RXf94&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=sharebutton (Please note it was having some difficulty converting on a cell phone, but should be easy to read on a computer.) We also have, on our link tree, a digital profile book, along with quick access to all our social media platforms, website, and more.

Family time! Sam took a trip to Lagoon, a local amusement park, with his sisters. They went when it opened and stayed almost until closing! They went on so many rollercoaster rides and enjoyed time together. They finished the day exhausted, and Sam had even lost a bit of his voice.

We have been so blessed with so much family nearby. With Sam's sisters, mom, Oma&Opa, aunts&uncles and Chelsey's grandparents, siblings, aunts&uncles, cousins, we see family fairly often. We joke that we're the BYU parents, since Chelsey's parents live in Illinois, but her siblings have attended BYU in Provo, UT. We host weekly family dinners for our siblings to join, and help when they need it. This week we said good-bye to one of Chelsey's sisters, as they are going to graduate school in another state. We hosted a tea party themed event in her honor and held one final family dinner. Now we'll probably play chauffeur more often, since that sister took her car!

Deal Breakers. Everyone has them, but they vary from person to person. They also vary from relationship to relationship. These are some of the difficult topics we think are important for expectant parents to know about us: * Toilet Paper: I know it sounds silly, but this is one people get VERY passionate about, and we wanted to start on a less serious note. We are over the roll kinda people. If you come to our home, they will all be over and should remain over. * Vaccines: Now, to rip the band-aid off, yes, we plan to vaccinate. We believe it helps keep deadly diseases away from our modern world. We are both vaccinated and have received covid vaccines. If there are specific concerns that a parent is worried about, we are willing to discuss it and consult a doctor for further information. We truly want what is best for our children, and through our research we believe vaccines are a safe effective way to provide this. * Religion: We are christian, specifically part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We believe God speaks to man today and we are all His children. To us this means we love and try to care for all people as best we can, and we want to provide a loving home for all who enter our lives. We do not require Expectant Parents to be the same religion as us, we hope they respect our beliefs as we raise baby, and we’ll respect theirs. * Communication/Openness: Communication is very important to us. We cannot fix problems we don’t know about. If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to us, so we can either fix it or explain why we’re doing something the way we’re doing it. This also relates to the fact that we want an open or semi-open adoption. We want baby to have access to medical history, answers to questions, their native culture, and relationships with their birth family. While what this level of openness will depend on the child as they grow up, and expectant parents, we hope this will be video calls/texts/emails once in a while and, if possible, in person visits. We believe open adoption is just more love for baby. * Diet: For Chelsey’s health, we eat plant-based/vegan. This means we do not have dairy or meat within our home. We do not expect everyone else to live as we do, but we want expectant parents to be aware, because for some this is a big deal. We are trying to live healthy lives, as well as treat Chelsey’s migraines. Of course we will make sure all dietary needs are met with regular checkups and proper meal planning. If there arises a need we have no issue supplementing baby’s diet as necessary. * Social Media: We will try to respect your privacy and we hope expectant parents will respect ours. We do not want our children’s faces all over the internet. Yes we are posting about our lives to get the word out about adopting, but we are generally private people. Adoption scammers have opened our eyes to the horrors of pictures of children being posted on the internet and used by the wrong people. This means we will share pictures with expectant parents (and other family/friends), but we do not want those pictures posted on a public profile for the world to see. We can discuss this further with expectant parents to determine safe ways to share pictures with family. * Parenting: We plan, dependent on the child, to use a combination of Gentle Parenting, Montessori, and Love&Logic. We believe when you show a child respect, they rise to the occasion. A child should not be belittled and embarrassed. It should be stated, however, that consequences are still part of these parenting styles. * Politics: Another big one we have heard a lot of difficulties with. We have both been raised Republican, however we lean fairly central. We don’t believe one political party holds all the ideals that we stand for perfectly, so we vote for who we think can represent us best.

We have been trying to increase our interactions on social media to continue to get our names out there. This has led to a lot of videos and posts! We have "Science with Sam," "Crafting with Chelsey," and lots more! So, if you're in the mood for some funny videos or just to see what we're up to next, don't forget to check our social media pages (@HickenloopersHopefulHearts)! A few of our recents posts have been about going to Chelsey's brother's ultimate frisbee game, getting caught in a thunderstorm during our walk, and making our favorite veggie pizza. If you want to see our reading list, check out our website @ Hickenlooper.family ! We're always reading something. Right now, we're working through Leigh Bardugo's "Crooked Kingdom" after a huge cliffhanger at the end of "Six of Crows." Sidenote- Chelsey HATES cliffhangers. Hense, we had to start the next book right away. While we usually read fantasy novels, we do have quite the variety in our reading list. If you see a book we don't have on our GoogleDoc that you think we would like, please let us know! Chelsey also was able to participate in her friend's podcast, Good Crafternoon, if you are looking for something to listen to. She joins in for Episode 16.

The "Fishenloopers", as we jokingly call ourselves, took a trip in a rented rocketship... RV... to southern Utah! 8 people in one RV can get a little tight, but we had a lot of fun. First stop, Manti. We arrived and found out our reservation had been for the wrong day, but luckily they had an open spot, so we parked and hit the pool. After, we took a walk around the area. The next morning, we attended church at the Manti Tabernacle, where met some new people who had similar connections to our family. Second stop, Marysvale. This is near Bullion canyon, which was the place of 3 mining towns back in the day. We rented some ATVs to go up the canyon and look at the mining park. We learned a lot and enjoyed the scenery. Chelsey's grandparents joined us here, so Chelsey enjoyed touring a craft and gift shop with Grandma. Third, and final, stop was Washington/Saint George. We saw Mary Poppins at Tuacahn. We love seeing shows. Chelsey was blown away by some of the cast, and the fact they kept pulling out HUGE set pieces from backstage. How they fit all of them, she will never know. It brought back memories of her senior year musical, where they had 2 houses backstage...which almost ripped a curtain... but that's a story for another day. After almost a week traveling, singing, quoting, and playing Freddi Fish on Steam, we returned home and parted ways. Now to recover from the lack of sleep and sore muscles from uncomfortable beds! Good night!

Mountains are everywhere! With our hiking gear in tow, we embarked on our first hiking adventure for the summer. We drove across the valley and up to the mountain to begin our hike. We met up with Chelsey's sisters and some of their friends. We started on a hike called Sensei, and somehow ended up on Lolo's Loop an hour later. It was a cool, sunny day as we walked around this mountain. Lots of laughing and chatting as we traveled through the fields of sage brush.

A busy weekend! We attended Utah Adoption Specialist's training the past two days to refresh our memories and meet some new people. We especially love the panels with adoptive couples, birth parents, and adoptees. It's important to us to learn more about this community and educate ourselves to be prepared to be the best parents we can be.

Chelsey just finished directing her school's musical for fourth through sixth graders. While it was a lot of work, she really enjoyed it. The best part was seeing the kids' confidence grow as they learned their parts and shared their talents. It was also fun to have some sister time, as her sister helped with the sound stuff. Now back to a more normal schedule, and making more TikToks! (Image edited to remove children's faces.)

Chelsey's sister got back from serving a mission for our church. With that, other family came into town for a visit. We had fun cooking, laughing, watching movies, and took a trip to the temple together. The temple was a neat experience, because had not been able to go together in over a year and a half. We also took some family names that had been collected by our grandfather who had passed. Family is very important to us. We will drop anything to go help a family member, and cherish the time we spend with them.

To show a little bit more of us, and to encourage interactions on our social media pages, we started a TikTok (@Hickenloopershopeful) and making reels on our Instagram & Facebook pages (@HickenloopersHopefulHearts). It has been fun for us to see what people are interested in learning about us, and getting us out of our comfort zone...since we're both introverts! We even started a cute series about Stella, our hedgehog, looking for a sibling.

We enjoyed the actual holiday with Chelsey's side outside Chicago. She grew up out there, so it's always nice to return to her childhood home. While there, we saw more Christmas lights, watched movies, and made a "Shadow Wall" as our Christmas project. Chelsey's dad is an electrical engineer, so Christmas projects have been a standard over the years. This year's project was a wall that shows your shadow from a burst of light. For anyone that had one of these at science museums growing up, they are really fun to see how your shadow shows up. For more details and pictures, see our Instagram and Facebook pages @HickenloopersHopefulHearts

We were able to enjoy the first part of December with Sam's side of the family. We had a mini Christmas to share the holiday together. We enjoyed seeing Christmas lights and making our niece smile. We even learned about a new board game, thanks to Sam's sister! For more details and pictures, see our Instagram and Facebook pages @HickenloopersHopefulHearts

We make regular posts on our Instagram and Facebook pages (@HickenloopersHopefulHearts). We include pictures and more information about us. Feel free to check those out to learn more about what we are up to! At this time, we are getting ready for Christmas by decorating our home and buying family gifts. Chelsey has her Christmas Village all set up and a few presents already wrapped under the tree.