The Petersens
OUR STORY
HI! WE'RE THE PETERSENS!
Hi there! We're the Petersens- Alex, Alisha, and Charlie. We (Alex and Alisha) both grew up in Utah, and have been married for almost 13 years. We met through some mutual friends at a college basketball game in 2010. Alex asked Alisha for her number and texted her later that night. We started talking again the next morning, and have talked every day since. We got engaged in February 2011, and married in July of 2011. Since then, we have lived in 5 different cities, and settled down about 5 years ago in our current home. We adopted our son, Charlie, in 2018, when he was about 13 months old. We have an open adoption with his first family, and we are so grateful for the opportunity to be his parents. More about him later, but basically he's the best ever and we're pretty obsessed with him!
Our family loves traveling together, meeting new people, finding unique and new places to eat, going to concerts, spending time with our extended families, and being outdoors. We’re huge baseball fans, we’re currently on a mission to see all the major league stadiums in the United States. We keep each other laughing all the time, and have fun with pretty much whatever we’re doing. We like to rock out in the car together (although we tend to differ on music tastes), and are big fans of The Office and Friends marathons. We love to watch reality competition shows as a family (mostly baking championships and Lego Masters). Charlie loves to play sports, his current favorites are baseball, golf and basketball. He loves to ride his bike, play with friends, and can answer just about any question about the Paw Patrol and more currently, Power Rangers. If you asked him what his bucket list is, it might have meeting Post Malone at the top.
We love taking vacations with our families, especially to the beach and our family cabin. Between our families and friends, we have the best support system in the world. We are both very involved in our church, have a strong faith in Christ, and love the support system we have through other members of our church. We have such an amazing life together, and can’t wait to add another amazing child to our family through adoption.
OUR FAMILIES
Family is the center of our lives.
Alisha's Family
I’m the youngest of 4 girls. My older sisters are all married, and there are 21 nieces and nephews in the family. My siblings are all kind of spread out between Utah and Arizona, so it’s always a party when we all get together. I grew up babysitting my nieces and nephews from a young age, and being their aunt has been one of the best parts of my life. Charlie's favorite thing in the world is when he gets to see his cousins. We have a family cabin we love to spend time at, we ride four wheelers, play games, go on hikes, play in the river, eat snacks and watch movies. My parents are the ultimate grandparents. They are so involved in all their grandchildren’s lives, and will frequently drive several hours and or fly into town just to see a dance recital, soccer game, band performance, school play etc. The grandkids all adore them, and they are so excited about possibly having another grandchild in the family.
Alex's Family
My parents divorced when I was young, so I grew up with lots of family (both my parents remarried), and we’re close with both sides of my family. I am an only child on my mom’s side, and have 1 younger stepbrother and sister in law and 2 younger half brothers on my dad’s side. We also have a niece and nephew on this side that Charlie loves playing with.
With my mom’s side of the family, everyone often gets together for Sunday dinners. We love to play games, my grandparents have taught us all sorts of card games and we love playing dominoes with Charlie now. My mom is an awesome party planner and host, so she’ll always have fun parties planned for birthdays and holidays. My stepdad is one of my best friends, we love playing softball together and talking sports. We love traveling with my parents. We take a beach vacation almost every year with them, and it's one of our favorite things we do. My parents are also incredible grandparents, they're always at every game or event of Charlies' to cheer him on! He has such a special relationship with them, and he loves his regular sleepovers at their house!
With my dad’s side of the family, we love getting together for holidays and parties. My stepmom is an amazing chef, and always prepares the most delicious meals. They have a large network of friends that gets together often, and all their friends have become like family. We love playing pickleball and cornhole in the backyard with my younger brothers, playing board games and hanging out talking. My dad is a big outdoors guy, and we love to go skiing together. He actually taught Charlie to ski starting at age 3 and it's been fun to see him in action on the slopes. Both of my little brothers are musicians, one plays drums and the other guitar, and we love when we get to see them play. My dad and stepmom are awesome grandparents and would be so excited to have another grandchild.
A NOTE FROM US
About Alex (by Alisha): It’s hard to explain how amazing Alex is, but to sum it up, Alex is awesome at pretty much whatever he does. He's about as great of a husband as you can imagine. He takes such a hands on role in our home and contributes to household responsibilities equally. He's extremely caring and thoughtful. I don't have enough space to talk about how amazing Alex is as a Dad. He considers Charlie his best friend, and gets so excited to teach him things or take him places. He often takes him on his errands just so they can spend time together. He's so hands on with Charlie and wants to be at EVERYTHING for him. He coaches his teams, shows up at every dr appointment, and school performance. They love to go outside and play catch, ride their bikes together, and you can often find them snuggled up watching a football game. He loves teaching Charlie things, he lets him help him with home improvement projects, building things, etc and always has the patience to explain what he's doing. Alex is extremely loyal to the people he loves. Family is such a main focus in his life, he has a very special relationship with his relatives. His 94 year old grandpa is one of his very best friends, you can find a picture of them in matching Jazz t-shirts above. They'll often call each other after a sporting event, even if it's 11 pm to discuss the events. He’s the world's biggest sports fan. He knows any piece of random sports trivia you could ever think of. He loves to play softball (it’s become a regular family event- his team is full of cousins, stepdad, friends, coworkers etc. It's a whole thing now, we all go out to a mexican food restaurant after the games and it's one of our favorite parts of the week). Alex is adventurous. He's always up for an adventure and pushes me to step outside of my comfort zone and try new things and go to new places. The thing I love most about Alex is just the person he is. He is one of the funniest people you’ll ever meet (he pretty regularly has me in tears from laughing so hard), he is kind and supportive of the people he loves, always patient, and is always giving people the benefit of the doubt. He loves and protects our family fiercely and I love that about him.
About Alisha (by Alex): I am not sure I can adequately express how amazing Alisha is in her role as a Mom and wife. She has this innate ability to perceive and care for the needs of others. She is always dropping a note or a gift by to a friend or a neighbor because she felt they needed it. She is always thinks of others feelings and is truly the definition of considerate. She has the best sense of humor! We are lucky to laugh a lot in our marriage. She is very patient with her boys (Charlie and I) which we are both grateful for. It has been amazing to watch her be a mom. She is always thinking about Charlie and his development. Always anticipating his needs in a way that leaves me in awe. She is constantly thinking of new activities and games to spur his learning and development. She is Always making life fun for him while balancing teaching him to be respectful and independent. I couldn’t hand pick a better mom for my kid! When she isn’t in Mom mode you can find her spending time with her friends and family or supporting me or Charlie at different sporting events. She has a special bond with her parents and we are lucky to see them often. She loves to go out to dinner with her friends, play Bunco and go to concerts! Especially country! I feel so lucky to have her in my life as my partner and best friend.
About Charlie (by Alisha): Oh man, how do you even begin to explain what an awesome kid Charlie is. He's the cutest little 6 year old boy in the whole world. I always call him my sunshine because that truly is what he is to us. He's got the sweetest little heart, and is a BIG snuggler. He often sneaks into our bed in the mornings to cuddle, and he'll often just hold our hands or lay in our laps if we're watching tv or sitting on the couch. One of my favorite things about Charlie is his sense of humor. He's always been a tease and likes to make people laugh, but the way he communicates, the things he says, and the jokes he tells has us laughing NONSTOP. He has a personality that attracts people to him, it's been that way since he was little. He has the cutest group of friends at school and at our church group. Charlie is so easy-going and always up for whatever we want to do. He's got a great sense of adventure and I'm always so impressed with his courage and confidence at such a young age. He learned to ride his bike without training wheels at age 3, learned to swim and loves to go on water slides and jump off diving boards, etc. He also learned to ski at age 3. He likes to go for hikes, play basketball and baseball, golf with his dad, ride ATVs with our family, and LOVES playing at the beach. One of the best things about Charlie is his imagination. He loves to play pretend, and will often spend a whole day (or 3) committed to whatever his latest imagined game is. My personal favorites are when he plays vacation, in which he sets up a whole hotel in our house, makes an airplane out of kitchen stools, packs a suitcase (basically empties all his drawers) and then makes multiple outfit changes based on what the vacation agenda is (pretends to go swimming, etc.) He loves to pretend to be an "office man" and will set up a while office space and write letters all day. I can confidently say Charlie is going to be THE BEST big brother. He has a baby doll he's had since age 2 that he plays with regularly. He still takes him in public with us, dresses him up, changes his diaper, puts him to bed etc. We have the chance to babysit for friends and family regularly, and he's always SO cute with the babies and wants to help so much. He has insisted he's going to raise his brother or sister and do everything for them (except the poopy diapers). He's also pretty insistent if he has a brother, he wants him to be named Spiderman (he's gonna be a little disappointed when that doesn't happen). Simply put, we love and adore Charlie so much and are so excited at the possibility of seeing him as a brother.
About Charlie (by Alex): Charlie is my best buddy in the whole wide world. I LOVE being his Dad. We have so many inside jokes and our own special handshake that we do every time I pick him up from school. He is hilarious and in my opinion is the perfect mix of sweet, feisty, athletic, creative, and just about every other thing you can think of. Charlie and I love to play catch, make up games in the driveway, play golf, and watch just about any type of competition show there is. We are especially fond of watching cooking competitions together. He has recently really taken an interest in Basketball which has been so fun. I coach his Jr. Jazz team and we play as often as we can. We also love to watch games and go to games when possible. I feel so lucky to have such a close bond with him. I get to put him to bed a lot of nights and its some of my favorite time that I get to spend with him. We talk about/laugh about the day and usually watch some Dude Perfect on my phone. He is a riot and will be the best big brother. We have seen how he cares for his younger cousins and I can only imagine how much of a helper he will want to be.
To You: If we are fortunate enough to be chosen to parent your child, we promise to love, support, and teach them to the very best of our ability. We have SO much love to give. We will work with you to make sure we establish the type of relationship you want with them as well. We are so grateful for the part that open adoption has played in our lives with Charlie and for the extra family we gained as a result. We would love the same opportunity with our next child and their family. We will make sure they always know about you, and how much you love them, and anything else you want them to know about their adoption. We hope that you have had a glimpse into our life and who we are. We understand how big of a decision this is, so please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions or want to know more about us.
