- Utah -
Thank you, for taking an interest in us! We understand that this is one of the hardest choices you've ever had to make. We hope that our openness, honesty, and sincerity will help reassure you. Our lives are filled with adoptions of all kinds (Josh included). We are also currently the foster parents to a 1 year old. It would be our goal to provide a warm, secure, loving, nurturing, and fun home to any child.
If there is one thing you need to know about me its how much I love kids. I know that sounds so corny and obvious for someone trying to adopt but its true. I previously worked as a nanny and helping to raise those kiddos has been one of my proudest achievements to date. I work a full time job and really enjoy what I do, plus its in healthcare so there is job security. I have the flexibility to adjust my hours and work from home when I want which is a huge bonus! Reading is a habit of mine that I am trying to make time for again. I was constantly with a book in my hands when I was younger. I also really enjoy playing games of all kinds- especially if it means I get to spend time with friends and family! I am a bit of a Disney nut, a proud Hufflepuff, and am fluent in ASL. When outside, I enjoy camping and especially swimming. I have so much I want to say and so little space. Reach out to us if you want to know more, I am an open book!
I'm a outdoor enthusiast, love to hike, camp, and fish. I love to garden -both flower and vegetable. I love to cook, hate the clean up but... It is what it is. I have done lots of jobs in my life. I'm very good with my hands. I enjoy sharing life experiences and teaching real world applications: Example ( Changing a tire, building a bird house, etc..) I get along with kids of all ages. I am referred to as Uncle Josh to our friends kids. I enjoy movies, books and games of all kinds. If you want to know more reach out. I'm happy to answer anything.
Thanks for taking an interest in us! We understand that this is one of the hardest choices you’ve ever have to make. We hope that our openness, sincerity, and honesty will help make this easier. Our lives are filled with adoptions types. Josh was adopted, as were 3 of our best friends. We have seen and experienced that first and second hand. It would be our privilege to provide a warm, secure, loving, and fun home to any child(ren).
It is our hope that we can meld with the birth family. We are willing to cooperate with either an open, or closed adoption and any level in between that works for both parties. If a birth parent wants to remain involved, we are game! After all, you’ve done to bring them here safely if you want to be around, we want you to!
More details about us. We met through mutual friends, and were friends for years before dating. Once we started dating, it just kinda clicked. We dated other people but would leave that date and call to tell each other about it. It was like an instant best friend. Eventually, we moved in together with a roommate into an apartment. It was in that apartment that we adopted our first dog, Jax. We moved into a larger place and added a second roommate before moving in with Alexis’s grandma to help her after surgery. While living there we rescued our second dog, Ginny, got married, and purchased a home. We decided to breed Ginny and kept one of the puppies, to round us out with 3 dogs total. *Jax passed away in August 2023 :(
Owning our own home have given us a chance to spread our wings further. Josh runs a business from home. Alexis works a Monday-Friday job and has the flexibility to work from home most of the week as well. Between the two of us, we have worked out a successful way of caring for children during working hours. (We have been able to test this out in action due to working with Utah Foster Care).
Adoption, has always been a part of our plan. Due to how life changing it has been for those we care about most. Infertility issues have lead to it being the only plan for us. So, we have spent the last few years working hard to save money to expand our family. We hope it is finally the time!!
In our spare time we obviously spend a lot of time with our dogs. Besides time spent with dogs, friends, and family we love to play games. Board games, card games, video games are all wonderful. We are currently playing through Lego Harry Potter. ( Alexis is a bit of a Potterhead ), (Hufflepuff), a lot of books, and nick knacks around the house are on display proving that. Additionally, we have a lot of Looney Toons, Disney, Mario, and Scooby Doo things around the home. Some of the more simple pleasures of life, come from childhood silliness. Proud nerds that are willing to share this with a new generation.
That is not to say that we are complete shut ins. Josh is an outdoorsy sort. Hiking, camping, and especially fishing are a must. Living in Utah and having the mountains nearby is fantastic for this. Josh’s family even does a yearly reunion but goes camping for a week to spend time together. Its one of our favorite summertime pastimes.
We hope that by sharing who we are, the dreams, the hopes, and the day to day. That you can come to see your child being loved, cherished, and nurtured with us and be included with their continued growth throughout the years.
Thank you for taking the time to read and consider us. We are seriously open books, so if you have any questions, please please reach out. We are more than happy to give additional details.
Alexis & Josh McCashland
Alexis has a background in child development and has spent a lot of her adult life working with kids. She has spent years in daycares, elementary schools, and as a nanny. She fully believes in an authoritative parenting style, sometimes called gentle parenting. The idea is to model the behavior you want for the children and they will learn through your example. While there are still boundaries in place, it teaches a child how to navigate through the world and techniques for dealing with stress. It allows them to be kids. Its also a lot less about control and a lot more about re-parenting yourself to be the example you wish you had as a kid. Josh has spent a lot of time learning more about this and has agreed this is the best course for raising our family.
This parenting style also means, that hitting or yelling or “because I said so” are not actually answers to things we may not like. Its more patient. We firmly believe that doing this, will give a child coping techniques for dealing with an adult world eventually and gives them a safe space with us. Ideally meaning that we create trust and that will encourage honesty. Kids will be kids, but we want them to be safe. It is our hope that by including talk and trust into parenting early, we provide more of that safety.
We live in a small home in a subdivision in an older neighborhood. When we moved in, all the homes had elderly neighbors, but the environment has changed, and is bringing younger couples and families now. It is a 3 bedrooms, 1.5 bathroom that has a large open basement area. It has a fully fenced yard with a beautiful grassy area and vegetable garden in the backyard that we are working on.
We have lived here since 2017 and have been slowly working on updating the interior. We’ve just removed the very old carpet throughout the home and repainted the browns and yellows to a more modern light gray color. As its a smaller home, the lighter colors really help make it feel larger.
We love where we live as we are close to work and family. Alexis’s parents and sister and all within 15 minutes of our home. Josh’s mom is out of state but visits at least once a month since his dad passed early in 2022. Both of his sisters live a little closer, the furthest being only about 30 minutes away. It gives us a lot of family time and we love goofing around with our many nieces and nephews. One of whom is expecting their own bundle of love in April 2024!
One of the things that drew us to our home was the cutest little bedroom. It was clearly used as a nursey by the previous owners. It has a chandelier like light in the center of the room, with a dimmer switch attached. It has built in bookcase painted white and corner windows that provide light but is never in direct sunlight. It has been painted a white and brown neutral so we can decorate it specifically for any child placed with us.
Nesting looks a little bit different when you are adopting as you do not know what to plan for. Our idea is to keep it simple and neutral in colors and display so that any gender or nationality will fit naturally into their space. The crib we have had gifted to us is a family hand me down of a dark natural wood that fits perfectly into the space. As Josh’s sisters have completed their families, we have been accepting all kinds of hand me downs so we are prepared when we get “the call”.
As mentioned before, we have 2 dogs.
Our oldest is Ginny, sometimes called “Mama”. She is our reddish blonde Shih Tzu. She has had 2 litters of puppies (6 each time, 12 total) which earned her that nickname. She was originally a family members, who fell on hard times, and couldn’t care for her so we happily stepped in. She is the definition of spunky, and loves treats more than anything in this world. She will even try to trick people into giving her ones by staying inside when the others go out, and doing a dance to convince you of how cute she really is. If you are new to our home, don’t worry, she will show you where the treats live.
Next is Penny. She is a dark brown Shih Tzu with a lot of lighter highlights throughout her fur. We joke that we custom made her as we picked the stud for Ginny, and found us the perfect little one. She has a habit of “talking to you” by means of grumbling and sneezing- her needs are usually pretty clear. She snores louder than even Josh. Her favorite things include looking out the window, her orange ball, and “parroting”- sitting on your shoulder and pretending she fits there.
The black dog pictured is our sweet Jax who sadly passed in August of 2023 but we didn’t have the heart to remove his picture because he was our first “baby”.
Josh
Alexis
Both of us come from large extended families with numerous relatives all being close by (built in babysitters if needed). We also have a lot of friends who we have been through tons with that are family more than friends. This extends our family even further and we love it. With these friends, we have seen marriages, divorces, births, deaths, organ donation, loss of job, loss of home, promotions, adoptions, grief and pride. We are blessed to share in their world and have them in ours.
Our family is also currently a little larger due to having a foster child placed in our care. Baby E has been with us since July and is expected to be with us for the foreseeable future. She was born Oct of 2022. Due to it being a foster situation we do not have the liberty to share any additional information for her safety and confidentiality. However, we will say that her transition has gone very well.
We want to thank you for taking the time to get to know us. Hopefully we have been able to provide a good sense of who we are. Please reach out to us if you have any questions we didn’t answer. [email protected]
We are very open and willing to share about our lives, and hope you feel a connection so we can chat. A match would mean the absolute world to us! We want to include you in the family.