¬Hello! We’re Kennett & Lizzy. We live in Portland, OR with our two dogs, Chaz and Margot.

We met 9 years ago on a photo shoot (Lizzy is a Creative Director and Kennett is a Photographer). We were friends right off the bat and got to know each other well over the years. In 2019, we tied the knot after 3 years of dating. Our relationship is founded friendship—we’re honest, vulnerable and supportive of one another. We’re both willing to challenge ourselves to live a healthy & happy life. We were both married previously which helps us keep perspective on life—we don’t take the important things for granted.

Kennett is kind, warm, and easy-going. He gives the best hugs and has a super witty sense of humor. He has an especially positive outlook on life and is spontaneous. Kennett loves his work—he always has a blast on shoots and comes back with stories to share with Lizzy.

Lizzy is sweet, kind-hearted and has a brilliantly creative mind. Lizzy has so much love in her heart for both people and animals. She’s driven and motivated in her career, but always maintains her strong sense of self and core values. She’s humble, and has a silly side (AKA dance parties with the dogs).

We love to travel, visiting new places and familiar ones. Meeting new people and exploring other cultures expands our perspective and makes life interesting. We’ve been to Japan, Costa Rica, Denmark (Kennett’s birthplace), Paris, across the U.S. (and back) and more together. We also love a road trip (with sci-fi books on tape and roadside attractions).

Family is very important to both of us. Kennett has three siblings with 5 nieces and nephews. He’s very close to his mom. We try to get together with his family at least twice a year—they are in Florida and Atlanta. We facetime weekly with the kids, and love being Auntie & Uncle. Lizzy’s parents live a few minutes away in Portland (they are SO excited to be grandparents) so we see them tons. Lizzy’s close friends with her brother, Nate, who lives in LA and we see often. Whether in Portland or traveling to the East coast, holidays (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hannukah, Passover) with our family are a big deal.

We value time at home with family & friends. We both love welcoming people into our home (Kennett’s Scandinavian background has instilled this in him). We’ve spent years focusing on ourselves, and are so ready to focus our energy on a little person. We envision our lifestyle with a child being very similar to today, but fuller and filled with love. We’re so excited to adapt & grow and establish new traditions as we learn to be thoughtful open adoptive parents.

Open adoption just feels natural for us. We welcome change and thrive in open & understanding relationships. We hope for an open adoption relationship where we all (birth family and us) feel like we can be ourselves, be honest and vulnerable. We hope our child’s birth family feels respected, heard and seen. We want our child to know who they are and where they came from, with a strong sense of self. To feel loved, cared for, and prioritized in our life. Lizzy is adopted by her father and has a number of adopted cousins. Her family’s mantra is ‘the more people who can love a child, the better’.

Thanks so much for reading about us! —Kennett & Lizzy