Gulbrandsen Family! 😊

Mike – Sharene – Brielle -Brooklyn

  

 Dear New Friend,

We hope you are having a fantastic day!  

Mike and Sharene met in college in a choir class.  Mike quickly noticed after a day or two of class that Sharene was the most beautiful girl in the class.  He was able to entice her to spend time with him by asking her to play the piano for him at an upcoming Christmas performance in which he was to sing O Holy Night.  As a bachelor, Mike had a few things going for him.  He was kind and he is a captivating unbelievable tenor.  He was even a great kisser.  Despite all of these great things, he had one insurmountable problem that could get in the way of his love life.  He was bald!  No hair on top of his head.  He could pull off a Friar Tuck hairdo, but that was about it.  Despite this grave disadvantage, Mike was able to convince Sharene to date him and within a year they were married in the Salt Lake City LDS temple.

Michael, Mike, or sometimes “Princess Daddy”, lived in many different places growing up.  Born in the Chicago area, he soon moved to Palm Springs California and subsequently spent his growing up years between California, Utah, Idaho, Nevada and Washington State.  Mike grew up in a multi-cultural family. His stepdad was Filipino.  He was lovingly welcomed into the extended Filipino family and treasured being a part of their culture.  He graduated high school in Issaquah, Washington and has a great love for the Seattle area.  Mike loves to cook, spend time with his family, and sing whenever he gets the chance.  Mike currently works as the head of the treasury department for a company called Young Living.

Sharene, or mom (her favorite title), was born and raised in the small town of Roosevelt Utah.  She is the second youngest of five children; she loves being around family.  She is still close to her siblings, parents and extended family.  She had a great childhood, going on many family vacations and playing sports.  She is a talented pianist and teaches piano to kids of all ages currently.  She works from home as a medical transcriptionist, so she can be home to raise her children as that is the most important job she will ever have.  She is also an avid game player including sports and board games.  Sharene loves being a mother and is a great friend and parent to our two girls. 

We are blessed with two beautiful girls:  Brielle, 11 and Brooklyn, 9.  Brielle loves to read, play soccer and play with her fluffy, white bunny named Snowball.  Brooklyn loves gymnastics and is constantly doing handstands and cartwheels everywhere she goes.  She enjoys playing with her bunny, named Fluffy.  She also loves to jump on the tramp and play with her sister. One of their favorite things to do together is to create an obstacle course in the basement and pretend they are on American Ninja Warrior.  They are both very smart and excel in school. 

We are so grateful and feel blessed to be able to have our two miracle daughters, yet there is still room in our hearts for more.  We feel strongly that there is another special person who needs our love.  After 17 years of marriage, we have noticed that a family is where the most joy can be found in this life.  We yearn to add to that joy by bringing another child into our loving family through adoption.  We feel an open adoption can be beneficial for adopted children and are open to having a continued relationship with the birth parents.  Brielle and Brooklyn are ecstatic to welcome a new sibling(s) into our home.  They will be the best big sisters anyone could ever want.  Brielle has mentioned that the only thing she wants for her next birthday is another sibling.  Both girls have loving sweet hearts.

Below are some of our likes and dislikes:

Likes

Favorite foods:  Mac & Cheese – pretty much the best food ever (according to Mike), Thai Food – Yumm, anything Mike BBQs, pizza, potatoes of any variety (Sharene could live off potatoes), and pasta (according to Brielle and Brooklyn).

Favorite restaurants:  Cheesecake Factory, Olive Garden, Café Rio, Spicy Thai, Baked Bear, Hu Hot, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, Buffalo Wild Wings, and Pizza Pie Café (Brielle and Brooklyn’s favorite).

Sports:  Ultimate frisbee, NBA – Go Jazz!  Football – both college (Go BYU according to Sharene and Brielle and go Utes according to Mike and Brooklyn) and NFL – Go Seahawks!!, volleyball, soccer, swimming, and gymnastics.

Games:   Istanbul, Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, Clue, Seven Wonders, Terraforming Mars, Sleeping Queens, and Life.  Splendor is our current favorite.

Best TV Shows:  American Ninja Warrior, America’s Got Talent, The Voice, Designated Survivor, Stranger Things, Walking Dead (only Mike) and the Bachelor/Bachelorette (only Sharene).

Best Movies:  Star Wars (all of them), all recent Marvel movies, The BFG, Sing, Trolls, Moana, Ever After, Mulan, Cinderella (new live version), Harry Potter, Remember the Titans, The Princess Bride, and Lion.

Family trips:  Hawaii, Branson MO, Cancun Mexico, Arches National Park, Mount Rushmore, Yellowstone, Disneyland, Lagoon, Lake Powell, Chicago, Seattle, and New York.

Dislikes

Country Music (Mike), spiders (Sharene), bees (Brooklyn) – ouch, mosquito bites (Brielle), black licorice (Mike), and really mean people (all of us) ☹!

Thanks for getting to know us better!  We would love to get to know you too and have you become a part of our loving family. 

Love,

Michael, Sharene, Brielle, and Brooklyn Gulbrandsen

If you would like to contact us, our emails are sharenew@hotmail.com or mgulby@gmail.com.  We would love to chat with you!