Get to Know Us

We met online while Chris was deployed with the military in 2008. He returned to California a few months later and we had our first date - a night where Karla got us a little lost looking for a new restaurant, ha ha! We got married in 2011 and then moved to Washington, D.C. for Chris' new government job. We had a blast exploring all over the East Coast, especially since it was mostly new for Karla! We got to see a lot of New England states driving up to Maine from DC for Chris’ family reunion, and we also saw a little of the Midwest visiting friends in Michigan twice. However, after 2 years we wanted to get away from the snow and traffic. We had always talked about living in sunny Arizona, so we went for it - without jobs (yet) and sight unseen! 

We fell in love with Arizona right away, but it took us a little while to settle-in. We both changed careers and Chris started a Doctoral degree. A few years later, we bought a family-friendly home with great schools nearby, but the highlight for us was when we got our rescue puppy, Miles. We love him so so much! Karla’s mom, dad, and brother have also joined us in AZ. 

Our biggest hope is to share our love with a child. We want to take family vacations to Hawaii, California, D.C., Europe, Asia, New Zealand, and more. We would love to swim, hike, bike, and camp as a family in the beautiful Arizona weather. We dream of homework, play dates, bedtime stories, and even temper tantrums! We have experienced some challenging times, including a devastating IVF loss and the passing of Chris’ mom a month later, but we believe that experiences like those teach us to be more understanding and compassionate with others. We are optimistic and 

ready for more adventures!

I’m originally from California and love wearing flip flops and being creative! I started playing piano when I was 7 years old and continued through show orchestra in high school. I enjoyed doing theater, dance, swim team, and softball growing up, but dance and gymnastics stole my heart. My maternal Italian grandparents were also a big influence on me, and I was very close to them. They taught me to welcome everyone into our large extended family, which is why I love to brings friends and family together now. I like to hang out with friends, do 5K races, hike, swim, watch musicals (and wish I could sing), play piano, cook, collage, and paint. I love to express myself through design and to be inspired. For work, I had a blast coaching kids in gymnastics for over 10 years, and now I work at a university where I lead staff and help college students succeed.

I had the unique experience of growing-up as a dual citizen – Canadian and American. I lived all over Canada, but my mom was American so we also spent time in the States, often holding family gatherings on the beach in Maine. I also used to drive my Aunt’s car down to Florida, so I became familiar with a lot of the East Coast as well. As a kid, I did theater and cross-country running, but my longtime passions are reading and playing guitar, and I do those all the time now. Cooking is really relaxing for me, so I usually make most of our dinners and host holiday meals. My first career was in the restaurant business, so I learned a few tricks of the trade, and a lot of yummy recipes! Overall, I’m a lifelong learner who is always studying something (with huge piles of books nearby), so it’s a good thing that I get to design courses and teach college 

students as a professor.