As you'll read below, I have lived abroad in some unique places. Some cities and towns were amazing... and some desperately needed help. I plan to refer back to my experiences in these towns when reviewing motions brought forward to our City Council.

Early life and the Navy:

I was born and raised outside Houston Texas until joining the US Navy out of High School in 2007. My Mother is a database developer and my father is a Harvard MBA graduate and former stockbroker. In my teenage years, I worked at a local church providing sound system and lighting control every Sunday and most Wednesdays; at the side of a knowledgeable audio engineer. I learned a great deal in those years that formed the bedrock of my work history and helped develop the morals I hold today.

After finishing Navy Boot Camp, I was shipped to Charleston South Carolina for two years of Nuclear Operator Training. The training ended with a certification to operate reactors for the Navy and a lucky first Duty Station of Pearl Harbor Hawaii aboard the fast attack submarine, USS Chicago, SSN 721. I made the best of my location and hiked, scuba-dived, and skydived every second I had off - which is not often when working on submarines. During this time, I served a 6-month deployment on the USS Louisville, SSN 724, as an emergency replacement for their crew. I visited Tokyo, Okinawa, Guam, and Saipan. I appreciate those experiences to this day.

In 2012 the Chicago changed home port to Guam for the last 18 months of my service. I was remodeling my house, a difficult task on an island 8,000 miles away from the US while averaging over 270 days at sea each year. I made it through the stress, but it was the hardest stretch of months I've ever had. Fortunately, the Scuba Diving on the island was top notch and I could always count on it to break up the busyness of life.

Oil Field. So Fun. So Dangerous:

I returned to Houston in late 2013 and started on my degree. A few months later, I had a job in oil drilling services in West Texas and the North Sea out of Aberdeen. It was a thrilling, yet dangerous job. After a year, I transitioned to work in subsea water-well maintenance in the Gulf of Mexico. Another fascinating job, which ended in the oil price crash of 2014. In a stroke of luck, I was offered a job in the nuclear field at Sandia National Labs in Albuquerque, NM just three days after being laid off. 

The Mountains!

While in New Mexico my life shifted from a focus on work to life experiences and a deep love for the mountains. I have enjoyed my jobs since this shift, but I found a balance in climbing, skiing, and paragliding in our amazing Rocky Mountains. 

While in New Mexico I learned to climb in the remotest mountains, cut my teeth backcountry skiing in the San Juan Mountains of Colorado, and began taking trips to bigger, badder mountains like Yosemite Valley, the Tetons, and the Pacific Northwest.

In 2019, I quit my job at Sandia, shook hands with my co-workers, hugged friends, and left for Yosemite Valley to meet up with my cousin/climbing partner. We planned to go to Patagonia in January so I had three months to build my strength. I set to it, climbed as much as possible, and as the fall transitioned into the cold of winter, I made two climbs up El Cap. It was beautiful and intimidating.

Patagonia and Covid:

Following a stint of ice climbing in Montana, I flew out in early January with my friends to Patagonia. We had both success and failure. We learned how scary big mountains can be. Some of the photos at the top of these web pages are from our trip. Not only was the scenery beautiful, but it brought an overwhelming sense of community I had not witnessed in my life. Somehow, an isolated town of fewer than 1,000 people had found the perfect mix.

We were still there in Argentina when Covid-19 began to appear across the globe. My Cousin and I escaped miraculously on the last flight out of Santiago, Chile. As we arrived in the United States it felt erie carrying all 300 pounds of gear through empty airports and streets absent of signs of life.

Arrived home, in Utah:

Albuquerque was a hard place to ride out lockdowns. The Governor of New Mexico was especially severe with the controls. After four months, in the summer of 2020, I made my home in Utah, learned to paraglide, and found a job... not the original plan by any means! 

After a few months in different locations along the Wasatch front, I settled in Bountiful with my new job at the Boeing Little Mountain Test Facility in Ogden. I quickly appreciated this area and knew that I would end up settling into it for the long term. For me, this little stretch of Wasatch Front with North Salt Lake, Bountiful, and Centerville has proven itself perfect and I hope to work hard to ensure others in our community can feel that way as well, now and in the future.

Watch for your ballot several weeks prior to the September 5th primary election and please consider me for your vote! Also, dont forget that Ballots have to be Post-Marked by the Friday before Election Week due to Labor Day!