Chris & Nick

About Us

We met in college and have been together for 15 years (married for 5). Our journey started in Arizona at a sandwich shop near our university. On the first date, we talked for hours about our love for travel, interests in architecture and languages, and passion for excellent Mexican food.  

During our years together, we’ve roamed the country: five frigid winters in Boston, five fast-paced years in New York City, and recently five incredible years in sunny Berkeley, California. On our weekends, we love to grill, bake, and take advantage of our great climate being active outdoors.

Chris is a leading architect who works on large projects such as museums, university buildings, and large commercial high-rises. As an architect, Chris takes great pride in our home, designed to bring people together and embrace all that nature offers. Chris is very creative and looks forward to teaching our little one how to design, draw, and build things.

Nick works in banking for a startup that brings financial services to the underserved. He has a master’s degree in finance but studied Spanish and Portuguese as an undergraduate. Nick’s interest in languages started with the desire to talk to his grandparents in Spanish, their native language. That interest turned into a love of learning other languages and reading literature. He can’t wait to take our child on weekly bike rides to the library.

Chris is a wonderful husband, and I have no doubt he will be a wonderful father. He is smart, kind, patient, and loving. He’s my best friend and the only person I would want to raise a child with. I love watching him play with his sister’s son, two-year-old Jack—who is often in Chris’ lap, sharing a favorite toy (or sweet treat).

On weekends you will see Chris outside gardening and chatting with our neighbors. He also loves to travel. It’s fun to see how much research he does planning each trip, resulting in a perfect balance of architecture, culture, food, and adventure.

Traditions are incredibly important to him. In addition to carrying on all the holiday traditions from his parents, I can’t wait to see him wake up early on a Saturday to make a special weekend breakfast for our child (often homemade cinnamon rolls!)

Nick is an amazing husband, partner, and best friend. He is constantly placing himself in others’ shoes and considering their needs. It’s this quality that makes me confident that he’ll be an incredible father and role model for our child.

Nick has always valued learning and growth; he has continued to improve himself with new skills through several career moves. I’ve admired watching him set lofty goals, make detailed plans, and then realize his aspirations through curiosity, discipline, and hard work. His thirst for knowledge has resulted in bookshelves full of different topics. I pretend that we don’t have any more space for his books, but secretly I love it.

Nick is close to his whole family but has an exceptional bond with his Nana. Their closeness is heartwarming to witness, whether they are making homemade tamales together, sharing a meal out, or watching a telenovela together in Spanish.

Our Home

Our home in San Rafael is in a safe, stable, and diverse community with many long-time residents and excellent schools, parks, and bike paths. Backing up to protected open space, we live across the street from a charming city park, one block from hiking trails, and a short drive to the neighborhood’s commercial center. With 5 bedrooms and a pool, we have enough space to grow the family of our dreams.

Designed by a local architect, we love that the home is a reflection of our passion for architecture and connected to nature with large windows and lots of natural light.

Our Family

We have a large and tight-knit combined family. Our home in the Bay Area is between Chris’ parents, who live in Oregon, and Nick’s family, who live in Arizona.

We take pride in being uncles to our four amazing nephews and do our best to be great role models. Our child will have the opportunity to grow up close to their cousins who also live in California. We have loved watching our Holidays become even more fun-filled with the kids, and we can’t wait to have our child join in the fun!

We are both fortunate to have had childhoods with loving and supportive families. We recall warm summer nights playing outside with endless curiosity, before the dependence on modern technology. We aim to provide that same sense of fun and freedom for our child. 

A central theme to how we parent will be around treating others as we wish to be treated. We believe a well-rounded education is the foundation for being a successful citizen of the world and will encourage our child to follow his or her dreams while being kind to others. Whether gathering with our large family around a Thanksgiving table or rooting for our favorite football team, family traditions will be a big part of our child’s life. 

Finally, we are excited to share our love of world travel and learning different languages. We feel it is important to have a broad understanding and appreciation for other cultures.