2004-04-30T07:49:00.000-07:00

Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, I feel like I'm a true East Coast guy now. I've lived out here since early 2001, and who knows if or when I'll ever leave. Plus, I own a black leather jacket. Then again, I still do read the Deseret News online every day (mostly for stories on the Jazz and BYU football) and my resume still claims I'm a "veteran canoeist." I'm the third of four boys, and was the last one to get married by quite a few years. But fortune finally found me, and I found the lovely Shelly Camacho, whom I married in the Mesa, Arizona LDS Temple on December 20, 2003.

I attended Olympus High School (like my father before me), then moved on to BYU (like my mother before me), where I majored in both Music and Public Relations. More importantly, I was the editor-in-chief of the 100 Hour Board, an amazing entity that can answer any question on any topic within 100 hours or less. After my freshman year, I left on my mission. I spent a month in Lynn, Massachusetts ("Lynn, Lynn, City of Sin. You never come out the way you went in.") and the rest of my two years in the Brazil São Paulo Interlagos Mission (the only mission in the world with a suburb in its title). Later, as part of my BYU education, I did internships in New York and then Los Angeles.

Thinking that I could find a job that would combine my two degrees, I moved to Washington, DC (like my two older brothers before me) in early 2001. A few months later I began working for the Association of Performing Arts Presenters. The wild single life in DC enveloped me, and I didn't notice that the perfect girl for me was right there at every party I went to (she didn't notice either). Sure, we were friends. Sure, I asked her on dates. But the relationship never even progressed to the level of the two-armed hug.

So off to Harvard Law School I went, to learn things like the parol evidence rule and subject matter jurisdiction, that have nothing to do with my dream of working in the arts industry. A few months after I got to Cambridge, Shelly and I decided we liked each other after all, dated long distance, dated close-distance for the summer while I worked for the National Endowment for the Arts, got engaged, went back to long-distance, and finally got married.

I graduated in 2005 and got the heck out of Massachusetts. Shelly and I now live in Alexandria, Virginia and I work at a law firm in downtown Washington, DC that I don't mention by name on my blog, but that a little Googling could identify for you if you really care.

We have two wonderful daughters, Ellie and Annie; a black grand piano, and a huge clunker of a TV we picked up for free. I hate the BCS and the use of the word "Holiday" when one means "Christmas." I love all three of my girls, Whoppers candy, Lands' End, and MythBusters.

The Welcome Matt