Matt and Ryan
Hello, we are Matt & Ryan and we live in Los Angeles, California, thank you for considering us!
Ryan moved from Massachusetts to California in 2002 where he met Matt, who grew up in Los Angeles, a year later in 2003. After talking via email for several months we finally had our first official date in Santa Monica where we quickly bonded over our mutual love for the beach and exploring the world. During our first several months of dating Matt made sure to introduce Ryan to the hidden gems that LA has to offer and we bonded over mutual interests of live music and homemade cooking and Ryan shared his experiences from growing up on the East coast. Ryan also introduced Matt to the world of college football at this point and Matt has been a huge fan ever since.
Early in our courtship we recognized that we both shared a strong work ethic and were aligned in making sure we could support growing our life together. While we pursued our professional and academic careers we created a close group of friends, who we also consider family, here in LA.
Our love of cooking while living in Southern California has made our house the place to be if you’re looking for some really good BBQ and equally as good music. We enjoy spending time with our friends and family, playing board games, watching sports and enjoying good food as echoes of laughter fill our home.
We dated and lived together for nearly a decade when Ryan proposed in Hawaii and we waited to get married until we legally had full marriage rights to make sure our growing family could be protected. In 2014, we celebrated our marriage with 50 close friends and family and married in Northern California. Shortly after we got married we moved to Seattle, in hopes of starting a family, but quickly realized our roots and all the beautiful things we wanted to share with our children were all in LA. It’s more than just the beautiful weather in LA. It’s the people, the culture, the beach and the mountains, the food and the music – the whole amazing thing that LA provides.
Ryan works in Marketing where he is responsible for dreaming up and producing huge competitive video game events and television shows. He enjoys reading a good book, collecting records and going on long, bike rides up the roads and trails of the coast. Matt has also worked in the marketing industry for the past several years, but is also looking to get more involved on the local level so he’s pursuing his Master’s in Education to become a teacher. Matt also enjoys being active, running often, loves rewatching Harry Potter movies and hanging out with our friends, family, and two dogs.
Education and learning new things is really important to us. We love finding new music, reading and discovering the unexpected at museums or other pop-up activities that take place here in LA, and finding fun new things to do outside, like snowboarding, fishing, surfing, skating and hiking, as well cheering on some of our local sports teams.
We have friends and family spread across the US, with most of Matt’s family here in LA. Ryan’s mother is still in Massachusetts, his brother is here in LA, and his sister is closeby in Arizona. His sister moved to Arizona a couple of years ago, which has made it easier to see her family (she’s married and has a son), whether that means we go to Arizona or they come out to LA.
Travelling is something that we really like to do since it lets us explore new places, meet new people and try new food that we can try to make at home. Or very first trip together was to San Francisco many years ago, and since then we have travelled to 13 countries that reach Europe, Central America, and parts of Asia. For our honeymoon we spent 3 weeks adventuring in SouthEast Asia had an amazing time learning from the Thai, Cambodian and Vietnamese cultures.
We have thought long and hard about our decision to adopt, and we are eager to start sharing our family and love with a child.
Our home is a welcoming place filled with family and friends who care for and laugh with one another. We have a 3 bedroom home in a neighborhood that is full of other families and children, and is perfect for playing in our large backyard or playing with others up and down the block. The house is full our light, green plants and lots of comfy places for our two dogs to nap in the sun. Our home is around the corner from the local elementary school and a short to a large park and set of hiking trails. We’re centrally located to all the great things in LA – minutes from beautiful beaches and nearby mountain trails to incredible museums and amusement parks, and we’re looking forward to exploring and seeing each of these places again through the eyes of a child.
