The Early Days

I was born in Fremont, California to my parents, Randy and Julie Blake. I grew up with my Irish twin, Josh. My dad worked in heavy construction, and we regularly moved with his projects. By the time I was a teenager I had lived in California, Oregon, Nevada and Montana and had visited most states west of the Rocky Mountains.

When I was 12 my family moved permanently to Northwest Montana. My parents bought a property and built a home about 2 miles outside of Glacier National Park and the confluence of the North Fork and Middle Fork of the Flathead River. I would remain in Montana until I graduated college 10 years later.

Growing Up In Northwest Montana

I received my Driver’s license at 15 and my GED at 16. I started working full-time at Safeway in Whitefish, Montana. A couple of years later I also picked up a job working seasonally at the Big Mountain Ski Resort. I enrolled in the land surveying program at Flathead Valley Community College when I was 19 and graduated with my Associate of Applied Science degree 3 years later.

Surveying In California

When I was 22, I moved to Stockton, California to take my first job as a land surveyor. I married my wife Monique, a Stockton native, about a year later. I spent the next 12 years working as a land surveyor at KSN Engineering in Stockton.

After leaving KSN, I worked as a senior land surveyor or mapping department manager at O’Dell Engineering in Modesto, Hawkins Engineering in Modesto, Guida Land Surveying in Dublin, and BKF Engineering in Lathrop. I left BKF to start my own small land surveying and land use planning company, Redefined Horizons. I’m still married to Monique, the Stockton native I met when I was 22.