MMP Ep 340: Family Van Life with Dr. Elana Roumell

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Hi friends! Welcome to the Modern Mamas Podcast. We are two modern mamas here to inspire, empowerment, self love, deep physical and spiritual nourishment, holistic health, open minds, and joy, no matter your journey or perspective. I'm Laura of Radical Roots. I'm a certified CrossFit trainer, certified nutrition consultant, and mama to Evie Wilder and Indie Bow.

I love outdoor adventure, good food, especially sourdough. [00:01:00] And mindful movement. And I'm Jess of Hold the Space Wellness. I am a Level 1 CrossFit trainer, a licensed and certified athletic trainer with a Masters in Kinesiology, and Mama Tiberian Camille. I love food, trying new things, creating art, and being a perpetual learner.

Please note that while we're here to provide advice and insights, we aren't medical practitioners, and always recommend that you check with a trusted provider before implementing any changes. Thanks for joining us. We're so happy you're here. Hi, everyone. Welcome to another episode of the Modern Mamas podcast.

This is Laura here with a very special guest who actually joined us back in. I just looked it up. We just looked it up back in October of 2019 on episode 125. Feels like a lifetime ago, but I am super excited to welcome back Dr. Alana Rommel to the podcast. Thanks for coming, friend. Oh, thanks for having me.

I'm excited to do that. And we're taking a very different route on this episode, and I'm going to intro you here. People listening probably already know who you are, but I'm excited to take this episode in a different direction [00:02:00] that our listeners will know that I am very excited about, that you are very excited about, and that we definitely have a kindred spirit in regards to.

But before any of that, So Dr. Alana is a pediatric, pediatric naturopathic doctor and creator of Med School for Moms, an online community where she teaches moms how to safely be a doctor mom. Her doctor mom membership with over a thousand members helps moms feel calm, competent, and confident when their child gets sick and ultimately helps parents feel empowered.

with their family's health care decisions. Dr. Alana is also a co host of the popular Dr. Mom podcast with 2 million downloads and the founder of Nourish Medical Center in San Diego, California. To learn more about her, follow her on Instagram at Dr. Alana Rommel and we will put that in the show notes and her website at www.

medschoolformoms. com And I have had the immense honor of going on your podcast to talk all things van life before your big adventure. And now we get to have you on to share on the [00:03:00]other side a little bit about your own experience. So thank you for being here. Thank you for all the work you do. Thank you for sharing about the wool sock fever trick because it's so many times, my pleasure and just the way that you share too.

I want to get this out. So if you're listening and you haven't. Lana's stuff yet, go check it out because you approach the whole conversation in a way that is very approachable, that makes for an environment where I never feel like judged or like I'm doing it wrong and I just, I appreciate you and the way that you share, not only the information that you share, but the way that you share it.

So thank you for that. That means a lot to me. Thanks so much, Laura. And for you, I would have to say in return is how much you've inspired me for this, like van life experience and just your life in general, being outside with the kids and just like really just slowing down being a mom, but still being a working mama.

I love it. So this is going to be a fun episode that we can get to share. Yes. So we have so much in [00:04:00] common, which I really appreciate and so much to cover. So before we do. Can you give us, from your own perspective, right here and now, a little bit about who you are, your story, what you do, what fires you up, and then we'll dive more into vanliving, moves, life in general.

You got it. So, I don't want to take a full hour with my whole life story, but I'll give you some of it, like The highlights, but actually why I've come to where I am. So unfortunately, I've got a sad story, but it's turned into a gift. When I was nine years old, my seven year old brother died suddenly of sudden death asthma.

And if anyone's listening has a son or a daughter or just a loved one with asthma, please know that this is not something that is common. Sudden death asthma only happens in a very small percent of the population, and my brother was very sick. When he was only six weeks old, he had head to toe eczema. As he got older, we found out he had anaphylaxis to multiple foods.

He then started having recurrent ear infections. So, we call this the triad, atopic triad, where then he developed [00:05:00] asthma. So, he was a very sick child, and I grew up seeing him with these ailments. And then when he died, it really had me step back as a very young child and realize that life can be really short.

And it was really scary growing up with parents who, who witnessed this, this obviously changed our life trajectory quite a bit, even when my sisters and I would get the slightest cold, you can imagine my parents would freak out and think that, Oh my God, are they going to die? Right? Or is something really bad going to happen?

And understandably, they went through this anxiety when we would get sick. And so I think as now, yeah. As a naturopathic doctor, I gravitate towards these parents who are just overly anxious when their family members get sick, because it reminds me of my parents. And I just want to give them like this big hug and just say, Laura, like, everything's going to be okay.

We don't have to worry unnecessarily. And there are times that we need to worry and go to the doctor, go to the emergency room. So. [00:06:00] I think from a young age, I just, I saw that there was this need out there to really just give care, give education, give just like these big virtual hugs to these parents around the world.

I just see so much unnecessary worry. And so I chose to become a naturopathic doctor, which is essentially gives me the training of both the conventional medicine and the natural options because I felt like there was more that we could do with my brother. Honestly, looking back, there was. So much conventional medicines on on board, but like probably not enough of the natural medicine.

So I just I love to integrate. I love to give options. No option is wrong. It's just whatever the child or the individual needs at that time. I just like to give options and know that parents have options. So I became a naturopathic doctor and I, I sold my medical center actually to be, to go fully online because I realized even doing one on one practice, there's only so much I can do, you know, and I want to make a big impact.

I want to help a lot of people. So I started this online membership where I just, I share, I share all my protocols. I share all what is tried and true and safe and [00:07:00] effective natural medicines for, let's say, hand, foot, mouth and coughs and colds and runny nose, all those things that as parents, we're going to see with our kiddos.

And I love sharing and I love doing it. It's just a highlight of my day and kind of moving into what I think we're going to talk about on our episode today, which is more about van life, which is not about medicine. But I think the key theme here is that it's As a young child, when I saw that life could be taken so short, and then unfortunately, my father also passed away suddenly when I was 30, I started realizing that what I do with my everyday really matters.

And I get to choose that. Like I get to, in America, we're so fortunate to have the freedom. Where we get to design the life that we want for our kids, for our everyday. And when I got so clear, when I was losing too many family members too early, I've got a whole list of others, unfortunately, aunts and stepdad and all these grandparents, all these different people in my life that just.

We [00:08:00] have to say goodbye to I realized that I get to do what I want to do in my life. And if that looks like getting in a van with three of my young kids and my husband for six months and totally transforming my business to do it, I'm going to do it because if it's going to nourish me and it's going to fire me up to be able to still serve my community even better, you bet I'm going to be doing it and I'm going to move mountains to be able to do it.

And I'm. So glad that I did that. And I did that for the last six months. And I'm really excited to just be on a podcast to share why I did it, how I did it and all the funds and distressful days too. But I just feel like with such a mission that I'm out for in life, my life. History and purpose and all of that.

It's all intermingled. It's all unraveled. And so I think that that's kind of what culminated into taking the six month lap van life experience. I love it so much. And I know, I mean, your work was very much inter, intermixed and intertwined with the van experience. I know you even shared sickness that, I mean, you can't avoid it, right?

Oh yeah. you guys on the road. Oh yeah. And how you made it work. And I [00:09:00] think what a cool opportunity to share with people, like, yeah, you can do the van life thing. You can get out on adventures and you can have your arsenal of things that, it doesn't need to be an entire medicine cabinet in a house. You can keep it simple.

So. Absolutely. I love that. Okay. So you, what a story of loss and then my heart breaks for your family, but then also of, you know, moving forward and moving through and. Being inspired to make a difference and you have in so many people's lives, which I just think is incredible. So you head out on this journey.

Has it really been over six months since we recorded? Can you believe that? Yes. Oh, and it has because we recorded like a month before we left. And I've now been home for two months. So we're talking like eight months or nine months even. Yeah, time really can fly. Yeah, I say it again and again. Time is wild.

Well, okay, so now we get to hear about it. So last time we chatted, you were gearing up. It was exciting. And I was getting all the tips from you, right? So, yeah, I've learned so much along the way. And so, I guess, let's start with maybe just like a quick overview of where you [00:10:00] went, what spots you hit, and then I'd love to hear You know, with, with Evie every day and with Indie, we're starting with her too.

It's, we do like Rose, Bud, Thorne. So highlight or two, a Bud, like what are you looking forward to now? And then what was the challenge? I'd love to do Rose and Thorne for sure. And then maybe what are you looking forward to now that you're home? I love that. In our family, we do highs and lows, so maybe I'll have to do this Rose, Bud, Thorne because we're missing that Bud.

It's pretty fun. Yeah. Yeah. Super cool. So first, let's let's answer that question. Where do we go? So I'm a planner. So let's just put it out there. I would love to be and I'm embracing it more of just like the spontaneous like adventurous, but I love planning. It's like it's exciting to me. I love to plan to plan.

I think it's me too. Okay, because I see you, Laura is like a little bit more spontaneous than me. And I'm like, Nope, I love to plan. Okay, so I embrace it. And now I will say, Okay. Within the plan that my husband and I came out with, we have spontaneity within those places. Okay. Which [00:11:00] I loved. I love that feeling of, okay, we're here.

We made it now. What? Like I didn't plan every day, but I planned where we were going. So our initial plan was slightly different than what ended up being because partway through our adventure, my husband got invited to compete in the. Mountain pro games, the pro pro games, I don't know, whatever it is. And she's going to be so upset with me in Vail, Colorado.

Go pro mountain games. That's it. Got it. Go pro mountain games. So he's a slackliner. He's also a gymnast. He's pretty an amazing athlete. But. He does slackline tricks on, on slacklines, like flips and all this cool stuff. And so they were down one man and they knew that we were on the road and they're like, Oh my gosh, Anthony, can you come to bail and reroute so you can, you know, be in the competition?

And he was like the oldest guy. He was, he's 40 and everyone was like 17 and 28 and like 32 or something. And he was so excited to be there. So we rerouted [00:12:00] to get to bail. But let me tell you what the original plan was. That's the only reason why I was, I was bringing it up, but our original plan was to start from California to go to Arizona, then Utah, then Idaho, then Colorado, Wyoming, then cross country into Michigan, Wisconsin.

And then come back around. And then at that point, I didn't know how we were going to get back home to California, like where we would stop. Like we stopped in South Dakota to go to Mount Rushmore and like places like this, but we didn't really stay too, too long, but that was like the overall like gist of, of our trip.

We just wanted to, I don't know, do this, like where the, we really wanted to go to Montana. But it didn't work out weather wise. It was just too cold during that time. And we, we just, we wanted to get there maybe during fall, but we had to, we didn't make it. We're going to get there soon though. But that was pretty much like our overall trip.

We wanted to go through those states. And again, like we had these plans, but within the plans, a lot of different things [00:13:00] change. Unfortunately, I actually had two sudden deaths in my family. You wouldn't believe it during our trip. So we had, we came home for that. And then again, Anthony's competition, we rerouted, but overall, those are the states that we spent the most time in.

And looking back and and imagining three little kids, we had a six and a half year old, a three year old at that time and a six month to 12 month old. So we started when my baby was six months and by the time we got back, she was like 13 months or something. So we had a fun fill time with the family of five and all of those different stops.

Love it. Okay. I, we left with when Evie was 18 months. And so I'm imagining a six month old. What was just, I have to ask this and then I want to like talk more about what you just shared and all that. But what, what was your longest drive stretch? Because at that age, I imagine Indy at six months, I'm like, I don't even know how he would have done it.

Yes, that was probably the biggest challenge actually. So if you had to, you know, let's go with a thorn right now is [00:14:00] these kids are so young and they need to be mobile, right? And they need to be active. And you know, the six month stage, it was actually a lot easier than when she was closer to 12 months.

Cause now she's like starting to really like. Walk and crawl and like all over the place. So we had to do a lot of stops with me getting her out. I would even, and again, this is probably not the safest thing to say on a podcast, but with a van, we had back seats and I put seatbelts in the back seats too, knowing that like we may have to get out and stretch and get in the back.

So depending on like road conditions, sometimes I would just like. You know, get one of the kids out, go in the back, strap my seatbelt, just hang out with them. Again, we wouldn't do it on like heavy freeways, but you know, sometimes we would do like a eight hour day and it's a lot of driving. Now, we planned our plans, so.

We would really try to keep it to four to five hours, you know, like we really try to just make as many stops and then also maybe two hours and then stop, get Wiggles out, find a park, you know, [00:15:00]go get lunch or something, or just open up our fridge and make like a little picnic snack, you know, go climb, go jump, go do whatever you can.

And then we would try to like, get naptimes in, but I would say at least for the older kids, one of the struggles that I had was we really, we just had to take out an iPad. We actually had to buy an iPad on the trip because we didn't even have one. Like, we realized that this long trip, it was so hard for me to be like, Okay.

Another snack. Okay. Another game. Okay. Another thing. It just became this like, Oh my God, these, uh, it was exhausting. It was exhausting. And so we had like a rule. If it was over two hours, you would be able to get your iPad and just like watch a movie, you know? And I realized, I remember some of my, our best talks and best memories were these longer drives because the older kids and the baby wasn't on the iPad.

But if the older kids were on the iPad watching a movie for two hours and the baby was sleeping, Okay. It was like the only time my husband and I really got to talk, like we [00:16:00] had some extraordinary connection time just from these like long drives of seeing beautiful scenery and just talking about life, like what do we want from life?

What kind of schooling do we want for our kids? What do we love about the house that we just visited with our friends? What do we love about what inspired us about how they set up their, their home and what we want in our home. And we didn't really ever get that in our day to day, this like hustle and bustle of like living life with three kids in California, you know, trying to keep up with all these expenses and two working parents.

We never got those like real long, deep conversations. Where we just got to like talk and create life and create like the next destination and the next, you know, opportunity of adventure. And it was, I mean, I get chills. It was the best, the best months of my life, really, as a family. Everything was family centered and everything was family connected.

But for those [00:17:00] long drives, I realized even though those iPads were needed, they were tools, they were temporary, and what the kids gained from being in new places, new experiences, and being outside for so much of the days when we were got to the destination. Were so much more beneficial than like the rest of them like being on their iPad for five hours for a drive, right?

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And I look forward to smoothies this summer. Don't wait. Go grab yours and save 15 percent with paleovalley. com forward slash modern mamas. Enjoy! That's exactly how we felt and it wasn't like I didn't I truly didn't feel like I was just trying to justify it to myself Because with the eb we ended up doing you know we like downloaded like Moana a couple other things and she'd watch those and it on the long stretches and It was fine.

And I have this vivid memory that you just totally brought back. So thank you of driving through Big Sur with with Rusty. And at this point, I think most of the drive, Evie was actually asleep. And we similarly just like looking out of the coast and out of the water and having some of the most incredible conversation.

You can't, you can't, you can't replicate that. It's magic. You really can't. And you know, as a parent now of two, I'm a parent of three. There's so much interruption that happens with kids. Like you try to talk to your spouse and connect and you know, they need this or they want to talk about this. And it just, it becomes very kid focused [00:19:00] and there's nothing wrong with that.

We're having kids. We're choosing it. We love it. And there's also this really sacred time that as a. As parents, we get to connect. And so it's something where you're like constricted. You can't be on your phone. You can't do you. You're not like distracted by TV or you're not distracted. You are focused on driving and you see this beautiful scenery and everything just like disappears.

Feels like your worries disappear. Like all these distractions just disappear. You're on an open road. Maybe you're turning on music. Maybe you're listening to a book or maybe you're listening to nothing, you know, and you just get to be. And I'm, I really, I can't wait for our next adventure for those long drives.

I just, I absolutely love it. And then the kids are thrilled because they've never been on iPad for five hours at a time, you know, so they're excited. We're excited. So I, I, I really embraced those long drive days. I love it so much. And I love the kids are excited. So obviously you're keeping the van and you'll still adventure often.

Yes. And that [00:20:00] was interesting because we bought this van thinking, Oh, it's so expensive. Like we'll just rent it out after like we'll rent it to families who want to use it. It'll just be like a little side hustle or we'll just sell it, you know, because like you did, you bought a used one and then you sold it, you know, it's like, But now my husband is so obsessed with it.

He's like, Nope, this is my primary vehicle. He like sold his truck. He's like, this is my primary vehicle. We have a big family. I mean, a fourth is not off the table, so we will see if that's something that we decide to do or not. But like having a big vehicle like that is actually amazing for like, snowboards or surfboards or bikes or like we love having this family van and now when we get into it it like kind of gives us like a little bit of a reminder of what it was like on the road.

We will always have that feeling of a family of like road life, you know, van life. Like what was that like sleeping in the back of this or eating out of that bridge or like making that mess. Oh, do you remember when all that sand got it, you know, and just all these little memories. And I just, I don't think we'll ever get rid of that van, but [00:21:00] you never know in like 10 years, you know, we'll see.

But we love them. Yeah. We, we kept ours well after we Had settled up here even in Washington, because similarly, we actually had considered selling it and then COVID hit and we're like, absolutely not this. It felt, it felt like a safe place, no matter what happened and how crazy people got or whatever happened, we had this thing that we could escape in.

And it's also been fun now that we did sell it, like. You know, settling back into tent camping with the girls and that kind of thing. But similarly, and even just for like day trips to the beach or to the National Park or wherever, there's, it's so convenient. We always had, we could just have snacks in the fridge.

It made, it made adventuring, especially that first season when Rusty was doing Wildland Fire and I was pregnant with Indy and we had the van. Evie and I had so many epic summer adventures. And so it's, it's, it's hard to explain until you've experienced it. But the whole van living thing is just so cool.

I love, you know, I love that you're It seems like your entire family unit is really, really on board. Yeah. Well, I will say it took a lot of actually [00:22:00] convincing. Well, it did take a lot of convincing my husband. It was more the radical life change that it took for us to both completely. Just shift our life to take six months off.

And I want to say, I understand that that is not realistic for a lot of majority of people. My husband owns a gym, so it's like a physical place that he was showing up back to back to back sessions with clients and he has trainers that he manages. I mean, it's, it's a busy gym. And so he was like, there's no way I could do it.

And I said, what if we thought about it? Like, there's no way we can't do this for our family, you know, for like our memories for our life. And I go back to my. Initial story is like, I've lost a lot of family members and I look at their losses as like gifts to inspire me to always do whatever it is that I feel like is best for that time for my family.

And I felt like we were disconnected as a family for that last year. COVID was really hard for us. Well, I would say it brought us together [00:23:00] because we're all so close, but there was so much worry and stress. And to me, that disconnects people. There was a lot of stress in, in Anthony's gym. If you can imagine owning a gym right during COVID, well, you can, cause you're very involved in your gym too.

Right. Just like the community, the field, like the disconnection. And then I was pregnant and there was so much going on. I was building my business and Anthony. Was building his or, you know, managing his, cause his was already built. It was just so much stuff going on. And I just looked at him and I said, we need like a reset, you know, like we need something like drastic to just like pause us from life, restructure our family, get us on the road, just like, and that's what this did for us.

It just completely shifted from this. I feel like very outside, very distracting, less connection to just like fully, fully family focused. And I think is a working mom who is very successful. Actually, in my career, I'm very fortunate and I feel like I've worked really hard. I [00:24:00] love what I do. And I think because I love what I do, it pours out so I could be successful in it.

It also changes the dynamic in our relationship where I think a powerful working woman can also demonstrate some masculine traits at times where it could be a masculinating to a man at times. And so I'm just being so transparent here is I feel like sometimes our roles In our marriage, we're just kind of like getting blurred and shifting and just getting like icky.

And both of us looked at each other like we have so much love for each other. Like we, this is not how we want to live life. And I really felt like if we went on the road and we lived in a van or we lived camping or even, I mean, we did need Airbnb for sure. Cause I had to work on the road and that was a choice and we can go into those details, but on the road, it like called us.

Into our true like masculine duties and our feminine duties, like it was a lot for Anthony, my husband to like unpack us and pack us and set up camp and do [00:25:00] the heavy loading and get our water jug and fill it up and then, and then, you know, take out all of our cooking stuff. Oh, and then it rains. Okay.

Pack it up and put the awning on it. Okay. Run, do this. And that was something. that I couldn't do. I was tending to the babies and, you know, getting our next meal prepped and, you know, making sure that everyone had like clothes and, and gloves and a hat and saw, you know, like these more, I don't know, to me more of like a feminine role with the child caring and nursing our daughter.

Right. Cause we were still nursing. I'm still nursing. I'm the baby. And I just, we look back. Oh, even like the long hours of driving. That was all my husband. I didn't do that. I was managing the kids. Yeah. I mean, well, to be in all transparency, our, we have like such a big van and I'm like 5'1 I'm like, there's no way I'm driving this van.

I didn't know you were 5'1 I'm like 5'1 And I'm like intimidated. This van is huge. And I'm not usually intimidated, but I've never even driven our van, Laura. Like he drove the entire time. I took care of the kids. I [00:26:00] Fed them because there were so many snacks and so many games and so much to do back there.

So he drove the entire time. I don't think I've ever even shared that. So anyway, I mentioned this because it was such a beautiful thing for our marriage. For me to be so grateful for all of the things that he provided that I didn't feel capable of doing. But like in our usual day to day, I feel very capable.

I could do a lot. You know, I could I can run the house. I can run the business. I can run a lot. But there were things that were just so imperative that I needed a man for that I was like, ah, I love this and he loved it. He thought we got to like really show off like our strengths in our in our partnership.

And so that also really connected us a lot. I love that you bring that conversation to the table because I think it's something that for a little while and I'm gonna be totally transparent because that's what we do here. It just, I felt like it was brushed away, like, these feminine and masculine roles.

And it doesn't have to be a rule, but it is a biological norm. The most, right? And we have found in our partnership, [00:27:00] similarly, like, I feel like for us, the van living was a good reset. When we went into it, Rusty was teaching CrossFit seminar. So as long as we were near an airport, he could still go have his career and do his thing and then come back.

But over the course of our time in the van, the CrossFit kids seminar was basically kind of done away with. And so we lost that and that was hard for him and he still had all those roles that you were talking about, but he didn't have the provider role in that same way. And I think that's one of the reasons why we kind of rounded it out.

He needed to find that for himself again. But I think one of the cool things about the van living situation is that for most of our relationship, I've been like the main breadwinner in terms of actual income. But I think that for us was a catalyst to really kind of shift gears a little bit. And for me to surrender more towards.

You find the thing that's going to like fire you up and provide for our family and I actually want to be with the kids more and baking bread and feeding them and there for them in that way, you know, and so [00:28:00] there's nothing like getting, like you said, a total shuffle or reset or restructure. Something that's so outside the norm to kind of make, and then those long, long drives where you get to have those incredible conversations to help you just figure that stuff out, which I think is so absolutely, and I love it.

And for sharing on your end, too, because what Anthony and I realize is every family, family dynamic is different. And what works for one family will not work for another. And that is okay and beautiful. And we need to just embrace what works for us in this season. And one of the big, huge conversation topics that we would talk about is how do we want our family to look when we go home?

You know, right now we're all together. And what Anthony was able to do is just kind of put his gym on autopilot, like virtual, like. Let his trainers just train his clients, let his trainers just run the gym. And he's like, is this even going to work? You know, it was really scary for him. He added this business for over 20 years, but he really needed this [00:29:00] break.

Like he's never done anything like this. And because my business was doing so well, I said to him, but we can do this. So why wouldn't we, right? If I can help financially, then put it on, just like, just make it virtual. Just take the pay cut. And let's just do this for six months and reevaluate how we want to go back to life.

Because we were immersed for so long in this life of him not being so on with working and me doing more of my work and him being more on with the children and finding this like flow in this dance. He even said to me, he goes, I would have never done this if I didn't think that you could provide. Thank you so much for For providing, but I didn't also realize how hard this is to manage the family and be home with the kids and make sure that there's diaper changes and food on the table and all of this stuff.

Now we obviously did a lot together still, but he had such a good. Much more appreciation and acknowledgement for all the work that I was doing to back [00:30:00] at home while managing both. And by the end of this trip, he actually said, as much as I love my career and I love the gym, and he's still running it from Idaho where we move.

But he's like, I actually want to be more involved with the kids. I don't want to just go back to the hustle and bustle. And if we can do this. Let's like retire me, you know, and now he's actually full on with the, with the children. So I can then work and this is the life we've created because we realized through our trip that having one of the partners in work mode and another one more focused on the house and the children, our partnership, the kids get what they need.

Everything is just richer in our life. When we were both focused on work. Then we were more dependent on nannies or more dependent on the school systems or more dependent on like external things that we were losing that connection. And it was huge. Like we're now we moved fully to a different state because we want to continue [00:31:00] this lifestyle that was completely triggered and inspired.

On this trip. I mean, we have restructured our entire life because of that six month trip. We're so much so happy. Similarly, we, we have a very set, like we have not signed up for a life where both of us work full time. Like we just, that's not what we want. There are other, there are other ways to be wealthy.

You know, so I love that you guys were kind of able to lean into that as well. And we're in a season, you know, he's doing the wildland fire thing. He's gone like all summer and I am just with those girls. Then he gets home and then we get to slow down and we're really living very cyclically now. And I think the van experience just kind of continually we're brought back to that and the lessons that we learned about what we want and our ability to, I mean, I imagine you guys experienced this too.

It opened up new avenues of communication and new communication strength in our partnership that we never experienced before because you're forced into it. You have to, to make it work, you have to be able to communicate effectively, kindly, respectfully, and [00:32:00] clearly. Otherwise it doesn't work. Absolutely.

Because, and you're also in such close quarters, right? So, all of that is like, you're not going to bed if you guys are upset with each other because everyone feels it in the van, right? No one will sleep. Yeah. Exactly. You're clearing things up. You're being extra kind. You're realizing you're your teammates.

You guys are both here to, you know, make a safe environment for the kids, feed the kids, you know, make sure that you guys are getting what you need, which is hard because we had zero child care the entire six months. Zero. And we went from like a 40 hour full time nanny both of us working right to nothing.

And because we knew we needed this shift, we didn't want a full time nanny anymore. Like that wasn't why we had kids. So it was really so special and so awesome. And yes, I make it seem like every day was incredible. I think most days were incredible, but there were definitely a lot of days that were hard and challenging, but that's how you grow too.

You, you know, we had this like running joke between us where people are like, how are [00:33:00]you doing it? Isn't it crazy with three kids? And my, my response was always like, yeah, but it's crazy with three kids when you're at home too. So why not just be on the road and have fun and adventure with three kids? So.

Yeah. That was always like our motto is like when days got hard. Well, guess what? It would be hard at home anyway. So we're on our road. Let's keep on going. Totally. And I feel the same way. Like I keep coming back to there's If there's no walls to bounce off of, like kids can't bounce off walls. So you just park somewhere, you get them out, you let them move, you unwind, and yeah.

I love that. I was actually very inspired by that, Laura. I heard you say that before we went on our trip is that you felt like parenting was easier outside than inside. And when I heard that, I was actually in a really hard time with my My, my toddler who was, it's a boy, he was probably like three and we were just coming out of the twos, the twos and the threes have been really challenging with me with my boy in particular, his name's Rafi, very high energy kid, very athletic, just lots and lots and lots of need for activity, which I [00:34:00] love.

And I love that about him. And he's so great outside because you know, nature is just his playground. You give him sticks and he's just like in heaven, this kid. But then when we're inside, my concern is, Oh my God, don't climb on this. Oh, you're going to break this. Are you going to do this? And I was like, this is way more stressful.

Like, why am I trying to parent this very high energy boy who just has a lot of beautiful qualities about him? And he's in this twos and threes. He needs to be outside. I'm done saying no to this child. He deserves a mom who's just like, yes, you know, more yeses. Yes. Go explore. Yes. Go look at that. Yes. Go dig that hole.

Yes. Get dirty. And so it was, I actually think he was also a very big inspiration for us to go on that trip because I just started hearing myself with him and not so much with my girls, my girls, I was able. I felt like to parent inside for some reason a little bit easier for me, but for him, I, I knew I needed a change of environment.[00:35:00]

And that's what that trip also did for us is he just was just let loose. And I feel like it's so fun because now it doesn't even matter how cold it is. He's just so used to now just bundling up and getting outside and just get his energy out. And we just love that about him. Oh, sweet. Heya! Lori here.

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Okay, that's a great question. I'm so sorry. I realized the time I could talk about this forever. So thanks for bringing me back. Okay. So we had many [00:37:00] intentions of this trip, right? So one, we, you know, I said, my husband just needed a break. We needed to recenter as a partnership. My, my, you know, boy just needed to just be outside a lot more.

We wanted to be outside as a family. But another intention that we really needed was, In California, we were and are still currently, we have a lot of medical freedoms taken from us. There's a lot of vaccine mandates and with COVID, there was just like a lot more rules that were starting to be implemented that I just felt were not.

The best for our families health and wellness. I feel like I'm not shy about this, but I was a very big advocate for just medical freedom. I'm not anti vaccine. I'm not a pro vaccine for the CDC schedule that there's one size fits all. I'm actually very neutral and I just support people who whatever choice they make.

They make it and and I have a lot of vaccine education. I just want people to be informed and empowered with their choices and I felt when California lost its mind and decided to just take away [00:38:00] choices from parents. I felt like that was wrong. I really did. I fought. I lobbied a lot. I fought really hard with that.

We lost. And I just thought that was wrong. And I, I'm a kind of person who loves options. I love options for kids. I love options for myself. I think that's why I'm an entrepreneur. I like freedom and flexibility. It's a big value that I have in my family and the choices I make in my day to day. So when I started just looking at the California landscape and seeing not only just medical freedoms being taken, but you know, there's obviously lots of taxes and politics and there's just so much going on at high expenses just to live and the hustle and bustle of daily life.

I just said to my husband, I said, You know, I just want to know if there's another way of living, you know, like how other people doing it because I'm a very curious person. Now I grew up in California. My husband grew up in California. We have family there. We never thought we would ever leave, but we figured, well, for a six month strip, let's just go and see how other people are living.

So we chose a lot of those states based on family and friends. Or people that we knew so we can actually go into their [00:39:00] homes, whether they have one kid, six kids, you know, no kids and just see like, how are you doing it? You know, like we're all living life with very similar needs. But how are you doing it?

And what's working for you? What's not working for you? And so we were able to go throughout the country to so many different people's homes to really see what their day to day was like. And that's really what's inspired us to create the life that we're up for creating and very mindfully. And so we chose those States based on family, friends.

And when we got to Arizona, we, we just were like, could we live here? Could we not live here? And we were quickly like. We don't live in Arizona. Yeah, but it's fun to be here, you know, and, but we're ready to go to Utah. Then we went to Utah. We're like, could we live here? Could we not live here? And we actually loved Utah.

Utah, I mean, the national parks and the mountains and it's just such beauty. And I liked how central it was to getting to different places, to get to Colorado, to get to Idaho, to get. And we [00:40:00] toyed with that, but we kind of tried on. We're like, Okay, well, let's keep on going and seeing what else is there.

And we got to Idaho. We came to Boise and it actually took me like 10 solid days of being here for me to be like, what's the big deal? You like everyone loves it. So many California families are moving here. So I was like, what's the buzz? What, what's the, but it took me 10 solid days to be like, I get it this like slow pace of life.

The like community feel everyone's so nice. You'd like who have all these servicemen coming into my house. Actually we're getting our water filters installed right now as we're recording and yesterday he came over just to inspect and we had like this hour conversation like in California. No one's sitting there for like an hour just like talking about life and everyone's just like running to the next thing.

And so here we just feel like people are sincerely like caring and curious and wanting to just like get to know people and this slow pace of life was something that I just embraced so much by month [00:41:00] three into our trip that I was like, wow, this could be someone's like every day and then there's so much nature here.

I mean, it's beautiful being here. So that once we got to Idaho, we're like, Whoa, we could totally see ourselves here. And it obviously didn't help that like, we have all these California friends and family friends who've moved here, who's like trying to convince us to move. So that was kind of fun. You already have community kind of set there.

We have some community who've just, but it wasn't still a hundred percent. We were just like, but you know what? I don't mind like talking to a realtor and just seeing like what the neighborhoods were like, it got to that point where we're like, well, let's just like check out different neighborhoods, you know, and check out different spots.

And then from there we went to Colorado because we're like, well, we don't want to rule out Colorado and then can we live in Colorado? So every state we went to, we definitely went with this like idea of, is this like a place we could see ourselves in? It wasn't that we were planning. My hope was that we would just finish our entire trip, go back to California, reflect and then say, do we want to do this?

Do we not want to do this? [00:42:00] But I would say after leaving Idaho, both Anthony and I looked at each other and we're like, Okay, we really liked Utah, but no, we really like Idaho. And then I'm like, where else would we want to be, you know, like we went through like our list of needs and our desires and we're like, I don't even know where else in this country we would want to go that has everything that we want in our life for our family.

But of course, we still continued our trip and we were very open minded and we wanted but we kind of had like this feeling like I don't think this is going to be the last time we're going to be here. They prove us wrong. Yeah, exactly. We're like, yeah, prove us wrong. So I mean, look, you know, Laura, we're here.

We just moved here. So, you know, give me a year or two or three and maybe have me back on that episode. Maybe I won't feel like this is the best place for us. I mean, we just don't know. But all we know is that this trip, our six month trip in the van, Has taught us that we're very adaptable and we're very resilient.

So if this is not the home for us, that's okay. You know what? We've proven that we can pick up and we can move or guess what? [00:43:00] A big part of us was like, do we even want to own a home? We went back and forth to be like, do we even want to choose a location? I would just live I was in a little bit of a depression when we got home.

It was really sad for me because everyone's like, are you so happy to be like be home and in your bed? And I was like Honestly, no, like I actually missed the feeling of being on the road because once we got back home, guess what? Stifling. There's things to, there's things to manage. There's, there's, you know, like, I mean, the list, right?

Like, okay, you got to clean this. part of the house. Oh, you've got to, you know, make sure you change the filters on this one. I don't know, like the garage. Oh, the garage needs to be organized. Oh, now we have all this stuff. Like, what do we do with all this stuff that we haven't even had for six months in the closet?

Do we want to get rid of it? Oh, now I get to look at this stuff. And now this stuff is causing me like excess stress because I don't even want to look at it. We didn't even need it for six months. Oh, but it looks pretty in this room. Like, I know it's [00:44:00] silly, but it's like It really made a difference for me.

And then it's like, Oh, he's back to work and I'm back to work. And now we need a nanny. And I'm like, I do not like this. So. We just restructured and reshifted and being here in Idaho is like, even my husband and I were at dinner last night or eating at our house and he said to me, you know, being here in Idaho kind of feels like we're back on our trip because we're not like at home home, but we're in like our new home and at any time we could just get in the van and get going and I'm like, exactly.

It feels so good to feel that way. I love that so much. I love that for you guys. I love that you, you know, it, I kind of think it's really cool that you didn't just like show, drive into Idaho and were like, this is it. It took some time for you to actually be there and settle in. I feel like there's something more real about that.

Kind of like the veil had been lifted and I just, it's special. And I, there's just so many things I'm like, Oh, me too. Oh, me too. Oh, us too. The stuff thing. I, I probably got rid of too much stuff when we got back because I was like, Louise had stored some stuff from my mother in law's. And it's helped me to be even more of a minimalist.

We just, we don't need [00:45:00] stuff. You know, kids don't need stuff. Evie, it, I think her going through it. The age that she did, it's really impacted her in that way. She's just like, when she ends up getting some things, holidays or birthdays or whatever, she always has this one where she's like, I need to, I need to declutter my room.

I'm like, Oh my gosh, what a beautiful soul. That's awesome. Well, she models it from you, I'm sure. So that's great. Yeah. And we can't, we want to come visit, you know, I'll have to get out there and come see you guys because now you're not that far. And we've actually, I haven't been to Boise since I was a kid.

We've done, we did Coeur d'Alene. We drove through that way. Spent a lot of time in Montana. Yeah. But I've heard such wonderful things, and so I would love to come and see you guys. Oh, we would love that. Then you can cook us some sourdough. You bake us some sourdough. I love it. You can leave your starter so I can, I can take it on too.

Yeah, that's one perk of being home is now you can have a, you know, a starter. Well, yes. And, and again, yes, there are definitely pros and cons. It was so nice to have, like, my kitchen back and, you know, things like that. But all I have to say is it was an adventure that I will always remember, and if anyone's who just has, like, that [00:46:00] yearning.

To just take off and go. I just, I recommend you just look at your life and see what can you restructure? Because you can start getting so creative. You wouldn't actually think that you can, but you can think you can. And if we could do it with three young kids and moved all of our businesses online this day and age, it's sometimes very possible.

And I just, it was a, it was a life. long memory we'll always have. And it's now created a culture in our family that we will get back in the van and maybe do like a month trip. It doesn't have to be six months or three weeks. And, you know, I think a week is just like too short. In my opinion, you're like just getting in like, But anything, you know, just to like reset, rejuvenate, it's just so special.

Yeah. I was going to say, leave us with one like parting awesome piece of advice, but I feel like that was it. Is there anything else that you want to share on top of that? Yeah. Let me just think if there's anything else, I think right now, what are my themes and something going into like the new year is just this feeling of just slowing down.

I think it's [00:47:00] very, very easy, especially as a mom with. Owning a business and having three kids and just doing so much busy stuff that very easy to get carried away in life. And I think that it's actually really up to us to turn off all of that external noise. And it's really up to us as moms. We have such a powerful way of setting the pulse.

Of the day to day in the family and one thing that that traveling did for me was realized that that post could really be like dialed down when you're just out in nature with your family. There's no other things going on. And if I think life gets so busy where that pulse keeps on just like Ramping it up, which it probably will it's inevitable things happen kids get sick or you know Freaking pandemics happen wars happen, right?

Life is just busy I think that it's so good to always have this like knowing that there's like a way to reset And redial that pulse and I think getting out and [00:48:00] changing location changing scenery Can sometimes just be that exact thing that you need for your family. So don't be scared to just pile everyone into a minivan or a car or whatever and go to a hotel.

Doesn't need to be like this van, you know, get an Airbnb or do whatever makes you feel comfortable. But I think sometimes relocating and seeing something different for me, nature does definitely help reset. So for me, that was really helpful. There's science behind that too. And there is science behind that, right?

But even if it is like an Airbnb and you're just like sitting in the like, I don't know, the backyard because it's like a different scene, I think it's still help you get out of that like rut because it's a cycle and it can really take over. And I'm just so grateful that we have this beautiful country and I'm sure you know this beautiful world that you could do that and you could do it.

We have a family of three young ones, right? I took a 6. 5 to 6 month old and we did it so you could do it too. I just yeah. Best, best memories ever. Yeah. Core memories for sure. I love [00:49:00] it. Sometimes you didn't mention like do what makes you comfortable, but also there's going to be discomfort and sometimes it takes that discomfort to like have that shuffle and that reset and to like kind of figure out what you want out of life.

And actually, that's a great way also to end you. Can I have two more minutes? I know we're going over. So thank you. I'm here. But I would actually say I would recommend stretching yourself. So before our trip, I was not the avid camper. I did not grow up with a family who took me to, you know, different nature hikes and camping.

My family was very much like the hotel, not very outdoors. Even though I grew up close to an ocean, we rarely really went. Okay, so I knew I wanted this for my family. So I stretched myself by, you know, being in this van or, you know, even camping in the rain or getting really muddy and wet and, you know, being out in the cold.

And I actually think that that stretch is what gave me some of the most Fulfillment in the trip because now my husband I look at [00:50:00] each other like if we wanted to go on a camping trip for a week, we can pack the van in a second and just go because we've done it now so many times, you know, we've packed and unpacked and packed and unpacked and learn how to do it.

So I really stretched myself. I was uncomfortable for many of those times and I'm like, but now I feel like I've got this ability to be like, oh, oh yeah, we could do this. We could go anywhere. Let's just I know what to pack. I know where to go. Let's do this and let's go and Stretching myself, I think has opened up so many new possibilities that now we can go to and so many new places that I think I would have been a little bit more hesitant.

And so I think that that's another thing is stretch and feel okay about that because the The benefits will outweigh the discomfort in so many ways, and you won't know until you just try it. Love it. And then you modeled that for your kids, too. Yes, totally. So cool. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me on.

This was so fun. What a treat. Well, enjoy the rest of your day. I want to say I will see you this year. We're going to make our way out there. Hey, please do. That'd be so fun. [00:51:00] Please have your whole family come. That would be such a special gift. Or I'll just, or I might end up just coming solo on my husband's.

We're fighting fires and I need that could be too and I need to shuffle it up. Yeah. I love it. So, but you'll bring the kids, right? Absolutely. I would love that. I'm pretty much always in tow. That sounds great. Love it. Awesome. Well, enjoy your day. Happy holidays. Thank you. You too. Enjoy your new home. Thank you for sharing and thanks everyone for listening.

We'll talk to you next week. All right. Bye.

Thanks for listening to our podcast. See you next time. Bye.[00:52:00]