Let's get real here, shall we? Who am I and why should you be following along to some "rando" on the internet?
My goal in writing all of this out is that you can connect a real live person with this blog. I'm (relatively) normal, not at all influencer-y, definitely DO NOT have my sh*t together, will never ever give you parenting advice (if there is one thing I know about parenting it's that I don't know), and am just here to help us get settled and connected in our new city.
So here goes...
I've always described myself (for better or worse) as an open book. My husband often has to remind me that not EVERYTHING needs sharing. Oops. 🤠(Skip to the end if you really don't care about my entire life story bc once I popped, the fun didn't stop and I unsurprisingly told you too much.)
I was born and raised as the only girl in a family of 6 in Omaha, Nebraska. For most of our early education we were homeschooled by my mom, a former teacher. I promise we aren't super weird (just slightly weird). We all went to private, Catholic high schools and colleges and are more or less high functioning adults now so she didn't screw us up too badly. (Jk, jk Mom - you da best!)
After college I joined the Alliance for Catholic Education (ACE) at the University of Notre Dame. It's like Teach For America but for Catholic schools. Basically you work on your Masters in Education while teaching in a low income school. My placement was in Los Angeles teaching 2nd grade. Let's be real here - I assumed teaching would be fun and easy and BONUS I'd get a Masters degree out of it! And from the prestigious University of Notre Dame, no less! A school I'd never even dreamed of applying to for college. Turns out teaching is NOT for the faint of heart and it was a really hard but also really amazing two years. Those poor students of mine though... I really was clueless.
It was during my time in this program that I met my husband Kevin. He was a year behind me so after I finished and graduated, I moved across the country to be closer to him as he finished off his last year in ACE. We enjoyed a school year living and teaching near Richmond, VA before moving to Minnesota to be married and live happily ever after. Except we didn't...
We had both left teaching but quickly realized we weren't happy in our new jobs and started looking for a new adventure. The ACE program had a smaller program teaching English in Santiago, Chile and we decided to apply. They took a chance on us and accepted us as the first married couple to be in the program and we sold or stored away all of our belongings, packed our bags and said hasta luego to our friends and family.
Thinking back to our time in Chile fills me with equal parts nostalgia for the incredible travel and international experience and utter anxiety remembering the reeeeeally tough time we had navigating the Chilean classroom setting. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. BUT the definite highlight of this experience was returning to the US with our firstborn in my belly!
We spent the next four years living back "hOmaha." We had our first two boys there and I spent my days nannying in different capacities while Kevin worked in a few non-profit jobs. Again, this very easily could have been where we lived happily ever after... except we didn't.
On a bit of a whim, Kevin started looking into new jobs across the country. We've always wanted to live "in the mountains" so when he came across a job in Idaho, he applied. When he first told me about it I literally laughed in his face. (Joke's on me)
In January of 2019 we uprooted our little lives and once again said hasta luego to our family and friends and moved across the country to a little city called Pocatello - a place we'd only been once - to interview for the job! It was almost as stark of a contrast as moving to Chile was! We didn't know anyone and really started building up a new life from scratch.
I can't even begin to tell you how thankful I am for this big move for us. It was here that I got the chance to be a full time stay at home mom, reconnect with Kevin in a way I don't think we would have otherwise, got to fulfill our dream of living in the mountains, and really become the truest version of ourselves and shape our little family. We also got to bring home our third babe here (who I was convinced would finally be a daughter but who is very much a son). We traveled and explored, picked up new hobbies, made a house a home, and made some of the greatest friends there ever could be.
OOPS HE DID IT AGAIN. Kevin came home one day in the Spring of 2021 and said, SURPRISE! There is this NEW job opportunity calling my name but this time it's a few hours away in Boise! The second he told me I knew it in my bones that it was happening. Just as we were starting to hit a groove in Pocatello, we were on the move again.
Soooooo here we are. In Boise. Starting over in an entirely new place. During a pandemic. 🙃 This time we've got three kids and recently added a puppy to the mix like any other insane family would. (This is an awesome story though so remind me to tell you some day about how Scout joined our fam!)
If you're a newbie like us, I hope this becomes a huge and helpful resource for you as you navigate all things Boise (with kids) related. If you're a native or have lived here for-ev-er then I hope you can help guide us transplants while also learning new things about your Idahome.
I really REALLY want this to become a positive, impactful community. I keep saying this but I really hope that TOGETHER we can turn this space into our "go-to" or "One Stop Shop" whenever we have questions or want to share in anything local and awesome we've found.
Here goes!