We’ve been trying to get this thing launched for some time now. For too long in fact. I thought to kick things off I’d do a bit of an intro. My name is Nate. My wife is Candice and we have four awesome boys between the ages of 10 months and 7-years-old. I’m an obsessed fly fisherman and she’s a super dedicated and adventurous mother. Candice grew up with 3 brothers and a wild dad. As mentioned in our short bio, her childhood consisted of skating bowls, backpacking, and snowboarding all from a young age. In short, she’s never the one dragging her feet to get out and do.

At the end of 2010, I started a fly fishing blog called OutsmartingFish. I have had a lot of fun with it and I’ve learned a lot. It’s been really rewarding to create something that people appreciate – to provide value and have others benefit from it in one way or another. I’ve loved sharing the stoke of fly fishing with good content. In the meantime, Candice has wanted to start something of her own. She was always going on adventures with the boys while I’m at work so she wanted to start a blog of her own to share those adventures. When my friend, Mike, talked about going on a ‘bro trip’ and subsequently audibled for a family adventure, a light bulb went off in my head. After some pleading to my wife, I talked her into letting me join the venture to create a blog together – WildRoots was born.

Our family got started a little earlier than expected (read: honeymoon baby) so she and I never really had a chance to go on adventures together before our little one mixed things up a bit. We both knew that we wanted to keep our kids close in age and we’ve been blessed with the ability to get pregnant quite easily so whether we felt ready or not (I didn’t) we continued to have our kids roughly every two years. As it turns out…they were all boys and oh are they ‘high energy’. Must be in the genes. We’ve always been a bit more adventurous with our kids than most, but over the last few years as we’ve gone on more and more trips together, we’ve grown obsessed with going to many of the places that we’d love to go with or without kids. It’s not always easy, and honestly it’s not always fun! Overall, we’re definitely laying a foundation of good memories. It pushes you as a parent. Being prepared for bad weather or any of the countless things that can happen outside is one thing when you’re looking after yourself. Any parent knows, it’s next-level when you’re talking about a milk-drinking baby and/or a ‘rebelous’ 2-year-old. Isn’t that what it’s all about though? We’re doing this (life) to get better, to grow. Willingly throwing yourself in the fire can definitely hasten the process and you’ll be better equipped as you come out the other side of things.

So to wrap things up we have big plans for WildRoots. We have a ton of fun spending time outside as a family. It’s important to us and we want to share that excitement with others. We want to share the things we have learned and continue to learn. We’ll share things that will make your life easier: places, ideas, equipment, etc.

We’re beyond pumped to make new connections. To share. To learn. If we can help convince ANYONE to spend more time outside with their kids then that’s really all we want. They’ll love it. You will too! Hopefully it doesn’t get old but our message is simple…….#plantwildroots because #wildrootsrundeep.

We’d be pumped if you stick around: share your experiences with us, join the conversation, let us know if you have questions! We by no means know it all. Thanks for reading and stay tuned!

The Leavitts