Aimee and John discuss the state of the American education system and debate possible reforms. They analyze problems like declining standards, the role of standardized testing, and how technology could be better utilized. They also consider historical influences on our model of public schooling and differing philosophical views. Parents and educato…

John and Aimee discuss how technology and social media have changed the way teenagers interact and socialize. As old millennials, they talk about their own childhood experiences in the pre-internet era and how kids today have constant access to their friends online. They express concern that this is fueling rising rates of depression among teens du…

This episode of the podcast discusses religion, education, and hypocrisy in American history through the lens of some founding fathers of the USA. Hosts John and Aimee debate the role of religious adherence and cultural norms over time. They also analyze Ben Franklin's remarkable scientific mind as a child and reflect on how technology may have lim…

John and Aimee dive into a wide-ranging conversation touching on everything from rising fast food costs to their children's unusual interests and cooking experiments. They discuss ideas for a cat cafe business and debate the complex social dynamics of religion, gender roles, and teenage relationships. They begin the discussion around the value of w…

In this episode we discuss the challenges of enacting positive change in small, insular communities. We debate issues like low pay for youth program workers, resistance to new ideas, and the difficulty of modernizing institutions that have remained stagnant for decades. We also touch on the pride locals take in traditional ways of life and skeptici…

Here is our annual year in review of 2023. We hit highs and lows from the past year: ankle surgeries, health issues, family, vacations, sports, and more. Enjoy! John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to raising kids, education, farming, and the circus that is their life. --- Send in a voic…

Foot Injury, Offensive Slurs, and Healthcare Woes In this episode, hosts John and Aimee dive into Aimee's long journey to get surgery for a foot injury she suffered over a year ago. They discuss the drama of dealing with her insurance company's "surgery plus" program and multiple failed appointments. Aimee also opens up about her deep anxiety surro…

In this episode, Aimee opens up about the struggles of raising boys in today's society. She discusses the difficulties of dealing with conditions like eczema and ADHD while also facing judgment from other mothers. Aimee expresses frustration with the "coddling" of children and how it is affecting their development. John and Aimee debate the idea th…

Today's episode we start sharing our final thoughts and updates on our homeschooling experiment and end of school year for our 3 boys and then dive deep into our experience on Royal Caribbean's Freedom of the Seas cruise as our first big time vacation and cruise as a family. John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a va…

Today's episode we lament about Super Mario Bros being a disappointment, our realization when it comes to mental vs. physical aging, our appreciation for the fact that teenagers are SUPPOSED to hate their parents, and the importance of having really solid humans around your family and kids as they age. John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, …

Today's episode we talk Easter, vomit, diarrhea, the power of letting nature do as nature does, and deep psychological fears that Aimee has of being replaced. Enjoy. John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to raising kids, education, farming, and the circus that is their life. --- Send in a…

Today's episode we start with Aimee's new obsession that is coffee, making our own food and nutritional changes we're making, our experience with Virginia Virtual schooling of our 2 youngest sons, and we finish the episode off talking about our favorite topics - Edumacation. Enjoy. John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles …

Today's episode we give a "Vacations 2023" update, talk about raising and feeding young boys, and then we dive into a college conversation - Boomers vs. Millennials edition. Enjoy. John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to raising kids, running a virtual administrative business, and the ci…

Today's episode we touch on the paranormal, "normal" things girls did at slumber parties in Indiana, Aimee's complete and total terror of the boys in blue, and a variety of other random nuggets from our brainholes. Enjoy. John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to raising kids, running a vi…

Our favorite episode of the year! We review all the happenings of our past year in 2022. Kitchen remodels, mastermind events in Utah, new pooches, and more. Outdoors on our back deck! We laugh. We cry. We even have a small, sausage-like, guest that is with us throughout the entire episode. John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and pri…

Today is the holiday episode with The Fairbanks which means we explore everything that makes Aimee a Grinch during this typically joyous and festive season. Enjoy. John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to raising kids, running a virtual administrative business, and the circus that is thei…

What's the worst that could happen when you outsource your parenting to social media, "the matrix", Them or They? Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to raising kids, running a virtual administrative business, and the circus t…

The cult of averageness is R-E-A-L. How do we set our kids up for success, so they don't get pulled down by adults or friends that lack energy, goals, or an ability to look into the future? We don't know, but we are actively working at it. But what we do know is that "learning" that happens in school is NOT the GOAL. The goal should never have been…

Remember those toilet paper shortages? We share how we handled that situation like total pros. Aimee recently tried to be a good Samaritan and learned why 60% of the time this is a terrible idea...every time. Also, is it impossible for anyone else to grocery shop with all their damn kids without them trying to buy nothing but total B.S. the entire …

We have decided that everyone has become far too unhelpful and far too useless. We vote to burn it all down. Only the strong, skilled, and useful survive. Let's get back to the days where less people die of diabetes or more just die due to starvation. #Fairbanks&Fairbanks2024 Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aim…

This week we muse on why there were so many serial killers in the 70s and 80s. Was it that they were always out there? Or was it because of the rise of fathers leaving the home and being absent from the lives of their kids? Combined with mothers being left without a community and support system and kids raising themselves outside Lord of the Flies …

Our latest episodes have referenced the homeschooling of our middle and youngest sons for the 2023 school year. Now we dive into HOW we plan to go about executing this process when it comes to the literal teaching, organization of our day (and balancing work + teaching), and why this works for us. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episo…

We are planning to homeschool our 2 younger boys for the 2023 school year. We share our thoughts about the education system in the U.S. and our belief that parents truly are more capable than they think they are when it comes to teaching their kids and providing them opportunities to love learning. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our epis…

John & Aimee are back. They touch on their latest trip to Utah, how much Aimee hates joy, the sheer amount of wasted time that exists in people's day-to-day because they hate their life, the failures of women's relationships with one another leading to men not being allowed to be men anymore, and much more. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of…

In a world where we have adopted universal standards for everything, we have deterred any opportunity for us to develop a sense of individual creativity. When it comes to education for our kids, we seem to be stomping out imagination and creativity earlier and earlier in hopes that kids conform to "good behaviors" and protocols in a school setting.…

In this episode, we review the book by Joel Salatin and Dr. Sina McCullough entitled Beyond Labels. We discuss how learning to live with nature allows us to create and enjoy the beauty and simplicity in our lives rather than fight against it. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, …

Usually around our anniversary on New Year's Eve, when nothing else is going on, we like to take some time to really think about all that happened that year. And every time we do that, we realize something consistent: A Year is a LONG.DAMN.TIME. Especially the last 2 years with COVID and restrictions, it seems like decades pass from January through…

The start of every year usually brings new resolutions or the desire to set goals. In this episode, we discuss what we call "The Three Whys", and how to establish goals that are focused on PURPOSE and true INTENT. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a var…

In this episode, we discuss the importance of journaling, and how writing about our lives and telling our stories has changed over the years as technology has continued to evolve. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to raising…

In this episode we discuss "Dude Culture", and how the "woke" people of today equate anything related to masculinity as somehow being toxic. We discuss the importance of just being unapologetically who you are as opposed to having to put on a costume to subdue yourself to fit into modern society. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episod…

In this short episode, we talk about cats and our history with cats. And for some reason, that lead us to also take a deep dive in John's family's history in the Mormon Church. So there you go: history and cats. You're welcome. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and princ…

In this episode we talk about mental health.....for a long time! We talk about Aimee's struggles with anxiety and depression, we talk about victimhood, and we talk about how we feel about it. Enjoy! Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics …

2021 was arguably harder than 2020......because people's bullshit meter has been tried and tested many times this year. With our move up Maslow's hierarchy of needs, with more and more engaging in higher level education, and with COVID throwing some serious curve balls, people's ability to think outside the box has grown exponentially. In this epis…

Too many people focus solely on the destination or sit on the sidelines just waiting for someone to fail. In this episode, we discuss the importance of being the wind in someone else's sails to allow them to get that burst of energy to go after their dreams. And to celebrate the steps along the way, even if those steps evolve and adapt from the ori…

Let Your Freak Flag Fly. You do you, Boo. In this episode, we discuss the importance of being able to find what makes you uniquely you and doubling down on that weirdness. Rather than pursuing the financial rewards, we are finding that articulating and pursuing what you are really passionate about is what makes life awesome. Subscribe to the podcas…

Have you ever had to move and once you actually had to load up all your stuff, you had the thought "How did I acquire so much crap?". In this episode, we discuss the idea of having a moving mindset in terms of simplifying and de-cluttering your life in multiple fronts. Less mess equals simpler life, which equals more clarity on what's important. Su…

In this episode, we reminisce about being "pleasantly plumped" as youth and about how it affected our overall childhood experience. We also delve into Aimee's frustration with a lack of homemade things these days, and how we need to exercise our sense of creativity before we lose that ability altogether. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of ou…

In today's episode, we discuss generational gaps in thinking and those times in our lives when our social contracts become "null and void". Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to raising kids, running a virtual administrative …

In today's episode, we lament about trying not to always be raging assholes to our kids because they make us want to throat-punch them 24 hours per day, the importance of holding kids accountable, and our really strong opinions about the fact that we (parents, moms, dads, etc.) need to stop being so c*#!y to each other and be there for one another.…

We've had a week and a half....seriously. Kids are hitting the 2-month mark of being back in school and you know what that means!? Everyone is getting sick, which is nowadays so not OK. We talk "Mom-Planning" getting stretched to its limits in this new day and age, building your goals, trusting the plan you've built, and not getting caught up looki…

In honor of Halloween coming up, Aimee drops mad knowledge and facts when it comes to teeth, gums, and the horrible things she has seen while working as a Registered Dental Hygienist. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles on a variety of topics relating to rai…

In today's episode, Aimee breaks down the horror of bathrooms with 4 boys in the house, the thing we never knew we loved about cats, raising our backyard chickens, and the "caves" and "chains" that we fear and hold us back in life - keeping us from achieving our goals. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee shar…

In today's episode, we give you a glimpse into a common conversation in our house around over population, the price of food, starving to death because the GrubHub driver doesn't show up, how local communities are being divided more and more lately, and some topical political chit chat [which we don't dive into all that often...so don't get use to i…

In today's episode, we talk about how we ended up coming back to Virginia from Florida and the hurricane that nearly wiped our house off the earth, strangers that wander into our house requiring potential armed violence, and all the awesome stuff we have grown in our garden with it now being the start of 'the harvest' season and our efforts in cann…

In today's episode, we talk about Aimee's interest in the healthcare profession, focusing more on self-care as a Mom with the kids starting school, and the struggles of being a Mom and sacrificing your whole identity to your family and your kids. Watch this full episode and subscribe to our YouTube Channel, here: https://youtu.be/OY5uuo_Cwf8 Subscr…

In today's episode, we dive wayy down memory lane for late 80's and 90's kids, we talk about the good 'ol days that probably never were, and wax poetic about what the future might hold for the next generation of bastards. Subscribe to the podcast and catch all of our episodes where John and Aimee share their thoughts, musings, tips, and principles …

In today's episode, we talk waffles (like high-class non-wafflehouse waffles), our favorite style of coffee, and some of our favorite ways of setting goals (personally and business) to help us not only crush it for our customers and clients, but also for the family, as well. Our 2 favorites: THE DAILY 5 (

Today's episode we revisit an idea that we've talked about before - from Jim Rohn, "You're The Average Of The Five People You Spend The Most Time With". More importantly, how this has evolved since people have STOPPED interacting with other human beings over the last 18 months. If you aren't spending time with "people" - then how is your average ge…

Today's episode we share about our latest trip up to Connecticut to surprise one of our clients, the latest happenings we have in our world of youth sports, and our thoughts about the fact that if you want to make a difference in your community - there is no substitute for good old fashioned hard work.Watch this week's episode on YouTube, here: htt…

Today's episode we talk about backyard sustainability, the book "Animal, Vegetable, Miracle..." by Barbara Kingsolver, getting married young, and the fact that PEOPLE DON'T CHANGE...or do they? We filmed this episode and is our first episode with video! Check it out on our YouTube channel, here >> https://youtu.be/T4glf0LlZFA Subscribe to the podca…