“When one person in the family is sour, it can turn so fast! So, especially the parents, be happy, positive and don’t get stressed! Kids and spouses feed off of your energy, so you’ve gotta suck it up and try to enjoy travel days.” Attending Church While Traveling The Gee family in Nevis (Courtesy Gee Family). “Our best tip is to have a positive attitude,” Garrett continued. So even though the location is different, we still have the same routine.” But we do our best to make sure they have a good schedule and routine every day. “But that’s a given whether you are at home or traveling. “So many challenges with children,” Garrett explained. One of the challenges? Not having a set routine. However, traveling with toddlers can be challenging as well. Our kids have had to learn to be brave and put themselves out there to make friends.” Most rewarding, however, is seeing our children be loving and kind to everyone no matter their language, race or culture. We’ve made some incredible memories already and it’s been incredible to see our kids hit different milestones in unique places. “Our son learned what sound an elephant makes while riding one in Thailand. “It’s been so fun to see our daughter learn to swim in different pools and oceans all over the world,” they explained. Garrett and Settie tailor their travels around their two young children, Dorothy and Manilla, providing them with important learning experiences. “Like in Australia we learned how to surf, and in Bali we learned yoga, or in Turks and Caicos we learned how to kite surf.” Parenting While Traveling Garrett with his son, Manilla (Courtesy Gee Family). Traveling through places like the Bahamas, Indonesia, Thailand, Tonga, and New Zealand, The Bucket List Family earns their name by participating in many local customs. “Each place we travel we try to learn something new,” they said. “We want to strengthen our marriage and family, we want to focus on service and compassion, and we want to learn how to be happy with less. . We also try to do some service in each country we visit.” “We have a few objectives and focuses as we travel,” Garrett explained. Although they have been criticized for their lifestyle and parenting, they stay grounded through service, learning, and cultural experiences. In order to determine what they want from life, The Bucket List Family decided to start out their travels with goals and plans. We still had a lot of growing up to do and we thought that traveling would open our minds to what we could potentially want for a future home.” Setting Family Goals While Traveling From left to right: Manilla, Jessica, Dorothy, and Garrett Gee (Courtesy Gee Family). “We weren’t ready to settle down and build a house or anything. “About a year ago I had sold my business and we were trying to decide what the next steps would be for us,” Garrett told LDS.net. Jessica “Settie” graduated from BYU with a degree in Communications, and after Garrett completed his college soccer career and sold his highly successful business (from an app he created during his freshman year), he decided to drop out of school to travel with his family. After serving their missions, they both attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where they started dating and eventually got married. Garrett and Jessica Gee first met while they were missionaries for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Russia. Who Is The Bucket List Family? Garrett and Jessica “Settie” Gee, with daughter Dorothy and son Manilla (Courtesy Gee Family).

Recently interviewed by People Magazine and CNBC, The Bucket List Family made national news for selling all of their belongings, including their cars and furniture, in order to fund their adventures around the world.

In an exclusive interview with LDS.net, The Bucket List Family, also known as Garrett and Jessica “Settie” Gee and their two children, Dorothy and Manilla, revealed their secrets for traveling with a family, attending church in different countries, and experiencing all that life has to offer abroad.

Jessica 'Settie' Gee