The Good Line Grows Up

Four years ago, Travis and I embarked on an adventure together.
Travis started a small production company with our friend Joe.
Really, I suppose it wasn't my adventure as much as theirs. My name wasn't on any contracts, I didn't negotiate with business contacts.
But I was there, sitting in on many planning meetings in our living room- tossing potential company names back and forth, talking about branding and music. I went on film trips, met nearly all the new clients. I went to Kenya and Uganda to help film, holding a boom mic and helping interviewees relax and laugh before The Good Line even existed. I went on camping trips with my husband and non-profit groups when he was "free lance." For everything that happened, I was there.
It was during a late night business planning meeting that I went into labor with Grey and Micah, and once they were born- the boys and I took daily walks to Travis' tiny, new office a few blocks away.

Helping their Daddy assemble furniture in the Good Line's new office. 

I told Travis recently, I feel like a mother watching her baby become a teenager. Move off to college.
The Good Line has changed and grown so much in four years. From just Travis and Joe to an office full of people, from a handful of mostly poor-paying jobs they didn't love - to the jobs they dreamed of taking. I'm not going on any trips anymore, because it wouldn't be Travis and I in a hotel room- it would be Travis and I and three other employees in a hotel room (plus at least one of my kids!)
I don't know most of the clients. I don't even see most of the videos they're making.
Travis isn't even making them all. When we take occasional trips to the office, we aren't just there to distract Daddy and provide a little break to the men- suddenly we are distracting (and probably annoying) 10 working people.
Things happen and change and move in the Good Line and I'm no longer in the mix, I'm another spectator. It's very bizarre for me, and sometimes hard. I want to be excessively involved in every aspect of my husband's life. I want to know all the tiny details about this company that was created on my couch. But it's growing up. It's left the nest. And I am so, so proud and amazed by what The Good Line has become and what Travis and Joe have done. I love those two men and this company.
So three years ago, Travis and Joe created a reel. A video that was a few minutes long, of all their best shots, and Joe narrated it beautifully- talking about the idea behind the company. The stories they want to tell, emotions they want to stir, "The most sincere thread of communication: truth without manipulation. The Good Line."
I've watched it dozens of times, and every time I watch it, I cry. (I'm a crier.) I used to watch it and think, "Man. My husband is so good at what he does, this is the most beautiful video I've ever seen," but recently, as I watched it I've thought "Huh. Something is missing here, this isn't as Good as it ought to be."
Because a lot has changed in the last three years. The videos have gotten better and more beautiful, more powerful. The people they film are more interesting, and their stories more compelling, the locations more wide spread and exotic.
For months I've been waiting for this new reel. This updated story of The Good Line. And now it's here. And of course, Joe nailed the narration again. So get ready to cry (or maybe that's just me.)
The Good Line is all grown up. Please watch and then hold on to your hats, because tomorrow they're starting an AMAZING giveaway.

Reel November 2014 from The Good Line on Vimeo.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Now enjoy (and cringe during) this slobbery video by my husband Travis (and some others, I guess...)

Mali

My husband is in Mali this week and last.
He works with lots of different projects, organizations, people, and corporations throughout the year, but his work filming in Mali is as Passion Project as it gets. Travis, and his company The Good Line, are there working with presidential candidate Yeah Samake.

Travis, his friends, and colleagues were in Mali last summer, too, preparing for the election. However, about a week after my husband returned to the safety of our home, the country's elections and democracy were derailed by terrorists, and al Qaeda established a stronghold in the north. Now many refugees and even non-refugee Malians are battling extreme poverty and hunger. 

Still, Yeah Samake has been working tirelessly to share his message of education and political integrity to lead Mali to a promising future. Elections are back on for the 28th of this month. 

Yeah's making the final sprint to the finish line now and The Good Line is back out there to help in the push. 

I have met Yeah a few times, and even had him in our home, and can say with confidence that he is a hard working, good-hearted, and politically experienced man of integrity. Having Yeah as the president of Mali will not just change Mali, but doubtless all of Africa, and the world. He is the best of the best. 

Wishing them all the best of luck. If any of you feel inclined to help, even small donations at samake2013.com can make a big difference. 

Yeah is a man of his word and someone I believe can make a significant and meaningful difference for a country in need. It's been a privilege to know and work with him.

Much of the text of this post was actually written by my friend, Cole Nielson, who worked in Mali with Travis last summer. He posted this himself and I was touched by how he worded everything, and wanted to share.  Obviously, he didn't write all of it. For example, his husband is not in Mali - mine is. :)

The pictures shared here are from Travis' instagram or The Good Line's instagram, which you can follow here:
@travispitcher
@thegoodline


Yeah Samake- A Leader in Mali from The Good Line on Vimeo.

Fancy people go to Fancy Banquets

Clearly I am a fancy person.
And so is Travis.

Here was the order of business yesterday:
Early morning, Travis and his crew met up on BYU campus to figure out the logistics of filming TEDxBYU. What's that? You're wondering about how Travis filmed and edited TEDxBYU while ALSO SPEAKING IN IT? Yeah, he's just pretty amazing like that.
I dropped of the boys at Grandma's house and then went to buy some new jeans so I could look impressive and stylish while meeting hosts of fancy people.
Then I met up with Travis and watched the TED Talks. Oh, and I was in the front row. Reserved seating. You know, because I have connections. 

The talks started off pretty amazing, and I cried through a whole bunch of them, and was inspired by almost all of them. Travis and his crew snuck around in all black filming (like below) and I sat with and whispered with Jessamyn (the MC) because I love her.

 Then Travis spoke and suddenly everything was broken, so his film didn't play and he had to wing it. But he still did AMAZING.
Afterward, several people said to me "You're Travis Pitcher the filmmaker's wife? He was amazing. His talk was so wonderful, so deep and sincere!"
Holla.
Yeah he was.
Yeah it was.

Also, at one point, I was saying to Joe (Travis' business partner, pictured with us below): "We need to figure out a way for us to buy a house soon!"
And Joe said, "Oh, wahwah! Because my husband owns his own successful company his first year out of film school! I need more!"
Um. Joseph. I love you.
Good point. Travis is the best ever. #moreproof

Then we went to a fancy banquet so that the Ballard Center and the PEERY Foundation could give awards to David Bornstein. And everyone kept saying "Oh my goodness, how are you?! The last time I saw you, you had long hair!"
Yeah, and I was ginormously pregnant with twins. Since last year this event was about two weeks before I had the babies. Remember that?
There are many differences between me then and me now.

We got to talk for a while with David Bornstein which was super cool, since he's like the king of social change. He said things to us like "Please call me next time you're in New York!" and "You guys are great, how lucky your boys are to have you!"

Aw, shucks, David. (First name basis).
He also gave me a whole handful of tic-tacs. So.
Pretty much we're bossom-buddies now.

And I know it's silly, but I loved having people like Jason Fairbourne and Dave Peery be like "Oh, hey Becky. What's up? Where are the boys tonight, you got a sitter?"
Yeah Because we're pals. What of it? Travis is cool and so am I. People know me.
Whatevs.

(Stop judging me, I was like peeing my pants the whole day and evening. I like to be cool. Can you blame me?)

To my dream following husband, on his birthday

I grew up with a dad who did things. He owned his own company, and had a list of hobbies a mile high -real hobbies too. He fished, photographed, read, mountain biked, camped, skiied- and still does. A few years ago he went back to school and now he's graduating with a Pharmacy degree.
So I guess I never realized how strange and brave it is for a man to be like that. I just expected hardworking and dream following from my husband. And I have not been disappointed.
When Travis and I had two practically new babies (let's see, about four months old at the time?) we decided that the time was ripe for him to quit his well-paying, salaried, benefited corporate job which he actually quite liked.
And people would say "in this economy?" and we would hear stories of people who had been searching for jobs for months, years even.
But Travis wanted to form Good Line, his own company - despite the risks. And I wanted him to.
Because I would rather the business failed and we were poor, than Travis' dreams be stifled because of our fear of not succeeding.
Plus, I figured I owed it to him, since he let me get pregnant while we were both still in school - even though most people would agree that we're crazy for it.
And just like God blessed us with the double the babies we were hoping for, this time with Good Line, he blessed us with success.
You may have noticed that Travis travels. A lot.
It's because we're doing so well. I don't exactly want to brag... but yeah, I totally do.
Because Travis is Ah-May-ZING at what he does.
On a regular basis, people are like "Well my daughter / brother / self studied film in school, and couldn't get a job and now (s)he works as a manager at a Taco Bell, so your husband must be really, really lucky."
No he is not. Yes, we've been really blessed, but I don't think for one minute that any of this is luck.
It's hard work and him being freaking awesome at what he does. I always want to respond to people with "Well, Travis is talented. He is very good at what he does."
But since that seems to imply (perhaps not so subtly) that the daughter / brother / self is less talented, I try to refrain.
But that's the truth. Travis is good at what he does.  But more than that, Travis loves what he does, and he is so brave.  He is the provider in our family, and it's a huge risk to leap into the dark of unemployment and hope that somehow we keep on surviving. Thriving.
But he did it. And not because he's selfish and wanted to do his "own thing."
But because he is a good person. I believe that Travis was able to take the leap, because being happy and making a difference in world, and providing good examples and opportunities to our sons was more important to him than money.
We have several friends who we've heard make comments like "Well, my husband is going to be a lawyer / accountant / doctor / whatever because you can make a really good living and we don't want to be poor our whole lives."
And that's a pretty good goal. Not being poor.
But I think that being happy is a better one.
And I think that usually in the pursuit of happiness over money, one finds that they have enough of both.
But in the pursuit of money that will lead to happiness, one finds that they are always short on both.

I don't know. Maybe this post comes off sounding pretentious or judgmental, and I certainly don't want it to. I understand needing money. We all need money to live, and not everyone's dreams succeed.
But as for me and my husband, I just wanted to say how glad I am that he's a dreamer.
I am so glad that he wants something more, and he works for it. I'm so glad that we're happy. That we can support each other.
That he understands wanting and loving something. He understands daydreams and fantasies.
And when I describe our future home with chickens wandering around the grass, our sun-soaked living room, and the kids building a tree-fort in the back - he reminds me not to forget our bulldog Winston being chased around the yard by the twins, the garden full of ripe tomatoes, and the brick oven for baking homemade bread and pizza.
Which is why I love him. I love him so dearly and so madly and so fully, totally, completely.
And today is his birthday, which is one of the loveliest days of the year and I wish he was here with me.
I miss him. I am proud of him. I am grateful to him.

Happy Birthday, Travis. I love you.

Human Slingshot

Have you seen this yet?
Husband-man Travis (also, Dad-Travis) made this cool video of a human slingshot up in Hobblecreek Canyon (really close to home).  You can see Travis get slingshotted at 0:36 and get hit in the back of the head by another slighshotter at 1:28.
Travis' business partner Joe is the one who is sitting on the four-wheeler releasing people, and our good friend Micah (yes, name inspiration!) wrote the awesome song "Head in the Air" which you can totally buy on iTunes.



Sadly, the day that this was recorded was a day that I was still breastfeeding, and I decided -last minute- that I probably should stay home with my babies. So I didn't get to be a real-life angry bird.
:(

So sorry I didn't post earlier, my inter webs was on the fritz. But don't worry, starting next week, I will definitely have excellent blog posts every single day, and they will probably all include pictures.
This is (kinda) a promise.

Oooh, and we took some more pictures in the orchard and they will be up soonish! Hurrah!

Good Line

Did you know that I have a husband-man who is an amazing filmmaker?
Well, I do.
And he is.

His company is called Good Line, and this is A Look at Good Line. (Like unto a Reel, I think...)

A look at Good Line from Good Line on Vimeo.


Can you spot me? I'm in there at least twice!

Sad lonely girl

I have that Beatles song stuck in my head:

Close your eyes and I'll kiss you, 
tomorrow I'll miss you.
Remember, I'll always be true.
And then while I'm away, 
I'll write home every day
and I'll send all my loving to you.

Travis is gone. He left yesterday morning.
"But wait," you say, "wasn't he just gone all last week?"
Yes.
"And didn't he only get home late Sunday night?"
It was practically Monday morning.
"Is he off meeting a secret family and a different wife with whom he has several children, because he seems to be gone ALL THE TIME?"
He better not be, and you're telling me! I am so sick of him leaving!


As anyone who knows me can attest, I am a needy, clingy, snugly wife and and completely pathetic and helpless without my husband around.
Seriously. A total mess.
And he's been gone 19 days in the last month.

Travis works a regular ol' nine to five job, as a filmmaker for a company called Unicity. (Although, since the twins have come they've let Travis work a few hours from home everyday, so it's more like a nine to two job. Which is da bomb.)
When he was gone a few weeks ago in Mississippi it was for Unicity, and when he was in Cancun last week it was for Unicity.
But Travis is also in the process of starting a super awesome freelance company called Good Line.  The dream is that someday Travis can quit his other job and just work from home (except when he has to travel) and the beauty is that with a freelance film business like Good Line, we could literally live anywhere and anytime he travels I could join him.
But the problem is that Good Line is actually much more successful than we'd expected, so Travis has a lot of work to do.
But it's not quite so successful that Travis could quit his other job and work solely from home yet.

So essentially, Travis works 9-5 for Unicity, 5-11 for Good Line and all night long for Mama Becky and the boys.
Except I also want him from 9-5 and especially 5-11, because evening feels like it should be our time, dang it!
But this week, Travis is out of town filming in California for Good Line.
And I tried to talk him out of going, but the people who gave him this job are also the people that paid for us to go to Africa, and we love them.
We want to stay on their good sides, because they'll always need film work done, and also -they helped our family get a leg up by giving us an amazing opportunity, so we want to do all we can to help them out.
So Travis is gone, and I am home alone and pathetic.
Although this week, as well as last week, I have had several completely amazing women come help me.
Bringing me food, spending the night and rocking my babies to sleep at 3am, cleaning my kitchen and babysitting while I nap.
Aka: being the kindest people ever.
And I really appreciate it, and literally could not have survived without them.
And yet.... it's just not the same as having Travis here.

I miss him.
I wish he was here instead of there.

Also, these crappy blurry pictures are from our date on Monday night. Since Travis was only home two days before leaving again we decided we needed a bit of alone time.
My sister in law Noelle and one of my best friends from home, Charné watched the babies for two hours! And since they both spent the night last week (as well as clocking countless hours helping me and Travis over the last three months) we were really confident that the babies would be well taken care of.
I only wish we had better documented the evening... although I've always been sure that the amount of fun is usually evidenced by the lack of pictures. (If you're having lots of fun, then you're too busy to pull out the camera!)

Anyway, last night was sad. Tonight will be sad. Friday and Saturday nights will be sad.
And Travis will get home on Sunday, which is Father's Day... but I already gave him his present because it's awesome and I'm really bad at keeping things to myself - like gifts that I'm excited to give.
I'll show off his gifts tomorrow in my iphone picture post.
And don't forget! Tomorrow is Fact: it is Friday. So think about a fact that you'd like to share, and grab a button and then link up!