Hi. I’m Erin. Come On In.
I’m so glad you’re here. Really.
I’ll be upfront with you — I’m not a perfectly polished influencer. There’s no ring light, no content team, and my kitchen is not staged for a photo shoot. What I do have is a real life, a real marriage closing in on 22 years, two kids who are absolutely our entire world, a faith that has carried us through more than I could have imagined, and honestly — a whole lot of things I’ve been waiting to share with someone.
So if you came looking for the curated, highlight-reel version of life — this probably isn’t your spot.
But if you came for the real version — the warm, honest, sometimes funny, occasionally chaotic, genuinely human version — then friend, you are exactly where you belong. Pull up a chair. Stay a while.
The Short Version
I’m Erin Howard. Wife. Mom. Believer. Northern Nevada local. Homeschool veteran of seven-plus years. Co-owner of a global travel agency. And the woman who started this blog back in 2013, stepped away for nine years when life asked everything of me, and is now — finally, happily, gratefully — back.
More miles on the passport. Better stories. And a lot more to say.
My husband Anthony likes to describe life with us as a good ride — sit back, relax, keep your hands and feet in the vehicle at all times, and try not to get motion sick. He says this lovingly. I think.
The Real Version
I grew up knowing that faith and family were the foundation of everything worth building. That belief has been tested in ways I didn’t see coming — and it has held. Every single time.
I’m a Christian. Not the kind who has it all figured out — very much the kind who shows up every morning asking for grace and trying her best to extend it to everyone around her. My faith isn’t something I tuck away when life gets complicated. It’s woven into how I parent, how I love my husband, how I run our home, how I get through hard days, and yes — how I write. It’s not a category on a list. It’s just who I am.
Anthony and I have been married going on 22 years — and before any of that, we were friends first. Real ones. The kind who tell each other the truth, call each other out with kindness, and choose each other again every single day. He is one of the most driven, protective, analytical people I have ever known — the ultimate altruist Boy Scout, honestly, to a beautiful fault. He handles the strategy, the security, the coding, the spreadsheets, and approximately one thousand things running simultaneously in his mind at any given moment.
I handle everything else. We make it work. Mostly because we genuinely like each other — which after 22 years, two kids, moves through California, Oregon, and Washington before landing in Northern Nevada, building businesses together, and walking through some of the hardest seasons a family can face — is something I thank God for every single day.
Our son Cohen is 19 and finishing his first year of college. If you were here in the early days you might remember him as the six-year-old who went to sleep every night with Lego Star Wars guys between the covers. I am pleased to report that the Star Wars loyalty and the Legos are very much still intact — alongside a love for the piano that genuinely moves me, a compassionate and empathetic heart that floors me on a regular basis, and a commitment to volunteering with our church’s youth group that tells you everything you need to know about who he is. We are so incredibly proud of him.
Our daughter Grace is 14 — bright, grounded, faithful, and in full possession of an eye-roll that is, I have to say, truly world-class. She comes by it honestly. Her faith is her own — chosen, real, and growing quietly in the most beautiful way — and watching that happen has been one of the greatest gifts of my life. She is becoming such a remarkable young woman. Anthony and I are in absolute awe of both of our kids, genuinely, every single day. They are everything.
We live in Northern Nevada now. Mountains out the window. The river nearby. A pace of life that actually lets you breathe and look up once in a while. After years moving through California, Oregon, and Washington, we landed here — and we stayed. We are very much Nevada people and we say that with a whole lot of gratitude.
Nine Years Is a Long Time. Here’s the Honest Version.
I stepped away for nine years. Life asked everything of us during that time, and I gave it everything I had.
We lost people we loved. We sat at bedsides and held hands and prayed harder than we knew how to pray. We watched parents come close to leaving us — more than once — and we are still, by the grace of God, not quite ready to say goodbye to them. We navigated medical crises with our kids. We homeschooled through all of it. We relocated. We built a business from the ground up while quietly carrying more than most people ever saw.
We are not victims. Not even close. We are just a family that has lived — really lived — and come out the other side with a deeper understanding of what matters and what doesn’t, what lasts and what doesn’t, and what it means to show up for the people you love even when it costs you everything.
If you’ve walked through something hard — a season of loss, caregiving, crisis, or just the kind of relentless quiet sacrifice that nobody puts on social media — I want you to know that I see you. This blog has always been a place for real people living real lives. That hasn’t changed. If anything, we understand it better now than we ever did before.
I don’t regret a single day of the time I stepped away.
But I’m back now. And I have so much I want to share with you.
The Travel Part — Because Yes, That’s a Big Part of Our Life Now
Anthony and I co-own Bucket List Adventures, LLC — a Cruise Planners travel agency based right here in Northern Nevada. We specialize in cruise vacations, luxury all-inclusive resorts, and family travel all over the world. I have a degree in hospitality and tourism, so travel has always been close to my heart — it just took us a little while to get here.
This blog is not our agency. That’s over at cruiseresorttravel.com and Anthony runs that ship — pun fully intended — with the same meticulous care he brings to everything. But travel is deeply woven into our life now, and it’s going to be a meaningful part of what I write about here.
Honest cruise reviews. Real resort experiences. Family travel tips that don’t gloss over the hard parts. Destination content from someone who has actually been there. And real conversation about how to create the kinds of trips that become family stories for decades — without spending more than you should.
Because here’s what we’ve learned after years of helping families plan the trips of their lives: travel is not frivolous. It is not a luxury reserved for a certain kind of person. It is one of the most powerful things a family can do together — and the memories it creates outlast almost everything else. We believe that deeply. And we want to help you get there.
This Blog Has Some History Worth Mentioning
In the early days of this blog, we did some things I’m genuinely still proud of. We partnered with Nick Lachey on giveaways that our community absolutely loved. We had a great conversation with Danny Gokey — American Idol finalist, Christian artist, and one of the most warm and genuine people I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing — about faith, music, and what keeps a person going when life is hard. We featured supermodel and fellow mom Niki Taylor in an exclusive feature about motherhood and real life that resonated with our readers in ways I still think about.
That’s the kind of community this was — real access, real relationships, real trust between us and the people and brands who showed up here.
That’s the kind of community it’s going to be again. Just with more life behind it, more travel woven through it, some wonderful guest writers joining us along the way, and new chapters I genuinely cannot wait to share.
What You’ll Find Here
Real family and couple travel — where we actually go, what it’s genuinely like, and what’s worth every single penny.
Honest cruise and resort content — from someone doing this professionally every day, with firsthand experience to back it up.
Family life, health, safety, and the things we’ve learned — often the hard way — that are worth passing on.
Faith woven in — not preachy, not performative, just real.
Giveaways, reviews, and brand collaborations — with people and products we actually believe in and would tell our own friends about.
Guest writers who bring their own real stories, perspectives, and voices to this community.
And a place where real people living real lives can feel like they belong — because you do.
To Brands, Travel Suppliers & Partners
Hello, and welcome. I’m genuinely glad you found your way here.
This community was built over more than a decade on honesty, warmth, and real engagement — over 110,000 Facebook followers built entirely on trust, not shortcuts. Real moms. Real families. Real people who act on recommendations from someone they believe in.
We are just getting started on this next chapter and there has never been a better time to get in on the ground floor. If you are a travel supplier, cruise line, resort, hotel, family brand, or product company interested in partnering, sponsoring, or collaborating in a way that genuinely serves this audience — I would love to hear from you. Let’s do something meaningful together.
To Everyone Who’s Been Here — Thank You
If you’re finding this blog for the first time — I am so glad you’re here. Come on in, get comfortable, and stay a while.
And if you’ve been here since the beginning and never left, even when I went completely quiet for nine years — there really aren’t words for what that means to me. You stayed. You waited. You kept showing up even when I couldn’t.
That kind of loyalty is not something I take lightly. Not even a little.
I am so grateful. For all of it — the hard years, the good years, the years that were both at the same time. For this community. For the chance to come back and do this again with more intention, more experience, and a whole lot more heart.
Let’s go see the world together. God Bless.
~ Erin
Erin Howard is a wife, mom, woman of faith, and travel advisor based in Northern Nevada. She is co-owner of Bucket List Adventures, LLC — a Cruise Planners travel agency specializing in cruise vacations, luxury all-inclusive resorts, and family travel worldwide. She has been writing at Once a Mom Always a Mom since 2013 and is very much still a Starbucks problem. Completely at peace with that.
Back When I started Once A Mom Always A Mom With Our Young Family.
