Over 24K people apply to be Utah couple's 'travel nanny'


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RIVERTON — Derek Tillotson first met his wife, McKenzie, when they were children.

"McKenzie was really cool," Derek Tillotson said, sitting in the kitchen they share with their three kids. "But I was kind of a nerdy kid and she was a skateboarder. She had dreadlocks, and she had so much more style and swagger than I could've even gotten close to."

It took him years to work up the nerve to ask her out, which finally happened when they were both in college. They both have successful careers in sales, but at first he had a little trouble selling her on himself.

"I asked her out in college and she said 'No,'" he recalled. "Actually, she said 'I might have work.'"

"In all fairness, he asked me out on a date for that afternoon," McKenzie Tillotson said. "So it's not like 'a day from now, or two days;' it was almost like a backup plan, like, 'Oh, let's have a date in five or six hours.'"

He thinks she was just playing hard to get. Regardless, he was persistent, and it paid off.

"One thing that made McKenzie and I so compatible while we were dating was a love for travel," he said.

Traveling has always been a part of their relationship. But when the first of their kids came along, she thought those times were over.

"I had a moment, after I had my first child, and there may have been hormones involved," she said, looking back with a laugh. "I remember holding this newborn baby, and Derek was going off on a business trip — I broke down sobbing, and I just had this meltdown where I thought: I'm never going to be able to travel again!"

Derek and McKenzie Tillotson, on a trip before the kids came along. (Photo: Tillotson family photo)
Derek and McKenzie Tillotson, on a trip before the kids came along. (Photo: Tillotson family photo)

Despite his tendency to ask out girls on same-day dates, McKenzie said Derek was remarkably clear headed.

"Derek looked at me like, 'You're insane,'" she said. "Our lives aren't put on hold. Our lives are just getting better."

Now the proud parents of Porter, Beckett and baby Wren, the past few years have proven Derek to be right. Their sales jobs allow them to work from anywhere, but Derek and McKenzie don't leave the kids with a relative and take off on their own.

Traveling, with kids in tow, has become a part of their family's life. They've even taken to documenting their trips online — something the kids can't get enough of.

"They don't watch as much of the normal TV and cartoons," Derek said. "They like watching their own family videos. Beckett says, 'I want to watch a Beckett movie,' where he's the star.'"

A shot from one of the Tillotson family's travel videos. (Photo: Ray Boone, KSL TV)
A shot from one of the Tillotson family's travel videos. (Photo: Ray Boone, KSL TV)

But traveling every month or two just wasn't enough.

"You can buy this very house," he said, gesturing across the kitchen. "It's going up for sale."

The entire family is planning to hit the road, traveling the world as a family for an entire year. But there was one problem.

"We won't have any support," McKenzie said. "We won't have any friends, any family."

"We decided that we would need a travel nanny," Derek said, "an extra set of hands to help us, mainly with the home schooling. McKenzie and I are not teachers, so homeschooling was a little bit of a daunting task."

So, they turned to the internet, posting a video where they explained their needs.

"I was expecting probably 300 to 400 applications," McKenzie said. "In my mind, I thought 'It'll kind of go within the Salt Lake bubble, and we'll find some great applicants, people we haven't met, so that'll be a good experience all around.'"

Her estimate was way off. The video went viral, and the family was buried in a final total of 24,444 applications.

"The response has been incredible," Derek said. "I wish that the first time I called McKenzie to ask her out on a date, she had a similar response."

Most of the applications have been compiled into a spreadsheet, but the couple still has a lot of work ahead of them if they want to find the perfect person.

Derek Tillotson shows the family's spreadsheet of applicants. (Photo: Ray Boone, KSL TV)
Derek Tillotson shows the family's spreadsheet of applicants. (Photo: Ray Boone, KSL TV)

This trip is something their kids are counting on. McKenzie said the two older boys can't get enough of traveling and speak often about their desire to see new playgrounds and even catch a glimpse of a panda.

Derek and McKenzie are both hopeful that the experience will help their children grow.

"Instead of seeing the outside world as the outside world, he'll see himself and understand his place in it," said Derek, while propping up Porter on his lap. "In Utah, we're surrounded by so many people that think and talk and act like us, but the world is full of people that are so different."

The couple decided it was better to take the trip while the children were young, instead of waiting until they were all in school, when it would be far more difficult to uproot them. They both know the kids won't remember every experience, but plan on continuing to document their travels.

"We're going to be creating a lot of great videos for them to watch later, so they will have a lot of memories from this," Derek said. "But more importantly, I'm excited to have my kids become global citizens at a very young age."

Porter Tillotson takes an opportunity to lick his hands after mashing Play-Doh, while the rest of the family isn't looking. (Photo: Ray Boone, KSL TV)
Porter Tillotson takes an opportunity to lick his hands after mashing Play-Doh, while the rest of the family isn't looking. (Photo: Ray Boone, KSL TV)

Traveling brought this couple together — and they're hopeful that this experience does the same for the entire family.

"I figure if I invest in this time while they're young, hopefully we'll create this relationship and this good family unit that we can rely on and support each other through as we all grow older," said McKenzie. "I'm really hoping that if I can create this strong foundation now, that it'll benefit all of us for the rest of our lives."

You can keep up with the Tillotsons on their website, Facebook, YouTube, or Instagram.


Ray Boone is a photojournalist for KSL TV. Contact him at rboone@ksl.com

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