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I lived in LA for 20 years. It took moving my 3 kids to a small Arizona town to find what I'd been missing.
Courtesy of Jen Podany
- Jen Podany raised her three children in a busy Los Angeles neighborhood where traffic limited their independence.
- After moving to a small Arizona town, her kids can ride bikes and play with neighborhood friends.
- She says their new lifestyle reminds her of the freedom children had growing up in the 1980s.
This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jen Podany, founder of Bluestone Sunshields. It has been edited for length and clarity.
Near the end of 2024, my family of five had once again escaped Los Angeles for the quiet we found 10 hours south in Snowflake, Arizona.
We'd been doing it for years, renting an Airbnb in Snowflake, a town of 6,000 in the middle of nowhere, switching off amid the miles of empty land.
It had started as a stopover on our way to visit my husband's family in New Mexico. We fell in love with the town, and from then on, we'd visit whenever we needed to get away from the busyness of LA.
In Snowflake, we felt like we could catch our breath. Our souls calmed each time we arrived and ached to stay each time we left.
We put an offer on a house
Back in LA, specifically Burbank, the five of us — my husband and our three children, whom we homeschooled — lived in a duplex made up of two connected apartments. We lived in one of them, which had two bedrooms and one bathroom. From the other apartment, my husband and I ran our two separate businesses.
Courtesy of Jen Podany
The duplex was in a neighborhood near a busy street, and we had to be cautious about letting the kids go outside to play because of the cars. I was always holding someone's little hand when we were out, just in case. You could hear planes flying back and forth into Burbank Airport. As our kids and businesses grew, we felt increasingly confined.
Then we saw a house on the market in Snowflake, and I felt in my bones that we should put in an offer.
It was a four-bedroom house surrounded by land, chickens, cows, and a crazy turkey. We could buy it and have our own place to stay when visiting, rather than always renting an Airbnb.
We bought the house for about $500,000, and on our first visit to stay in it in January 2025, none of us wanted to go back to Burbank.
We knew then that we'd make Snowflake our home. And so we did.
We moved from Los Angeles to a town of 6,000 people
In so many ways, our life looks exactly like life in LA. Our routines have remained the same. Every morning, just like in LA, we start our day at a coffee shop. Except in Snowflake, there's only one place to go instead of 20 choices. We work, we homeschool, we eat our meals, and we go to sleep — just like we did in LA.
Courtesy of Jen Podany
But by transplanting our lives to a quiet town, we all feel calmer and more peaceful.
Personally, my nervous system has regulated. In LA, I felt like the world was constantly coming at me, like I was being bombarded and reacting to everything around me. Here, I feel like I'm in the driver's seat, with a clear head.
Not only has it been good for my well-being, but it's also been good for my business. The move has given me the mental space to think bigger. It's led to greater creativity, paving the way for business growth.
My kids have an 80s childhood
My kids love Snowflake, too. I didn't have to convince them about the move.
They have the freedom to be out of the house without worrying about cars and crime. Just a bike ride away are other kids with whom they are often found playing.
I think kids grow up quickly in cities, and living here, I feel like my kids get to just be kids. It's like going back to being a kid in the '80s, and I love that for them.
The house is bigger, so we aren't living on top of each other, but they've also got endless outdoor space to explore.
Even though I lived in LA for 20 years, we never experienced friendship and community as we have in just over a year in Snowflake.
Courtesy of Jen Podany
We can't leave the house without seeing someone who wants to stop and talk. Everyone here is on "mountain time" — slowing down. No one is rushing around, head down, looking at their phones, too hurried to have a conversation.
Everyone is present and friendly.
My husband and I still occasionally have to go to LA for work, and each time we come back home to Snowflake, I take a deep breath and know we made the right decision to relocate our family.
