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March 4, 2025 35 mins

Inside Daybreak's Legendary Stranger Things House  

In this episode, the hosts sit down with Nikki and Lance Starling, the masterminds behind the famed 'Upside Down House' in Daybreak, Utah, which garnered national attention for its spectacular 'Stranger Things' Halloween decorations. The couple discusses their journey from idea inception based on their daughter's Halloween costume to becoming viral sensations. They also share the challenges, community involvement, and the creative process behind their elaborate display. Additionally, they touch on personal experiences, including Lance's work as a pediatric dentist and Nikki's passion for the paranormal.  

🎥 Full Episodes on our YouTube Channel @RadioDaybreak

00:00 Introduction to Daybreak Innovators

00:28 Meet the Starling Family

01:04 The Famous Upside Down House

01:10 Halloween House Fame

02:43 Building the Stranger Things House

07:44 Paranormal Experiences

11:38 Challenges and Storage Solutions

16:44 Community Support and Setup

18:01 Netflix Cast Visits and Future Plans

19:43 TikTok Fame and Viral Videos

20:26 Community Involvement and Halloween Decorations

27:10 Family Life and Daybreak Community

27:52 Dental School Journey and Career

29:08 Upcoming Magazine Feature and Final Thoughts

Mark as Played
Transcript

Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Ah, yes.
Here we are.
We daybreak.
Yes.
With not a business of the week.
Maybe it could be becausethis thing brings a lot of.
Well business to daybreak.
Yeah, it does.
But this is definitely oneof the innovators of Daybreak
completely.
We're gonna throw that out there.
Big time innovator.
And
we're sitting here withthe starting family.

(00:31):
Yes.
Starling
family.
Yes.
Nick Lance.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And if you don't knowpeople out there who.
Who
is this?
They
know.
They know because you don't know.
You know?
Exactly.
You've seen their house.
Now I thought you saidit was the up house.
So when I got here,
no,
I was like, what's that?
Is
there even an up house?
There is a Herman actually.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
So I was expecting the littleold man from the movie.

(00:54):
Oh yeah, sorry.
Dr. Starling does not really fit that.
No, so, so when he came in,
we could do that one year.
I like that.
But it's the upside down house.
That's right.
Which is the Stranger Things house.
Right.
That's what you guys have done.
Done.
They're the
Halloween house that's made national news.
We were just talking a little bitbefore this about all the reporters

(01:16):
coming up and getting the interview.
Yeah.
But here we are.
Radio daybreak.
Caught up,
caught up the Starling.
And you know what?
Like I knew about this housebefore I even got to Utah.
I knew about this house when Iwas still was still living in la.
'cause how many years has it been going?
So
six, four or five,
I think five, five years.
I knew about it before we got here.
Yeah.

(01:37):
And we got here and I was like,I gotta, I gotta see this thing.
Should we tell 'em?
Tell 'em.
Should we tell 'em thefirst episode of when radio?
We were out there first,very first episode.
It was, that's an awful episode.
Don't go, don't go listen to that one.
Oh, wait.
And you came by the house?
Oh, yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, that's,
we weren't one of the, we weren't outin the yard waiting for an interview.
We were just, yeah.
We love it.

(01:57):
It's every day of the month peopleare on the porch and Really, oh,
you get to hear around, well,every single day of the month.
Yeah.
Oh.
Like we, because we startsetting up in September.
Oh, okay.
And so everyone kind of like anticipates.
And they check, they start driving by.
Yeah.
And then even when we're like stillsetting up, they're like on the porch.

(02:18):
Oh my gosh.
But this at crazy.
So,
so you like, that's a little kind ofintimidating, I dunno if intimidating
is the right word, but like.
When somebody comes to my door and Idon't know who it is or who's at my door.
Yeah.
A lot of people just say like,how weird they think it is.
Like, oh, isn't that weird having peoplejust like up on their porch to it?
We don't, yeah, we don't think it's weird.

(02:38):
But they have walked inour house like many times.
No, a
few times.
Yeah.
It's mostly little kids thinkingbecause the front of the
house is just so immaculate.
Right?
Yeah.
And they think it's like the door
looks inviting, like, oh,the upside down is in there.
Or just playing a board game, like.
Oh,
just living, just
yeah.
Yeah.
Just living life.

(02:59):
Yeah.
They're expecting to see,uh, Juan Rider sitting there.
Yeah.
Like, but that's how good, that'show good this house looks like.
It looks like, looks the set fromthe, from the show, from the tv.
So it's insane.
So, I mean, you gotta,
if you haven't seen it,you can Google these two.
So, like I said, and Lance Starlingand The Upside Down House, I

(03:21):
knew about Stranger Things House.
I knew about this whenI still lived in la.
And that just already sayssomething to put daybreak
on the map,
basically.
You did?
Yeah.
Like you did do that for me toknow about that before I got here.
But I, I, I gotta askyou the big question.
Why?
Yeah, why?
You know, it's funny becausepeople probably think that we're

(03:43):
like huge super fans of the show.
Yeah.
Which like we've seen it obviously,well the first year he had not,
Z has not, I heard, I've seen
some.
He had seen,
like I saw the first think it wasabout, he knew what it was about just
because I would be watching it andhe'd be like studying or something.
Sure.
But, um, so the first year we didit, it was literally just based

(04:06):
on our Halloween costumes basedon my daughter's curly hair.
That's how it all stem, because I'm like,oh, she looks like Billy from Stranger.
That's fine.
She should be Billy from Stranger Day.
Yeah.
Oh, then we should dress up likethat, and then we're like, maybe
we should just decorate our house.
And it just like.
Went from there.
Well,
the funny thing is like, okay, once wefigured out the outfit for our daughters,

(04:29):
as far as being Billy the lifeguard.
Yeah.
And we started looking for props and mywife, she sent me this, this screenshot
of this alphabet that was probably.
Three by five foot big, right?
Yeah.
Yeah.
We'll put it somewhere in thehouse and we'll take a photo
and those type of things.
And cute.
And me being a dental student,we didn't have a lot of income.
And yeah, it was probablyless than a hundred bucks.

(04:50):
Sure, right?
Yeah.
And I said to myself like, that's good.
No way.
Like if we're gonna do it,we're gonna do it right?
Oh, he's a perfectionist too.
So I'll come up with like an idea.
And then he's like measuring likethe letters of the alphabet wall are
exact because every drop of a letter.
Is an exact replica of the wall.

(05:12):
Now what if you, if you haven't seenthis show, stranger Things, that
alphabet they're talking about isused on the wall with lights running
through it, and that's how the peoplein the upside down communicate with,
by lighting up the letters.
Yeah, that's, it's really crazy, but it's,
but it's, it's an insane.
Look, they're not just talkingabout like your, your alphabet on
the wall of a kindergarten class.

(05:33):
How big is
that, Lance?
You'll know How big is that?
It's probably eight by 16 feet.
Okay.
Who we're talking large rightin the front of the house.
Oh yeah.
When I made it, I made it in our,in our basement because there's the
only room in the house that was bigenough to actually make it right.
Yeah.
And so PVC pipe frame, and thenyou just like wrap around and
screw the, the fabric there.

(05:55):
Yeah.
And once I got it all, I had to
find the exact fabric thatmatched the wallpaper.
Oh yeah.
Shout out.
You like things to be exact.
Shout out to Joan andFabric my wife found.
Oh, there you go.
That's amazing.
And once it was done, we gotready to take it up the stairs.
Right.
And then it dawned on me, there's noway this is fitting, the stairs gonna
fit.
So we had to cut.
Yeah.
I didn't
know what we did.
We had to cut in half, uh, shi itthrough the stairs and then bring it.

(06:21):
To, to the, the main room andthen sew back all together.
You have learned some things throughthis process to say the least.
Look at you, just laughing.
Whoa.
That and then like the first yearit's, it's windy and daybreak.
I was gonna bring that up.
Yeah.
I, a lot of people kept saying.
Tie everything down and it waslike they can't be that back.

(06:42):
Oh, flying down the road.
Especially where you guys are located.
We know where they're located.
We won't, we won't actuallysay it's because Yeah.
We won't put your find find
though.
It's easy
to find, but we're notgonna do that for you.
'cause
Yeah.
People can find it.
Yeah.
But, but the area you are, it's like awind tunnel right there already, right?
This, yeah.
That's, I didn't even think aboutthat said, and we'd be sleeping

(07:02):
at night during the, like theHalloween month in October, Uhhuh.
And we wouldn't know if a stormwas coming because we would hear
this, click, click, click, click.
No.
It was like whoof, like the sign on thehouse was like, like that giant thing.
The wind would get underneath it andthen it would just slam the house.
I'm wonder though, I wonder, doyou guys have had to get creative?
Yeah.
I wonder.

(07:22):
Do you think that was reallyunderstand this, they would.
Do you think that wasreally mother nature?
Was that somebody from the upside downtrying to communicate in some way?
You know, it could be either, becausethat year was the most windy it ever was.
And I Are they trying to tell us, this islike the start of some, well, lemme ask
you, hey, little did you know how big on

(07:44):
that note, what do you guys think aboutthe paranormal and that kind of stuff?
Are you,
oh.
He thinks I'm like cuckoo'cause I'm all about it.
But you're not.
I I, I just leave it alone.
Yeah.
I have my favorite medium in Herman.
Like, she's really amazing.
I've sent so many peopleto her, but Oh yeah.

(08:06):
I love that stuff.
But he didn't necessarily negate it.
He was, he was justlike, ah, I don't know.
Not for me meant just leave it.
But I like that.
I like That's ride.
Yeah.
But that's a great, it soundslike he's still open to.
You know, it is almost like you'rein that, that I need to say proof.
Like real.
Yeah, hardcore proof.
But I'm not saying, but maybe youdon't wanna That's the doctor.

(08:27):
That's the doctor mind.
Very like you got a scientist mind.
Right.
Dentistry.
I saw this shirt too.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Dentistry.
I love it.
So, so you're not necessarilyyes or no on that, you're just.
If I, I think it's real.
I think it's there.
And if you seek after it, youhave to be careful because I feel

(08:48):
like there's light part of it andthen there's a dark part, right?
Yes.
And so as long as you thinkingabout the light, you should be fine.
But you know, but you're all about it.
Oh yeah.
What have you seen you seen, everseen anything like in the house?
Because you hear about like movie sets.
Listen, she's got a song.
This could be a whole separate podcast.

(09:09):
Seriously.
Oh, we'll do it then.
When I was a kid, I went and saw thesixth Sense in the movie theater.
Oh yeah.
And I literally thought it scared me.
I was like, did someone makethis movie about my life?
I, oh, that's how, like,
wow.
I was
very active in thatkind of stuff as a kid,
really.
And so, yeah, that movie I was like.
This is weird 'causethis felt so personal.
Okay.

(09:29):
And so, yeah, I've had a tonof like paranormal experiences.
We do need to have that on a whole set.
Yeah.
We'll have you back at Halloween.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
My mom too.
We both, we lived in like anactual haunted house in Idaho.
Okay.
Like someone had died in the house.
Oh my gosh.
Everyone who lived with ushad had different experiences.
Anyway, that's a whole otherday now that's gonna be a whole
other side project,passion project of mine.

(09:50):
Because I want a paranormal show.
Yes, a podcast.
I grew up in a haunted house as well, so
yeah, I did.
I'm sure that,
yeah, my house is over years.
I've always
learned something new about you, man.
And we've been doing this, I haveseen some, was I in Tennessee?
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean, I've seen some things.
I've seen some things.
Wow.
Yeah.
So once
you experienced stuff like that,no one can convince you otherwise.

(10:12):
He hasn't experienced it, but I'm like,I have, and so I know, I know what,
so the reason I ask is, 'causethere's a lot of, you hear there's
movie sets out there and you know,you always hear these stories of.
Well, it's, it's a fake set, butreal stuff started happening,
so that's why I was asking, isanything crazy happen in the house?
Oh,
you know,
well, we did have one crazy thing happen.

(10:34):
We, our most expensive prop was alife-sized 3D printed vena uhhuh.
It was custom made.
Dang.
It was a couple grand.
Yeah, it was.
That's the bad guy.
That's the bad guy from the show.
So, well, we
felt like we needed him,but we couldn't find like.
The right, the right one.
So we had this guy custom makeit, paint it like so cool.

(10:55):
Amazing.
That thing.
I think he was in theliving room for maybe.
A week Uhhuh.
And in the middle of thenight I just hear trash.
No.
And I'm like, I thoughtwe were being robbed.
It was the freakiest thing.
Oh.
It
sounded like someone grabbing all ofyour chin, like China dish wire and
just like throwing up in the sky.
Oh gosh.

(11:16):
So we, I, that
major, major, major noise.
Yeah.
It, and I had no idea what itcould be, so I rushed downstairs.
Yeah.
And Vena had.
Tub crushed into the window.
Thank goodness the window didn't shatter,but like the wall got all messed up.
Oh my gosh.
No.
In no explanation outta nowhere.
Just like in the middle of the night.

(11:37):
Mm.
So.
Where do you store
all this stuff?
That's
a good, great question.
That was,
get that question a lot.
That's whole lot ofstuff that you guys have.
If you've seen the house, it's a lot.
Where's the broken bed?
Yeah.
Where's the bed?
So the guy actually
did remake it or did he remake it?
He kinda like fixed, reinforced
it.
Yeah, he got it fixed.
Yeah.
He thinking us for that.
And he
stored safely.

(11:58):
Yeah, I don't
even know where he is actually.
Well, for the first four yearswe had everything in our house.
Okay.
Just
somewhere.
Right.
No one
would know.
It was very well hidden.
Good.
Now
that's above our garage door.
That's stuff right?
It's just, it's levitating fromthe, the, the, the ceiling.
You got creative there too with storage
and now we have a few extra propsand so as far as keeping our

(12:21):
sanity throughout the years, yeah.
I'm working on creatingmore storage in the garage.
However, you know how guys
are, they're like the second,we need a storage unit.
We're done with this.
And he always said like, if weever get to that point, we're done.
So that's your limit.
This was the year though.
I was like, I'm getting a storage unit.
I cannot have all these props.
Very
temporary couple months storageunit until I get the sloth bill.

(12:42):
I love it.
Projects.
I love it.
Yeah.
I would be with you.
I'd be like, okay, allof this is really cute.
It's really great, butit's gotta be out my house.
Yeah.
Like peace of, for me, the peace of mind
knowing it's just likethere is worth the money.
I mean, right.
It's a small little storageunit, but if it's everything and
it's just like out of the way
because I'm sure it
continues to grow.
I mean, we've seen it continue to grow.

(13:02):
We, well, we feel almost thepressure every year like.
Stepping the game up.
Oh, do you
add, like as the show hasprogressed, have you adding stuff?
Because Season Five's comingout before Halloween this year.
Right?
So you guys gotta be, can I, can I help?
Actually, they would love
Extra.
Oh, I, is it just the two of you?
That's a great question.
No, it's just

(13:25):
put that up you guys.
He risks his life.
I'm like, oh my God,you put up on that roof.
Harnessed in because wehave a guy up on that roof.
Which was also custom made by alady in Daybreak, and it's our,
it's my favorite prop that we have.
'cause he's, you cannotfind that anywhere.
Yeah.
Oh.
And it's an exact replica of Eddieup on the roof playing the guitar.

(13:45):
But that thing has to be reinforcedin the middle of the roof.
You've had the grill floating too.
You've had, yeah, we've got
curb up there.
Yeah.
Well,
putting maps up is.
Remotely easier than putting up Eddie.
Eddie's just a big chunk of plywood.
Mm-hmm.
And as you
shimmy down like this,this 45 degree angle roof.
Yeah.
Um, even when you're tethered up,it's like, okay, if, if my feet

(14:09):
slip, I'm letting go of this.
Yeah.
And it, it's gonna, I watch him like this,
like this could end back
and it's, it's terrifying.
I, I have a veryselective fear of heights.
Yeah.
And putting up, um, Eddie.
Eddie is one of those.
It just, it, it clicks it.
Can I put up Eddie this year?
I'll, I'll come
down and do that.
I don't have a fear of heights.
Oh, that'd be amazing.

(14:30):
Yeah.
I really am.
I'm serious.
I would love after season five drops.
I think it's what, June or something?
It's right
around the corner.
Yep.
It's
coming up.
It's before Halloween.
I would love to 'cause.
I love Stranger Things.
I'm a huge fan.
I know you
fan.
I know you are.
Yeah.
'cause
I want to help put some of the newstuff that we see in season five.
Oh, check this out.

(14:51):
I got a little, a little claim to He's so
creative and so is his wife.
I love because we we're alwaystrying to think of things.
Yeah.
We, we are.
So many little props that love.
Mm-hmm.
But the people care about the big,like what they Oh, did you see that?
Like, you know, I'm the showstoppers.
I'm great at plucking out thatstuff because my little claim
to fame was Stranger things.
Is I, I was at Apple Music when, uh, thela the latest season, season four dropped.

(15:16):
Mm-hmm.
And me and my wife, we, webinge watched it overnight.
We watched the entire thing,and that's when the Kate Bush
song hit running up that hill.
Now guess what?
I did a whole segment on Apple Music.
Oh.
With Rabo.
It's out there somewhere.
And we pushed this song, and guess what?
It went up 17000% that week.

(15:38):
Whoa.
But it
was, we picked and I was like, man,you got, we had put this song on
the air and sure enough it, it is.
When it took off, took off.
It was viral, but I lovedpicking out, I love pop culture.
You do?
Yeah.
I'll come to the, thesoundtrack is amazing.
Yeah.
We have a record player thatjust like plays the soundtracks
and I'm, this is a vibe.
I love the eighties, so Yes, same.

(15:58):
My mom was like, I don't know if Ican get into the show, and I'm like.
It's on that alone, yo.
And she got hooked.
Open
scene when the kids, I don't even know itwas the opening scene, but that was like
my, the Ghostbuster outfits remember that?
Like it was, yeah, like
I was like, oh my gosh.
I was like this, this looks like my house.
They ghost dragons in the basement.
This is like, this is like how we grew up.

(16:19):
Which is funny too,because that looks like my
dad.
A lot of people
ask us like, where do you get these?
Props, right?
Yeah.
Well, thrift stores.
Thrift stores.
It's like that's, that's the best
thing is like the first couple of yearswhen he was in dental school, people
were like, oh, you guys must be so rich.
And I'm like, half ofthis stuff is from the di.
Yeah.
Like it, we complicated the living.
That's right.

(16:40):
Yeah.
It's so nice.
'cause you can just likechannel the eighties.
Yep.
Do
you guys let people donate to you?
Like did you ask for people?
Well,
people donate stuff that'slike one person donated.
Like four custom Santa Cruz,stranger things, skateboard decks.
I've seen those.
Yes.
Yes.
So cool.
And people just give us strangerthings, gifts like Christmas
ornaments and stuff like that.

(17:01):
But with props, they don't really, Idon't think they really donated props.
It's, it's
really special to watch peoplejust drop off these, these
small little gifts on the door.
'cause like, it just, itmeans the world really.
Yeah.
Like they really appreciateIt helps us because.
As far as setting up, yeah,it takes about three weeks.
I was gonna ask you a nonstop setting up.

(17:22):
Yes, yes.
With
all the wind and those type of things.
If the wind blows on something that's notreally secure to the house, it's going.
It's flying.
Yeah, it's gone, right?
Yeah.
Oh, and so as far as the initialprep, I have to power wash
the entire front of the house.
Oh my God.
Because like with all the vinesthat go out, you know those
are held on by 3M stickies.
All my, and if there's anydirt on the house with the

(17:42):
3M stickies, the first storm.
Oh, it's gone.
All it's gone.
Yes.
Yeah.
Everything reinforc has to be like these,these things that you guys have learned.
I'm sure as you've,
you've
done that.
It has been just
like trial and error and hoping itall stays, hoping no one steals it.
Oh.
Which we haven't had a, we've hada few because there's some theft in

(18:05):
you in Uh, yeah, we've had a few.
Oh, they're from Daybreaker.
I, I know who it was.
Yeah,
I know who was out there.
Troublemakers,
people that work for Netflix.
They were out there tryingto take the stall down.
Yeah.
Trouble.
No, but seriously, has
anybody reached out fromNetflix or from the show?
Well actually we
know.
We do know that there are some maincast members that have seen our house.

(18:26):
Really?
Yeah.
They.
Yes.
I'm always like, when?
Oh, during October, and I'mlike, you have, I'll make that.
I'll
make that happen.
We'll get somebody from that show.
I'll, yeah, 2025 is gonna be our year.
They're all gonna show up.
I love and just be like, Iremember this when we were filming
this and all, we've got like
framed pictures of the kidswhen they like, look, I, I will

(18:47):
make you this promise.
I will get somebody from that show.
I, I will.
I got some context.
I mean, I got out in Hollywood.
Yeah,
I'll make some, yeah, we gottaget somebody from the show.
We should do is we shouldfly him out at Halloween.
And do an interview and theseguys back inside or lemme
see who on the porch.

(19:08):
Lemme, lemme look.
That cast list.
I'll find out who?
'cause there's always a connection.
That's our works.
There's
a six degrees of,
there is common con right
before we, I think ithappens during October.
There we
did.
Fan.
There's gotta be somebody from, we'regonna find you somebody we'll be at again.
We haven't even announced that 'cause.
Yep.
Who would care?
There you go.
At this point, who would careAt this point, this time until

(19:28):
September or August or whatever.
But yeah, I. I thought peoplehad been to your house.
Like that's gotta happen.
Yeah.
It's
been too long.
If they've seen it, theygotta come see it in person.
I will.
Yeah.
I'll go.
We'll get some other, so good.
I'm
gonna get somebody for you.
I did
have one video one year.
People were showing up like crazy.
I mean like thousands.

(19:48):
Yeah.
A night.
And I'm like, where are allthese people coming from?
Yeah.
And they would all say TikTok.
TikTok.
And there was a few like big talkersthat did our, that can filmed.
Yeah, I saw that.
But then I realized it was actuallycoming from one of my videos.
Yeah.
It was like going viral Uhhuh.
And I'm like, oh, thisvideo is really popping off.
And then everyone decided let's, I thinkNoah, like who plays Will, was like

(20:11):
really active on TikTok at the time.
So everyone was like, tag Noah.
Tag Noah.
Oh, wow.
So he was tagged like ahundred thousand times.
Sorry about that.
Not he had to have seen it by now.
But
we're gonna, I, I'm serious.
How can we help somebody so
daybreak if you don't know forthose listeners, you know, tuning
in if you don't know who, um.

(20:32):
Halloween.
Yeah, Halloween is massive.
I was trying to tell, you know,Blaine that, and that's why we
ended up doing Radio Daybreak.
Our very first episode was us going outat Halloween and showing him around.
Yeah.
Um,
but how do they get involved?
What do you guys need help with?
Yeah.
Is it set up?
Is it monetary?
Is it like, how can the community help

(20:53):
security, more power?
You know, it's great.
Like our whole street.
Yes.
It used to be just us.
Yeah.
Shout out the whole street.
It used to be just us and thenour neighbors were like, okay,
this is actually becoming a thing.
Yeah.
So then like the next year, a couplemore people decided to decorate
and now it's like our entirestreet and everyone on our street.
Goes all out.
Yeah.

(21:14):
It's not just the blockpart of the street.
Now it's like spreadingover to other, other blocks.
Yes.
Everywhere
they start the the Barbie house.
The Barbie land.
I think these guysstarted it maybe because
they didn't pop upuntil, this is the troll.
They did.
They did that I think twoyears ago and we, our street
kind of started going crazy.

(21:36):
Like I got a favorite, I got a
selfish favorite On your street, likethe villains house, there's a villains
or something that's near your house.
Uhhuh.
Well that's one.
That's all the eighties.
Like serial killers across the street.
Over,
yeah.
You know what's so
funny?
He.
Uh, he started realizing like, okay,our street is becoming a, a thing.
And so he went to Spirit Halloweenand bought every single animatronic.

(22:01):
That's hilarious.
Like
a big truck shows up and he's like,
had a spirit truck deliverednow, but that, you know what,
this is a locker daybreak.
And the people here, because there'sother neighbors that might have got
mad, but not the people in the street.
They were like, no, no, no, no.
You know what, we're not gonna get mad.
We're gonna just join up and just gonna
join in.
Make, and they
all love it, like, so cool.
One of our neighbors, her, herbrother's, like a big time DJ in Provo.

(22:24):
Oh.
And they'll come out and he'llplay a set in front of their house.
I've seen it.
So they've got a dance party goingon and it just is a, it's fun.
I was
out, I was out therewith a, with an orange.
But a cup, you know, we were,
last year it was a on, hedone it two times in two
years
now.
Tipsy tree or something.
It was on the list.

(22:45):
Yeah.
The whole
block.
And I think something really specialabout our street specifically is like a
lot of people are going above and beyond.
And the best part about it is everysingle homeowner is doing their own thing.
Yeah, yeah.
We're no one's hiring out on our streets.
Yeah.
That's, they are specificallyputting in the grind.
This is authentic stuff.

(23:05):
Does anybody coordinate?
Does anybody, I'd like to see, like ifyou guys all came together and dude,
we've had, we've talked about it.
We've talked about we, we've talkedabout coordinating for Christmas too,
like or whole street, like having thelights and stuff because all of our
neighbors, they are the coolest people.
That's awesome.
What if, yeah, we've gotten lucky.
You
should talk to one of theneighbors after season five.

(23:26):
See what happens in season five.
And then maybe take over theirentire house and maybe you guys,
well, we're really close with ourneighbors that that's how we met you guys.
Yeah.
And they would 100% bedown, do something together.
Ah, man, I'm trying to, the
bins are growing.
I'm trying to make this, they probably
prefer it because then they'd be like,okay, now we don't have to think.
They usually do something new every year.
Yeah.
And they'd probably be like, oh great,we don't have to, Hey, we're locked in.

(23:48):
The starling's got us locked in
to this thing.
I would, I think that would be incredible.
People are always like,my street had two kids.
How can I get more?
And I say, be that person.
You do it, it will spread.
Have fun.
Show that you want people at your door.
Yeah.
Be one of the houses that goes viral
because they do.
Yes.
And then your neighbors, neighborswill join in and you'll become,
look, but she, she's right.
I love the map

(24:09):
when people are like,oh, we have two kids.
Well, did you have decorations up?
No.
Yeah.
And even if you're only one houseon your street that's gone all
out, you will get kids because ifyou're on the map, they'll come.
Yes.
And then everyone kind of follows.
Does everybody indaybreak do they love it?
I think so.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I mean

(24:29):
it, I don't know.
I'm trying to think.
I mean, there has beencontroversy in the past.
Yeah.
But you get controversy.
Anything, let's just say that.
I mean, well,
even when we tried
to close the street, that's thebiggest controversy that there is,
which I'm like, we're just tryingto keep the kids safe and that,
you know, well, you've seen thatpicture, and if you haven't jump
online, check out the picture.
I mean, there were thousands.

(24:50):
Yeah.
Of kids, people, I meanadults too, really.
Who was out
there all
in front of that house?
Yeah.
Was that you that tookthe video from Yeah.
Your house?
He loves that.
He'll go up in the window.
He's
always in character, so he'll be infull character and he'll go up in
the window and it's like a concert.
They're all screaming like.
Hey, he's up there.
Yeah.
And then he'll throw candy out at him.

(25:12):
That's, that was so
cool.
Have you seen
that video?
No, I have.
Oh, it's awesome.
I have to see that video.
It's
awesome.
Yeah, and he'll just be like,is it getting old for you?
I mean, we've talkedabout all the excitement.
Does it, is it hard each year thatyou're still doing this, or do you
still get that same excitement?
I think what happens is.
When we first start setting up,um, the first day or two we're

(25:33):
like, we're really antsy to do it.
Yeah.
But then after a week of likegetting it up, getting it
like, oh, why do we do this?
It's so hard.
Yeah.
And then, I mean, it's justthe two and we've got kids,
so it's like juggling Oh yeah.
The kids and work and.
It.
It's like any spare momentwe have is setting up.
Well, you guys just need some volunteers.
Yeah.

(25:53):
Well, and what happens isthe first weekend of people
coming and checking it out.
Yeah.
As we're still setting up andseeing their excitement is like,
okay, now I know why to do this.
Yeah.
Yeah.
There we go.
It pays off for sure.
But would would volunteers,would that be a help for you?
Because you gotta have some gruntwork that needs to be honest.
I always
tell 'em, I'm like, weneed to find people.
People will do it.
I guarantee.

(26:13):
Help us out.
If you're, when do you start?
Hold on, hold on.
How
can we help if you're,
if you guys won't ask.
I will.
I'll beg people.
I'll be, get down there.
We don't need to beg.
No.
People would show up.
People so excited would love to
come help.
It just needs maybe some organizationthat we could, we could put the word help.
Put the word out.
Ask if y'all listening to this,
what were you gonna say?
Reach out to us.

(26:33):
I was just
saying how can we, same thing.
We were on the same.
Trends there of how canwe get them some help?
We need to get the grunt work out so thatyou guys can just focus on the creating.
There was one year, I was nine monthspregnant in October my, and I was like
trying to climb a little stepladderto, he was like, absolutely not.
Not doing that.
But I'm like, we get it done.

(26:54):
Wow.
Yeah.
I had a baby on October 28th, soshe was three days old on Halloween.
We got
4,000 people out front.
Oh my God.
Not realizing we have this tiny.
Chaotic.
Oh my word.
So she's one now.
Yeah.
Your baby's one.
Yeah.
So tell us a little bit about your kids,unless you had more questions about that.
I wanna learn more about youguys 'cause you've got two.

(27:15):
So yeah, we've
got three girls.
Um, our first two are ayear and a half apart.
Okay.
So we basically had two babiesand then we had a big gap.
And then now we have our 1-year-old girl.
Aw,
so
fun.
Yeah.
They They're busy.
They're busy.
They do all this with three littles.
That's insane.
How long have you
guys been in daybreak as a family here?
We moved here 2019.

(27:36):
Okay.
Um,
right before I starteddental school in August.
Nice.
Pre pandemic.
Yep.
Right before that chaos.
That was, that was weird.
Look,
I think we moved in at the best time.
Did you come from
what time to go to dentistry?
Would
Oh yeah.
That whole mouse was a, that's awhole other thing because he actually.

(27:57):
It was a really funny sequence ofevents, but he ended up being class
president Uhhuh in 2019 to 2020.
So he was class president at hisdental school during the pandemic
when they were all sent home.
They were in California,Hawaii, Canada, all their homes.
Wow.
On like emailing him.
We upset about the schooling andit was just a lot of crazy stuff.

(28:18):
It was pretty Are you a dentist?
Are you a dentist now?
Dentist?
I'm a dentist now.
A dentist?
Yeah.
He works at
Burke.
Pediatric dentistry, right?
Is that we daybreak, well,
bird children's dentistry, but yes.
Cheap plug for the BNI.
What's that
cheap plug for the
BNI?
I know you gotta
get to the BNI every Wednesdaymorning 9:00 AM at the DCC.

(28:39):
We need a dentist.
We do need a dentist.
We
need a dentist.
Right on our BNI.
That should be open.
Oh, and is is it for kids or what?
Any
business?
Networking international.
Oh, oh yeah.
So yeah, all the, wewe're also part of, um.
Daybreak business community.
Yeah.
Where we are essentiallynetworking, referrals and helping

(28:59):
to grow and local business.
The board out for local businesses.
Support.
Support local businesses, localfamilies like you guys right here.
Do you wanna make that announcement about.
Which one?
Oh, the magazine?
Yeah.
Oh, well, should we makethe announcement here?
These two are gonna beon, I'm talking about
family, so
That's true.
That's true.
This is your
family of the,
this is the family of the quarter.

(29:19):
So quarter.
The magazines are coming outquarterly, so big announcement.
Daybreak Vibes Magazine.
First issue is hitting in March.
And you guys are on the cover.
What?
So thank you.
That's awesome for doing that.
I love it.
We're so excited.
I'm so
excited to see it.
I saw like a proof of a proof maybe.
I don't know if it's changed sinceyou saw really early version.
It looks really cool.
Yeah.

(29:40):
But that's, so that's gonna havesome more insider information about
it Will, but it'll have a little, uh,feature section with these two and you'll
get to see their cute kids on the cover aswell and talk a little bit about them and.
Okay, so, so he's a
dentist
That's right.
Right here in
Daybreak.
And, and what, what about you?
Do you, are you assaulted?
So, I, I'm an
esthetician, so while he was indental school, I did eyelashes

(30:02):
to kind of get him through.
Nice.
And then he, it, it all worked out great.
So then I got pregnant.
Yep.
He graduated and I.
Retired for the time being nice for youbecause it was like, well, I mean, it's
not worth getting a nanny at this point.
Yeah, I miss it.
'cause I miss like, just connecting.
I had a lot of daybreakclients and it was fun.
Yeah.

(30:22):
But right now I'm like, I'lljust stay with the baby.
Yeah.
So, and he's doing his thing.
And your oldest is how old now?
She just turned eight.
Okay.
You've got an 8-year-old,6-year-old, and then.
A little 1-year-old.
Oh my word.
That's incredible.
So they're gonna be onthe, on the magazine?
Yes.
They're gonna be on the magazine.
Can wait
to see that.
Well, you know, it is a testament todaybreak because we moved here just

(30:45):
for dental school and we, our entireplan was like, he graduates and we
move, and all of his classmates, hehad, oh, he had a hundred classmates.
Wow.
They all went,
yeah.
They found, you know, NorthCarolina, south, where are they?
Where's the money?
Yeah.
They followed it.
Yeah.
So everyone was assumingwe would, you're out.
We were gonna be outlike everyone was out.

(31:07):
And we just love daybreak.
We love our neighbors.
Yeah.
We're like, what if we don'tfind this somewhere else?
Like, yeah, the money might begreat on the East coast, but will
we love our neighbors so much?
Yeah.
And so it was worth it for us to stay.
To stay.
Yeah.
Which like I think a lot of hisclassmates were like, you guys
are.
Can you imagine?
You guys sell your house and thenthey don't continue that tradition.

(31:30):
You tell the new,
the first setup is free Withthe house and I'll included,
we would actually market it asyou're buying the Stranger Things
house and this, and here's your,
here's your, here's your stuff to go with.
We would charge an extra a hundred grand.

(31:51):
Or because you know, there's differentmodels and homes here in Daybreak
if, if the person that buys a housedoesn't want to set it up, if you
have the same floor plan, let us know.
And
then here you go, pass
over.
You've now inherited
it.
We'll migrate it over to your,here's this and thousands of
people of color around with it.
So I love that.
Yeah.
I don't have any more questions becausewe're gonna be talking to them more.

(32:13):
Yes, we're gonna have youback, Nikki, and talk to you.
I think she needs her own
podcast.
You know what, I used to wanna starta podcast 'cause my lash clients would
tell me the craziest, darkest storiesand I'm like, I need to record this
because this is like crazy stuff.
Like no one would believe or wastheir lashes, they would be like, oh

(32:33):
my gosh, I just told you more thanI've ever told my own therapist.
Yeah.
And I'm like I,
or save those stories.
Don't give more away.
That's gonna be, I think really will.
I think we should get you something.
Go.
They're so fun.
Well, just even their familywith Lance, I'm sure too.
I'm boring.
Me.
No, no
way.
I just do airplane glasses on thekids' faces and remove cavities.

(32:55):
No, we
are capes over there.
We'll have to go do a podcast over
there.
It's so fun.
I love
it.
Let's do that.
It's so cute.
You know, he
always wanted to work withkids and I thought he was.
Crazy in dental school.
He would be like, I think Ifeel a pull to work with kids.
And I'm like, you're nuts.
That's incredible.
And then he applied at Bergand they were like, we want a
dentist that lives in Daybreak.

(33:16):
That's part of the community.
And it was like all the stars alignedand it was kids and like Exactly.
Well, the best meant to be.
Dentistry's great.
But the best form ofdentistry is with kids.
Yeah.
You know, because I
feel like no one elsewould agree with that.
No, a hundred
percent.
Because what happens is kids, kids havebad experiences and then they become
adults and then they become bad patients.
Yeah.

(33:36):
Yes.
Right.
So you get a, you get a loving thedentist, you get 'em loving, getting
their teeth clean when they're young,and that just changes their life.
I'm a retired nurse and Iworked in peds for five years.
Mm-hmm.
So I agree with you.
We won't say anything about the parentsof the kids, but the kids are absolutely.
Oh my, now I'm teasing.
I'm gonna get us in trouble, so.

(33:57):
Well, we appreciate Nikki andLance, the Starling family.
Thank you
guys.
Gonna be on the cover of the Daybreak
magazine with the story.
Got the family in there.
Make sure you check that thing out.
Yes, make sure you check outNikki's podcast coming out soon.
Oh my.
But we appreciate you guyscoming in and doing this.
And we appreciate whatyou've done for day life.

(34:19):
It really
is.
Thank you.
So thank you.
It's worth it.
And
I don't have a lot ofopportunities to say this.
Yeah.
Whenever I do, I, I have to.
Okay.
So if, if there's one tidbit of freeinformation, I can, I can give parents
and their kids as far as dentistry goes.
Yes.
The number one thing is make sureyou're flossing your kids' teeth.

(34:39):
There you go.
I know it sounds silly, but a 3-year-oldcan get flossing related cavities.
Which can start a negative.
Experience going to the dentist, right?
So kid size, flossers, get 'em on Amazon.
Just make sure you flosser kids.
See, there you go to G psa.
Here it is.
I love this
Free advice.
We'll just tie this together.

(35:00):
I think it is so ironic that theyhave the Halloween house, the number
candy with the dentist, right?
The connection there you give.
Should we give a sucker
toothpaste
card
into.
Thank you.
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