Tyler Drazich and Emily Johnson were high school sweethearts who met while attending Great Falls high schools, moved away and boomeranged back to Great Falls, Montana. They now have three adorable kids and a really big camper that they go on a lot of adventures in.
The Drazich’s were featured in our Live in Great Falls video series. Check out the video and read on to learn more about why this awesome family loves being in Great Falls:
Read their Great Falls story, told by Emily:
Tyler and I met when I was 15 and attending Great Falls Central Catholic High School, back when their campus was on what is now the University of Providence campus. Tyler was a student at Great Falls High and we dated for three years in high school.
After high school graduation, Tyler moved to Bozeman to continue his education and I stayed in Great Falls to attend College of Great Falls, now University of Providence. We were apart for two years and visited each other on weekends. Funny story, one time I took the bus to visit Ty in Bozeman (a 5 HOUR drive) and the bus didn’t come to pick me up to bring me back to Great Falls. I sat there forever and in the end Tyler had to drive me all the way back to Great Falls and he had to drive back to Bozeman that same day.
I moved to Bozeman Tyler’s junior year and we got an apartment (read: a very expensive apartment) there. I enrolled in school there for a community health degree and he finished his electrical engineering degree.
Right after graduation, Tyler got a job at an engineering firm in Bozeman, Dyno Jet Research. It was a great job and we were loving love. We got married after both of our graduations and were married four years before having our sons Cooper and then Cruz.
Eventually we got a house in Belgrade, a small town right outside of Bozeman, and lived there for six years before moving back to Great Falls in 2015. A job had opened up for me at the Great Falls Clinic and Tyler ended up starting his own engineering firm here in Great Falls and works for companies all over the United States. It’s awesome.
After having our daughter Cora, who’s turning 4, I quit my job to stay home with our kids and attend their many (so many) sports and activities. Tyler’s business is booming and we are having more success than we’ve ever had, and the added bonus of the low cost of living in Great Falls is the cherry on top.
What do you love about living in Great Falls?
I really love where we get to live, out of the city on the prairie. We have tons of space but still have neighbors. We get to feel totally safe. Our kids go to the best school, Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School and having them grow up in a Christian environment is so wonderful. We also have lots of family here, which is really great.
I thought I would never come back to Great Falls, but we did and now we would never leave.
What does your family like to do in Central Montana?
Everything! And being so close to everything makes it that much easier. I love that we’re close to rivers for fishing, mountains for hiking and camping, plains for mountain biking. I could go on and on!
The prairie is really growing on me, I never thought I’d be so obsessed with the vast land and the open skies. I visit California now and I’m like, “Gross! Where’s the sky?!”
Were just bought an RV and we plan on camping every single weekend this summer. We’ll drive it around for the boys’ baseball tournaments and for camping trips at Holter Lake. Owning an RV has always been a dream of ours, and now it’s an absolute reality. We couldn’t do this in any other Montana cities. It’s awesome.
Like what you’re reading? Check out the stories of Meghan and Salina & Val, as well!