Child's Transition "Awakened" the Mom | World's Most Extraordinary Families

Added: 2026-05-26

[00:00:00]In today's modern world, is there such a thing as normal family life?

[00:00:05]>> Who's to say what's normal?

[00:00:06]>> Some families enjoy a dangerous life.

[00:00:10]Some crave a relaxing life, and some just like the wild life. In this series, we'll be visiting households across the globe to celebrate the wonderful, the inspirational, and the eccentric.

[00:00:25]Welcome to the world's most extraordinary families.

[00:00:30]In this episode, we're off to Detroit to meet a family who are undergoing a remarkable change. Not only is their son becoming a girl, their mom is becoming a man.

[00:00:41]>> I'm just like her. I was born in the wrong body.

[00:00:44]>> But first, we're heading to Maryland to meet a couple with big hearts.

[00:00:48]>> You can't get better than this, can you?

[00:00:50]>> And an even bigger family.

[00:00:51]>> Why can't you just blindly follow whatever I say to you?

[00:00:57]>> Yes.

[00:00:59]This is the Nest family. Mom Amy, dad Scott, and their 14 children. Having a big family is wonderful. It is chaotic.

[00:01:11]It is crazy. It's lots of laughter. It's lots of tears and forgiveness.

[00:01:17]>> The best thing about being in a big family is we have a lot of people to play with. I still have my actual brothers and sisters and I have new siblings which is actually really great. Like we're like the biggest family >> in like Maryland.

[00:01:39]>> At times it can get very noisy.

[00:01:45]>> It's very loud in a large family. Very loud.

[00:01:48]>> The worst thing that being in a big family is that where you mostly fight all the time.

[00:01:55]We do have a lot of energy and a lot of pizzazz. We do have some spunky kids.

[00:02:01]>> The Nest family is one of the largest in America. And with this many kids, even mom Amy has a tough time remembering them all. Destiny is 21 and her husband Lens is 23. Lexi is 20.

[00:02:16]Casey is 19. Hunter is 18. John is 17.

[00:02:21]Samantha is 15. Carter is almost 14. Um, Ashton is 13. Destiny is also 13. Brad and Chad are almost 12. Tatiana is 11.

[00:02:34]Skyler is 10.

[00:02:37]Who's next? Oh, Aiden. Oh my word. Aiden is seven.

[00:02:43]Although the older kids, Casey, Destiny, and Lexi have moved out of the family home, things are no quieter in the Nest household, and there's certainly no such thing as a lion for Amy.

[00:02:57]A typical day for me is waking up at usually 4:45 when my husband gets up to go to work. We get up um we sit and have our time together before the kids come down. The kids will come down somewhere around six. Um, especially on school days.

[00:03:13]>> And of course, a household this size wouldn't run smoothly without teamwork.

[00:03:18]>> My wife does all of the planning. She's fabulous at it. She does a great job.

[00:03:24]I'm just there for support. To be honest with you, >> we load up for school by 7:25 and I take them to school and then I get the whole day to myself during the school year. um until I go pick them up at 3, dinner, chores, if there's any like lessons, violin lessons, all those are usually in the evenings. And then we have during school nights, mandatory quiet time in your bedrooms by 7:30, 8:00. Um they all have to go to their rooms except for Hunter cuz he's now 18. And it gives me an end to my day at least with the mom mom mom.

[00:04:10]But how exactly did this all American family grow to what it is today? The Nest family adventure started in 1994 when Scott and Amy met. Less than a year later, the couple were married.

[00:04:24]>> This would be my husband. I am so super proud of him.

[00:04:30]You can't get better than this, can you?

[00:04:32]That's my handsome, handsome husband.

[00:04:36]>> In 1998, their first child, Lexi, arrived, followed 50 months later by their son, Hunter. Hunter actually has Asperers, which is on the autism spectrum, but he's very high functioning, and he is probably one of the most genuine, sweet, spirited, honest individuals I have ever met.

[00:04:56]>> In 2004, baby Carter arrived. But soon after Amy was told she wasn't able to have any more children naturally.

[00:05:05]>> They just said don't attempt anymore because it really became a high-risisk pregnancy. Then um we had not had any more pregnancies after Carter.

[00:05:14]>> I had lots of more children.

[00:05:17]Lots more.

[00:05:19]>> I never thought that I would have 14 children. I was open to a big family but not quite 14.

[00:05:25]>> We wanted somewhere between four and five. maybe six. That was, you know, what we thought would be logical in our head. Um, and we thought on what Scott said once, um, we learned that we shouldn't have any more naturally that um, we should go ahead and pursue getting licensed to be foster and adoptive parents. So, that's what we did.

[00:05:47]>> And just a few months later, Amy and Scott were contacted about a local woman who was looking to have her baby daughter adopted.

[00:05:55]Scott actually took that call and he said, "Sure, if um she's willing to u bring the baby, we will be happy to adopt it." So, that was little Destiny.

[00:06:06]And then after Destiny is where our story gets really crazy.

[00:06:12]Coming up, there's a baby boom in the Nest household as four kids become 14 and we reveal the secrets to feeding so many hungry mouths. But first, we're heading to the Midwest to meet a family who are undergoing an incredible change.

[00:06:33]The Mason family from Detroit, Michigan are an ordinary all-American family, but this household has a remarkable story.

[00:06:42]This is Corey. She's a regular 16-year-old who likes nothing more than practicing makeup with her younger sister. Cory's always kind of been feminine and always dressing up. She'd always wear my mom's high heels and like dresses, >> the dolls and the makeup and the, you know, they want to play dress up and princess and all that stuff.

[00:07:04]>> But what makes Corey extraordinary is that she was actually born a boy.

[00:07:10]I was really young and it was my birthday and I got a truck and my sister got a doll and I wanted nothing to do with the truck. I wanted to play with the doll and my sister let me play with it and it's just been girl toys and dressing up and makeup ever since then.

[00:07:30]>> So many sauces.

[00:07:32]>> So much sauces.

[00:07:35]Cory has been living as a girl since 2012 and now classes herself as transgender. This means that although she was born a boy, she has always thought and felt like a girl. She was simply born in the wrong body. But back when she was 10, Cory's family didn't even know what the word transgender meant.

[00:07:55]>> I'd never heard the word transgender.

[00:07:57]I'd never I I didn't know there was such a thing. We just thought as parents that Corey was probably gay.

[00:08:05]>> I had heard the term and I had assumed that it was a crossdresser. I assumed it was a a man in drag or a dress. I I had there was no education.

[00:08:15]I did not know what it meant.

[00:08:18]>> All Corey knew was that she simply felt different and didn't know why.

[00:08:24]And this sense of confusion made her life tough.

[00:08:29]I wasn't ever happy as a child. I was hating the world. I was being mean to my sisters, being mean to my parents. I would destroy things. I just It wasn't a good time for me because I was trapped in the body that I wasn't supposed to be. I didn't know what was wrong with me because I didn't know what transgender meant. I have memories of getting bullied in fifth grade that were just terrifying.

[00:08:56]She wasn't even bullied because of the transition. We didn't even know at the time. The kids, she just didn't fit in.

[00:09:01]She didn't have any. She wanted to hang out with the girls, you know. The girls were like, "H, you're a boy. Go away."

[00:09:06]And the boys were like, "Oh, you're gay.

[00:09:07]You're queer." You know, the terrible names they fifth grade kids terrible.

[00:09:14]They would, you know, just tease me because like they didn't get it.

[00:09:21]Um, they would spit, call me these names, they shove me into lockers, tell me to kill myself. It was Sorry.

[00:09:40]The bullying at school grew so bad, Cory's parents decided to homeschool her. The family was still unaware of what being transgender actually was until mom Erica saw an interview with transgender icon Jazz Jennings. And from that moment, everything changed.

[00:09:59]I just said, "I need you to come watch something." And of course, she's a kid.

[00:10:02]Why? I don't want to. I said, "Just please sit down 10 minutes. Just this is important." And the whole time she watched it, she did not say a word.

[00:10:11]>> My mom showed me the video when I was about 10 or 11. And I will never forget these words what Jazz Jennings said. I have a girl brain but a boy body. And I was like, "Oh my god, that is me." At the end of the video, I just like looked at my mom and started sobbing. I was like, "Mom, everything makes sense now.

[00:10:30]That's me." So the next day, we went and we changed my whole wardrobe.

[00:10:34]>> She went out and bought a, you know, the the the pink outfit that she wore for like a week straight and wouldn't take off.

[00:10:42]Corey and her family had finally realized who she really was. But remarkably, her coming out didn't have much of an effect on family life.

[00:10:51]>> Nothing really changed in the family when Cory came out. Nothing. It's just Cory is just Cory. And nothing has changed. Nothing's changed other than we use different pronouns and she's now dressing and presenting the way she should have since she was born.

[00:11:16]>> Her sisters, it wasn't even a big deal.

[00:11:19]They were just like, "Whatever. Cory's Corey." Even when we realized and she came out as transgender, it was like no big deal because they're like, "Okay, well, Corey's always kind of been a girl, so it makes sense.

[00:11:31]Nothing changed other than, you know, more fighting over clothes between the teenagers and makeup.

[00:11:40]>> In 2013, with her family's support, Corey began transitioning to become a girl.

[00:11:47]>> Once she learned what being transgender was, once she learned that she could actually transition into a girl, she wanted to do it tomorrow.

[00:12:00]Once she hit 12, they started doing the, you know, the readiness interview where they would do, you know, delve deeper into the mental health and make sure she was really ready to start hormones, you know, whenever the time came. And so for 2 and 1/2 years, she would ask me several times a day, "Mom, did the letter come yet? Did the letter come yet? Is it time? Is it time?"

[00:12:20]On her 14th birthday, the day Corey had been waiting for finally dawned when her first course of hormone therapy arrived.

[00:12:28]>> Hi. What?

[00:12:30]>> I want you to do me a favor.

[00:12:31]>> What?

[00:12:32]>> One day she like pulled me out of school and was like, "Corey, come here quickly.

[00:12:35]Come here. Come here. Sit on the couch.

[00:12:37]I have something to show you." And she started recording me. I was like, "Come on. What did you do this time?" Like, "Why?" I was annoyed. I like why? Why?

[00:12:44]What are you doing? My first thought was, what can I do to commemorate this and to remember this forever?

[00:12:51]>> Reach behind you.

[00:12:52]>> And the idea came to me. I'm going to hide it behind the couch, a little surprise, and record it. And the rest is history.

[00:13:00]You know what that is?

[00:13:04]You know what that is?

[00:13:07]I just burst into tears hugging my mom cuz it was just like such a relief and a huge weight lifted off my shoulders.

[00:13:17]Corey started hormone therapy in 2015 and took the first step to becoming biologically female. But everything that she had gone through had another dramatic effect on the Mason family. It made mom Erica realize that she too had been trapped in the wrong body.

[00:13:35]Because Cory's mom used to look like this.

[00:13:42]Coming up, how Erica broke the news to her family and husband that she wanted to become a man. But first, we're heading back to the Nest family to find out how their family grew to 14 kids in less than 5 years.

[00:14:01]By 2005, Scott and Amy Ness had three biological children in the house, Lexi, Hunter, and Carter, as well as new arrival Destiny.

[00:14:12]The couple were initially reluctant to accept any more babies, but then in 2006, social workers offered them a chance to adopt a premature boy who was about to be fostered, and Amy couldn't refuse.

[00:14:24]But there was a surprise in store.

[00:14:28]>> I'll never forget the social worker said, "But he has a twin that has to come with him." And that didn't even phase me. So, I called my husband and he said, "Amy, I think it's right. Um, if you think you can handle four babies, then let's do it." So, Brad and Chad um were the next ones that joined our family. But just hours after that phone call, there was another amazing revelation. Brad and Chad had brothers and sisters, and the Nest family was about to double in size.

[00:15:03]Before I even got to go to the hospital to meet um Brian and Chad.

[00:15:09]Um I talked with the social worker on the phone and she told me that they had five siblings living with their grandparents.

[00:15:17]I knew instantly that these were my children. I just knew >> this baby bombshell meant that in just 3 years, Scott and Amy's family had grown from three children to 11. In the beginning, it was just three of us, me, Lexi, and Carter.

[00:15:36]And basically, it it wasn't just like a slow introduction. It was like a a big bang of like, okay, we're getting we're getting more children. in most like adoption families like they actually did try to split us up before but um mommy and daddy said that they would only take us they wouldn't um they weren't going to split us up.

[00:15:55]>> So Brad and Chad were joined by their siblings Samantha John Ashton Casey and another Destiny.

[00:16:03]>> Right before the the adoption was final for the sibling group of seven. Their birth parents had another little girl named Skyler.

[00:16:14]Skyla was born with severe brain damage, but the Nest family were determined that she joined her brothers and sisters.

[00:16:21]Then there was another bolt from the blue in the shape of Tatiana.

[00:16:26]>> Little Destiny's birth mom contacted us and we knew she had had another girl um and she was trying to raise her. When Tatiana was about two, her birth mom called and said, "Uh, I just can't I can't do this anymore. my life is not stable and any chance you would be willing to take her so she can be with destiny.

[00:16:50]>> By 2013, the Nesses had 13 kids, all under the age of 13, three biological children and 10 who were adopted, but incredibly the family still wasn't complete.

[00:17:03]>> So then a couple years went by and and we, you know, kind of got into an easy pace. We were out of diapers for the first time in 16 years. Totally out of diapers. We were out of sippy cups. We were sleeping through the night.

[00:17:20]And then we find out that there was number nine born for the sibling group where we already had the eight.

[00:17:28]>> Number nine was Aiden.

[00:17:30]>> We didn't find out about Aiden until he was one. And there was another adoption family that had him. Um, they decided that it'd be better if they gave up Aiden to us so that way we could keep all of us together. So, there's nine of us.

[00:17:43]Amy and Scott were determined to reunite Aiden with his siblings despite his difficult start in life.

[00:17:50]>> He had been in the hospital his entire life at that point. Uh, he was born with severe medical complications. Um, very severe. Um, he is a little miracle to be alive.

[00:18:03]Initially, the authorities were reluctant to let Aiden join the blossoming brood.

[00:18:08]>> To the general public, we look like crazy people, you know, just gathering children up, but um we ended up again advocating and fighting and birth parents requested that he be placed with us. So, they did. They worked with us and here came number 14.

[00:18:28]>> You know, we've had people come along and they say, "Well, what you've done, you're saints and everything else. We're we're really not the heroes. Our kids are. They're the ones that had to change their whole identity. They're the ones that had to change who they called mom and dad.

[00:18:46]>> So, with 14 kids in the family, the first question anyone asks is, "How much is the grocery bill?"

[00:18:53]>> Hi, how are you?

[00:18:54]>> Good. How are you? All right.

[00:18:56]>> I would say that our grocery budget is somewhere between $4 and $500 a week. We have different connections and inside things where um people will donate large chunks of like frozen meats to us because they either have a program that they run that they couldn't use it and we're fairly known in this area and often we get calls, hey, could you use 23 lbs of chicken? Uh yes, we can use 23 lbs of chicken. Um, it is a lot of food.

[00:19:26]Um, basically it's just what we're taking on vacation, provided I can get it all in our in our van.

[00:19:33]>> As if looking after so many hungry kids wasn't enough, this summer, Amy and Scott are planning to take their family on holiday.

[00:19:40]>> Um, take it in and set it in the um, put it in in the utility room for now.

[00:19:46]>> But first, it's back to their 10-bedroom house to unpack the groceries.

[00:19:52]I don't know what he wants to do with that.

[00:19:56]Oh, that's right. You dude. Oh, >> hold it.

[00:19:58]>> Aiden.

[00:20:00]All right. Now, who can put the milk out in the garage? Um, >> we got to put the refrigerated things away.

[00:20:08]>> That goes to the garage refrigerator.

[00:20:11]>> All right. We use a tremendous amount of food in this house. We have a big walk-in freezer in the garage that was donated to us, which is fantastic because my husband is a massive coupon shopper. He's one of those extreme coupon shoppers. So, I have to plan our food around what he comes home with.

[00:20:30]It's huge, but it's very messy.

[00:20:32]um totally unorganized right now, but it it it's got shelving on the sides, on the back, um in the middle, and then there's everything on the floor, too. My husband might come home with 72 boxes of pizza, or it looks like we have a whole pile of Hot Pockets. There's boxes of toaster strudles.

[00:20:55]And sometimes I say to him, Scott, let's see how long we can go without buying.

[00:21:00]that he has a need to coupon. I think couponing sometimes becomes almost like an addiction to some people and I have friends that coupon too and that's what they say is they feel compelled they have to get their sale and Scott's paron for coupon shopping isn't just limited to the frozen section.

[00:21:20]It looks like right now we have he must have I don't know how many boxes of pancake mix um and oatmeal. He must have found some sort of deal on on oatmeal.

[00:21:31]>> So, we've been making um one of the things that we made for vacation is some tubs of monster cookies, which the primary ingredient is oatmeal. And today, we might make um chocolate no-baked cookies, which again, the primary ingredient is oatmeal. So, I learned to work with what he brings home.

[00:21:50]>> But today, oatmeal is off the menu. Dad Scott has brought home a box of crabs and the kids waste no time getting stuck in.

[00:21:58]>> Peter, now you wait. No, you wait. Wait until the table's set up. Okay. Right.

[00:22:07]>> You're supposed to nod your head.

[00:22:09]>> But a crab feast is a messy business and needs the whole family to help out.

[00:22:14]>> Who needs water?

[00:22:17]>> Thanks, Mom.

[00:22:18]>> You're welcome, son. It absolutely can be done to have a big family and not be wealthy or really wellto-do. You just have to learn to be content.

[00:22:30]We are very careful with our finances.

[00:22:33]Sometimes you have to be. If you just don't have the money, you have to be thrifty. There's no >> other option.

[00:22:39]>> A box of crabs can be made to go a long way in the nest household, but it's also a great excuse to sit down as a family.

[00:22:46]>> You'll usually get two or three days out of them. You can pick for hours because it's just a little bit of meat at a time and then and conversation.

[00:22:55]Fantastic.

[00:22:56]>> Mainly in Maryland, you know, if if you had crabs, you had friends.

[00:23:02]>> We'll be back with the Nesses shortly as they pack up the kids and a ton of groceries and hit the road for their summer vacation. But now we're back in Detroit to discover how mom Erica realized she was a man trapped in a woman's body and what happened when she told her husband.

[00:23:25]In 2015, Detroit teenager Corey Mason began the transition to become female after finally learning she was a girl trapped in a boy's body. But her realization also made her mom Erica recognize that she too was transgender.

[00:23:43]It was such a relief because growing up I was so self-conscious. I hated myself. I hated my body. My friends would say to me, "You're so beautiful. You know, you have this perfect body." And I was like, "I'm so glad that you see it that way." But I don't. I just thought I was a tomboy. I was one of the guys. And I would always make a joke like, you know, my friends would be going out to get ice cream and I'm like, "Ah, I'm really not a sweet kind of guy. Not a sweet guy."

[00:24:13]And I always called myself guy. It's so bizarre to look back and say, "Well, duh. That makes perfect sense."

[00:24:21]>> I had absolutely no indication at all.

[00:24:23]Nothing whatsoever.

[00:24:24]Other than um she hated her breasts.

[00:24:31]Life as Erica was a very depressing life. I tried to find the joy in life. I tried to to look and be grateful for the good things in my life, but there was still this nagging sense of hopelessness and depression that I carried with me every single day of my life. And I did not know why.

[00:24:55]>> I think they're probably fine. With Cory's transition underway, being able to share her daughter's experiences meant Erica could finally make sense of her own feelings. But having kept a secret to herself for over 3 years, she only now felt strong enough to tell her husband. We were watching the movie The Danish Girl about a transgender woman.

[00:25:17]In the end, she'd had, I guess, the first surgery, and in the end, she ends up dying.

[00:25:22]And I was crying so hard. I was sobbing like way more than you cry at a movie.

[00:25:29]>> And at the end of it, um, she just looked at me and she said she apologized.

[00:25:36]>> And I looked up at him and the woman's name in the movie is Lily. And I looked up at him and I said, "I'm so sorry that you got stuck with a freaking Lily."

[00:25:47]And he was like, didn't kind of understand what I was saying at first.

[00:25:52]Um, and he said, "What does that mean?" I said, "That means that I was also born in the wrong body."

[00:26:02]I thought for sure that it would be the end of my marriage.

[00:26:07]>> I just hugged her and I said, "Think will be fine. Everything will be fine." And then we It just opened up dialogue.

[00:26:15]>> He said, "I married you for the person you are. I love you inside. I don't care what you look like outside. We'll make this work no matter what we have to do.

[00:26:24]And I just h I don't think I've ever cried harder in my life. That was a mess.

[00:26:31]People look to me like I'm some sort of superhero for just doing the right thing.

[00:26:38]It's just doing the right thing.

[00:26:40]>> It was so unexpected. I never once thought that he might stay. So I was just completely blown away. I signed up for till death do us part. And that doesn't come with fine print. It comes with you said I do. We started a family.

[00:27:00]We end as a family.

[00:27:03]>> I'll have it.

[00:27:05]>> And of course, the other person Erica told was the one person in the family who knew exactly what she was going through.

[00:27:12]>> He was like, "Hey, I'm transgender like you. I'm just like you. I was born in the wrong body. And I was like, I know.

[00:27:20]>> It was awesome.

[00:27:22]>> And the other family members took the news just as well.

[00:27:25]>> I sat down with Ellen, the 10-year-old, and Willow, who's seven.

[00:27:29]>> And I said, "You guys realize that I'm transgender, too, right?" And they were like, "Yeah, that means you want to be a boy now." And Willow goes, "Does that mean we should start calling you dad?"

[00:27:41]I said, "I'm your mom. You call me whatever you want to call me." Um, but for them it was no big deal.

[00:27:49]>> With her family support and after keeping her secret for so long, Erica finally began medically transitioning and became Eric.

[00:27:58]>> I didn't realize what normal felt like until I started hormone therapy.

[00:28:05]>> But how has this dramatic change affected Eric and Les's relationship?

[00:28:10]>> I think in some ways the experience has brought us closer. Um, but I think in other ways, especially when it comes to my marriage, um, things are different.

[00:28:21]>> Some days it's really tough.

[00:28:24]You know, I could sit here and say that it's all sunshine and roses, but I'd be lying. We're still a couple. will probably always be a couple, but romantically I'm a straight heterosexual guy and if you look like a guy, it kind of makes things difficult for me.

[00:28:46]I don't think anything changes as far as someone's sexuality just because my whole life I've like I consider myself bisexual where I don't care about gender. I don't care if you're a woman or you're a man. If I if I fall in love with you, I fall in love with you. I'm still just as straight as I always was and will ever be.

[00:29:06]Nothing about me changed.

[00:29:09]Nothing about my spouse changed other than she's living in the body that matches the brain. I've never told anybody this and I've just recently been thinking about this that I I can't say that I identify as a man because I don't. I don't identify as a woman. I identify as transmasculine, but I also identify as human.

[00:29:40]That's how we should all identify as humans.

[00:29:46]We'll be catching up with the Masons later as the family get ready for a double celebration as well as finding out what the future holds for Cory. But first, things are getting messy in Maryland as the vacation planning gets underway.

[00:30:04]The Nest family and their children are about to embark on their annual holiday, but the destination is a closely guarded secret for now. But when you've got this many kids, planning starts early.

[00:30:16]>> She makes sure the kids get their clothes packed, things that are necessary, and and I'll think of some things, too.

[00:30:26]>> I am to the point to where I tell her, "Well, what do you want me to do? What do you want me to do?" And then, of course, you know, we provide I provide the finances for it.

[00:30:38]>> Drop another thing.

[00:30:40]Basic cupcakes, frosting, and sprinkles on top.

[00:30:44]>> But financing a holiday for so many people isn't easy. Dad Scott is a corrections officer, and Amy is a stay-at-home mom, so she boosts a family spending money with a little bit of home baking. Different people ask for me to make cakes and cupcakes for them and then they will often donate a specific amount or a certain amount and I throw all that money into our vacation fund cuz our finances have gotten a little bit tighter um this year than what they normally are here.

[00:31:19]Thankfully, this is a tiny order. When you've done 400 for a wedding with sugared fruit on top, you work for hours.

[00:31:31]I have to watch him sometimes when there's an order. He's the one I have to specifically spell it out to. You cannot sneak one of these cuz I'll have a certain amount done and next thing I know there's one missing.

[00:31:49]What are you going to do?

[00:31:50]>> Oh my gosh. Did he put his mouth in it?

[00:31:53]Aiden, >> I'm like in the top.

[00:31:58]>> Hours and hours and hours go into planning a vacation for us. Okay, Tatiana, what shoes are you wearing? I need you to bring down your shoes. Some of that is because I'm a control freak.

[00:32:09]Um, and I just I have fear of losing my children. I have fear of, you know, especially in crowds, things like that.

[00:32:16]And so I probably way over plan. I research and research and try to know every area of where we're going so that it can be the best it can be and I can relax and have peace of mind that we're going to be okay. So so far I've not lost a child. I lost a grandpa on vacation once, but not a child.

[00:32:40]>> This year the Nest family are a few members down for the annual holiday. We are missing five because my oldest daughter is married >> and lives in West Virginia with her husband. My second oldest daughter, Lexi, um is in South Carolina at Bob Jones University. And then um Casey, who is our third oldest daughter, moved out in February.

[00:33:05]>> The other two Nest family members who won't be joining them on holiday are 17-year-old John and 13-year-old Ashton, who were away at a boy camp.

[00:33:14]But for the rest of the family, finding out where their holiday will be isn't going to be straightforward. See if we can >> I have planned a vacation reveal thing for the kids. Every year I do something fun with them to reveal what we're where we're going for vacation and what we're doing.

[00:33:31]>> I'm now an angel.

[00:33:33]>> Ready, get set, go.

[00:33:43]I love family vacations. I just do.

[00:33:54]After the kids' hard work, the destination is finally revealed.

[00:34:00]For our vacation, we're going to Pennsylvania, and it's going to be fun.

[00:34:04]>> We have a house rented on the lake. Um, and it will just be simple this time, not a massive amount of activities.

[00:34:11]>> It's near a lake and a pool and it's really in the mountains. It's going to be beautiful.

[00:34:17]>> We're going to a different house and we get to be in a different place and there's usually different stuff there that we get to do.

[00:34:26]>> It'll be very good. It's It's great bonding time for us.

[00:34:32]Coming up, the Nest family hit the road as they head off on vacation. But with this many kids, how is mom going to work out who sleeps where? But first, we're catching up with the Masons, and it's party time as they get ready for two big birthdays.

[00:34:55]Back in Michigan, and the Masons are heading out to prepare for a very special celebration. We are at Party City. We've come here to get some decorations for Sweet 16 and 17th birthday party in two weeks.

[00:35:09]>> Very excited.

[00:35:10]>> I'm super excited.

[00:35:13]>> But with Corey and Kayle's birthdays just one day apart, sharing a party isn't always easy.

[00:35:20]It >> can be difficult sometimes because, you know, it's just a mix of bunch of people, but you know, it's easier that way.

[00:35:31]I would rather have my own birthday party just so like I could invite my friends and it could just be like, you know, neutral, but then like when we have to share, it's like Cory's friends and my friends and also family friends.

[00:35:46]>> Unfortunately, the reality is that Kaylee has a lot of friends and Corey doesn't. So, anytime there's a party, especially their birthday party, it usually ends up being more more Kayle's friends.

[00:35:58]Kayle's friends are most likely coming to the party because I really don't have any. I only have one best friend and a lot of internet best friends that live across the world, so I can't really see them. So, I only have one friend. Her name's Emma.

[00:36:16]>> That's not really fun to be honest. I get jealous of Kaye a lot because she goes out and she has like 30 friends she hangs out with and I'm like, "God, I wish I could just be in your place for one day. Like, I would kill to have that many friends."

[00:36:33]I think that people are really missing out on a great person because Corey truly hasn't really changed. Corey is still a beautiful person inside and out.

[00:36:43]and all the people who turned her away because she's transgender made a huge mistake.

[00:36:50]>> It's hard for me to watch Kaye basically have a typical teenage girl experience in her life and Corey does not get to experience much of that. And it's it's hard to watch as a parent, >> but Corey has taken some comfort from the fact that she is now able to offer advice and support to other teenagers around the world.

[00:37:20]>> People do ask me all kinds of questions.

[00:37:22]So like, so what made you think of transition? Like how did you and how did you overcome it? And do you have any advice? And it was awesome because I get messages all the time on Instagram saying, "Hey, because of you, I didn't kill myself. Because of you, my parents know what transgender means and now they accept me for who I am." Which that right there is like a that's like, "Wow, I need to save somebody's life. It's amazing."

[00:37:49]>> And of course, she can also rely on the support she receives from her family, especially her mom. I wanted so badly to come out to Corey, mainly because I wanted her to know not only do I support you and love you, but I understand on a deeper level what you're going through. When my mom first told me she was transgender, too, I cried for her because like I know all that and holding that hatred and like being trapped in the wrong body felt.

[00:38:21]So, I was like, "Oh my goodness, you're just like me." And it was awesome because I had a friend to talk to that was like me and we went through the same things and it was awesome.

[00:38:30]>> The road ahead for the Masons won't always be smooth. Cory is considering surgery in the future and is about to join a new art school. Plus, the effect on Eric and Les's relationship will always be a challenge. But if any family can deal with the ups and downs, it's this family.

[00:38:47]>> The way that people look at us, just our opinions in general, it's a lot to deal with. But at the same time, we're also like a family. So, we always have to stick together.

[00:38:58]>> I would say my family is just a family.

[00:39:00]My family is insane. My family's crazy. My family's funny. My family's fun. My family's frustrating. My family's the same as any other family.

[00:39:12]>> Having a transgender parent is definitely something hard to deal with because people don't look at us the same. or when I go places, I have two dads and people are just kind of confused. But I mean, at the same time, my mom is still my mom and I can still trust her with everything. And it's just it doesn't change the person that you are. It's just the appearance that you want people to see you as.

[00:39:43]I do think I've come a long ways. I think that I am stronger. I think that I am more brave than I ever been and I can overcome anything.

[00:39:55]>> If there's one lesson that they can take from this is, you know, always be yourself. Always be yourself. Don't ever be what anyone else wants you to be or says you should be. You be you and you be proud of that. You be proud of who you are.

[00:40:10]>> I feel all of that. I feel free. I feel happy. I feel down sometimes. But you know what? It's life. Life throws some tough things at you and you just got to overcome them.

[00:40:31]>> Finally, the big day for the Nest family has arrived. They're heading to a holiday home in Pennsylvania, 400 miles and 6 hours drive away. But before they set off, there's just time for a few last minute jobs, including feeding the cats and installing the invan entertainment system.

[00:40:49]>> Let's get in.

[00:40:52]>> I got to load this stuff up.

[00:40:58]>> We got nine. If we got the If we have the neighbor kids, I don't know. We got nine kids. That's what matters.

[00:41:06]With all nine kids buckled up and the van packed, the Nest family can hit the road. But as every parent knows, it's not long before nature calls.

[00:41:15]>> I don't know if it's that way or where.

[00:41:17]I don't know where we're going.

[00:41:19]>> Every vacation we do crazy fun t-shirts like this because it gives me a quick visual way to identify everybody and it's just fun and it's silly and it um brings humor to something that can be tedious sometimes.

[00:41:33]>> I'm the dad of all things. Another bathroom stop.

[00:41:44]>> Okay, let's go >> back in the van. And how better to while away the miles than a family sing song.

[00:41:52]Everybody's nerves. Everybody's nerves.

[00:41:56]I know a song that gets on everybody's nerves. And this is how it goes.

[00:42:03]I know a song that gets on everybody.

[00:42:06]>> How much longer anyway? Got to go glue.

[00:42:10]>> Even though vacation for me is not exactly a restful thing, it it's bonding. It's family connectiveness. Um, and because we've joined multiple families together, this builds memories all together. I think any family when you make memories together, that's what a family is. So that that's what vacation is for me.

[00:42:35]>> After a long 6 hours on the road, the Nest family arrive at the holiday home in Pennsylvania.

[00:42:42]>> But there's no rest yet for mom Amy.

[00:42:45]>> Is there any beds down there? Um, no.

[00:42:46]There's a couch.

[00:42:47]>> There's a couch. Okay. Okay. So, let's go see what's up here. So, maybe this could be the girls' room.

[00:42:53]>> I have to just make an executive decision as to who sleeps where because they're going to fight about it no matter what I pick.

[00:43:01]>> Okay.

[00:43:02]>> I called this room.

[00:43:03]>> Here's what we can do.

[00:43:06]>> Who is in the closet?

[00:43:09]>> Wow. We found a child. Actually, then if the girls get this room, the first >> mess with the girls. I don't know why I even talk.

[00:43:17]>> Nobody listens to me.

[00:43:19]>> You just said you listen to what she says.

[00:43:21]>> How can we solve this?

[00:43:26]>> What do you guys think?

[00:43:28]>> Why can't you just blindly follow whatever I say to you?

[00:43:31]>> Take pictures. Boys are in this room.

[00:43:34]>> Do not lock him out.

[00:43:37]>> But all the preparation and planning has been worthwhile as finally the Nest family summer vacation can begin. I'm very, very, very glad to be here. It was all, even though it really wasn't a long drive compared to some that we've done, it felt really long. The last three hours got long.

[00:43:54]The kids survived. I survived. Even Dad survived, which is a miracle. And we only had one body break the last 3 hours.

[00:44:08]>> I put them really cheap.

[00:44:10]>> Put those back. Not right now.

[00:44:13]Don't please don't ruin that and get >> Did I always want to be a mom? That's a really good question. No, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon.

[00:44:23]>> I would have never and I think people that knew me back then would have never told you that Amy Ness is going to be a mom of 14 children and make cake cakes and cupcakes.

[00:44:34]>> They would have told you no, she's going into the medical field and she will be a successful doctor.

[00:44:41]Um, but here I am and I love my life and I I don't think I'd want to be a doctor ever. Now, >> mine looks terrible.

[00:44:51]>> Mine is perfect.

[00:44:53]>> I am simply a simple country woman with no great mom skills or no great therapeutic skills. And if I can do it, anybody can do it. And if my husband can do it, >> the difference that you can make in a person and their destiny for the rest of their life can be phenomenal.

[00:45:17]>> We're both broken human beings with lots of flaws and lots of imperfections. And these kids don't care. They just want somebody to love them.

[00:45:30]Heat. Heat.

[00:45:43]Heat.

[00:45:57]Heat.