Summer Bucket List | The Happy Family Movement

Our kids look forward to summer all year long! They know that summer will be full of fun times and adventures. This is mostly because of our Summer Bucket List! Our friends from The Happy Family Movement have put on this summer bucket list challenge and each year it just gets bigger and bigger!! There will be some fun giveaways from their awesome sponsors, a facebook community, and lots more!

I like tell the kids a few days in advance to start thinking of ideas for the summer bucket list and then usually one evening after dinner we’ll sit and share our ideas and some of the ideas make it on the list and some don’t, but we always work together to create it. This really makes it fun for the kids and they are more excited about it. This year we decided to have an actual bucket and we’ll fill it with the pictures we drew of the activity as we do them and hopefully, by the end of the summer the bucket will be filled with our pictures and we’ll be filled up with memories of another fun summer!

There’s still plenty of time to get your list together and join in on the fun! Your family will look forward to the big & little adventures you’ll have throughout the summer. The list doesn’t have to be big or filled with expensive outings to be fun. Just think of some things you all can do together as a family in the summer, write it down, then go have fun!

Here’s our list (I figured we stick to the 14 in 2014 theme!)

Make sandcastles at the beach
Enjoy a picnic at Mt. Charleston
Family dance party
Discover a new playground
Make loom necklaces
Bike Wash
Boogie board at the beach
Go out for frozen yogurt
Visit Wet N Wild
BBQ with friends
Visit Ethel M. Chocolate Factory
Geocache day at Red Rock Canyon
Hiking at Bryce Canyon
Watch a 51’s baseball game

I’ll be blogging with pictures as we start checking things off our list! So, what fun adventures do you have on your summer bucket list?

Bubble Run Las Vegas | Race #2 of 14 for 2014

Last Saturday I ran the Bubble Run with a few friends and my 5 year old daughter! It was her first 5K and she just loved it. I knew people would be dressed in costumes, especially tutus and I explained this to her and asked if she’d like a fun outfit for the run. Her reply was this, “No way! I’m not wearing a tutu! I’m in it to win it!” Clearly, she has a bit of a competitive streak!!

We picked up our packet on Friday and since kids under 6 run free she didn’t get a tshirt or bib. Of course, they sold kid packets for $20 and I had to get her one. I’m so glad I did. The bib really made her feel legit and the goggles they provided worked great to keep the bubbles out of her eyes. Friday night, she could not fall asleep from the excitement, but had no problem getting up early for her ‘race’. She was ready for the fun to start.

It was so cute seeing her reaction at the starting line when the bubbles/foam started coming down! The race had a total of 4 different color bubble stations: pink, green, blue, and yellow. We did a bit of running and walking, but I think for a little 5 year old, Elysse did great and never complained about being tired. Every time she saw a bubble station she would start running and we ran all the way to the finish line. I was very proud of my little runner! After the run, they had a little area with a DJ and they were giving away prizes and of course, lots more bubbles! It was hard to get our little party animal out of the bubble pit!

Obviously, this wasn’t a timed race or anything too serious for me (believe me, I have enough of those coming up!) This race was just a fun time and a good way to encourage a healthy lifestyle for my kiddos. I want them to grow up feeling strong and healthy and having some positive experiences and fun memories being active! My 9 yr old didn’t want to do this one, but he’s all signed up for Saturday’s Jr. Spartan!

What are some fun things you and your family do to stay active and healthy? I’d love some more ideas, so feel free to share them in the comments below 🙂

Road Trip in a Box | The Happy Family Movement

I am so excited we FINALLY got to use our Road Trip in a Box kit from The Happy Family Movement! If you haven’t been over to their website, you’re missing out on a great resource for family fun! I met Josh & Jenny, the fab couple behind the website, a few years ago at a photographers workshop and have gotten to know them throughout the years. They took our family photos last year & we just love them! They are truly inspiring and I love how they are honest about family life and focus on living intentionally.

Isn't the packaging just too cute?!?! — Isn’t the packaging just too cute?!?!

Anyhow, awhile back I won this Road Trip in a Box kit from the giveaway they hosted (woohoo!). We have been on lots of trips since then, but none were road trips long enough that I felt we needed or could use the Road Trip in a Box until now. We took it out and used in on our road trip to Ensenada, Mexico. You can read all about the trip HERE!

The Road Trip in a Box comes with a manual that helps plan your trip and has helpful tips on what to pack, etc. It’s great if you’re new to road trippin’ with kiddos or if you haven’t been to successful in the past 😉 It also includes activities with instructions all wrapped up with a designated time to open them during the trip. These activities really helped us have fun during the trip and gave the kids something to look forward to, as well.

I highly recommend checking out their website for lots of family fun ideas, especially their Summer Bucket List Challenge coming up! Of course, if you are planning a road trip with your little ones, this Road Trip in a Box is a real lifesaver. It’s just got simple and fun activities that the whole family will enjoy together. It makes the time driving to your destination part of the adventure and not just a long boring drive. Our kids would really look forward to when it was time to open a new package because they knew they’d be getting out of the car and doing something fun.

Check out more from The Happy Family Movement and their Road Trip in a Box is on sale right now! You don’t want to miss out on all the fun!

Spring Break Road Trip 2014 | Las Vegas to Ensenada, Mexico

In case you didn’t already know it, I love to travel! I love getting out and seeing new places. I get it from my parents 🙂 Anyhow, our last family trip was in August and it didn’t go so great (Elysse got sick and we had to cut it short!) You can read all about it HERE. Needless to say, I was itching to get away as a family. Diego’s school is year-round, so rather than the conventional 3 months off during the summer, he gets 3week track breaks throughout the year, the first was in November and now in March. We figured we’d take advantage of the time off and call it Spring Break! Our little road trip consisted of driving to San Diego from Las Vegas then from San Diego to Ensenada, Mexico. We arrived late afternoon to La Jolla Beach where we were all ready to run around in the sand and stretch our legs!

The next day, I got up early and went on a quick 2 mile run before our super fun whale watching tour. We were told not to expect too much since they don’t always see whales, but we were in for a major treat! We first saw a huge pod of about 100 common dolphins playing and jumping over the waves made by the boat. This was Elysse’s favorite part since she was really able to see them up close. And then, not only did we see whales, but we saw them mating! Yup, 3 huge grey whales (2 males, 1 female) were frolicking and courting right in front of our boat. It was an amazing sight! Talk about getting close to nature! Diego had a few questions afterwards….awkward!!! Aside from those whales, we also saw 2 others in the distance for a total of 5 whale sightings!

After the tour we had some lunch and drove the second half of our trip to Ensenada, Mexico. We were all beat from the drive, but we were super hungry so we found a taco place and enjoyed some delicious local food! The next morning we went to see La Bufadora, one of the largest blowholes in North America. The street leading to the blowhole is lined with vendors selling all sorts of things from food and drinks to toys and tshirts! The kids loved it and Diego got to haggle with the vendors! It was pretty funny, but they did come down in price for him 😉

Yes, they were hoping people would give them money. Nobody did!

I wasn’t expecting the weather to be as warm as it was so I didn’t pack swim suites. Elysse was dying to play in the sand at the beach, so we made a quick stop at Wal-Mart (yup, they even have Starbucks & Costco!) got some bathing suites for the kids and spent the rest of our afternoon playing at the beach, collecting seashells, and enjoying the beach all to ourselves! It was perfect!

The next day, I woke up a little early and did a quick 20 minute interval workout that my trainer gave me before we left. It felt great to get 2 workouts in during the trip, especially since I wasn’t being 100% paleo 😉 On our last full day, we drove out to La Cava de Marcelo, a cheese farm I had heard of on Trip Advisor. It was so worth the drive! We enjoyed a nice tour of the farm, learned how they make their artisan cheeses, and had a tasting of 5 different cheeses in the cave. Afterwards, the kids played around and we ate a delicious lunch al fresco! We ended our evening with some shopping along the main street of Ensenada and a seafood dinner!

This trip was a lot of fun and wasn’t too packed with activities, so we were all able to just relax and enjoy our days away from the routine. The drive back to the US however, was not very fun and traffic to get across the border was over 2 hours, even with ReadyPass, which is faster. I think the regular line was about 4 hrs!! As soon as we crossed the border we headed to Balboa Park so the kids could run around and stretch before the long ride home.

Huge thanks to Happy Family Movement for their Road Trip in a Box! Those packages made our trip a lot more fun. I’ll be blogging all about that on Monday, so stay tuned! Thanks for sticking around and reading all about our latest adventure! Do you have any fun adventures planned with your family soon? I’d love to hear about them in the comments below 😉

Happiness, Love, and Imperfection

My life is not perfect. It’s far from it. My kids fight too much. Their rooms don’t look like a picture out of a Pottery Barn ad. Heck, not even a corner of my house could be in a Pottery Barn ad. At any given moment, when you walk into my bedroom you will see a basket full of clothes to be folded at the foot of my unmade bed.

But, with all these little imperfections, comes a life I am proud of. A family I love. A husband I’m in love with more every day. A love that is based on trust and honesty. We argue, sure, we aren’t perfect remember!?! But, with this imperfect life, comes so much happiness and so many good times, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. I wouldn’t trade it for a cleaner house, a brand new car, or all the Lululemon a girl could dream of!

photography by The Happy Family Movement

Happiness and love come from within. Not from the exterior things we own or all the cool facebook and instagram pictures we share. It comes from the struggles, the sacrifices, and hard work to make our marriage and family life work. How do you measure your happiness? Your love? Is it measured by your career success? The size of your house? The size of your diamond ring? These things, albeit nice, do not equal happiness. What’s the point of a big house if there is no love inside?

I’ll admit it, there was a time in my life when these things mattered to me a lot. I was competing with “friends”, and I wanted more than I had. Was I happy? Maybe thought I was, at least for a moment. But the truth is that these things weigh you down. They steal your happiness and love.

Happiness is about making memories with those you love! It’s about not caring what other people think of you because you know your own worth. Being able to find love and happiness in our imperfect lives takes courage, it takes hard work, but it is so, so worth it. Wouldn’t you agree? Now, let’s all go out and choose happiness and love over all else.

Viva Las Vegas | 5 Year of Calling Vegas Home

I cannot believe that we’ve been living in Vegas for 5 years already. Time sure does fly when you’re having fun. I gotta say, I really like living here. My husband misses trees, but I don’t really. I mean, it’s always nice to see trees when we go on vacation, but I really do love the desert landscape. Is living in Las Vegas perfect. Of course not, but what place is? Well, maybe Southern California is really close to perfection…But, alas, I don’t live there. I live in Las Vegas and I’m making it work for me and my family.

We made the decision to move from Central Florida to Las Vegas 5 years ago because my family had moved here and we were expecting baby #2. Family is very important to us and I wanted my kiddos to grow up with family around them. Being in Florida without our family just didn’t feel right. Plus, Jason and I were really ready for a change. Florida had been good to us for 12 years, but we felt stuck and it was definitely time to move on. So, we packed up our things and said goodbye to the sunshine state (which is such a bad nickname being that it’s so humid & rainy there!)

Making the move cross country wasn’t as hard as I thought I’d be. I’m sure this was because my family was here and it helped make the transition a lot easier. I didn’t feel lonely or lost in a new environment. I immediately took to the desert lifestyle and I find myself defending Vegas to people how ask how we could like living here or if it’s a good place to raise a family. The truth is, we don’t live on the strip and outside of the strip, Vegas is just one big suburb. We have lots of parks, nice communities, shopping centers, and plenty of kid-friendly activities. It’s like living in most cities, you don’t take your kids to the “bad side of town” or with you for a night out, right? Here are a few things I like about living in Vegas and how Vegas has helped me and my family live a fun life:

*I worked really hard to establish my business here. I grew as a business owner and my photography skills improved, as well. I’m a wedding photographer, feel free to check out my work HERE (shameless plug, I know!) I don’t think I would have such a successful business if we would have stayed in FL. I didn’t have the motivation or the drive to move forward like I felt when we moved here.

*We get to travel more. Florida is mostly surrounded by water and it takes about 3 hours traveling north to get out of the state from Central Florida and even then you weren’t anywhere super fun. Yes, Florida has beautiful beaches, amusement parks, and other fun places to visit, but for someone like me who loves to travel and explore new places it just wasn’t enough. Flying is expensive for a family of 4, so road trips are more our style. Living in Las Vegas has really given us the opportunity to visit some awesome cities, national parks, and landmarks in many different states.

*Getting outside! Yes, summers in Vegas are HOT!! But, they only last 3 months and the rest of the year the weather is pretty close to perfection. Plus, it’s not humid and it rarely rains! We love going on hikes around Red Rock Canyon (which is just 15 mins from our house), going to parks, and just exploring the great desert outdoors right in our own backyards!

*Getting healthy! Ok, so this one didn’t happen immediately. It took me a long time to realize that there was a lot more to it than dieting or being fat versus being skinny. In 2012, I finally realized that I had to make permanent lifestyle changes. I was tired of being overweight and feeling sluggish, so I made the right changes and now I live a much healthier and active life and my family does too!

Like I said, l really enjoy living here and we’ve made some good friends and awesome memories here. I could look at this town and find a million things wrong with it and yeah, sometimes I do. Sometimes I wish we lived in a city with more of a local vibe, with more cultural centers, museums, and nice farmers markets. Sure Id o. But, I choose to embrace where I am and make the best of it. I choose to look for the good and be positive. It’s easier and makes me happy. I look forward to lots more family road trips and days hiking along Red Rock Canyon with the kiddos. Thanks, Vegas!

Vegas peeps, what do you like about living here? If you aren’t from Vegas, what do you love about your hometown? I’d love to hear from you! xo

Favorite Book Club Books of 2013

This past October, my book club had it’s One Year Anniversary Bash! We celebrated by playing some trivia games revolving around all the books we’ve read, eating yummy food, and of course there was wine! Going over the books we read was a ton of fun and really made me remember how much some of these books were. So, today I wanted to share my favorite top 3 books I read in 2013. I’d love recommendations, so if you have a favorite or a few favorites you think I should read, please share it in the comments! xo

(You can click on the book title for a full synopsis of the story and reviews on Goodreads!)

The Light Between Oceans by M. L. Stedman This is an emotional story, full of strong powerful characters. It is about redemption, forgiveness, and love. It shows how once decisions are made, there are consequences to our actions that can never be undone. I loved this story so much because it wasn’t just about right and wrong. Some of the scenarios are so difficult and really make you search deep inside yourself and ask, “what would I do?” It was definitely an emotional read and totally made me cry more than once while reading it.
The Storyteller by Jodi Picoult Here is another story that is full of forgiveness, love, and redemption. This book had a little bit of everything I love in a novel. It was historical fiction, which is my favorite genre. It had a complex storyline that weaved in and out of characters, jumped around from various parts of history, and even had a story within a story. It is set in the present, but deals with major issues from the past. This one also made me cry (Do you see the pattern here!?!)
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother by Amy Chau This book has been around a few years, but we just read it this year. Although I am not a big fan of non-fiction, I really enjoyed this book, maybe because it read like fiction! It made me laugh and although her views and tactics in parenting are not necessarily my own, I could still relate on some level. It was written honestly and even a bit satirical. The author has gotten a ton of criticism for this book, but I appreciated her story and commend her for sharing it!

Enjoying the Great Outdoors | Red Rock Canyon

One of the best things about having friends and family visit us in Las Vegas, is getting to show them the parts of Las Vegas that most people don’t know about. I’m not talking about the sketchy side of town, but rather the great outdoors! Las Vegas offers a ton of opportunities to get outside, enjoy some beautiful scenery, and hike! One of our favorite spots is Red Rock Canyon.

The day before the Rock N Roll Half Marathon, we took my cousin and her hubby to check out Red Springs at Calico Basin, which is within the Red Rock Canyon Conservation Area. This is a great spot for picnics and hiking with the family. There’s a boardwalk that goes all around the area and trails that are easily accessible from there and the parking lot. We chose to walk around the boardwalk a bit, then make our way to one of the trails that connects from the boardwalk up a hill and among the huge rocks. It was a little chilly & windy that day, but once we started walking we all felt great. Getting outside and taking in the fresh air is such a great for our family to connect. It really helps that there is no cell phone reception out there too 😉

I am so grateful to have such an amazing family that I can spend time with! Here’s to enjoying life and being with our loved ones.

ps. Be sure to check out my Sweaty Bands Giveaway going on right now!

Our Family Fun Fall Bucket List

Like I mentioned on Monday, my son’s school has changed to a year round school to help with overcrowding. There are 5 different tracks in the school, which means one track is out on break at all times and this means there’s room for more children in the school, without necessarily having more children in each classroom. It can get confusing, trust me. Anyhow, since he won’t have a 3 month long summer break anymore, we’re making mini bucket lists for each track break instead of our big summer bucket list we do every year.

He’s off on his first track break all of November and so far this week, we haven’t done a whole lot of stuff. I made up some schedules in the hopes I won’t get so many, “Mom, what can I do now?” throughout the day! We’re also heading to the store today to get some art & craft supplies to help the days go by without too much TV and MineCraft! Here’s our Family Fun Fall Track Break Bucket List! Ok, ok, taking 2 AR tests a week is probably not super fun, but I’ve gotta keep it balanced! I’ll be sharing the real fun as we mark those things off our list! I’m super excited about them doing the Piglet Dash at the Dirty Dash later this month! Anyone else have a fall bucket list? What kind of activities do you do in the fall with your family? I’d love to hear from you!

Family Fun | A trip to Gilcrease Orchard

Yup, an orchard in the desert! I wish Gilcrease Orchard was closer to us, but sadly, it’s on the opposite end of Las Vegas from where we live and we don’t go very often. Like I said, I sure wish we did because we had a great time picking our own vegetables and of course, getting a pumpkin! We missed picking apples this season (I’ve vowed to go apple picking year!), but we did grab a bottle of their homemade apple cider and apple cider donuts! Yummy 🙂

Here are a few photos from our morning at the orhard.