Summer Bucket List 2018 | Camping in Utah

Our family enjoys being outdoors. We like to go hiking and take walks at the park. Jason and the kids like going on bike rides and as you know, I’m a runner. However, we just recently started going camping as a family. I guess you can say we are officially “outdoorsy” now 😉 To check out my 5 tips for camping with kids, go HERE!

Anyhow, we’d been camping twice and both times to the same place, Navajo Lake in Utah, so for this year’s camping trip we decided we’d try someplace new. We made reservations to a campsite in Central Utah called Kents Lake. We went with 3 other families, all of which had also been with us on our last camping trip. We arrived on a Thursday afternoon and spent 2 nights sleeping in tents and enjoying the fresh air. The weather was a bit warmer than our last trips, but we appreciated it at night. We had one afternoon of showers and hail, which put a slight damper on our lunch and made Elysse freak out, but it cleared up pretty quickly and all was well again!

The main highlight for our family was Diego catching his first fish on the lake! It was so special to see his face light up! Huge thanks to the family fishing next to them for sharing their secret weapon with us and helping him figure out what to do once he’d caught it.

The camp site was fine, but I wouldn’t recommend it as it didn’t have flushing toilets. Now, I understand we’re camping and all, but flushing toilets are a basic necessity for me. They had vault toilets, which is really just an outhouse. Also, compared to Navajo Lake, there wasn’t too much to do around the campsite or on the lake. Of course, when you’re camping with 13 other people and you are all good friends, you don’t need much more than that! We still had a really good time with lots of laughs and new memories were made. We can’t wait to go camping again together, just not at Kent’s Lake this time. We’re thinking of changing it up and doing some beach camping in Southern California next summer. What’s your favorite camping spot? Have you been camping at the beach? Let me know in the comments below.

Summer Bucket List 2017: In Review

Summer has come and gone and we’re finally out of the triple digit temperatures here in Las Vegas! Kids have been in school for a month and our days are packed and busy again. Anyone else out there ready for a break already?!?

I thought I’d go back and relive a little bit of our summer fun! As you all know, we’ve been putting together a summer bucket list for years now, but I think this year’s was a little too ambitious and it’s no surprise we didn’t get to do everything on the list. Some things we didn’t do together as a family, such as the grandparents taking the kiddos to Dave & Buster’s while we were away in Napa and Jason taking the kiddos to the drive in movies while I had book club. Diego got to go to Wet N Wild water park with some friends and I took Elysse to Gravady Trampoline Park last weekend with her friend. Sure we didn’t get a chance to try rolled ice cream, but we did enjoy plenty of ice cream this summer, including the famous Salt n Straw in Portland! YUMmmm! Although we didn’t get to visit Zion National Park, we did visit Sand Hollow Sate Park in Utah.

We’ll have to try to get to doing some ice skating this winter, try to get a camping trip in this spring, even if it’s close to home in Mount Charleston, and Spring Mountain Ranch Super Summer Theater will be back on the list for summer 2018!

Hope your summer was fun and that you got to spend time together as a family and make some messy memories together!! XO

Summer Fun at Pinot’s Palette

Last week I was invited to a fun family blogger painting event at Pinot’s Palette in Boca Park. This would be the first time the kiddos went to a painting event, so I was really excited to share this experience with them. Jason and I had a blast the last time we painted together.

The event was held in their “open studio” style. We received a blank 10X10 canvas and we got to choose from lots of options which picture we would paint. We got written instructions with step-by-set pictures and the specific colors of paint we’d need for our individual masterpieces. They hold these types of classes once a month at each of their 3 studio locations throughout Las Vegas for only $20. It’s a fun and relaxed way to practice your painting in a less structured setting and the written instructions are easy to follow.

At first, Diego was getting a little frustrated because his painting wasn’t coming along exactly like the sample but, he chilled out after a bit and really enjoyed the process. And, his finished painting turned out really nice. Elysse was intent on doing her painting with little help and I’m proud to say she did a great job all by herself. We cannot wait to do it again soon!

With our crazy hot summers here in Vegas, this is definitely a nice option for a family activity. It allows you to unplug, enjoy time together as family, and it’s indoors with A/C 😉 They’re also offering kids camp for ages 7+ this month!

They’re offering some discount codes for It’s a Messy Life readers for July and August:

FamilyFun – By 3 seats to any Family Day class, get one free ($25 value)

DateNightFun – Buy one seat at any $39 public class, get one at half price ($19.50 value)

These codes are valid for each of their 3 locations at The District, Boca Park, and Town Square. Check out their class schedule HERE. Enjoy!

Summer Bucket List 2016: Update

I cannot believe summer is almost over. I’m not gonna lie, I am looking forward to cooler temps and getting back to my routine. This summer has got to be one of the craziest times for us! I’ve been pretty much MIA from blogging most of the summer. Not cool, I know. I miss it and have so much I want to share! Kids in year round school makes it tough to plan a whole lot, plus add to that packing up for our move in the middle of it, and well, it was not the most adventurous summer we’ve had. Did I mention it felt like the hottest summer in Vegas too? With temps in the 100+ most days we did not want to be outside. Ugh…Hello Fall!

Of course, we knew this summer was going to be busy with not-so-fun adulting stuff like buying a house (more on that later), shopping for appliances, painting, packing and unpacking, etc. so we didn’t make our bucket list too long or too ambitious. Yet, even though we kept it simple this year, it helped us to slow down and take some much needed breaks because the boxes to unpack will still be there when we get back, right?

Here’s a recap of what our summer bucket list looked like for this year:

From this list we have done:

Camping at Navajo Lake, UT

Wet N Wild Water Park

Ice Cream Treat at DQ

Mystery Adventure

Movie Night

Still to do are:

Xtreme Flip Out | Beach Trip | Picnic at the Park | BBQ with Friends

The only thing we have scheduled is our annual trip to the beach at the end of summer. We normally go the 3rd or 4th weekend of August, but this year that was not possible for a few reasons. So, we’re turning my Ventura Half Marathon into a little racecation and spending some much needed family time away for 3 days! The other 3 things may or may not happen before Labor Day but that’s ok. We’ve have a great summer and I will be posting individual posts about our camping trip, Wet N Wild, and Cowabunga Bay in the next few weeks. I also want to share more about our house buying experience soon too!

So, how have you been spending your summer? Any fun adventures? I’d love to hear about your summer bucket list too!

Tips for Creating a Fun Family Summer Bucket List

On Monday, I shared our family’s 6th annual summer bucket list! We’ve made so many fun memories and traditions since we started participating in the summer bucket list challenges put on by The Happy Family Movement. They’ve discontinued the yearly challenges about 2 years ago, but the site is still up and you can go there get more info and ideas for creating a summer bucket list.

I got interested in the summer bucket list challenge because we always had ideas of things we wanted to do over the summer, but lots of times we got so busy being busy that we forgot to have fun. Creating a summer bucket list has been a great way to ensure a fun summer. It becomes intentional and we’ve made it a point to enjoy our time together as a family. Since creating our summer bucket lists is such a huge part of our family life, our kids look forward to it every year.

Here are a few tips that have worked for us (through a bit of trial and error) on creating a fun and successful summer bucket list that everyone can enjoy.

Don’t be too ambitious. Every weekend doesn’t have to be spent at a theme park or away from home for it to be fun and memorable. Kids just want to spend time with you. They don’t need every activity or event to be super elaborate. This is especially true for younger kiddos. Some of our fun and simple activities have included: going out for frozen yogurt, backyard camping, geocaching, and watching the sunset.

Get the whole family involved. Everyone will be more excited if they have a say in the list, so we make sure to talk about it together. Dinnertime or driving in the car work great. Kids will come up with some pretty far fetched activities sometimes, so it’s good to give them boundaries and suggestions as to what kinds of activities you can/prefer to do, especially if this is your first time putting the list together.

Limit your list. We found that keeping the list to about 10-12 activities is much more realistic than trying to include 20+ things. Putting too much on your list can add stress about getting it all done and that’s the last thing you want. Your list should be about sharing a fun time together.

Display your list. Once you have our activities all picked out, make sure to display the list in a place where it can always be seen. The last thing you want to do is create all this excitement and then forget about it. You know the saying, “out of sight, out of mind”. Through the years we’ve put it at the bottom of the staircase, on the fridge, and on a banner across the kitchen window. Bonus points if you get the kiddos involved in creating a fun way to display your list 😉

Include traditions. Most of our traditions became traditions purely unintentionally, but now that we have them we are intentional about keeping them. We make sure to include them each year in our bucket list. I’m sure you probably have summer traditions yourself already and maybe you just didn’t realize it. Things like, BBQing with friends, watching fireworks, going to the beach, these may all be things you do each year that can easy be incorporate into your family’s summer bucket list.

Document. Now that you’ve put some effort into creating and displaying your list, you have to go out and do all those fun things! And, don’t forget to document along the way. Whether you use a professional camera, a point and shoot, or just your iPhone, it’s important to snap a few photos for prosperities sake. We tend to use all 3! Here are a few ideas on places to document your summer: personal blog, special hashtag on instagram (ours is #emericsummer2016), facebook album, scrapbook, chatbooks, or even a yearly calendar. There are lots of options! Whatever you choose, it’ll be great to look back at the end of the summer and relive all the cool things you did!

For some ideas on the kinds of activities we’ve included, take a look at our summer bucket lists throughout the years:

2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011

Activities change as kids get older, but I hope to continue our summer bucket list tradition until the kiddos are grown. Again, it’s a great way to be intentional about spending time together as a family, creating memories, and having fun!

Do you have a summer bucket list? What fun activities have you included? What fun adventures do you have planned for this summer?

Visiting Death Valley National Park | Super Bloom

I love to share about our family travels! Big or small, they are all adventures and a fun way for us to be together as a family and hopefully reconnect and disconnect from so many electronics 😉

Our kiddos go to year-round school, so they are currently on their Spring track break for 3 weeks and then Spring Break, so they’ll be at home for a full month without school. We’re not planning an out of town trip this year, like we have in the past, so we want to be sure to have lots of fun activities and nearby adventures!

On their first weekend of track break, we decided to go on a little day trip to Death Valley. Death Valley National Park is having a super bloom this spring. The conditions were just right with the perfect amount of rainfall and light winds so what is normally a few spring flowers popping up here and there became into a field of yellow wildflowers blooming all over the desert! Apparently this is a pretty rare occurrence, so we packed up our car with lots of water and a picnic lunch and took the 2 hour drive from Las Vegas to check it out. We were not the only ones with this idea! The park was full with people wanting to take a look and photograph this phenomenon!

We had a great time and we’re so glad we got to see a different side of Death Valley than we had before. If you’re in the area and have some time to go out there, check it out. It’s not like a full field of wildflowers to run through or anything like that, but it is pretty neat to see so many flowers blooming in the desert!

Fun with Kids in Los Angeles, CA

Whenever I register for a race that’s away from home, I always debate if we should bring the kids or not. Most times, it just comes down to if there’s anything fun for them to do there or not. With the L.A. Marathon being in Los Angeles and it also being my first full marathon, I thought it’d be great to bring the kids and make a trip out of it, a little race-cation 😉

WIth a little planning, it is totally feasible to run a great race and have a fun time as a family together. I think it’s important for the kids to see all your hard work pay off in the end. My kiddos are there when I get home from an early morning run, they see me hobble up the stairs if I’m sore from a long run, they know all about epsom salt baths and icy hot, so why not have them their for the reward after too! They are my biggest supporters and rather than leave them behind, I try to take them along for most races for all the race day fun and more!

After packet pickup on Saturday, we were all super excited to go eat at Seoul Sausage, since they were previous winners of The Great Food Truck Race on The Food Network. It originally aired a few years ago, but we just recently saw it on Netflix as a family. I knew they were from L.A., so I looked them up and saw they had 2 actual restaurants, plus the food truck. Turns out, their newest location in Little Tokyo was about 2 miles from the convention center where we’d be for packet pickup. I wanted it to be a surprise, but I blurted something out to Jason while driving one day and they caught on quickly! So much for the surprise!

Before we left Vegas, I jokingly asked the kids if they thought we’d see the guys from the show and of course, they both said we wouldn’t see them. Well, to their surprise (and mine) 2 of the 3 owners showed up right as we finished our late lunch. They were super nice guys and took a picture with the kids. This really made their day.

After lunch, we went to check into our AirBnB condo and relax a bit. My nephew really wanted to go check out the Urban Lights exhibit at LACMA once it got dark soo, before grabbing some dinner, we went to check it out. It was packed, but the kids had fun walking through and playing among all the light posts!

After the marathon, we walked to the Santa Monica Pier and grabbed some food at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co. Although the food isn’t anything to brag about, it’s a fun atmosphere and super kid friendly. After lunch we walked down the pier so the kids could ride the roller coaster before heading back to our condo to crash for the day! We could easily have spent hours at the pier riding rides and playing games, but I was just too exhausted for that this time. The Santa Monica Pier is a great place to go and spend a few hours enjoying the sights and attractions, plus have fun on the beach! It’s definitely a must-visit for any Los Angeles trip, with our without kids.

The next day started out a little rocky with cranky kiddos, but thankfully we were able to turn it around and enjoy our morning walking around the grounds of the La Brea Tar Pits and L.A. County Museum of Art. The weather was perfect for being outdoors and it was exactly what we needed to unwind and relax a bit before driving back home. The grounds are free to walk around and explore. We spent about an hour and a half there and could have easily spent another hour there. Next time we go, we’ll actually go inside the museum and check out those exhibits and IMAX movies. But this time around, the outdoor exhibits and sculptures were just enough to keep them interested in the art and science without getting bored. Plus, there is plenty of room to run and be kids! I highly recommend going!

It was a jam-packed 3 day trip full of fun memories for sure! Getting away to sunny California, running a marathon, and spending quality time with the family is always the best!

So, I’d love to know, do you take your kiddos or family when you travel for a race?

2015 A Year in Review: Travels, Races, and Family Fun

With just a couple of days left in the year, I thought it would be fun to revisit 2015 today. The year started off rough and we had lots to deal with as it went on with Jason’s injury and following surgeries. There were days that we just could not see the light. But, we aren’t the type to let our lives be dictated by our circumstance. Sure, things were not ideal, but we knew they could be much worse. So, we made the best with what we had. We kept positive and moving forward with our lives.

Even with the ups and downs, we had such a full year. We got to travel to some fun places with our family and Jason and I even got away without the kiddos to San Francisco+Sonoma County. We took the kids camping in Utah for the first time. We spent a super fun weekend with our family in Huntington Beach, CA! The kids and I hiked to the Colorado River. We got to go boating in Lake Mead. I ran my first trail half marathon in Red Rock Canyon and my 3rd Tough Mudder. I won a free registration from Pace Per Mile to Walt Disney World’s Wine & Dine Half Marathon, so we all went to Florida for 8 days! The kiddos ran the Disney Kid 1 mile race. We visited all 4 Disney parks and visited with friends that are like family. I also ran the Disneyland Half Marathon to complete the Coast to Coast Challenge. I ran 3 Spartan races (2 with the hubs) and got my 2nd Trifecta. The kids ran the Spartan Kid race too. Lastly, I won another free registration to the Run Laughlin Half Marathon in December, which turned out to be a great race.

I’m looking forward to starting 2016 with new goals and plans. I’m looking forward to fun adventures with my family and taking on new challenges. But, for now, I’m happy to look back and reflect on all the good things that have taken place and not to dwell on what could have been or feel bad for the huge curve ball life threw our way. Today I choose to be grateful for all the wonderful things and places I’ve been. I’m grateful for my family’s constant support. I’m happy to be where I am in life. It may not be exactly where I want to be, but it is a lot closer than I was before. And for that, I am grateful.

What’s your favorite memory of 2015? Are you looking forward to 2016? What goals do you have for the new year?

Disney World 2015 | Magic Kingdom

Our day at Animal Kingdom & Hollywood Studios was a ton of fun and exhausting. You can catch up HERE and even read a few tips to start planning your vacation to Disney World. Next up is the Magic Kingdom. This is the park that mostly resembles the original Disneyland theme park and although they do share some of the same classic rides, such as It’s a Small World, Space Mountain, and Pirates of the Caribbean, Magic Kingdom is way bigger and you seriously would need 2-3 days to see and do it all! Unfortunately, we only had one day to tour Magic Kingdom. We chose to go on a Tuesday, where the park was scheduled to close early due to Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas party scheduled from 8pm-midnight. We were hoping this would mean less crowds and shorter lines, since there were not going to be any fireworks either. Plus, Jason and I figured it would be ok to end the day at 7pm and not push the kids too much more into exhaustion 😉 The park was crowded of course, but it wasn’t cramped and the wait times for most rides were moderate to short. Although it wasn’t a very long day, we were able to see and do just about everything we wanted to. I’d asked my kids if they wanted to meet any of the characters or princesses and they said no. They both preferred to ride the rides! YAY for me! This of course, saved us a ton of time. The only character they wanted to meet was Mickey Mouse and only because before we left, my dad had told them he wanted to see a picture of them with Mickey Mouse!

My son, being the inquisitive boy that he is, had been asking how they figured out the wait times for the rides. Jason explained they handed out these red cards to a random person in line. Once they have the card, it starts to count how long the person is waiting until the person gets to the station, hands the card to a cast member for them to put it a machine that then tells them the length of their wait time and then this considered the wait time at the front of the ride. You can imagine how excited he was (he's 10) when he got the red card while waiting in line for the Jungle Cruise Ride. You can also imagine how upset he was when we all realized he forgot to give the card to the cast member before getting on the ride! OOPS... — My son, being the inquisitive boy that he is, had been asking how they figured out the wait times for the rides. Jason explained they handed out these red cards to a random person in line. Once they have the card, it starts to count how long the person is waiting until the person gets to the station, hands the card to a cast member for them to put it a machine that then tells them the length of their wait time and then this considered the wait time at the front of the ride. You can imagine how excited he was (he’s 10) when he got the red card while waiting in line for the Jungle Cruise Ride. You can also imagine how upset he was when we all realized he forgot to give the card to the cast member before getting on the ride! OOPS…

Remember, the My Disney Experience app I mentioned was so helpful in my last blog post? Yup, it has the hours of the parks for each day, so be sure to check it out while planning your trip so you know what day for each park will work better for your family. Another thing we found helpful, was to stop and eat a good meal for either lunch or dinner inside the park. I made reservations for a different restaurant in each park (except Hollywood Studios) and it worked out great. It gave us time to chill out and relax. At Magic Kingdom we ate a late lunch at The Plaza Restaurant. It’s a small restaurant tucked in a corner of Main Street that offers sandwiches, salads, wraps, etc. The quick service restaurants inside the parks can get super busy and hectic during peak hours, and I am not one for crowds or stressing out. I remember too many trips to Disney World walking or standing around with a tray of food waiting for a table to be unoccupied, only to lose it to a kid who’s family was in line ordering and he was sent to save the table. For my sanity, I chose to splurge a little more on our meals and it worked out really well for us. There was no stress during lunch/dinner and it was a nice reset before going back out into the park.

We spent our time waiting in line playing either Rock, Paper, Scissors or this slap game. It helped the time go by and even got other families to play too! What can I say, we were trend setters! LOL

Now, on to the fun stuff! Magic Kingdom was a fully packed day! Since I knew the Seven Dwarfs Mine Train always had the longest wait times and I wasn’t able to secure a FastPass+, we headed over there as soon as the park opened. The line was still 60 minutes long. This was the longest line we waited in, so in retrospect, it wasn’t too bad at all. I tried to plan our day as efficiently as possible and making our way around the park’s 6 themed lands. We spent the most time in Fantasyland and Tomorrowland, since these had the most rides. Of course, we had to get our Dole Whip floats at Adventureland and ride the Jungle Cruise. Those cheezy jokes get me every time 😉 Our last ride of the night, was Peter Pan’s Flight. This ride had the 2nd longest wait times of the day and I honestly was going to skip it. However, right at 6:45pm, the wait time was about 30 minutes and we figured, why not! After the ride, we headed for a gift shop on Main Street to grab the kids their souvenirs from the Magic Kingdom before making our way to the monorail. At this point, Elysse could barely stand up, she was so tired! Somehow, she made it to our car but was asleep before we got to the restaurant for dinner and seriously slept through dinner! I felt terrible she didn’t eat, but I figured she needed her rest!

A selfie with Mickey, because why not. I love this kid!

Ended the day with a little snow ;) — Ended the day with a little snow 😉

So far, we had 2 really great days at Disney World. The kids behaved pretty good and we didn’t have any major meltdowns or too much attitude from them. Sure, they whined a little here and there, but seriously it was all going much better than I had anticipated. Our last park to visit was Epcot. I’d saved the best for last, as this is my favorite park and I was so ready to head back to the Food & Wine Festival! I’ll be sharing our mishaps and adventures from Epcot on Monday, so be sure to come back then! For now, enjoy the long weekend with family and friends!

Fall Family Fun in Las Vegas

When most people think of Las Vegas, they quickly picture the Strip, gambling and all night partying. I get it. But there is so much more to Las Vegas than that!

As the weather begins to cool down, we love to be outdoors hiking, enjoying outdoor movie shows at The District, or checking out one of the fall festivals and art shows. One fun thing we like to do as a family is go to Gilcrease Orchard in the fall. Yup, you read that right. There is an orchard in the desert. They have 60 acres of agricultural land and they grow all kinds of vegetables there. Of course, in the fall most people go to pick apples and pumpkins. We love getting out there and being able to pick our own veggies too. We’ve picked kale, zucchini, beets, and eggplant. The kids love it and it’s lots of fun talking about what kinds of dishes we can make with what we pick.

Once we pick our vegetables and pumpkins, we make our way to their apple cider donut stand. It can be a long line, but it’s totally worth it! They’re are made fresh right there and are delicious. They have a large area with picnic tables where you can sit and enjoy your donuts or other snacks. Don’t forget to grab their famous apple cider to-go. It’s made fresh on-site and is kept frozen to protect it’s freshness.

I recommend getting there early, since it can get crowded. Plus, it’s still Vegas and the afternoons can still get pretty warm.

If you are looking for family-friendly events in the Vegas area, or in your own local area, I recommend checking out Eventbrite. They also offer tools to create events as well – check it out here!