YouTube Alexa and Carlos PenaVega in their new vlog
On January 13, 2023, real-life Hallmark couple Alexa and Carlos PenaVega, who married in 2014 and have three young children, appeared on their YouTube channel for the first time in nearly a year to announce that their family of five is back, rebooting their popular vlog after what they described as a “crazy” year.
It may have felt like déjà vu for their more than 800,000 subscribers, given that the couple had rebranded their vlog with the name “La Vida PenaVega” in March of 2022. Though they declared at the time that they were getting back into vlogging and were committed to regularly sharing footage of their family’s adventures, they now say they didn’t have the time or focus to keep it going. This time, the PenaVegas said, they have a plan and a team to help them deliver on their promise.
“I know a lot of you are probably thinking ‘I’ll believe it when I see it,'” Alexa acknowledged, and then assured fans, “You’re gonna see it!”
Carlos excitedly added, “We’re officially back. We’re doing it. We’re coming in hot!”
The PenaVegas Detailed Why 2022 Was So ‘Crazy’
The PenaVegas kicked off their new 20-minute video by talking about what kept them away from creating content for their popular channel over the past year.
“The last 10 months were crazy,” Carlos said before he and Alexa listed out the most significant things from 2022 that kept them so busy.
The couple said they were on the road — and the water — for much of the year with their sons Ocean, 6, and Kingston, 3, and one-year-old daughter Rio, who all have their own Instagram accounts run by their parents. In early 2022, the family left their Maui home, which they relocated to from Los Angeles in 2017, to work and live on a catamaran they bought in Florida.
During an October appearance on the TODAY Show, Alexa said, “We currently live on a boat with three kids. It sounds crazy, but it’s so much fun.”
The PenaVegas also traveled to film the Hallmark movie “Love in the Limelight,” and then went on a North American concert tour with Big Time Rush, the Nickelodeon-formed boy band that was Carlos’ claim to fame from 2009 to 2013.
In October, the couple signed a new multi-picture deal with Hallmark Media. The next month, Alexa struggled to leave her family behind for a three-week film shoot in Bulgaria and Paris, but the result is her newest Hallmark movie, “The Paris Proposal,” set to premiere on February 11.
The couple also published two books in 2022 — a children’s book called “Ocean’s Adventure” and a memoir called “What If Love is the Point?” A third book, “100 Days to Love,” featuring the couple’s “100 reflections on putting God’s love in action” will be published on February 14.
The PenaVegas rang in 2023 by returning to Maui after 10 months away, but revealed in their new video that they’re about to hit the road again very soon. The family’s travel plans likely include Big Time Rush’s Latin America tour dates in February and March.
New Vlog Will Feature PenaVega Family’s Cruising Adventures
In their new video, Carlos said they have a “great team” helping them behind the scenes to edit, produce and release their videos for the upcoming year, saying their goal is to release at least one new video every week.
The first few weeks of vlogs will feature their cruising adventures from 2022, he said. The couple loves going on cruises and was named in 2018 — along with their oldest son, Ocean — Royal Caribbean’s first-ever “Godfamily” of one of its cruise ships, Symphony of the Seas.
But the couple said they went nearly four years without going on a cruise due to scheduling conflicts, the shut-down of cruise ships during the pandemic, and their decision not to receive the COVID-19 vaccine, which was a requirement for cruise ship guests until the fall of 2022.
In their newest vlog, the couple shares behind-the-scenes footage of their September return to the cruise ship, including taking pre-cruise COVID tests, settling into their family’s conjoined rooms, leaving their children in the Kids’ Club for the first time, and dining in the ship’s Italian restaurant.
“We have everything filmed that we cannot wait to share with you guys,” Carlos tells viewers in the video. “We’re excited for the future of this channel. 2023 is going to be awesome, guys!”