Alexa & Carlos PenaVega on Co-Starring in Hallmark Movies, Boundaries with Acting & Big Time Rush on Tour
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Steve was like, you cheated on me. I'm like, wait, what? I'm like in this hotel room bawling on tour with Big Time Rush. My friend George comes in. He's like, what's wrong? And I'm like, my wife cheated on me.

One Direction was opening for you. That was really hard for us. They would go out, do their 45 minutes, and then after our show, fans were outside chanting for One Direction. Every single kid that's on set has a stunt double, and they're all kids' stunt kids. That's so cool. Okay? I had the biggest crush on Gary Giggle's stunt double. He ended up being my first kiss. It caused all sorts of drama on set. Do you guys like making movies together? It's awesome. It's hard when he's a diva on set. Oh, wait.

Please. Wait, wait, wait. How often do you get confused for Lava Girl from Sharkboy and Lava Girl? All the time. All the time.

We sat down with Hollywood stars Carlos and Alexa Pennevega, who you probably already know from the hit TV show Big Time Rush or the Spy Kids movies. The couple famously combined their last names when they got married in 2014 and spent the last couple years living on a boat with their three kids. They've even co-starred in multiple Hallmark films together, and just this past year they announced that they're pregnant with baby number four. We talk about everything from boundaries they have with intimate scenes on set to the time Carlos toured with One Direction.

Welcome back to Unplanned. We are so happy that you're here and today we're joined by Carlos and Alexa. Let's just give it up. Hello. Thank you guys. What's up, guys? What's up? What's up? What's up? We're having the most interesting conversation off podcast. It really is like ADD conversations because the amount of different subjects that we have just gone through in a matter of 10 minutes. Yep. Breastfeeding, sex, camera equipment. Those are the things we talk about.

Okay, hold up. I was overhearing though. Did you guys had to be abstinent for four months in marriage? Is this where we're starting? Well, basically what happened was my wife's having, we're about to have our fourth child. Number four. Congratulations. I think you guys are professionals. I'm really good at it. This child's going to shoot out actually.

I won't even have to push. We had a little scare the other night. She basically had to go to the hospital. We thought the baby was coming early. A little bit of blood. It was like, oh no, what's going on? Baby's okay. Mommy's okay. Right. But I was having contractions and whatnot. But she's only 32 weeks. I'm trying not to go into labor right now is basically what's happening. I can't believe you're here. No, it's okay. But one of the big things. So Carlos had been out of town for the last two weeks dealing with a couple things. And he came back.

to all of this. And obviously we'd already abstained for two weeks and the doctor said that we need to abstain until I give birth. But then after you give birth, you can't have sex for six weeks. So here's the dilemma. I'm just adding it up.

But here's the drama I'm having. I'm having. So we want the baby to come later because it's healthier for the baby. You know, obviously it's 32 weeks. Let's hope to get to 34, 35, right? 35. 37 is my goal, please. Yes. But the longer that the baby takes, it just, it's prolonging. My, me too, you know? So I'm like, I'm trying to balance like what's right. No, I'm kidding. It's okay. The baby can come.

It could come now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. If the baby comes today, then that six weeks starts today versus six weeks from now. You know what I'm saying? Is that wrong? That's pretty wrong. I'm kidding. What's funny though is like the first couple weeks, at least from my experience, I was so freaking tired from being up in the night with the baby. I like, I didn't even have any thoughts about that. I sure as heck wasn't having any thoughts.

But I think like week three, week four, I'm like, okay. I'm like, I know we can't do it, but we can always mess around a little bit. And Abby's over here still like – Like recovering. You know what? I will give my wife the champion card here because she – especially with our first child because –

It was really exciting up until the baby was there. And I think I was a little bit in shock. He was. He was definitely shocked. Because, you know, the baby's crying all night. You know, you have to change diapers. You change the diaper, the baby's crying. I'm like, I'm trying to help you. Why are you crying right now? Yeah. But my... I really didn't have to wake up in the middle of the night to feed. Like, she was like champion mama. She just has it in her blood. So I was actually rested the entire first three months. And I was ready to rock. Yeah.

She wasn't. I remember you were terrified because you watched the birth. Bro, nobody talks about this. I literally closed my eyes and I was like, alright, here we go. It's just weird, right? It was like a war zone, bro. I didn't see it. Was it not a war zone? Oh, hold on, hold on. We're talking about two different things. Oh my gosh, Carlos is talking about the first time

each other after having a baby. You're talking about the birth. Oh, okay. So hold on, hold on, hold on. Oh my God. Bro, this is the ADD right here. This is the ADD. Okay, we're talking about doing it after, like postpartum. Postpartum, yes. Got it. Not a war zone. Still a war zone. I thought that was good. Okay, hold on. So baby comes out. It's crazy to watch, but it's beautiful. I said that I was not going to watch it, but I filmed it all,

all three of them, well, all two and a half. And I've actually shown people, I'm so proud of it. I'm like, look. He's like so excited. I showed up to set one day and they're like, we watched the baby being born. I'm like, I'm sorry, what? He had like shown the whole set. No, not the whole set. Just a few of the cast members because it's really beautiful. And I've cried every time and I'm just like, look at that. But then after seeing that and then having intercourse for the first time, I think that was really hard for me.

No? Matt didn't experience that. Did you? Like hard for me in what way? To just look at me and be like, oh. Because you see everything happening, right? It's like, baby comes out. You see all this stuff happening. And then obviously like there's six weeks she's recovering. And then the first time that you guys go to have that intimate moment, you're like. It was even scary for me too because I'm like.

Is this going to be painful? I don't know because I just gave birth. It's hard for the women though because I think your body with the hormone changes and everything. So much. It's different down there. At least like, I don't know. There are a lot of changes. I don't want to get too graphic, but it's like drier, right? There's a lot. Welcome to the unplanned. This is brought to you by...

Because with a C-section, I was like, we're not going to experience any of that. Oh, C-section. Exactly. It still hurt really bad after. Yes. No, of course it did. Okay, okay, okay. Hold on. So C-section. We did regular...

I mean, is it like vaginal birth? Yeah. Cool. I don't know what we can say in here. Vaginal birth. We can say vagina. Cool, cool, cool. So she did a normal vaginal birth, all three. And watching that, because like I've only ever known that part of her body as like an intimate part of her body. So then seeing it deliver a baby and get the size of the head and it's coming out, you know, you're just like, okay. And then later on when you try to get intimate again, you can't get those pictures out of your head. Did you have that?

I don't for me you never said that I guess I thought of those as like two different people almost I don't know he had to say it to be honest I just felt horrible for you I'm like like what if I had to poop out a baby or something like that would be so freaking painful I just felt so so much sympathy for you while you were doing that so yeah as a kid

I thought that I could give birth. Like, I, for some reason, just thought that anyone could give birth. It was your decision in your marriage. Like, is it going to be you, honey, or is it going to be me? Because he was a kid. He didn't know. So, I was always terrified that I would marry someone and have to be the one to give birth. That's hilarious. And just terrified at how much that would hurt. Did you ever get to sex talk as a kid? No.

I guess late in the game. There were four boys in my family and we all got it at the same time. So I think I was a little older and then, and then yeah, the youngest was probably like only like three or four. But my dad was like, we're going to do this one time. This is a condom. This is a baby. This is a wife. And we're like, we're going to do this one time. I'm like,

Oh my gosh, I could never. Yeah. I could never because Ocean is in such a different place than Kingston. Yeah. I mean, I think he was like, this is the time. This is the time. Oh my gosh. Okay. All right. While you guys are like having babies and going through all this and becoming parents, popping them out, you're filming movies, right? You're doing Hallmark movies. You're working. We don't stop. We don't stop, which is a good thing, but also-

I think it's catching up with us a little bit. Okay. You think? Yeah, yeah. We recently moved to Nashville. Oh, wow. Two weeks ago. Officially. Officially, we're here. We're here. We close on a house. We are living in there. We're sleeping on mattresses on the floor right now because we have no furniture. What's been really nice is, you know, it's allowed us, just these last two weeks, like life here is so much slower. And I'm go, go, go, go, go, go, go. And when I'm talking to someone, I catch myself wanting to like,

But they're like, so how's your day today? And I'm like, I'm really great. It was awesome. I woke up and it was great. I had coffee. How about you? They're like, it was good. You know, I... They take their time. I was thinking this morning and I'm like, my toe is tapping and I'm like, freak. This is so nice here. The Southern hospitality. They're really, really great here. Like really great. Carlos even went to the store the other day and he's like,

He goes, people were telling me, yes, sir. And he's like, not that I'm like some old guy, but, you know, they were saying, oh, yes, sir, just out of being polite. And it's just so nice seeing that respect for one another. And that's, I feel like, very rare nowadays, especially in the industry that we're in and being with, like, you go to California or New York or, like, you know, anywhere on the coast, you're

That respect kind of goes away. But the more inland you get, the more respectful people are. And it really goes a long way. And you don't even realize how much it does to your heart until you get to really experience that. So being here for us has been a huge blessing. And it was such a God thing because we never... In a million years, like if you told us like...

last year at some point that we'd be living in Tennessee next year. We'd be like, no, that's not us. No, not at all. And we're here. So it was a God thing. It was cool. Well, cause you guys were living in Hawaii and living on a boat. You were living with three children on a boat. Yeah. Yeah. We're crazy. So we live in Hawaii. Um, we have a gorgeous, sorry. We have a gorgeous, awesome house there that we love. Um, the community out there is great, but we happen to live in the town that burned down.

in Lahaina. So there was a lot that happened there. And right now they're like cleaning up all the junk and the toxicity levels in the air. They're not really talking about it a whole lot, but it's pretty wild. So we decided it just felt unsafe to be breathing that in with like the kids and then giving birth over there just in our particular area. So we thought like, okay, well then we're just going to be on the boat full time. Well, and the boat story is right after COVID,

Maui was pretty locked down over there. It was no fun. Like literally couldn't even go to the beach. It was crazy. So I got obsessed with watching sailing YouTube channels.

like obsessed and i've always wanted to sail and like we've sailed before so i told her i said hey what if we sold this one property that we had it was like a vacation rental and we bought a boat and she was like oh so you want to sell an appreciating asset for an appreciating asset i was like yeah how does that how does that sound to you and she actually said sure why not and we've always wanted to sail sailing is so have you guys ever gone sailing never oh oh my gosh you guys oh

It's awesome. I mean, if you don't count like a catamaran snorkel trip on a cruise. So we've done that like on a catamaran for an hour. And we loved it. Okay. But just imagine that. But for like weeks at a time. Yeah. And sleeping on the boat. It's so special. So we decided just to sell that property and buy a boat.

And it all happened pretty fast, which was amazing. And we bought this boat. She's a Privileged 615. She's 61 feet by 31 feet. She's pretty big. Wow. She's a 2007. And we spent the last two years and change refitting hers. We changed everything. I mean, we.

We did all the standing rigging, so all the crazy cabling that keeps the mast up and all the sails. We changed all that. We took the mast and the boom down. We painted it. We redid all the interior. And we basically did everything ourselves between me, her, and her dad because we're Latinos and we want to save money. We're cheap. I love that. Yeah, we're cheap. No, no, no. We're just frugal.

It sounds better. But we did it. And what's crazy is that every time that we were going to finish and get on the water, something else would happen, right? So this would break. Okay, cool. Now it set us back a month. This would break a couple weeks. The biggest one recently was in November. Right before we were about to go to the Bahamas. Our goal was, hey, listen, we have work until December 1st.

And then on the 15th of December, the weather should be good. We're going to get on the boat and we're going to go to the Bahamas and finally enjoy this boat. And it was right before Thanksgiving. And my father-in-law calls me. We're in L.A. and he's like, I think the engine is broken. I was like, no, no, no, no, no. He's like, yeah, there's water everywhere, this and that. Well, we lost. So everything was changed, even the other engine. But one engine, it was 17 years old.

it uh it crapped out on us and that was like the biggest blow to me because it wasn't an easy like let's just go to the engine store and buy an engine and put it in and keep going there's not an engine store that you can go to no no i know that's what i thought how does that work oh man well long story short you basically have to call the dealer they have to come in and the the epa gets involved and all this stuff it was a whole it was a whole big thing then we had to cut

the boat open to pull the old engine out put the new engine in and have somebody come and reseal it and it was a pain in the booty and it took months and it cost us almost $40,000 oh it was like the biggest just like

You ain't going sailing. You know, it's not going to happen. And in the midst of all this, about a month and a half ago or two months ago, we start praying and we're like, God, like, where do you want us? Like, what are we supposed to do? This is crazy. And I felt this random calling to just drive to Tennessee. But I'm like, I don't think that's right. And the next day she's like, I was praying. And I feel, this is weird, but I feel like God is calling us to go and just drive to Tennessee. And I was like, you what? What?

I felt that. Like, that's... By the way, guys, like, we've never talked about Tennessee ever. Like, this was not, like, something that we had really discussed or even thought about. I think it was one time 11 years ago when we were first dating, Carlos was like, where do you want to live? And I'm like, ah, my dream home would be in, like, Tennessee. Wait, why Tennessee, though? I don't know. I don't...

To be honest with you, I don't even know. Okay. Other than like, I just pictured these beautiful like rolling green hills with the beautiful fences. Exactly where we're at right now. I just kind of pictured as like...

that place is perfect. And I grew up on a ranch in Florida, but I didn't necessarily want that kind of ranch life in Florida again. I wanted this vision that I had in my head. But I had since, like, I've never, I don't think about that anymore. Like, it wasn't a thought in my mind that was like an 11 year ago, like 11 years ago, a fun little fireplace game we were playing. And... This got brought up and I said, well, what do, it's like, it's like eight o'clock at night. And I'm like, well, what do we do? Like...

like obviously we both are feeling this calling from god to do something and she's like we need to go he called me to go and i was like like right now yeah so we got in the car that night we got all the kids in the car and we drove 12 hours from west palm beach at eight o'clock at night yep wait wait did you have like a an rv or like what are you driving we had an escalator it was comfortable okay okay yeah yeah yeah it was cozy kids just slept in the

car? Yeah, they weren't champions. You guys, they were champions. So we did stop six hours in. In Tifton, Georgia. Shout out to the Spring Hill Suites. Did you get peaches while you were in Georgia? No, we didn't. No, but we went to Cracker Barrel for the first time. We had no idea that we would like it. It was so good. I mean, it was so good. Although the second time we went, I got a little bit of a stomachache because

I love that they have real maple syrup at Cracker Barrel. Yeah, I mean, I... Do you do it? Yeah, it's just... I don't know. I just have... I had everything. Biscuits. Yeah, we were like... We were with the menu. We were like, oh, what is this?

this is very interesting. It's like everything you could imagine. We're really clean eaters. So it was a really big deal that we were going into a cracker barrel and then to order what we ordered. It was, and then to go again on the way back. We were like, we were looking forward to driving back just to go to cracker barrel. But, uh, we got to Tennessee and,

And God just kept opening doors. Like our friend's parents happened to be camping that week. So we stayed in their house. We show up and it was like this gorgeous farmhouse on a hundred and something acres. And we're like, oh my God, we got the experience. It was like the welcome to this could be your life. And then we stayed there. And then a funny story. My ex-girlfriend from college, like 15 years ago, happens to live here and she's a realtor.

She sold you a house? Yeah. Hold on, hold on.

But you guys don't understand. She's like one of my closest friends. I love her. They've been friends for a minute now. Yeah, we've been friends for years. So we called her. But for other people, they're like, I'm sorry, wait, what? And her husband is like me and him getting along like this. Like he's so, he's so cool. I know. I had to, the first night that we were all hanging out like officially, I was like, I just wanted one time to say this. This is not weird for anybody and it's totally cool. And they were like, he's like, yeah, okay. It was great. I'm like,

Okay, that's it. Moving on. But I do want to say, it wasn't like they dated a couple months. How long were you guys together for? Two years. In college. No, what's crazy is that, is that, unplanned, we're just going from one to the other. I love her. You will love her. She's the best. I've never heard someone say that. Well,

Can your ex sell us a house too? Since then, we've literally sent her so many people. Fun fact, my wife, my ex-girlfriend, and then my ex before my ex, this one, they all live within 20 minutes of me. Now they're all in Tennessee. We're all in Tennessee. I'm just like, oh my God. One big happy family. Our best friend was like, I would love to be at that dinner. Yeah.

What's funny about you guys, I was looking at your story and you said at one point that you didn't want to marry anybody from the entertainment industry, right? Oh, heck no. He was literally everything on my no list. And that's why God is so funny. She wanted a tall cowboy. The guy I was dating. Don't we all?

Thank you to Liquid IV for sponsoring today's episode. I'm sick today, so it's important that I stay hydrated. So I'm glad that we're doing a taste test today of our Liquid IVs. A blind taste test. A blind taste test because I could really drink some. Well, they're actually clear cups. Oh, okay. Should we try them? Let's go ahead and try our Liquid IVs. Okay, here's glass number one. You should take the first drink because I might get you sick. I guarantee if this is one of the sugar-free ones, I have this in the bag.

Do we know what the flavors are? Do we have to just guess? Immediately know what that is. I think we should just guess what the flavors are because I know this. Can I say it? One, two, three. Peach. Blue raspberry. It was right. Abby's right, but technically it's white peach.

Oh, I didn't specify what color peach. I thought it had a blue tint to it. Matt, you're cheating actually. This is going to be blind. I love blue raspberry, so it makes sense why I like it so much. Okay, now we're trying this one. That one's also sugar-free. I know what that is, 1,000%. One. Wait, wait, give me a second. Oh, this is like lemon. Two, three. Lemon lime. Lemon lime. I haven't had that one yet. That's delicious. Dude, Liquid IV makes some really good flavors. I'm excited to try that one. That's not a sugar-free flavor at all.

- Holy cow, all of these are so good. Maybe I'll need to like rethink my white peach. - I'm thinking that one's like passion fruit. - Freak, I don't know what that is. - My favorite we didn't even have, which was green grape. - I'm gonna say passion fruit, I have no idea. - Pear. - Oh yeah, that is pear. One stick and 16 ounces of water hydrates better than water alone. Does that mean you guys, you're gonna

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The guy I was hitting right before Carlos was a 6'9 Australian footy player. Oh, my gosh. So he couldn't be more opposite of Carlos. That guy. Literally, I don't have a time. No. Well, I do. So my best friend, Rene. And wasn't it a swimmer before that, too?

Oh my gosh. So my best friend, Brene, we were all kind of going to the same church, but Carlos hadn't really gone there yet. It's like this little gospel church in Englewood in California. I don't know if you guys know about Englewood, but it's kind of like- The big hats. It's awesome. Like a big hat church. Gospel. I love that. Oh, that's so fun. It was amazing. It's awesome. I went for the first time and saw the choir and I was like, I need to be in that choir. He was awesome.

He was obsessed. Did you join the choir? Oh, yes. You bet your butt I did. Yes.

He did. But Brene at the time was like, this poor kid has no chance talking about Carlos because on my no list, I'm from a crazy Colombian family. So I was like, I am never dating a Hispanic person because I already have my crazy family. Like, I don't need to add more to that. Needs to be taller than four feet. No Latinos, no short guys, no singers for sure, and definitely not an actor because it's so vain. Yeah.

He is a perfectly sized Latino who sings and acts and dances. That's a plus, babe. That's hilarious because Abby's list for guys she didn't want to date. She was just like, I never want to date a theater kid. I don't want to marry a guy who's been in theater. We met doing theater. No way. Stop. Wait, do you do theater?

Yeah. We did. We went to school for it and then we switched our majors and stuff. Where'd you go to school? We went to Missouri State into the acting program where, I don't know if you've heard of Into the Woods, but the person that originated the wolf in Into the Woods, Robert Westenberg, was the head of faculty at Missouri State. Okay. So first of all, I was- Oh no. You guys just opened a can of worms. I was born in Missouri. Wait, what? Yeah. We should have done this. Wait, wait, wait. In Columbia, Missouri. Columbia.

Bro, my brother went to school at Mizzou. My mom went to school at Stevens College. No way. Yeah. I lived there for 10 years. What? Broadway was my first school in life. You guys have the same person.

I went to the Boston Conservatory. No way! For a year. And then I sent in a tape and I got big time rush and I left. That's insane. Fun story there too, I can tell you about. But yeah, I'm a theater. She was actually on Broadway too, but she claims that she's not a thinger. But she did Hairspray. She was Penny. I did do Hairspray. That was really fun. Wait, that's really neat. I feel like you'd make a good Penny as well. I can't sing though. Abby's such a talented actress. She is so, so good. Thank you. But not singing. Matt, answer it right now.

for it right now. You can be honest. We'll both admit like I have like a two note range. I'm not the best actor and she'll admit she's not the best singer but like she can dance and she can Yeah. Hey. Amazing. So funny. Where are we even going with this? I don't even know. I love the guys that did theater. Like that's like I mean I mean I did Grease Live

Dude, I saw that. That's so sick. My kids are obsessed with the Grease Lightning version of that. I was like, Daddy, can you play the car song? And I'm like, yeah, I'll play you the car song. And then I played it in the original and they were like, I like yours better. I'm like, oh, dang. Let's go. Sorry, Don Travolta. What was that like being in Grease Live? Dude, it was really cool. I mean, for me, I always wanted to go to Broadway. So I kind of like...

I don't know. Most people tell me, they're like, dude, that was way cooler than Broadway. Like, you know, that was 32 million people are watching this live thing and, you know, it was one time only. It was like super special. And I loved every minute of it. It was super cool. I think I still have that inkling to go still do a show in New York. But yeah, I mean, it was, was it almost 10 years ago? Yeah. That's crazy. I mean, it was actually right before Ocean, so we're like eight years ago. Eight years ago. The rush of like,

you could mess up and this is live. - It's live TV. - It's like a live show where you can play it off. Like, no, this is TV. People are watching it on the TV. That was really cool. And like being in golf carts, like getting driven, like during commercial breaks to another set. - That's so unique. - And stuff like that. Like that was really cool. - Even like Carlos was wearing three outfits for the Grease Lightning. - Yeah, for the song. Okay, so fun fact, that had never actually gone off correctly until the actual performance.

- 'Cause they're ripping away these seats. - So yeah, so I'm wearing my normal jumpsuit, the fancy blue jumpsuit, and then a normal one over it. And it all had rip-away buttons. And getting into that, I did a scene with Vanessa in the car, and then I had 45 seconds to get into the other two outfits. And it was like, I would always just make it. So I made it, we're doing the scene, and we all, the camera goes on us, it pulls away, goes onto some dancers for like,

15 seconds. And then when it comes back, the car has changed and we're all in these fancy outfits. So we have 15 seconds to basically go... And every time, one or two of us would always have a pant leg sticking out. Or take everything off. Or that. And by the grace of God, that night, it went off without a hitch. That was the only time that it ever actually worked. Somebody always had half an arm on or just something. It was cool. Do you have more fun doing...

theater and live performance, or do you like doing more film and stuff in that realm? It's different. We've really...

This last year, we started our own production company. Oh, wow. And we really enjoyed being behind the scenes. And in July, we're going to be producing our first movie. With our production company, which is awesome. And we're starring in it. And she's singing in it. No way. Congrats, you guys. Thank you. What's the company called? It's called Good For You Entertainment. That's so cool. I thought it was a perfect little name. Well, I like it too because I'm always like, good for you. And so it's kind of like

kind of like not a play on words but like it's a couple different things it's like really good for you quality entertainment but also good for you let's land this plane about the the move here oh okay go ahead so we come here and we start looking at houses

And it goes a little crazy. And we're just like, what's happening with life? And she's like, maybe we have to sell the boat. And I was like, dude, that's a crazy thought. No, I didn't say that. Hear me out. That night we're talking in bed and the houses that she wanted to buy, I was like, we're going to need to sell the boat. We can't do any, like, this is just crazy. And she was like, well, let's just pray about it. And the next day somebody calls me and goes, hey, would you ever consider selling your boat?

And I was like, nowhere. And I was like, God, I was like, I was like, I know that maybe you're just setting things up, but can I, but you know, can I get more confirmation? The dude ends up being someone who lives in Nashville who

who wants to go sail the world with his four kids. That's so sick. Was he watching your YouTube channel? Like, how did he know about the boat? Just through a friend. Okay. Through a friend. He ended up not buying the boat. That kind of fell through. But... You never would have decided to sell the boat otherwise. Yeah, like, we basically, like...

It was like one thing after the other just kept opening and opening. And after that week here, we made it back to West Palm beach and we're sitting on the boat and you know, I've got an offer on the boat. I got this happening and a house that we love. They accepted our offer. And I'm like, dude, we just in one week, we just completely changed our lives. And,

Things didn't work out exactly like that with the guy kind of bailed and now the boat is officially going to be on the market next week and whatever, it's fine. But all those things led up to us actually making the decision to move. And our life, we never got to leave the dock. We basically redid the boat for some other family, which I think is really cool.

And now we're here in Tennessee. Sorry, my ADD brain was like, I have to land that boat. No, you're good. For sure. Bro, I totally get it. We're on a whole big thing and I hope you all appreciate that. Wait, what boat were you on then for the past hours? No, this was a month ago. We've been living on a boat while refitting the boat.

Living on a boat on the dock. So you have two boats? No, no, just one. Okay, I missed that part. The boat is in the water at the marina, but we're refitting everything on the inside. So like for the first year...

We had like no walls. Things were ripped out. Like when I tell you that the boat life was kind of miserable at times, it was miserable because I had a newborn on the boat plus two other kids and we're like trying to, it's like living in a, it

living in construction with your family and it was so miserable at times but then other times it was amazing because like we're like fishing off the dock and we're creating the coolest memories it was across from peanut island so we would just go to the island on the dinghy so it was really cool and if you ask our two-year-old where do you live the only thing she knows is the boat so she's like boat boat i live boat here she is oh the boat the boat and i named it after my first wife alexa

Wait, I'm like, is this an ex-girlfriend? I was like, I did not see this in my research. I'm like, wait, what? You've been previously married? I didn't know that, Carla. He does.

He tells everybody he names it after his first wife and I'm like, your only wife. You know what? My dad's the same way. My dad will joke with people. We'll be like on vacation. He's such a dad and he'll say something like, yeah, let me ask my girlfriend over here, which is my mom. Just like messing with people. I'm like, dad, you're not buddy's dog. Dude, dad, I'm going to start doing that. Oh my gosh. Let me ask my girlfriend. Hold on one second. Let me ask my pregnant girlfriend something real quick. Hey, my baby mama, my baby's mom.

Okay. Here she is. There you go. Beautiful. Wow. That is a nice book, guys. All the white. Dude. The white used to be ultra suede mustard. It was disgusting. With mold. It was super moldy. Moldy. I left one little piece in a closet just so that if anyone asked what it was, I'm like, come on down. And you look up in the closet and it's about yay big.

The original mustard. That's hilarious, you guys. But we redid everything and she looks great. She feels great. And a brand new engine, that was a huge setback. But hey, some other family is going to have a great time with her. So last night at about 10 o'clock, you got a phone call. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Because something horrible happened. Thank you for reminding me, Matt. I appreciate it.

Can we talk about that? Yeah. So the boat was set to be listed on the market on Monday. Okay. So everything was prepped. I just had her completely waxed and everything. And she looked great. And last night, I got a call that this monstrosity of a boat came and hit me three times.

Three times hard. And then at the very last one, we have it on video. The boat is like driving away, but just scratching our boat the whole way. Just going. It's a huge stainless steel boat. If I show you the picture of this boat, you're going to be like. You just keep talking. Hold on. Are you going to find a picture? I love that you have all this documented on your iPad. You're like, I got a picture. Hold on. I'm a very visual person. So I was like, I'm bringing my iPad. And there we go. Here's the boat.

Oh my gosh. That thing. That is a hunk of metal. Wait, that's the boat that hit your boat? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whose boat is that? It's like a charter boat or something. I don't know, but I hope they have good insurance. Because, okay, so what we were talking about earlier was how expensive it is to paint a boat. You would think that painting a boat would be like

You know, like a $15,000 thing. You know it's expensive. No, it's $120,000 to paint a boat. Well, this one. This one. Well, okay. Okay. Because this boat is big. What? But also, you have to think, like, they have to pull it out of the water. They have to pull every little piece off. And then they have to, like, contain the boat. That's a really good point. Because I was like, why can't you just drain the water? I'll be honest. I was thinking it'd be like...

I was like, it'll be like five grand to paint a boat. Yeah, I wish. No, it's a house. I'm sure that you could get it done cheaper in the Caribbean or somewhere. But yeah, it's going to be crazy. Hold on. Again, I'm a visual guy. What are you doing? What are you finding? I just want you guys to see.

The damage? No, the moment it happened. Oh! Yes! Oh my gosh, you have to send them all of this. Wait, we'll have to put the video up for people to watch the video. Oh my gosh, why not? Why not? That's hilarious. Is there a camera on your boat recording? Oh yeah. Yeah, Carlos, he loves tech. Look at this sucker. He has cameras everywhere. They came in there and they went, boom! Right here, and look, and they just dug into the side. No! And then, here's the worst part, they back up and they come and do it again. And they do it again!

Hold on, hold on, hold on. Hold on. They back up again. But look, it's just like, I'm watching this and I'm like... What do they think they're doing? I don't know. And it was technically a hit and run. Yeah. They didn't report it. So they took off and then the cops, I guess, showed up or something and called them. And the guy was like, I didn't hit their boat.

I was like, bro, I got video. You got the video of, you got the ba-boom-boom right there. I don't think a lot of boats have cameras the way we have cameras. Like maybe one camera showing if somebody goes in and out of the boat, but not like every angle. Carlos is like... I love having eyes on everything. Yeah. How about you guys? We got security. Okay, they got security. Also, I'm trying to freaking expose us. It's not labor, though.

It's not labor. It's just a Braxton Hicks. Wait. Oh, gosh. Are you okay? Yeah, I'm okay. Oh, crap. What time is it? It is 11-16, Wednesday, March 13th. I can tell. Because you're legit 32 weeks pregnant right now, right? Yeah, 32 now. I'm just like, please don't give birth now. I just need to... No, you'll be fine. Okay, when you're doing like a Hallmark movie...

Do you conceal your pregnancy for the film so that it doesn't change the story? Yes. How does that happen? I've had to do it twice. It's such a pain in the booty because you're always in like big coats or giant purses or holding like random things in front of you. Luckily, for the most part...

Even though I get swollen, for the most part, it's really just belly on me. So I'm able to look, for the most part, the same when I'm pregnant and filming. But they just cut around it as much as they can. Every now and then, you might notice it and be like, I caught a peek of her belly there. But...

Really, they do a good job of hiding it. Yeah. Obviously, pregnancy affects everybody differently. And some people, it changes a little bit of how their face looks. Like, how do you... Do they have to do, like, certain makeup things to try to make you look consistent over time? AI is amazing. AI is such an incredible tool. I'm just kidding. Well, here's what's amazing. Whenever we're doing... Whether it's, like, a Hallmark movie or, like...

These TV movies, they're quick shoots. It's not like Spy Kids was a six-month shoot. A TV movie, you have three weeks, four weeks to shoot a movie, and that's it. You are in and out. So for us, not a whole lot happens in that three to four weeks that you're able to really contain it. If I were to shoot a movie over six months being pregnant,

there will be such a significant change that that would be really hard to conceal. But within a month, it's usually pretty doable. That is a very quick turnaround. I didn't realize they filmed those that fast. Oh, yeah. Sorry, you go ahead. No, no, no. Go, go, go. No, the filming's

schedules are pretty intense we have it down now especially if you have like a crew that you're used to working with or a director um you get these routines where you just show up and you work you're shooting like 10 to 12 pages a day on a normal set you shoot one to two pages a day that's it tops because they're getting so many different angles um usually more stuff is involved and you

These aren't the movies that we want to do for the rest of our lives, but they definitely pay the bills and they're really fun. They're so fun. We get to work together and bring the kids. And as an actor, as y'all know, you show up and if you're just the actor, you don't really have much say or control. They want you to know your lines, show up, do your lines, take direction, and then go home. That's kind of it. And on these movies, especially the one that we get to produce now, but even before...

we had so much freedom to like talk with people and say, Hey, how about instead of this, you know, we can go this and this. And I was kind of thinking this and they're so open to it that like they've been the best experiences as an actor. Cause like, like, like I've done other projects where you show up and you're just a paid hand. It's like, okay, cool. Thank you very much. Bye. But these guys, like these movies have been so fun. Cause you go in and if, if like you don't like a line, they're like, okay, cool. Well, how would you say it?

I was thinking this and then, well, how about you do this? Isn't this like, Oh, that's good. Okay, cool. Go try that. I can't tell you how many times we've showed up to set where we're like, Oh, we're just not going to say any of this. We're going to say this instead. And they're like, okay. Yeah. Like great. Yeah. Cause like sometimes they're not written the best.

The gist is there, but it's like, this is kind of cool. Who's going to walk in the door and be like, hey, howdy, y'all? I'm going to like, no, like, I'm not going to do that. My character would come in and I feel like he would say this. They're like, OK, cool. Well, can we do this, this and this? Yeah, great. So it's really a really collaborative process that you don't normally get.

That's really neat. And it's common amongst the Hallmark movies. They let the actors have a say in what their character says. I don't know if they let anyone. Oh, okay. We do it though. We do. And then this next batch that we're doing is with GAM, Great American Media, or GAC, basically Hallmark's competitor.

How does Hallmark feel about that? I don't know. They stopped calling us. Listen, I love Hallmark. No bad blood. To backtrack, so do you guys know Pure Flix? Yes. It's a movie company. So they do a bunch of movies. I've worked with them over the years and I really, really love them. They've actually teamed up with GAC. They merged. Yeah, they merged into one company. So we had a deal with Pure Flix.

at the same time while we had a deal with Hallmark and that was a totally fine thing. But when Pureflix merged with this other company that happens to be a competitor for Hallmark, things kind of changed in there. But then we were now suddenly a part of all three of these families and we were kind of like the kids where everybody had to just get along because they had kids.

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please no way i'm joking i'm totally joking no it's great because we know our limits like if i'm working with another guy i don't know how much i can play around with them i don't know how much like okay like if i ad lib is he gonna be able to go back and forth with me or is he gonna be kind of stuck and i can't tell you how many times god bless the other actors that i've worked with but like i get i throw a little something at them and they're like

deer in headlights because they practice that you say this I say this you say this I say this now when you get to bigger movies there are way better actors that don't really do that but a lot of the time you get people who are like they memorize their lines based on what okay so I'm gonna hear this line and then I say this and then I hear this and I say this and it's like well then you're really not listening

you're not listening in the scene you're just repeating you're going okay that's my trigger and I'm gonna say this and the whole thing is listen so we play around on set if I think that she's being too rigid I'll literally like in the middle of a take I'll just start poking her and she's like stop and I'm like do not put me in a label sorry sorry sorry oh gosh I'm like you know you can do it better and

And it's like, we have that flexibility whereas I think if I was with another girl doing a scene, I couldn't be like, I think you can do that better. But then the romance is real. Yes. But a lot of people say

say that they don't like watching couples on screen because there's no chemistry because they know each other so well that there's not like this like flirty back and forth but we're so flirty in like real life that I don't know we just have so much fun together and you're so cute it's a good vibe it makes it easy

Do you guys learn your lines well in advance? Do you just do it the day before? We do it the day of usually. Really? But only because these movies change so much that you really, it becomes more confusing to learn this old dialogue that's not going to stay and then say something that's kind of similar but then you're like, oh wait,

Was it like this? Like for us, we just go, okay, we know this is going to get rewritten. What's the story we're trying to tell? What's the point of this scene? How is it like pivotal to this part of the movie? And ultimately it comes down to like listening and reacting, not being a parrot and just repeating lines. Yeah.

But if we were to do a Quentin Tarantino movie... No, you say every word that Quentin Tarantino writes. I would show up and... I mean, if he... Like, every punctuation, I would do it exactly as he has it written because that's just how that is. But for stuff like this, like she said, I mean, there's just... It's a different breed. And some may disagree with us. There might be people out there who are like, no, learn your lines, that's how it is, show up and... You're never going to say them. That's all I'm going to say. We'll never say the lines that we would have memorized. Yeah.

And do you have certain boundaries too for if you will or won't kiss people on set that are not your spouse? Like, yeah, what are your boundaries as actors and actresses? Do you get asked that a lot? No, we just have a really funny history with it because we didn't establish those boundaries when we first got married. We were also in a very different season in our lives. We were just...

no kids i was 23 she was 24 we were just growing in our faith really understanding what it meant to follow god like it's one thing to be like yeah i go to church on sundays but like have a relationship with god and like we would like have a bible study on thursday night and then go to the club go to a club go to the club that night no and not like and not like party and go crazy but it was like okay when like her her stepdad like you know ran a club so it was like

Let's go. We got a table. Let's hang out. What's wrong with that? Like Bible study in the club. Like we already did Bible study. We got the good part. But it wasn't like going to the club and like, yeah. But then after a while we realized we were like, this is probably not. Well, it was very early in our conviction. Isn't dancing so much fun though? Because we went to a club. Yeah. Like we went to Vegas. We've only been once to the clubs and it was amazing.

so much fun i agree if you're going and again i and this is where i like battle because intention right yeah if you show up with the intention like i just want to go dance with my husband i love dancing it's like so fun and you can like be free but it wasn't like we were just dancing we were drinking um we were around a lot of not the greatest people also at the time as well so like it wasn't

We weren't doing it necessarily right. Like, if right now we were like, you know what? Let's go to a club and just have a mommy-daddy night just of dancing. I think that intention is actually a good, fun, like, adventure versus, like, going out and going clubbing because you need something else fulfilled. Mm.

It's kind of fun though going out with your spouse because you know who you're going to go home with at the end of the night. You're definitely getting some. You're definitely getting some. That's what I'm saying. Do you guys have convictions on drinking? You mentioned drinking. So do you not drink anymore? What's that like for you guys? The only times that I ever drink are if we go on a cruise. Yeah.

You know, I love champagne, even though it's so sugary. I think like, you know, having a few glasses of champagne is just really fun. And like, she doesn't drink at all. I mean, again, like I've never been a huge fan of drinking. I come from a family with like a lot of addictive issues. So for me, I'm just like, it's not. Yeah. I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything. And I also don't.

anybody for like wanting a beer or something. Like it's that to me that's not a very big deal. I feel better when I don't.

And I think that's why I've only always kept it to cruising because like I'm on vacation. So, you know, you show up and they're like, here's a glass of champagne. I'm like, yeah, okay, hey. So for me, that's always just been like kind of where I stay. That's pretty much it. Like the last time I had like hard liquor, like I can't even remember. Like long, long time. Probably at the club that night. Oh my God.

Oh my gosh. Stop. That's yeah. I have a lot to drink that night too. Oh my gosh. Can I share this story? Yeah. What's the story? I mean, it's my past. So don't judge me. This was 10 years. This is 10 years ago. More. Yeah. Cause we weren't married yet. Were we? No. It was like 11, 12 years ago. Yeah. So, so her dad, you know, owns and runs this club in, in, in Hollywood. So we go, we had a table, you know, he got us a bottle of vodka and it's like these like balls or balls.

coming down the lights are going and like and like every 15 minutes it was like full-on fog where you couldn't see anybody oh i love that it was so cool and then like it comes out and like you like there's like people making out you're like what the hell that thing it was a little weird that thing so alexa had had too many uh vodka red bulls and uh and again i didn't even like drinking i was just like this was the one time this was the one time that we went to the club the one time

and uh her stepdad comes over to me and i was i was really prepared for the night because i was really into her so i was like i hired um security and a security and he and he drove my car and you know had an escalade so like it felt like we had a driver like like it was totally planned out like we're gonna have a good time he's gonna watch over us and he's gonna take us back to our house and he'll drive home like i had it all planned and her stepdad comes to me because

Because she's like drunk. This asshole. Slobby drunk. You guys, I don't remember it. Yeah, slobby drunk. That's how bad it was. He comes to me and he goes...

She's coming home with me. Scared Carlos. And I was like, what? Dude, I sobered up so quick. And I went over and I was like, look, I have everything planned out. I have my security here, Ronell. He's driving my car. I'll make sure that she gets home safe. I talked to him for a minute and then he was like, then you guys need to go home right now. And I was like, yes, sir, of course. So me, her, and then our friend got in the car and Ronell drove us and we drove home. And this one, I was like,

At the time, again, different place in my life, but I was like, I wonder if I'll still get some tonight. You know, it's like... This is stupid. This is so stupid. And so I say goodbye to our friends. The security leaves and I'm like, Alexa, where you at? And I go upstairs and...

I opened my master bedroom door and there's throw up, but it was fruity pebble colored because she had eaten fruity pebbles. It's like purple. Purple. It was colored all the way to the bathroom around. And I was like, I look over and she's just like, I'm like, oh my gosh. I was like, well, I'm definitely not getting some tonight. Yeah.

gonna be so so so I literally like googled like what to do and it's like don't I mean you know Google freaks you out you're like I have a cut on my finger like you're gonna die tomorrow you know so so it was like do not let her swallow her own throw up like she could die this and that I'm like

So I literally just covered and throw up. So I literally undress her into her panties, whatever it was. That sounds creepy. No, no, no. But it was actually very sweet. She was covered. So I carefully undress her. And then I got the shower warm and I put her in the shower. And I literally just sat with her head, not like this, but like this.

Just like in the warm shower. For hours. For hours until she like kind of came to. And then I got her and she like got a towel and just laid in front of the fireplace. Just flat right there. And he cleaned everything. And I cleaned everything and went to sleep. But he was so worried that I was going to die. I was like, I wonder if I'll get some in the morning. No, I'm just kidding. No, I'm thinking that.

I'm a dude. I'm a dude. Okay. Oh my God. No, he was actually very sweet. Oh, so that's why you did all that. Yes, exactly. I did all that. Uh,

uh but no but then she woke up the next morning and we ordered soup and we sat and we talked and realized that that was not the life that we wanted to lead and like even though like that was like fun for a minute like was it really fun and it was like no like we don't need to do that and and like i was you know sad that i almost risked us yeah because like i almost didn't get to you know bring her home and the whole plan was for us to have a great night tonight and then

her stepdad was not going to like me and blah, blah, blah, blah. And it ended up working out. Pretty pebble girl over here. And that's why I don't drink guys.

We never got to you and your boundaries with kissing. Oh my God. Or like romantic scenes. Land that plane, baby. Okay, so. Land that plane. I was on a television show. Somebody told it to me the other day and I was like, I kind of like it. It's kind of annoying, but I kind of like it. I like it too. So I was on this show that I actually loved. The character was awesome. I was super proud of it. Gave me a lot of like,

really great stuff to work with. Now, in the beginning of the show, I'm the villain, okay? So when I said yes to taking the show, there were zero

romantic interest whatsoever. I was the villain. I was like, you're going to become a love interest. No. I was like, 100%. And my close friend who actually his father made our engagement ring. Which she loves to wear. I know. I'm too puffy. I know. It doesn't fit right now. I'm just too fat for it right now. So this is like a close friend of ours that I'm working with. And two or three episodes in, I'm no longer the villain. Yeah.

I read this episode and I'm now the love interest. Which I have to say is really awkward because if you don't really know the person, it's a lot easier to like be the love interest of this person because there's no history there. There's no like weirdness. You just show up. You're two professionals and it's great. This guy happened to be a friend of mine and there's history there. So now I'm like, oh my gosh. And I have to call Carlos and tell him. What kind of history?

No, like friends. No, I know. I just want to clarify. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, there's history there of just like a friendship. But we're like buddies. So now I have to find out that I have to like kiss my buddy and have these kind of like... How long ago is this? Oh, wow. You're married. This is 10 years. We had just gotten married. Okay. And didn't set boundaries. That's true.

So we didn't have boundaries yet of like what we were okay with and what we weren't. And this was a CW show. So CW is not known for just like you do a cute little Hallmark peck. Like this was... And again, this was early on in our walk with our faith, with what we were comfortable with. So like it's a very...

kind of i wouldn't say raunchy because it wasn't like hbo but for cw it was a very intimate scene and i had to like call carlos and tell him he's like you're not doing that no no no no no that's not how you do it no no so so i'm i'm on tour with big time rush in some overseas country somewhere you were in colombia and i was in my hotel room

And I remember this because George was there too. Oh, no. And she calls me. She's like, hey, so I have this... You were right. Now I'm 11. And I have this scene to do and this. And I'm like... And you have to kiss him? And she's like, yeah. And she goes, so for things like this, do you want me to tell you before or after? And I'm like, well, before. Obviously. Like, I want to know before. And she goes, okay. Well, I had one yesterday. And I have one tomorrow. And I...

I literally died. He started crying. I was crying. Because he was like, you cheated on me. I'm like, wait, what? And I'm like, you should have told me that you had one yesterday. You didn't tell me that you made out with this dude on camera. So then I'm in this hotel room bawling. My friend George comes in. And he's like, what's wrong? And I'm like, my wife cheated on me. Like, the world was over. The world was over. I cannot perform tonight. Like, not going to happen.

And then we finally, you know, whatever. I kind of manned up. I was like, it's fine.

So two, three days later, I fly straight to Canada after the tour to meet her. On set. On set. And the next, so. You're like, hi, sir. Nice to meet you. Yeah, yeah. Well, no, no. I knew him. He's friends with him. His dad literally made our engagement rings. But then we're literally hanging out. We have a great little night together. And like, life is good. We're back. You know, we're just connected again. And she's like, I have to leave for work. I'm like, yeah, of course, of course.

she's like, hey, I have another scene and I have to basically wear like lingerie and then take my coat off and be in lingerie and then basically like straddle him. And I was like, no,

hold on. Whatever. And I said, no, you can't do it. She's like, I have to, it's today. And I was like, you, and I was like, no, no, no. You tell them no. I was like, you just tell them no. She's like, I have to be able to tell them no. And then we got to another big fight and I was just like, this is crazy. I was like, I can't do this for the rest of my life. Like, so then we finally got over that. She did it. It's fine. But we basically, after that experience and those, that rollercoaster of emotions, we just set boundaries and it was like,

Like, what are you okay with? Like, obviously, like, was it the biggest deal? No. But, like, no one wants to see their wife, you know, with another guy. Even if it's just acting. Like, you know, she kept saying, babe, like, it's – and now that I've done, like, kissing stuff, like, it's awkward. Like, it's not like you're, like, you know, making out with this girl and you're like, yeah, I love this. You're like, dude, there are 25 people watching us right now. Let's just get this scene over with. And also, there's, like, a specific case.

Kiss went on camera. Which I didn't know. I didn't know these things. They're very different. They're very, very different how you kiss. Explain that. Yeah. So no tongue. Like there's yeah, there's no unless it because I've seen movie where I'm like things people are really going at it. Usually those people are hooking up behind the scenes. Oh, so you can usually tell when something's going on.

on behind the scenes. But I think what was really, really powerful for me in that moment that I learned a lot about because I had my best friend Andrew kind of walking me through that season and he's like been our mentor throughout so much. But specifically in that season,

It was tough because in my head, I'm like, this is my career. I didn't think anything wrong. There was nothing wrong with what I was doing in my head. In my head, I'm like, this is just acting. This isn't real, whatever. But now I look back at that and I'm like, oh my gosh, I was so naive to be in that position because I would never take projects like that now. While the character was amazing and I loved the umph that they gave me to work with every week, there were so many things that were...

or that we could have pulled back from to still give her like the range that was amazing without having to be overly sexualized. And I think, and I think especially in my walk, that's been the biggest thing that hurdle that I've had to overcome, but it's really what has caused me to have to like turn down a lot of projects because I will love a character, but ultimately just be like, I just,

I don't trust that they're not gonna take her somewhere else or like they'll have like nudity in something or you know just like overly sexualized for no reason and I'm like this is what's wrong with all of our stuff today we're just like doing stuff for shock factor shock value and it causes people to stumble and I'm like there's no point in being responsible for that you know

- Right. - Like we're human beings, like you know, you have a bad day and then something else catches your attention. You're like, well I'm mad here so I'm gonna go here and it's like.

How do we help just clean up the world a little bit? So we set healthy boundaries with each other, but then those boundaries ended up even kind of going further to being like, man, I don't want to portray that for other people. I don't want other people to see me doing those kind of things anymore. So it really hit me on a deeper level, but it took me a little bit longer just because for me at the time, my career was my life. I've been doing this since I was four. So I was just like, what?

who are you to tell me that something I've been doing since I was like four years old, now you're trying to like take over. I mean, I just felt very defensive of it at the time and not really coming from a place of like, oh my gosh, this is my husband. How is this affecting him? How is this actually affecting me spiritually? There was just so much growth that I had to do and that we did together and learned a lot from. And just to add this, that's not to say that like if...

If a role has, I don't know, like you're a crack addict, you know, and you're doing this thing. Like for us, like if there's a really great story of redemption and at the end you see the journey and there's a positive message. Like to me, like those are the stories that I want to tell. So it's not about like doing these clean cutter movies all my life. Well, that's not even the reality of the Christian walk. Like Christianity is messy. It's sloppy. It's painful. It is ugly sometimes. But like...

Those are the stories I'd rather tell. When you watch... And I'm not trying to put all these Christian movies down. But you watch these cookie cutter Christian movies. And you're like... Well, that's definitely not what my walk looked like. And maybe for some people that's what it looked like. But it definitely didn't look like that for me. Or most of my friends. Who now love the Lord. And who live a totally different life than they used to. Those are the kind of stories that I want to tell. Because you really have to show...

the pain of what somebody went through to get to where they are now. And you can't just show a clean, happy version of it because then I feel like you're just doing a disservice for that story, but also for people who are literally in the thick of it right now, because in their heads, they're probably thinking, well, nobody's as bad as me.

nobody's like like they probably got saved or they're probably in a better place now because they weren't even really that far off from being good anyway i'm so far off like what hope is there for me when i'm like no we've all been through the gutter we all got junk yeah thank you to zoc talk for sponsoring this portion of today's episode i officially have adhd and i have zoc talk to

thank for it because what they do is they allow you to do a virtual doctor's appointment. And so it got me thinking, hey, if I actually want to be evaluated for ADHD, maybe I could do this virtually because I'm a busy guy. I don't have a lot of free time to just drive to the doctor and stuff. And so Abby set up my doctor's appointment for me using ZocDoc and I got evaluated and turns out that I have ADHD. ZocDoc?

was really easy to use. It's a place where you can find and book doctors who will make you feel comfortable and actually listen to you. Being seen by a doctor nowadays can feel overwhelming, especially when you're like, I don't know if they take my insurance and I don't know if like how far is that? Is this the right place to go? Like there's so many questions about it. Even as an adult, I feel like it's just difficult to navigate and ZocDoc makes that so easy because I just put

Matt's insurance information. They take your insurance. They connect him with a doctor. He had an appointment literally the next day. It was so fast. It was very efficient and great quality advice too. Think about this. All the time that you save doing a virtual doctor's appointment is incredible because you usually have to drive all the way there, wait in the waiting room. Then you go back. Then you have to wait on the doctor because they're seeing other patients first.

All in, you're probably taking like three hours to go to the doctor. I don't know. If you're quick, maybe two. But to do this ZocDoc appointment, it literally took me 20 minutes. It was so fast. And what's really cool is that ZocDoc is a free app and website where you can search and compare highly rated in-network doctors near you and instantly book appointments with them online. We're talking about booking appointments with tens of thousands of top-rated, patient-reviewed, credible doctors and specialists online.

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Back to the episode. Do actresses have a say-so in, okay, I love this role, I love this story, but this nude scene, that's not for me, I'm not comfortable with it? They actually do. So you've been able to say that before with roles? So it just depends on the project. It depends on... And you'll hear this again and again on different TV shows or movies where I think...

You know, there was one girl, I can't, I think I know the show, but I don't want to say it because I'm not 100% sure. But in the first season, I think there was like nudity and the girl was totally fine with it. But then in the second season, she realized she didn't like what came with it. She just felt like so exposed. She's like, I don't ever want to do that again. So when it came time to the second season, she's like, I'm not doing that anymore.

And they can't force you to be naked on set at the end of the day. Like, they can't force you to do that. So, in all honesty, you could take a role and say, yeah, I'm okay with doing it and then show up and say, I'm not doing it. Okay. I wouldn't do that because I think...

that's kind of like a little unfair i would just be straight up right away and not not her i was just saying like if you were an actor that just said yeah sure i'll do it and then decided not to um i i feel like depending on one where you're at in your career and two if you can come up with something that would also be like of equal value like for instance hey listen

This scene calls for nudity in the writing, but it will still be just as powerful without the nudity. Here's why. Here's how I think we can do it. Offer them another angle. And a lot of times they want to accommodate. Like there are some people who are just weird, who just are like kind of perverts and want naked people on set. Like that's just how some people are. And you won't be able to change it. And either you get fired or you leave.

I've even heard like on Game of Thrones, the actress who played Cersei said, I don't want to do the walk of shame. And so they did a body double because I guess it was essential or the producers or director, whoever felt like it was essential. And so she said, okay, fine, I'm not doing it. And so they were still able to tell the story without her body. And I even think about movies like Schindler's List, like

such a sad, sad movie. Right. But like when you see the people who don't have clothes on, you're like, I cannot believe that people were just treated like cattle. Because it's not sexualized. Yeah. It's intention. And again, like,

My issue isn't nudity. Gosh, the human body is beautiful. Some of my favorite art pieces or photographs are actually of naked pregnant women because they're beautiful. There's nothing sexualized about it. The problem is how we've sexualized everything. But you made a great point. I look at a movie like Schindler's List and I would never be like, oh my gosh, I can't believe those people are naked. No, you don't think that way because they're telling a story

First off, history and what has happened and what these people went through. And I think that's why we go back to... It's not as simple as just like never doing nudity, never doing this, never... It's more about, okay, what is the story? How does this move the story? What is the intention here? What is the intention for the audience to receive? How are...

Like, how are they getting this? Is this causing them to stumble? Or is this giving them insight to something horrific that has happened? So I think there's so much more to it than just no to this and no to this. I mean, I always laugh back when I was like first starting on Instagram and stuff.

Dude, I was like... I was always posting shirtless photos. I'm like, I went to jail. And then once all this started happening, I was like... Why am I doing this? Yeah, like why am I doing this? A is because I...

at the time i really wanted that um attention yeah and it's like that validation yeah and it's like that just feels now it feels wrong dude you look good in those photos i went back at your instagram i was like dang like this dude freaking shredded i'm gonna stop you bro i'm gonna stop you bro you're gonna find a lot of shirtless content dude that's what's funny is i i there's pictures of me at family christmas and everyone's wearing a sweater you always do

you said. And I'm shirtless. No, I have the photo on my phone. I'm shirtless and everyone's wearing a sweater. Yeah, but like, are you posting it being like, look at my shirtless body? No, I just hated wearing shirts as a kid and I still do. But this is Carlos. Carlos never has clothes on, ever. Like, this man is always just in like, bottoms. That's why I love Hawaii because in Hawaii,

you can just wear swim trunks and no shirt and no shoes. And that's us. I was even laughing with the babysitter today. I'm like, hey, so listen, I know it's kind of weird, but my kids don't wear underwear because we're from an island where we literally just live in bathing suits, so I can't get them to put on underwear. So I'm like, just put her shorts on. She'll be fine. She doesn't need any. I mean, I don't wear underwear. Do you?

I wear underwear, yeah. Wow, so you don't like wearing shirts, but you like wearing underwear. Yeah, I've always worn underwear. You wear underwear with your swim trunks. Shut up. What? You guys don't wear underwear with your swim trunks? Dude, I don't wear underwear, period. Wait, what? Yeah. Either one of you guys? No, you guys just go commando all the time. All the time. What's the point of that? You know what? I wear underwear if I'm wearing light pants only because sometimes if you go to the restroom and you don't...

shake up very well sometimes sometimes there's a drip and then you're like oh freaks on my white pants yeah i'm dead but i don't wear underwear no is that not is that not are you so you're not wearing neither one of you guys are wearing underwear right now no abby do you have your undies on today because i do i'm wearing undies okay okay but hold on but two out of the four what's the point of underwear then i think it's just to keep the particles from getting on your clothes yeah

But what particles? Like, I don't know, like poop and pee? Yeah, but like, I'm going to wash it anyways. You guys, how dirty are you, bro? Bro, I wipe well. Yeah, me too. I don't know. What are we talking about right now? It's unplanned, dude. What the frick is going on?

Oh, I'm so sorry. Not you. I'm so sorry. I'm so hard. I'm like, okay. I love how honest you guys are. Yeah. I told you we have zero boundaries. It's a problem. No, I love it. But, um, I think something that's really cool that you guys have opened up about is like difficult, like struggling in your marriage, which is something that we've talked about too. And then of course the internet's like, well, you're going to get divorced. But like,

It's like, wow. It's like, wait, you guys never have disagreements in your marriage. I think it's really healthy to have healthy disagreements. And then also for other people, if you're in a healthy place, for other people to know that. Because if you're having conflict in your marriage, it can feel very isolating at times. Heck yeah. Especially when you're seeing people, you know, in Hallmark movies or like everything looks picture perfect. But I think that's really cool and inspiring about you guys. I guess like talk more about that. Well, I mean, last night we talked about last night. I had a great, I mean, okay.

Like I said in the beginning of the podcast, if you challenge me, I will take the challenge. Yes. Carlos has a very strong personality, which is great. That's what I married him for. Like I love how strong he is. Not my good looks. And your sexy, amazing good looks. Thank you very much. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I am somebody who, I was such a people pleaser for so long that it's really hard for me to stand up.

Or like say, you know what? No, I don't like this. It's taken me a long time to kind of find my voice. So usually if there was ever a disagreement, immediately I'm like, okay, yeah, no, I'm sorry. Like, oh, you're right. Like, okay. Like I cower very quickly. So those two opposites were kind of crazy. So we had to find a way to meet in the middle. So I'm getting much better at saying...

saying things that I don't like and I'm getting much better and not overpowering and understanding but we definitely have moments so last night we're talking about something and it's just something simple but our writer had to change a writer so a buddy of mine was like well how about this writer and I was like well see if he can write the first 10 pages just so we can get a you know like a vibe check on him

I only got the phone. She's like, I wish you would have talked to me about that. And I'm like, what? She goes, you should have asked me. I was like, it has nothing to do with us. It's not affecting us. He's going to have his buddy just do a vibe check on the writing and see his writing style, whatever. But we got to this thing. But I was super committed that I did not feel like I needed to ask her permission for that. And she was...

And she felt the opposite. So instead of resolving it right there, we tried to. And then I just put my hard hat on and I was like, all right, fine. I'm not going to talk to you. I'm just going to clean. I'm just going to clean. What did you say? Well, you remember I don't. I blacked out. What did I say? I'm just going to have to start focusing on that. I did say that. I said, good luck with that.

No, because I was, you know what? You know what? In my defense, I was very overrun. We spent two days where she was kind of in the bed, just chilling. And I had the kids and I was doing everything. Life is stressful. So I was just like, I mean, man, I'm cleaning. Like, even though there's no furniture, the house gets very messy with these kids. You have to know, I understood this though. So like, I was not mad at her.

But I kind of get into this place where I just do me. And I'm like, fine, you know what? I'll take care of the kids. I don't need you. It's fine. It's fine. It's fine. And I just got into one of those moods. So those things kind of happen. But we always find... I don't like going to bed angry.

I do not mind going to bed angry. Do you know why? I need to rest. I need my brain to take a break first before I can have this conversation. Whereas he's the opposite. It's like two in the morning. He's like, no, we need to have this conversation now. And my brain literally needs time to process it. You guys do that? I totally relate to you. Who's who? You're like me. Abby always relates to the husband and I always relate to the wife. I always relate to the husband.

He's like the wife in the marriage for real. Hold on. I think I just had an epiphany for me. Okay, tell me. All of my issues that I have in life with like confrontation come from rejection. I have a really estranged relationship with my parents. Both of us do. Like literally we're on our own. Like we don't have anybody. So no grandparents or nothing. It's just us.

And I think that is really, like that whole thing of rejection and just in life and acting and this world, rejection is a huge thing for me. Like if I feel like I go into a conversation and someone's not liking me, I start trying to make the conversation like liven up because I'm like, I want them to like me, you know? So I think you going to sleep at night and us not solving it to me is a form of rejection because I'm going...

So like now Now we're going to bed And my wife Who like Supposed to love me Is like really mad with me And I don't want to be rejected So how can I Like no let's solve this No usually I'll go to sleep Like not super happy But I'll be like Okay I'll just I'll still touch you Yeah she'll touch me with her toe You'll get like one touch The toe Like a little touch Wait you'll do the toe I'm such a chick Abby does that to me I'm such a chick man I make him give me his toe

me that you still are here. You're still here. So you like to go to sleep and like rest it off and breathe. We've been talking about it for over an hour. I'm like, it's one o'clock in the morning. Let's get some sleep. We're going to be okay. We'll still be married in the morning. Let's just resolve it till the morning.

I'm like, let's hash this out right now. But what you actually need is a break from the moment. Yeah. For both of you to go, it's actually, like, right now it's under a magnifying glass. It's really not that big of a deal. You both just need to rest because there's probably other stressors causing the animosity, causing that sort of, like, riffraff. And that rest does everything. We didn't finalize the conversation last night. We technically didn't, like, finalize anything.

And that's why I said, hey, listen, I know we have all this stuff going on. Let's just put that to the side and let's just forget about that. Let's deal with the boat right now. And then I kind of washed everything away. But how good was that? Yeah. This morning. Oh, my God. Thank you. Thank you so much. Something I just thought of. I did a deep dive on your YouTube channel together. I love all your vlogs of living on a boat. Oh, no.

And something I saw way, way back from 12 years ago, you made this music video with Justin Bieber and Selena as well. Call Me Maybe. You have to know. Call Me Maybe had been out for two years and nobody had heard of the song. Wait, did your video blow up the song? Yes. Wait, what? Hold on. In a nutshell.

I was dating someone who was best friends with Selena. She lives here in Tennessee. Yeah. She's the girl that we were talking about. She's super sweet. The ex that sold you your house is the girl that was in the video. No, no, different ex. But she also lives in Tennessee. The ex after that one. Was friends with Selena. How many exes did you have by the age of 23? She was a serial date.

I still date her. Because I hated being alone. I didn't like rejection. And all this back. Oh my gosh. This is therapy for me. Okay. Freak. They did some unplanned therapy sessions. That's so funny. So basically girlfriend came over.

then selena was there i have a funny story with taylor swift too uh but she comes over and it was me selena alfredo and and my girlfriend at the time and basically she's like yeah justin keeps playing this song he's obsessed with it it's his girl from canada whatever she plays it it's like i just met you this is crazy i'm like oh this is cool so i pull out my you know mac laptop and put on photo booth and we made a whole thing and sent it to him because

Selena was like, I can't stand this song. She, you know, he's, he's always playing it. So we make this video and it's really cute and really fun. So we make another one. And then every time people would come over to my house, we would just pull out the laptop, put photo booth and play the song. I just met you. This is great. Just keep doing over and over again. Then, you know, a few, you know, with the big time rush guys, Justin did a few of them. And then me and Alfredo didn't edit. And that was the video. Um,

And Fredo was like, he did a good chunk of the edit. He was pivotal in that. And then we put it on my YouTube channel, which I was trying to grow. And actually, I got Scooter yelled at me because I put it out on a random Monday. And he's like, you know what? Man, we should have planned this out and did this, blah, blah. At the time, I didn't really care. Did he scream at you to take it down for a minute? No, I don't know. Is this Scooter Braun? Scooter Braun, yeah. Justin Bieber's manager? Yeah. He was not happy that we put it out on a Monday or something like that. We were supposed to do strategy.

Yeah, well, I mean, but... But he's just a kid. He was like, we were just having fun. And then my brother, who was helping me with my YouTube, he's like four years younger than me, calls up Scooter and tries to get a release so that we could monetize it. And Scooter's like, no. I was like, oh, dude, because that would have been some good money right there. Yeah. Well, it has like 80 million views. Yeah, I mean, that's what...

I'll take it. I'll take it. But so the song starts blowing up and I feel like that was like kind of the first viral video of that type at its time where it was like just a bunch of like friends hanging out and making this, you know, like little music video. And then the song blew up. Song just kept going and going and she kind of got like a second...

That song got a second win. And I don't know if it's true. I mean, I heard a lot of different stories. Like, you know, the label was about to drop her. Like, maybe, maybe not. It's just kind of hearsay. But 100% that song is what made her relevant. And obviously, Justin Bieber being a part of it and Selena and like all that. And the craziest thing is I did Grease Live with Carly Rae.

And she never mentioned it. No way. I was like, why didn't you bring it up? She did back into Alexa's car. Oh my gosh. I forgot about that. But Carly Rae, I mean...

Yeah, never, never. She never thanked you for blowing up her song. I never expected thanks, but I just thought like, should we just bring it up? Why didn't you bring it up? Were you too nervous? I just didn't think it was worth, yeah, I was nervous. Rejection, rejection, rejection. Was that like a circle that you hung around with? Like your ex-girlfriend, Selena, Justin Bieber? A handful of times. Okay. There's like one story. I came home from shooting one night and

And again, I had this house that I partnered up with my dad to redo it. So we basically gutted it and redid it. And I made this little movie theater in there. And I come home one night from working, and my girlfriend, Selena, and Taylor Swift are all in the theater just hanging out. And I open the door. I'm like, oh, hey. I'm like, hey. See ya. I close the door. I'm like,

I gotta go to bed. And I think about it. I'm like, that's crazy. It's crazy. But you also weren't that guy. Like, you stayed out of those kind of circles. It's so crazy to me. I was like, dude, Tim's was in my house? That's crazy. That's so wild. It really was. I thought it was funny, too, looking back at your YouTube channel. Because then the...

One Direction was opening for you. Like, One Direction was opening for Meantime Rush. That was hard, man. And you're interviewing One Direction. All the guys are right there. And I'm like, this is hilarious that, like, they all look like infants. Like, they were all so young. That was the hardest thing for us as a band because we kind of got forced to do it. Really? Yeah. Our label was like, hey, this boy band. And we didn't think it was a good idea. We were like...

I don't know. I know. And look, they were super successful. Props to them. They have some... I love all their music. And they're all really nice. But literally, they...

They killed it. They would go out, do their 45 minutes, and then after our show, fans were outside of the theater chanting for One Direction. Really? For us, that was really hard for us. I'm sure, yeah. I'm sorry. No, no, no. And you know what? They offered for us to open for them in the UK. They did like 11 shows at the O2 or something crazy, and our egos got in the way. We were like, no, never. We probably should have done it. Yeah, you should have. That would have been a good idea.

great business move honestly but yeah but i think i think we just you know our ego i mean and we were kids like i was like 22 you know like yeah it's hard to control your ego at that age and for us you know we were doing our tour but then this opener would come in and they really just wanted to see them and like that that hurt although we sold our tour was sold out before they got on so they were there to see us but it was like the beatles it was it was like a freak of nature they came in and people just

they they wanted these five cute british boys and yeah do you do you still hang out with any of them or keep in touch with any members of of one direction uh one direction no you know i mean i'm sure that if we saw each other we'd be like oh hey yeah but uh no they're they're all doing their stuff niall was always like the sweetest one like he was so cool um yeah super sweet i love his music there's a

Oh, what's the song that I listened to? Heaven by Niall Horan, I think is the one. I've never heard it. His music's so good. Is it? We actually got to listen to it. Yeah, and I didn't even know... I was never a One Direction fan, but I started listening to Niall after the band split, and I think his music's awesome. Yeah, he's super talented. They're all so talented. I mean, what they did...

I hope that we can do stadiums one day. How sick would that be? To have a stadium full of people that connect to the music like you do? I don't know. That just must be the coolest thing ever. You guys have to come see their shows. Their shows are insane. They sold out both tours back to back. They're about to go on another tour in Europe, which is going to be great and huge, which I'm super bummed because I will have just given birth, so I can't

go. Oh no. They're really good. Like they're such strong performers. They've been doing it for so many years now that there's just this like cohesiveness that just works between all four of them. And I don't know, like I think for a while they stopped. I mean, they stopped performing and I would always tell Lois, I'm like, babe, you have to get back on stage. Like you were made for this. Like God really gave you a gift and that's hard to

to do. Like, if anybody could do it, they would. Not everybody has that, like, it factor. And I'm like, you have it. You have to do it. He's just so good on stage. What we have with the band now is really cool because we run the show. Like, back in the day, it was all Nickelodeon and Sony kind of controlling everything. Yeah. And we were able to get the rights to, you know, use the name. And Big Term Rush is kind of like our baby now versus before

you know, you worked for the man. Yeah. Now we are the men. That's so cool that you guys are like back together and touring. Are you just loving getting to perform live again? Is that... Yeah, I mean, it's so fun. And like the whole family goes on tour. That's awesome. Yeah, we live on a tour bus, which is so special. Tour bus, and we go around and, you know... Kind of like a boat. That's crazy. We're, you know, working on, you know, developing a Big Terramush movie right now. No way. So yeah, yeah, that's...

Yeah. It's crazy. There are a lot of things that we work hard for. It's crazy that we're 15 years we've been doing Big Time Rush. Wow. It's just a part of me and the fact that we took like a 10 year break we had kids one of my bandmates you know got married having a baby like all those things it's like

all of us have grown up so we've matured quite a bit so there aren't the fights that we used to have you guys used to fight a lot yeah I mean do you fight with your brothers yes yeah I mean it's like it's like having it's just having three brothers hold on you guys still fight but you have learned manly fights now you have all learned how to communicate better like before it was like childish fights

Well, we're business partners now, right? Before, we were hired hands, and it was kind of like... That changed it, right? Yeah, yeah. Now, we're business partners. So, if I don't want to do something, they have to go, okay, well, why? And it's like, well, because my family, like, okay, well, how about the band pays for X and X to do it? Okay, you know what? Fine. That's a good compromise. Okay, great. So, we have to just come at it with a different approach, but...

So far, so good. Guys, I've been handling it very maturely. Very proud of you. Now I want to go see one of your shows. Please. That must be so sick. It's so fun. And you sold out Madison Square Garden. MSG. That's insane. Oh, yeah. And the Forum in LA. What's crazy is that we are doing Europe this summer. And we're playing a show in Amsterdam. Yeah.

And the day that the tickets went on sale, that show like sold out. - Wow. - But there were still, and I don't know how this is even possible, but we got an email from the promoter that there were still 78,000 people in the queue to get tickets.

78,000. - Bro, you should sell an arena. Why are you not doing an arena tour? - So the issue is we're doing a smaller show out there. So our production is only so big and to do a huge arena or a stadium like-- - You can't show up with like-- - You can't show up with like a couple lights. So our goal is to really blow this one out and then hopefully in 2025 if all works out, do a massive world tour. - How is that being a family man touring the world?

Well, we would be going with them on that tour. Okay. Yeah. They don't have a choice. Mama's putting her foot down on that one. I want to go on that one. Four kids. Yeah. Well, no, I think it'll also be different too because when you go to Europe in that way, I imagine that you guys are going to have more dates. Yeah.

It's going to be a longer tour. By then, you know, another one of his bandmates will have had a kid. So I just feel like it just makes sense that the families will be there. Right now, when they do these quick shows, they're doing fly dates. So they're like showing up to a place and then as soon as they're done with the show, they get a little bit of rest and then they fly to their next location. Doing that with four kids, one, he would never get rest and two, it would just be way, way too hard. So I just feel like

Like, the thing that makes the most sense is, like, this tour, he's only gone for, like, three or four weeks. He'll go take off. But next year, if it turns out that, like, they get to do, like, some giant world tour, we'll all work something out to where we all get to go. I...

It's cool. It's unplanned. The police are at the boat and they want to speak to me. Oh my gosh. Okay. Yeah. Dude, totally take the call. Just call me. But do you guys just want to continue with her? Yeah. I had some questions about Spy Kids if that's okay. Oh my gosh. If you're cool with that, I'll just step out. Dude, you're good. And I'm going to go talk to the police. Don't worry. I'll be back. I'm going to go talk to the police. Okay, dude. I'm so interested. I'm invested now in this hit and run on your boat. Hit and run, baby. That's good. Who would have thought hit and run on the boat?

the boat. Okay. First of all, for you, I want to say you are such a chill mama. Like, you literally was four, like, about to have four. It's so fun, truly. I don't know. I just, so, I think a lot of that has to do with, so, I started acting when I was four, and I think

when you grow up in this industry, you are never in one place. You are always on the go. You're constantly meeting new people. When you think things are gonna be one way, they really turn out to be another. So if you don't have like a go with the flow personality...

that industry just won't work for you. So for me, it's just kind of been one of those things where I'm like, oh, well, like it's out of my control anyway. The things that I can't control, great. The things that I can't, whatever. We're going to make the best of it. I love that. I always want to be more of that because I feel like, especially since becoming a mom, like my...

want to control. Like, I've never been, like, I don't really like being in control of things. But it's definitely, like, I start to feel it more where I'm like, oh, like, I need stability. I need, like, routine. What are the stressors for you? The routine? Like, I'm like, I need routine. I need, like...

Like to some extent. I get that though. Because that creates a lot of good stability. With you know kids at home. Having that routine. And I think that's kind of been the hardest for us. In this season of living on the boat. Like we're so ready for a routine for our family. Even for our kids. Just giving them that stability. Now.

It just, remember, like we travel nonstop. So luckily our kids are also very good with the flow. So we're trying to find a way to balance like, okay, how do we have a routine that makes sense for the life that we live? So is it no matter where we go, is it like starting the morning with like a prayer time?

time or always ending it with like either a bath a story and a prayer or just something that just always stays the same no matter where we go what can stay the same so that way they know what to look forward to regardless if we're on a boat or

on like tour or in like some random studio filming a movie, you know? I love that. I feel like it's like almost more like a rhythm in my mind because it's like, yes, we can do this anywhere else, but it's like a routine. I'm like, it has to be in this room, in this space, this way. Like I love that. Which I love too, but I've just learned that's not...

That's just not our life. As much as I would love to just be like, this is our homeschool room. This is where we will always do homeschool. That's nice for when we're home. But when we're not home, when we're just on the road, it's just not...

It's not going to happen that way. And I have to be okay with that. And if I'm not, my head's going to explode. So I've just learned, like, if I'm going to make it work, then I have to be okay with these random changes. And then, like, it's that letting go of control. Once you let go of control, life gets better. Right. It really does. You're never disappointed. You're like, what's out of my hands? Yeah. Which took him a long time because he is, like, the typical Latino...

Like, I want to be in control. I've got this, whatever. And the more and more he's just let go of the control. I just watch stress just release from him so much. Like this boat situation. This boat situation happened five years ago.

Carlos would have reacted in such a different way. He would have been a mess. He never would have slept well at night. He would have been like, what do I do? I have to fly there right now, whatever. Whereas in this season of his life, he's just learned it's out of my control anyway. I'll deal with it tomorrow. Let's get a good night rest and that's it. But it took a long time to get through letting that go.

How often do you get confused for Lava Girl from Sharkboy and Lava Girl? All the time. All the time. Okay, so Taylor is a good friend of mine. I love Taylor Dooley. She is like the coolest girl ever. But I can't tell you how many times people think it's the same movie because it's the same director, same crew.

crew, same studios. Everything about it was all the same except for the fact that that was Taylor Dooley. This morning, Abby was like, we definitely need to talk about Sharkboy and Lava Girl because that was such an iconic movie. I'm getting confused. Listen, Abby. Someone's trying to

kids on DVD. But everybody thinks it's the same. They do have similar vibes. You know what? They have similar vibes. I only just recently watched Sharkboy and Lava Girl. I never did until I would say a year and a half ago or two years ago because my kids are obsessed with Sharkboy and Lava Girl. Like they like Spy Kids. They do. But they love Sharkboy and Lava Girl. And now I know why. I watched it. I'm like this is

This is great. It's actually really deep. And like the story that they're telling. And like both Taylor. Like all the kids were great. But like Taylor and Taylor did such a good job with their characters. I'm like this was actually a really, really good movie.

I'm a little sad it wasn't a Spy Kids movie. That's so funny. I thought, like, Spy Kids was my childhood and me being one of three brothers, like, we thought Spy Kids was so freaking cool. But there was a sequel too, right? Yeah, we did a bunch of them. Yeah, I was gonna say, there's a lot. There were three originals and then 10 years later they did a fourth and that was with Jessica Alba, New Kids, and we were there but, like, we weren't, we were just, like,

kind of like random people a part of it. And then they recently just rebooted all of Spy Kids but with new kids again. No way. But like we weren't a part of it at all. To be honest with you, it was actually like a really sad moment because...

we just always assume like one day they'll reboot it and like maybe we'll have the opportunity to either like it be our kids or you know something like Daryl and I so Daryl played Junie something Daryl and I were like oh that'd be so fun you know 20 years in 20 years like we'll make like a real brand new Spy Kids or something

And I get a phone call. Or no, he's at rehearsal. We're at the studio. He's at rehearsal because he's about to go on tour. And this guy walks in and he's like, oh my gosh, I've been meaning to call you. My good friend is the new spy kid. And I was like, what? Like, I didn't even know they were making another one. He's like, my good friend, his kid is the new spy kid. I like just played it off. I was like, no.

for him oh so awesome he's like oh i gotta facetime them so like they're like facetiming i'm like this is cool and in my head i'm like they're making a new spy kids like what and i remember calling daryl and just being like did you know about this by the way daryl's married to megan trainer he is like a great life he is doing awesome but we were we were just like kind of just our feelings were hurt because like nobody even told us nobody was like hey listen

Like, we're going to save you guys for later or something. Like, there was nothing. And we just both felt like just a part of us had kind of, like, died. It was this weird experience because it was such a part of our lives. For sure. Such a part of our lives. But, like, since then, you know, like, while they were filming Spy Kids, we actually... They film everything in Austin, Texas. He happened to be going, like, on the tour bus through Austin. So I just...

And I was like, hey, we're in Austin. I want the kids to be able to go see the old airport hangar where we shot. Is that open right now? And they were like, actually, we're still in the middle of filming. Do you guys want to come to set? So we went to set. We met the new kids. They could not have been nicer. They pulled out every old gadget out of storage and displayed it. Like our old super guppy, our old spy plane, the dragonfly.

submarine. They pulled all of these out of storage, you guys, and brought them into this giant airport hangar, like green stage. And then pulled out our watch and Ralph, that little spider guy that would crawl around. All these different cool...

like nostalgic gadgets were just on display and like our old costumes and my kids were just having the time of their lives and it was the weirdest thing to literally be like sitting in the super guppy holding my kids and like being a grown-up having that like it was such an emotional beautiful experience and then when I showed up to set like the new set that they were filming with like the new kids I

The crew is the exact same. That's what's really cool about the filmmaker of this movie. Robert uses the same people over and over and over again. That's why a lot of times you'll see like the same cast come through there. The same crew. He keeps his crew together.

always so they know how he works he knows how they work and it's just this tight-knit community so the people that I worked with 20 years ago were the same people that were there and like we were all bawling because they're like you're here with your kids on this set it was just such a beautiful unique experience and um

And yeah, so even though it was like a passing of the torch and like that was kind of like sad, it was also just really, really beautiful to be able to have that experience and with my babies.

That's so sweet. Now I'm sad for you. I want you to have a cameo in the new Spy Kids movie. Well, the new one ended up being great. So my little kids love it. They actually love it more than the other three. I'm like, thanks, guys. But it's so sweet because they understand that the other ones were mommies. So they're like, mommy, we want to watch the new Spy Kids, but it's the one that you're not in. Are you okay with that? They're trying to break it to you. Yes, obviously.

Of course! It's not going to hurt my feelings if you watch the movie and they're like, oh, okay, good. You know, they're like playing it ten times in a row. But I love that it was such a special project that it

it's really withstood the test of time and the fact that they're making more still based off of the idea that we did like what is it now 25 years ago or something insane like holy cow it's really cool it's really it was such a special thing and I don't know it's kind of like E.T. in that sense I mean E.T. is so iconic but like just kind of lives

on which is very cool Spy Kids is iconic I remember going to the movie theater and getting my 3D glasses well because it was the first time they brought 3D back Spy Kids was yeah so 3D hadn't been in theaters since like the 80s and Robert was like I want to bring this

back i really do and he's like and i don't want to do it in the new way i want to do like the old school red and blue glasses and i like so he brought 3d back with spikets how cool and now it's big every movie has everything everything it's 3d although it just makes me so nauseous i'd rather watch it in 2d yeah i i get that yeah i even got the uh the dvd we did you give us like a birthday like four

Yes, and we got the 3D glasses with the DVD. And so as a kid, we put on our 3D glasses and watch it at home. Meanwhile, my kids now are like, what are these things? I'm like, you don't know what a DVD is. Oh my gosh, like this is, we've reached a new era. Something that you mentioned that I thought was kind of interesting was how you...

maybe envisioned or like thought that one day your kids would be in the movie like Spy Kids or things like that. And I guess that just like brings up a conversation like since you were raised as a child actor, like how you would parent a child that was interested in child acting or what your perspective on that is. Um,

So I know a lot of people who grew up in the industry would be like, I would never let my kids do this. I had a really different experience. I was very, I would say sheltered in a good way. Obviously there were things that I also wish, you know, we could have maybe done differently. But that kind of started happening as I got into my like teen years, as far as like being a child actor, like,

I had the best time ever. I mean, I was literally playing dress up every single day, doing something that I loved, something that was so unique and fun. And while yeah, I didn't have a normal childhood, I didn't know any other way.

and I wouldn't have wanted it any other way. Like I look back and I think of all the stuff that I missed out on and I don't really feel like I missed out on anything. I think I was right where I was supposed to be. So for my kids, even right now, like our biggest thing is making sure that they have community because we don't wanna take them away from other kids. And I think that was probably the hardest, which is why Spy Kids was so fun.

was because I wasn't just on set with adults all day long. Up until Spy Kids, I was always on set with just adults. So I could handle conversations with adults really well, but conversations with other kids, they were really hard for me because I just had different stuff in common. Even though I was a kid, I grew up talking to adults 24/7. And now I have to like try to get along with kids who are like picking their nose and like throwing rocks. - You're like, "That is so immature, knock it off."

And I was just kind of awkward.

awkward around them because I didn't really know how to act. So I'm trying to find a little more balance with my kids, even though we travel a lot, even though, you know, they're around adults a lot. We try to also find like, okay, we're going to be in this place. What's a good spot for them to be around other kids? So we're even a part of this like gym that has like a really good kids program and they're all over the country. So whenever we're traveling somewhere, we get to bring everybody and the kids get to go into kids club and they're still like,

in it without having they still get to be a part of it and they still do have their friends that they you know get to facetime and see but so they're not completely out of it but um yeah i guess just trying to integrate community into their lives are there any untold stories with filming spy kids that you uh i don't know you've never shared before i feel like there must be some like funny things that must have happened on set or oh my gosh well spy kids for the second one

There were so many kids on set. Also, cannot wait for your update. There were so many kids on Spy Kids 2 set that that was the best filming experience I have ever had. Ever. Ever, ever, ever. Because I'm 13 years old and it's like right when you're crushing on guys, you know. And Matt O'Leary played Gary Giggles.

And every single kid that's on set has a stunt double. So I have a stunt double. Matt has his stunt double. And they're all kids, stunt kids. That's so cool. So it was like one. That's what you should have been. It's the coolest thing ever. So the Dashnaw boys, so Jeff Dashnaw was our main stunt coordinator on Spy Kids. And he had his sons, JJ, Nick, Jake, and Chad.

So all of their kids were stunt kids. We had Emily Osment back in the day, Matt O'Leary, obviously Daryl. And then we also had our stand-ins who were also kids. So it was like one big fun play set. Now I had the biggest crush on this guy, Nick, who was...

Matt O'Leary stunt double Gary Giggles stunt double and he ended up being my first kiss but it caused all sorts of drama on set because what happens if they don't get along so like the parents are all worried if like one I'm not supposed to be dating I'm not allowed to have a boyfriend but we're like secretly dating and we had like this secret break dancing room in the back of set that we like broke into and nobody knew that we had access to this room so like all

like 15 of us kids would pour into this room. We put down like really, uh, whatever it is, like cardboard. And we'd all like blast music and break dance in there. But then nobody could find us and nobody would be able to shoot anything. Cause they're like, where are these kids at? And we're just hiding in this,

like random room in this like airport hangar that we had found oh my gosh fun it was like summer camp it was just like all these fun fun experiences but i ended up dating nick on and off for many years after that movie he he actually he ended up recently passing away but he was a good friend of mine and his family was is truly still like my family she had a tattoo that's i actually did have an

a Nick tattoo on my wrist. Really? That's how serious it was? Yeah, no, it was very, very serious but we ended up just being friends and really good friends but that family is so special and will always be so special. Like, my sister even dated one of his brothers for many years. They actually helped us get our crash pads for like one of our tours. Oh, yeah,

did i totally forgot we could not source them anywhere and they were like well i think my buddy's selling some like i mean these are like thick nice crash pads like yeah so good and now the stunt coordinator for all of robert's new films happens to be jj which is the which is jeff's son his oldest son that is cool so yeah they really do keep it all in the family it's very special what happened was it was it cancer was it a tragic accident you know no you know he um

He unfortunately had some addiction problems. So that ended up happening and it was really, really tragic. But the family is so special. Like such a beautiful, tight-knit family. And they will forever be my family. And it's so cool because within the industry, they are just known as like the coolest people you'll ever meet. Yeah.

Like these people have no fear whatsoever. They just they're just so cool. Wow. Thank you for sharing that Hey real quick. I'll keep this really brief. Just give me 30 seconds of your time Thank you guys for being here. Like it truly means so much that you're here We actually flew all the way to nashville tennessee to do this interview And it's all because of you guys you guys have been watching this show you guys have been subscribing interacting leaving comments and It means the world to us. Um

I just have one ask from you guys, and that is if you would please hit the subscribe button, it would mean the world to us. I promise that I'm gonna do everything I can to keep making this show the best it can be. We're gonna bring on the guests that you guys want. We're gonna talk about the topics that you guys want.

And give us feedback down below. Let us know who you guys want us to bring on the show. Let us know topics you want us to cover because we're doing this for you. It's been a lot of fun. I can't believe that this is something we get to do. We get to interview some amazing guests. And so your support means the world to us. Thank you so much. If you subscribed, that means the world to us. Now back to the episode. Officer Jacob, he wanted to speak to me.

So we have the captain's contact info. Great. We have their insurance. Okay, great. They did deny hitting the boat. Oh my God. And the officer's like, but there's no denying that they hit your boat. Like, we're looking at it. Did you say that you have a ton of video? They have video. Oh, sorry. We have video. They have the video from the marina.

The vessel is still on its way to Miami at three knots because it's... It's a big old boat, yeah. But they're going to cite the captain and he is 100% responsible. They're writing up a report that we have to basically finish filling out and send in 10 days, send to our insurance. And he's like, this sucks. And they... It's not confirmed, but...

They could have potentially been intoxicated. Intoxicated, yeah. That would make sense because they literally hit the boat twice. Three times. Oh, sorry. Three times and then dragged. Three times. Just a small $100,000 paid job. See, I would be completely sober doing that, but if it's a captain, then maybe we have to think...

I'm just like, oh, man. It's all right. You know what? There's going to be a silver lining and there's no structural damage, which is amazing. It's all cosmetic. So whoever buys this boat, I hope that we can do something where it's like, look, it's going to get painted with $120,000 paint job.

if you buy the boat, you can make it any color you want. Like, that's cool, you know? And it's like, it's not on us. Wait, that's kind of special. I mean, if I was buying a boat and I had some like, you know, fiberglass damage or whatever and it was just all, you know, cosmetic and they were like, hey, buy the boat and then we're literally gonna send it and you can pick the color, I'd be like, yo, that's a score. You heard it right here, ladies and gentlemen, you can buy their boat. You're in the market.

If you're in the market for a boat, they'll paint it whatever color you want. We won't. But some... Some marina will. Yeah, some whatever will. Professionals. What a crazy day. I feel like there's so much you guys could talk about because even just like... I'm curious. How old are you guys? How old do you think we are? Well, I don't know. You guys look very young. You're not going to offend us. I would think you're like 23 or 24, personally. 25. Yeah, we're both 25. No way. Okay, so right there. Oh, I got 10 years on.

on them dude i've seen so many of y'all's videos no way yeah because like i didn't really alexa set this up and i was like who because we were going back and forth on instagram yes and i'm like i'm like who i'm like like like maybe two days ago i was like who are we going to see like who are these podcasts with and i was like oh i know them i was like i've seen their videos no way very shocking to me yeah so much shocking yeah why that's great go watch it

- We've watched you guys and then you're like, oh, I've watched your videos. - I walk into the house and Gabe is here and I'm like, I've seen his videos. - That's crazy. - I don't know who that is. - Really? - Yeah. - You guys are, I already can say this right now, you're gonna be great friends. - Really? Oh, hallelujah. - Oh, yes. - We'll take all the community. - Community, there you go. - All the community.

And that was his wife that I met, right? Yeah, Jess. Okay, because she's awesome. Oh, incredible. Like, I met it all with her right away. From Australia. Yeah. Oh, no. The best people. I'm thinking the other people. Them too. The Tori. Yes. Yes. Okay. Tori and Chad. Sorry, we're learning. We met a lot of new people today. We met Tori's house. It was kind of a party when you guys came over. All of you will be amazing friends. Okay, great. We're just kidding.

because I know nothing about you guys are you born and raised in Phoenix is that like no I'm from St. Louis so it's funny you guys loving Nashville Missouri baby let's go I'm from Missouri that's crazy so that's why when you guys were like yeah Nashville's awesome like I I'm starting to like Nashville more because I come here almost every month to like record music but it's just crazy because it feels like home for us it feels like St. Louis so when are you guys moving here

Has God called you to move yet? We can't do that. No. We moved our entire family to Phoenix. Our whole family's like moved down to Phoenix. You have family over there. Yeah. Why do my parents live with us? But I'm here all the time. I'm so, yeah, we have a very- Built-in babysitters? Sounds like a dream. Yeah. It's great. Honestly, it's like, it's working out really well. You can get up and leave at night. Like-

we took off to nashville that's beautiful and then you do music out here yes i've just been like it's been a childhood dream and so i just kind of started releasing stuff and i'm just kind of throwing stuff out there and seeing dude that's how it should be though yeah please share with me i would love it's been scary though because it's like usually when you start something new you don't have people who are like watching your every move but because of he already has a

platform because we're platform people are seeing every mistake I make and every like every good song and bad song that I make so it's like it's kind of nerve wracking but I love but I love music so much I wish that's what Big Time Rush did I always say like let's just put a song out every month

doesn't have to have this big plan behind all this money. Like we have so many songs that we've written that it's like, we'll just put it out. And they're just chilling. They're not out. Do we have songs from like... Release them, dude. Release them. They have like 60 songs that I listen to all the time. Here's what's hard. There's so much red tape in the music industry that like...

you know, people want to make money and I get it. Like that's a living. And especially like if you have a successful brand like Big Time Rush, they're just like, they just, you know, equate it to, well, if you put my, you know, like you should pay me for my music, which I totally get, but it's like, we're not trying to like, like the goal...

There's an overarching goal. So like if I were to put music out right now, I'd probably do it with somebody who had the same mentality. Like, hey, listen, let's make money on the backside. Let's not worry about every nitty gritty right now. Let's just make some cool songs and just keep putting them out. One a month, one a month, one a month, one a month, one a month or two. Like who cares? And not with the intention of like it has to get to radio. It has to hit Spotify or whatever. Just like let's just put music out. Like why not? So the fact that you're doing that.

props to you you're doing the right thing thanks it's awesome it's been a fun project I'm like I'm currently independent so I don't like work with the manager stay independent bro I do it all stay independent okay if you can yeah are you guys independent are you guys with a label how does that work you're kind of independent we're yeah like we we did a deal with BMG to do our last album but we're basically independent I mean we do whatever we want it's crazy it's really awesome that's like yeah that's awesome for a brand like this I mean

I always laugh. Most people want to go on tour and sell tickets. We have no problem selling tickets. We can go on these massive tours. Last summer, we did 300,000 tickets. It was amazing. Holy cow, dude. It was sick. That's a lot. But we have no radio play. They can't get on the radio. Why? Because- Radios don't play them. Yeah. Can you pay? You can pay to get on the radio, right? It's a payola thing, but what? Are you going to drop a quarter million dollars just to get into the top 30? Are you guys making TikToks of your songs? Yeah.

Yes and no. I mean, our whole thing is just- They're old. So they still have to learn how TikTok works. Boyfriend, someone did this remix of Boyfriend and it was like, like a super high pitch one. And it actually gave us a nice little resurgence of that song. So I think, look, I love social media. I think it's great. That's why we're kind of diving in and trying to, you know, use that more. But for us, like we just love performing and our fans show up and they buy tickets. So

As long as we keep putting out music and cool content. And I think doing a movie will really help because people... That's cool. It's so nostalgic because most people grew up with Big Time Rush. Our kid... Our kids, but our oldest... Oh my gosh, Ocean. ...is obsessed. Like the biggest Big Time Rush fan you could ever have. He got into Big Time Rush like six months ago and we thought like...

you know, he'll like it. Like we played an episode and he was like, oh, this is funny. But now he's so obsessed with it that he's like trying to dress like the boys. I was at the mall the other day. Oh my God, it's real fast. I'm at the mall and Carlos is in like crate and barrel trying to figure out like furniture and stuff. And

There were these like 10-year-olds, like four 10-year-olds that like the mom dropped them off. And they're like all these girls just like sitting at this little couch area. And I needed a break. So I sat down with the kids next to them on the couch. And Ocean sees these girls. So he gets up and he walks over to like this like little kind of glass window. And he pops his collar and he just like does it. Leans on the side. And I'm like...

what are you doing? And he goes, he goes, mom, I learned it from big time rush. And then I'm like, oh my,

my gosh he's trying to be cool for them and I said baby and he's only seven like baby are you trying to be cool right now he's like I'm not trying like in his head he's like I am cool right now what do you mean trying to be cool I'm not trying and he just sat there and like one leg was crossed over the other and he just like popped his little collar and I'm laughing because I'm like oh honey that's not how it really works in real life but in his

head it works on the show it's what he's seen in the show and he's he's starstruck not with me but with everybody else like james james lives in nashville as well and he came over and he was like hi james hi do the face james do the face i was like oh my gosh like i was like james just so you know my kid like we're like idols to him now you know like the uh the you know uh big manager gustavo steven gluckman i facetimed him one time said ocean come here he wouldn't he wouldn't even talk

And he like walked off camera. And I'm like, it's okay. And he's like, I'm like, dude, it's okay. Dude, it's okay.

It's so funny. It's beautiful. I love that for you guys. It's cool. You guys are so cool. It's so fun. It's just so fun. You guys have to, once we get our podcast up and running, you'll have to come and, or we'll come to you or do it online. And then you guys can even stay at the house. Dude, would love that. You know what? Next time you come to a session, we'll just kind of plan it out. You can come stay with us for a few days, do the podcast. You can chill. You guys are awesome. You do it all. You have a family. You both have your own

both have your own very successful careers like you try and like we have some really cool stuff that I can't share here but I'll share after we get off camera it's really inspiring because like you guys you guys are proof that you can you can have it all you can you can be a family man you can be you can have it's not easy all these values and hold true to them and still you

do the entertainment industry because everybody would think that you can't. - You think it's so toxic and like you can't have a family, can't have-- - It is, it is, but you have to kind of put a bubble around yourself and just say what are my priorities and what do we put first? - Boundaries. - We put our family first. If a product, if like, you know, they've thrown, she had an opportunity to do a TV show and they were gonna give her like 70 or 80 grand a week to freaking do this TV show and at the time we needed the money so badly. - Holy cow. - And we were like, yo, this is insane.

But it would have meant moving the family to Georgia and doing – And we had just moved to Hawaii. And living in a little apartment and all this stuff. And it was like, what is – where is our family going to thrive? Living in an apartment in Georgia while you work all day or staying here in Hawaii? And we chose that.

over the money and I believe that God honored that. That was hard. I'm sure there's so many decisions along the way where you had to re-remind yourself of what is the most important to you and it's not like a one-time thing. It's a constant thing that you're evaluating together. It's constant but it's never been difficult. That I will say. Well, because nothing...

better than the peace God gives you. And that is like, I have learned that through and through. And no matter what comes our way, you know immediately if it feels right or wrong. And the money is just like, I kind of laugh now because I'm just like,

I don't care what number you throw at me. Like it literally means nothing because this is going to take me out of where I'm supposed to be. And I know it. You're so, so right. I was telling Abby the other day, I was like, you, someone can come up to me and say, Hey, I'm going to pay you. I've started a crazy number, like 10 billion, $10 billion to go live for 10 years in another country and like not see your wife and kids for 10 years. I wouldn't do like, you can't put a price on family. You can't.

Your family is so important. And so just, I don't know. Yeah, you can't put a value on that. You cannot at all. And it's just, it's so wild to me because I'm like,

In short, from like an outsider's perspective, it's like, oh my gosh, you're crazy. It's just a small sacrifice or whatever. And it's like, no, you don't understand. It's not a small sacrifice because you're walking out of your path. Like you are walking out of where you are called to be, where you're supposed to be, what you're supposed to be nurturing and like rooting into. And you know, you know when like God is calling you to something or when he's calling you out of something. And yeah.

I also think that's why when we finally made the decision for this move specifically, and honestly, any move, like when we made the decision to move to Hawaii, it was such a big shift that our whole team was like, you can't leave LA. Like LA is where you need to be. You need to be here for auditions, for meetings, for anything to do with like film TV stuff. Like if you leave here, your careers are over. And we knew that wasn't going to be the case. Like even though,

That's not what everybody was telling us. We knew in our hearts we were going to be covered by making this move because it's where we were being called to. And we really needed to get out of California in that season badly. Yeah, I mean, we just chased God's direction versus the money, which I think is like most people just chase the money all their life. It's like money.

like money, money, money, money, money. And I was there. I used to be a super materialistic person, like big house, big this, big that. And if she taught me anything, cause she started over three times, make money down to zero, make money down to zero, make money down to zero once with me and two on her own. And after those experiences, we just went like,

we're chasing the wrong thing. - Yeah. - You know? And I just think like, if people in this world stop chasing money, 'cause like, again, it's that thing like, oh, money brings happiness, whatever it is. It's like, no, dude.

I think to an extent. It can help. If you're paycheck to paycheck and you're broke and you can't put food on the table, I think money in that circumstance does bring happiness because you're getting like your basic life needs met. But, you know, for a lot of people, I mean, I think I've read articles, but it's like,

any amount over like a hundred grand or something doesn't bring more happiness. Right. Because you already have all your needs met. You already have them met. You have time to take off work and spend time with your family. So I think in that sense, it's like we need to really rethink like why are so many people always chasing more?

Right. Right. Well, we've been programmed. Yeah. Like, oh, dude, I like literally we're programmed for the upgrade. Everything is an upgrade. You get the new iPhone and then you're like, yes, I got it. And then you see a commercial. It's like iPhone 27 coming out. Freak. I just I just saved up for this. And then and then now you want that. And it's like, dude, we are literally programmed for an upgrade in every aspect of our life.

But I do think there is something to it. So two thoughts. One, I do think money can't buy happiness. I actually disagree when people are like money can't buy happiness. I think it can. I just don't think it solves your problems and I think it's a temporary happiness. It's not a fulfillment. You can...

Totally. You can be in like this horrible place in your life and suddenly get a ton of money. And I think for that first week or two, that money can absolutely buy your happiness, but it's not long term and it's not a fulfillment that will last at all. But I think money is a tool. And we talk about this all the time. Money is not this end all be all thing. It's a great tool that can get you

The things that you either want in life or to help you achieve goals or to help your children, whatever it may be. But you have to look at money as a tool, not as like, oh my gosh, I like need this money. And storing it up and obviously be wise steward. But every time that we are in a comfortable place in our life where we have like really good savings and things are good, God always comes in. He's like, who are you relying on?

on me or are you relying on that the comfort of having finances the comfort of that you know financing the bank and every time we're like freak a shift happens you know and whether it's moving to Tennessee and buying a house and now basically you know you put your savings into that house and you buy the house and now you know you're not as comfortable as you know you're still making a living but it's not like you know you have all this money in the bank where you can just

Do nothing. Now you got to continue. And every single, it's happened three times, every single time, when that shift goes from him to money or something else, he's like, no, no, no, no. I need you to rely on me.

Every time. One last thing. Last question I want to end on. You guys combined your names when you got married, which is... I've never heard of anybody else doing that. You mean you didn't do that either? No, I've never heard someone doing that. Howard Biswell would not. Howard Biswell would not work. That doesn't sound cool. Yours sounds really cool. I mean, kind of sounds really cool. What would you do with that? What, Howard Biswell? Yeah. How biz? No? No.

Bishoward. Sit on it. Let us know. I'll sit on it. Pennevega works great. It does. Pennevega works. Hiswell. Yeah, Biswell. Hey. Hiswell. Hiswell. No, we went to the place, the courthouse. The courthouse. And we signed out this paper and they're like. We had talked about it beforehand. We did. We did. But there's a legal way to change the name. I didn't know this. So you went in. We just put on our marriage certificate. He goes, who's taking whose last name? And I was like, okay, we'll figure it out.

I put Pennevega as one word because Vega Pena sounded dumb. So Pennevega. It's not great. And I slid it under the paper and he looked at it and he goes, that's a cool name. Stamped. Boom. And once you have the marriage shirt. You can change anything and everything. So then we did our licenses. Then after that, we did our passports. And after you have all that, we did our social security. And then we just became the Pennevegas. And I don't know if that was a legal way to do it, but we did it. That's what we did.

That's crazy. Yeah, isn't that crazy? It was great. Good for you guys. And it worked because like... We were already both established in the industry that, look, we could have fully just gone like Penna and called it a day. But I don't know. It just felt really... We both come from... God bless them and we love them. But like our family isn't kooky. So we both come from kooky families. Well, clearly they live with their parents. So it's not that kooky. No, they're kooky. Everybody's kooky. We're kooky.

But we just felt like we really wanted a fresh start. We wanted to start over. So what does starting at zero look like? And that was Pennevega. Pennevega. Creating our own new family. That's really sweet. And using it in our industry, too, as our professional name. Most people get married and they're like, well, I'm still going to stay XX. Yeah.

we were like no we're gonna be pennevega so all our new contracts were all done pennevega pennevega pennevega and the first time seeing it was really cool on square parts the poster that was awesome i think a lot of people that listen to this are probably also come from difficult family situations as well and they can find like hope in that and like yeah hey we can be the start of something new for our family and for generations to come absolutely we love our families and you could still honor your family and all of that of course like yeah you know you can still honor them we honor them

But sometimes you just, you know, I wouldn't live with them. What are you talking about? You live with my father. Oh, yes, you're right. He's very helpful.

He's very accommodating. Real quick. Real, real quick. So I have a really interesting relationship with my father. So he is my birth father, but I didn't really get to know him until I turned 23 years old. No way. And around then was when I met Carlos. So we started getting to know my real dad at the same time. And they clicked. They hit it off really well. So even though he's my dad...

He doesn't feel like my dad because he didn't raise me. He also doesn't look like your dad. He looks more like my dad. Yeah, he's very Colombian. So like this old Colombian man with a big accent. So everyone's like, is this your dad? I'm like, no, that's actually her dad. Yeah.

Yeah, that's mine. So they hit it off really, really well. He lived in Hawaii with us for a while. Yeah, he lived. Yeah. And then on the boat. You know, he's had just some interesting, his life story is really crazy and that's a whole other podcast. But he's just lived quite a life. And now he's kind of in the place where, you know, there have been a couple of times where he hasn't really had a place to live. So he's come to stay with us a few times. Yeah, one time was in Hawaii and then on the boat. But listen, he pulls his weight.

He's awesome. He's very helpful with clothes. While we're gone and our water heater broke on the boat, he was like, okay, boom. Here's the model. Here's this. Here's that. Buy it. Send it. I'll install it. So I shipped a new one there. Well, he's also like a genius engineer. He's very smart. He rigged this thing. He lowered it down with his pulley system, got it in, installed it. Hot water heater done. Yeah, dude. He pulls his weight.

And, again, I deal with a lot of rejection. So for me, having a father figure around who actually, like, I could, like, have that with and, like, build things with. And he teaches me a lot of stuff. And we fight, too, about things. It's really funny. He always thinks he's right. Just like, you know, like daughter, like father. What did I do? It's amazing. Anyways, yes, I agree. Parents are a great job.

Well, you guys, this has been so great. Where can people follow you on social media? Or where can they find your stuff? We do a lot on Instagram. So I'm at TheRealCarlosPena. And you are? I'm at VegaAlexa. But we share a TikTok. Yeah. Hey. It's just Pena Vega, I think. Pena Vega, yes. And then we have a YouTube channel called Lex Loves Los. Nope. No, it's not. I lied. It's called La Vida Pena Vega. La Vida Pena Vega. It used to be Lex Loves Los. Thank you very much.

And then, yeah, we have, hopefully in the next three to six months, a new podcast coming out. Wow. Called Lex Loves Los. That will be a lot of love. Sorry, my brain. And your production company. And then we have our production company, Good For You Entertainment. We have a lot of stuff happening with that. Tour. Wait, hold on. We wrote, so we have three books. Yes. We wrote three books and then we have another that, that,

I think it's supposed to come out next year. Another book? Yeah. We wrote another book? No, we haven't written it yet. Oh, okay. Cool. I was like, oh. So you have the third book's coming out. Fourth. We already have three. Now we'll have a fourth. Yeah, so we did, what do they call it? The first one.

Was it an autobiography? No, it was a memoir. Memoir. Memoir. Thank you. Very cool. I saw that. Yeah. Memoir. Then we did a children's book called Ocean's World, which is currently being developed into a TV show. That's dope. And then number three, we did a 100 day devotional, which like that was our like big baby that we love. Really cool. Yeah. We were really excited about that one. And then, yeah. We like wrote the first one just to get to that one. Yeah.

That's so neat, you guys. So cool. I love it. That's it. Who knows what could happen next year? I know. Well, we can't wait to tell you guys. We have to cut this off. We're going to end the podcast here so we can learn about their secret project. All right. Love you guys. Thank you. Thank you for watching. Bye.