Monroe, UT(Mystic Hot Springs!)

Have you ever taken a chance on something and then completely regretted it? That almost happened to me. I have never heard a whisper of this place from even a stranger and yet we just happened to decide it would be a good idea to drive three and a half hours to spend the day at a place we had no confirming idea of what it would be like. We drove into a tiny town at 10 am called Monroe, Utah in search of a place called Mystic Hot Springs. The road suddenly turned into mud as we passed a row of hippie busses and a few old cabins. There was not a soul in sight. We signed in and paid by sliding an envelope under the office door. We wandered around and then climbed up a steep hill(pictured below) to see this view(above) of course most of our doubts were immediately soothed, and even more so after we climbed another hill to find an array of vintage bathtubs with clean, hot, spring water flowing out of them. It was one of the most beautiful sights I had ever seen. I think my jaw dropped. Even further up a hill we found a greenhouse that was watered and heated by the mineral hot springs. It also seemed as if at least one of the cabins was heated from the springs as well as a fish/duck/goose pond., which was in turn one of the most annoying things about this place. Talk about angry geese/duck fights! All in all the pros out weighed the cons. Best things about Mystic Hot Springs:

(A) They're open 24/7!!! That's right, you can come any day, anytime!!!

(B) The water comes direct from the spring and is not treated in any way! The two hot springs I go to most often, end up leaving my skin very itchy and dry, even after showering! But this water was absolutely amazing. It left my skin feeling softer than ever AND NO itchy/dry skin!!!

(C) As mentioned above there were no other people! It was only when we were about to leave after hiking around, exploring, that two other groups of people came. Other than that we had the WHOLE place to ourselves. 

(D) If you feel adventurous enough you can camp at the hot springs. They have campgrounds you can use OR stay in one of their many camper (hippie) busses or and old pioneer cabin. Your pool pass is already paid for in turn!

(E) This place is not for people who prefer normalcy or an up-scale run business and yes, I count that as a pro, because I'm all about these independently owned and unique places that want to give you an experience you haven't had before!  

On our way home we made a quick turn-off towards Capital Reef. We drove for about half an hour and stopped for this view before turning back. If you look close you can see capital reef on the left(it looks like a giant orange castle).

Christmas is Upon Us!

It's that time of year! Here's a little snippet of our past five Christmas seasons. It's so amazing to see how much has changed in just a few short years! 

xoxo Merry Christmas!

Some Things I Miss...

Since I've been living on a different planet lately, it only seems right to make a post about my sister and some things I miss. I can say now though that this definitely won't be the last. 

 The things I miss most about Brenna:

Obsessions with Quentin Tarantino films and characters. When we first watched Kill Bill together we were absolutely inthralled and it blew up from there... No one seemed to understand our undying love for those movie characters... Talk about being nerds.

Traveling and sharing our adventurous spirits.

Whenever it began to drive me absolutely crazy, not traveling, I always ran to her. We started right after she graduated high school and I took her on a long trip to Las Vegas and all along the west coast. We had lots of plans for more traveling, like visiting one of our best friends who lived 15 hours away. Our last trip together was planned spontaneously after a long planned motorcycle trip didn't work out as she'd hoped. That camping trip we spent together was one of the best times of my life. Thank you so much Brenna...

Watching horror films together and talking about them for days on end.

If there was one thing we might have been more nerdy about than Tarantino, it would have been horror films. We were huge critics and knew a good horror flick when we saw it.

Venting to each other and asking for advice on life.

If there's one thing I struggle with most now, it's not being able to ask her things like advice on life, especially now, when I feel I need it most... I still talk to her all the time, but her answers would always set me on the right track.

Sharing every random thought with each other, like a Twitter account.

Literally. still, today, I think about something random and awesome then think, "I should text Brenna about that!"

Planning weird, sporadic, party's together, like "indie brunch", countless wine and cheese parties, game nights, and girls nights with 80's movies and amazing food.

Someone to do photo shoots with and visa versa.

She was always taking photos for me and me for her. We hardly had any photos with the two of us in them, together, for that very reason.

Having a life jacket, safety net, and crutch all in one person.

Simply put, she was always there for me, no matter what.

Someone who got my insanity, weird jokes, style, and nonsense. She was always my go-to person. We would agree on the same things, laugh at the same things, wear the same things, and even explain to people about the other, like a dog who behaves a certain way and only the owner knows why. 

It feels so wrong that she's gone, but I feel like she's still there... somewhere, somehow. There's no way I could go on living if there wasn't the slightest hope of seeing her again someday. She was the closest person in the world to me and we had 25 years of secret sharing and memories together that I'll never forget.

 I have no idea how I'm going to go on living without you Brenna. I can't wait to see you again, soon, little sis. Always yours, xoxoxxo

Darby's Room

Hello blog, long time, no see. I've been up to so much lately and am proud of a few of these things; one of them being COMPLETELY clearing out our storage(and everything in between) room to make it Darby's very own. It's been a long time coming and a lot of hard, tedious work, but I have to say it's officially done... and here are a few photos to prove it. I can't say all the work wasn't fun. I had SO much fun decorating a room for a little girl. Little girls are so much fun right?!? 

Dear One Year Old,

Today marks the first whole year you've been on this earth. It also went by faster than anything on this earth. 
To those childless people who are struggling with time going by too quickly, you might want to rethink having kids, ever. Your hours tend to turn into minutes and your minutes into seconds. 
But, like my brother said, "Congratulations, you made it through the first year." It's so true, I think the first year is the hardest most insane time. It's bazaar. They grow and learn faster than any other time in there lives. It's almost like life's crazy little test- If you make it through this first year of crazy, morphed, non-normal living, you probably have a good chance of making it through the rest of their childhood. To experience having a baby and raising it into a child is unlike anything I've ever experienced. It's the hardest, craziest thing. And because of that people ask why in heavens name would you even want a child. They're so much work it feels like they literally take the life out of you. If someone could answer that in a logical way, they deserve a gold medal. The most I can say is that it's all about, the most illogical thing on this earth, LOVE. 
To have a child is love. 
To have a blank canvas in your arms the moment it's born, it's so fresh, clean, and untouched. It makes you never want the tiny, warm thing to leave your arms. But that love helps you give it up. It makes you hold your baby out to the world and let every person it comes across leave a tiny mark or a big stroke on it's blank canvas. And you watch it form into the beautiful piece it will someday be. I love you Darby Margo. I can't wait to see the beautiful thing you'll become. You've changed me and taught me so much in just one year. I can't wait to see you live a crazy, beautiful life in this wild world.
xo -Mama

Little Dear

We celebrated our little gals first birthday with cake, pizza, fun, friends, and family. The day we celebrated was also my cousins, husbands actual birthday so we had to embarrass him a tiny bit. There were so many people that had a hand in Darby's party, she's one lucky girl! The cake and cupcakes were by Custom Cakes by LaRae and the decorated sugar cookies were by Sweet Kiwi Cookies etc. The teepee and ginger Deer cookies were made by my talented sister!

Thank you to those who came and made it so much fun! xo -Liz