Attempt to hike to the Spanish Fork Hot Springs

The nice weather is coming to an end. I didn't have any plans, but I wanted to be outside. There isn't a lot of pretty fall colors left, so I thought I would go to the hot springs so that I could have the pretty hot springs to see. Well, that was the plan. That plan didn't quite pan out the way I thought it would.

The stupid part about this day is that I have been to the Spanish Fork Hot Springs... many times. There are two different ways to get there. I only know the back way. Don't know why. That is just the way I was taught... which is weird. Most people don't know that way. Apparently the back way takes longer to drive there and it takes longer to hike there... and the hike is a little harder. So I decided I wanted to go the other way... the normal way that everyone goes.

First off, I went by myself. I feel like that in itself is a gamble for me. I'm terrible with directions and if I don't have any one to figure it out with me, then anything could happen.

So my first mistake, besides going by myself was putting into my GPS "Fith Water Hole Hot Springs". I get to a lot of my hiking trails this way, so I figured it would work for this too. So I put it in the GPS and was on my way. My first clue that it wasn't right should have been that it was taking me towards the back way... I was told that the other way was a lot closer to the bottom of the canyon. It's amazing actually that both ways lead to the same hot pots because both ways to get there are so far apart from each other. For some reason I trusted my GPS and I kept going. I kept going even when it had me turn down a dirt road. When I took this dirt road, I didn't realize how rough it was going to get. Turns out, that road is for 4 wheelers... not normal cars like mine. Once I was on it, there was nowhere to turn around, so I kept going. Not going to lie, there were several parts of this road that gave my anxiety... like it was going to mess up my car and I would be stranded in the middle of the mountains where nobody would find me. However, my car is awesome, and it made it like a champ. My GPS told me I had reached my destination which was a cliff... with no path in sight. Obviously this was not it... I looked at my GPS again... wondering what I should do. The reviews on google said DON'T USE GOOGLE GPS and then gave directions. Ha! I guess I should have read the reviews first. So I head back down the canyon to start over. So that whole adventure put me back an hour on time... but at least I know what my car is capable of now.

So I followed the directions and I went back up the canyon to the correct turn off. The directions were actually pretty easy and I found the parking lot to the real trailhead. I saw lots of cars there and thought it was a no fail now.

I parked and got my backpack ready and then realized there were two different trails. Nobody was around to ask... except this one guy walked by and I asked him. He said he wasn't sure because it had been so long since he had been there. He was pretty sure it was the path across the bridge. So I trusted him because he had been there before and I had not. So I headed on that path. I saw a couple of people coming down that path so I thought... ok, must be right. The guy and his group were right behind me.

I think I hiked for a half hour with this group behind me when I realized we were not on the right path. My clue? We should have been following a river and we were doing a lot of uphill climbing. Also... with all the cars that were in the parking lot, I should have at least passed one or two people coming back to their cars and I did not see one person. So I stopped and asked the group behind me. Non of them had been before except for the guy that told me to go this path. He said he still thought we were on the right track. They also told me I could hike with them... even though they were on a double date, so we all continued to hike together. The girls ran ahead on the trail and left me with the two guys in the group, so I chatted with them while we hiked for about a half hour. After an hour, we should have seen the hot springs and FOR SURE should have seen other people. We knew for certain now that we were on the wrong path. Well... I already knew that, but whatever. So we all started hiking back. On the way back, we ran into some dirt bikers that confirmed we had hiked up the wrong canyon. Cool. So I stayed ahead of the group and hiked back as fast as I could because I was starving and wanted to get to my car before it got dark. I made it back to my car RIGHT as it was getting dark. I was happy about that.... all I could think about is where I wanted to eat.

I was bummed that I didn't make it to the hot springs. In hindsight I should have just gone the way I knew... especially when I was so close with my off roading adventure the first time. Or I should have just read the directions from online the first time instead of trying to put it in my GPS. That would have given me an extra hour of light. And maybe I would have run into people that knew the right way to go. It is what it is though... can't change what happened. It was an adventure even though it wasn't the one I wanted that day. I made some friends, I off roaded in my car, I still got outside and got to hike. So the day wasn't a total loss.

Can't Feel My Face - Featuring Disney Villains

Remember the other day when I posted about playing Maleficent in a music video for Halloween? Well, RJ finished it today and it is up and running! He was super quick with this one. I enjoyed playing Maleficent. I liked that there were fewer characters this time. Just one princess and her villain. Anyway. Give it a watch. Hope you enjoy. It's fun to be a part of these video's. I'm glad he keeps asking me.

Pumpkin Patch

Today I took a trip to Jakers Pumpkin Patch after work. They totally started charging for admission this year. Dang it. Oh well. Fall isn't complete without picking out a pumpkin at the pumpkin patch.

Confessions of a Brunette on the Internet 294

I don't understand why people go to the bathroom while talking on the phone. Especially in public bathrooms. Isn't that awkward and unsanitary? It always weirds me out every time that happens in the bathroom at work.

I kind of hate driving. A little less now that I have a new car, but the biggest reason that I hate driving is because I don't trust drivers around me. I feel like I run into more mean drivers than nice. People who think they are invincible in their car. This morning I was coming right up next to this big truck on my way to work and the car behind the truck came within INCHES of my car just to go around the truck before I could pass. I layed on my horn good... they didn't even care. That could have easily been an accident had I been an inch closer. WHY DO PEOPLE DO THAT? Is it really that worth it to get in front of people? It drives me crazy. I hate careless drivers.

I enjoyed my week break off of the diet. I got all my fall favorites in, including Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory Caramel Apples. They lasted a while because I got 4. Just couldn't choose. I'm the worst when it comes to sweets.

I was supposed to get back on the diet on Monday... but I had such a busy weekend that I didn't have time to get to the store. I also didn't have time on Monday because of the Music Video that I was in. I was going to do it on Tuesday, but I woke up SUPER sick... with the stomach flu. I was not happy because I am pretty sure I know where it came from. I had to miss a day of work, cancel my eyelash / massage trade (which she is so hard to schedule) and miss my favorite U-Jam class and didn't get to the store again... in fact, I didn't eat anything all day. I didn't even get to watch tv. I just slept and threw up all day. THE WORST. I'm glad that is over because it was so awful.

By the way, 711 and Maverick both don't carry Ginger Ale. It was really annoying when I was trying to find it when I was sick... weak, trying to find something to get in my system that would stay there. Ended up buying a HUGE things of it at Scary Allen's. Only option. Thankfully MacKenzie was nice enough to drive me around. 

I have been trying to keep up on my 10,000 steps every day as well. Being sick messed that up too, but I got on track the next day even though I still wasn't eating much the next day and still was very low on energy. There are only 4 more days left of the challenge. Not that I don't want to try and keep it up after.

Still watching Pretty Little Liars. I am a little more than half way through the Season... so half way through? ha ha. This is going to take a long time, but I don't mind. I'm into it. My kind of drama. Always keeping me on my toes. WHO IS A? Still have no idea. ha ha.

I had a really busy weekend. A good weekend. Love my Love you Like Plaid Party and I also had a girls night after that which was so fun. I'm thankful for good girlfriends. I also got to be outside and go jeeping with my friend Amber. So glad that we reconnected and are hanging out because she is fun and loves to be outdoors like me. I also had a date on Friday with a guy that my cousin Andrea set me up with that she knows from High School. Not sure he is really my type, but he was very nice and we had fun painting at Color Me Mine. I painted a mug. Here's how it turned out.

Photo of the Week 292

Last Wednesday, after sitting in traffic for 2 hours, I went on a much needed evening walk and caught the end of a beautiful sunset.

Love You Like Plaid

I had a list of things that I wanted to do this fall. I of course wanted to do my annual pumpkin dinner party, but then I also thought it would be fun to do a fall picnic with some of my girlfriends too. Well, I took the idea to my friend Alexi and of course not only was she in, but she took it above and beyond to create something out of a magazine like our tea party back in April.

Lexi and I had gotten together to discuss how we wanted the party. We were on the same page for 95% of it and started a shared board on Pinterest. We knew we wanted it to be outside and we wanted Plaid to be the theme. Then Lexi came up with "Love you Like Plaid" and sent out the cutest invites with a cute poem inviting everyone to the party and asked everyone to wear the plaid. I just loved every minute of it.

We thought it would be super cute for each girl to get a basket. I put together the baskets, bought the baskets and plaid blankets and they also included apples, a rootbeer, a little sign that said "Oh Darling, let's be adventurers" and a little fall arrangement from the florist. SO cute.

Speaking of the florist, like our last party, this was a collaboration of talent. Lexi and I were the event planners. Lexi was again the graphic designer, the Florist was Over the Top Floral.

Cupcakes were done by Amy, same girl who did the Naked cake at the tea party. We also had a popcorn bar which was so fun. We each got two bags to fill with popcorn and then got to make our own popcorn flavors and then had a competition to see who made the best flavor. Top 2 got prizes.

And our photographer was Kayla Brooke Photography. She was awesome. On top of all of that, all the girls that came pitched in by helping set up, clean up and bring extra stuff. Although it did rain on us a bit, the party was a total success. Such a cute and original party. Made a couple of new friends as well. I hope that Lexi wan't to keep planning these types of parties with me, because they are such a blast and I always make new friends. I don't have a lot of girl friends that are into these types of parties, so I'm always happy to make new friends that are into these things. So fun.

Corn Maze - Disney Style

My ward went to the corn maze last Thursday... but I didn't go. Weird for me. I look forward to going to the corn maze every year and it is something I love doing every fall. This year... I just wasn't feeling it and didn't go. Then my friend RJ asked me if I would be in another one of his music video's. This music video was going to be filmed at the corn maze after hours... so I guess I was going to go after all. He asked me if I would play Maleficent. I of course told him I would love to. His last music video hasn't been published yet, but whatever. I just go with it.

This music video was great because all I had to do would show up. The costume was provided for me by one of RJ's friends who made almost all of the villain costumes. I had my make up done by the face paint people that work at Corn Belly's... you know, the ones that you pay to do face paint? They did all of our make up for free. The guy who made my costume actually did my make up as well, but when I went into the face paint tent with everyone else, the lady looked at my make up and said she loved Maleficent too much and needed to redo my make up to make it better... so I let her. I didn't care. I didn't see the way my make up looked before, but I liked how she did it. 

We had to wait until Corn Belly's closed. So there was a bit of waiting. While waiting around I got A LOT of attention. People coming up to me and telling me that Maleficent is their favorite and if they can take a picture with me. I took a lot of pictures with kids, teens, adults. I just embraced it. It was like being a character at Disneyland. 

We finally got started and because it was a smaller group this time, filming went a lot faster and I felt like I bonded with the group a lot more. I was also happy to be there with my friend Kristen. There were just two characters for each movie represented. The princess and the villain. I hope that it turns out awesome. I will of course post it when it's done. It was a long night... didn't finished until 2am and then had to drive home and still had to take all the make up off of my face... which trust me... took a while. All worth it though. Being in RJ's music video's is always fun. This is now my 4th video of RJ's that I have been in. So... all of them. I am pretty sure just me and one other girl have been in every video.