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NewsTranscript
00:00Welcome back, Pack! Today we're doing our annual Q&A. We do this yearly. Yes and this year is so
00:07different than any other year as we have so many changes in our lives. A lot of Mexico questions
00:13like do we even own our land? Are we scared in Mexico? Are we living in the RV? What happened
00:18to Bella? Did we sell the cabin? How long are we staying in Mexico? And we update you on major
00:25So many new questions. So any questions that's been answered before we're not answering today
00:31and we'll show you where to find the answer to those but these are all new and exciting.
00:35I can't wait. There's some good ones. There's a plane going by. What's been the most difficult
00:40part since getting to Mexico? There's also a snoring dog behind us. I don't know if you all
00:45can hear it. She's snoozing. Okay so the hardest part about Mexico so far is the logistics. I
00:52would say just figuring out who to call, where to get what, and how. Where do we buy our shovels?
00:58Where's the hardware store? Yeah the language is probably my biggest thing. I would be still
01:03I would say that because preparing by reading blogs and watching YouTube videos can only get
01:09you so far and then you really just gotta yeah get into it. That's a challenge in itself. Yeah
01:14like we made our first video other than macheting I saw our second video was actually us just trying
01:19to figure out how to get all the materials to the land. Yeah plan for bathroom situation gardening
01:24in the desert. Tile? Concrete? No I think people want to know like are you gonna have a flushing
01:28toilet maybe? Oh yeah septic it's coming. I can't wait. I can't wait for a flushing toilet. Yes we
01:34will have septic. Gardening in the desert. I'm super excited to get started on gardening. I've
01:38been thinking about it talking about it planning about it for a very long time and we have a really
01:43cool plan to recycle all of the water that we use in our home and on our property. A gray water
01:48recycling system to water all the plants so it's gonna be obviously not the toilet water. Why did
01:54you choose land over the houses? After seeing the houses and the prices and then what you could do
01:58for land and then talking to builders how much it is per square meter it actually is more affordable
02:03to build your own house and you get exactly what you want. Another thing is is we just wanted the
02:09experience of learning how to build from the ground up. We've done a bunch of renovations we
02:13wanted to challenge ourselves even more and with a new build. Truly like those homes they really did
02:19look like an adventure. They looked like you're gonna uncover all kinds of treasures but the right
02:23decision for us was to start fresh. What has your experience been like buying land? Really great.
02:28Tobias has been honestly our right hand man. He made everything so much easier. Maybe I'm saying
02:34that because I didn't go down and sign the papers because I don't speak Spanish. Crystal did that
02:38solo. It was smooth. I think having a reputable and trustworthy real estate agent goes a long way
02:43especially in another country. We didn't buy it privately. It was through an agent so that made
02:49the entire process much smoother. We also bought off another Canadian couple so that made things a
02:54lot easier too. We'll get into that though. Mexico property tax. Yes we pay those and it was $70 for
02:59the year. There's a program and Tobias actually taught us this our real estate agent. If you pay
03:05in I'm gonna get these numbers wrong but if you pay in the fall you get a certain percent off
03:10so you're paying like a year in advance. Anyways that's how it works there which is pretty cool.
03:14Yeah it's really great. You get a good discount and that was really fun to learn. Why Baja? Well
03:19first of all it feels like a second home. Out of every country we've traveled to I feel like the
03:23most at home we've ever felt and like kind of created a little bit of roots would be Baja
03:27Mexico. So that is number one. Number two is the climate there. Yes. I just I love the cold nights.
03:34It's better for the dogs. It's better for us. Mainland is very very hot. Yeah Baja has a very
03:39interesting climate. It's not as hot as you would think it is. The days are pretty neutral like 20-25
03:44degrees celsius. Obviously in the summer it's like you don't go outside. It's hot everyone but
03:49when we are there for the six months it's it's great. It's not too hot not too cold. I'm also
03:54very intrigued by the desert environment and ecosystem. It's such a misunderstood environment
04:01and I just think if we are all like I just want to be like a desert plant. They're so resilient.
04:05Lastly the Baja route. Driving to Baja whether you're on the west coast or the east coast
04:10is pretty easy. It's an easy drive and when you get to Mexico and you cross the border
04:15it's such a driven route by so many people. It's also a lot of direct flights. Yeah the drive
04:21getting there whether you're flying or driving is really quite easy. Yeah. Do you actually own
04:26the land? Yes we actually own the land everyone. This is our most asked question. Everyone's
04:31wondering about this so I'm going to read it so that way it is clear and precise. A fideicomiso
04:36is a legal trust that allows foreigners to buy land in Mexico's restricted zones.
04:41While ajito land is property that must be transferred to a Mexican citizen before it
04:46can be privately owned. So when you're buying land in Mexico it depends what type of land you're
04:52buying. The land we bought was fideicomiso land which means that legally we own the land
04:58in Mexico. The ajito land oftentimes you'll hear as it being leased land and that's... You can get
05:04that changed over but it ends up costing a lot more like money and time because our friend did
05:09that. But he has got it switched over. How many cactus needles have you pulled out so far? Way
05:15too many. Way too many and you get used to it. It's kind of fun. You're just like oh out prick.
05:19Yeah. It's like it becomes a casual thing. We got a lot when we were macheting like right here
05:24I'd be like crystal. I heard a lot in the beginning. Yeah. Are you going to be completely
05:28off-grid in Mexico as well? No not completely off-grid. Power is very close to us and it
05:33wouldn't make sense to be completely off-grid. It would probably cost more to be off-grid.
05:37Like we've said before we just want to be self-sufficient so we will have a small
05:41off-grid system. Especially being in Mexico with all the sunshine it would be silly not to have
05:46solar so we will. Yeah. But I think it's really nice to have both options. Yeah there are a lot
05:50of brownouts in Mexico meaning that the power just cuts off for x amount of time during the
05:55day. For whatever reason. Yeah I'm not sure. Maybe maintenance or who knows what. Maybe
05:59overconsumption. Yeah. All I know is that during those times or if we want to in general we can
06:06be able to use our own power would be great. Yeah it'd be nice if like the freezer didn't
06:10turn off sometimes like if you're showing it's for five six hours. If we could do both at our
06:14cabin too we would have like it's just it costs five hundred thousand dollars. Yeah it's really
06:19far away. It's not an option. Where all of our neighbors have power so it's just a line
06:23underneath. Can we get renderings or see some of your inspiration for the new build? Very excited
06:27to see. Whenever we get this comment because it comes all the time I love seeing it because I
06:32too am so excited to see the end product like product but it's about the journey and like
06:37imagine we all knew how great is that if we ended. It wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't be the same
06:41so I'm sorry but no like I really do feel bad but I just also there's so many changes so if I show
06:47you one thing and then it changes it's just like kind of pointless. Our inspiration for the build
06:51is lots of concrete, lots of wood accents, very open, very naturally bright with windows. You can
07:00feel the wind coming through the house. Spacious enough to host friends and family because if
07:07they're going to visit us anywhere it's probably going to be in Mexico. Another really cool thing
07:12about working with an architect they also know where the wind comes from and goes and how the
07:17lighting works so a lot of the build is incorporating just like the natural elements of like
07:22seeing light come through like the fence or through a certain window the breeze coming in the perfect
07:27direction in the summer months and the winter months so it's really cool. It's just things that
07:31like I don't think I would have obviously thought of. Also just a lot of natural gardens so like
07:36the native plants that are all there we're going to reuse plant them perfectly in like nice little
07:43areas where Anna's put like beautiful windows and you can like look outside and there'll be like a
07:48nice garden and those cardons are just like a center point for our in our outdoor living space.
07:53Yeah we loved it with the plants. Me and my girl are here to tell you about these gorgeous morsels
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08:07What we love about Sundays is they take pride in their dog food ingredients. It's human grade
08:12nutrient dense formula and it's everything that you and I recognize. It's things we put in our
08:18cart and we cook in our own meals such as shiitake mushrooms, blueberry, egg yolk, pumpkin, kale,
08:25fish oil, turkey, parsley, turmeric. This bag is 90% meat 10% superfoods and the most important part
08:32is that there are zero synthetics and zero fillers in this recipe in all of their recipes. Don't tell
08:39Belle and Izzy this but they actually get sundaes for their treats and they have no idea because
08:45they love it so much. Sundaes for Dogs was created and is run by a vet Dr. Tori Waxman and she took
08:51her passion for health and she put it in a bag. We all love our dogs so much and the two most
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09:02let's be real. But Sundaes is complete and balanced. It's made to be convenient, it ships to your door,
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09:16your dog high quality ingredients. And I know for a fact that Belle and Izzy would agree. You
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09:26and using code BANWIVES. Do you trust your contractor? Trust is a very strong word and
09:31it takes a lot to gain. That's a good my trust to be honest but what I can say is we've had a great
09:36experience thus far. You know it takes time to build that trust and so as of right now we feel
09:42fairly confident. Things are moving along, they've been going well. I think you always,
09:48no matter what, no matter where, you kind of have to do, kind of have to be on your toes and make
09:53sure that you know at any time things could change. So you got to just make sure you're
09:57taking care of yourself. Yeah that being said we've had a really good time working with our
10:02contractors. It's been great, they've been really open-minded to having us around and patient and
10:09helpful and they've been teaching us a lot and we're all having a lot of fun. Yeah I feel like
10:14I'm in mason school like I really am. Yeah every day I'm like working late because I'm a mason.
10:21I'm working late because I'm a roofer. Do you feel safe in Mexico? That's a hard question to answer
10:28because no matter where we are in the world we always are just very aware of our surroundings
10:35and everything. I think because we've spent so much time in this area. It's familiar, we've been
10:41there before, we know people in the area, we know the area. That being said anywhere we go, whether
10:46it's in Canada, in the States or Mexico, we're always very cautious and trying to keep an eye
10:52on our surroundings. For example like on our way down we stopped in Phoenix in the city. Also just
10:57disclaimer here, skip like 60 seconds. Yeah. If you don't want to hear about
11:05trafficking. Yeah it's a short story. So when we were in Phoenix I was driving, I drove like halfway
11:12across the city, I was followed and it was very scary. It was a scary situation. I don't need to
11:17tell the entire story. Like even stopping at a light and he wouldn't go and Crystal wouldn't go.
11:22Like 100% followed. Yeah it was very scary. Be aware of your surroundings no matter where you
11:28are. I don't care if it's like the same place you've grown up your whole life when you're
11:32going to and from places. Be aware of what's going on around you. Look at who's looking at you or
11:38observing you or who's parked beside you. It's just very important to be aware. Put your phone
11:41down and pay attention to what's going on around you. Do you ever feel like you're getting ripped
11:44off? Yeah obviously but not really because we're gringos. We're supposed to pay a different price
11:51than a local. Yeah like you can try. I don't mind like yeah it's part of it. It is part of it. You
11:57can try your best to barter, you can try your best to get the best price, you can ask other people
12:01what things are worth. I think it's really good to have an understanding of how much something's
12:04worth. That way if you're paying slightly extra then you know that it's not, you don't want to
12:10be paying like way, if something's $10 and you're paying $50 that's a problem but if you know
12:15something's $10 and we're paying $12.50 yeah you know maybe we're gonna shrug it off get it and
12:20yeah. I think an example of this is when we're trying to hire an operator with a tractor
12:25I think we were charged 100 pesos more 50 pesos more where when Filimon had them come it was 100
12:31pesos less so it just all depends you know. Yeah cost of living and building in Mexico. Not as
12:36cheap as you think I think is what I want to say and what I want to start with because I think
12:40everyone assumes that Mexico is super affordable. First thing to mention Baja although it is a part
12:46of Mexico it is separated by water. It's a peninsula so everything that's brought in is
12:53coming very far away which increases the price. Concrete's not cheap anywhere. No. This whole
12:58house is made out of concrete. Yeah. Because if you use wood your house is, you're going to be
13:02like rebuilding your house every year. That's something important to mention. It's different
13:06for everyone. It depends what types of materials you're using or like who you're going with to
13:11build you know what what you need what your wants are and in the exact location of where you are
13:17building. Everything is so different everywhere but that for us that's what we've found. Yeah.
13:21Do you worry about materials being taken from the job site? We don't leave materials at the
13:25job site. Well there's an outhouse there and like there's some stuff. A couple pieces of wood really
13:31like water. I mean but everything else. Or tools we take. Yeah like everything else that's of higher
13:38value we are taking. The concrete mixer and the stuff from like the builders they leave there.
13:44Yeah yes. But I think you have like a you have a handshake when you're a local you know like I just
13:50don't think. Yeah. You're not gonna take from your friend. No and if we're living there on the property
13:56it's probably gonna feel a lot different but at the moment we're not. How long are you staying
13:59in Mexico? We got our temporary residency so we are able to stay there for four years if we wanted
14:05to. We're not however. We're gonna spend the winter months and then we're gonna go back home.
14:09Yep we got little official identification cards that say the government of Mexico which will allow
14:14us to do everything much easier when it comes to administrative stuff like taxes or getting
14:19electricity, going to and from Mexico and being able to stay for longer periods of time. That's
14:25something we've been working on in the background and it's done. So you can apply for temporary
14:32residency or permanent residency on your own. You can also hire someone that basically does
14:37a lot of the paperwork for you. That's the route we chose because I can't even figure out the
14:42Canadian what's it called? See exactly. I can't even figure out our own government website.
14:45Half the time I'm don't know where anything is so yeah me trying to figure out a Spanish one
14:50I don't know. We are planning to return to Canada into our beautiful cabin in the summer months or
14:57whenever we finish on a project in Mexico and spend our winters in Mexico. That is our answer
15:03as of right now. Yeah we don't have like anything like set in stone or dates or this and that. We're
15:07not really like that. We just go with how we're feeling and then when we feel like it's time
15:12we'll head back. How far are we from the coast? Five minute walk. Yeah every because Baja is so
15:17long and skinny no matter where you are you're really quite close. It's a short drive or a
15:23short walk. Yeah. Will you be building a pool for the dogs? I like that this person put dogs.
15:28A lot of people ask about a pool but I specifically took your question and you meant for the dogs.
15:32Yes we definitely will. 100% if we're gonna have a pool anywhere it's gonna be in Mexico
15:37and really cool build too like full concrete again. Imagine that. I can't wait to I cannot
15:42wait to build a pool. How much is it to purchase property in Mexico? I would say that it varies.
15:47It's just like if you were to buy property anywhere you can get something that's super
15:52economical and affordable or something that is much more expensive. Or if you want to be in like
15:57Cabo Wabo and have a helicopter pad there's something for sale right now. This is why I find
16:01this question so funny because it's just so different no matter where you are like no matter
16:06if you're at the top of Baja, in the middle, you can find lots of land in the middle of Baja for 10
16:12to 5k. Yeah. Or if you're right in Cabo like it's a little bit like Canada where we chose to live
16:17where the cabin is it's more affordable. We chose that area because we could afford it. How long
16:21will it take to build? Great question. Well I've been told to have no expectations in Baja so
16:27I'm just going with the flow. What I've learned actually with any build anywhere is the timeline
16:32often doesn't stay true so it's good to just go with the flow and figure it out as you go because
16:40things change, things go wrong, things get delayed. Sometimes yeah it's just sometimes
16:47there's only going to be two of us so it takes a lot longer to do things. That's a whole other thing.
16:51Yeah so it really depends. We aren't just building we're also filming the process and we don't want
16:57to miss a single thing so we're very much just rolling with the punches. What resources did you
17:04use to learn about the land buying process? Talking to Topias. Online. YouTube. Google. Yeah.
17:10Chat GPT. The internet. The internet. Yeah and then talking to people for sure. Yeah talking to
17:17people that have gone through the process or whatnot. Learning from others. I think that's the
17:21like how you do with everything. Do you have power at your site? No not right now. It's close. Don't
17:26you hear Jenny? Crystal waves good morning to her every morning. Morning Jenny. Good morning Jenny.
17:31She just got her morning coffee. We do have a water cistern that is just sitting on the...
17:36You siphon it. It's really cool. But as for power that's hopefully coming soon... You needed your
17:41temporary residency in order to get power. Yeah it's a bit of a process but we're close to the
17:45lines and I'm hoping we're gonna have power soon. Yeah it'd be really nice. How do you keep your
17:49focus on such a big project like building a house in Mexico? I don't think you have time to think so
17:54maybe because you have blinders on you're just kind of like hmm but also not really. I don't
17:58know how you wouldn't focus because it is such a big project. It's so exciting. We're so pumped.
18:03This might sound weird but I would rather be building. I'd rather be lifting blocks and
18:08sitting on the beach. That's my brain though. I'm not speaking for Crystal here. No but let's be
18:12real. It is so exciting. It's really hard to walk away when you're seeing so much progress.
18:17We've seen so much progress in the last few weeks so it's exciting. The progress fuels you.
18:23If a cake was in front of you how would you not eat it? Do you know what I mean? That's kind of
18:26what I feel like. Is that how you feel about that question? I don't know. That's probably the worst
18:29thing I've ever said like doesn't make sense but it's just so exciting at the end of the day. What
18:33does your downtime look like in Mexico? Dog walks, beach, eating, hanging out with friends, family
18:40they've come to visit, seeing new places, trying new restaurants. I would say that's what it looks
18:45like. How the heck can you figure out to build a house down to the detail in a whole new country
18:51with different materials and requirements? Like where do you get this insight? We don't. I like
18:55how this question was worded because I just feel like it's exactly what they're thinking. Just full
19:02thoughts. I love it. I think that's kind of how we felt when we first got here. We're like how the
19:07heck are we gonna get anything done? We were like what's happening? Like nothing's happening.
19:13Every day trying to learn new things but then as the days piled up we started getting places. Yeah
19:18I think you climb the mountain. The answer really truly is we don't have it all figured out and you
19:24figure it out as you go. I think if you had it all figured out the task might be too daunting to
19:28even start. Right. So I think bite sizes, knowing like a little bit, do it. A little bit, go. You
19:35know you'll never get anywhere if you try to figure it out before you do something. No you just gotta
19:40give her. How available is drinking water? The water's trucked in from the town next door. For
19:45example like our neighbor behind us has a 60,000 liter cistern and so you build it like like a
19:52modern cistern out of all cement obviously blocks and everything and a good idea is to put it like
19:57underneath the garage foundation because then it's not taking up like any space on your land and
20:01everything and it's easy to fill. So yeah it just gets chucked in over there's uh arroyos, rivers.
20:07That being said it's not drinking water. You want to filter it still. Yeah um yeah filter can like
20:14that's easy enough so yeah yeah. Are wood posts treated for termites? So right now no when you
20:19buy them they're not um however they have this wood that is kind of like very good with termites
20:27and the salty air and it's called wood from the mountains or skunk wood skunk wood so it's not
20:32the prettiest looking it's a little jagged and whatnot but it lasts and I think that's the the
20:37goal. A lot of people actually ask why we didn't just use like metal stakes for our perimeter fence
20:42like our living wall and that's just simply because actually metal doesn't even do that well because
20:46it rusts because of all the salt in the air from the ocean yeah so this wood actually does the best.
20:51I also think it's important to mention because I didn't know this in the area that we're living
20:57and building in there are termites. Termites look like almost like an ant and they eat through wood
21:03so wood doesn't stand a chance in these environments because it will quite literally
21:08disintegrate and fall apart so for that reason this is why they use concrete and other stone
21:14like materials and typically avoid using wood and in this situation the skunk wood or mountain wood
21:21is the preferred wood that you would use if you choose to use wood yeah part of the whole process
21:27of like how do you figure out how to do all this well we learn and sometimes you learn by failing
21:32our first attempt at buying skunk wood we're exposing ourselves all the Canadians all the
21:37wood you saw us buy and bring home in the truck was not actually skunk wood so pine so it was
21:44pine and now you think we should have smelled that we're from Canada so it's so embarrassing
21:49and we we actually said that to each other but we asked the guy like is this not wood in espanol
21:56but anyways you know oh I feel bad shit happens yeah but we're gonna use that for like yeah we'll
22:03use it for something else but it's not ideal for building what we wanted to build the living
22:08fence so we're not going to be using that wood and honestly now that I reflect and I even went
22:13back to the lumberyard because we went back to ask him as soon as you walk in it smells like pine
22:17and I was like oh my gosh are we even woods women or what I know it's so embarrassing I can't let
22:21me just told everyone that how many tacos have you had so far I can't count a lot unlimited amount
22:27of tacos is there anything else you wish you would have done differently or wish you would
22:30have known ahead of time to prepare for this build I think what I wish we would have known
22:34ahead of time is that it's extremely important to be in Mexico when you start building and for
22:41the duration of the build that's even like the planning and the architecture and the engineering
22:45plan not a lot is going to get done if you're not there it's important to keep the process going
22:50to be a part of it to understand what's happening and what's not happening yeah you ought to be
22:56you have to be there is there code enforcement in Baja and are inspections needed after
23:01construction yeah so there there is code and permitting and everything so once your architect
23:07draws it up the plans then gets sent to an engineer who then sends it to the municipality
23:13yes and obviously does how much rebar concrete and everything you need however you also need a
23:18soil test to know how much concrete and everything you need so that's the process and then it gets
23:23sent to the municipality and then you wait for the permit and this could take one month three
23:28months six months but after you get the check mark to build there is and you start building there is
23:35no inspections after so you just build it with exactly how the engineering plan said that way
23:40your house doesn't fall down and you stick to your engineered plans are you scared of rattlesnakes
23:46for me like I'm not scared for myself but I am more nervous for Bella and Izzy obviously
23:50yeah don't know what they are we know if we get bitten so I think that is a you know to stay away
23:55a huge plus whereas like dogs you know we may not even know if they were to get bitten hence the
24:01perimeter wall while we're building yeah and like I truly love snakes I think they're fascinating
24:06I'd love to see a rattlesnake um but yeah not you both seem equally excited about all your projects
24:14are you that aligned or is convincing needed this is a really cool question I thought it was cool
24:19too I would say we're that a lot like I don't think there's any convincing is there no it's
24:24very mutual we're both I just feel so pumped every time we start something new yeah I mean maybe I
24:33have to convince you a little bit to paint or you have to convince me a little bit to like do that's
24:37like the minuscule parts of the job but the whole thing like I have to convince you when it's like
24:42raining to get up yeah to start I'm like let's go crystal but the whole and that's just a little
24:46encouragement but I think like the whole project itself and everything we've done we are so aligned
24:52on this which I think is very rare from reading all the comments a lot of people kind of had this
24:57like you know what I mean like kind of similar question this one was just worded perfectly
25:03how are we like that I don't know
25:08I think it's harder to choose what we both want for dinner what's happening with Bella yes this
25:12is a tough one to answer simply because it's hard to talk about we did post on our Instagram
25:17does anyone know any surgeons in California yes and we have been going through quite a rollercoaster
25:24trying to figure out what's going on we don't have all the answers yet so that's why I don't
25:28really want to speak about it because it can get confusing like even me talking to my mom or my
25:32cousins like they're like wait what I thought it was this and I'm like yeah she was misdiagnosed
25:35yes we're kind of in a place where we're we're not quite sure yet so we're not like totally ready to
25:40talk about it but it's been something that's been it's really heavy to deal with yeah and I just
25:45like kind of I'm probably gonna cry but I think it's about like accepting a new chapter yeah
25:50would you look the hardest part like a new chapter that I guess we weren't quite ready for
25:58anyways Chris has been our rock so thank you for that yeah I'm pretty depressed I ran to the vet
26:05like every six months to get everything tested and Bella's presented very healthy and like that's
26:09part of the reason why we went to Mexico obviously we wouldn't go to Mexico if she wasn't healthy
26:14that like ever so yeah but we're doing everything we can yeah to get answers and like you obviously
26:23saw her she's okay so like I don't want to like freak anyone out but I like there's just not
26:27much to say because I feel like it changes all the time yeah for that reason the next couple
26:33weeks in the next few months until we figure out what's going on and where we're going and
26:38how we're doing things there you may see us slightly less than normal you will see us like
26:43you will 100% see us less like we're not I don't think we could get a video out next week
26:49Bella's are obviously our top priority and at the end of the day that's it and we'll share whenever
26:56we can and have anything done or have anything to share obviously if anything does happen we'll
27:02update the community page of course our Instagram all of that we never want to leave people hanging
27:06and we will for sure keep everyone in the loop when we know what's going on most of you watch for
27:12the supervisors anyways yeah so how are Bella and Izzy do they like swimming in the ocean do they
27:18miss Canada they love the ocean Izzy not so much Izzy does not love the ocean they love their ocean
27:24walks yes and I think something that they really love about Mexico is how many new friends they're
27:29meeting on the beach tons of friends they're doing well yeah in Mexico they were really enjoying it
27:34you've done so much already what does the next five to ten years look like probably like sitting
27:40in our Mexico house on like a launcher a lounger enjoying it this is a hard question for us to
27:48answer because we are day by day but uh a big talk I'm having with myself is that I am getting
27:53older so if I want to have kids I probably gotta start thinking about that very soon
27:59I probably see kids in my future or our future if you're still on board with kids
28:05in the next this is one thing we might not always see eye to eye on there you go someone it goes
28:09back and forth it just changes a lot and I just I don't know I don't want them right now at all
28:14that's something that's very much changed but I think like probably in the next five to seven
28:18years I probably do want to have a kid or two I think it'd be really fun it would be fun my
28:23cousins are having kids I hope to also still do a lot of traveling still be creating YouTube videos
28:30for all of you and I feel like it'll be a lot of like trying new things in different places I think
28:35a sad part is obviously Bella and Izzy aren't gonna be here but that's sad yeah no yeah I think
28:39that's why it's so hard to know it's because you really just don't know like what life is gonna
28:44throw at you everything she said like that's exactly what my life is gonna look like like I
28:48have those we want the same thing so it's like that's exactly that's what I mean like I just feel
28:53like everything that you said is what I want there's nothing that you said that I don't want
29:00do you want to meet yeah cool your nose is running but you might need to go
29:06you might need to go any fever games in your future obviously yes we are waiting for the
29:14w to come back it's been a long winter and I've been stressed every day thinking about
29:20where Rachel is going so we know now so we now know and I'm super super excited yeah and if you
29:26don't watch WNBA start you gotta watch the WNBA I'm surprising my girlfriend for her 30th birthday
29:32with floor seats to see the Indiana Fever here's my plan you see we never miss a game she's going
29:38to think I'm putting on the game like normal but in reality I've been secretly editing this fake
29:42broadcast to surprise her are you lying no I'm good by absolute fluke we met members of the aces
29:52coaching staff we became friends and they invited us on the court after the game to meet the staff
29:56and players and we even got to meet Caitlin Clark and Kate Martin yes we are starstruck yes this is
30:02an absolute dream where did the dog stay while you're building Mexico okay currently we can't
30:06get the trailer on our property so for that reason well as you saw there was a lot of clearing to be
30:12done there's currently like a lot of lot going on there's like cement and dust and all kinds of
30:17things in the air and the land the road wasn't even big enough to get it yeah and it's still
30:21quite tight and the land isn't totally flat yet so that's why we haven't been living in it and
30:25why we have had a rental also something that we recognize is super important with bell and izzy
30:31is making sure that they are the most comfortable and you know making sure that we have ac for them
30:36we don't want them to be hot we don't want them to be sitting outside of the sun while we're working
30:40we want them to be inside in the shade comfortable sleeping also having like a babysitter called a
30:45grim gram has been yes i think over a month she was with us so don't get it wrong like we are
30:50spending tons of time with bell and izzy and we do bring them to the job site to see what we're
30:55working on we also go home on breaks yeah every like three to four hours we'll go home check on
30:59them we also have separation anxiety yeah we take them out in the mornings and in the evenings for
31:03like walks when it cools down and but another thing with the rv obviously like just bell's
31:08health also uh i don't know if the rv is like a place that she could live full time full time no
31:14like and we didn't know that obviously buying the rv so yeah just life changes that's why you can't
31:20plan five to ten years yeah do you know what i mean so it's just like it was a couple months so
31:25yeah but the rv is awesome and i would love to have it on the land and i know we'll spend some
31:29nights in it but it was a game changer for driving down here it was really nice it was really fun
31:34every life is nice it's fun how do you get over the fear of doing something buying off-grid in
31:39another country i'm not going to say that there isn't fear because there is fear and it pops up
31:43in different ways at different times i would just say we don't let that fear it like control
31:48our plans and you know our thoughts and what we're doing i think we work through that and things about
31:53it are hard and like it does come up but um that's it's not just fear it's not just fear it's also
32:00like excitement it's also like it's a lot of things it's not just fear so there's a lot of
32:05emotions that are driving this and i think you know the fear makes it maybe more exciting how
32:11do you find the motivation to keep going how do you not get burnt out i just think we've been
32:18i'm gonna use the word blessed right now but with the best job in the world i couldn't agree more
32:23we can also set our schedule so if we feel like we're gonna get burnt out take a week off our
32:28job gives us a group yeah be flexible be kind to your partner anytime respect each other's
32:34boundary not to shoot one day you just don't shoot i can't imagine me doing any other job
32:38in the world this is truly the best job and if i often think if you were to ask all of our teachers
32:46except for someone like me but if you ask majority of our teachers if they thought we would have done
32:52what we have done by the age of 30 to at-risk kids who are single moms i think they wouldn't
32:59have thought we'd be where we are today the opportunity that youtube has given the both of
33:03us over the last five years is something i could have never dreamt of i will never take it for
33:07granted this space for us is it's a dream we're truly happy making videos and building and doing
33:16the things we're doing and i we've never gotten to a point of burnout because we never lose sight
33:23of how grateful we are to be here we know when we need time i think we have a really good balance
33:29in our life you know we know that you know you got to do things for yourself you gotta see family
33:36and friends but i just think it's the balance is key and remembering how we got here yeah what's
33:45the hardest thing about being a youtube couple does it affect your relationship is it hard as
33:50a couple if one of you don't feel like it today etc well obviously one of us doesn't want to film
33:54like it kind of sucks to the other person but like we respect that they don't want to film it's pretty
33:58rare it is very rare but like sometimes like let's say you didn't want to film i'll just go film
34:02something like solo if i really want to film like it's one you get space that way which is super
34:06healthy in a relationship yeah but maybe the hardest part would be when i hear other couples
34:12like when they come home from work yeah they had time to miss each other yeah when they come back
34:16i do miss that but i think i don't need eight hours to miss you like you just go and do grocery
34:21shopping like i'd miss you after that because we're with each other for so many hours of the
34:25day i think that would probably be the hardest part it's just like you're constantly with each
34:29other 24 7 yeah my brother often jokes being like you guys been married for 50 years because of how
34:34much time you spent together the equivalent i think i'm like one of the luckiest people in
34:37the world to work with like my partner and have like my dogs at home oh okay i really do that's
34:43cute what were you both like growing up as kids very very different we were very different kids
34:51i was very quiet like a mute very shy picture that very not confident but very
35:00aware i would say of like smart kid i feel like i had like pretty good insight and like
35:06emotional intelligence but i was just very quiet and not confident there was an era of crystal that
35:12was quite bad i was a little bit of a wild child in my teenage years and then me as a kid i was
35:23very loud probably obnoxious like very chatty in class so the teacher would make me sit beside her
35:31so but then i just stopped talking to my teacher so that kind of backfired on this topic but
35:36i really enjoyed like every sport possible i'd live eat like sports like soccer hockey basketball
35:44volleyball all of it skateboarding yeah like rep sports and like i miss them now i'm not gonna lie
35:50like i got i jumped on a skateboard this summer and i kind of still had it a little she's a natural
35:54like you just throw a ball at her or like i don't know you got her in a situation and she's just
35:58like like i would even join like dance class or drama class and then like student council but
36:03then like have my sports friends that's i think i how i was as a kid just like bit bopping around
36:08all the time just constantly doing things my mom would just say i'm a wild child wild child yeah
36:13the story she has what are some consistent things that you both carry through a life filled with so
36:17much change little habits traditions running jokes definitely dog walks yeah getting outside
36:22of nature i would say it's like one of the one consistent it's like when we first started dating
36:26that's like our basically first thing you know yeah oh we love big breakfasts this doesn't happen
36:31as much as it used to because we realized if you have a big breakfast every day you don't get going
36:35until 12 i would just say we bond over like making cooking together like cooking breakfast or cooking
36:40a nice dinner that's something i feel like we that's like we get a lot of quality time and
36:46together run the back trails fun yeah yeah where did the black truck come from this is such a funny
36:51question i feel like so many people are like what the heck is this black truck yeah the reality is
36:57is we live far from amenities like the grocery store but also hospitals aka one of us had to go
37:04to the hospital and no vehicles would start yeah that's not fun not a good situation to be in so
37:09in that moment we decided look like if we need to go to the hospital if the dogs need to go to
37:13bed if we need to suddenly go to the airport if there's somewhere we need to go or if there's
37:17a wildfire or there's something and we need to leave yeah we can't do that we need to have a
37:23reliable vehicle not not the vibe so like you you know you already sometimes compromise quite a bit
37:29living away from those things but if you can't get to them when you need to yeah it's just no
37:34for me so we needed a reliable vehicle yeah and it happened in like the weird time when like no one
37:39had trucks or whatever was going on or anything and it was hard to find it was hard to find one
37:43and then all of a sudden one popped up and that's like basically we just snatched it up and i'm so
37:48so glad we did because yeah it's been a dream to drive especially like on these rural roads like
37:54it's really important to have something reliable i don't want to be breaking down no i broke down
37:59in the red truck this summer it was sad although i had a really nice tow truck driver we had some
38:03nice conversations if you could put yourself in any other career job what would it be how would
38:08we think what we pictured each other in okay i like that better because i don't know for myself
38:12i see you being a firefighter i really do you're so strong and like i just feel like that's like
38:20such a you job because you could still like do other things in your life i see you in a very
38:28dominant position i see you in like a very like i'm like you like a team under you like i feel
38:37like you're very good at like leading and teaching and showing and communicating like i feel like
38:45you're good at that i don't know what job that would be though okay no you don't really want
38:49to be a teacher but i feel like you would be a great teacher i think you'll be my favorite you
38:53would be an amazing person who handles the finances in the relationship and who is more
38:58likely to break the budget i handle the finances i think kind of share it like it is shared let's
39:04be real but yeah i have the visa you do like majority yeah i know so i'm just giving myself
39:09a little tip here you do the rest of the finances i would say who is more likely to break the budget
39:14let's point you it's you i would break the budget if we were going out to a fancy restaurant or
39:22something or like a fancy grocery store you will break the budget because you'll be like oh i need
39:27a i don't even know like a new crazy something tool and you always want to find the tools i had
39:35a tool in my amazon cart for four months i guess we both break the budget no i'm way more frugal
39:41than you i'm so much better actually just realized i think i break the budget what has been the
39:46hardest and best part of taking the girls with you on the road well i get to stare at them for 24
39:50hours it's super fun to be with them they get to meet new friends new smells the hardest part is
39:55you do lack routine on the road or like you don't have like their medical team you know it's like a
40:00new medical team right you know finding vets where's the van do you think you'll ever do
40:03van life in the same van again the van's in a shipping container i wanted to surprise you all
40:09by opening it next spring oh that's funny we got it in but i can't not tell you yeah anyways not
40:15all of you're gonna watch this video so you'll be it's our surprise now i would love to try and
40:21drive that van again one day it's just like a lot of work right now that the engine's good it's the
40:27body and that's like that's the hard part i'm not even quite sure about the engine entirely either i
40:32feel like it needs a good drive we've been struggling with this decision for a long time
40:36because obviously we would love to bring it back to life and drive it but like the entire thing
40:41needs work and it would be so much work and a lot of money it's far gone yeah like i wouldn't even
40:48get approved to go on the roads in nova scotia no will you keep the rv in mexico or bring it back
40:52to canada the rv will be stored in mexico there's a nice storage place and it will stay right there
40:57she's dreaming yeah did you sell the cabin the answer is no we do not plan to sell the cabin
41:03we have not sold it we don't think about that ever i think it's something that we will want to have
41:09for the rest of our lives yeah it's our first home together and i can't bring the kids there
41:15in 10 years it's bill this like we don't have any bills coming to that address it's
41:20that's great minus propane yeah but they would there would be no bills if we didn't use the
41:24propane so yeah there's no it's just peace of mind it's like i don't know i i it's just not
41:30an option no do you have caretakers for the cabin while you're away of course yes and they're amazing
41:36i feel so lucky thank you here's some photos actually if you're watching thank you off-grid
41:42living possible as a single woman absolutely you'll do great yeah do you see yourself moving
41:46from the cabin in nova scotia to a city we are not city people like whatsoever like i like them
41:52for like two nights and then i'm like yeah whoa i like my nose hurts my throat hurts and my brain
41:58hurts get me out of here it's loud tips and tricks that you've learned in mexico that you will bring
42:03home to the cabin in canada oh so many i feel like we're gonna bring a lot of concrete back
42:08yeah i'm excited to use concrete in canada learned the last few weeks of building this wall
42:12has given us so much confidence so you just had to tie the rebar set the yeah bricks everything
42:18it's it's really cool i'm excited yeah we kind of like changed some like plans for certain builds
42:25because we want to add more like cement blocks yeah whole new skills a whole new set should be
42:31fun i'm so excited what's the situation with the old lake house cabin we will get there and we will
42:36finish it soon we've been we obviously aren't in a hurry to finish it the roof is on we're happy
42:42about that the foundation is done we're happy about that there's still a lot to do but when we
42:48got that property we got it for the land obviously it's an extension of our cabin we now have access
42:54to the lake it's wonderful river we've got trails going there it's great however the cabin
43:02we'll slowly pick away at it i want to finish it as soon as we get back yeah um and not finish it
43:08like our cabin but it's gonna be like very simplistic so i think it's really cool to do
43:12like i don't know if anyone knows the book cabin porn uh but like really something really really
43:16cool like that yeah do you post videos every week or every other week we normally do every week we
43:21post every sunday every week for the last like five years however that is changing just like
43:29last year we mentioned that we may post three times a month instead of four sometimes depending
43:35on the size of the project if there's something huge going on and it's taking more time sometimes
43:39you'll only see three videos a month because we might need a little bit more of a buffer to get
43:43through things but let me just reiterate right now while we're going through everything just put your
43:47bell on that's what i gotta say like honestly put the bell and the notifications on please yeah
43:52also a good thing to mention is on our videos we write a pinned comment every week and in there
43:58we often leave information like if you're not going to see us next week or if we're taking time
44:02off we always write something try and keep people updated in the pin comment or the community page
44:06on the video and then on our community page on youtube we often keep people updated there or
44:11on instagram so we do what we can to make sure that you're in the loop if we're not going to
44:15be there but um in general it's weekly and sometimes things take a little extra so if we are
44:21we do miss a week that's why where did you all go for three weeks i thought you quit youtube
44:26we always take a break around the january time that's the time we see friends and family
44:32holidays it's also just december is a busy month i have to say you know what i mean it's also a
44:38really good time for us to prepare for the year and just kind of plan out what we're doing and
44:43get the ball rolling yeah we sit down write out ideas yeah what needs to get done everything
44:49one of my favorite times actually when we get to sit and it's just so fun like you're
44:53it's basically like um like when you're in school and everyone does like a brainstorm you know and
44:58you're just brainstorming a bunch of things so it is pretty cool is van wives 2 really you it's
45:03really us everyone and if you don't know what that means we have another youtube channel called van
45:08wives 2 a lot of people have been seeing it pop up on their youtube feed and asking if it's us
45:14or if it's someone who has made a fake account because there is fake account using our videos
45:19van wives 2 is a channel that we made it's an asmr channel there is no talking it's a totally
45:25different vibe it's super chill it's something that you can just fall asleep to or put on in
45:29the background like tv art or you can just totally zone in and people put like fireplaces on their
45:35background yeah you can kind of just like put that on your background we have hours and hours
45:39and hours of footage that goes unused and with this channel it's like just being there with us
45:45almost it's like you're a fly on the wall and you don't necessarily have to pay attention to every
45:50second but it's just really i i sit down and watch the winter ones because i'm missing winter
45:56and i just love the sights and the sounds and i find it so pretty and i know quite a few people
46:02are really enjoying it so if you think you want to watch more van wives videos or you want to
46:06you know watch it in a totally different format you should link it right here yeah
46:10head on over to that channel and we also got we also got the idea because well one we've put on
46:16asmr channels all the time and we were sitting on our deck and it was just we were hearing the
46:20most beautiful birds and sounds and the wind through the trees and just everything nature
46:25has to offer and i wish we could put smell in there too because i was just thinking about like
46:28our flowers and stuff right even you describing that i'm like oh yeah i could just be there and i
46:33i felt like all of you need to see this like you need to see another side it's kind of the side
46:39that we see when we're not like constantly talking to each other or talking to camera
46:43let's be real we're building for 8 to 10 hours a day there's a lot of silent moments we don't
46:47just talk 24 7 like these 20 minute videos like they take us we don't make 20 minute videos these
46:5430 minute videos take so long all week to make so there's a lot of time in there that we had to show
47:00you thank you for watching our annual q a i hope you enjoyed it and i hope that we've answered
47:04everything that you've asked like we said we weren't answering any questions we have
47:09already answered so like how we met crystal's family single parents sharing clothes ivf or
47:16adoption most difficult projects who made the first move or anything along those lines they
47:23are linked in all of these videos that are going to be on the screen so make sure you check out
47:27those because well they're good yeah and thank you for watching our q a yeah if you have any
47:33other questions that aren't in those videos you can just leave them in the comments because we're
47:36always in the comments with you yeah i had fun see you next week thanks for listening not next
47:41week chris no right i'll see you soon back oh it's so sad i know