Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben And Lacy Hardman
Ben and Lacy, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Lacy, statistically, should be in prison, addicted to drugs, homeless or worse, dead. She endured physical, emotional and sexual abuse amongst other conditions that led to a score of 10/10 on the ACE Test. Her parents divorced when she was 3 years old and, unfortunately, her mom struggled with mental health hardships and attracted abusive men into their home. At age 14 Lacy’s dad had open heart surgery and the cardiovascular surgeon that saved her dad’s life inspired Lacy to pursue becoming a cardiovascular surgeon. For nearly 10 years she pursued that path and it led her to join the US Army. After her first deployment in 2004 she realized she wanted to be an available mom and her “all in” personality as a doctor wouldn’t allow her to be available for her future children, upon realizing this she dropped all her pre-med classes at the University of Utah. She was already enrolled in ROTC and set to go active duty and she continued down that route after receiving her degree in Psychology and commissioned as a US Army Officer. She was newly married and headed to FT Bragg, North Carolina. Unfortunately, patterns she had learned in her childhood that she hadn’t healed from led to contributing to a failed marriage after a few short years and two more deployments. “Despite going to marriage counseling and individual counseling, I couldn’t find the right set of skills and tools to navigate my marriage,” said Lacy. Lacy didn’t ever want to get a divorce and after striving to repair her marriage it failed. She signed the divorce papers while deployed to Iraq in 2010 with tears rolling down her face. Following the deployment she had the opportunity to attend an Army singles retreat at Virginia Beach. It was full of education, recreation and connection with other single veterans. It was life changing for Lacy and she decided that she wanted to offer this type of opportunity for others to help them along their journey in life, marriage, family, and business. She exited the Army in 2014 after some corrupt leaders blackballed her for reporting an equal opportunity violation and met Ben shortly after.
Ben was previously married for 12 years and randomly received a text from his current wife letting him know she wanted a divorce. Ben tried everything possible to save his marriage and his family and believed that his leaving “no what if’s” actions would ultimately prevail. Instead after months of being away from Ben and their three daughters it was discovered that his wife was living with another man. Despite the heartache Ben felt he continued to strive to save his family. Unfortunately it was only used against him to get the girls back and to make sure they had no place to go back to. After a lot of deceit, lying, conniving and scheming Ben lost most everything; his wife, daughters, home and most worldly possessions. It was nine months before he saw his daughters again. Ben says that although he lost a lot, he believes that what he gained from the experience is priceless. He knew he had a purpose and that meant doing something much bigger than just living. He also knew it was going to take a lot of work and a lot of time, especially the work he needed to do on himself.
Lacy’s uncle and cousin introduced her to Ben in 2015, the stars aligned and they married shortly later. They shared a passion for education, recreation and connection and planned to create a retreat center based on Lacy’s dream. They wanted to use all their lessons learned and channel their pain into helping others. They planned for this to be a later in life goal. They had invested in a business partnership shortly after they married and in a couple of years their business partner did a wacky turn and they ended up in a lawsuit. This destroyed them financially. They were overwhelmed and stressed, not knowing what to do, Ben suggested they go bear hunting in Emery county. While there they saw a for sale sign on a piece of property and felt inspired to stop. “We had no business stopping, we were in the worst financial situation of our individual and married lives, but we felt like we should stop anyway, so we did,” said Lacy. They met the seller and told him their dream and the dire circumstance they currently found themselves in. He said let’s work it out and thankfully Lacy’s real estate business was just turning a corner, so they were able to work out a seller finance deal. “It was an absolute miracle,” said Ben.
They were in a position where they had to sell their home or lose it, so they sold and moved into their camp trailer. Their credit was destroyed and financially that previous business destroyed them and they owed a lot. They used the little money they gained from selling their home to put a down payment on the land. After a few years in their camp trailer they recovered financially and were able to get into another home. Long story short, they ended up buying land from 3 owners to total 208 acres and built the Swell Retreat. It was land that the farmers in town didn’t see a value in but it was perfect for creating an outdoor fun recreational area to fulfill the couple’s dream together. There was a 2 acre lake and they built a zipline and waterslide on it and added a giant Gorilla floating island, kayaks, paddle boards, and a canoe. They opened for just camping in 2020 and have now expanded to 4 glamping tents, a glamping cabin and regular retreats.
The Swell Retreat has become popular for Family Reunions, Youth Group camps, individual camping, day retreats, and Corporate retreats. In 2022 they added their first couples evening retreat, 2023 they added a hearts and horses seminar and 2024 they expanded that to a full 3 day retreat called Hearts and Horses. An experience that uses a broke horse and a wild horse to help understand how the body and brain work together and against us as we strive to pursue a happy life.
Lacy says, “Once you understand these valuable lessons from the horse you can be more successful in your relationship with yourself. You are the common denominator in your life and the experiences you are having. Success is rooted in you and these tools learned through Hearts and Horses and Live Swell help you overcome the faulty roots that are holding you back.” These tools actually led to saving Ben and Lacy’s strained marriage at the perfect moment. Lacy’s relentless pursuit of research and trial and error tools she put together continues to strengthen their relationship and help others.
2025 Swell Retreat will host NICA Mountain Bike Races for high school students on their 5 mile trail, add horseback riding, axe throwing, archery range, disc golf and E-bike rentals to their experience opportunities. Lacy is also working diligently to create an online portal and app for Hearts and Horses and the Live Swell experience that can help people worldwide https://www.liveswell.co/masterbusiness.
Ben and Lacy have experienced trial after trial in their personal lives and in business and believe that as they overcome these hardships it becomes their duty to reach out and help others navigate the path with support and tools they learned the hard way.
Ben is a five star host and has a knack for guest services by befriending every guest. He is a hard worker and the Swell Retreat is allowing him to fulfill his purpose. His dedication led to Swell Retreat earning Hipcamp of the Year 2022 and Tourism Based Business of the Year 2023. Each winter he works with his team to complete more projects to enhance Swell Retreat for the following year.
Lacy is an entrepreneur at heart and learned lots of leadership and business principles in the Army. Lacy learned to escape the horror of her childhood by diving into her purpose, to help others. She excelled to the top 3% of her peers in the Army and credits it to her desire to help Soldiers all along her journey. As a Realtor, she served her clients diligently and was Realtor of the Year in 2019 and 2022. She was one of the top 100 professionals in Real Estate; Most Innovative Leaders and 30 Most Inspiring Leaders to Watch. She opened her own Brokerage called Salty Peak Real Estate. She created Builder Agent Academy to help other real estate agents get certified to work for a residential builder. She is a speaker and an author. She believes all the hardships and experiences happened so that she would be in a position to create Hearts and Horses and Live Swell. She has been searching for her life’s purpose since age 10 and believes her journey full of trials, pain, and success led her to fulfill this life’s calling in helping others achieve their success and purpose. She has volunteered in the community since age 14 and is currently serving on the Emery County Travel Board, Main Street Business District Committee, One Direction (Advocating for youth success into adulthood), created an annual Foster Care Retreat to help kids have education, recreation and connection at Swell Retreat and started an annual Polar Purpose Plunge advocating for aligning with purpose and suicide prevention. She is working to add a 3rd outreach program at Swell Retreat to help Veterans.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Absolutely not a smooth road, but one that paved the way to exactly where we are meant to be. 🙂 We have lots more trials, but shared a few.
We’ve been impressed with Swell Retreat, but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
We are a venue that offers recreation, education, and connection. We are known for family reunions, youth group camps, corporate retreats, and Hearts and Horses Retreats. We believe that memories are the best gift as they last forever! Come make your memories at Swell Retreat free falling from the zipline into Little Lake Elevate, stories around the campfire, giggles as you watch each other slip and slide across the floating island and relaxing on the kayak as you slowly drift across the water with a fishing pole We are proud that most of our business has come from word of mouth. We just started a couple Facebook ads at the end of 2024.
Let’s talk about our city – what do you love? What do you not love?
We love Utah! It is so beautiful. We love Emery County because it is sandwiched between the Manti La Sal Mountain range and the San Rafael Swell. Both are incredibly beautiful and hold endless adventures.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.swellretreat.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/swellretreat/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SwellRetreatUtah
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hardmanrealtors/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUyv6tQ_oNYLOaUh56-ouQg
