~Adventures of Mexico~

Ok...one word...AMAZING! This vacation was so needed and it was great. We spent most of our time between Cancun and Playa del Carmen, (that's where our hotel was). Our hotel was amazing! it was so pretty and right on the beach. We left on the 23rd and got to Mexico around 4PM. It was so warm it was great! Friday was pretty much a relaxing day, we checked into the hotel, met up with Randy's parents, had dinner, and just relaxed. While we were there, we ended up doing 2 days of diving, (we thought 3 might be a little too much) and then we spent 2 days doing the Mayan Ruins. The first one we went to was Chichen-Itza, which is probably the most popular of the Mayan Ruins, and the amount of people that were there proved it. The ruins themselves were really cool, but the place was packed with vendors all trying to get you to buy their stuff. I know they're just trying to make money...but it was pretty annoying. We also got to swim in a cenote (and underground cave) which was pretty cool. I was really looking forward to dive one, but Heidi doesn't really like enclosed spaces, and after she told me why...I agreed with her. Monday was our first day of diving...and it was really cool. They had us flip off the boat backwards (which I really didn't like...but it's better then just walking into the water), and then we went down. Since it was my first open dive, I pretty much freaked out. I got about 2 feet under the water and started to freak out...I almost went back up to the top, but everyone was waiting for me at the bottom. It's really good that I had gone deeper in my class, otherwise I don't think I would've been able to talk myself into going down. Once I hit the bottom I was fine, so that was good. I think it was a combo of flipping off the boat backward and being in such an open space. The second dive we did that day was so much better. I didn't feel the anxiety at all, which is good, and flipping off the back of the boat was MUCH easier! The next day was pretty much a lounge day, we went and got massages in the morning and then laid by the pool in the afternoon. It was so relaxing. Wednesday we went to another Mayan Ruin called Tulum. It was awesome! And...there were NO vendors! My new favorite place! ha! We had a great guide who has a master's in Anthropology and specialized in physical proof that the Book of Mormon is true. We asked her to do an LDS tour (you can get them either way), and it was amazing to hear her testimony of the gospel and all the proof that was found in the ruins. The spirit that was felt there was just more of a testimony to me that the church is true. It was amazing to see the symbolism that was there, and how similar it is to my beliefs. And these ruins have been there for hundreds of years. It was amazing! The next day was our last couple of dives, which we had to take a ferry ride to Cozumel to do. This was by far my favorite set of dives, although I really liked the dive guide in Playa a TON better...he was just so helpful with it being my first open water dive. The guide in Cozumel seemed to be annoyed that he was diving with "beginners." This dive was way deeper, 60 feet instead of 35 like the first one, and it was a drift dive. It had a pretty strong current so you had to really pay attention otherwise you'd miss things. The water was crystal clear...visibility was probably close to 100 feet, which is huge underwater. The reef was so pretty and so much bigger then the one in Playa. Friday we came home, which I really didn't want to, we hit the dallas airport and saw the weather, and almost turned around cuz it was so cold here. But we had to come home, but it was a fantastic trip and I can wait to dive some other places!

The beach our Hotel was on

Pool side view


The family at Chichen-Itza


Outside of the Cenotes


Randy jumping into the Cenote...it was super cold!


More Cenote


Ruins at Tulum...this is a carving of a face, one side is perfect, the other is imperfect.


The view from the Ruins...can you say awesome!


All the different ruins of Tulum


Mark and Heidi on the 1st dive


Randy and I standing on the ocean floor


A sting-ray


A school of Fish


Mark Swimming through the school of fish


Cozumel...the 2nd dive


Me and Randy on the last dive


The Mountain of Clouds on the ride home

~Officially Certified~

Oh my gosh!!! I'm so glad that I'm finally done...ha! Yesterday I got my official certification (of course I had to go with a temporary one since I leave in 3 days...yes...3...I'm so excited!) Since it takes about a week to get the actual card, all I have is an 8X10 paper saying that I'm good to go. But as long as I don't have to do the hotel certification, I'm down. This weekend was pretty much exhausting. I had 4 dives that had to be done in order to be certified, these dives ranged anywhere from 30 to 40 feet. We had to do all the things that we learned in class, but in much deeper water. The CESA assent was pretty sweet. You start at 20 or so feet, take in 3 breaths, and have to assend to the top breathing out the whole time. You have to assend slowly, so it takes about 30 seconds or so to get to the top, and the crazy thing is, you don't run out of air. Because of the pressure difference, at 20 feet the air in your lungs is compressed, and when you assend, it expands, so the closer to the surface you get, the more air you have. So weird...but it was awesome! I also had to do alot of things that I don't like, but hopefully I will never have to do them again. The crater was awesome but I'm not a huge fan of confined spaces...which is why we're doing the cave dives after the open water stuff. We also bought Randy some good fins yesterday, since that was the thing that was missing from his essential gear. So now we're already to go. We found the dive sites that we're going to do yesterday as well...and they are freakin sweet! This trip has pretty much turned into a diving trip, we are diving 3 out of the 6 days we're there. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be exhausted and run out of room on my camera, but I think it will be worth it. Here's a small preview of what we're going to be doing...and then you'll understand why I'm so excited for this dive!!

~Anniversary~

So today is officially our second anniversary. I cannot believe how quickly time has flown. It seems like just yesterday that we were getting married, but at the same time, it feels like we've been together for a lifetime. Since we have our trip next week, we weren't able to take the weekend off and do anything to extravagant. I had to go up to midway in the morning to complete my certification for diving. I actually dove to 40 feet, which was pretty freakin amazing! Randy had to work in the day, but when he got home we decided to go to dinner at the cheesecake factory. We actually went there last year as well, so perhaps this will become our anniversary tradition. :) The food was good, and the cheesecake was even better! It was nice to spend an evening with just me and him and no interruptions. This year has by far been harder then the first year, but I think we have grown a lot closer because of the trials that we've faced. I'm excited for the future though. I'm so glad that I'm married to my best friend. I don't know what I'd do without him!

~Peter Pan~

Remember a while back when I posted about our trip to Disneyland and how disappointed I was when I found out my favorite ride was closed? Well...Randy and I bought a tribute to my all time favorite ride and after almost a year...I finally had it framed. And it looks awesome! I so love Peter Pan and I'm glad that now I can have a room that I can call Neverland. By the way...the picture doesn't really do it justice. But I love it!!

~The Regulator VS The Snorkel~

Ok...so that last post was more then what I call depressing and I'm sorry for that, so onto something much more entertaining. So the Monday after I found out that I was not longer pregnant, Randy and I went to Scuba Utah to do a Scuba Discovery. Like most people know...I'm pretty much scared to death of water, so I really wanted to test the scuba diving thing before signing up to get certified. It was a blast, and I couldn't believe how easy it was and how relaxed I was. So I signed up. Monday was my first class and pretty much things went pretty easy. The regulator I had was more difficult then the other ones that I had used, so that made things tough (it hesitated before actually delivering oxygen), but besides that, things went well. Wednesday was my second class and it was slightly more difficult. Now this time the regulator I used was perfect...but the exercises that we had to do that were more difficult. One of the first exercises that we needed to be able to do was to switch our regs out with our snorkel while under water (although still at the surface)...yeah...those of you who are thinking this sounds hard...you're SO right! So I take off, swimming across the pool, and I take 2 breaths on my snorkel. I switch to the reg with ease...however, after taking 2 breaths on the reg I go to switch back to the snorkel...and oh yeah...even after attempting to clear it I still get a mouth full of water when I inhale. I choke to the top and try again...and guess what? It happens again. Can I tell you how much fun that wasn't? I just hope that I NEVER have to do that after I certify (which I can't imagine why you would). Needless to say...I hate the stupid snorkel and much prefer the regulator!!! So after that was had to go to the deep end, inflate our BCD's (which are like life vests that you can inflate or deflate depending on whether you want to float or sink) and then take them off, sit on them, lift our hands up so the instructor could see, and then put it back on (keep in mind that your tank of o2 is attached to the BCD so it's pretty darn heavy). So I finally get it off, but because the BCD was too small for me to begin with, I had a really HARD time keeping it under me, so mostly I was sinking...bad. I'm trying to get it back on, and it's just not working, the shoulder straps were so tangled that I couldn't even find them...so I'm kicking and wailing my arms, trying not to drown, and of course the 7 people around me just sit there and watch. By the time I finally got my BCD back on I was like wheezing like I had just finished a soccer game. I never knew that scuba diving was such an aerobic sport. ha! Anyway, although some of the exercises are super tough, the scuba diving part is so awesome and I can not wait to go in Mexico! It's going to be awesome...hopefully similar to this!!

~What doesn't kill you makes you stronger~

Right??? So for the last couple of months, I've pretty much been using this blog as my journal...and since I'm so bad a keeping one, this is a good way to remember things that have happened in my life. I'm still debating whether or not it's a good idea to post this, but I think that it's easier to write it then it is to say it out loud. On the 26th of January, Randy and I got some pretty exciting and extremely scary news. That was the day I found out I was going to be a mom. As one can imagine, every single emotion that could go through me did. I was overwhelmed, scared to death that I wouldn't be adequate as a mother, but absolutely thrilled that I got to experience the joys, and pains, of motherhood. Randy and I had decided to wait for a while before we actually told a ton of people, so mostly we just told immediate family. Only about a week went by before we told really close friends. Although I had always thought that I would wait to tell pretty much anyone, the excitement of it all made me loose my better judgment. However, there were a lot of people that I wanted to tell but for some reason couldn't, and the only thing that I can say is that the spirit constrained me, knowing what would lie ahead for me. I went in to the doctors on the 17th of March for my second appointment, only to find that my child no longer existed. The bundle of joy that I looked forward to in October wouldn't come. Now I'm not writing this for any other reason then to avoid the questions. Those people who did know that I was pregnant, would probably notice in a few weeks when I wasn't getting any bigger, or simply not making a public announcement...or next month when I post pictures of me scuba diving (which is freakin amazing by the way!! but you seriously can't do that while pregnant) And to keep those who didn't know I was pregnant to keep from asking when I'm going to have a baby. The truth of the matter is, I'm doing suprisingly well considering. I truely believe that the Lord has a plan for his children...and that plan is not always easy. I think the Lord prepared me before, as well as after, to experience this trial, and I can't help but see the tender mercies that he has blessed me with since. I really do have the best husband a girl could ask for. He has been so great through all of this and I'm so lucky to have him in my life. Anyway, like I said in my last post... life is a climb, and I'm going to enjoy it, good or bad.

~Life...It's A Climb~

I've been wanting to blog about this last weekend for a few days, and just simply have not had the had the time. This weekend was the long awaited convention for World Financial Group. I pretty much had mixed feelings about going, mostly because Thursday I had the flu and was still not feeling 100% and the convention required me to get up much earlier than normal. However, I decided that it should be worth the effort. Boy was I wrong...it was 20 times worth the effort. It completely shattered any expectations I had. I've never experienced anything like it; and suffice it to say, it changed my life. You may be thinking, how could something that you just for 10 hrs actually change your life...well...it completely changed the way I view my world. I have never been so inspired, never been so moved and so motivated to succeed. These people who spoke to us have succeeded at things that I still have a hard time comprehending, and yet, they are not unwilling to share all their secrets. And what amazing secrets they have! My favorite part of the convention was when Steven Siebold came and spoke to us about how to be mentally tough. There were so many things that he brought up that i never thought about, and realized that these were some of the major reasons that I haven't been succeeding to the level that I would like. Yes...it is no one's fault but my own. I've never really been one to blame my problems on someone else, but when something happens that stops my progress that is simply a lack of education on my part, it's hard to accept full responsibility for it. The key to success is being mentally tough, something that the majority of people don't know how to, let alone want to, do. This is what I'm absolutely determined to be...and in the meantime, if I work hard, I will be successful. We had another main leader come and talk to us that was also very powerful. He hit on a lot of the mentally tough points, but he also had some other really great key points. He told a story of a guy he met in Mexico that lived in one of the roughest, most destitute parts of Mexico. This man had to constantly dig for fresh water, and as a result, lost his wife and children to dehydration because the water was not clean enough and made his family sick. next to where he lived was a road and only 15 miles from this road was a city that had fresh water. This man had lived in the same place for 70 years and NEVER tried to find a better way of life. When the speaker asked this man why he never traveled the road, he responded that people die on that road. The speaker responded, how do you know? have you ever been on it? The man responded that he hadn't, but that everyone knows that specific road is not safe. This really got me thinking and of course the speaker pointed this out as well...but how many times do we settle for the life we're living when only 15 miles down the road is a much better life? How many times do I get too scared to take a risk that will improve not only my life, but also the lives of the people around me? The next thing this speaker brought up is the fact that none of us know exactly how long we're going to be in this world. We don't know when our time is up, so we should procrastinate starting our success journey. He said that life is a climb and that we should enjoy every moment of it, good or bad. For me, the time is now to make a change...a change in my attitude that will essentially change the course of my life. 2010 is going to be a great year...it's already had its share of trials, but there is the light of success at the end of the tunnel...and I'm in a race to get to that light!!!