~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!!!

~Twi-Lite~

Friday night was date night for me and the hubby. We don't get to go out too often, so it's always a ton of fun when we do. We doubled with my parents, and went to see "Twi-lite-I once was a teenage vampire." I don't know how many of you have seen this, but let me just say...I loved it! I'm definitely one who prefers Desert Star Theater over most other theaters, but out the the many plays that I've seen there, this one is by far the best. The actors are so talented and so quick to come up with lines when things go wrong. We were laughing so hard by the end of the play...so if you haven't seen it, I would recommend it!