Fun Date Night

Last night Adam and I had a unique and fun date night. We went sky diving and rock climbing! Well, sort of. In Ogden there is a sky diving simulation tunnel called iFly. There are only 6 in the US. We were lucky enough to get two free tickets for the one here. We had to do a 30-minute training class before hand and then we were each going to be able to do two jumps. We got all geared up and were ready to go in the tunnel with our instructor.

Adam went first, and after a couple seconds got the hang of it and was flying around the tunnel. Next was my turn and I was pretty excited. I've never had a fear of heights (which is good because there was only a little net beneath you so all the air could get through and push you up. It was quite the drop beneath the net!). I was having fun flying for about 30 seconds when I realized I couldn't breath. The 85mph air pushing me up felt like it was choking me so I signaled my instructor I needed to get down. When he got me down I explained I was having a hard time breathing, so he explained when you're sky diving you can't breath through your nose, you have to breath through your mouth (that would have been good to know ahead of time). Anyway, he had me jump back in and I finished out my first flight. It was fun, but it was still hard for me to breath (my history of asthma probably didn't help).

Adam then went again and this time the instructor grabbed onto him (there were handles on our jumping suits) and they went spinning in circles and way high up the tunnel. It was pretty cool to watch and Adam says pretty fun. When it was time for my second jump I decided I wasn't ready to fight breathing again so I just asked if Adam could take my second jump, which he was happy to do. On Adam's third jump the instructor showed him how to do some flips. It was pretty cool, but one time Adam almost flipped out of the tunnel, but the instructor caught him.

All in all the sky diving experience was pretty fun. Next time though, I'll be better prepared to breath properly, and we'll get pictures so we can post them!

We were also lucky enough to get free tickets to a rock climbing place, so we headed there next. The instructor taught us how to belay for each other, which was pretty cool. Adam climbed first and went all the way to the top, which was about three or four stories up. He climbed so fast I had a hard time keeping up with him and keeping a tight rope. The first time I brought him down pretty slow because I was afraid to drop him. We switched and I started climbing. I made it about half way up and realized my arms are weak! I couldn't figure out where to go from there so I had him bring me down (which he did much more quickly than I had brought him down). I rested a minute & started climbing again. This time Adam helped me figure out which grips to hold on to. Thankfully he is a much better belayer than me, so I didn't get as tired. I made it almost all the way to the top, but my arms were finally too tired to be able to use the tiny grips at the top (the grips got harder the farther up you went).

After that Adam jumped up and climbed a new route. Again I had a hard time keeping up with him (especially since my forearms were tired from climbing myself a few minutes before) He went on a much tougher climb this time around, but he was still able to do it really well. When he was done, I brought him down a lot faster (sometimes, a little too fast I have to admit). In the end, I realized I really need to build my upper body strength more! My legs did totally fine and didn't even come close to giving out, but arms were a whole other story.

Anyway, fun date night! And the best part, it was free! Can't beat free tickets!

Our Mother's Day Weekend

First I just want to say, happy Mother's Day to all you Mother's out there. I know a few people who this Mother's day probably meant a lot to them since it was their first as a Mother, so a special happy Mother's Day to you (Teresa, KrisAn, Golda, love ya!). And of course, an extra special happy Mother's Day to the wonderful women who brought me and Adam into the world, we love you Moms!

Since this is a weekend that is usually pretty hard for me, Adam and I planned a fun weekend trip with his parents and brother. We went camping in Marysvale Utah (I had never heard of it before, but luckily Adam's Dad had). We stayed at this cute little place called Pine Creek Cabins. They technically weren't even open yet, but they busted their butts to get the cabins ready in time so we could stay. We were their first customers ever!

For those of you, who like me, have never heard of Marysvale, it's a cute small town in South Eastern Utah, and it's along the Piute ATV trails. In the late 1800s, early 1900s, it was a booming mining community, with other little communities all around it. Thousands used to live there, and now there are only hundreds.

Since we were only there for the weekend, we kept it pretty simple. We went 4-wheeling, hiking, and biking. The first day we went on an ATV trail up to a point where we got off and hiked to some waterfalls, which was pretty cool. But the coolest part was on the way back we went through the old Miner's town in the middle of the mountain (now a total ghost town) and found some new family history from the Dalton family. In the little ghost town was the Dalton Cabin and the Dalton Mine. It was really cool to find this little place with family history for Adam's family that no one in his family previously knew existed. It's only accessible by ATVs, so if we had never gone there, we would probably still not know it was there. We'll have to take our kids there someday so they can see that part of their family history.

I don't know why exactly, but I found the whole ghost town absolutely fascinating. There were tons of abandoned homes, and a huge abandoned lodge that was so cool looking. I just couldn't believe so many people would walk away from those things. It's really quite sad when you think about it.

Anyway, it was a pretty good weekend, with the exception of my weird minor injuries. After a bike ride the first night, I decided I needed to do push ups against the cabin deck, and my feet slipped from underneath me and I ended up injuring my wrist. Then the next day on our way back from 4-wheeling, I got stung in the neck by a bee (which I happen to be allergic to). I normally never carry any allergy medicine with me, because even though I'm allergic to bee stings, I usually get them on my arm or leg and all that happens is the sting area swells up to the size of a softball or baseball. Looks funny, but no big deal. However, having a sting on my neck swell up that large is dangerous because then it blocks my air passage. So, after I got stung, I sped back to the cabin (in a complete panic because I could feel the inside of my throat swelling up and I was having a hard time breathing). I really didn't know what to do, but Adam's parents went and got me Benedryl (a cream to put on it topically and the pills to take internally). Then Adam and John gave me a blessing. Pretty quickly after, the swelling in my neck went down and I started to feel fine. Whether from the Benedryl or the blessing, who knows for sure, but I'm grateful for both.

So, even though I was kind of cranky during the trip, it was still a good one and I'm glad we went. And in case you were wondering, my wrist is fine now and the bee sting is now only a little bump, like a bug bite, on my neck.

Don't Judge Me, from Melissa

There are some topics people should never judge others on, and one of those is the topic of children. Lets face it, some people are not cut out for children, some people simply do not want children, some people want children and have a difficult or impossible time getting pregnant, and some are baby making machines and can get pregnant at the flip of switch. I am a big believer in having children at the right time in a relationship, not just because others think you should.

In my not-so-humble opinion, someone should not get pregnant just because they are married. And there is no rule that says, you have been married a year, or two, or three, so now you MUST get pregnant. You may have your opinion, but mine is that bringing a child into this world is a big decision and can and should only be made between the couple conceiving the child and God. Only they are in the right place to know if now is the right time to have a child.

Why do I bring this up you ask, because I am a little sick of people's judgments passed on me. Yes, I have been married 3 and a half years and I am not pregnant. My husband is in his 30s and I am quickly approaching mine and still no children. We have a great marriage and we would both be pretty good parents in my opinion with lots of loving, supportive family and friends nearby, and still, no children. We both love children, are good with children, and want to have multiple children, but still, we have none.

So, I get the questions all the time, “Why don't you have kids yet?” “So are you and Adam ever going to have kids?” and so on. First, I honestly do not like answering these questions in the first place. It is really no one's business unless we decide we want to make it their business, on our own, without their prodding. However, just to set the record straight, and so I can hopefully stop getting hurt and frustrated by these questions, we don't have kids yet because my body has not allowed us to. Yes, we prevented pregnancy for the first year and a half or so of marriage, but we have done nothing to prevent pregnancy for almost two years now. Infact, we've tried watching calendars and all the other stuff to help me get pregnant, which are all pretty much useless with the medical conditions I have.

So people, please stop asking me when I'm going to have a baby. It breaks my heart every time I'm asked the questions, and I'm too nice to say to your face, none of your business. If I could have a baby, I would have one by now. I know God isn't preventing me from getting pregnant because “it must not be the right time” or “maybe I'm not really ready for a baby” or “maybe I'll be a bad parent.” I get that, I don't like it, but I get it.

I'm sure someday, in some way, I'll have children. But for now, I live my life today and plan for my future tomorrow. Maybe we'll do foster care, maybe we'll do adoption, maybe we'll do all kinds of fertility treatments and pay thousands of dollars trying to get pregnant with or without luck, but whatever we do, don't judge us. It's our decision to make.