I am scuba certified

Last Thursday I finished the last 3 of my 5 scuba certification classes. It went really well! It was so much fun!
Our final scuba classes were held up at the Homestead Crater. For our Saturday class, I car pooled with Kiersten and Keenan. We had to leave at 4:15 am to be there on time. We were in the water around 6 am. The water in the crater was about 92 degrees. Which sounds really nice, but when you are under the water 20 mins each time, it starts to get really hot. We were scheduled to do 3 dives that day. Each dive was 20 mins and then we sat out of the water 20 mins in between.

When we first went down 20 feet to the "platform" (which is just piping held together in a square shape) I got motion sickness. It was sickening to see the others in my class floating. It really does something to your depth perception. So between with the extreme heat, motion sickness and not eating that day, I got really sick to my stomach and very light headed. In my head I was just counting down until I could get out of the water and wondering how I was going to finish the rest of the dives.

Once the first dive was over, I had to sit out the 2nd dive because I couldn't sit up. I laid on the platform praying for my head to stop spinning. I forced myself to do the 3rd dive. It was a little better, not much. On that day, I filled my mask partially and had to drain it. I did an emergency out of air assent and compass work.

Needless to say, I was nervous for Thursday's 3 dives. I was hoping it wouldn't be as bad as my first attempt at the crater. The swimming pools sessions for all our lessons were great and so much fun! I wasn't expecting to not like the crater. I decided to be more prepared for the heat by making sure I was hydrated. I ate a good meal before and took motion sickness medicine an hour before hand.

The diving was great! I loved it! Each time we were down, it wasn't long enough, I wanted to stay down longer! The first dive I had to completely take my mask off and put it back in. It was very easy and didn't make me nervous at all. Which was a blessing, because that was the reason I almost didn't take the classes, because at first I couldn't clear my mask without chocking on water. I also did a buddy assent, switch out regulator, use buddy breathing, pivot on fins, etc.

The instructor didn't pay attention to time, so our first dive that should have lasted only 20 min's, actually ended up lasting closer to 40. We had to shorten our 2nd dive to 10 mins. On our 3rd dive, the instructors took us down to the bottom of the crater, 60 feet. I thought it would be scary, because it was kinda dark in there, but it wasn't scary at all. It took me longer to get down than the rest because I was having trouble clearing my right ear. I finally got down and the rest had already been down to bottom and were doing their rest time at 40 feet. The instructor sent them back up to 20 feet to wait for us and took me down to the bottom. It was cool and I was proud of myself that I made it. I was proud of myself that I was able to overcome my fear and enjoy it.

I love my split fins. I spent an hour in the scuba shop with my instructors and some of my class mates trying to decide between a normal fin and a split fin. I also love my purge mask. I am very glad I didn't get the traditional mask. My 13 year old wants to get the certified and earn the scuba merit badge. I'm a little nervous about having my kid under water, but I might as well. Dave, Jon, Kaylyn, Jason, Kiersten, Keenan and now myself are all scuba certified. Tyler said he might even try it.

 

The two guys were our instructors. Kenny Hanson from our ward & his work partner.

  Keenan & Kiersten

One thing after another (Summer 2012)

This has been a hard summer. When it rains it always seems to pour. But our family is surviving all that is coming our way. First Dave got in a minor wreck with our semi. He warned that problems always come in 3's. I never guessed the 2nd one would ever be a problem, I was shocked when I lost my job. I tend to worry about things, but that was one thing I never worried about. 3rd I blew up my car engine by not having oil in it. $4000 later I have my car back. Then our basement started to flood again.We recent found the solution to that problem.

Through it all David has been my rock. He really is rather amazing. He does not show stress and he handles stress much better than I do. I am learning to be patient and trying to learn what the lord has planned for me and my family. As long as we are together as a family I feel we can work through it.

Here's praying for sunnier days.

Scout Campouts (June 29, 2012)

Will and Tyler both had a scout campout on the same night. Will's involved a mile hike where Tyler's was in his leaders back yard. Both boys had a great time! At church the next Sunday we heard that both groups were up pretty late, so I wonder how much sleep the leaders actually got. This was Tyler's first ever scout camp. Will wasn't ultra thrilled to be backpacking, but I loaned him all my expensive, ultra light backpacking stuff, to make it easier for him to do the hike. Camping fun!

Basement Flooding part 2 (June 2012)

I call this part 2, because if you recall, our flooding started last year in July and now a year later we are finally finding it's source! My poor husband dug up part of our front lawn and also on the side of the house. Remember our ground is clay, so it is very hard to dig! He dug really deep and we still couldn't find where the water was leaking. Finally one day I went to check on the water heater and found that room was flooding as well. When I told Dave, he was able to quickly figure out that we had a spring under our house that was causing the flooding, not the sprinkling system. We found the hole in the ground that was put in our basement when the house was build was full of water! Dave put in a sump pump and the rest of our basement quickly dried up! We have pumped thousands and thousands of gallons of water out of our basement! I found out that my scuba teacher neighbor who lives at the end of the street has 3 sump pumps in his basement. Smart idea... So we are very grateful that it only cost $150 for a sump pump instead of thousands to get a plumber.

Will getting Star ranking in scouts (June 27, 2012)

 

I am so happy for this day! Will and I have put a lot of work into getting his Eagle scout. He is one step closer. He was awarded his Star rank. We have already earned his Life ranking and are just waiting for the time limit. He only has 2 more elective badges to go and then he will have all his badges he needs for his Eagle, with the exception of the camping merit badge, but that is a troop badge and there is nothing I can do for it, so basically all the badges I need to help with will be done!

Cute little baby birds (June 20, 2012)

 

This year we are the proud owners of trees that have been the home to baby birds! I discovered a pretty big nest in one of our front trees that was the home to 4 baby Magpies!  I would get a wake up call every morning from the little birds. They can be quite loud. We also have another family of baby birds that decided the heat vent from our house would the perfect place to build a nest. The Magpies were fun to watch. We got to watch them learn how to fly. They would jump from branch to branch. They looked a little drunk because they hadn't learned the art of flying gracefully yet. I was sad to see them leave, but hopefully next year one of them will use the nest again and we will have new baby birds!

Happy Father's Day (June 19, 2012)

For Father's Day, I decided to surprise Dave with a new computer chair. Here is his old, ugly chair. .  .

And here is picture of Will putting together his new chair. Tasha and Mariana did their best to help by climbing into everything.

 

  

I must admit that I like sitting in it better than the old one. I was going to take the old chair to the D.I., but Tyler was quick to claim it as his. 

Dave you are an amazing father and ga- papa. I hope my children grow up to be just like you. You have such a great love for your family. You are a great provider. I couldn't ask for a better man to be mine.You take care of every single need and want that I have. It's as if you can read my mind at times. I don't know how to express to you how absolutely proud I am of you. How proud I am to be your wife. You work so hard and come home an work hard at home. You are the smartest man I know. I love you with all my being.

My Dad was out of town with my Mom for Father's day, so I wasn't able to visit him. He is the perfect example for more on how I need to be if I want to make it to the Celestial Kingdom one day. I have no doubt he has made it. My Dad has a heart of gold and if selfless in helping others. He doesn't even think twice. He listens to the spirit and acts. I love you Dad. I am grateful for all the things you have taught me. I love your spiritual stories you have shared with me. I hope to one day be like you.

My Father in law is also an amazing man. I only hope to have as much energy that he has at his age! He is such a hard worker. I think my husband personal strives to be like his Dad. Romney is also very given and has personal helped my family in so many ways! For him allowing us to buy trucks has been a life line for my family. I am very lucky to have the loving in-laws that I have. They are so good to my children as well!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Tyler and cousin Toby sleep over (June 16, 2012)

Look at how Tyler and Toby slept for the night. When I first checked in on them, Tyler had his butt on the ground and only his head on the couch. I ran to get my camera and when I came back he had moved. I still think it is cute. Doesn't look very comfortable if you ask me. I wonder how late they actually stayed up playing the x-box. Then again, maybe I don't really want to know.

Will piano recital (June 5, 2012)

 

William did a great job for his piano recital! He has had a lot of recitals lately. It's good for him to get used to performing in front of people. 

Father and Son (June 3, 2012)

Look at the position Cameryn is in when he fell asleep! We were playing Phase 10 as a family and Jason was holding Cameryn. It was so cute I had to get a picture. Jason is a great Dad to both his son's! I love watching him raise his family. The biggest wish a parent could have for their child is that they are happy.

Play date with the Bucks (June 1, 2012)

Will and I drove out to have a play date with Marcy, Coby and Cameryn. We stopped at a pretty little park to feed the birds and then went to Mcdonald's to play. It was really nice to have one on one time with their family! Cameryn is getting so big so fast! I swear that little guy is going to be walking any day! Afterwards we went over to their apartment. I was able to see some of Marcy's crafts for the first time. She is really good at making things! I love all the pictures she has hanging on her wall. Anybody that knows me well, knows I love pictures! We also were able to go and see "Madagascar" together this summer and go swimming a couple times at Grandma Bucks house. It's been nice to be able to see them more!

Coby Kindergarten Graduation (May 31, 2012)

Coby graduated from Kindergarten and is ready to start 1st grade! It was fun to watch how excited he was and how happy was to have his family there to support him. We love Coby and are very glad he is in our life! Congrats!!

Will band concert (May 29, 2012)

It's hard to see, but this is Will at his last band concert for the year. He did a great job! Next year he is going to continue playing the clarinet.

Hill Air Force Base Show (May 26, 2012)

 

Tyler and Dallen next to the HUGE aircraft carrier! 

Inside the carrier

 

Tyler in a tank

 

Tyler and Dallen playing with weapons (their favorite thing we saw)

I was so excited to go see the show at Hill Air Force Base. I remember my parent's taking me when I was a child and seeing the Thunder Birds. I took Tyler and his friend Dallen. We went with my Dad, sister Becca and her 2 kids. Thank heaven we got a parking space that wasn't terribly far away from the entrance. We waiting in a huge line to get through the metal detectors and then found my Dad. On our way to the chairs my Dad set out (front row) to see the air show, we stopped and saw some of the planes and stuff on the way. It was really cool! I spoke to several member of the air force who told me about their job. I felt awe for the guy I spoke to who was a bomb technician. What a scary job. I am so proud to be an American and have such brave men and women who defend our freedom!

About 10 min's after these pictures were taken it started to down pour! We were all drenched within min's. I did not have one dry spot on my entire body! I really wanted to stay, so we waited a good 30 min's to see if the weather would get better. Well, it only got worse. Tyler was upset over the weather and freaked out. He wanted to leave immediately. So it was sad, but I gave it up and left. It seemed like a long time walking back to Becca's car (we car pooled). Thousands of people were trying to leave at the same time. We almost ran out of gas waiting in Becca's car for the car's to move!

All in all, it was fun. My Dad stayed and waited it out. Bless his heart, he had all our chairs and had to make 3 trips to his car to get them all back. He loved us so he did it for us, because we had 4 crying, wet kids. I'm going to try it again when they do it next time, so pray for no rain!

Toy Room (May 18, 2012)

My toy room is done! It is so nice to have a room to store all the toys and other junk! Yea!!

Tasha love (May 2012)

We all love my 3 legged cat Tasha. She is so crazy! She loves to plop her butt on and in anything and everything! If you open it, she will climb in it and good luck getting her out. The boys spent 2 weeks with their Dad for the summer. At the same time, I went with Dave on the semi truck to California and Montana. Tasha went nuts without us. When we got home, she was all over us. Gotta love her!

Buck Trucking Truck #2 (May 1, 2012)

This is a picture of our 2nd truck! I am so excited to have my step-son Jason working for us! Jason looks just like his Dad and works just as hard. Dave loves having his son work with him. You can just hear the pride in his voice whenever he talks about working with his son. We put Jason's childhood name from Dave on the side of the truck "Pipsi." Dave loves whenever they get loads to the same place and they can go together! Jason was so nice and let me have his cushiony seat that I have been begging Dave to buy me. I got to try it out on my trip to California and Montana with Dave this summer on the truck. It felt great on my bum!

This is a picture of Dave's truck after we had some repair work done on the hood. Look how clean and pretty it looks. It never last long before the bugs take it over, so I have to enjoy the clean truck while I can.

It really is a blessing we got Jason when we did. I kept getting this strong feeling that we needed to get Jason on now. I would ask Dave over and over if he had talked to his Dad yet about us purchasing our 2nd truck. Finally it all fell into place right before the boys left for the yearly onion run in California (they are gone for about 3 weeks to do the onion run). Literally I lost my job within weeks of us getting Jason. I feel Heavenly Father was looking out for us, because having one other truck helped us to survive without my paycheck. I feel as if the lord is truly watching over us. We love ya Jason and are very proud of you!

Happy 13th Birthday Will (May 1, 2012)

Will with his presents

Kiersten and Kanyon came out to celebrate with Will

Mariana and Kaylyn also came over to celebrate

Wow! I can not believe my Will is 13 years old! Time goes by too fast! It gets me sad to think of him growing up and leaving me one year to go on a mission! How do parent's ever part with their kids. Dave tells me it comes natural and though it's sad, you are ready for it. I just can't imagine having that mind set yet! Will has had a great year! At the end of year testing for school, in math, for Will's math teacher, he was the only one to get 100% on the test! He ended math at 120% for end of term. His end of school year grade average was around a 3.85! He is still taking piano and clarinet lessons. He loves to play on the computer and is very friendly. Happy Birthday Will!

Hubby scar # too high to count (April 25, 2012)

Babysitting Fun (Summer 2012)

We use to babysit our sweet little Mariana Tuesday's and Thursday's. Now we are lucky enough to be able to watch her Monday's, Wednesday's & Friday's. We get such pure joy from babysitting our Grand kids. I keep saying this, but it's true. Here are some pictures of our fun time with Mariana this summer. Love you girl!