Scary Realities...

The picture to the left is one of Josie and I when she was visiting. We took it right off the Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu. She recently sent me several pictures and I thought this was a cute one! Kinda makes me shudder at the same time because she is half the size of me... but what can ya do! :) She is itty bitty!

So, my mind is all over the place. I recently found out that an old friend, Matt- who is known to all my friends as "Father Coles" was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer. I know that death is something that is a natural part of life, and you would think that as a member of the church, with the knowledge that I have, that I would be ok with the thought of his death. But I'm not. In fact, I'm quite angry. I don't understand why this has to happen to someone A) Who has never smoked a cigarette in the day of his life and B) Who is just starting his life. He found out about the cancer after being married a mere week. All I can do is pray for him. It is all in the Lord's hand and I have to try to keep an eternal persepctive of things, but it is so incredibly hard.

Totally off the subject, but I got a book the other day that is EXCELLENT. I think every single girl and woman needs to read it. Jeffrey R Holland and Susan Tanner (The Young Women general President) wrote it. It is a small book- one that you can read in about 20 minutes. It is called "Modesty, Makeovers, and the Pursuit of Physical Beauty- What mothers and daughters need to know". There is one quote in the beginning of the book by Jeffrey R Holland that I love. Here is what he said

"I want you to be proud you are a woman. I want you to feel the reality of what that means, to know who you truly are. You are literally a spirit daughter of heavenly parents with a divine nature and an eternal destiny. That surpassing truth should be fixed deep in your soul and be fundamental to every decision you make as you grow into mature womanhood. There could never be a greater authentication of your dignity, your worth, your privileges, and your promise. Your Father in heaven knows your name and he knows your circumstances. He hears your prayers. He knows your hopes and dreams, including your fears and frusturations. And He knows what you can become through faith in Him."

The book is great- if you don't have it- it's nine bucks and definitely worth it. I have sometimes have issues with how I look or paranoid when the scale says something I don't like. But there are times when I am SHOT back into reality. The reality of life is that your body is temporary. It is mortal. We will get arthritis, spider veins, and wrinkles. Then we will die. These are the facts of life. Why am I spending time obsessing over my makeup when there are people, like my friend Matt, who's own body is cancer-ridden. I'm sure he would take ANY body right now- thin, fat, covered in acne, you name it- as long as it was healthy. So, I am not resolving to just try and be healthy. Because I have a friend DYING right now, and it makes me feel pretty darn superficial to be excited about the package I got in the mail from Sephora yesterday.

Moving on..this is getting to be quite long. We all went to Catalina last weekend. Scott and Shon (our brother-in-law) and Scotts Step-Dad all went scuba diving. Shannon and I stayed up top to watch the boat. I was caking on the SPF 60 and am happy to say, was the only one of the group that is currently not peeling. (Why SPF 60? See above paragraph regarding cancer.) Anyway, the water was absolutely freezing. At one point in the day I did jump in, in my tankini, and almost died of shock. Scott was in the water too, in his FULL wetsuit. Here is a picture to prove it... The water is quite pretty, I must admit!
Now, part of the reason I am in the water was because SCOTT ALMOST DIED, but I am not even going to go into that story. Too long and scary. :) To make a long story short his wetsuit almost strangled him. So, while the boys were scuba diving Shannon and I sat up top, read People, and worried about the boat drifing into the rocks. We were anchored down pretty well, but if we started drifting, it was OUR job to start up the boat and move it. Thank goodness that never happened, or we could have had a disaster on our hands! Here are some more pictures from Catalina!

Above is Shannon taking a picture of me, as I was taking a picture of her!

To the left is Shon (brother in law) and Tim (step-dad)..

The right is Scott as he's about to hop on in!!

The left is me as I am taking a picture back at Shannon..

We had a fun trip. And to top it all off, on the way to and from Long Beach to Catalina, about halfway there, there some type of buoy thing in the middle of the water where all the sea lions would go and lay out in the sun. We circled around them and I, of course, am hanging over the side of the boat trying to talk to them like they are dogs. Those sea lions are mean little suckers! But, we got so close up- it was better than Sea World!!