SKYDIVING (3 months later)

So the reason I haven't blogged recently is because I wanted to blog this particular subject before I did anything else. I had some complications with the video, but Michael figured it out for me in a matter of seconds... this makes me feel like an old lady, "What's a URL?"

Anyway... my birthday was back in July and Michael kept saying he had a birthday surprise for me. I kept trying to get hints from him but he is a vault! He told me he would tell me what the surprise was the day before.
The day finally came and he told me the big news... he was taking me skydiving! I could hardly believe it. In fact, I didn't believe it... I think it was such a surprise that it didn't seem real to me. It wasn't until we were driving up to Ogden that I began to realize that this adventure was indeed happening! As we got closer to the area I started to become a little nervous. We got to the hanger, and we were able to watch other divers for about an hour before I jumped. It was actually nice because it calmed my nerves to see everyone have so much fun and arrive safely.

The time came, and I got all suited up (in a sweet Little Mermaid jumpsuit with Flounder on the pantleg). Dude, I was ready to go! I swear, it was another 15 minutes of waiting, so the anticipation made me a bit nervous again.

About 5 other jumpers loaded into a small plane with me and we started our flight up. We basically climbed to our height by taking big circles up to stay over the landing sight. I LOVED the flight up. We were right right above the mountains, and I could see the whole valley. I don't know if it's because of flying with my mom so often, but this was completely peaceful to me which calmed any nerves I had collected.

So in this tiny little plane there was only a plastic door that rolled up and down. Next to the door was a red and green light. My instructor jumping with me (Keegan) told me we were about ready to go, and before I knew it- the light turned green, the plastic door rolled up and people starting falling out of the plane! Before I had time to realize it, we had scooted up to the opening and my toes were over the edge. Keegan did a quick countdown before we jumped! It was crazy!!!! The initial fall was the scariest because I was falling upside down which meant I couldn't see the horizon or ground, leaving me a little disoriented. Once we turned around, it was sa-weeeeeet! We were free falling for about 60 seconds. It was crazy, because I didn't really feel like I was falling, it was just VERY windy! :)

Keegan then pulled the parachute and we coasted to the ground for about 7 minutes. It was one of the most incredible things. The Salt Lake Valley is so beautiful! One of my favorite things we did is when Keegan had me look up to the parachute. He then was able to tilt it so we were at an angle where I could see the Horizon and the top of the parachute at the same time. He pulled these awesome 360s so I could see the entire horizon! This view was beyond anything I can describe. When he would pull out of it, the chute would swing us up, and as we fell back into our harnesses, it gave the most incredible sensation of being weightless! It was by far one of the most fantastic things I have ever experienced!!!

This next part makes me laugh... we were only about 20 seconds away from the ground when Keegan says, "Now we're gonna talk about the landing..." Ummm... isn't this something we should have discussed before I leapt out of a plane? Apparently not, as all I had to do was lift my legs straight out in front of me so I could land on my butt. Once I was on the ground my legs felt like jelly as they were full of adrenaline! Michael said my entire body was shaking when I gave him a hug. I didn't even notice as I was still on a high.

To say the least the entire experience was... AMAZING! It is something I have always wanted to do, and is definitely something I will remember for a lifetime. Thanks Michael for making my 26th birthday so memorable. I love you!

Chelsey Hadley Skydiving in July 2009 from qbd3v14nt on Vimeo.

WICKED!!!!!

Michael is wonderful and surprised me with Wicked tickets as my Christmas present. We went and saw it this last Sunday and it was fabulous!!!! The performers had beautiful voices. Every time Elphaba had a solo I got the chills. Oh, it was just so magnificent. The picture to the left is before the play from our sweet seats in the Orchestra. How pimp is that dragon? (The dragon above, not the devilishly handsome dragon on my arm. Rarrrr!)
This picture to the right is during the intermission. Yes, that is me beaming! Elphaba just finished singing "Defying Gravity" and it was beyond spectacular! I love how she hovers over the stage with the lighting. Oh mann.. LOVE IT! Oh and how nice of you to notice. Yes, I am wearing green eyeshadow. Just my little homage to Wicked for the night. Good eye Blogger Reader... Good eye!

These next two pictures are from when the power went out right before the song, "For Good". Those poor girls. Elphaba grabs Glinda in the middle of their dialouge and everything goes dark! The emergency lights come on over the stage and the girls kinda stand there for a moment before testing to see if their microphones works. They don't. The crowd applauds, and the girls do an awkward little move before running off stage. They dropped the current but had everything going within 5 minutes. They recovered flawlessly and "For Good" was perfect! The first picture was taken with "no flash" the 2nd was on some kind of night setting. Whoa.... You know those girls who can make goofy faces and yet still look adorable? Yeah, I'm not that girl.

Here is the end of our magical evening. I was sad to have it over, but I will remember every moment! I feel so blessed to see such an amazing production in London and again in Salt Lake. Thank you for such a thoughtful gift Michael! I loved it!

Swim Lessons

I have never been fond of the idea of swimming. Ever since I was a kid I just didn't quite trust being completely enveloped by water to then emerge alive and breathing.
As you can imagine, I was teased considerably (mostly be my siblings) for never learning how to swim. When I say I don't know how to swim, let me clarify that I dont know how to swim. I can't do the doggy paddle, the floating in water thing or really being submerged at all. It just plain terrifies me. I decided it might be a good idea to conquer a fear and build upon my self-esteem a little bit. After many hours of "shopping around" I signed up for swim lessons. I know... terrifying right?
Today was my first day at 7:45 on a Saturday morning! Now that's dedication! When I first got there, I'll admit I kinda questioned what I was thinking. I was first instructed to put my face under water and blow bubbles. I was pretty pleased with myself until my instructor, Ezra, said, "Let's try to go a little longer, about 10 seconds worth." Is he crazy?! I can't even say how unnatural "breathing" under water is. ::shudder:: Once I kinda got use to that, I was surprised how quickly I was able to progress. During that 1 hour I was able to float on my stomach while blowing bubbles in the water. With the assistance of a kick board I could swim on my belly blowing bubbles once again. At the very end of the lesson I was full on swimming on my back! I swam about 5 laps on my back until the session was over.
Dude, I rock! I am so proud of myself and can hardly believe it. If anyone would have told me a year ago what I would have accomplished today in such a short session I would have laughed... LAUGHED right in thier face.
So I have additional swim lessons over the next few Saturdays and I am very excited about it... although I still hope I don't die. That would be a major bummer.

What a tease!

I had a dream last night that I was sitting at Cougar Stadium enjoying some killer BYU football and just plain loving life! How could you not? Football makes everything better! Before I knew it, my alarm went off and it was time for work. Sad. I wasn't too tired, and got up with considerable ease. I got ready and was very pleased to do so in my recently cleaned and spotless room. :: sigh :: Nothing like a nice clean room to give you piece of mind. It's so refreshing! I finished getting ready and felt really cute. I could tell it was just one of those days where I was on my game. I was lookin good! I came into work when suddenly...

My alarm REALLY went off. Yeah, all of that "getting up with ease" crap was also a figment of my imagination as is real football in April. I woke up to find I had not actually woke up and did not do morning routine. My room was in fact the same whirlwind of a pig stye and now I would have to get up "again" which is the worse part of any day. It took a lot to drag my tired bones out of bed to only look in the mirror and see... well, not as cute of a Chelsey that had been envisioned mere moments before.

And to top it all off, BYU football is still 138 days away.

Damn my imagination! If only it weren't so vivid!

Wit-Woo! (You know... like a cat call whistle...)

Last night I had a dream that I had these killer legs with these freakin' huge, muscular calves that just rocked ass! They looked good... I mean... REALLY good! I was showing them off to everyone and strutting my stuff. I'd be like, "Hey... you wanna see something?" then BAM! I'd bust out a leg and give a little flex so they could see the work of art I was walking around on. Then I woke up this morning to my puny white chicken legs that I've always had.

It was pretty depressing actually.