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On Friday, Jason dropped me off at my house and said, “sweetie, go straight to bed because I have an adventure planned for us tomorrow, and the only catch is, I need to pick you up at 5:20am!”

Anyone who knows me, knows I only have one 5 o’clock in my day and it’s in the PM. He told me it would be worth it so I agreed; little did I know that soon he’d be making my dreams come true.

At 5:20am we jumped in the car and the adventure began. We got on the freeway and started heading North on I-15 as if we were going to Salt Lake. Keep in mind I have no idea where we are going, what we are doing, or what the plan was for the day. This never happens. Seriously. I always find out surprises and keeping one from me is a pretty tough job.

Instead of staying on I-15 going North bound, he exited the freeway and started heading East towards Parley’s Canyon. At this point Jason looked over at me and said,

“Do you want to know where we are going?”

I said, “Yes.”

He said, “There’s a sale up at the Park City outlets and the first people to arrive get FREE iPhones!”

I said, “Ha, yeah right! Like you’d have any idea if the outlets were having a sale!”

For someone who already has the new iPhone, I knew that this would never be the reason to get him up at 5:00am on a Saturday.

As we approached Park City we did take the Outlet exit, however, we didn’t go shopping.

Instead, we pulled into a parking lot where there was a truck with a trailer attached. Jason got out of the car and approached the truck and introduced himself. It turns out the guy he was meeting would be a big part of our adventure.

After introductions, we all jumped back into our cars and followed the truck over to a huge open field. As we pulled in, and as the trailer got unloaded, I started to realize that everything I could see looked like the makings of a hot air balloon! The only reason why I knew this was because Jason for the last 2 years has taken me to the balloon show down in Provo on the 4th of July. Just as I am putting all the pieces together he looks over at me and says,

“Do you want to know what we are doing today?” I anxiously said “yes!”

That’s when he said, we’re going on a hot air balloon ride! You can only imagine the freaking out that took place after!

With all the excitement going on, and just when I think it can’t get any better, Will (they guy taking us up in the sky) let us get in on all the action of setting up the balloon.

(Keep in mind I didn’t have time to “mentally prepare” for a balloon ride so I was really excited but a little nervous too. I mentally had to keep saying to myself, “baskets are really safe to stand in, I’m sure it’s weaved together really tight”. ” “I don’t know of anyone that has died in a hot air balloon ride, although I also don’t know of anyone that has ever been in one either!” Oh crap!

As we were getting our balloon set up, about 6 other teams arrived at the field. Summer is the peak season for balloon riding and the site we were at was a popular place for launching off. This turned out to be really cool because we got to have our own little balloon show! So fun.

Just as we were finishing getting ready, I started looking around and noticing that everyone else was going to have 6-12 people in there baskets however, our ride was only scheduled to have Jason, me, and our pilot. I honestly didn’t know if I should think that was awesome or be scared that no one else picked our pilot to take them on a ride!

Once we were were all set-up and the balloon was inflated and ready for lift off, we both climbed into the basket. Our balloon and several others began to peacefully float into the sky. As we began to ascend Jason was so excited. He was hanging over the sides, laughing, and pointing out tons of fun things on the ground.

About 300 or 400 feet off the ground he says to me,

“Sweetie come look at this, it’s amazing!”

As I look over towards the ground where he is pointing I see a huge banner that says,

“WILL YOU MARRY ME?”

I look at Jason and say,

“Cute! I wonder who is getting engaged today?”

That is when he looked back at me and said,

“It takes a little faith to climb into this hot air balloon together. We don’t really know which direction the winds will blow or where we will land. We don’t have a ton of experience and we’re not sure what to expect. But since we’re together, somehow we know it’s going to be just fine. We’re going to have a great ride.

That’s how I see our lives together. Even though I don’t know where our balloon will land, I know that wherever it does, I want you right by my side. You’re the best thing that has ever happened to me!”

Then he said,

“Will you marry me?”

He pulls out the ring and I said,

“YES!”

It was seriously AMAZING! We literally were “on cloud nine!”

Then we hear a shout from one of the other balloons asking,

“What did she say?!”

Our pilot yelled back,

“She said yes!”

Just then, the whole sky erupted with cheering and clapping from everyone that had taken off. To say it was amazing, spectacular, beautiful, or perfect would be a HUGE understatement; but it was.

And so our journey begins.

Surprise, we’re going on a balloon ride!

Jason, getting in on the set-up action.

“I wonder what she’ll say when we get up there?”

Me, right after the proposal.

Pure Joy.

Cheering from the other balloons!

A view from the top looking at Jordanelle Reservoir.

Looking at Brighton Ski Resort.

The happy, happy couple.

A little while ago Jas kept mentioning that he really wanted to go fishing.  I kept telling him that we should go, which didn’t really do any good since we didn’t own any poles.

Being the cute girl friend that I am, I set out on a quest to get us some fishing poles.  I went to a couple different sporting stores in order to gather some information on all the key items that we needed in order to have fun fishing day.  After some price comparing, and info gathering, it was time to make the purchase!

(note:  This was a big deal because I did all the research on my own, and my knowledge of this sport was zelch.)

Once I had purchased all the goods, I put together a cute little “fishing kit” and attached a little note to the end of the pole (which was hanging from some Fishing string) that said:  Sweetie, thanks for being such a great CATCH!

So cute right!

The best part is that I didn’t leave it for him at his house, or in his car, I delivered it to his office and one of the guys he works with delivered to him at his desk.  Sometimes you’ve just gotta bust out a special delivery to your man.

Yep, I caught that!

(with the help of Jason’s grandpa and dad).

Look how happy Jason’s grandpa is in the back.  That’s my favorite part!  It took me over 3 hours to catch this thing and he was helping me the whole time.  They were just as excited as I was!

Jas heading down to the lake.

Jason’s grandpa filleting the fish.  We really did eat them!

Thanks to Charlotte for cooking them for us!

This was our first 5k of the summer and did my finish time sure show it! Eeek! We hadn’t really be running at all so we decided to use this race and our times to help remind us why we should lace up our running shoes more often.

The race was a good one, pretty flat for the first bit, however after passing mile 1, we were all greeted with a pretty steep hill! Holy cow, that is not what you want to see when you haven’t been running for a while. After mile marker 2 it was back to flat and even ground and boy was I excited for that.

During my last mile I had a little moment that caused me to get huge crocodile tears in my eyes. Do you ever have moments like that during a race?

There was a brother and sister that were running in front of me. The brother was clearly older, maybe 14 or 15 and his littler sister was probably 8 or 9. She was tired and ready to give up on the race but her brother really didn’t want her to. He kept trying to cheer her on saying: “you can do it!” “we’re almost there” “just a mile to go” and “just think of how you’ll feel crossing the finish line knowing you made it!”

She just simply couldn’t go on and had to stop. Instead of him just leaving her there and continuing on the race without her he got in front of her, knelt down and said, “jump on! I’ll give you a piggy-back ride until you can run again!”

I’m not going to lie and this point I was kind of jealous and was wanting a big brother to give me a piggy-back ride too!

While watching them run the last mile came the tender thought came to mind that we all have a big brother who is willing to carry us. When the race of life becomes too much, when we just can’t go on any longer, our Savior is there cheering us on. He is ready, willing, and the only one who can kneel down and put us on his back until we are ready to run again.

I am so grateful for tender moments like this and just had to share.

Thanks for 5 days of rain, humidity, bad hair, and no cell phone service!

PS: I hope I don’t see you again soon.

Thank you for all the sky-miles that you give me for my loyalty.  I’ll happily redeem them for a FREE flight next time I am flying for fun.  Thank you for providing Wi-Fi on most of your flights.  This helps me stay connected even at 10,000 feet.  You’re right, the sky is no longer the limit.

However Delta, with all that good comes some bad.  I REALLY wish that you would make a dress code that was as strict as your security policy.  There is just something about flying that makes people think they should dress like they are still in bed!  No joke, some people that fly make the people at Wal-Mart look like they are going to the prom!

Is it to much to ask that all passengers where a bra, deodorant,  have brushed their teeth and hair, and have taken a shower in the last week.  These people have to sit next to me and I shouldn’t have to feel like I’m trapped in a Chinese prison.  Delta,  isn’t there something more that you can do for me?

If you were really worried about security, instead of making me take off my shoes, belts, sweater, hat, jewelry  and then make me walk through a X-Ray machine that allows you to see me naked; couldn’t you instead smell the breath, air pits, and butt of the people that I will be sitting next to for the next 4 hours.  Please?

Can I just say that on my last flight I sat next to someone that smelled so nasty!  Words can’t even describe a smell like that.  The  oder of this guy would have raised our national security level to RED!  Freak!  Instead, you let him pass right through your security line  and you made me throw away my finger nail clippers.  Seriously, not cool.

Oh, and last thing… peanuts and cookies are so 1960′s.  Can you please upgrade your snacks?  My flight was over $700 and you gave me a .15 cent bag of peanuts.  Lame.

Since my last post I have traveled back to California and then to Wisconsin.  My stories from Cali are below.

California turned out to be really fun!  This first part of the week was all business (Mon-Wed), however instead of flying right back home when I was done working which I normally do, I extended my stay and had Jas fly down and meet up with me. We’ve really needed a trip and this was the perfect opportunity for some fun!

Jas flew down on Wednesday night and met up with me right after I was done working.  I was SO HAPPY to see him because work  had been crazy hard, nothing was going my way, and the company I was working with was impossible!  Seeing him meant I could put all that behind me and have some fun… that’s exactly what we did.

Our first stop was to California Adventures!

I didn’t open my eyes on this ride the whole time!  I really am scared but it never keeps me from not going on the ride.  Go figure!

Sad but true, we hardly took any pictures while at California Adventures… good thing later that day we used our day hopper pass to go over to DISNEYLAND!  (we had a few more pictures from there).

Classic Disneyland Photo!

Lamest picture ever but it explains what was happening so well!  We kept wanting to get in a picture with the characters that were walking around, however they always seemed to be 5 feet in front of us so we could never get a really good picture.  Lame but so true!

SPLASH MOUNTAIN!

This ride was so fun!  I remember going on it when I was younger and thinking it was the biggest drop ever!

Turns out the drop really isn’t that big.

Day 2 was a fun day at the beach!  There really are no good photos from this day… all we did was relax so I guess I forgot about the camera (which is not like me).  These are our 2 pictures…

Not a care in the world.

I just had to post it.  Love him.

After a day of relaxing we decided to jump in the car, grab some dinner, and then drive up to Redlands Temple.

We took this picture after dinner on our way to a near by candy store, I don’t even know why we took it, but it makes me laugh every time I see it!

After dinner and the candy store it was back in the car to make our way up to the Redlands Temple.  The temple was announced to be built when Jas began his mission and was completed just before he went home.  It is a B-E-A-U-tiful temple and we loved every minute of our visit.

“I love to see the temple…”

Day 3 which was the last day of  our trip didn’t turn out like we tought it would.  We tried to go to Universal Studio’s but we didn’t make it there with enough time to make the price worth it.  Bummer.  I guess that’s the good thing about being on a trip with your best friend, it doesn’t matter what you’re doing as long as you’re doing it together.  Cheesy but true.

]]> http://shalauna.com/2010/05/back-to-california/feed/ 3 http://shalauna.com/2010/04/work-travel/ http://shalauna.com/2010/04/work-travel/#comments Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:22:10 +0000 Shalauna http://shalauna.com/?p=897 Work these days has me doing A LOT of travel, and by a lot I mean every other week; making me home 2 weeks  out of the month and traveling 2 weeks out of the month.

Just for fun and for my own kicks and giggles, I decided that each time I travel, I am going to post on my blog where I’ve been  so at the end of the year I can look back and see all the different cities and states I have visited.   Below is where I have traveled to most recently:

Jackson, Mississippi

San Diego, California

This California trip was actually really fun because I flew into San Diego and ended up being on the same flight as 2 other guys from work, who were on there way to Tijuana,  also for work.  We ended up all going out to dinner to a local restaurant before parting ways.

In addition, the area that I spent the majority of time was in Temecula, which is where Jason served part of his mission.  It was so fun to get to see the area where he lived, tracked, and served.

Detroit, Michigan

Of course, traveling for work has its perks,  and I’ve decided that one of those is all the funny stories I get to have!  Instead of keeping them all to myself,  I’ve decided that from here on out, instead of keeping all those fun stories to myself, I’ve decided to share them with all of you.   (all 5 of you!)   Let me guess, you can’t wait for my next trip right?!  Guess what, me either!  Good stories are sure to come.

]]> http://shalauna.com/2010/04/work-travel/feed/ 4 http://shalauna.com/2010/03/886/ http://shalauna.com/2010/03/886/#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:36:51 +0000 Shalauna http://shalauna.com/?p=886 Have you been wondering what I’ve been up to lately?  One word will sum it all up… SKIING!

I love skiing and have been doing it for 12 years now!  Alight, to be honest I really only love it if the sun is shining and I am warm, otherwise I would rather be in the lodge.  

At the beginning of the season Jas won a Sundance pass at his work party, and then soon after found an awesome deal on KSL which got us more passes, so needless to say we’ve been skiing for FREE at Sundace all winter long.  Nice work babe!

The pictures below are from at least 3 separate ski days.  I wasn’t kidding when I said that it’s all we’ve been doing lately.

Jas getting ready for a fun day on the slopes!

We stopped half way down on the back mountain to take this… and I’m so glad we did.

Hanging out at the top lodge with Utah Lake behind me.

All bundled up,  trying to stay warm!  Goggles are a must early on in the season.

Spring skiing is when we bust out the sunglasses.

PS:  I wrote this whole blog post while flying from Michigan to Salt Lake with Delta’s new in-flight internet access.   I guess ” the sky is no longer the limit!”   Thanks Delta!