Up and Away!

Because of my lack of "Dioring" over the past few months, there are times when I may have to back-track a bit. This is one of those times. And since I finally took the time to upload pictures of my camera, I am discovering new things I need to "Dior" about.

As many of you know, I surprised my sweet, darling hub-a-lub on Valentines Day (acutally, it was the day before, Friday the 13th) with a Discovery Flight in a Cessna plane over the Salt Lake Valley. The best part (which I kept a surprise) was that our pilot would be...Jaron.

Now, I was already a little nervous that we were going to be flying on Friday the 13th (I'm really not superstitious, but...) and was even more nervous that this would be the very first time that Jaron would be flying a plane. I had no idea what to expect when we got there...Would they give him some kind of lesson? Would we have to watch a quick tutorial in movie-form? Would we have to sign a waiver, handing over our lives to these people? No. None of this. Nothing.

We arrived downtown at Leading Edge Aviation, a small cessna plane/jet center at the south end of Salt Lake Int'l Airport. We walk in, give them our names, and were then greeted by our pilot. He hands us each a set of headphones, and says "So, you ready to fly?" That was it! We checked out the plane, Jaron hopped in the "driver's" seat and the pilot tells/explains to Jaron how to taxi out the plane. We stop and wait to be cleared for take-off, while the pilot is explaining to Jaron how he is going to, in fact, do this. So after an exhilerating and near-textbook take-off, Jaron proceeded to fly us around the Salt Lake Valley. We headed south and Jaron flew us right over our house...it was surreal! I was giddy-excited and kept poking Jaron in the front seat and mouthing "Oh my gosh!" I didn't really like talking in the headphone mic's because my voice sounded funny and it made my eyes water...plus it was weird to be having a conversation with Jaron with the other pilot listening. Jaron was so quiet the whole time...I was like, "Honey, are you having fun?" He just kept opening his eyes up wide and shaking his head YES.

Needless to say, it was one of the coolest things we have ever done together. When we left I asked Jaron why he was so quiet. He said "Babe, I was just freaking out! I couldn't believe I was flying a plane and I didn't want to mess up!" Anyway, he said it topped the list of cool gifts I've given him (right alongside with taking him to Chicago for his birthday to watch a Cubs game at Wrigley Field) and told me that it meant alot to him because it was a completely self-less gift...it was something that was really about him, not about US.

So, check out the pics!