BUT, that’s not what this post is about.  In this post I’m going to reveal a few surprising discoveries we made when we moved from Utah to California.  Some specific to the bay area and some about moving in general.  So let’s get started.

I can haz Traffic?

A lot of people said, “I hope you like being stuck in traffic all day”, when they learned we were moving.  But you know what?  It’s not that bad.  In fact, I can only recall being stuck in bumper to bumper traffic once since we’ve been here.  But hey, it may also be that we are home bodies and don’t drive that much other than to run errands, go to work, and play.

But I will say, I have noticed the drivers are a lot different here than in Utah.  I don’t know what it is, but I feel like Utah drivers take it so seriously!  I know, because I’m one of them!  There I’d find it so infuriating when someone wouldn’t let me merge onto the freeway, but then be equally as enraged when someone seemingly cut me off merging in front of me on the next freeway entry.  It’s like every driver is thinking “WTF, don’t you know I’m going some place?! Get out of my way! Pay attention to me!”  SO, when we moved here, it took me a little while to adapt.  Because here, people are just more accommodating and forgiving.  If I need to merge or change lanes, even on a packed street, people make room and wave me in.  It’s like they’re saying “Oh hi there, yeah come on in.  I’ve got places to go, but I know you do too.  Let’s do this!”  It is so refreshing!

Oh and you know how everybody and their dog has a Minivan in Utah?  Well that’s how it is for Teslas here.  Seriously, I don’t even want a Tesla anymore because everywhere I look there’s one.  It’s as if Oprah came here and gave everyone a Tesla  “You get a Tesla, You get a Tesla, You get a Tesla!”

Going Green

OK, I’m going to go ahead and throw it out there — I don’t have a track record of being the most environmentally conscious person.  I don’t know if it’s a Utah thing, or a Jason thing  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  But moving to California really made me conscious of things like how much trash we produce and how many grocery bags I need.  In California they add additional tax to things like plastic bottles and cans.  It actually makes you think “Maybe I should get the 2-liter instead of the 12 pack” — because that tax can really add up.  Oh and there is a tax for bags at the checkout register.  It’s only 10 cents a bag, but somehow I turn into a super cheapskate knowing it costs extra.  “No thanks, I can carry these 20 items to my car using just my arms.  Starting to think I might need a fanny pack.”   I never used to think about how may bottles, cans or grocery bags I use.  But now I do.  I guess “Mission Accomplished” California! ?

Oh and one other thing to note that is ECO-better in the bay area, compared to Utah.  The AIR.  I’ve suffered from “seasonal asthma” for my whole life in Utah with at least 1 annual sinus or ear infection guaranteed.  But here?  The air is clear as can be.  There’s no inversion every winter, and my sinus infections?  Not happening.  We can thank the Bay area breeze, the lack of sky high mountains and perhaps all those Teslas I complained about for the amazing air quality.  Whatever it is, me likey.

Speedy Delivery

One benefit of being a stone’s throw away from tech behemoths like Google, Facebook, Netflix and Apple is that we are also surrounded by a gajillion tech startups targeting us for their Apps and services.  We can have food delivered from almost any eating establishment with the tap of a button using GrubHub, Door Dash or Uber Eats.   One service we just used is ZippGo.  They offer eco-friendly moving boxes made from 100% recycled materials delivered to your door.  After the move, they come to your new place to pick up the empty boxes.  No need for excessive cardboard boxes to assemble and get rid of.  Hey, did I mention we’re more environmentally conscious now?

But our favorite service by far has been Amazon Fresh.  They deliver groceries straight to our door at the time of our choosing, sometimes even same-day.  This has been a game changer for us.  Because we can be more mindful of the groceries we buy without ending up with 20 more items we saw while pacing the isles, but don’t really need.  But the best part is the convenience.  Especially with us living on the second floor, it has been great to have them bring the groceries right up to our front porch.  Shalauna could speak more to this, but I think all you moms out there can also appreciate not having to bring the kiddos to the store with you too.  It’s amazing!

Barrier to Entry

There are people here from every country, religion and ethnic background.  At work I really appreciate the diversity and admire how Adobe embraces everyone.  The many differing perspectives and backgrounds can help us build better products that are more accessible to everyone.  But there is one big buzzkill.  Nobody gets my jokes!  Seriously, I want to tell everyone “I’m way funnier in Utah, I promise.  No Seriously, my jokes are so good.”  It’s true!  If diversity is bad for anything it’s laughing at life.  Because I can tell a joke in Utah that any white mormon man or woman would bust a gut over.  But here it falls flat, nobody gets it.  That’s because everyone has a different background.  When you didn’t even grow up in the same country, it turns out that you have to dig deeper to find common ground.  And you have to put a lot more work into understanding each-other — you don’t get that for free.  Someday I’ll move back to Utah and be funny again.  But in the mean time I’m just trying not to offend everyone I meet!

One other thing, I will say, is that the many different cultures and backgrounds makes it very difficult to make friends.  For example, I thought it would be easy to make friends in our apartment complex.  I mean, we have a half dozen pools and Jacuzzis.  But when other people are at the pool with us, they are all grouped up with the people they are familiar with.  Indians are with Indians, Russians are with Russians, Asians with Asians, you get the picture.  Then the language barrier comes into play.  At first I thought it would be easy to listen in to people’s conversations and inject myself to make new friends.  WRONG.  All these groups prefer to speak their native languages outside of work, so I can’t understand a single thing they are talking about.  A hot tub with Chinese, Russian, and Telegu and a little white family that feels all left out.  I don’t want to throw a pity party here, but the diversity can be really isolating and lonely.  Moving isn’t all roses and rainbows.  But lucky for us, we can do exactly what everyone else is doing.  Stick to the people we know!  The Mormons!  We are not active at church by any means, but California Mormons are kinda like California Drivers.  Most of them are thinking,  “Oh hi there,  let’s be friends!  I accept you for who you are, and appreciate out differences. We should stick together.” So refreshing!  In fact, the mormon mommies have regular activities together with their kids and weekly “Park Days”.  It’s been great.

Family. Isn’t it about time?

By far, one of the most challenging things about being away from home is being away from family.  We really miss being able to call up siblings, parents and cousins to get together for fun, holidays and just because.  We also miss the joy the comes from planning and hosting get togethers and offering support to our family members, and the love we feel when we are supported by them.  It can really be challenging when the going gets tough, and you have nobody to lean on.  I’m not writing this to stir up feelings of guilt or sadness in us or the people we love.  But it can be a very difficult thing at times.  The good news is that we have modern technologies like cell phones, FaceTime, Marco Polo, and more to help us feel just a little bit closer.  One of the reasons we are so excited to move into a bigger house with more space is so we an have a dedicated guest room.  We want family (and friends) to feel welcome to come visit.  Because you matter to us, and we want to see your faces!

One other thing I wanted to mention is the dynamic of going back home to visit.  Anybody who has moved away from where they call home can probably attest to this.  When you plan a trip back home to visit, you start imagining how it’s going to be so amazing and everyone will drop everything to spend time with you — because they are so happy to see you!  But it’s just not how it pans out. Instead people are like “Oh hey, good to see you.  We should try to do some stuff.”  Then life carries on as if you moved back into your old house for the week.  But in reality you are staying in an AirBnb or hotel wondering why people aren’t taking off work to spend time with you as if you are Barack Obama himself coming to visit.  You have to realize that everyone has a life and it is rare that they can stop everything for you when you come back to visit.  Sad but true.   The exception here for us has been my wonderful Momma who graciously invites us to stay at her home and does actually stop everything to make time for us — Thanks Mom!

If you read our moving announcement post, you know that we had 4 short weeks between the time of accepting the new job and starting it.  There was a lot to do in that short time, and not the least of which was finding a new place to live.  Finding a place was one of the first things we had to do, because it would determine how much stuff we could bring with us, and how much we’d need to sell.  We gave ourselves a brief 3 day house-hunting trip to find a place and make a decision.

We looked at a lot of places.  So many!  If you’ve never moved to another state or country you know nothing about, let me just say, it’s a daunting task.  Because you literally have no idea what you are doing.  You don’t have an opinion about any of the areas you are looking, because it’s the first time you are seeing them.  You don’t have any friends or family that live there already to guide you either.  All you have is your gut.  Three days oughta be enough, right?  No Problem!

We were looking for a place that was family-friendly, safe, had good schools nearby, an acceptable commute, and nearby shopping to boot.  Oh and to top it off, we were looking for a place that wouldn’t break the bank, and didn’t look like it was still stuck in the 70’s.  No that is not a joke.  The bay area is so jam packed with people, all the wide-open spaces have already been developed.  New homes do exist, but it’s mostly because someone bought an old dumpy home, demolished it, and built a new nice one in it’s place.  But those homes aren’t for rent.  Instead, there are tons of rentals priced at 2-3 times what you’d pay per month in Utah, that haven’t been updated since the day they were built.  Now, you know that ain’t gonna fly with Shalauna.  So I had my work cut out for me.

We looked at house after house, and apartment after apartment.  But we kept coming back to the first apartment we visited in Cupertino, right after stepping off the plane.  It was head and shoulders above anything else we’d seen in our 3 days of looking.  It was a 2 bedroom (recently renovated) apartment in a complex that was immaculately cared for and well groomed, with award winning gardens and streams that flowed into ponds.  Zac lovingly referred to it as “The Duck House”, because those ponds?  Yeah there were ducks in them.  Every house we looked at after this one, Zac would turn to us and say, “Let’s just live at the duck house.”  It is close to top rated schools, felt comfortable, had open space for kids to play, and even had several swimming pools and hot tubs to enjoy.  We’d made our decision.

Yes, I realize these are geese. But we’ll give them a pass as ducks.

So, we sold almost everything we owned, and moved into the duck house.  And that’s where we’ve been for the past 12 months.  We really lucked out, because it has turned out to be what we expected.  A safe place, with modern conveniences and in a great location,  Oh and the commute to my office in San Jose has been great — just 15 minutes.  That is something most bay area folk don’t get to say.

Diversity.  It’s one of the things we were looking for when we made the decision to move outside of Utah.  Yeah, I know you can find the occasional black, asian, indian and hispanic (ok I’ll give you that one) person in Utah.  But for the most part you have white mormon family here, white mormon family there, end of story.  So we were looking forward to experiencing new cultures and ethnic backgrounds that we were not familiar with.

We met our indian neighbors downstairs and there was an instant connection between Zac and their son Eshan.  Eshan’s dad, Pavan, invited all of us to go to dinner with his family to his favorite Indian-Asian fusion restaurant in Sunnyvale.  It was amazing, and he treated us to all of their authentic vegetarian favorites that night.

Over time, we started meeting more and more of our neighbors in the community,  And to our great surprise, it turns out, we had moved to little India!  That’s right, 90% of the people in our apartment complex are indian.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I have nothing against Indians, everyone we’ve met is so nice and and I really like them.

The funny thing is that we stick out like sore thumbs here.  We are clearly the “different” ones in the complex.  Every time we’d meet someone new, Shalauna would say “Hi I’m Shalauna and this is my husband Jason”.  The response was always, “Oh yes, we met yesterday”, or “Yes, we know”, followed by an Indian head shake.  Now, when you are meeting so many new people, it’s easy to forget and it’s hard to remember all the names — especially when they are hard to pronounce and you’ve never met a Bhagwan before.  So, yeah, we probably did meet yesterday (Oops).  As for the second comment, it was as if the folks we hadn’t met yet had been watching us, or already knew all about us.  And why wouldn’t they? We were the new white family that they couldn’t keep their eyes off of.  I just imagined them all meeting in secret together sharing their latest observations and exchanges with us in their native tongue, telugu.  It could happen!

It’s me Zac!  I snuck out of bed so that I could finish up my Fathers Day gift for you!  One of these days I am going to buy you a mug or a T-shirt, but until I have my own Amazon.com account with prime shipping, I am going to have to stick to the blog posts and videos.  Don’t worry Dad, I am sure by next year I’ll have the whole Amazon thing figured out.

Did you know that Zig Ziglar, who is one of your favorite people once said, “there are no traffic jams on the extra mile.”  He must have been talking about you because you always go the extra mile for me!  Like the other day when we went swimming and I was playing with that clear plastic cup, and on accident I dropped it in the pool, and I really wanted it back.  You walked the whole pool, looking until you found both the cup and the lid, which was no easy feat because it was clear and it had stuck to the bottom.  That really taught me to not give up even though it would have been so easy to do.

Or that time I really wanted to dress up as a family for Halloween and you and mom totally played along! I’ll never forget picking out our family costumes, buying your crazy wizard beard, and going trick-or-treating with you.  You had the best costume of all the dads! I know that costume must have been really hot and itchy, but I never heard you complain.  You worn it all night long, and to all the neighborhood parties, and you made me feel special.  You’re really good at that.

Or that time you came to my preschool to watch me preform on Mothers Day.  I was SO surprised to see you there!  I think everyone else was too! You were the only Dad in the room but that never stopped you from coming in.  I am so glad you were there and got to see me sing my little heart out for mommy-o.  Having you there taught me that once in a while its ok to stand out if you do if for the people you love.

Dad, I couldn’t let today go by without telling you how much I love you.  I love the way your fuzzy beard feels on my face.  I love the way my arms wrap tight around your neck.  I love that you always show up, even if it means that you have to go an extra mile, or two.   I love the way you laugh at my jokes and snuggle me tight.  I love that you never leave for work without a family hug or put me to bed without kissing me goodnight.

I am as lucky as can be for the best dad in the world belongs to me.  I love you daddy-o!

Love,

Zac-a-pal

Actually, we don’t know exactly where we’re going to live quite yet.  But hopefully a mansion overlooking the Golden Gate Bridge is within our price range. ?

Ok, so here’s the scoop.  I recently accepted a position at Adobe.  Now, I know what you’re thinking.  “Don’t you live, like, a mile away from an Adobe building in Utah?!”.  Well, yeah.  Yes.  Uh huh.  But see, here’s the thing.  When Adobe offered me the job, they said, “Oh hey, it would be cool to work from our Lehi location, but since you will be one of the senior members of the team, we really need you in the flesh at our World Headquarters in San Jose.  Would it be ok if we relocate you to the Bay Area?”

It was a big decision, but I’ve been dreaming about making it to Silicon Valley for a while – and now it’s really happening.  We have 4 short weeks to find a place to live, rent our Lehi house, pack, sell or store everything we own, and high tail it outta here.  Now most of you know, Shalauna is a seasoned veteran when it comes to moving across the country.  She did it years ago when she lived and worked in New York City.  So lucky for me and Zac, we’re in good hands (NBD).

And for those of you who think this is the end.  Don’t worry, we’re not dead.  We’re just moving.  And flights from SLC to SJC are both affordable and brief.  That mean’s we’ll still be coming to visit often enough.  And, sure, it’s possible our new place will be a fraction of the size of our Lehi house. But, I promise, we will have room for you.  Yes, we want you to come visit.  So start planning your trip!

It’s a big change for us, and we sure are going to miss our family and friends in Utah!  But we just couldn’t pass up this opportunity and we are so excited for the adventure it will bring.

Today we woke up early to go float down the Provo River, per your birthday request. Which was no surprise, since you always love a good adventure!  As we were enjoying our time on the water, I kept thinking about all the ways that this adventure reminds me of you.

When we got off the bus at the top and looked around, we realized we were the only ones going down on individual tubes – and not a part of a guided tour.  We laughed and looked at each other and said, “maybe we made the wrong choice, since no one else is doing this?”  And not a moment later we said, “nah, were up for the adventure!”

As we stepped into the water it wasn’t more then 2 seconds before the current swept us off our feet and dropped us into our first set of rapids. When that happened, you stayed calm and collected.  You were only screaming from the thrill of the adventure!

Half way through the float, when everything was going wrong and the current kept smacking us into rocks or low hanging tree branches, there was no frustration or complaining, all I could hear was gut wrenching laughter as we laughed at each other and ourselves.

As we laid in our tubes, when the water was calm and we had a chance to looked around, all I could see was the most beautiful things this world has to offer.  The most amazing view of the mountains, the sun on our faces, and you talking to me about our life and our next set of dreams.

And when the waters started to drift us apart, you found a way to keep us together with one foot wrapped around mine.

I can’t help but think how much this is like our life.

When our relationship started, your love swept me off my feet, just like that current did today.  It still does.

When life gets rocky, the one thing that gets us through is laughter.  You can always crack me up, and your ability to see the humor in life and laugh at yourself is a quality about you I’ve always admired.

And in the quiet moments, when I look around and see you, our baby boy, our life, our family and friends, I feel so lucky.  We enjoy the most beautiful things life has to offer.

And when life starts to drift us apart with all of it’s busy-ness, there isn’t a night that goes by that your foot doesn’t sneak over to find mine to hold us together.

There have been times when we have looked around and said, “maybe we’ve made the wrong choice, no one else is doing this” but not a another second passes by where we don’t find ourselves saying, “nah, we’re up for the adventure!”

I am so glad that you were born and that our lives have led us to where we are today.  I love you more then words could ever describe.  You’re hard working, kind, the best listener, my BFF, open minded, always up for an adventure, the best daddy in the world to Zac, the most caring and invested husband to me, and you’re always up for an adventure!  Which is good because our life seems to be one big one!

Happy Birthday Sweetie!  We love you!

It’s me Zac!  Remember how last year you taught me to use the computer for Mother’s Day and then mom taught me how to use her iPhone to blog from bed for Father’s Day?  Well, this year I decided that I needed to learn a few more skills!   I watched a few YouTube videos on how to edit movies and I decided to make you one.  But before you go and watch how much I’ve learned, I want to tell you, HAPPY FATHERS DAY!

To the world you are just a dad, but to me you are the whole world!  You love me so much and I can feel it everyday.  Like last week, when we went boating and I sat on your lap and you let me drive around the lake,

Or when you come to all my T-Ball games and help me learn how to play. Sometimes I forget that after I hit the ball I should run to the bases and instead I chase after the ball, but you’re always there to help me remember and you support me every step of the way,

Or when you take me camping and you let me help put up the tent up and pound in all the stakes.  I know it takes a lot longer when you let me help out so much, but you never make me feel rushed and you always let me take my time.  You are teaching me so much more then you know.  Not just about tents or stakes, but about love and patience,

And even though I am just 3 years old, I know we can talk about anything because we already do. You always talk with me about things I am interested in and are on my level.  Remember in Vegas when we talked all about how funny our floating tubes were and how much bigger of a splash they make when we jump off the edge of the pool,

I couldn’t let today go by without telling you how much I love you.  I really am the luckiest boy to have a daddy that looks forward to spending time with me.  A daddy that kisses me everyday and is constantly telling me how much you love me.  I don’t think there has been a morning that has gone by that you haven’t said, “Zac, how did you sleep?” Or a night that you haven’t said, “I love you!”

I know being a daddy like you isn’t easy.  Thank you for working so hard to give me this incredible life.  It is more then I could have ever hoped for.  A daddy and mommy who love me and each other, a safe home, and more pee-pee prizes then any one boy has ever earned (and still counting!),

When I was really little I use to say that I couldn’t wait to grow up so we could go fishing and camping together (and we wondered if we could connivence mom to come too!) and guess what, we did it!  Just this year we have gone camping more then mom and you ever have (that new tent and heater really won her over) and we’ve already caught four fish!

Dad, you make me laugh, you keep me safe, you love me lots and lots.  But most of all, you make me glad I’ve got the dad I’ve got!

Here’s to you!

I love you,

Zac

These last five years have been filled with the most amazing memories, gut wrenching laughter, our first baby, tears both happy and sad, campfires, fireworks, road trips, plane rides, delicious food, fights worthy of an Oscar, family and friends, and more love then I can even begin to describe. I remember thinking that there was just no way that I could love you more then I already did. You were my best friend, my Friday and Saturday night dates, you laughed at my jokes, and I felt more love then I had ever known. 

Our engagement came and went.  I think it was the fastest six weeks of my life.   And our wedding day had finally arrived.

The wedding ceremony took place in the iconic Salt Lake City Temple.

After the ceremony we walked beside each other on the temple grounds and I thew my arm into hers, making a splat sound, “You and me baby, we’re  stuck like glue.”

Loved ones came to celebrate the occasion.  They were all thinking, “It’s about time these two love birds made it official!”

The wedding ceremony concluded in the late afternoon, and that evening we had a beautiful reception held at Pam and David Covey’s home in Provo.

We spent the evening enjoying the company of our friends and family, graciously accepting gifts, and exchanging hugs.

Then the two of us danced to one of our favorite songs, “Never Saw Blue Like That” by Shawn Colvin.   I heard it for the first time, years earlier, while laying beside Shalauna on the grass at a NYC park.  We both looked up at the clear blue sky.  Tears came to my eyes as we listened to that song and I thought about how lucky I was to have found Shalauna.

I never saw blue like that before
Across the sky
Around the world
You’ve given me all you have and more
And no one else has ever shown me how
To see the world the way I see it now
Oh, I, I never saw blue like that before

Today (at the time of this writing) marks our five year wedding anniversary.  And life is better than ever.  I am so glad we got married.  We are still best friends and I love her more now than I ever have.  Our personalities mesh perfectly.  She is the yin to my yang.  Her strengths are my weaknesses and vice versa.  I love spending time with her and we still talk for hours every single day.  She’s the best mommy to our son, and I continue to be amazed at the woman she is.  “Go Big or Go Home”, she always says.  Well I certainly hit the jackpot with her.

Dream team comin’ at ya!

According to the Huffington post, 40 percent of couples have a 13 to 18 month engagement before the wedding.  Yeah.  Like that was going to happen.  Our engagement?  Six weeks.  This was partly to compensate for our extended courtship duration, and partly a strategic move on Shalauna’s part.  This fish was caught, and there was no getting away!

One thing you should know about Shalauna and me is that once we put our minds to something, we make it happen.  When we started dating we dubbed ourselves the “Dream Team”.  Seriously, whenever a big project came along we’d divide and conquer, hit it out of the park, and say “Dream Team comin’ at ya!”.

Well this task was no different.  So we recruited the best in class (Shout out to Pam and Elaine, you know who you are!), and got started planning the wedding, reception, and honeymoon.

Now, when I say “We”, let me tell you what I mean.  Basically, Shalauna let me think I was in control the whole time, while she did all the work and made all the decisions.  But before you give her all the credit here, I want you to know that she was gracious enough to let me handle the finances of the whole operation.

Now, without further ado.  Please enjoy these engagement photos.

Go ahead and say it. Damn, we looked good.

Part 10: The Wedding

After two years of dating, Shalauna had all but given up hope on me popping the question.  And since we’d dated for so long, I wanted to give her an “eight cow” kind of experience.  Lucky for me, I had dreamed up the perfect proposal when I was just a kid.  Back then, I mapped it all out in my mind, then I never told  a soul.

“Babe, I’ve got a bit of an adventure planned tomorrow…” I said, as I pulled into her driveway.  It was 10:30 on a Friday night, and we’d just returned from a movie.  “Now, I need you to be ready for me to pick you up tomorrow morning at 5:20am.”  I knew this was a tall order, because normally Shalauna only had one 5 o’clock in her day – and that’s in the PM!  She raised her brow in disbelief as I confirmed that I was dead serious.  I could see the wheels turning as she started to wonder what the heck I was up to.

The next morning, as promised, I arrived in front of her house.  It was July 30th, 2010 and the sun wasn’t even up yet.  All dolled up and ready to roll, she grinned ear to ear from the passenger seat next to me.  “Sweetie?!  What is going on, where are we going??”  she insisted.  We drove north for 30 minutes before I finally gave her a hint.  “Ok, ok, I’ll tell you,” I lied, “We’re going to Park City.  They have a big sale on iPhones today and the first two people in line get theirs for free.”  She wasn’t buying it.

Within an hour of picking her up, we pulled into the parking lot of the finest hotel you can find in Park City: Best Western.  Incidentally, right next to the Tanger outlets.  “Are you serious?!” she exclaimed.  The car came to a stop right behind a Chevy suburban, pulling what looked like an unbranded uHaul trailer.  I got out of the car and approached the Suburban.  The gentleman in the driver seat and I spoke for a minute, then I returned to my car.  Shalauna was stumped.  She didn’t recognize the guy, and she had no idea why we spent the next 10 minutes following him to an undisclosed location.

We pulled into, what seemed like, a hidden field nestled in the hills of Park City.  “What now?” Shalauna inquired.  “You’ll see…” I promised, as I took hold of her hand.  We watched, as the gentleman and his assistant began to unload the mystery trailer.  They unloaded what looked like a humongous tent and laid it out on the ground.  Followed by an enormous whicker basket, and a…a…flame thrower.

“Um, is that a hot air balloon, sweetie?!” she tested.  “It sure is!” I exclaimed.  Now, she had assumed this was like every other time we’d seen hot air balloons lift off on the Fourth of July.  What she didn’t know was that we were about to climb aboard.

As we helped inflate the balloon with hot air, Shalauna kept thinking to herself, “Whicker baskets are really strong… right?”   Trying to convince herself everything would be ok if she was standing in one, thousands of feet above the ground.

The next thing we knew, we were both in the basket.  Gradually ascending into the blue sky.  This was a popular take off point for hot air balloons, so there were other balloons starting to lift off as well.  Each of those balloons had 6 to 12 people in their baskets, but we were the only two passengers in ours.  At the time, Shalauna thought privately, “Um, what is wrong with our pilot that nobody else wants to fly with him?!”

We ascended up over a hill to reveal a large banner pulled tight between two people on the ground.  It read, in huge text “Will you marry me?”

Shalauna turned to me and said, “Oh my gosh!  Look!”, pointing to the banner, “I wonder who it’s for?” glancing around to the other balloons.

“Sweetie, it’s for you” I whispered.  Just then, I pulled out a small ring box from my pocket and cracked it open.  I looked into her eyes and said, “Climbing aboard a hot air balloon, like this one, requires a lot of faith.  We got into this balloon, not knowing which direction the wind would blow, or where the current will take us.  But we got in, knowing that wherever we end up, we’ll be there together.”  I continued, “Well babe, that’s what I want with you forever.  I don’t care where our basket of life lands, as long as you’re in it with me.  Will you marry me?”

I was relieved to hear an enthusiastic, “YES!”.

We ascended 11,500 feet above the surface of the earth that day.  That’s a little more than 2 miles.

Part 9: The Engagement