A week to remember

Sorry to interrupt your regularly scheduled program (for those that are just tuning in, I have been posting excerpts from my journal about a trip that I took in April), but this week has been just too incredible not to write about it now. It started with an amazing opportunity from one of my clients (Thanks Bruce!) to take a Blackhawk helicopter ride. We took off right as the sun was coming up and flew through Provo Canyon. The pilots were having a lot of fun swooping, dipping, and basically making us all squeal. More than one person lost their lunch. At one point, the helicopter dropped so rapidly that I lifted off of my seat. It was like a roller coaster ride with all of the thrills but none of the safety. The view was spectacular (my pictures don’t do them justice). The snow on the mountains was a remarkable contrast to the beautiful fall leaves on the trees at the bottom. After the ride, I attended the VIP breakfast where Mary Kay Huntsman was the keynote speaker.

Although the Blackhawk ride was the experience of a lifetime, it was completely eclipsed by the life-changing moment I experienced when I came home Wednesday night. I had just finished seeing Paint Your Wagon with some friends at the Pioneer Theater and it was late. I was worried about getting everything packed before Rod and I left early the next morning for Louisiana. I forgot all about my angst, however, when I opened the front door. There was a pathway of candles leading me up the stairs. When I got to the top, there were roses everywhere and our (Rod and my) song (When You Say Nothing At All) was playing on the stereo. The pathway of candles led me to our coffee table, which had a vase full of red roses and a letter that said read me sitting below it. Without sharing this very intimate card with everyone, it basically said that the time he had spent with me had been the happiest in his life and he wanted to make sure that he got to spend the rest of his life with me. When I turned around, Rod stepped out of the dining room and got down on one knee, “Will you marry me?” I was so surprised and excited I pulled him up and just started kissing him. When we stopped, he said, “So will you?” I thought my answer had been pretty clear, but I told him that he better get down on one knee again. :) He asked me again and slipped the ring on my finger. I can’t imagine a life happier than the one that we are going to have together. I said “YES!” of course. Then I started crying and we danced to our song.


Now, believe it or not, my exciting week was not over there. Again, it was nothing compared to getting engaged to the love of my life, but on Sat. night, Rod and I went with his family to the wildest, craziest, loudest, most exciting football game: LSU v. Florida Gators. For most of the game, we were not happy campers. Florida was winning and our defense was not doing much to stop them. Rod and his brother Stephen had given up, but I never gave up hope. I think I have watched one too many inspirational football movies. I told Rod at halftime that the defense was going to get the motivational speech at half time and come back out ready to stop the Gators. Well . . . it wasn’t quite that easy, but as soon as Florida fumbled the ball, the momentum of the game changed. When they announced that USC, who was competing with LSU for first in the rankings, lost, the crowd went crazy! The clip below shows how loud it was minutes after the announcement. The crowd cheered even louder than when we scored! The real heart-attack moment, though, was when Les Miles decided to go for it on the Fourth down when the tigers were within field goal range. I knew that it was going to be either glorious or Les was going to get crucified the next day. Luckily, we got first down, made a touchdown, and managed to keep the Gators from scoring during the last 1:09. I screamed so much that I was hoarse for two days!
WHAT A WEEK!