Our day in the sky

I knew I wanted to do something special for Christian to celebrate our 1st year anniversary. Skydiving was something that we had always talked about. It was on each of our "bucket lists." Christian is super hard to shop for, and he always gets me the best gifts, so this time I was determined to make an impression.

My old roommate Brooke, recommended Skydive Zion and so I sneakily called up Rick (the owner and instructor) and bought two skydiving gift certificates. July 1st came around and I presented Christian with the surprise. He was stoked! As we planned our weekend, we decided to keep the whole jumping out of a plane thing on the DL. I knew my parents would worry and so we kept our secret to ourselves.

Friday after work, Christian and I drove down to St. George in preparation for our jump the next morning. Christian slept fine but I on the other hand was freaking out. This video kept popping into my head and I was feeling super guilty for having deceived my parents and not letting them know what we were really doing in St. George. What if we died?! The last memory my family would have would be saying bye to us for a quick weekend trip. My guilt overtook me and I wrote goodbye letters in my journal that night telling my family how much I love them. Haha, I can be a little dramatic sometimes. Anyway, the next morning we woke up, and got to the Hurricane airport at 8am to start our training. We met our instructor, signed a lengthy document promising we wouldn't sue and that we were jumping out of plane by our own choice, etc. Then after a brief training, it was finally time. When I first got a look at the plane that would take us up there, I got even more nervous.

This guy only holds three people. The pilot, our instructor, and the jumper. And here I thought Christian and I would be able to go up together. Christian volunteered to go first, so he suited up.

I was trying to keep a brave face, but as I saw my husband take off in that mini plane, I lost it. I just sat on the runway and cried, haha. I kept thinking to myself, "What have I done?! My husband is going to die and it will be all my fault!" The writer in me came out and I kept writing news stories in my brain about our tragic deaths..."Husband Killed After Wife Encourages Skydiving for Anniversary."

With binoculars I was able to watch the plane circle around and ascend to 11,000 feet above me, the door swing open, and then a black dot exit the plane and speed toward the earth. Knowing that black dot was Christian almost brought on more tears. Then thankfully, I saw his chute open. Relief!

He glided back to earth and I ran to him and gave him a big hug and kiss. Christian had a blast (much better than my experience on the ground.) If you want a good laugh, watch this video of his free fall. It gets me every time :) (For some reason Blogger won't load the video here...so click the link to watch.)

Then came my turn. With the safe return of my husband, I was feeling lots better about the whole thing. I was honestly ten times more nervous watching Christian go up than I was jumping out of the plane. After a brief refresher about how to exit the plane, etc, it was my turn to put on the harness and goggles.

The plane ride up wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. The view was beautiful, and because we were over the Zion area, we saw lots of red rock and even some storms in the distance with sheets of grey rain falling to the ground. At 11,000 feet, it was time to open the hatch. This was probably the most intense part of the whole thing. You open this door and then the instructor tells you to swing your feet out onto this little step. The wind is so fast, that my legs kept swinging out from under me. Once I got my feet on the platform, I had to pull myself out the plane. We did a tandem jump, meaning the instructor was strapped to our back, but once you jumped out of the plane, you couldn't even tell another person was there. It was crazy!

The free fall only lasts for about 45 secs, but man, you are going fast! Falling at 120 mph is quite an experience, to say the least. I honestly can't remember too many details because you barely have enough time to wrap your brain around the fact that you're plummeting toward the earth. Fortunately, we got videos that documented the whole thing. My jump isn't nearly as entertaining as Christian's, mostly I just smile and look super stressed out, haha. 

Once I pulled the ripcord, and the parachute was open, the ride settled down considerably. Rick gave me the controls and I was able to glide us this way and that and then bring us in for a landing. And man was I grateful to be back on the ground, and especially grateful neither Christian nor I had to walk away from that experience without a spouse.

That's me waaaaaay up there.

It was definitely a unique experience and I am so glad we both had the guts to do it. Time to cross skydiving off of the bucket list! Check!!

Mississippi

Last week we got back from a vacation where we spent long hours on the beach, kayaking, fishing, and swimming in the clear, warm water. Where was this lovely vacation you ask? A little place called Ocean Springs, Mississippi.

I was more than hesitant when I heard Christian's family reunion would be in Mississippi. But can you blame me? It doesn't sound very exotic when you tell people you're heading to the Magnolia State. I am happy to say however, that I was pleasantly surprised.

Sure there is another side to Mississippi -- the deep fried seafood, gator wrangling, y'all talking side -- and we sure saw plenty of that too. 

Our first night there we went to this great seafood restaurant right on the bayou. Everything was wrapped in brightly colored Christmas lights, and spanish moss was dangling from the limbs of the huge trees. We ate fried pickles, fried shrimp, fried crawfish, and even blackened gator tail! The gator was surprisingly really good. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so the only picture we have was taken by Christian's cousin with his phone.

Eatin' me some gator!

The next day, Christian and I woke up early to go fishing. We used these big old nets that you would have to  hold in your teeth and arms and then fling them around like you're throwing a gigantic frisbee. If you do it right, the net fans out into a big circle, then sinks to the ocean floor. Then comes the fun part -- you pull up the net and see what you caught!

My very first shrimp! This is what we were hoping to catch in the nets. Then we'd put them on hooks and use poles to try and catch fish to eat.

Christian throwing the net.

 Later that day, we met back up with the rest of the family and took a boat to Ship Island off the coast of Mississippi. This was probably one of the best parts of the whole trip. The sand on the beach was white and the water was SO warm, I was pretty amazed. You could wade in the water and see all sorts of fish and sting/manta rays (we never came to a consensus on which type they were.) Now having been to the Gulf, I'm convinced that's how every beach should be. None of this cold, dirty Pacific stuff like I'd been to before.

On the way to Ship Island.

The water was AMAZING! So warm and so clear! We saw probably about 20 of these guys. It was so cool!

 Day number 3, we crossed the border to Alabama for a family shrimp boil. This was my first time having real, fresh shrimp that wasn't deep fat fried and rolled in coconut, so it was quite an experience! The shrimp were whole, so you had to rip off the head, peel off the shell and legs and then push the meat out of the tail segment. It kind of grossed me out, mostly because they were just sitting on my plate, staring at me, but I got over my fear, peeled my crustacean, and ate one. Then I filled up on potatoes and corn.

The beautiful lake we played at during the shrimp boil

The pile of fresh shrimp, fished out of the ocean earlier that morning.

 July 1st rolled around and that meant it was time for Christian and I to venture out on our own to celebrate our 1 year anniversary. We rented a little beach cottage, built for two, and enjoyed kayaking and  playing on the beach and relaxing in a hammock. It was perfect :)

Our "Key West Cabana."

The gorgeous limes and figs growing outside our cottage.

While staying at our cottage, we took a walk in little downtown Ocean Springs, a place where Christian lived for a short while when he was in 4th grade.

Christian in front of the toy store where he took yo-yo lessons as a kid :)

Us in a pretty little park in downtown Ocean Springs.

 Later that night, Christian took me to the famous, McElroy's seafood diner for our anniversary dinner. It was this great little place, that was up on risers, like lots of the buildings on the coast, because of hurricanes. The food was great, and the view of the beach and boats was awesome.

The view from our table.

 After dinner, we walked along the beach and enjoyed the cool evening air. The tide was out and so there were hermit crabs everywhere! I was in heaven. I gathered up about 15 crabs in a 3 minute walk. Then we tried to race them but they weren't really cooperating, so we carefully placed them back in the water, away from the kids with plastic cups who wanted to take them home.

 Our last adventure before we left for home, was fishing by moonlight. The tide was out and so we got together with Christian's family, grabbed some spears and went gigging! Apparently "gigging" is a term used to describe wading out into the water with a flashlight and a "gig" (spiky pole). When you see an outline of a flounder in the sand, you jab the spear in super fast and stab the guy. We were at if for a good 45 minutes, but didn't see any flounder. We did however, see lots of soft-shell crab, hermit crabs, and tons of little fishies swimming around our ankles.

Christian and his gig :)

 Despite the mosquito bites, humidity ravaged hair, and sweaty everything, it was a great little get away. I caught my first shrimp, decapitated my first shrimp, went gigging for the first time ever, tasted some gator, and saw my first ever cockroach. But most importantly, I spent a fun couple of days with Christian's family and two perfect days in a cottage on the  beach with my honey :)