"it was such a pretty feeling"

On Saturday Kolton and I got to cross a little somethin-somethin off our bucket list.

go skydiving.

Check.

And can I just tell you that it was the most amazing/scary/crazy/terrifying/non-logical/bravest thing I have ever done?

So Kolton's brother Tyson has been talking about going skydiving for a while, but we would always just nod our heads and say "Yeah... we oughta do that sometime." Well, Tyson finally got sick of our complacent-ness and took action. He called Kolton and said he was making a plan for this weekend.

I'm more of a talker than a planner and I'm certainly not a do-er, so this was exactly the push we needed.

Tyson lined us all out and then we spent the rest of the week trying to talk other people into jumping out of a plane 13,000 feet above the ground.

I was real excited all week but when Saturday rolled around I was positively sick about it. I didn't really know what I had gotten myself into. But we loaded up and headed down to Ogden.

As we got closer and closer my stomach got fuller and fuller of butterflies. I couldn't even talk about what we were doing and tried to forget altogether why we were all crammed in a car headed to Utah.

(that didn't work so well.)

I think the thing I was the most scared of (besides the parachute not opening) was the thought of standing on the edge of the wide open door of an airplane speeding through the sky and seeing the ground below.

Seriously. Just take a minute to picture that scene with the clouds rushing by the open door and you'll feel a little bit panicked too.

When we finally got there we unloaded out of the cars and all the girls talked about how nervous they were while the boys stood nearby trying to look tough and not the least bit ruffled.

We finally walked into the place and had to sign our lives away to the company. It was then that I started to think about the life insurance policy we had turned down a couple months ago and wondering if it was too late to set it up.

When we were FINALLY done intialing and signing and proclaiming we did not hold Ogden Skydiving responsible for our imminent deaths, we split up into our groups and then did a whole lot of waiting....

We were the last of our group to go and even though the other people had told us how much fun it was, I was still nervous as all get-out.

Then all too soon it was our turn to get suited up and load into the plane.

We scooted into the teeny tiny airplane and took off. Probably the worst part of the whole experience was the airplane ride. It was so bumpy and turbulent-y and it just made me so nervous! We just kept going higher and higher and higher until we were up in the clouds. My legs were shaking like little leaves. It was then that they decided it would be a good idea for us to jump out. I was the very last one so I had to watch as they tossed out my dad, then Kolton, and then Tylee. I was sick to my stomach by the time my guy (whom I was firmly strapped to. Uncomfortably closely strapped to. Too close for comfort to another man who is not your husband strapped to.) started scooting us forward I was preparing for a grand-mal panic attack. Luckily I had gone to the bathroom about fifty times on the ground, so that wasn't a problem. But I was dangerously close to losing my cookies and backing out. But we just kept scooting and scooting and when we reached the edge of the open plane door I could see wisps of clouds rushing by and I knew immediately that the last thing I could possibly do at that moment would be to look down. So I didn't. My guy had instructed me that on the count of three I was to tip my head back as far as possible and go into a backbend. I might have jumped the gun on tipping my head back but it was the only possible way I could think of to keep my sanity by not looking about how far away the ground was, and the open door, and the rushing clouds.

I don't even think I heard the one, two, three, when all of a sudden we were leaving the airplane and falling and falling and falling-really, really fast.

It didn't take me very long to become unparalyzed with fear and open my eyes and realize how completely awesome this was. I was having the time of my life and I can still feel the enormous amount of pressure on my chest as I zoomed through the air. We were just falling and the ground was so far away and oh man! I typically stay away from potentially dangerous things that could possibly spike my adrenaline, but Wow! What a rush! That's the only way to describe it.

Then I felt my guy pull the cord and we were pulled up by the parachute and I was so relieved that it had worked. (sooo relieved.) And that part was awesome too! We were just floating and turning and so high in the air and I could see everything. I loved that part. But it made me a little nervous when my guy reached around me and undid a little strap. He assured me that I was still buckled in tight, but I felt a little looser and a little nervous-er too. But once I got used to that, everything was still awesome.

Then all too soon the ground came rushing up (much faster than I thought it would) and we had a bit of a rough landing, skidding on our bums and all. When I stood up my legs were still quite shaky and I had a sticker in my finger (luckily that was the worst injury of the day). I walked over to Tylee, Kolton, and my dad and we walked back together exclaiming again and again how awesome that was (how many more times do you think I can use the word awesome? There's just no better descriptor in my vocabulary!)  

Just look how happy we are! :)

It was definitely something everyone should do once in their life.