FIVE YEARS AGO, Landon and I were just two little freshman engineering students on the USU Get Away Special Team (a.k.a space nerds!) when we suddenly fell in love. We had been conducting side by side research for several months already, but put us together in a hot and humid airplane hanger for one whole week, and the sparks began to fly. And the rest I will leave to my cute nineteen year old self.

June 13th, 2011

Alright, well you know how Landon and I started flirting and sort of hitting it off in Houston this week? So okay--one night, we were watching Apollo 13 (fitting--of course!) with the University of Florida Team. Landon sat next to Jennifer, so I sat on her other side. Then Landon said some lame excuse about being too hot so he moved to the couch to be by the AC unit, which happened to be right behind me. Well, the previous day, our team was playing cards and Landon kept resting his arm on my leg, very discreetly. Later that night I was teasing him about it--even though I really didn't mind. :) So now he is sitting behind me and I get a text (real mature right? I guess he didn't want to disturb the movie) asking me why I was laying on his legs. I teased back saying 'I was there first...' He then asked if I wanted him to move and I thought he meant move to come sit next to me so I said YES ;) Well, apparently that was the wrong answer... Landon got up immediately and walked out. Oops. Luckily, after the movie was over he asked me to meet at the pool to "talk" and I was able to clarify my small and silly misunderstanding. haha TEXTING IS DUMB.

So get this we never even got in the pool, instead we sat on the side with our feet in the water and kept talking until the sun came up! Yeah--bad idea! We were both so exhausted the next day. But it was worth it--talking and getting to know him more. When we finally went to bed, Landon asked if the feeling was mutual--meaning 'did I like him back'. I giggled and replied 'DUH!  I've been flirting with you all week!' He leaned in and hugged me and from then on, we were suddenly a "thing". But again,  I certainly didn't mind :) Well, apparently the whole team saw it coming, but we made things really obvious after they caught us taking a nap in my room during dinner the next day. We woke up to them all gathered at the door saying--BUSTED!! It was pretty funny. They all started making sure we always sat next to each other, which was totally awkward but I guess in a way it was kind of cute.

Well, I knew Landon had this silly idea to kiss someone during the Zero Gravity flight. And of course, I thought that it would make a pretty cool/crazy/funny story, so I willingly played along. We added KISS to our long list of things to try while floating in mid air, along with DONT PUKE. Apparently weightlessness is not always an enjoyable experience for everyone. Hence the name Vomit Comet. Gross.

The next day it was finally our turn to fly!! I was so anxious, especially being the very last flight and after hearing everyone else talk all week about it. We got our sexy green flight suits, took the motion sickness meds, and waited in utter excitement. When we finally boarded the plane, I was practically jumping up and down. We strapped into our seats and we were off. Once we reached altitude, we got up and made preparations to our experiment. When everyone had given the thumbs up, the parabolas began. First was the 2G. It felt suuuuper weird to be twice my weight. We were laughing because it literally feels like for face is being pulled off. Then suddenly after about 20-30 seconds, we watched the accelerometer drop to zero as we slowly started floating upwards (but really, the plane was just falling faster than we were). It was such a crazy sensation. It is truly indescribable. And that very first time, your mind is going absolutely nuts just trying to comprehend what is happening.

I honestly can't even imagine being in actual SPACE and continuously floating around for days on end. During our short 30-second intervals of weightlessness we did backflips, flew paper airplanes, jumped around, spun cell phones and water bottles, and just let ourselves drift. And in case you were wondering--I did kiss Landon in ZERO GRAVITY! Yeah, how many people can say that? And the best part is, we even caught the proof on camera. But I think we are unofficially 'dating' now so it's not like it was a one time occurrence haha. After our last day touring around Houston, we were on our way back to Utah to meet my parents at the airport. Landon introduced himself to my parents -- Hi, I'm Landon. I'm the one who kissed your daughter. haha! They both seemed to really like him. They teased us about our kiss and my mom said that our flight footage will definitely need to be shown at our wedding. Haha... funny mom.

Once we made it all the way back home to Logan, Landon took me on a motorcycle ride up the mountain. We stopped in a field full of sunflowers where we sat to watch the beautiful sunset. So far he is scoring BIG in the romance category. So--yeah I'm a fan. He took me home, walked me to my door, and kissed me on the cheek before walking back to his car. I watched him leave as my heart melted into a big puddle right there on the porch. haha Boy, I sure can't wait to look back on these times one day and laugh. I love my life.