Engagement Photo Adventure

Just a side note, before I start things off:  If you're hoping to find engagement photos in this post, we haven't seen them yet!  Hopefully by Wednesday... I'll keep ya'll updated... but the story of our shoot was too blog-worthy so I just had to share....

After having our session cancelled and re-scheduled THREE TIMES due to inclement weather (love Utah afternoon summer thunderstorms, but not when I'm 8 weeks from my wedding!), we were finally able to meet up with our photographer on Thursday.  She is a good friend of Geoff's, and she was therefore kind (and patient) enough to figure this out with us (check her page out here: samantha-jane-images.blogspot.com ).  We decided on Big Cottonwood Canyon -- home to Brighton/Solitude Ski Resorts -- and it was absolutely gorgeous up there.  With our late winter, snow has just melted in the mountains only a few weeks ago, and the trees and meadows could not be more green and lush.  We found a few places to stop, and we were excited with the different shots we were finding (I'll leave the details out, so you can enjoy the photos when they are finished...) -- unfortunately, however, with the ice/snow melting higher up the canyon, small creeks had turned into rivers, creating marshlands due to the flooding.  This unfortunate side effect caused for an even more unfortunate consequence -- MOSQUITOES.  Geoff and Samantha (and her "assistant" Justin) were more-or-less being eaten alive while we tried to capture these photos at various locations... and I would venture to say there will be more than one photo with Geoff slapping/swatting at mosquitoes as they circled around our heads and lined up on our arms.  It was a buffet for those bugs... except I was apparently not on their "tasty" list -- I got out of there without one bite!  Geoff on the other hand... well... I think he had three on the back of his neck alone.  Poor guy.  It's not my fault that my blood isn't sweet enough! 

We made our way up the canyon to Brighton, and then decided to continue on up Guardsman's Pass -- a "State Highway" that leads to Park City.  It truly is a state highway, but I think they've forgotten about it.... it's a dirt/gravel mountain road that connects Big Cottonwood to Deer Valley.  It was a bit of an adventure, but we were enjoying the scenery -- we found some amazing "secret" spots for our photos.  After our lovely photographer was satisfied with the shots she had (1000+, which will hopefully render a few usable photos) we packed up to head home.  From where we ended up, we could have continued on to Park City (about 10-15 minutes away) but Sammy's car was in the Big Cottonwood lot, so we turned around to make the 30 minute drive back to the mouth of the canyon.  As we neared the bottom, we saw flashing lights from multiple police vehicles blocking our exit from the canyon.  Geoff hopped out and spoke with an officer only to find out that there had been a head-on collision and that the road would be closed for at least another 2 hours.  As it was already 8:45, we decided to turn around and make our way back to Guardsman's Pass (the 20-mile canyon drive we had just made) and leave through Park City.  The four of us laughed about the situation, but we had no idea what was still in store for us....

As much grief as Geoff gets for driving my petite little Prius, he is quite the gentleman and insists. (I secretly think that he actually enjoys it!)  But... Geoff is used to driving his 4x4 truck or his diesel Jetta, and the Prius is not quite as durable.  We were all hungry and tired (after 2 hours of shooting) and so Geoff was driving a little faster than I would have recommended down this rocky dirt highway.  We passed a few cars that were driving about 5 mph (no joke) and as we started up a small incline, we all hear the fateful sound:  "flop-flop-flop".  The boys laugh at me as I ask, "Could that be my tire?"  because the rocks we had been hitting had only "rolled up into the wheel well or hit the skid plate."  Well... soon enough, the boys were eating their words -- they hated to admit it, but I was right.  My back left tire was completely flat.  We pushed my cripple Prius up to a turn-out, and just in time to take a few final "silhouette" shots... or, as Sammy and I believed, to pose as those few cars we had sped past were able to pass us without seeing us change our tire.  I will say, though, that the photos were an added bonus -- Sammy showed us a few and I loved how they turned out!  But then it was back to business.... I was not familiar with the spare tire set or where the tools were in the trunk of my car, and of course I don't have an owner's manual.  The boys combed through the back, but to no avail.... the lug wrench was MIA.  We were lucky enough to be in a spot with cell reception, so Geoff called a friend to help us out.  While the boys stood outside and watched as another 20 cars pass (not one stopped to help) I searched the internet for a PDF copy of the Prius Manual.  Just as one Good Samaritan decided to stop and offer some assistance, I found a page pointing to the "hidden" location of the lug wrench.  The two boys went after it, and had the tiny spare tire thrown on in no time.  Those NASCAR pit guys would have been impressed... only 45 minutes to change that tire.  HA.  Our poor chariot was not happy with the road conditions as we limped our way into Park City... spare tires are barely meant for highway roads, and we were rolling it over gravel.  BUT... we made it!  Hahaha.  We were all laughing about how our evening had turned out so "disastrous"... and it was only then that we saw the freeway -- road construction after-hours had closed 2 lanes of the 3-lane highway back into Salt Lake, and the traffic was less-than ideal...  but what was another little bump in our already-rocky road home?  We pressed on, and finally wound up back at the mouth of Big Cottonwood to drop Sammy and Justin off (and just as they had opened up the road for a steady stream of cars to escape the canyon).  Arrival time = 11:00 pm.  Total travel time = 2 hours.  Needless to say, we were happy to be back :)  I was exhausted and hungry, and just ready to crash into my bed... so you can imagine my frustration when, as I was cleaning off the miscellaneous clothes and papers from my bed, my laptop slid off and fell 3-feet from my bed directly onto my foot.  !@#$%&!@#$%&!  I mean... really?!?!  My bruised metatarsal was the icing on the cake.... but without the benefit of being able to EAT the cake.  The phrase "when it rains it pours...." would probably be the best way to describe my sentiments for the day's events.... but hey, it did make for a humorous story :)  And with that, I will leave you... it's Saturday morning and Geoff and I are in Rexburg for his brother Austin's mission farewell... and we have about 650 envelopes to address today.  Wish us luck!!!