My 40th birthday was fast approaching in a few months and my boyfriend and I had been talking about going to Las Vegas to celebrate. We both had been to Sin City a few times before, but never together. When we thought about it, we realized we had not even taken a vacation alone together since we began dating….almost 7 years ago! Hectic work schedules, family commitments, job changes, and time seemed to have slipped through our hands. It was time to change that! I’m usually the coordinator of events or engagements like this, but I told my boyfriend that I was going to leave this Vegas trip planning up to him, to see what he came up with.
During a fantastic Italian dinner, I was presented with a birthday card that had our Las Vegas trip itinerary. It wasn’t written on the itinerary, but I was told we were going to take a helicopter ride out to the Grand Canyon at dusk and the return flight goes over the world famous Las Vegas strip! It should be known that I am NOT a fan of flying. I like to think that I’m 5’2″ tall because God wanted me to stay close to the ground! I began trying to talk myself out of my own fear of flying by thinking, how could I not go on a once in a lifetime trip in a helicopter out to the Grand Canyon? Idecided 
I would put it out of my mind for now and worry about it when it came time to board the chopper.
Fast forward to helicopter adventure time….We were picked up by a limo and brought to the helicopter company where my heart rate rapidly increased as my flying fears were kicking in full force!! A safety video was playing in the background when we walked through the building doors to check in, we had to get on a scale to be weighed for proper weight distribution, and now I began to worry if I was going to get motion sickness in the helicopter in addition to my flying fears. About 30 minutes after arriving at the business, it was put up or shut up time. Our pilot called out our flight group number (we were flying with two 
other couples), and I immediately thought that this guy was WAY too young to be our pilot. I fessed up my fears to him and then onto the tarmac we went for our pre-flight instructions.
Our pilot gave us our seat assignments, ours were right in the front next to him, and then we boarded and began our adventure! I maintained my death grip on my boyfriend’s leg the entire flight but was blown away by how spectacular the views were as we made our way to the Grand Canyon. It was a 45 minute flight where we flew into the canyon and then landed in a small clearing where we were to have a little picnic. The enormity of the Grand Canyon was immediately apparent as soon as we stepped out of the helicopter and onto 
the landing area. It was gorgeous!! My boyfriend and I walked over towards the ledge where we could see the river below and we took everything in. We asked one of the other men on our helicopter if he would take a picture of us together, and then here’s where the story gets good (in my opinion).
After the man took a still shot, my boyfriend then asked me how my iPhone took videos (to say he’s NOT a techie or gadget guy is an understatement, so I began to get suspect when he asked me this question). Once I told him, he then took the phone from me, handed it to the same man and asked if he would video us for a minute. At this point, I knew what was coming 
next and turned into a blubbering mess! My boyfriend dropped to one knee, held out a ring box and simply asked me if I would marry him. Without hesitation, I said yes! We spent the remainder of our visit taking in the gorgeous sights and preparing for our flight over the Sunset Strip! On the return flight, I forgot about my fear of flying and missed some of the outside scenery as I kept looking at my new engagement ring….as for the proposal video? The man didn’t activate the camera when he was handed my phone and so we didn’t have any footage of that special moment. Oh well!
~ The soon-to-be Mrs. Daniel Sullivan
