Then we jumped out of an airplane.

This one time, Matt and I woke up on a beautiful winter Friday, took the day off of work, and drove to Lake Elsinore. And then we jumped out of an airplane. This airplane, to be exact:

It was every bit as amazing and exhilarating as I'd always dreamed. We actually made the jump in December as an early Christmas present to each other (I mentioned it in my 2010 By the Numbers post), but I'm blogging about it now because my talented-yet-busy little brother Christian just barely finished editing our two generic videos into one awesome movie. It was definitely worth the wait. Thanks, Kiken!

Ash & Matt Skydive! from Ashley D on Vimeo.

So cool, right? I'd love to go again and again and again . . . but for now, I'll just have to relive it through the movie and these pictures. Someday when you go skydiving, you must pay extra for the video+picture package. Whether it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience or the first of many jumps, you'll want the memories! We each had a separate media guy jump with us (with the nifty helmets that had cameras mounted on top and remote clickers in their mouths) and got more than 100 great pictures each along with HD videos. Also, in case you were wondering, Skydive Elsinore was so impressive. The staff was knowledgeable and oh-so-entertaining and we never felt anything but safe--even when standing on the edge of an open airplane door! Also? It's so gorgeous there and since it was a clear day, we could see the Pacific Ocean and even Catalina Island. It rocked. K, enough with the talking. Here's the day in pictures:

Gearing up.

That'd be a "Danger" sign on our backs.

Ready to go!

With all the flying we've done, it was crazy taking off in that plane and knowing that we wouldn't be landing in it!

Leading up to our skydiving adventure, I said multiple times that I wasn't nervous but I was sure it'd hit me while standing on the edge of the plane door--but I was wrong! At that point, you're so committed to stepping out of that airplane that there's really no room for nervousness, just excitement. Such a crazy feeling!

Ready, and . . . jump!

There's no better end to a minute-long 120-mph free fall than the feeling of a parachute opening safely.

The free fall was incredible beyond words, but it wasn't over there! The parachute ride down was really fun, too, because our instructors let us take the controls (until landing, naturally).

We loved it!