Why would you JUMP out of a perfectly Good Airplane?

First let me confirm what you are all thinking, yes, I know I'm CRAZY!!!!!! This is something I've always wanted to do but have always been to scared to do it. I figured now that I'm 40, what better time to go skydiving. I'm NOT GETTING ANY YOUNGER...that's for sure! This was my birthday present to myself! I made my appointment for the 7th of July 2010 in Homestead (south of Miami, FL.) My family, my sister Kelly & my friend David & his kids all came because they wanted to see me splat on the ground. This is a picture of me with my all my boys before I took the big jump. I really wasn't too nervous now, which really surprised me, because I had not been able to sleep the night before I from such major anxiety. Believe it or not, at this point, I was rather calm.


This was our little airplane that we jumped out of. Can I tell you at this point I was a little nervous especially since I DON'T like propeller airplanes at ALL! They really scare me to death! Inside the plane there were 2 other couples that were jumping tandem as well as 2 single jumpers. Also in the plane were camera men with a two cameras attached to their helmets for both video and stills. It wasn't until we got to 11,000 ft that I looked out the window & was thinking........I MUST BE ON DRUGS!!!! It was a LONG way down. When we reached the heights of 13,500 ft it was time to take that "leap of faith".


Here we go............I was really scared just for a brief second at the edge of the plane looking down but once Randy my instructor jumped it was incredible! I really can't explain the feeling, exhilarating I one word. I truly LOVED the free fall, which lasts about 1 min. We did spins and more spins....it was AWESOME! I can really see why people get hooked on this sport.

Here is Randy & I. I'm so glad that I had the nerve to do it & I can't wait to go AGAIN! Who is with me next time?
This is a picture that Karl took with his telephoto lens, way cool. The one thing that really made me nervous was the landing because of my knee. I was scared that the landing would be hard & mess my knee up again. To my relief, the landing was AMAZING all I had to do was just stand up & that was it. Yeah! When we landed safe on the ground and I was kind of in shock that I had actually done it. The adrenalin rush lasted all day.

The BIG 40!!!!

Need I say more.....I love this cake! Only Karl would do this. Anyways, my Birthday was June 11th & we couldn't celebrate it that night because Karl was gone on the Pioneer Trek. He was in charge of taking pictures for the 4 days they were there. Anyways, so we celebrated my birthday on the 18th & Karl invited all of my friends & we had dinner at Ole Ole. Having everyone there made that fact that I'm 40 & OLD a lot easier to deal with.

Ok!! 2nd try at this blog....

Ok, I know it's been about 2 years since the last time I updated my blog! There is no excuse for not doing it, not to mention all I hear when I comes to my Blog is "Heather, when are you going to update your blog?' or " I'm so tired of seeing your kitchen update, please change it" These are all valued reasons why I need to get going. So, I'm going to try this blog this again, I'm not going to promise that I will be very good at it but if I seem to slack off PLEASE, PLEASE HARASSE me.
Ok, so here we go.............

Heather's New Kitchen!!! YEA!!!

Where to start. We didn't start tearing down the old kitchen apart until Karl was done with his thesis for his Masters @ Penn State. We started tearing the old kitchen apart the 2nd week of Nov. of 2007. The only thing about the old kitchen that I liked was the counter top. Note: It weighed a ton. Not fun at all removing. The whole kitchen project would of only taken us 1 1/2 months to get finished. Unfortunately, Lowe's ordered the wrong bottom corner cabinet and was suppose to be rush in 10 days took 2 1/2 weeks later. This also put our counters top back 1 month since by this time Christmas was approaching, and they were off until the beginning of the year. To get us through the holiday season, Karl went out and bought some nice white particle board for a temporary fix. January 2008, yea our counter tops finally came. The only other thing that we had to do is put the lights underneath the cabinets and pick out what kind of tile we were going to put up for the back splash. The back splash seriously took forever to decide. There was too much to choose from as well as how big the tiles and not to mention the grout. That took forever too. We finally finished the kitchen including sealing the tile the middle of Feb. only 3 1/2 months later. We still have to put the kick boards down. We are not to sure if we want to tear the floor tile out in the kitchen yet or not. The other thing that we did is put plantation shutters down in the kitchen table area and painted the whole down stairs a darker color. One thing that I have to say is I'm glad its over with and Karl did a wonderful job of the kitchen. He did everything except the counter tops.
Karl you ROCK!!

From 2008_06_02 Ki...

Big difference. Pay no attention to the counter tops. We were starting the construction. The other thing we did which if you compare the before and after pictures is the top cabinets went from 30 inches to 36 inches. I wanted more room and wanted them to go to the ceiling.

Ward Camp Out

Feb. 29th-March 1st we had our annual Plantation Ward camp out (church group). We couldn't of asked for better weather. Despite a little rain earlier that day we had to wear light coats that night. Everyone had a blast. Unfortunately, Hayden & I sleep at home that night, not because I didn't want to camp but because Hayden was getting over a cold. It's the truth!

Hayden having a blast stealing the football.

Little did Hayden know that he would be tackled by Joshua Green. Hayden continued this most of the morning and had a blast.

Jared, Brendan, Evan & Steve Frahm tending the fire (playing with it).


Jared a.k.a. PYRO warming himself up the following morning. This has always been on of Jared's most favorite things to do. He loves it so much later that day when we got home from the camp out I found out that he was playing with matches in the front of our community. He was reprimanded and grounded for a few days.

Jared getting ready to cook is first tinfoil dinner. This was one of his requirements that he had to pass as a 11 year old scout. It really turned out great. Yumm!

Pictures of the Eclipse

Here are some great pictures that Karl by hooking up our telescope to the camera. There are pictures of the eclipse half-full, near full, full and the little speck on the bottom is not a UFO but Saturn. Very cool. We had a great time watching the different stages and taking picture. These were taken in Feb.