A rare Tyler appearance

As the kids get older, they seem to appear less and less on the blog--especially Tyler. I'm including this not-so-great picture because it's the only one I've taken with him in awhile. It was just the two of us tonight, so we went out for sushi. It's one of Tyler's favorite meals, but we don't do it often when it's all four of us because Ava's not a fan. It's always so much fun to sit and chat with this kid. He's so dang smart, and the older he gets, the more enjoyable the conversations have become. I love hearing about all of the ideas he has for RMTV and for VRML, and just his thoughts about everyday things in the world. He is very insightful and knowledgeable. He is definitely a person who absorbs information constantly and easily. He's grown up with educational things running in his ear from You Tube, and while that might not always be a good thing, it has been for him. I look forward to getting to know him more as he heads in to adulthood. What an amazing young man....

Our band cover

If we needed a cover for our band, this would be it. We had a random costume day during practice today and afterwards, decided to take a photo. We tend to stand the same way every time we take a group photo, so we were trying to change it up a bit. Not sure it was what we were going for, but at least it's different!

Work weekend in the woods

I've written over the years about various leadership retreats I've gone on with students. The first retreat I ever went on with students would have been to the fall 3 day leadership retreat back in 2004, and over the weekend, I went to it again--19 years later. I went to this retreat 2 or 3 times when I first started at PC, but once I started coordinating LeaderShape, I sort of "got out of" helping with this one. I decided this year that it was time I go again, and I'm so glad I did! It's experiences like this that remind me why I've enjoy the work that I've been doing for almost 20 years. Sometimes, when the semesters pass year after year, it's easy to forget. One weekend in the woods with 100+ students can bring me right back to a place where I appreciate this work again. LeaderShape used to do that for me too, but now we haven't held that retreat for 4 years. This retreat is a collaboration among all the colleges in our district, as well as one college from Flagstaff. A team from the Student Life offices at our colleges work to plan 3 days of leadership training for about 130 students at a camp up in Prescott. It includes a variety of workshops, teambuilding activities, guest speakers, as well as opportunities for them to bond through early morning hikes, late night campfire and karaoke, and plenty of down time for them to bond with one another. It's a lot of work, not much sleep, but so much fun. Students who attended last year helped come up with the theme this year--Fanning the Flames of Leadership (since former student leaders helped plan it). We were LIT (leaders igniting teamwork). 

Our full time team in my department includes Cara, Beth Ann, Erick, and me, and all four of us went on this trip. Us three were pretty tight all weekend, joking about being the three white girls from MCC (who get confused as sisters/related regularly). 

I have a ton of photos from the weekend, as I was taking quite a few photos of the students during various activities, but no need to include them here. I will instead share pictures of me with my friends, in no particular order. 

This was our group from MCC. We had the largest group of students in attendance, and they were a great group! Super diverse, and all very engaged in the programming all weekend. 

Cara was assigned to help lead the morning hikes on Saturday and Sunday. It was a great way to start each day, despite the late night followed by the early morning wake up call. We had a pretty large group on Saturday morning, but it was significantly reduced on Sunday morning since so many students decided to stay up too late with all their new friends. 

Our Sunday hike ended at this cool stream, and one of the leaders from the other college led us in a really lovely nature meditation before we headed back to camp. 

On Saturday night, we did "Minute to Win It" games, which are always a huge hit. Teams rotate to different stations where they have one minute to accomplish a certain task. I was in charge of the "get the Oreo from your forehead to your mouth without touching it" station. This night is super high energy, very loud, and so much fun. 

MCC Team Student Life!

Here's a few shots from our Saturday morning hike, with a beautiful view from the top. 

This is just the MCC students and staff who went on this hike. You can see it was a much larger group than the one on Sunday morning (there were probably 3 times as many). We're trying to make Thunderbirds with our hands. Not sure we quite have that figured out yet. 

Weekends like this are always a lot of work, a lot of fun, and a lot of exhaustion. Here you see Cara and I on the bus on Friday morning, and then again on Sunday afternoon. It was a long weekend--but so rewarding. I look forward to next year!

Some trapeze videos-catching my coach

One of my favorite things to do is to catch my catchers. I have only been able to do this with a few of them, but I added a fun one to the list tonight! It also means it's the third time I've caught a professional trapeze artist (who has performed for Cirque)--Jordan, Taeko, and now Randy! He definitely wins the award for being the heaviest professional I've caught (at about 185 lbs). He doesn't do as much flying these days, but he humored me by throwing me a planche tonight. Check it out!

I also like to do matching catches, so here is Randy's planche to me, and then me throwing the same trick to him. 

Here is one last video to share from this visit from Randy. I threw him quite a few shoots while he was here, but never have I had a return this high! It was so high that I wasn't quite sure what to do with my legs. I wish I would have been able to keep them tight the whole time, but I'm not used to this much height. If you listen with sound on, you'll hear Rod standing near the camera saying "wow that was high!" Speaking of high, I always ride quite the trapeze high after a couple weeks of flying with this amazing coach and catcher! We are so fortunate to have opportunities like this, and will be forever grateful to George for making it happen. 

Father/Daughter paddleboarding

We bought inflatable paddle boards awhile back, but haven't really used them much until this summer. Dave has a few good friends that go regularly, especially around sunset, so he's been going more often. He's started inviting Ava and Lexi to join him, so they've gone a few times recently. Here are a few of the photos he's shared.  

It's always fun when you get to see wild horses along the Sat River, which they did on this particular float. 

He also sent me this photo, which I think is hilarious. This looks like an accident (in the form of a sunken phone) waiting to happen, but their phones luckily survived. Such is life with teenaged girls--their phones are never far from their face. 

These photos are from a couple of different paddle board outings. Looks like they had a great time! 

Groovy going away party

In a round-about way, this is a work related post. I have hired so many students over my almost 20 years of working in Student Life, and some of those former students have become friends. I went to a party tonight for one of those former students, Gabby, who is moving to Spain. Gabby is Cara's roommate, and Cara has become a very good friend over the years. She was a student back in about 2012, and she and I first got to know each other when we were tent mates during my trip to Havasupai Falls in 2013. She worked in my office for a few years, and continues to work in Student Life at our Dobson campus. Anyway....she hosted a fun 70s themed going away party for Gabby at their apartment, and I got to see so many former students, some of my favorites!

This photo is so fun. I hired every person in this picture! Beth Ann was my assistant/office coordinator back in about 2013, and she is now my boss! Cara was also in that role about 6 years later and still works in our department. Kayla, Gabby, Ariana, Kylee, and Luis were all student ambassadors. It was so much fun to get everyone back together again. It just goes to show, you can make some great friends in college. This group all stays in touch and sees each other regularly. 

The people in this photo all worked for me at the same time, before they all graduated from MCC in 2019. I'd have to say, this was one of my very favorite crews to ever serve as Student Ambassadors. I loved this team!

I'm not usually one to have costumes on hand for parties like this, but my mom is! She and Owen have various themed parties at his park several times each season, and I figured she'd have something 70s themed. Sure enough! She had the vest and jewelry, and I borrowed the pants from another student who worked in my office. 

Here I am with my work sister! Again, do we look alike? We get told all the time that we do. It was a super fun night! Thanks for hosting, Cara!

Good luck to Gabby in Spain! It's always fun to see the different adventures that my former student staff find after graduation. 

Randy's visit

I've let too many months pass again before giving any attention to my blog. Sorry! It might be hard to remember some of the details, but I'll try to get a few things posted. I mentioned in my last post that our favorite catcher/coach is back in town. When practice starts with a sunset like this, you know it's going to be a good night. 

We have had Randy out to visit twice now, and they've been four most productive and enjoyable weeks of flying I can remember. We always learn a little bit from each coach, but it seems like Randy's coaching really sticks for most of us. And that's not even talking about the awesome catching! I love this picture of him with George. He just has a unique way of connecting with each of us. It's just the best. We had amazing weather the entire time too. This is that window of time where the weather is just perfect--not so hot, but it's not our cold winter nights quite yet. 

This visit coincided with George's birthday, which for the last few years, meant special guests for all of us to enjoy. Thanks to George for sharing his birthday "gifts" with us, but brining out all our favorites. 

Randy has so many stories! We all love sitting around watching his videos from his many years in the business, and hearing stories and gossip about all the big names we've all heard of from the community. He's very well known because he is a top catcher, who has also been an elite flyer. Usually you're either one or the other--but not Randy, he's both! 

We had a lot of fun hanging out with Randy at practices, at our pool parties, and of course, during the amazing fly time. I love my flying when he's my catcher--I'm confident and I can do things I can't usually pull off--like a return like this! 

Randy is back!

We've had a lot of great coaches and catchers come to work with us over the last few years, but none have been quite as wonderful (or effective) as Randy. He was here for two weeks back in April, and now he's back for another two weeks. I'll try to spare you from having to read multiple posts and watch a bunch of videos, but it's pretty exciting for us to get this opportunity. He has a way of explaining things, giving the right commands, and encouraging/pushing just enough. On top of his awesome coaching, he's a phenomenal catcher. He makes me a much better flyer. This picture is fun--Rod didn't make it in our picture since he was in the catch trap so we added him BeReal style. 

We look very sweaty....this summer is never ending. 

Today was Saturday, so we ended practice with a pool party. These are some of my favorite days at the rig. Even on the hottest days, being shaded under the net (with a tarp on it) and chilling in the pool with an air conditioner--it's like we can forget that it's been one of the hottest summers on record. This was one of those pool parties that ended in a belly flop contest and people doing tricks into the net while we all watch from the "deep" end. It was a pretty great day!

I'll throw just one video in here, just for fun. My returns with Randy are always the best. Right now I'm working on trying to have more control on my remount to the board. It's a work in progress...