Weekend photo dump

Here are some highlights from the weekend. I love having Fridays off in the summer, it makes the weekend feel so much longer! It's amazing what a difference one extra day makes. We really should have 3 day weekends year around. I think it would make for much happier employees. It was Nadia's birthday a couple days ago, so she and I went out for brunch on Friday morning. We went to the same place she took me for my birthday because I loved the free cinnamon roll they give you with a birthday sparkler. 

Before brunch, Dave and I got in a quick gym session, so that made the cinnamon roll and mimosa all the more delicious.

Saturdays are for flying, so that's how the morning started. I've been oddly interested in World Cup soccer this year, so we've watched quite a few games. I've had them on during the day at work (it's pretty quiet on campus, so I just work from my student lounge with soccer on the TV). Ava's boyfriend plays varsity soccer, so we told him we needed to watch a few games with him so he can explain the rules I don't understand. Norway has been the team I'm cheering for the most (me and everyone else who just learned Erling Haaland exists), so Aidan came over to watch that game. Well, "watch" the game may be a bit inaccurate....

Ali came to town on Sunday, and it was so great to see her! Ashley, Ali and I met for dinner at a great restaurant in Tempe and had a lovely time catching up. Ali moved to Vegas at the beginning of the year and she is missed very much! It'll be nice to have her in town with me for a few days. 

I love that Ashley and I have gotten so much closer in the recent months. She's been a member of our trapeze group for years, but it's only been since this year that we've gotten closer. Ali was a big part of that--I think we bonded over missing her. 

Girls nights are good for the soul. 

We spent Tuesday evening together too. We doordashed Greek food and drank some delicious wine together while we chatted for hours. Ali will be back in September, and hopefully we'll find a time to make it up to Vegas to visit too. It was a nice weekend filled with time with good friends! 

First coach visit with the new net

Perfect timing, we had Katie and Petter visiting right after the new net went up. That is the coaching dream team right there--two of the best in the world and they're here to coach us! Shay came to visit too! She's one of the newest members of our group, and our resident PT (who we met because Jan had to go to PT). Shay flew with us for the first half of this year, but then had to have knee surgery and will be out for awhile. It was great to have her visit though! 

Super fun night with this dream team! 

In case you're missing the trapeze videos, here is a video of my returning a layout with Petter. I haven't thrown many of these lately, especially to catch, since they tend to irritate my shoulder. But, for now at least, this one felt great! Petter makes it feel easy. 

Time for a new net

The net that we put up in September of 2024 did not last very long, unfortunately. We think it must have been a lemon because the net we had before this one lasted 10 years. Once it got a hole in it this time, they just started happening one after another. After the first hole, they patched it up and put one of the old aprons over the top of the bed of the net to keep it safe to continue using until we could change it out, but it wasn't ideal. George got the new net shortly after he ordered it, but there wasn't anyone with experience available to help us put it up until now. Herdlyn flew out to supervise the install. I wasn't in town the last time they did this, so it was my first experience putting up a new net. It's quite the job! 

It's already a labor intensive and tedious job, but add to it, we have a pool under the net so you can't just lay the net out in place. They worked out a system where the new net was suspended over the old one, and they didn't remove the old net until the new one was hanging where to was supposed to go. We had to disassemble various parts and splice the spreaders onto the new net. Most of these things didn't require multiple people, but we all wanted to help (and learn), so it was a lot of this. 

Rod and George have done this a few times, but it's always helpful to have an expert there to make sure it's going smoothly and that everything is safe and lined up properly. Herdlyn has a lot of experience, and he also has a very calm and patient demeanor, so he's a great one to lead the process.

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An added challenge is that it's July, and it's very hot out today. We did have some cloud cover in the morning, so that helped, but it made for a long hot day in the sun.

It didn't actually take that long to get the new net up and in place, but it was all the little things (which are very important to get right) that took most of the time. Even after this goes up, it will be a lot of tweaking to make sure everything is lined up right and the net is stretched to the proper distance. 

Tying the aprons on to the new net is a pretty tedious process, and they had to untie it and retie a couple times because they either miscounted squares of had it too far forward. George, Herdlyn, Rod and Bob mostly handled that part. 

We took plenty of breaks in front of the air conditioner in the shade, and drank a lot of water. It wasn't all that bad for most of us who were just helping when there was something we could do. 

I'm sure this is exactly what Jan wanted to do on her birthday, but hey, a new net is a pretty great gift! Happy birthday Jan! 

Once the net was in place and everything was connected like it was supposed to be, we had to go ahead and take our first swings! It's so white and clean! Nothing like that new net feeling!

Thanks to this crew for putting in the work on a hot July day to get our beautiful new net up! Now, let's hope we get more than 18 months out of this one. 

Ava's weekend up north

Ava had a fun weekend with friends at a cabin up in Pine over the 4th of July weekend. Lexi's grandma had rented a cabin for her grandkids and friends. It was Ava and her boyfriend, Aidan, Lexi and her boyfriend Caiden, as well as two of Lexi's cousins (and Grandma). Since I wasn't there, I won't have much to write about these photos, but it sure looked like a fun trip! They made homemade pizzas the first night they were there, and she said they turned out really well (using dough from Trader Joe's). 

On the 4th, they went into Payson for their holiday festivities in the park. The girls looked so cute in their themed outfits!

It's so great to see that these two are still such great friends, even after Ava switched schools. They've spent even more time together since Ava started dating Aidan, as he's part of Lexi's friend group at RM. I think they met in 5th grade at the Academy and have been best friends ever since. 

Is it even a small town holiday party if you don't get your face painted? 

I'm sure they enjoyed the break from the heat while they were up north. Getting out of here in the summer is never a bad idea. 

The boyfriends enjoy fishing, so Ava has done more fishing in the last few months than in her entire life. I don't think they ever catch much, but they must have fun doing it. And, these two sure look cute! 

They also went on a hike one morning, so it was a weekend filled with a bunch of adventures! I'm glad they had a good time. 

4th of July

This first photo wasn't from the 4th, but it was a pretty sunset the night before, so worth sharing. I picked up Thai food and hung out with Nadia. 

The 4th was on a Saturday, which means the day starts with trapeze. 

We were all dressed up in our patriotic gear to at least pretend like we're excited for this holiday. 

After practice, we started doing some prep work to take down the net and replace it with a new one. A couple months ago, the net started tearing in a few places. There were about 5 different spots that had to be patched, and it was fraying in a lot of other places. This net was just over a year and a half old, and it already started breaking down. It should definitely have lasted longer. The net we had before this one lasted for 10 years! I wasn't there to help put up the last net, so it was good to be part of the process this time. Today we took off the aprons, the wings (which are the pieces of net that cover the spreaders on each side of the net). We also took the new net out of the crate and stretched it out. Luckily, it wasn't too terribly hot and we had some cloud coverage. It was good that we were able to do some of these things today to cut out some steps tomorrow. 

For the evening festivities, Dave and I went over to Rod's house for his annual festivities (we also went to his friends house before that for another party). Rod and George always buy a ton of fireworks. There was less running through them this year, so that was good. 

This photo above was a recreation of a picture Jan, Kaylin and I took two years ago. I think the whole family had stuff going on today, so we all kept busy. It's not quite like the years we spent in ND for the holiday, but it was nice to be with friends. One of these days we'll get back for a good old fashioned ND 4th of July. 

Happy 20th Tyler!

Today is Tyler's twentieth birthday. Our first born, our baby boy, the one who made us parents is no longer a teenager. I wrote a post on Instagram celebrating the occasion and I said that everyone tells you how quickly it's all going to go, but it's one of the truest things that can be said about parenting. I'm sure I say it on every birthday post I write about my kids, but there's something about Tyler entering his 20s that makes it really hit hard. We've been fortunate that Tyler is still living at home and we get to see him everyday, so we're grateful for the extra time. I know there will come a day when he is ready to move out or move on to another opportunity, but we're glad he's in no rush. 

It's hard to even know where to begin when it comes to talking about all the things that make Tyler so awesome. You all know, everyone who knows anything about Tyler knows he is incredibly talented. When he was little, he could tell you everything you needed to know about the Saturn V rocket or the solar system. As he moved into his pre-teen and teen years, he developed a love for technology and an aptitude for learning it all on his own. He shot stop motion Lego movies, and then taught himself special effects by creating a 2 second light saber video in the 4 hours that the Super Bowl. All of that led to an interest in making movies, which culminated in an 18 minute short film that he shot over the course of a couple years in two states, a dozen locations and with a variety of family and friends as his actors. As a reminder, that was during middle school! When he hit high school, he got into VR e-sports and then joined RMTV (and through his work with VRML), where he found his passion for event production. That brings us to now, where Tyler owns his own business, has taught himself carpentry to finish his trailer, and is heading into his first football season where they will have games on cable tv every week. He's had a pretty successful launch into adulthood! What a guy. 

For his birthday dinner, we all went out to a restaurant in Scottsdale, so we took the chance afterwards to get some photos in a little garden. For so many years, we were in North Dakota for Tyler's birthday, and maybe we'll do that again one of these years. I definitely miss those summer trips around the 4th of July. It's definitely been too long. I'll always associate Tyler's birthday with those wonderful summer memories on my farm and at the lake. I hope Tyler does too. 

I always love getting new photos with my kids! Before we knew it, they went and grew up on us, but they've grown into such wonderful people. 

These two couldn't be more different from one another, but luckily they get along well and seem to enjoy each other in the limited time they spend together. I hope they continue to get closer as they grow into adults. 

Ya, I think we did good with those two. We don't look like the parents of a 20 year old, do we? The right answer is no. 

Since we didn't get a photo of Dave and the kids on Father's Day, we'll pretend like we took this one for the occasion. Dave has been such a support to Tyler all these years with his many projects and ventures. Most of what Tyler knows, he learned from You Tube, but Dave definitely contributed to his knowledge base. Happy 20th birthday to our amazing son. We literally could not be more proud of you and the young man you have become. You are talented, humble, hard working and creative. You go after what you want and you aren't scared to put in the hours and take risks. This business you've started is so impressive, and it'll be fun to see where it goes! Here's to a great decade! Have a blast in your 20s kid. We love you.