elevation // ninja style

Just can't get over how lucky I am, especially these past few months, they've been straight radical, so very surreal.

There is something so magical about just going with the flow, if riding the waves of life was like surfing I'd be a mega pro. Whether life is working the same job everyday and feeling SO MEDIOCRE I COULD DIE, or spending three weeks away from home with only a little bit of a plan, I'll take it, I'll ride that wave. This is now, now is what we have. Firm believer in being present in whatever the moment brings. 

I mean, sure I may be a little spontaneous and unorganized when it comes to life, but I love it. That's all that matters RIGHT. Loving the life you live. 

The past couple of months have been a wild ride, sometimes pretty chill, others times up on a high, but every moment is beautiful, and I'm so stoked with all the memories I have to cherish forever. 

I feel like I've been all over the place (I haven't really) but the nomad in me had it's fix for a little bit back there. I spent two weeks in St. George working at Elevation (stay tuned bc that's what all this post is about if I ever get to it), a week in California with potential (my truest homies), a few days in Moab with my church (s/o to my ward for being extra stellar), and countless days up in my mountains, hiking, camping, backpacking, all the good stuff. It's a colorful life. 

It's a beautiful life really, sure there is lots of greys but to be honest, I think grey is a beautiful color, there are lots of bold, bright colors, swishes of stunning colors here and there, all over a pretty great painting my life is turning out to be. Perfect, hah no. Pretty rad? Dang straight. 

I know I've been CRUMMY at posting but here is me trying (attempting and flopping really) to not abandon this blog;

Let's take a journey back to the 8th of May, the beginning of my traveling adventures (bc everyday is an adventure and have you seen where I live amazing amirite). 

I packed up probably all of my belongings because I procrastinated packing (literally to the very last half hour) and thought to myself, "If I take everything I won't forget anything." FALSE. I forgot wet wipes, who forgets wet wipes, honestly. Frantically threw everything into the back of my dads truck and he so graciously drove me to my sisters house an hour of so away. Got to spend the night with my pretty neat sister and her husband. We baked sweet potato fries and sat on the kitchen floor, the best nights right. 

May 9th. I love Masina, and what is better than taking a six hour drive with the people that you friggin love amrite. Even if you have to wake up early in the AM and repack all your possessions three times.  The drive literally flashed by in a jiffy, those are the best kinds of road trips. When you're having to much of a good time to feel the tug of the hours as they tick by. The best. BUT I ALSO LOVE RACHEL. Rachel is rad because she let me crash at her house and ran me around with her expert driving skills, and fed me food, truly a saint. Got to Rachel's house where we hung out in her hipster attic room and helped her study for her midterm. THEN AUTUMN AND MADDIE SHOWED UP. We cruised around the grocery store in one of those electric carts like a bunch of teenagers. I have never felt so teenager-y in my entire life. Then we made food and made weird videos on Autumns phone. Always feel so at home whenever I'm with these people. 

May 10th. Rachel literally lives like 5 minutes from the St. George Temple, such a beautiful temple. So crisp and white against the deep blue desert sky. Let's also not forget that the chapel smelled like old people, perks of living in an old neighborhood. After church, SANNEKE SHOWED UP. I LOVE SANNEKE. We got all ready to head out to the canyon for the week, and Autumn blessed us with her mad driving skills and drove us to the canyon in her MuMu. 

((PAUSE FOR A SECOND. Elevation is the rad outdoor leadership camp with the amazing online liberal arts school, Williamsburg Academy, that I was so lucky to attend for most of high school. I've gone three times as a student, and this year, I was so ridiculously lucky to go as a trail guide. (TRAIL GUIDE. I repeat, TRAIL. GUIDE.) It was hands down the best experience ever.))

I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to be reunited with the mentors and other trail guides, (like JULIA. Forever my internal explosion buddy), I look up to them so much and am so fortunate to have them in my life. We did orientation, walls (actually such an incredible experience doing it with the mentors), set up camp, and were overall just so happy to be together in the canyon. 

Elevation Week One // May 11th-May 15th. This is IT. This was the day we had been preparing for, the day I had been WAITING SO (not) PATIENTLY FOR. The day the students arrived and the life changing 5 days began. It felt so good to see my people again, oh how I love them. 

Let me tell you about my pod, Pod Four. There was just something so weird about us. For starters, our pod name was, "Here at Pod Four, we're better than you, and we know it." said while we tilted out heads and then ended in a loud roar. Hailstone was the mentor (nicknamed papa bear) and I was the trail guide (nicknamed goldilocks). Our podlings were Cedar, Briar, Jefferson, Caleb, Dallin, Jarom, Jane, McKenna, Meghan, and Clay. We were such an odd bunch but in the best kind of way, we all goofed off and meshed together so well, we were so close and I really admire these kids, they are all such incredible leaders and Pod Four IS better than you. 

^^^100% blinking and 5000% high on life.^^^

If I went through every single day of elevation, this post would be EVEN longer than it already is, so presenting, bullet points of my favourite moments from week one. 

• Belaying/helping kids up their first ever climbs. Your first climb is so magical, also terrifying if you're most people. And when you finish your first ever climb, it's a moment you'll cherish forever. The best feeling was when those kids thanked me for helping them with huge grins on their faces. That's the best. 
• E-Ninja trip. I could type my fingers off with this one. The E-Ninja trip was the BEST. We had a huge group so we did repelling at Dixie Rock and did a repel rescue simulation where I was the one being rescued. Let me just say, I make an excellent unconscious person, not to brag or anything, but my leg and hands DID turn purple and not once did I speak or break character. S/o to John and Tim for working through the problem and not killing me. Next we went to fat mans squeeze (a slot smaller than the width of my foot in some places) did a simulation where Rachel had a broken leg and we had to get her to the end of the canyon. It's so rad seeing the leaders stand up and lead and everyone work together in harmony. The last thing we did was go to the lava tubes, a really cool underground cave thing. It smelled sorta nasty but at the end there was this really big cavern, there were glows sticks laying all over the ground so we picked them up and sprayed them on the walls, IT WAS SO COOL. It looked like a galaxy. With our lights off, we sat and had a little devo. I love those people with all of my heart. Such an incredible experience. 
• Pod Talent/Skit night. MY POD. Haha. It kills me. We had the best skit ever. We danced around like chickens and then acted out a cock fight and had such a blast doing it. I was so proud of the kids for getting our of their comfort zones and having a good time. That was the best night. Earlier that day in morning pod devo, I had quoted "20 seconds of courage" to the kids and told them that really all they needed was 20 seconds of courage and something great would come of it. During skits that night, after a wild day, as we were practicing our chicken impersonations, one of the kids was having a difficult time with it, it was something that was out of his comfort zone and as he was nervous he said out loud, "Okay. just 20 seconds of courage" and he KILLED IT. I was so proud of him, and I loved watching all the kids grown and learn throughout the week. 
• Chatting with all the kids in my pod during solo time. Wow I really really loved talking to those kids, they have so much character and I can't wait to see where they take their lives. 
• Tent happenings with my tent buddy Julia. Oh wow I love Julia. Who knows what went on in our tent, but we did wake up the other mentors/trail guides at like three in the morning with our laughs and we did have some really great conversations. Loved out little crowded tent. 
• One night after all the kids were in bed (trail guides don't have a bed time, WADDUP) me and Julia decided to *try* to sneak up on the boys sleeping in the volleyball pit. We failed thanks to Tim. But it was fun while it lasted. The boys had pineapple, and of course we had to have some. So we went and got some, and Riley handed it to use in his dirty hands and there were rocks and sand on it which I bit into, that was an experience for sure. Don't know how we would have survived if it weren't for John and his lifesavers, it saved our lives.
• Taylor Swift dance parties in the rain storm. 
• Standing on one foot contests. 
• Repelling station, hanging out with all the students was the best. 
• Meaningful conversations with the mentors. 

The whole week was full of favorite moments, the whole week was my favorite, there is so much more I could say but I'll leave it at that. 

May 15th. After elevation, a bunch of us headed to Mr. Browns house. THE BROWNS ARE THE BEST. They were so kind to let 20 or so kids invade their home, and then feed us the MOST delicious dinner. I look up to and admire them so much. I cannot even put into words how grateful I am to have gone to a school where the mentors are such phenomenal people who care about their students and YEAH I cannot even tell you but I'm so fortunate. S/o to the Browns for putting up with the horse masks, the loud, indecisive "planning" and the boys horrible jokes. When we got back to Rachel's house, we played on the tramp in this rad foam machine that her dad made. It made SO MUCH FOAM. Obviously we shaved our legs, because what else would we do. OH OH AND ERICA SHOWED UP. I LOVE ERICA.

May 16th. Unfortunately we had to say goodbye to some stellar people like Josh, Lilly, and Caleb, and oh man I love them. After saying goodbye we all headed to SNOW CANYON. Absolutely beautiful. We hiked to some mosquitoes puddles, and climbed some rocks, it was rad and I just love being with my people. When we got back to our cars, the sequoia and 15 passenger van headed in separate ways. The van to Vegas, and the sequoia to St. George. As we got in our cars, Riley got out his speaker and played When Can I See You Again / Owl City and him and Tim busted out some sick dance moves, holy crap, I love those kids. That night, those of use left in St. George (at Rachel's house) picked Ryan up from the airport. RYAN IS MY FAVORITE. He is mature beyond his years and I so hilarious and brilliant. We dyed Sanneke's hair with kool aide, played spoons (I DOMINATED) and ate ice cream. Such a chill, fun night. 

Elevation Take Two // May 17th-21st. Week two of elevation had SUCH a different dynamic. The first week has such high energy, it's always loud, "I'm a little tea pot" is rapped 24/7, fingers are broken, rules are broken, etc. Week two on the other hand is super chill, and I loved it. Most of the kids were freshman (70% to be exact) and so although there was pressure to make their first experience amazing, they were all so cute and I loved being able to experience that with them and get to know so many new, neat kids.

Pod One was the BEST. We had such a great group and they all bonded so well. Greg (nicknamed Papa G) was our mentor and I was the trail guide (nicknamed 'Nola short for granola bc I'm so granola and I also like granola a lot), our podlings were Alleigh, Katie, Katlyn, Jeffey, Belle, Ryley, Seth, Colleen, Rebecca, Berkley, Harrision, and Syndey (also so sorry I probably butchered their names). We did this sick chant thing and our name was Legion. Seriously so cool. When I left early on Thursday, all the girls in my pod came and tackle hugged me as I left and oh wow, loved seeing them grow and learn, such great kids.

^^missing me bc I left early, but aren't they cuute. love these kids^^

• Gear inspection with Ben. Loved meeting the kids as they first came in and loved hanging with the mentors up top. So fun. 
• Teaching the lead climbing workshop with Bambi. I love Bambi and he's such a great example to me, also hilarious and rouge workshop was the best. Near the end of the day when we only had three pods left to go, Bambi had to run do something else and they left me in charge of teaching the lead climbing workshop. It meant so much that they let me do that, and trusted me enough to teach kids to lead climb. 
• KOOSH. After the koosh championship, the winner plays the mentors and trail guides. OBVIOUSLY we always win. We spent a lot of the night playing koosh with the students and it's was the bomb diggity. At one point I dived for the ball and ended up wrestling underneath a pile of bunch of kids. The best. Koosh is the best. 
• Crazy yoga with Alleigh and Erica. 
• Nights in the tent with Erica and Masina. 
• Spence digging a trench around our tent so it wouldn't flood. He's the REAL mvp. 
• I left late Thursday afternoon, and so I spent all of free time sitting around the fire (it wasn't burning in the middle of the day alright) talking with the mentors. Hands down my favorite moment from both weeks. I look up to those people so much and sitting there I just couldn't believe how luck I am to know them. 
• When my homies came to pick me up, they rolled into the canyon, limping, and so dirty, and all of the sudden, the canyon was echoing with "I'm a little teapot" and it was so great. Love them. 

And then.....WE HEADED TO VEGAS. Stay tuned for the wonders of my trip to CALI. Such good times. 

I'm already remembering so many great moments from these two weeks, IT WAS SUCH A GOOD TIME. SUCH A GOOD TIME. Blessed beyond measure to be surrounded by such incredible people, and I'm so stoked I got the opportunity to be a trail guide (!!!!!). Thanks a million to WA for giving me the opportunity. :) 

Life is colorful, life is rad, and I'm stoked to be alive.