Slacklining

Slacklining, definition according to Wikipedia:

Slacklining is a balance sport that uses nylon webbing stretched tight between two anchor points. Slacklining is distinct from tightrope walking in that the line is not held rigidly taut; it is instead dynamic, stretching and bouncing like a long and narrow trampoline. The line's tension can be adjusted to suit the user and different types of dynamic webbing can be used to achieve a variety of feats. The line itself is flat, due to the nature of webbing, thus keeping the slacker's footing from rolling as would be the case with an ordinary rope.

Well, as you may have guessed, this is Gavin's new sport! I have pictures (hundreds of them) dating back to February 4th, marking his first attempt at standing on a slackline. The idea was to get good enough to rig up a "highline" over a canyon in Red Rocks. In the midst of visitors and vacations, we spent a great deal of time in the public parks, borrowing their trees to practice this slacklining (strong trees are difficult to come by our here in the desert). This sport is more difficult than you might think, and Gavin has been practicing hard. Here are some picture from that beginning day up until yesterday.

Day 1. He could barely stand without holding onto my shoulder.

Slacklining can lead to some crazy falls. But, if you roll out of them, you'll be just fine.

Lots and lots of falling involved in learning this sport.

But not me. I never fall. I always look perfectly poised and peaceful, posing in front of beautiful mountains such as these. Kidding, obviously. It is a miracle that I can even stay on long enough for a picture to be taken.

Getting better, and the line is getting higher.

More practice.

My balancing abilities are actually digressing.

I love this picture because it looks like he is walking on top of this family. What is also fun about this sport is how many people stop to watch this "crazy" person. And ALL of them feel lead to tell him that he is "crazy." Many people want to know if he is with Cirque du Soleil, or some other act that performs on the strip. Almost everyone will stop and watch for a while, look at us like we have lot our minds, and then wish us luck or ask to pray over us for the healing of our minds from the Lord Jesus. Not really that last part, but you can tell that they are really scared for him!

As I said earlier, the whole point of learning to slackline was to be able to highline (taking the slackline up high, as the name implies). So, what do you do when you have a dream? You make it happen, right? Here is Gav drilling holes for bolts to attach a highline out in Red Rock Canyon National Park. Don't worry, we are pretty darn sure that it is totally legal to go drilling wherever you please in this particular national park. Bolting for slacklining is the same thing as bolting for rock climbing, but it must be done very carefully. So, Gavin learned himself in the area of bolting, and here we are.

Blowing the sand dust out of the hole to make sure that the bolt fits as snug as possible.

Random side note: Teddy Grahams are a hiking favorite of ours.

Here is a picture of Gavin rigging up the highline for attempt number 1. An important note about highlining: he uses a climbing harness and a leash that attaches to him and to the slackline, so that he will be caught in the event that he falls. It would be the exact same thing as taking a 4 or 5 foot fall on a climbing rope. This is not any less safe than that, just more scary.

This was about a month and a half after he started slacklining. Don't worry Judy, as I said before, this is just as safe as rock climbing.

Standing up, and surfing the line.

After he fell... crawling back to the side. It was a pretty scary fall! I added the video of this fall to the bottom of this post.

This is the face or frustration and defeat! After a fall too close to the side of the rock that nearly took his head off, he decided to call it a day. More practice was needed.

More practice.

Even more practice.

I'm still digressing.

Here he is, back for attempt number 2 (this was yesterday, 4/12), and very determined to make it all the way across this time!

AHHH, he's walking it!

This was so awesome! I was so excited! Somewhere around 3/4th's of the way across, he said that he cracked a smile, and then the smile made him lose his concentration, and then he fell!

Pretty darn pleased with himself! He didn't make it all the way across on attempt number 2, but it was definitely a victorious day! We will be back after more practice I'm sure.

This is what he is doing while I am sitting here typing this. He said that all the nerves and anxiety have carried over from yesterday and made him sleepy. I guess this is how people who never have anxiety respond to it. To that I say, if I were to get sleepy from anxiety, you would never see me, I would be sleeping all the time!

Gavin's fall on first attempt to send at Red Rocks.

Weekend of Worship

You know that feeling in the summertime when you don't even realize how thirsty you are until you reach for the water? I am one of those people who habitually reaches for the diet coke, lemonade, or even V8 before I will reach for just water. It is a horrible habit. But anyways, back to the summertime scenario. So, it is really hot, and water has never tasted so good to you as it does right then. I mean, you could drown yourself with the amount of water you are trying to consume at that moment. Well, that is kind of a metaphor for how my weekend went. I don't know how many of you may have heard of the band Jesus Culture, but you should go and look them up immediately... or after you are finished reading my thoughts! Jesus Culture is a group out of Bethel Church in Redding, California. They began a series of conferences this weekend here in Las Vegas. I didn't attend the conference, but I was able to see the night sessions for free! Jesus Culture is an incredibly anointed worship group. I haven't been in a worship atmosphere like this one in months... my soul was thirsty, very, very thirsty! I am really enjoying the church that Gavin and I are going to out here, Shadow Hills Baptist Church. The college group is a lot of fun, and the Pastor is very good. BUT, the music department is seriously lacking, God bless 'em. That was the nicest way I could put that. I honestly like the church, I just really miss the music I took for granted at Church of the Highlands back in Auburn. So, this music was exactly what I needed. I knew I missed connecting with God through worship music, but I didn't realize how deprived I had been until this weekend. It was AMAZING, INCREDIBLE, BEAUTIFUL, AWESOME to be able to experience the presence of God this weekend!

But that wasn't the end of it. At church this morning I found out that the Rock and Worship Roaddshow was stopping in Vegas at The Orleans Arena tonight. CRAZY! This cast included Steve Fee, The David Crowder Band, and MercyMe to name a few. So wonderful! I was ale to go and sit with the college group tonight, but the seats were right by the stage, and the speakers and the base (the speakers and the base would not have fit in the baby house back in Auburn, if that gives you any indication of the power of the base that was hitting tonight). The base was vibrating my entire body, and it kept making me cough... that has never happened before. I am not especially huge fans of any of these bands, but I had a great time. Some of the bands had recently put put new albums that I was unaware of, so I am excited for the new music I stumbled across tonight.

So, now I am feeling completely filled with the Holy Spirit, and I am also experiencing a a throbbing headache with partial, temporary deafness. But, well worth it! What an amazing, worship-filled weekend. I feel like the Lord grabbed my attention, and reminded me how important it is to take time to praise Him through song. I realize you can worship at any time in many ways, but my soul has missed the music, and I will not ever go that long without it again! I am so thankful for each of you, and I am missing all of you out here! (I apologize if this was long and doesn't make sense... let us blame the base headache!)

Date Day!

Today, I had a really fun date day! Gavin was given some free tickets to the Shark Reef Aquarium at Mandalay Bay on the strip. One of his co-worker's wives works there, and it was so nice of him to pass the free tickets our way. It was a wonderful day!

Gavin at the Starbucks drive-thru. Ahh, two of my favorite things in the same picture!

Most beautiful picture of the day! This my friends, is a grande, stirred, iced caramel macchiato with nonfat milk, and sugar-free syrup! It is my new joy, and I would drink it a few times a day if I had the money, and could afford to be in a state of caffeine over-drive all the time. Do yourselves a favor and go get yourself one today... and then the next day!

At the aquarium. It was a small aquarium, but really nice and full of different types of sharks. There were two or three tunnels that you could walk through and see the sharks from below.

Me.

In a tunnel!

Him.

Looking at the glass ceiling, waiting for a shark to swim by!

And this is my tiny little Asian friend who was pointing out all of the "little fishies." Everything was a "little fishie," even the largest shark in the tank! He was so adorable!

I tried to get a picture with the strip behind me. Not successful, but I did get The Mandalay Bay.

We went back to my apartment to watch a documentary that we had been waiting to arrive from Netflix, Man on a Wire. It is about a guy who walked a tightrope between the twin towers in the 1970's. It was a really good movie... I recommend it. I think this face, is "What? What are you doing? Watch the movie! You can't take pictures while we are watching a movie!" Ohhh, but I can, and I will, and I did!

He was like a little kid watching this movie... hanging on every word!

And then our date was over because he had to head off to work! Thank you Gav, for such a wonderful date today! Ok, that was my day today, I hope you enjoyed!

Jessica Came to See Me

So, about a week after Ike's visit to see Gavin, Jess came to see me!! It was so nice to have a friend visit... it was much needed. We went to the Hoover Dam. Note the bridge progress from when Gavin's parents were in town about a month earlier.

Friends!

Discussing the fish that were visible 250 feet above the water.

Still discussing... getting more intense! Clearly not heeding the "Keep off wall" warning.

Cute.

Hahahahaha, sorry Jessica. I am sorry, but I had to post it. You always look so special (and lonely) in pictures by yourself!

The bridge is almost complete.

Climbing Day

Pretty background.

I love this picture. The sky is so blue!

Haha, Gavin telling Jessica where to start climbing.

She did it! I think she surprised herself. She went about 10 more feet and declared herself "done... not interested in going any farther!"

Proud little smile.

The climbing harness does nothing for my figure.

I'm framing this one!

Ok, I know kissing pictures are usually annoying. BUT, I really love this picture, and since there are only 9 people reading this at any given time, I don't feel all that bad! Thank you for the wonderful photography Jessica.

I LOVED having Jessica come and visit. I needed some quality girl time. We went and visited the strip (3 times), and stayed up late talking and watching tv. We also bought and ate an entire package of double stuff oreos! She is a terrible (and tiny) little example to me. I will be billing you for my first month of gym membership! Thank you for taking time out of school to come and keep me company!