Blog Archives

The Big 1 0

4/30/2014

Today "my baby" is 10! I can't believe how fast time flew by!

Happy Birthday to my little wild man Seth! These pictures truly show Seth's personality! All three of my kids are SO very different, it's been a fun, crazy rewarding 26 years watching them grow (and torture me!) and seeing them develop their own ways! Tori, a mom and my best friend, an excellent student, and THE BEST at anything she puts her mind too! She's creative and crafty (and a bit of a pain sometimes) :P Tyson, an awesome athlete, kind of shy and quiet but, a great teacher to other students, a hard worker, passionate and loves his Mom! and then there is Seth....Wild! Outgoing! Never sits still! Seth goes a mile a minute, he loves to talk, skateboard, show-off and if you need to know how to do ANYTHING, he is an expert! He's a sales man, an athlete and a huge ball of energy! I'm excited (and a little scared lol) to see what kind of a man he turns out to be!
Happy Birthday to my little boy!

0 Comments

Big rewards for small deeds

4/27/2014

0 Comments

Update:
A few days ago, I posted a blog about the kids I teach private lessons to, here is the outcome of the Tournament they competed in yesterday.
Mahdi, fell short due to nerves but, showed a ton of heart, battling a clearly more experienced boy. He lost to a cross collar choke that he fought so hard we thought he was going to sleep! It was heart breaking seeing him cry after his match, he even let me give him a hug (he doesn't always like me when were practicing lol) He quickly recovered and came back to show his true talent in an exhibition match.
I also give private lessons to their cousins, Ahmad and Wesaal. Ahmad is 5 and gives me a run for my money during our lessons but, he is adorable and funny and we always have a good time! Ahmad also lost his 1st match (and looked a little terrified) but, also came back in his exhibition match, after loosing his tournament nerves, and sunk in a sweet RNC in the 1st 30 seconds!
Wesaal was the only girl in a group of little boys. She tore it up taking silver!
And last but not least....Lanna! Lanna was a super star yesterday. Taking Gold in her division while looking calm and confident (like she's done this before) I see BIG things for Lanna, she is a natural!
But, watching the kids was not the most rewarding part of the day....it was watching their family! Moms, Dads, Aunts, Uncles & cousins were all in attendance to watch the kids. This is a VERY reserved family, who barely makes a peep at the gym. Seeing them jump and cheer with excitement for their kids was awesome! They are a very nice family, where clearly their kids come 1st and I'm really happy to have gotten a chance to get to know them better and hopefully make a great lasting impression on their kids!

Ahmad: "Why do you have those tattoos?
Me: "Because I like them"
Ahmad: "well, I don't!"

0 Comments

The best thing you can spend on kids is your time!

4/24/2014

0 Comments

For the past couple months, I have been giving private lessons to Lanna and Mahdy, two kids from my gym. This weekend they will both compete at the AZ Kids Cup, their 1st tournament. I am so excited to go watch, coach and cheer them on!
When I started giving them lessons, I had no idea of the rewarding feeling I would have. It feels great to see them applying the techniques we have been working on when rolling live. Lanna is a little sponge, she "gets it" so easily and loves working detailed, fancy moves (we do focus on basics most of the time but, I like to keep it fun and throw in some tricky stuff) Mahdy is a little beast! He is feisty and tough! I have no doubt that they will go out there and kill it Sat. win or lose, they will give their opponents a tough fight!
For more information on the Kids Cup http://gdjjevents.com/az-kids-cup/
*JAG/Eminence Kimono will have a booth this weekend! Stop by and pick up your new Astronomer or White Tigress!

0 Comments

You Don't raise Hero's, You Raise Sons!

4/20/2014

0 Comments

You don't raise heroes, you raise sons. And if you treat them like sons, they'll turn out to be heroes, even if it's just in your own eyes. ~Walter M. Schirra, Sr.

My sons never seize to amaze me! Yes...I'm bragging about my kids again!
We're all aloud to do this ;)
Yesterday my boys both competed at
The Grand Canyon State Open, Tyson (my older son) who competes frequently and
trains consistently and hard, took Silver, falling short in the last 8 seconds
of the final. Tyson competes well and has worked hard to get to where
he is! I'm very proud of his dedication to Jiu Jitsu and the great man he's
turning out to be!

Seth....is another story!
Seth (my 9 year old) does not like to train, how ever, he loves to compete!
Luckily for him, he is very athletic and
strong. Unfortunately, in Jiu Jitsu this will only work for so
long! Seth told me about a month ago (after training only a handful of times in
the past 3 years) that he wanted to do a tournament. I was excited that he
was interested, he typically prefers skateboarding over BJJ, I told him he
could compete but, HAD to put in some training time. He trained, at most 8-9
times. Still being a white belt, the athleticism came into play! Seth took
Silver in a 5 man bracket, loosing to a kid, who clearly put in his mat time, in
the final! I'm hoping this loss will get him motivated to start training and
competing in the future! I'm very proud of him for getting out there, and most
important...he had a great time!

In addition to a great day for my boys, Lotus Club killed it, bringing home several double golds and even a QUARDRUBLE Gold! Congrats to my teammate Logan Jewell! Our kids team finished up with 4 gold and 6 silver medals!

0 Comments

Live, Breathe & Travel Jiu JItsu

4/8/2014

0 Comments

I spent this past weekend in Carlsbad, CA visiting my family for my cousin's Mary's baby shower. My Mom, my son Seth and I were planning to leave AZ early Saturday morning to spend the afternoon and attend the shower on Sunday. Thursday night, I convinced my Mom that we should leave Friday so that we could have the whole day Saturday to relax, she agreed, not knowing I had ulterior motives.....to make it to a BJJ class by 10am Saturday morning ;)
As you can see from the photo above, that happened! Nick Stefan, second degree Black Belt and owner of Gracie Jiu Jitsu Carlsbad, was very kind to let me join their Saturday morning class. This was my first time to go train at another school all by myself (I'm becoming such a big girl) so I was feeling the anxiety until I was joined by female Brown Belt, Jennifer Recinos (who, btw... won Pan Ams this year) She was very welcoming, partnered with me and I ended up having a great time getting in a couple of good rolls with her as well as a round with Nick! Thanks again guys for having me!
It's really hard to explain the need to train (even on vacation) to Non-BJJ addicts. The gym bag goes where ever you go, just in case an opportunity comes along to roll!
After leaving class, I mapped out my cousins dance studio to stop in for a visit, coincidentally, it was in the same parking lot, how convenient! My prego cousin and her sister Tina were teaching these adorable little girls (including my 2nd cousin Eva) a dance that they were happy to perform for me!

The rest of the day was spent, as I promised relaxing! Fish & Chips and boogie boarding at the beach, pizza and swimming at the cousins, then in for the night at Uncle Ricks to spend what would be the last night at a house where I spent every summer growing up (my Aunt Sharon passed away a few years ago and the house just sold) it was nice to feel the memories of a place
place that was a huge, wonderful part of my life. We miss you Aunt Sharon!

An amazing weekend was topped off with breakfast at the pie shop and a beautiful Baby Shower! Now back to reality, I am happy to be home (even though it's already 185 degrees here!) to get back to training,selling gis and to my fiancé and puppies, who I missed a lot!

0 Comments

Girls Girls Girls

4/1/2014

0 Comments

This past weekend was filled with LOTS of "Girl Time" starting Saturday morning with a drive to Tucson to attend "Let's Roll" open mat with 35 other females. This was an awesome event that was well worth the drive! For more detail: http://www.justagirlbjj.com/1/post/2014/03/lets-roll-all-girls-open-mat.html

Sunday morning, following church, I jumped in my car and drove out to
Chandler to attend Girl's in Gi's (another ALL female open mat) I couldn't stay
long but had the honor to meet 2 BJJ ladies that I really look up to and am
inspired by, Shama Ko and Lana Hunter and had an opportunity to spend some time
talking to Luca Diaz. Jay Pages Jiu JItsu school was jammed packed with
over 100 girls and LOTS of JAG SWAG in the house!

After only about an hour, I had to run off to the next event! I want to gig BIG Thanks to Brook Savage, who not only stayed and ran the Just a Girl booth but, also brought me some bomb Mary Kay concealer that covered my pretty shiner pretty well!!
I finished off my weekend with an amazing Bridal Shower put together by my daughter Toriana with help from some of my bridal party, my Mom and Tori's roommate Bri. The house was decorated in lavender and zebra print, it looked beautiful! We had such a great time playing some CRAZY games, eating a GIAGANTIC BJJ cake, (Thanks Ashleigh and Kelly) and taking LOTS of silly photos!
I am exhausted but, I would do it all again next week if I could!
The Jiu Jitsu Lifestyle is like no other! Filled with wonderful people, male and female, all with the same passion. I love these events and all of the friends I have made (BTW more then half of the "attendies" of my shower are ladies at met through BJJ) I am looking forward to the next one!

My Beautiful Bridal Party <3

0 Comments