SUU Admissions Recruitment Planning Retreat / Family Vacation

Every May, my office spends a grueling week together -- 8 hours a day for 5 days -- to re-hash our past year and plan for our next. Let me give you some background: I have worked with/known most of these individuals since I started college 11 years ago [Wow -- That doesn't date me, does it?]. We've seen and done a lot with each other -- late nights, early mornings, long flights, longer drives -- you name it. So putting us all togehter for a week of meetings can be a bit comical. We break up our marathon meetings with a stayover in St. George. This year we also took a side trip to Zion National Park. We all loaded the SUU white minivans and were off. It kinda felt like going on family vacation. God gave us families so we won't fight with strangers. While in Zion, we hiked this:

Yes, that is Angel's Landing. I am the girl that barely likes to walk 2 1/2 miles on a treadmill -- not straight uphill for hours. Funny that I had done this hike in college years ago and didn't remember it being near as hard. It was awesome -- beautiful views and a sense of accomplishment! Mid-morning on Day 4 of our meetings we were taking a little break and our 'family vacation' beacme 'family food fight/death match' in mere seconds when I looked at a stash of Jelly Belly packets on the table and casually mentioned how fun it would be to throw them at someone. All of a sudden 7 hands dove for pile and we dashed to separate sides of the Juniper Hall Loft and started an all-out food fight. It felt surprisingly good to pelt the back of the boss and give a welt to a co-worker. Truly a memory -- and great stress reliever!
I had a great week in the company of my SUU friends/family. Look out '09-'10 as the 'family' has some great ideas in mind.