Hey, @OSUblake!
I updated my Codepen. ScrollTriggers are now in separate .gsap() functions. Isn't that a bad pattern to have multiple .gsap instances of the same element? Because now I have:
gsap timeline for element 1 ( el1 + el_pseudo animation)
gsap.to for scrolltrigger element 1
gsap.to for element 2
gsap.to for scrolltrigger element 2
When I used your third example with scrollTrigger inside the timeline, and then .to, my animations were triggered only on the scroll and I don't want that ?