Congratulations to Connie

Connie Fitzgerald (our recent one million sales achiever) and her husband Kerry arrived in Utah just in time for a Lindsey Stirling concert. The next morning they were greeted in Riverton by the Stampin’ Up! family before working on a stamp set, touring the facility, and spending time with employees in different departments.

Then Kerry went golfing with corporate team members while Connie stamped with Sara and me. We loved getting to know Connie and wish we could clone her humble and grateful heart. One of the things she talked about was that in nearly twenty years of being a demonstrator she has never thought negatively about doing an event…not once! Then finished with, “Who gets to say that?” Connie is an amazing person who truly loves what she does!

That evening was spent with other corporate team members at Red Iguana for dinner. The next day Connie and Kerry relaxed and walked around Salt Lake City, and Sara, Sean, Sterling and I were honored to have dinner with them at Copper Onion.

I think if you asked Connie what the highlight of her trip was, she would probably say it was her Dig This Experience, where she actually operated an excavator—complete with her very own Stampin’ Up! hard hat. Kerry helped plan this special surprise that had been a dream of Connie’s for years.

Connie and Kerry are two of the nicest people you’ll ever meet, and we thoroughly enjoyed surprising and delighting them as well as visiting with them! Congratulations to Connie!

Family Time in Florida

It was general conference weekend, but it was also the only time for a trip to see Shanna and the twins, so we headed to Florida for a fast few days, and we’ll watch conference this week…a little delayed.

An overnight trip to Legoland was a fun adventure that hopefully Liam and Abbie will remember for years. It was amazing to see all the Lego creations, and these two four-year olds were troopers, even with sweat rolling down their red faces!

I think Liam and Abbie will have happy memories of our trip, except for their first (and probably last!) rollercoaster ride Grandma decided to take them on when Sterling went to get Shanna after her Strongman training. Amidst tears, I bought a small magnet so we could prove to Shanna that we had done it. Notice the happy before photo and the blurry one taken during the first drop. I felt horrible!

Helping with family photos was the other main event. Again, the twins were troopers while the photographer snapped dozens of photos of them with their mom and playing together. We even got a few with Sterling and me. Our girls remind us every year how inconvenient family photos are for the Stampin’ Up! catalog, but they’re always worth it!

As usual, I wasn’t ready to leave my baby and hers. I already miss Liam’s and Abbie’s constant jabbering and their hugs and kisses. And I’m always incredibly inspired by Shanna’s dedication to her jobs, especially her responsibility as mom of these two busy and adorable twins.

Dinosaurs are Cool

Makai turned six this week. He’s such a funny boy (kind of reminds Sterling and me of his mom!) and a little stubborn and very independent. Dinosaurs are one of the many things Makai likes these days. I’m guessing the money inside will probably be used to buy another one of his favorite things…Legos, which has been the theme of a couple gift packages for our grandsons. Dinosaurs are cool too, so that’s the focus of Makai’s packaging…just to mix it up.

Fabulous Mary

When I saw this card designed for Mary Fish, I was excited to share it, but I knew I had to wait until after Mary received it. Well, Mary achieved her million-milestone last week, and I forgot to share her card. I think you’ll agree that the card Sara and I sent her is fabulous, and so is Mary!

I did a "Workshop of a Lifetime" in Mary's home years ago, and the thing I remember most was how every guest in her home felt welcome and had so many good things to say about their friend Mary.

She was determined from the beginning to make her business a success, and she has definitely accomplished her goal! Congratulations Mary!

Warmer Weekend

When we realized the weather was expected to be cold and wet in northern Utah, we decided to trailer our horses to Kanab (for the employee barbecue) and stay for a couple of days to ride and make the most of our trip.

After finishing a couple of work projects on Friday, we rode up Hog Canyon to the Beehives overlooking Kanab. It was a breathtakingly beautiful ride after a couple days of rain! It was also late enough in the day that we couldn’t get good photos of Kanab…maybe next time.

Yesterday we attended the funeral service of Neil Crosby, an extended family member and native of Kanab. Our hearts were touched as we learned more about and celebrated the life of this wonderful man—an example of gentle humility and obedience with exactness. While we know his family will miss him, we’re happy to know he’s with his sweetheart who passed away many years ago.

We traveled last night so we could be home for the annual children’s program in church today. Cooper had a speaking part and played the violin with a group of other children for the prelude music, Phoebe sang a special musical number with her class, and Ashton was happy to be part of the larger group of smiling children who warmed our hearts as they testified through word and song. I love these programs!

We ended the weekend with a Sunday afternoon drive in the warm sunshine and the windows down. (It snowed while we were away, so we were grateful it warmed up today.) I’m not ready for fall weather yet and will enjoy every warm day we get!