thomas jefferson education retreat

I've been very blessed to spend so much time lately with friends of mine--strong, amazing women who nourish my spirit--that I sometimes can't believe how lucky I am, and this past weekend I got to spend some time with yet another amazing friend to attend a conference. My last mission companion, Julie, and I drove up to the Timpanogos Lodge for the Thomas Jefferson Education Spring Mom's Retreat. It's an over-night event complete with dinner (& breakfast the next morning), musical numbers, a dozen different speakers and discussion groups.

It was a weekend FULL of information, ideas, late night gab sessions and the spirit. I came away feeling inspired and motivated (and, honestly, a little overwhelmed). The knowledge that I gained, and the 7 pages of copious notes that I took are worthy of a post in and of itself--because everybody should know this stuff! Julie and I stayed up until 5:00 in the morning just talking, laughing and bearing one another's burdens. We would've kept talking if it weren't for the human body needing sleep (Blast! the needs of the body taking priority over the wants of the spirit!). I will have to write another post on just the information and how it makes a difference in my life, but the main topics/ideas were: the Parenting Pyramid (by the Arbinger Institute--you can google and download a PDF version of the article), womanhood and leadership education.

View of Mount Timpanogos from the lodge.

Julie and I taking a break in between speakers outside the lodge (outside smelled sooo good!)

The main conference hall where dinner/breakfast was served and the speakers addressed us.

An example of a 'lap book' that I'm going to make with my kiddos this summer.

A focus discussion group on the 'Love of Learning' phase. The woman in black is Nicholeen Peck, she was seen on the BBC program called "The World's Strictest Parents". Go. Watch all six episodes. She's amazing.

Speakers on Saturday morning, and me taking notes on my laptop.

Julie taking notes on her laptop.

"Sistah Lee" catching a cat nap before driving home on 1.5 hours of sleep!

Another view of Mount Timpanogos. Absolutely gorgeous!

retrospect--sarah's birthday celebrations

May has been so busy with year-end school stuff that I haven't had much time to update this blog--such is the life of a homeschooler! Plus, our laptop charger died, so it was a while before I could upload some pics. It sort of bugs me that I feel the need to post a photo in order to post anything at all on this blog, but I guess it's turned into more of a photographic journal. But I have lots of thoughts tumbling around in my head and so someday I might just write them out, photo or not.


Since Sarah had her birthday while we were gone to Tucson, we celebrated (with her friends) when we got back. She got to invite her closest friends and we took them swimming and then had cake & ice cream back at our house. She had a blast and her friends hung out for hours playing in our backyard and watching a movie (but, then again, they do that almost every weekend). Grandma came over a couple days later and gave Sarah her gifts--the girls always love it when Grandma comes over & brings them things!

Sarah & her friends trying to pop the balloons by bouncing on them before swimming.

Sarah (on her back), Taylor and Camille swimming & floating.

Sarah's bff, Christina (aka 'Noo Noo'), coming down the water slide.

Sarah blowing out her candles (from this angle it looks like she's turning 5 instead of 10).

Cake and ice cream time! Such cute girls!

(clockwise from top: Morgan, Noo Noo, Sarah, Camille, Lily, Emma, Madisen, Taylor)

Opening gifts from friends--summer gear and snacks was this year's theme.

Opening Grandma's gifts--a craft book and a Book of Mormon heroes book.

Tucson, part 3 (award and party)

Continuing on from part 2 (go...read it and part 1, if you haven't already)...

After getting back from our excursions, we had most of the afternoon to ourselves and then at 7pm we had the dinner and award ceremony. Each and every employee got up to get their pic taken with the Exec. V.P's and get their plaque. Dinner was delicious. Saturday morning we had another wonderful breakfast buffet and then Gene had meetings while I went back to the room for a mid-morning nap. In the afternoon we hung out by the pool, ate at a wonderful Mexican restaurant (free, thanks to company lunch vouchers) and just walked around the grounds.

That evening at dinner was the entertainment show (a movie compilation of all the excursions and meetings, etc. set to music) and a comedy act from former SNL star Kevin Nealon. During the morning meetings, Gene was lucky enough to sit on a chair that had VIP backstage passes (perfect example of how lucky he is--I've never known anyone more lucky), so after the show we got to meet Kevin Nealon and get our pic with him. And I'm making myself post it as proof, even though I had gained probably 100 pounds by that point. After a late night listening to a live band, mingling and getting to bed pretty late we had to wake up nice and early to catch our plane.

It was such a nice, relaxing trip. I thought I'd feel all guilty about leaving my kids and missing Sarah's birthday (which we celebrated early), but it rejuvenated me and made me appreciate my kids all that much more! I'm so proud of Gene for his accomplishments to have earned this honor.

Gene getting his award with the Executive Vice Presidents (the one in blue sat at our table).

Gene and a co-worker, Elaine, (she's been to 14 of the retreats) posing with the President of Qwest.

Gene enjoying his buffalo burger alfresco (I had chicken enchiladas) Yummo!

A view of the hotel, pool and grounds that we enjoyed Saturday afternoon. It was heaven just soaking in the sun listening to my iPod!

I love these Prickly Pear Cactus yellow flowers.

Gene and I at one of the restaurants on the hotel grounds. We ate amazing barbecued brisket & pork ends, but the service was so slow (good thing for the waiter the company covered gratuity). And, ummm...never mind the cleavage.

Gene at the Kaenon display in the lobby getting our free sunglasses.

Saturday night's dinner was amazing. The salad was amazing. The bread was amazing. Every bit of it was decadent and delicious, and we ate to the tune of Michael Buble which was the icing on the cake for me!

Dessert was equally amazing. Every thing was stepped up a notch--the chocolate cake had a truffle hidden inside, for example.

While we were eating dessert Kevin Nealon was introduced and entertained us for a good hour. His material was really funny & clean. Mostly jokes about getting older, stuff like how flicking on & off the porch light sends a strong message to the partiers across the street, hehe.

Back stage meeting Kevin Nealon. There was even MORE food and drinks, as if we hadn't had enough. This is such a bad picture of me and Gene, we were over-stuffed, tired & sweaty. Gene has an additional photo with Kevin with them both doing the 'Hanz & Franz' pose from SNL.

As I mentioned earlier, each night when we came back to our room there would be a gift waiting for us. The first night we got a new Nikon Coolpix S4000 camera, the second night we each got the Kaenon sunglasses and the third night we got the DVD of Kevin Nealon & his autograph. Pretty dang sweeeet, if you ask me!

When we arrived back home the girls were all over us, and it was so lovely (even though a part of me just wanted to sleep for days). We brought them back some souvenirs and, thanks to Alyssa, they had a great time. And thus concludes a tour of the most pampered and spoiled vacation we will probably ever experience in our lives! Thanks to Gene for his hard work!

Tucson, part 2 (jeep excursion)

So, continuing on from part 1 (Below, if you haven't read it yet, go! Do it now, I'll wait).....

Friday morning, after breakfast, everybody loaded onto their respective buses to partake in an excursion of their choice. You could choose from golf, skeet shooting, cattle drive, cooking class, spa, airfield tour, etc. I chose the jeep desert excursion. Gene chose the cattle drive (but didn't take his camera).

The bus drove our group a half hour to a ranch where we then loaded on to the jeeps and drove another half hour, through the Sonoran desert, to Hohokam Indian ruins. It was really beautiful--much more than I expected and our ranch hand/driver informed us all about the different varieties of plants and cactus and birds, etc. He even stopped to get a fruit off a Barrel Cactus to slice up for each of us to taste (very savory, I might add).

On the way back, as we were passing through some BLM land, we got stopped by the BLM Boarder Patrol (being only 45 miles from the Mexican boarder). These rangers took their job very seriously and took time to inspect each of the dozen or so jeeps. They even called in a federal helicopter, which started circling us like Vultures, all the while the company camera crew kept filming and snapping pictures for Saturday nights entertainment (a compilation show).
So, let me show you the desert of Tucson.....

The ranch where we boarded the jeeps incidentally was the same ranch that Gene went to for his cattle drive (which he said was a blast...and very dirty). I just think this is so iconic, so picturesque. I love the windmill!

Our convoy of jeeps.

This was our driver/ranch hand. A true, bad-ass cowboy. Really. He was super knowledgeable about the desert, quite serious, though humorous a bit, and I never even got his name (this could be a country song).

The hillside at the Hohokam ruins were simply FILLED with petroglyphs. Our driver warned us to not lift up, or look under rocks because of snakes or scorpions and to never back up because of cactus!

A close up of a petroglyph that apparently means 'water', as in "Where the hell is the water? I'm dying of thirst out here!".

A close up of a Saguaro cactus. Just gorgeous... in a forbidding sort of way.

A close up of a barrel cactus fruit, like the very ones we ate. They are more savory than sweet and taste a bit like a yellow pepper, and make your mouth salivate, which is apparently what will keep you from dying were you to get stranded in the desert.


Ah! Now, did you know that the difference between a cactus plant and a 'desert plant' is that a cactus's thorns radiate from a center point, as opposed to a desert plant who's thorns are singular in alignment. I don't remember what this cactus is, I just thought it was pretty.


Another beautiful cactus...


...and a Prickly Pear cactus flower. Gorgeous.


The BLM rangers questioning the jeep drivers, inspecting 'papers' and generally raining on our parade. Though I don't suppose I blame them, given the risks of their jobs.

The company camera crew filming as a helicopter circles our group of jeeps. This camera man got very annoying (on purpose) and got the ranger to say "Get that camera out of my face!" which was used in the video montage the next night--our jeep excursion played to the tune of 'Cops' ("bad boys, whatchya gonna do..when they come for you"). It was hilarious. (Incidentally, the cooking class was a spoof on 'Top Chef', and the cattle drive was a spoof on the Old Spice commercial "look at your man, now back to me, now back to your man" spoof, cuz they were on horses. hehehe)

A dead Saguaro cactus--probably several hundred years old--very woody ribs with an outer husk.

Another ranch hand at the Hohokam ruins. This is me pretending to be an artistic photographer.

Tucson, part 1 (hotel and dinner)

A couple months ago my husband came home from work with a gift bag, and announced to me that he had earned an award for making the top 1% (nationally) in goals at his work--and that the award was a four-days/three-nights all expenses paid retreat to Tucson, Arizona in April. Woot! It's called the President's Circle of Excellence and out of 27,000 employees nationwide only 170 get to attend (along with their guests).

I've blogged about the times when Gene has made the 'Bravo' events here and here (plus another one that I forgot to take my camera to). Bravo is based on a six month review of the local employees and he's made that three or four times in his career, but to make it at the national level in the 'President's Circle' is really quite the achievement! I'm very proud of him!

We had so much fun--at first I thought I'd be apprehensive and feel guilty about leaving my kiddos for so long, but we left them in the very capable hands of my niece, Alyssa so we had absolutely no worries. We were pampered and spoiled the entire time, around the third day I thought "I could get used to this reeeeal fast!"

Anyway, I've broken the trip down into three posts because of the plethora of photos and information. Oooooh, so many fun stories to tell, but can I just say how much I really enjoyed Tucson...and how much I love hotel rooms?! Seriously, every time I'm in one I fall in love all over again. Just sayin'. So, please come with me on our retreat to Tucson.....

After a lay over in Phoenix and a half-hour bus ride to the hotel, what's the first thing we did? Get on the laptop. They had ran out of rooms with King beds, but we got our own private balcony. Here's Gene looking forward to the weekend.

The view from our room: a hill with Saguaro cactuses (cacti?), or as someone said 'a forest of giant pickles'. ;)

About 4 hours after arriving I got a pedicure by a guy who reminded me of Prince. After only 3 hours of sleep and 5 hours on a plane my feet are ridiculously puffy.

We got to the hotel before noon and had the entire afternoon to do whatever we wanted, then at 6:00pm dinner was served in a 'meet & greet' fashion. All 170 employees and their guests mingled and listened to Mariachi bands.

There were probably a dozen stations with different foods from seared Ahi Tuna to macaroni & cheese balls, from baby-back ribs to pulled pork over a bed of beans. Here is a salad bar (loved the avocado halves w/ crab salad at the end).

This was one of my favorites--a cornbread pancake w/ brisket & slaw. Yummo!

Here's the dessert buffet w/ berry cobbler, s'mores, churros, flan and...

...peanut butter cups. I thought they were pretty, but didn't have one (not a fan of PB & chocolate together. Now you know).

We mingled until 11pm, and then when we got back to our hotel room we had a gift waiting (more on that later). Here's the breakfast buffet in the morning. Already I was feeling like I was aboard a cruise ship, as I've heard rumors about the abundance of food around every corner!

And, my personal fav, the waffle and 'lemon souffle' pancake bar. I mean really! They had quiche, Irish oatmeal w/ creme brulee atop, breakfast burritos, panini sandwiches, a pastry bar to die for (seriously, just looking at it could give you Diabetes) and every milk (if you prefer goat) and juice you could ask for. Thursday's dinner and Friday's breakfast = 10 lbs gained alone. I kid, I kid. But seriously. On to part 2.....