Friday the 13th...Yikes!

Hello there! :) I must admit that I am a wee bit superstitious! I won't walk over grated things in the ground. I won't pick up a penny that is tail's side up and I won't walk under a ladder (that last one is mostly due to fear of a tool falling on my head though!) I do however like the number 13 (it is my favorite!). I have never really viewed Friday the 13th as a negative thing! Fess up...do you?! LOL Last night I was feeling quite the opposite though. We had quite a rotten Friday the 13th. My daughter's and I were involved in a nasty car accident yesterday. My youngest daughter is 11 and was riding in the back and my oldest daughter was driving and I was in the passenger seat. She is only 17 and was driving with her learner's permit. We came around a blind curve and met a pilot truck followed by a tractor trailer truck hauling half a house. The trailer truck was taking up both lanes of a small two lane bridge. There was nowhere for us to go so my daughter veered to the right and we made contact with the concrete pillar of the bridge. The truck then hit us on the left side. Both doors were dented closed so I had to pry mine open to get around to my daughter's on the other side. There is NO worse feeling in the world than to think your children may be injured or harmed. I was able to pry her door open (adrenaline is an amazing thing!) and get her out and get my other daughter out as well. Fortunately, my youngest was fine. My older daughter and I were taken to the hospital on back boards though as a pre-caution. We spent several hours in the ER and they did x-rays. We are all banged up pretty good and speaking for myself I feel like I have been hit by a dang truck this morning! We are all okay and I know that things could have been so much worse, but now I have to think about and deal with all of the practical things. I absolutely loved my van! We were 6 payments away from having it paid off. It about broke my heart to watch my hubby and son clean it out last night. It is completely totaled and will never drive again. I am, however, very grateful that my children are ok. The EMT's told us all several times that we were very lucky. The driver of the truck was ticketed as it turns out he was driving with an expired hauling license. The police also said they should have been out of their truck stopping traffic before the curve. Well, what's done is done. Life is funny like that sometimes and since I am semi-superstitious I believe that things happen for a reason and now it is up to me to puzzle out what this crazy reason could possibly have been. Here are some photos of my poor van:

This is the passenger side front where we hit the concrete pillar:


Another view:


Driver's side door where the truck hit us after we hit the bridge:


Another view:




This was a view of the front before they lifted it and put it on the wrecker:


My hubby pointed out to me that Friday the 13th is not an unlucky number at all, but actually a lucky one! We were all able to walk away from this so 13 will remain my favorite and newly 'lucky' number! So happy to be writing this post today! Be sure to squeeze the folks you love, because you just never know what life has in store!

I will be back soonest with something more fun and creative! Big hug friends!

The last of the Convention photos!

Hello there! Hope you have had a wonderful weekend! We have been super busy around here! Just the way I like it! :) I wanted to share the last of my convention photos with you guys! Hope that I have not bored you to tears! I promise to start again soon with some crafty projects! Until then though here are the last of the convention pics:


On Friday night we went to the Joseph Smith Memorial building for a special dinner event that was hosted by the famous (and wonderful!) Linda Hansen! She planned a magnificent evening! The building itself was absolutely gorgeous! This is what we saw as soon as we entered!


This was the ceiling! Soooo pretty!


Jo and I met a wonderful new friend named Jen! Hiya Jen! We volunteered to help her with her swap the next day and were lucky enough to meet her early and have dinner with her! She was really sweet!


Here is Linda saying hello and getting ready to introduce the special guests for the evening!


Jarron Winder was the special guest! He sang and was very entertaining! :)


Here are 50 of us swapping after dinner! It was really fun!


Here is the Stampin Up! Welcome Wagon! This was one of my favorite parts of the festivities! Each morning as we entered the Main Stage all of the Stampin Up! employees were waiting to say good morning with high fives and hugs and they were all so happy! They were dancing and singing and having a grand time! So much fun!!


Here are Shelli and Sara doing a demonstration and cutting up! They did an awesome presentation! They are both very cute and funny and made a really great team.


This is Dale Filmore. He is the President of Stampin Up! He was hanging out in the hallway during lunch one day and I went to say thank you for such an amazing event and we had a nice chat! He seems to be very down to earth and just plain ole' nice! I love that this company is full of folks like that! We also had the opportunity to meet Aaron (whose last name escapes me...yikes!)! We shared a shuttle to the airport with him. He is the president of the Australian office. We had no idea until after we chatted with him for several minutes about convention and stamping! Nice people everywhere we went!! Love that!


Here I am trading my very last swap!! LOL 432 swaps and I managed to swap em all out!! It was so much fun! I think I made the exact right number!


Here is the Starbucks in the Marriott lobby! We went every morning...yummmm-o!! I have become quite fond of the Java Chip!! On our last day there things had quieted down considerably and we had time to chat with the barristas! They were all super nice too!


Here is Jo on the last day after the last session!


And me! :)


This was an adorable bear that was sitting outside of a chocolate shop at the airport! I happen to have a thing for teddy bears! I just LOVE them! I wish he would have fit in my suitcase because he was adorable!! I could just see him sitting on my bed! :) He did manage to lure me into the candy shop to make a purchase though! Yum! (Had nothing to do with the fact that we had 2.5 hours to kill at the airport! :)


And finally! The view of Salt Lake City from the window at our gate! Thought it only fitting that I end with the same sort of picture that I started with!

I had such a wonderful time! I am already making plans to go next year! Thanks for hanging out until the very end with me! :) I do promise to come back soonest with some crafty type posts! Have a wonderful day! See you soon!

More convention goodness to share with you!

Well hello there! Hope you are having a full and wonderful Saturday! :) Ours has been super busy! We have decided to take on some home improvement projects and have been doing some painting this weekend. Fun stuff! :)

Thought I would stop in and share some more convention photos with you guys!


This is my adorable down line Jo dancing it up in the aisles before the first general session! She was so much fun to hang out with! Isn't she so cute?!


Here are the two of us waiting for the general session to start! It was so crazy in there! There were giant beach balls flying around all over the place and hula hoops going and folks dancing on the aisles! The SU! employees were all there having a ball and there was a ton of swapping going on everywhere you looked!


This was the first presentation on the main stage given by Jill Cockerhan and Bonnie Thurber! They were a hoot! They performed the song Sisters after their presentation and were awesome!


Each day at lunch they treated us to something fun on the display tables! Day 1 was candy! Piles and piles of it! The tables were just full of it! Here is the display sign!


Here is what it looked like!


The entertainment after awards night was Charlie Jenkins! He was really good!! He is part of a country band and they actually drove their tour bus right into the Main Stage area! Too cool! This is a blurry picture of his bus! LOL


Here he is singing!


At one point on the evening he said he had done something special for us! They brought out a guitar that he had embellished himself! LOL Look closely and you will see our new newsprint DSP and his initials in chunky red glitter and lots of sparkly gemstones! It was too funny! He played a song on it and then gave it away to some lucky demo! She had stars in her eyes! :)


Here is Brent Steel doing a demonstration. He was so funny! He had everyone just rolling! Great projects too! I was taking notes feverishly! LOL


Here is a picture of my lunch one day (because I am dorky like that!)! It was really yummy! This was provided by Stampin Up!


Remember those daily lunch treats I mentioned?! Take a look at Friday's lunch treat! *thud! Falls over!* I was in heaven!! I could have put a glass under there and been especially happy for a long time! :) Yummmmm-o!!


This is an overview of the gathering place where we ate our meals and had the Flower Power party! Isn't is pretty!? I just love all those bright table cloths!

Well that takes us through Friday afternoon! I will be back tomorrow with the last of the photos from my trip! Hope you are enjoying them! Wish I could have taken all of you with me! :)

Have a great night! I will be back soonest!

Convention Part 2!

Hello! How are you today?! I have had a crazy, busy day but wanted to squeeze this post in before I turned into a pumpkin for the night! :)

There were so many amazing and wonderful things to see at convention, but I think this next set of photos may have been my favorite! The talented folks at SU! created a wonderful place called the Sweet Shoppe and I was just in awe!! All these wonderful goodies were made out of paper!! Everything sincerely looked good enough to eat! No need for narrating these! The pictures tell it all:















Aren't they absolutely amazing?! I just fell in love with these displays! It gave new meaning to being a kid in a candy store!

Well it has been a very full day around here so I am heading to bed! Hope that you have a good night! I will be back tomorrow with lots more to share. Night-y night!