Scentsy Convention 2008, Boise Idaho:

Orville and Heidi Thompson (President and Ceo of Scentsy) So it has been a week since my last post, but I understand that absence makes the heart grow fonder. What a crazy, whirlwind week it was. I have been very excited about my trip back to Boise. I had it all planned, worked my class schedule around this trip, made reservations, EVERYTHING was taking care of in the planning stage. Scott even took vacation time so I could go. I don't know what I was thinking, but when Scott came home from work last Tuesday, he said, "Well, are you all packed and ready to go?" I said, "NO, I don't leave until Thursday". He said, "NO, you leave tomorrow". Well, he was right and I had been planning Wednesday all along, but for some reason, my brain was in some sort of denial. Scott took the kids to karate and I made a bee line for Kohls because I needed to find me a dress and some shoes. I spent a few hours packing and printing boarding passes, then hit the hay. Can I just say that I didn't bring MY camera. I was afraid something would happen to it so I brought Makenah's and I really don't know how to use it, so a good portion of my photos are blurry. What a bummer!! Scott took me to the Dayton airport about 4 (ish) on Wednesday evening, then ran back to pick up Makenah from Band Camp. My flight headed out about 8:00. I went to Chicago, then to Boise, getting in about 11 pm. The hotel I stayed in has a shuttle service, so that was my form of transportation all weekend. The Convention was AWSOME!! (blurry, but this is my team) This is myself with Heidi Thompson (First Lady of Scentsy) :) Of course we had a motivational speakers, our's happened to be Susan Ershler. Susan has climbed, with her husband, the highest mountains on all 7 continents. She is amazing and I'm glad I had the opportunity to listen to her. Our theme for this convention was "Reach", and it was very fitting as I'm trying to get through school, have my Scentsy business and still try and have balance in my family life. The classes were fun and informative, the free product give aways (over $200 worth) were great! This is the new room spray that has a new design: We were also given 2 warmers, basket and party testers, catalogs, new plug-ins (I got 2 because I won one in a class)and a few other business supplies. We had meals provided, which I have to say were so very tastey. Thursday evening there was a large BBQ for consultants and their families. This was complete with about 6 large air jumpers for the kids and Schwans ice cream for all: Friday evening was our beautiful awards banquet. It was wonderful to see how many spouses attended the whole convention. Last year when I joined there were 1311 consultants, mostly out west. A little over a year later, there are now 12,000 and the Scentsy spirit is sweeping the nation. I was told that there were as many new directors that walked across the stage this year as there were that attended last years convention. I love that I am a part of this company. I love that the products are so simple and safe, they don't consume my life, but rather give my life enjoyment with the flip of a switch. So on Saturday morning, the UPS men were out at the Scentsy warehouse making pancakes for us before we went on our tours. All I can say is that when I first toured the little, cramped 5,000 sq. ft. facility that Scentsy operated out of last year, it was squishy. Now, a year later, they are in a 40,000 sq. ft. facility with plans to expand that to 75,000 sq. ft. No longer are they having to label and pour wax by hand, but for the most part, have been able to go automated. It is impressive. Sorry, no pictures allowed. Saturday afternoon, I was able to spend with Melissa and my little neices and nephew. We swam at the hotel, then went to Red Robin for Cassidi's birthday. We went to "fish park" (that's what I have alway called the Municipal Park) and walked around the path. It was fun to see lots of people floating the Boise River too. We saw lots of fun little animals on the nature trail, including this little guy: Maybe I should call it "Deer Park" now. Saturday evening was fun. We all went back to the pool, then Meagan and her boyfriend, Mark, came over to hang out with us. We headed up to my room, chatted for a while, then I showed off my soon to be finished blog book on my computer. I had printed off my boarding passes for Sunday morning, so when everyone left, I packed up some of my stuff, then went to bed. Sunday morning I caught the 6 am shuttle to the airport for my 8 (ish) flight. The thing about the 8(ish) flight though, that was my 2 connection in Denver. The flight I was supposed to be on left without me at 6:05 AM!! I MISSED MY FLIGHT!! I felt a little sick inside as I stood in line to check my bag (that's when I figured out that I had missed my flight to Denver). Trying to stay calm (so I wouldn't cry. I cry when things like this happen), I calmly told the lady at the check-in desk that I read the wrong boarding pass. She said that actually happens quite often (I'm sure she was just trying to make me feel better), and she gave me a new plan for getting home. It was the same way: Boise to Denver, Denver to Chicago, Chicago to Dayton. Instead of getting home at 3 pm, I wouldn't be home until about 10 pm, and that was only if I was able to get on the flights because I was on standby for all of them. Needless to say, it was a very long day in the Chicago airport, but I did make all the flights. Apparently, I left my wallet in the airport at one of the kiosks, so hopefully they will be mailing it soon(I did call them, they know it is there, and they said they would mail it). At least my drivers license was with me. On the last flight, apparently the pilots didn't realize we were waiting on the plane. They were off in the Chicago airport for an hour while we waited on the tarmack. I finally made it to Dayton about 11:30 pm, and was so glad. Scott had made me a nice lasanga dinner, got me flowers and a strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert. We were all so tired that we went to bed and had a great dinner last night. Next years convention will be in Salt Lake City, hopefully I will be better prepared. I am excited already!