"remember a person's name"

the past few days we have spent at the associated foods convention at the salt palace in SLC.

we had a ton of fun and i learned a lot of things that helped broaden my knowledge about AFS (associated food stores) and the grocery business.

it was fun to see a lot of people that Byron and Jordan get to associate with every once in a while. ... what great people!

a guy by the name Dr. Earl Taylor came and talked to us as a motivatioal speaker. he was awesome! i wish i could have filmed his entire "talk" to post on here ... jordan and i both walked away from it wanting to be a better, more kind person. one of my favorite stories he told was about a time when he visited minneapolis. he caught a taxi from his hotel to the airport to go home. the taxi driver was wearing a black shirt with black shorts and black combat boots. he thought to himself, i don't know if i want to go in this taxi? maybe i should grab my bag and try to catch another one.

he got in the taxi anyway and to his surprise the taxi driver started up conversation with him. he asked Dr. Taylor if he had ever been to the mall of america. Dr. Taylor told him no he had not. the taxi driver then asked him when his flight was scheduled to leave. it was still a few hours away. the taxi driver insisted that he take Dr. Taylor to the mall so he could check it out. so they did. the two of them enjoyed a drink while watching the kids ride the roller coasters at the amusement park inside the mall. on their way to the airport again, the taxi driver asked Dr. Taylor if he had a business card. of course Dr. Taylor had one.

... that christmas, Dr. Taylor got a christmas card from the taxi driver with a picture of his family and in the card he wrote, "thanks for making my year!"

crazy story. awesome story!

when is the last time you said thanks? ... to your wife for doing your laundry and cleaning your house? when is the last time you said thanks to your husband for working and bringing in income for your family? ... to your co-worker, mom, friend, dad, boss, sister or brother?

we also enjoyed dinner and breakfast at the grand america, watching colin raye in concert (well me, lesa and bryon. jord and east drove all the way home to get clothes for us to stay ... we didn't plan to stay until after we had been up there all day. jord has seen collin raye before so he decided to jet home with east while the rest of us went.), our hotel suite room with a baby playpen ... YES, the grand america has baby playpens ... sa-weet!, and the "closing ceremony" as jord and i call it. it was so good (the parts i caught of it, because easton was so fussy) and a little emotional. as crazy as that sounds.

after we got home, we felt like we had been on a week vacation. i think because we were SO tired. the three of us took a nap as soon as we got our bags from the car into the house.

thanks to associated foods for a good convention and thanks byron and lesa for a fun time!

the first day we got there ... hanging in the hotel room
east finally a little tired of the convention ... sleeping in his stroller while we were eating lunch
walking around the convention
hanging out before dinner

here is easton blowing bubbles. since he has discovered he can do this, he does it ALL the time!

our beautiful view from our hotel room:)

e playing with his shoes while packing up