Sweet Potato

Lena had her first baby food today. I think she liked it, but she really just wanted to grab the spoon!

Throwback Thursday

Leo wore this costume on his first Halloween, 4 years ago. 

STILL FITS!

Oktoberfest 2014

We continued our Oktoberfest tradition and had some people over for a big German feast.
We made schnitzel and gravy and potatoes and Rotkohl.  Others brought bratwurst and sauerkraut and   spaetzle.

Everything was delicious!

We missed all our Virginia friends this year, but it was fun to make some new ones. Little did we know that everyone there had some kind of German connection- it was quite funny.

Leo wore his German hat, and Jack found a great Pandora station with polka music. What a fun night!

8 months old!

This is a few days late, but I finally took Lena's photo today. She is 8 months old!

Her hair is getting really long, so I have to put the top up so it stays out of her eyes. It's pretty cute. She looks like Pebbles.

She has been rolling around and moving all over the place. She loves to do this yoga pose... downward dog.

And last week, she started to crawl!

We love our little Lena. She is so cute and cuddly. She loves playing with all her brother's Star Wars toys. And she always puts up with his rough-and-tumble play. In fact, no one can make her laugh like Leo can! She lights up every time she sees him. She sure loves her big brother!

Our New RV!

We sold our cute little vintage 1968 trailer "Big Red"  last year, and since then we've been on the hunt for a new trailer. But our van can only haul so much, and we really didn't want to buy an SUV... so we decided to look at motorhomes. After a month of searching, we found this little beauty.

Luckily my parents were here for a visit, so they helped us look. They are the motorhome experts, so it was nice to have their advice too. We loved the floor plan of this one- how open it is- and also the bunk beds in the back. Perfect for the kids!

I decided to paint all the oak cabinetry. It took a week to tape, remove doors and hardware, and another week to paint. One coat of primer, and 3 coats of paint. *whew*  It was a big project.

I don't know why, but for some reason RVs always have the *ugliest* fabrics ever. So of course, I had to change those. I made some new valances, recovered the dinette cushions, and made new curtains. 

But once we got it all painted, the doors put back on, and new silver hardware- the transformation was pretty incredible. We love it! It's so much more modern, clean and bright.

 

 I recovered the ugly wallpaper border with some vinyl "stripe" and some of the vinyl wallpaper I had left over from doing the fridge.

We recently took it out for our first camping trip. It was so fun!  It's quite an upgrade from our old trailer- we actually have running water, electricity, a full size sink, heat and AC, a toilet, and a shower!  We felt like were living the high life!

 We went to a campground about 40 minutes from our house- Mountaindale. It was beautiful up there.

Poor Leo fell down on the gravel and skinned his knees about 4 times that weekend. (We tried to get him to wear some pants, but he wouldn't have it.)  And THEN he smashed his fingers in the door. We put lots of oils on him, of course. Lavender for the skinned knees (to kill germs, relieve pain) and DeepBlue for the smashed fingers (FAST pain relief, reduces swelling).  Poor little guy.

The kids had fun playing on the playground.

Who doesn't love a campfire! Especially while snuggling with these two little cuties.

We watched General Conference on the computer, while Leo played with Legos on our bed.  A fun time was had by all.

This was the best place for Lena to hang out. We just fastened the seat belt around her waist, and it made a great little "high chair" for her.

 Leo smothering her with kisses.

So, we're RV people now. We're so excited!  We look forward to dozens of camping trips, and all the memories our kids will have of this RV.  

Convention 2014

We just got back from the fabulous doTerra Convention in SLC. We had over 18,000 people in attendance- the largest convention ever held in Utah. In fact, we outgrew the Salt Palace, and had to move into the ES Arena.

It was pretty incredible to see that many Wellness Advocates all gathered in one place.

I had about 35 people from my team there, from all over the country- it was so fun to connect with them!  Diana and Debby from Delaware, and Heather from Colorado.

Paige and Kristi from Georgia. 

I even got to hang out with two of my old roomies from California, the "Kims"

The fabulous Kathy Pace, a Blue Diamond, and one of my mentors.

Lena joined us on the last day. Her first Convention! 

The product showcase, where we got to see all the new products, and see some friends we haven't seen in a while. So much fun!

We also got a tour of doTerra's new campus in Pleasant Grove. It's just lovely.

We loved hearing from the doTerra executives about the global vision of doTerra, and how they are changing lives around the world. I am so impressed with their integrity.

They brought in several of the growers- from Haiti, Italy, Canada and Guatemala. It was so fun to hear their stories, and feel their passion. It was emotional for them, and for us.  They talked about Co-Impact Sourcing and how it's changing lives around the world.  Wow.

Another highlight was getting my whole team together for a dinner on Friday night. Many of them had not met each other before, since they are from all over the country. It was great to recognize their efforts, and share my love for them.

I have the best team ever!  Our motto is to: DREAM BIG!  I know that next year we will be 3 times as big, and touching even more lives with these amazing gifts of the earth.