up too?

i am now back from cha and i am starting to feel more at home. it always takes me a couple days to get back into the swing of things. so, i was thinking i better get all of these photos/posts up about cha, but mom did that each night. so i just copied and pasted...much better. thanks mom for letting me borrow some posts. love you and i was so glad i could go with you! thanks for everything mom.
-ash

cha take down

The CHA Show closed at 2pm and we quickly tore down and packed everything away in the crates. It has ended up being a good show for us and we made some good contacts to pursue when we get home. We paid a union guy $$ under the table to get our crate early... yes illegal payoffs are alive and well in the convention world... political world as well. Then off to the airport we went.

While we were taking down the booth, Bonnie got a sliver in her finger and ended up going to the first aid station. They could not get it out and sent her on to the hospital emergency. She ended up having a 3/4" sliver that went through her knuckle to the other side of her finger and walked away with two stitches. Only Bonnie. Through the years on trips she has had blood poisoning, kidney stones, broken shoulder and more...
-Brenda

Top Left: 1) Brenda & Madison of Fancy Pants 2) Brenda & Ryann of Piggy Tales 3) Brenda & Carolee of Carolee's Creation 4) Brenda & Heather Downs 5) Brenda, Ash & Rick Gass of Cameo 6) Brenda, Bonnie, Josh, Lindsay, Annie & Craig of CREA

Top Left: 1) Bonnie with TP 2) Brenda & Deann of We Are Storytellers 3) Bonnie, Brenda & Mike Hessing of WR Memories 4) The tear down begins 5) Brenda & Kristia playing clothespin torture game while we waited for crate to come 6) Josh with velcro

cha day three

Today was the same kinda day as the day before... but good to see friends. I miss home & family. They are having slumber parties with their Dad. It has been so nice to have Ashlee with me. I wake up spooning her, but she doesn't seem to mind, she is sleeping.

The pranks started today and I am sure they will carry into tomorrow as we keep ourselves entertained in a way unbecoming to a tradeshow. Why I don't feel something is hanging from my rear end is surprising to me.

On our way to dinner with Matt, we talked to the taxi driver about the different conventions and he filled us in on the convention scoop. He hates Utah and avoids it like the plague.
Best looking people: Natural Products Convention
Ugliest dressers: Nurses Convention
Most uptight: Helicopter Convention
Snootiest people: Doctors Convention
Most Alcohol consumed / Best partiers: Music Convention

We came back to our room and watched The Secret Life of Bees... a keeper of a movie :)
-BrendaTop Left: 1) Josh & Matt from Flexo One 2) Brenda, Sue & Sharee of Scrapbook Nook 3) Brenda & Ash 4) Brenda, Bonnie, Cynthea & Tonya of Doodlebug 5) Brenda, Leslie & Jennifer of Las Vegas 6) Ash & Josh
Top Left: 1) Brenda & Dennis Conforto of Scrapbooking.com 2) Brenda & Sophia of Strictly Scrapbooking 3) Brenda, Bonnie, Josh & Delanie of EK Success 4) Brenda & Josh 5) Lindsay & Bonnie 6) Brenda & Des Tanner

cha day two

We are now suffering from effects of the trade show. I think it happens to everyone in trade shows around the world. One day melds into another and you slowly lose your mind. I long to be outside. It is hard to stay in a 20x20 booth and say the same thing over and over again and it's easy to start mumbling. Sometimes I have to stop myself from saying blah, blah, blah. But on a good note, the day is broken up by a visit here and there from friends in this market and it's also wonderful to see our customers who we love & appreciate. This year the economy seems to be on everyone's minds, whether their business is here in the US or overseas. We are more tired today then we were yesterday. This show is 1/2 day too long... it should have been over today. Home feels so far away, receiving texts has been good though. We had an emergency evacuation in the morning. Everyone left, I stayed and cut paper.
-Brenda

Top left: 1) Erika Clayton & I 2) Josh & Bonnie 3) Brenda, Ash, Richard & Kyle of Obrien 4) Jane Seymore 5 Miss Vicky & I 5) Brenda, Josh, Steve & Lisa of Crate Paper

Top left: 1) Brenda, Josh, Bob & Rob 2) Brenda & Jody Hunt of My Mind's Eye 3) Emergency Evacuation 4) Bonnie, Kristia & Richard Lowton of Scrapdoodles, UK 5) Brenda & Rebecca of Scrapblog 6) Pebbles with Matt & Jessica & Sofia of Flexo-One

cha day one

Day One Memories: The best part about the show is seeing friends in the scrapbook industry and catching up on each others lives. I am doing my best to stay inside our 20x20 booth. I have to fight the urge not to take flight and walk around. Ash, Lindsay & Josh found out that Paris Hilton was coming to the show at 3pm and quickly ran to catch a glimpse of her. Why she has a craft line at CHA is a hard thing to get my brain around. What craft could she possibly be interested in? The crowds are down substantially, but those that are here love our booth and product. We did have a customer that told Lindsay she 'strongly' hated the Linnie Bell line (Lindsay created it). I can't help but notice that Lindsay turns on the bath water every time she goes to the bathroom... peculiar. Then Ash wanted to try it. Then I experienced it first hand and thought it was way dumb and had no real purpose.

It was good to see Adrian from Qbaroo and every time I do, I think about the CHA show a few years ago. I am not sure why I would even share this with anyone... My sister Bonnie, Adrian and I were talking and I accidently passed gas silently. Now in hind sight, I should have quietly guided them to a slightly different location (in this case area code). I think when you travel, they are extra toxic. We kept talking, but the aroma drifted up and just lingered inside our circle... dead animal bad. All I could think was Adrian would think it was Bonnie. Bonnie already knew it was me. Whenever I see Adrian, I can't help but smile :)

Once again, we worked through breakfast & lunch and went to Coco's for dinner ... close by and quick. The chicken fried steak was soooo good. It was nice to sit down. I miss my family.
-ash

The beginning of day one...

The backside of our booth...

Top left: 1) Brenda & Lindsay Ostrom 2) Our new ribbon packages 3) Brenda & Karen Crisp 4) Bonnie, Brenda & Adrian Lazenby of Qbaroo 5) Brenda, Ashlee, Wayne Mitchell of American Crafts 6) Paris Hilton 7) Brenda & Chris Skinner of EK Success 8) Josh & show order
9) Brenda & Leslie Lee

Top Left: 1) Pebbles flair buttons 2) Bonnie & Josh 3) Pebbles Chipboard Chips 4) Greg & Celina Moncur 5) Ash & Lindsay 6) Brenda, Marilyn & Kathleen 7) Josh & Darth Vader 8) Share & Tell album 9) Sales

cha set up

 We got up early and headed over to the convention center... a quick walk from our Hotel. I opened a package from Larry and was delighted to find chocolate covered strawberries! We love to stay at the Anabella. Call me an optimist, but I thought we would be done by 2pm and pictured an afternoon nap in my future. It was not to be. We worked through breakfast & lunch before finishing at 7:30pm and grabbing dinner. Ash & I took a quick, but expensive taxi ride over to Costco and picked up fresh flowers. It has been good to see my friends in this industry throughout the day. I have know them for many years. We accidently printed our bi-line as Gathering Life's Memories instead of Gathering Life's Moments. It's an oops that I don't think many will catch. We are quite tickled with our display this year. Tomorrow the show begins and one thing is for certain... we will be more tired tomorrow than we are today :)

Our #17 Bday is this weekend at Pebbles in my Pocket. Larry & the girls are working hard and keeping things going on their end. We sure miss them, though Larry is getting surprisingly good at texting which is fun.

-ash

snuggly

when kelsie and i went to drop off my larson cousins, we walked up to the door and grandma (dad's mom) was there. she was holding an afghan she made years ago. kels and i both thought she was just putting it away. we were both drooling over the beauty of it and kelsie said she would love to have it. grandma said "well, i was going to see if ashlee wanted it". i couldn't believe it. i was so excited. a few years ago for christmas, she gave paul and i an afghan she made. then paul bought her some brown yarn and she made us another afghan. when i first started to learn, we would go up to their house, have a lesson and a couple hours of wonderful conversation. i love knowing that i have some things from my grandma.  i have loved snuggling with the blanket and having a cup of hot chocolate. its like a warm hug from her.  i will always cherish what grandma has taught me. she taught me something she loves and i can't wait to show my kids. i know that when there is no heat left in the world, she will be able to keep our entire family warm. i sure do love her...

-ash

cousin day

when we left disneyland, we found out that the larsons were coming back up here for a wedding i january. since then, we have been counting down the days until we could see them. finally yesterday came. i called angie and asked what tyler, ryan and taylor were up to while the wedding and luncheon was going on. we picked them up at 10:30 and dropped them off at 4. we had so much fun. kelsie went with me to get them. on the way home, we talked about everything from sports, to food, to friends. we headed off to harmon's to get stuff for lunch. we thought it would be fun to make pizza muffins, lemon bars and we got some snacks. we got back home and rocked out to rock band brawl. i am really impressed with their talent. the microphone would have been useful, but ryan really didn't need it anyway. he sang his heart out. tyler was great on the drums and taylor played the guitar wonderfully. ryan and ransom kicked our butts on some of the songs, and tyler and i tried to redeem ourselves. next trip we will. i will practice the drums on hard and he will practice the guitar. we also need to get more songs like eye of the tiger. we made our pizza muffins, lemon bars. ate and then went out and played in the snow. we had a little snowball fight. they aren't used to the snow, so they froze quickly. we had so much fun. i am so glad they came and we were able to spend time with them. 

-ash

chevrolet

why do i love chevrolet? why when i watch clear and present danger, i see the suburbans driving down the alley, i feel a sense of pride? why when i see someone driving a ford truck, i instantly feel sorry for them? why when i see the symbol do i smile? i am not sure...i guess it is just a crazy love i have...i can't think of a reason why i love them so much but i sure do! ford, dodge and toyota trucks...please stop trying!

-ash

passions

i love having passions for life, people and hobbies. i have a passion for paul (no brainer), ben & jerry's icecream, bread, my dad & mom, my sisters and ransom, conrad, this country, movies, seinfeld, chevrolet, the color brown, my mountains, good food...speaking of good food, one of my favorite restaurants opened a takeout/delivery pizza spot closer to my house than the provo location. the first time i saw it, i flipped! tonight we had the pizza for dinner for family night. i was in heaven. it was so good. just like the provo location. i told paul that we need to have it in our home always...i love their pizza...

-ash

can we roast marshmallows?

we have, now had, a house across the street that has been vacant for some time now. the owners have been wanting to tear it down, but found that it had asbestos, and had to go through the city to get it taken care of the "proper way"...a year later, after the windows have been broken by rocks, adventurers looking for treasures, and our neighbor yelling at anyone who looks like they might want to take a look inside, is gone. a couple days ago, the city fireman came to do some practice fire drills. i came home to a lot of the neighbor kids having a snowball fight, and some even in lounge chairs by the big fire trucks drinking hot chocolate watching. a funny sight for me. we were told that the house would be completely burned to the ground on saturday. 

paul called me today and told me that it had been burned to the ground (of course they wanted crowd control). i was bummed because i wanted to see it on saturday, but what can i do? nothing. paul couldn't even get out of our driveway because of the cones, fire trucks, ambulances and police cars surrounding the block. paul got some great video and pictures of the fire. our friend oliver came over to visit with paul while he watched the fire. on the video, oliver was telling paul that they are going to roast marshmallows over the leftover charred home remains tonight. paul got a chuckle out of that one. 

-ash

happy new year!

i can't believe it is this time of year again. time does pass by way too fast. paul and i had a great new year...we spent the night up at scott and jill's cabin, went snowmobilling, ate a lot of great food, spent time with those we love, and relaxed! it was wonderful. i have three resolutions for this year. if i have too many, i don't do any of them. so i thought it would keep it simple (which will be my theme for this next year).
-eat healthy/exercise
-try new things (i want to refinish my kitchen table)
-stop withdrawing (i don't compete for relationships, so instead i pull back and i am not myself when i need to keep being myself)
the third one is the most important one. my family would agree. you know what they say, (who are they? not sure...) the first step is recognizing the issue(s) and then fixing them.
i will say that mostly the past week has been spent thinking and praying for our friends who had their baby c-section at 23 weeks... i do love knowing that our heavenly father is very aware of them and their needs and he is right by their side. i know things will be okay with them and their new little family. prayer is powerful.
-ash