Visit to the Home Office

On Tuesday we were taken to visit the Home Office, we were all sooooo excited about this visit and here you can see Michelle and I about to go in, from here we could hear the Staff inside cheering as everyone entered.

As we walked in the staff were stood around the balcony of the entrance all cheering, I can't describe this moment, it was so lovely and very emotional.

We took lots of pictures before our tour began, this area is where the staff have their lunch breaks, picnic tables situated around the lovely fountain in the centre.

Here I am with the one and only Teneale Williams, such an amazingly talented demonstrator, she is worldwide famous and such a lovely person.

And I was lucky enough to have my picture taken with Shelli and Sara, two very amazing people who always manage to look so stunning.

Everywhere had that touch of Shelli, lovely vintage furniture adorned with beautiful projects

Our tour began, imagine sitting at this desk to work all day, surrounded by inspiring creations and this was one of many beautiful work areas.

We chatted with this lady who has the most amazing job of designing projects for inspiration in our catalogues, she was surrounded by product and just look at all that cardstock!!

These pictures were taken in the Legacy Room, a beautiful place at the Home Office featuring displays from catalogues, history about Stampin' Up! and lovely quotes on the walls.

We also got to walk around the Distribution Warehouse, this was awesome, boxes of parcels scooting along conveyor belts, bar codes on the box tell it when to stop in certain areas to pick up specific goodies that have been ordered, it was so clever!

These were our place settings for lunch, lovely freshly cooked pizzas with a These were our place settings for lunch, freshly cooked pizzas were served along with a salad buffet

Along with Soda, this was yummy!

After lunch we enjoyed a Make and Take Session and we received a goody bag to create our projects, it was great fun.  The guests were whisked away for a fun afternoon of bowling whilst we stamped.  Here I am with Rhoda.

After our make and take session, we were taken off in groups to do something very special, but I am not sharing anything with you expect for the photo, and hoping that the European market will be given this product offering!

So these are just a handful of pictures that I took that day, there are so many more I'd love to share with you but we'd be here forever and at some point soon I need to share some of my creations with you.

What an amazing day and an amazing opportunity, thank you Stampin' Up!

White Water Rafting in Utah

Well I'm still chasing my tail here, back with some more pictures.

On the first day a group of us went White Water Rafting.  We had so much fun, got very wet, some got very very wet as they went overboard, and we laughed and chatted along the way!

We were collected at the bottom of the Fenicular, as this is a mountain ski resort this is the Hotel's "lift" to get down to the ski lift area.

Our shuttle dropped us at the meeting point and everyone put on life jackets and found a paddle!

We posed for pictures looking very happy and excited before hearing the brief about what to do if we fell in, which sounded daunting due to the current!

We were soon on our way, parts were calm and we could chat and enjoy the surroundings and other parts were not so calm!

We only lost one member of our crew for a very short amount of time, she was soon pulled back into the boat by Jay and Brian.

We had so much fun, such a great experience and would love to do it again.

After we headed back to the hotel to freshen up then caught a shuttle bus to the Shopping Outlet.

Some of us met up for food at a lovely Restaurant where we sat outside to eat.

We had this bucket of hot sweet rolls but I can't remember what it's correct name was, will have to ask Amanda!

Nothing like finishing off the day with a little retail therapy, and there was more to come.

Departure to the St Regis at Deer Valley, let the Incentive Trip begin.....

We were very lucky to be able to hear the Tabernacle Choir before our transfer to the St. Regis.  It was outstanding, such a grand theatre style room, and the perfomance was broadcast live whilst we sat and listened.

We then chatted and learnt about our surroundings during the short walk back to our hotel ready for our onward journey.  I took these pictures as we walked.

Michelle with Shannon West

And here is the Convention Centre, just right opposite our hotel which was great, although it meant that we didn't get to see much of SLC due to our 24hour delay.

Paul and Paula, such a gorgeous couple

We boarded the coach and soon, way up in the mountains we were greeted with our stay for the next 6 nights......

The St. Regis at Deer Valley is one outstanding hotel, set in the midst of a ski resort, stunning views and surrounded by beautiful scenery and wildlife.

I arrived before Jay as he had flown separately and inside the hospitality suite were oodles of sweet jars, delicious chocolate and caramel coated popcorn, sandwiches and fruit skewers.  We were told to drink as much water as we could during our stay due to the altitude and boy did we need it, it was so hot.  We sat outside and ate our snacks, amazed by our surroundings.

When Jay arrived I had to go for seconds on this popcorn, it was just too good!

Michelle, you are soooooo naughty, we've only just got here!!!

Once my room was ready I went up for a sneak peak and gosh, it was lovely.  Our name badges and sweet boxes were there waiting for us along with a snack basket on the bed.

On our first night we had dinner at the hotel which was lovely, beautiful food, surroundings, company and table treats too!!  We sat until the sun went down behind the mountains.  I sat next to Nate, Shelli's son-in-law who is a Director at Stampin' Up! so our chat was very interesting!

We didn't stay up too late, Jay was pooped from his flight, bless him, his blinks were getting longer and longer! 

The gorgeous table decorations and place settings

and the lovely people I was surrounded by

Quite a busy day but more exciting things on the agenda for Day 2