Lady Liberty!

Friday and Saturday were spectacular days.  The convention really kicked off Friday morning with a Ray Charles impersonator singing America along with a 300 person YTB choir (choir robes and all).  At the end of the song there were tons of fireworks and a huge curtain dropped to reveal a replica of the statue of liberty.  The original plan was to make it the same size as the real statue of liberty but the Ram's Edward Jones dome wasn't tall enough so it was only 20 feet shy of being true to size.  It really was amazing.  After the convention they are donating it to a city nearby as a tourist attraction.  It took over 200 semis to get it there and over 6 months to build.  

The next thing they did was announce all of the directors and call them up on stage.  I had an unbelievable feeling of pride seeing Jeremy and his business partner Mike go up on that stage.  There were over 20,000 people in that dome and only 200 were directors.  All of the directors were wearing the olympic type sweat suits.  Last year at convention, Jer wasn't a director and he came home and told me he would be by the next year.  I know how many countless hours he has put in and I know how hard he has worked so it made me so proud to see him up there.  They became directors in less than one year in the business.  Many, many never make it and the ones that do usually take over two years to get there.  So to see him up them was awesome!

There was so much energy in that stadium.  It was fun to hear from many people in the company and be among others who are working so hard for financial freedom.  YTB is a really cool company.  It was refreshing to see a company that was not afraid to acknowledge the hand of God in all we do and to start meetings with a prayer.  And, unlike corporate America, they encourage families.  When I worked for McDougal Littell it was forbidden to take spouses or family to any conventions or on any business trips (Jeremy was often my stow-away!)  This company encourages you to bring families and be together.  It was so fun to have Lilah there with us.  We would have loved for the girls to be there too if it wouldn't have been so many meetings.  Everyone made such a fuss over her.  I am sure at least a thousand people coochie-cooed in her face.  She just kept looking up at them like, "blah, blah, blah, I know I am cute.  Yes, I look like my Daddy.  blah, blah, Yes, my eyes are blue.  I am seven months old.  blah, blah, blah, Yes, I'm a future director, blah blah blah......"  She wasn't the youngest though, I saw a 3 week old baby there.  But she sure was a trooper.  12 hours of meetings on Friday and Saturday and she was good through them all!

At the very end of the meeting they let go millions of balloons from the ceiling.  It was amazing how cool it looked.  When we stood up the balloons were to our waists.  Lilah thought it was the greatest thing ever!  She just sat and watched in awe as they all fell.

This was an amazing trip!  We really didn't have much time to relax but it was worth every minute.  We really enjoyed ourselves and had a nice break from every day life.  Only now we need a vacation!  Good thing we can get one of those wholesale and tax deductible!!

That's me with one of the founders, Kim Sorenson.

My first plane ride! I loved it!!!