Well, another year has come and gone and the all girls weekend has gone off smaller, but just as much fun as in the past!
Who was able to be there this year (some in a round about way) :
Scrapbookers:Donna Autrey (Georgia)
Laura Autrey (Texas)
Janet Autrey
Gail Owens
Jessica Miller
Non scrappers:Marilyn Autrey (Georgia)
Linda Liebhardt
Sarah Autrey
Katie Rossman (Nevada)
Caroline Owens (Gail’s daughter)
Bernice Liebhardt
Non-Women (well, this is the “round about” part)Casey and Hayden Rossman
Mike Liebhardt
Seth and Jonathan Owens (Jonathan is still nursing, so he was a “scrapper” too)
Lexie, Ella, Braden (sp? Now why can’t I reach the website when I need to?) Liebhardt
Eric and Nick Liebhardt
LOTS of misc friends of Eric and Katie that I can’t even name.. well, just one – Katie (Eric’s friend).
Day 1:The weekend started for Laura, Mom and I flying to Utah. This started bad on all fronts. Mom and I started out with mom asking “where are we going?” when I started to head north – uh, the airport?? Ha! She actually thought I had one more stop to do before heading north. I didn’t. It was only about 1pm so her thought was that it was too early. I didn’t think so. I am so glad we did it this way as right after the outlet mall we hit horrible traffic! We asked a guy in a truck how long it was … he said 4 miles… and we were going about 2 miles per hour. YIKES! We turned around on the median and attempted to get my $#%^&*! Garmin to actually rout us around the jamb. It, of course wanted to get me BACK to the freeway – ARGE! We go around THAT jamb, just to come across another as the freeway split going into Atlanta THEN another right before the turn off to 285. I found my way around that last one by taking the farmers market turn off and zipping up to the airport. Problems solved…. And we made it to the airport just in time to get through security, get to the gate and only waited a few minutes and we were loading. Whew!
We got to Denver only to have to wait an HOUR for our crew to show up from it’s other flight. Sigh. So much for getting there on time. While we were sitting there I got a call from David that Laura was stuck on the tarmac in Dallas! Poor Laura was stuck for over an hour waiting on the 30 – yes THIRTY planes in front of hers to take off. Needless to say that we were ALL late getting in – the 7:30 pm arrival which was to be our last become a 8:30 pm arrival… ah, well.
We finally all made it in and got to the hotel. Gail had checked in with the baby already and was simi-settled in when we got there
Poor Laura was not told by David the plans… so was surprised that she was doing all that was planned out. We have got to get her checking these blogs and e-mail :o)
Day 2 – dawned early at 6am to get up and head down to breakfast and to the Expo. Linda came up with Eric and the two of them and Mom went to SLC to the temple to go through a session (I’m talking out of turn here, because I’m not sure what that all means, other than they went through the temple that day). Laura, Gail, Janet and I headed to the expo. Gail took the early bird option and Laura, Janet and I chose to use the VIP so that Laura could do the class. Gail opted out because classes weren’t likely to go over well with a nursing baby. :o\ Picky boy!
We were really lucky in that the lady who was to join us at our table let us know early that she was not going to be using her slot. We asked for and received permission to have Gail join us in our area for the day! By the time Jessica got there at 6 or 7pm the “guard” was gone from the roped off area, so we snuck her in too :o)
Our gift bags this year had a mini album, some chip board mini’s for Christmas and a “freeze frame” – a new product for lining up pages. I gave mine to Gail as it was HUGE but thin – however I didn’t see the benefit of using it as I just don’t lay out my pages the way this product would be beneficial
Janet, Laura and I had our VIP class at 12 pm… it was HORRIBLE. The instructor who was to teach the class was put on bed rest just before the weekend and couldn’t find anyone to teach the class – AND the folks teaching the class were running between two rooms. Give me a break. I paid good money to actually BE instructed! They didn’t instruct. Shoot, they weren’t there most the time. I felt HORRIBLE that this was Laura’s first and only experience with classes at an expo – not a good example
That and it was a cheap class – a three page chip board book. Hello? VIP costs $75 EACH. Sigh.
Next year it won’t be VIP, it will only be early bird, I’m sure… less gifts, however, still in early entry… and the $55 difference I can look @ the class and determine if I want to do that item or not and possibly buy the kit out on the floor.
However, despite the disappointments, I did get a LOT done. I managed to finish a whole calendar blank – I’m SOO excited to have it done! I also finished a fun project that can’t be named until after Christmas, as well as a box set of 4 cards I won last year from SEI. They were simple and easy to put together… and a great bonus! I did one make and take at a cost – with glitter because I always wanted to try it… HATED it, so glad I tried it out there… that idea is a gonner :o) also did a few tags for fun :o)
Gail and Laura headed home at about 11pm – I had thoughts that we had chased Laura off for good, but I think we have converted her .. maybe! Janet, Jessica and I headed out at 12pm – yawn!
Day 3: Dawned just as early with breakfast at the hotel and we went in on the early bird time frame. The line was VERY short compared to prior years.
Jeannette was able to come out with her daughter at 10am and visit for a bit as they were doing make and takes and having an early lunch at a table close to ours.. I finished putting together another calendar with coordinating items to be put together later (didn’t happen at the expo, but I have goals to finish it at the next local crop).
Janet and I had a 12pm class with SEI, so off we ran. It was an INTENSE class. WE finished a full 20 page ABC album in 2 hours… it was extremely fast paced, but fun class. That was my ONLY project completed for Saturday as we didn’t do all the tags and embellishments on the project , so we came back to the table to wrap it up.
I did some shopping and ended up with some FUN vinyl – orange and purple for Halloween, chalkboard vinyl (not sure what I’ll market that as), some glittered orange and black and some flocked in black, white and brown! Fun stuff!! I also bought some software too that I can’t wait to try - one is all the stick people that I had been asked about at the store I do jobs for and one was all sorts of fun flourish’s.
We wrapped up the scrapping about 4:30 and headed down to Provo to pick up Robert and Sarah and head to Cedar for the next days gathering.
Day 4: Cedar City – Sunday. Most folks went to the Centrum for a talk by ??? not sure. I’ll update that when I find out who it was (or Linda or Janet can correct my shortcomings here as I didn’t attend!)
I walked the campus with Laura – saw all the new buildings…. And looked for my brick. I found it – finally – it wasn’t in the “courtyard” of the old Manzanita, but on the way to the parking lot form the building to the west side of the complex. Strange thing to be excited about, but I did find my brick!
The rest of the day was spent eating a wonderful dinner cooked by Mike, Seth and Casey in dutch ovens. They served potatoes with cheese and bacon as well as BBQ Elk and BBQ Pork, Salad, and home made apple pies from Linda’s backyard apple tree – very tasty! It was Eric’s 19
th birthday, so he had some friends there. Katie hadn’t been home in a while, so she had some friends there as well, so we had a very
full house, and lots of fun watching the kids make mud pies outside and play!!
We sat around and visited, napped on the lawn and visited some more until it was time to head back to Provo for the night.
Day 5: was another early morning as Laura had an 8:30am flight. We were supposed to have a 9:30 flight, however it was changed to 10:20 before we even left Georgia – all our connections still worked out well to get us home by 6pm though. So, we checked in and went to breakfast there at the airport. It was very tasty and relaxing. We then wandered down to the gate area and found a nice set of chairs looking north over the mountains and watched the planes coming and going… sat next to a very nice lady who does plumbing supplies there in SLC. She was pleasant to chat with – going to Atlanta for a plumbing expo or some work related plumbing thing. :o) Well, we’re sitting there and they delayed our flight for ANOTHER hour, however with that delay came the offer for a free bag check for any carry on to your final destination. You mean YOU will take this beast of a scrapbook bag for free? You betcha! We took them up on that one! So, mom and I were down to one small carry on apiece. Not bad.
We got on the plane, and they got us to Denver and encouraged those without tight connections to please stay seated – we had 20 minutes to make our connection and we were in the back 1/3 of the aircraft…. And (drum roll please) our next gate was 2 gates down! Ha! We were fine
We got home on time, picked up our car and headed on home. We were home by 9pm, safe and sound.
All in all a wonderful weekend.
Only one "man" allowed, and he was a little man (still nursing, so couldn't be far away from mom!)