Back home

I arrived home on Saturday around 6pm. My entire family was waiting for me in the garage when I pulled in. So sweet!

We had a nice relaxing evening at home. The kids could hardly contain themselves with their excitement!

Sunday, hmmmm we slept in, lounged around for a while then went to town for some grocery shopping. After lunch we fired up the quad and chain saw and cut down some trees. That was fun and rewarding!

Both kids had Monday off from school, the school districts ferlow day to try and save the budget. Marshall also had the day off from work. So the only one who had to work was me. The family busied them selves with yard work and play.

Today was back on schedule. Up at 5am, Marshall to work, kids to school and me back to work also. We had a great spring break but it is nice to get back to normal.

A few highlights...I cut all 3 boys hair! Moka was a few months over due....Caymus was also and wanted to look like his dad.

I really don't have much else to report!

The Party is over.....Its time to go home....

Yesterday was the last day of the conference. The exhibit hall packed up and was out so fast. I blinked and they were gone. 12 hours to set up and 4 to take down......


Moving out the trucks. So sad when its all over.


David and Michael of DeltaValve packing up, who ever said marketing guys don't get their hands dirty!

After the conference was over we had a reception to go to and then out to dinner. After dinner was our customary elevator picture shoot.
Robby and I taking a "shot" at having a good time.Aw, the future of Coking.com.......Smoking and Sparky
Say cheese!
We went to Joe's Crab Shack for dinner.....Love their shirts!

And now for the elevator picture!!!



Today was the Coker Process Training course, and we got to pack up our stuff, pay the hotel and all that finishing stuff.

To night will be a mellow evening - if those exist. Then its off to the airport first thing in the morning.

Hump Day

Yesterday was hump day. A good and busy day. We had some great presentations and gave out our Coker Person of the Year award. Always cool.

Last night was a sponsored dinner. DeltaValve, one of our biggest sponsors hosted dinner in the Aquarium Pyramid. What a delicious dinner and then tour of the aquarium.

Now we are on to Thursday. All of the exhibits will be coming down this afternoon, that means it will be a crazy few hours trying to get everyone cleaned up and out of the building.

The end is near. I am tired, drained, still having fun but looking forward to Saturday when I go home to my dear family. My poor hubby has a horrible cold and is missing his nurse....

Gary and Paul - running the show.Barb, Ricky and me. Do I look like I am having fun? Not sure......Gary demoing the MOV chair by Paramed, very cool invention. It can move up to 500lbs up and down stairs with minimal effort. Amazing life saving tools.Me listening to a presentation.View from the 9th floor Presidential Suite.

Everything is bigger in Texas!

Yesterday was the end of the Coke Drum Workshop and the beginning of the Safety Seminar. We had exhibitors taking down new ones coming in. Some confusion, some frustration. I did my best to smooth things over and make everyone happy....We also had new attendees coming in so that made for a busy, busy day.

We had a very nice 2 hour cocktail reception with exhibits in the evening. Lots of great conversations and business dealings.

After the reception we parked our tushies in the Presidential suite again. We had a nice low key evening and off to bed early....11pm.

Here are some highlights of the last few days.

Me, Vic and Barb aka my mom. Vic is one of my favorite vendors that I work with, he exhibits at all our conferences and really is an awesome guy. Also a wrestling fan.Part of the Coking.com team in our fancy RED shirts. Barb, Paul, Nancy, Rob, Me.Oh here is a good one. Any one who can tell what that thing does gets a prize!This is a look at the exhibit and dining hall. Its hard to get a good picture of the entire hall, but I will try so I can show off my work!Here is another of the hall. We have 3 50ft trucks in there and some other very large equipment. So cool!

What?!?

While I am here in Sunny Texas working by tail off, my family is home having a blast.

Norma, my mother in law arrived on Sunday to help out with the kids while Marshall is working.

On Saturday Marshall took the kids bowling, both kids did very good, they are quite the little bowlers!

Yesterday they spent the day all hanging out together and went shopping. We now have a new pet. Her name is Natasha....Tasha the Turtle.

The evening report to me was they had an AWESOME day! So happy to hear that.

High Five!

Thank you Norma! LOVE YOU!

Meanwhile back in Texas......

Yesterday was the first day of the Coke Drum Reliability Workshop. We had presentations in the morning, exhibits, breakout groups in the afternoon and then a dinner cruise on the Colonel Paddle Boat. What a great evening we had.

Just a lazy Sunday in Texas...

The whole Coking.com, Inc. gang....Rob, Nancy, Marlea, Jane, Barb, Paul, Gary

5:45 am my alarm goes off...great, lets remember that I am 2 hours ahead.....

My main job here at the conference is to get the exhibit hall set up and coordinating with the hotel. At 7 am is when the decorator was to be here to start marking the floor for the trucks to come in and start the set up process. The exhibit hall here in this hotel is just a huge convention center with concrete floors. So we have to work from the ground up.

Exhibition hall pre-set up

Moving the trucks in...so cool! I was just giddy during set up!Even hanging banners form the ceiling!

I had 3 huge trucks to get placed in the hall and some other heavy equipment. The morning went fairly smoothly. Afternoon not quite as smooth. I had exhibitors show up that were not due until Tuesday and some who's shipments did not show up, never a good thing. We so far have made it all work out, but I am holding my breath for tomorrow.

Our fearless leaders Gary and Paul!

After my very long 13 hour day, we decided instead of going out to dinner we would order room service in the Presidential Suite...aka Paul and Nancy's room. OMG so nice! We had a very fun evening and I have to say I am sooooo loving my bosses!The Girls! Smokin, First Lady one, First Lady 2, Finesse!

The boys...Rob-Sparky, Paul-fearless leader, Gary - Expert, oh and really do you see the view from the room? Wow!

Yep that's my mom, support for Paul during a wonderful toast!

Texas!

I made it to Texas!

My day started out at 5am....was out of the house by 6:15am. I had an 8:30 flight to Phoenix, hour layover then on to Houston.

The airports were all very busy, spring break and all. But I had no line for US Airways, thank goodness. Got the short line in security, so far I have been a very lucky girl.

I got in to Houston right on time and Rob was there waiting for me with our awesome 12 passenger rental van. We then had a little time to catch up before we picked up the rest of the gang.

Then it was off to Galveston. We hit some bad traffic while trying to find a place to eat, so that really slowed us down. But a few - dozen - turn-arounds and we found a good place to fill our bellies.

I am now sitting in my wonderful hotel room, watching a movie with my laptop on my lap, typing away.

My day will begin tomorrow early, 6am Central time which means 4am my time.

Here are a few pictures to start us off!

Jane - Finesse and I - Smokin

Nancy - First Lady

Rob - Sparky

Paul - President

Rob again, showing off his new coat....its, hmmmm different....

37 hours

In 37 hours I will be leaving my family to head to Galveston Texas for the week. I will be there hosting the largest Delayed Coker Conference in the world. Sounds fun right? Well it is. We have presentations, breakout groups, exhibition hall, cocktail receptions, dinner cruise, dinner and tour of a huge aquarium.

I am not sure I am ready to leave, I really could use one more day. Its been a crazy busy week. Lots of last minuet changes and details to finalize.

So you can look forward to checking in with me all next week for updates of how the conference is going and all the fun I am having!

Happy St Patricks Day!

Well a happy day was had by all.
Both kids did holiday themed stuff in school. Both wore green. Lucy apparently does not have much in the green clothing department...so we managed to find a green barrette and hair tie. UGGGG!

I made Corned Beef and Cabbage, green beer and green milk for the kids. It was all very good, and the kids really did think the milk magically turned green when I poured it! Funny kids.

Whirlwind weekend

My parents arrived here on Thursday evening. See their blog for their side of the story….http://www.beachbuns.blogspot.com/
Friday afternoon my mom and I went out and got to work pruning my fruit trees. We borrowed a friend’s pole chain saw – what a blast that is! It’s heavy and has quite a kick, but once I got used to it there was no stopping me!

While we were out doing physical labor, my dad took Caymus with him to bring his computer to a repair shop and the carwash. Marshall went out quad shopping. We are now the proud owners of a 2008 Polaris utility quad! So awesome!

Friday evening was the school carnival….wow.

The guys waited in the hour plus food line while mom and I took the kids around to all the activities.

Food sucked. Burgers were more like dog food; onion rings still had water in them from being frozen….just plain old bad. So note to self…..do not eat at the carnival next year!!!
The kids had a lot of fun and it’s all a donation, so stop complaining!

Saturday it rained horribly. Marshall and I finished moving my heaping piles of limbs to the neighbors burn pile. The kids had had a sleep over with my parents at the hotel and went swimming for 2 hours. We played some wii games, so fun with a bunch of people. I think my parents will be getting one soon!

Went out to dinner at the Roadhouse, very good food! It made up for the night before.
Then Sunday morning the folks left and we spent the rest of the day doing chores. Grocery shopping and cleaning!

Now I am on to the countdown till I head to Texas! Galveston to be exact. This is our biggest conference of the year. I am looking forward to it as always.

How well do I know my Husband....

Here's a chance to see how well you really know your husband. Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then post . . . shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to let your husband read it to see how right you really are. If you read this consider yourself tagged!!!

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? News or Football

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Blue Cheese

3. What's one food he doesn't like? Mayonnaise

4. You go out to eat. What drink does he order? Beer or Diet Soda

5. Where did he go to high school? Sprague

6. What size shoe does he wear? 7.5-8

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? Shoes….Hats….Tee shirts

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Puerto Rican Grilled Ham and Cheese

9. What would he eat every day if he could? Puerto Rican Food

10. What is his favorite cereal? Life

11. What would he never wear? A pink shirt

12. What is his favorite sports team? Oregon Ducks Football

13. Who did he vote for? Well we moved right before voting time and our change of address did not make it in in time….very sad…but would have been McCain

14. Who is his best friend? Me…. ;-)

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? Procrastinate

16. What is his heritage? Puerto Rican and some mixed European

17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Confetti with confetti frosting….

18. Did he play sports in high school? Wrestling, track, Xcountry, Football

19. What could he spend hours doing? Watching football….working out, fishing

20. What is one unique talent he has? Only one? He is a good impersonator.

Marshall and Lucy (6mo) at her first Duck football game. This is what makes him happy!