Austria, Day 4, 5, and 6

Wow I just got back from dinner in downtown Austria and I don't think I have laughed that hard in a really long time. I almost fell over walking back from the train because of the dang funny Brits that we are around all of the time.

Day 4 and 5 have been great, the beginning of convention running around to who knows where. Like I have been to Toy*R*Us twice in two days to big up Ben 10 toys for our owners kids. Twice! I never thought I would make my way to that place in Austria! Here is visit number 2...


This was great to wake up to this morning, the sun! I haven't seen that large thing since I left Salt Lake on Saturday. It has been raining so much and it was so nice to see that peaking through my window this morning.


I do have to say my favorite part has been all the great restaurants, does that surprise anyone that I love food? Here are just a few of the pics from what I do best.



In Austria there is a story told about a man by the name of Franz Sacher who invented a chocolate cake in 1832 for Klemens Wenzel von Metternich (a king that ruled in Austria). Today this torte is known through out Vienna and across the world. But this isn't your normal Sara Lee $2 cake, I'm talking a $10 piece of cake.



The crew out for food and cake after a DANG good day of convention and sales!


Convention is a time that you find out you'll be doing things that weren't on your job description, but add even more fun to the job!
Like baby sitting :)



Murray I would pick you to baby sit my kid, but I'm telling you now you are the best paid baby sitter I know!!

Or watching someones cat!


It was an awesome convention and the night we all went out for a nice dinner. The dinner was up in the hills of Austria that overlooked the entire city. Simon, or so he says:) finished up with a firework show that Vienna city was the back drop. It was a perfect close to an awesome convention. Great job UK office, you guys are the best!!!




Mark, you say it all with that picture!

Austria, Day 2 and 3

So the reason I am in Europe for a couple of weeks is because my work has a convention in Vienna Austria. We are here until Sunday and then we take off to the UK to see the warehouse and office we have staitioned there.

Convention is a crazy time, especially with late hours. In the US we held one in Salt Lake in June. It was amazing while we supported over 4000 people for a week. Here in Austria we are doing the same only on a smaller scale of about 500 people. This is the first time a convention has been held here so besides myself a co worker and my manager came to help out. It has been a great time with tons of laughs and a whole lot of getting to understand the European culture (you should here my German, it is incredible! (Donkey Fur and "You again"--Thanks Tiffany for your German background, it really has helped us all out!)

To put a convention on takes a lot of planning and a lot of creative side to pull together a product expo. This is on a smaller scale than the Salt Palace, but this is what we came up with here and it looks perfect!

This is how we start with table and palets full of product...




And over a two day period of not leaving the hotel once it turns into a phenomenal room...





Without leaving the hotel for a full 48 hours we completed everything and are ready to start the event tomorrow. It is going to be great and I have some great people that I can't help but thank in the UK office, we couldn't do without our "blokes!"

Austria, Day 1

So I made it. Nothing really has happend yet, but we've had some good times already. I already ate at McDonalds (and yes it does have different things than the US, like potato wedges), had a nice shower, and yes even walked around like dumb Americans who don't know what we are doing!

The plane ride was just fine but a little cold. This is what I did the entire time...

And then they let me into their country...

Me with my passport stamped
And this is me eating a McDonalds...

After dinner with some of my coworkers from the UK we went out to explore for our first night. I can't even tell you how pretty and fun this place has been for the few short hours I have been here. We went downtown to see the famous Austrian Opera House. I couldn't believe the arcitecture that was done to make that place!



Pretty good self photo...


And I would like all of you to know that I passed THREE of these today, it really is a dream come true!!

I turn the corner walking down the street and St. Stephens cathedral was right in front of me. I have never seen something so amazing I thought someone had painted a picture right in front of me. It was really cool because we got to walk in and see a Sunday night mass, INCREDIBLE!




And that was day 1!

The last FOUR months

OK, so I have received a lot of sass for not updating my blog for quite some time. Yes I agree I'm not up to par on my blogging skills, but I do have to claim that I have been quite busy! So it is my goal tonight to accomplish this!!!

The last four months have been so great and just a little crazy with time! I think the best way to keep everyone informed is through pictures (who doesn't love those the best!) and so here we go:

February: So I think everyone knows if I don't get injured in some way, shape, or form within a few months time we all start to worry. But you don't have to because while snowmobiling with my work I managed to get in a fight with my snowmobile. I hate to admit it, but he totally won. This was the result of the fight the following day.




March: Was a great month which consisted of me finally completing a goal that I have had set for myself for a really long time. My friends and I headed down to Moab to run the half marathon. The marathon was such an awesome experience and even though I didn't love every second (obviously) I thought it was really cool. I definitely could not have done it with out such a good group of friends cheering me on! Thanks guys!


After a year or so of blue smoke coming out of the back of my car I decided that I should grow up and buy a new car. First, this HAS to be the most adorable car ever! Seriously I just love this little thing and everything about it! Toyota, you just impress me all the time. If anyone would like to see the cute car I just bought I would love to come and take you for a drive. Seriously you would have a blast!


Well there you have it folks a quick update of the last four months. It also has included work, attempting to take a Spanish class, running, Jazz games, teaching, more work, piano lessons, another St. George trip, shopping, even more work, family, laughing, a murder birthday, and finally work:)
So I finally did it, I updated my blog. Hopefully I'll be better down the road, but who knows!!

WEDDING

I just got back from St. George with my friend Kenzer. We went down there for one of my best friends weddings, Nate Houston. Nate and I met up at Weber State my freshman year because we roomed right next to each other. I couldn't help thinking about every prank we played on him and his roommate like: putting seeds on their floor and watering them during the Olympic break (in hopes that flowers would be there when we got back), using shaving cream to "decorate" their floor with the words: "paybacks a Bi^$#", or cutting all the labels off the canned food and putting them on other cans so when they thought they were opening peaches they got corn. I'll never forget the day hearing Nate yell after opening three cans "what the hell is wrong with Smiths."
Oh they had their fun too through putting open cans of tuna in our room where we couldn't find them, tying our doors together so we couldn't get out, and saran wrapping our toilet seat!

For some reason Nate and I stayed really good friends throughout our missions and as we both went through the accounting programs, me at UVSC and Nate at SUU. A lot of times when we got frustrated or couldn't do school anymore we would take get-a-way trips (me to Ceder and Nate to Orem) and just be able to chill and relax for the weekend.
I am so freaken proud of Nate for what he has accomplished in the six years that I have known him, but even more proud that he pick such a great girl! I met Jana in the temple (at her own wedding) and knew right then how lucky Nate was to get such an amazing girl! Nate you got a good one and you better treat her like a princess ALWAYS! (Even though I know you will!!!)
By the way I learned that you never wear high heels when taking a picture with people shorter than you...I look like if I sat on them both I would ruin their lives!!

On a side note here is me with my new pair of glasses. I really needed them but didn't have any scissors to help me out in St. George. I drove around like this all morning!!!

All Sports Weekend...In DENVER!!!

So if you didn't know how much I love the city of Denver you will definitely know after this post. I LOVE THAT PLACE!! So one of the most random group got together to have an all sports weekend in Denver this weekend which included: Sammy, Kahale, Brook, Rob, and yours truly. What a weekend!

We started off in the airport waiting for our plane that was an hour and a half late and a bumpy ride to Denver. I don't know what the deal is with planes, me, and my stomach this passed while but not one likes each other. When we finally landed I couldn't believe how cold it was. I guess I have to realize I was in the Rockies, but I was hoping for a little more warmth.

After getting our cool minivan Sammy, because he had been to Denver one time, knew exactly where our hotel was. OK, that was the biggest lie ever so for about an hour he drove around telling us/finding the hotel. We found a Marriott, just not the right Marriott. I was really glad to see my bed that night!! Thanks to Sammy I did see parts of Denver that I never would have seen otherwise!

So we got up the next morning and headed to Coors brewery. That place is HUGE! Sadly I forgot my ID so I couldn't get plastered (that was a joke!!), but if I ever did get drunk this is probably the exact picture of
what I would look like. This is non alcoholic beer and pretty much the worst stuff I have EVER tasted! It was a very interesting tour though. It take 118 days from start to finish to make beer.
Being a Mormon and all those details are really important in my life :)

The best part of that morning was when we went to get food at Jack-in-the-Box. After we came out from breakfast we realized that (we'll leave his name unknown...Rob) left the car door open the entire time we were in eating. There was a nice layer of snow all over Kahale's seat!! I am still laughing about that and it is a week later!! Thanks for that one Rob!!!

After that we headed (on a very snowy night) down to the Pepsi center to watch the Denver Nuggets take on the Kings. For $10, I totally got my moneys worth! But everyone knows I love the NBA and I would have been entertained no matter what. It happened to be '80's night and they brought in a surprised guest singer in. At first I thought it was Paula Abdul because they put her picture up on the jumbo tron, but then it ended up being some dude that I have never heard of, had a horrible smokers voice, and I don't even think he sang since the '80's. But once again I get entertained very easy...and I was entertained.
Nuggets won the game with a nail biting ending. I routed for them, but I didn't realize that game tied them with the Jazz so I regret doing that.

That morning we got up and went to breakfast in the hotel. It was Sammy, Kahale, and me that enjoyed a nice pre game snack. As we were walking out the door Sammy took a drink of OJ that went down the wrong tube and ended up sneezing. However when he sneezed that OJ went all over the door AND ALL OVER my hand as I was exiting the door. Everyone that "nose" (ha ha) me well knows that I am a neat freak and imagine someone elses snot all over you...I wanted to DIE!! GROSS! I can't even think about it!

So we continue on to the next day in our all sports weekend...We went down to 14th street and walked around that next morning. Summer is the best for that street, but still just like I have said Denver has never been a disappointment. After we were done there we went down to pretty much my favorite stadium, Mile High. I almost feel like I ripped Denver off this weekend because we got the BEST PRICES on everything the WHOLE weekend. But this is my favorite...so we went and scalped Broncos tickets. We all got in the "executive seating" for $60 bones each!!! The normal price was $285! I know I was that shocked too!!! Yet another reason why I love Denver. P.S Do you like the random lady in the picture...who ever she is! I'm sure it might have helped that it was freezing and the Broncos aren't good at all this year, but hey I had a blast! So when I say it was freezing this is me on the train with 8 layers on and my coat is the ninth. I had 6 hand warmers in use: feet, hands, and two in my hat. It was cold, but me of all people who freezes at 80 degrees did well out there!!! I also got free nachos (thanks Sammy for making that happen), to see and NFL game, a free bus ride (I don't think that should have happened either), and I learned all of the Broncos cheers (I really should become a regular): "the pass was: IN-COM-PLETE!", and so much more!

It was an awesome weekend! We got up at 4:30 on Monday to make our 6:30 flight, so it was early, but so worth it!
I really love Denver guys, I really do! If you haven't had any great experiences out there...you should go, it is so worth it! The all sports weekend of beer, basketball, and football was a dream come true!!!

How great are MAC computers!!

I love my MacBook computer. I do, I think they are great computers and should be a spokes person for Mac because I tell everyone about them. Sure it is different than a PC, but it is so much better!
I'm not going to list all the reasons why I love my Mac, but would rather just show you how much fun you can have with a Mac:)


And that is one of the reasons I love my MAC!