Sunday, August 18, 2013

Our Trip to Texas (Success School & Jase's First Flights)

We LOVE going to Texas for Success School!!
 
 I had never been to TX until becoming involved with Advocare, but had always heard great things from my friend Dusti- and she was right. We LOVE Texas!! This was our 3rd time going & it gets better every time. I love being a part of a company that is truly interested in changing lives & helping people with the two main issues that are plaguing America- health & finances.
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We actually missed my 10 year reunion to go, & although I hated that we missed seeing all of my old classmates (loved seeing pics- everyone looks so great!), we really, really love Advocare & our Advo family. This company is allowing me to stay home with my baby and will bring Jonathan home soon too, so we definitely don't miss an opportunity to invest in our business & ourselves. Being a part of Advocare has changed our lives and the future of our family. The life training, personal growth, & leadership development you get and the way they invest in you as a person is absolutely unmatched & has helped of us both become better people.
 
This time we brought my parents (they are the bomb!) & Baby Jase, who was an absolute stud on his first flights. We prayed about it before & I just couldn't bare to leave him at home (he's only 3 months), but we sure weren't going to miss Success School, so this was a perfect solution.
 
We were a little nervous about what it would be like trying to get through the airport with the baby and our 8 million bags (someone in Butler, Party of 3 doesn't know how to pack light!!)- stroller, pack n play, etc., but thankfully it was so much smoother than expected. They let us check the pack-n-play for free, gate check the stroller/carseat (although they BROKE our stroller....NOT COOL!), & we carried on a cooler with some frozen milk. We also got to go to the front of the lines in security because we had a stroller. We brought my bookbag with snacks for us and an empty water bottle to fill up after going through security (I'm big on water all the time, but it's especially important to stay hydrated while nursing), as well as his diaper bag with goodies he might need during the flight (diapers & wipes, paci, blankets, burp cloths, etc.)
 




Getting his wings! Such a big boy!!



The flight there was delayed for almost an hour because of the bad weather, but thankfully he is super content and just hung out until takeoff. Our pediatrician told us to make sure he was either nursing or sucking on a paci during takeoff & landing to help with pressure in his ears, so I did my best to plan flights around his schedule.
 
  The weather delay threw him off & meant he was eating later than normal, but he handled it like a champ & never even made a peep other than cooing and laughing.
 



You know what people do when they see a baby get on a flight. And I don't blame them. But afterwards we had several people compliment us on what a good baby he is & how great he did. We are truly blessed to have such a happy little man with such a good disposition!
It was so helpful having my parents help us with all the luggage and the baby. Definitely would have been much tougher with just the two of us.
 
This is his Jase's first bus ride! We took a shuttle from the airport to the car rental place. The new Ford Edge's are really nice.

Wednesday night we took my parents out for steaks at Cattleman's, & it was DELISH! I don't even eat red meat (I just prefer fish & poultry), but I ordered a steak too and enjoyed it.
 
Thursday night we had a leadership dinner @ Billy Bob's- America's largest saloon! I love that we get to dress up & hang out with some of the BEST people ever. This year's Western theme sent lots of people shopping, but we just went right to our closet. Jonathan thinks these boots are so tacky & I almost sold them at a yard sale, but I'm so glad I hung on to them. They came in handy!! The food was delicious & we had fun with all the armadillo racing, bull riding, and line dancing.

Seriously, Jonathan looked SO HOT to me. I love this look!!
All the handsome fellas!

And the lovely ladies!

So thankful for all these precious new friendships this has brought into our life.
 
It was a little weird seeing this outside the restaurant, but I tried not to think about it. Ha.



This is our GA team...love these guys!

Jase had a great time exploring Ft. Worth with Grammy & Grandaddy while we went to the trainings & events. It was such a relief knowing he was in such great hands.




It was SUPER hot- like 105- but TX doesn't have the crazy humidity we do here in GA so it was doable.
 
This year we were in the Dallas Cowboys Stadium and it was unbelievable! Jonathan has ALWAYS been a huge Cowboys fan (especially Emmett Smith) and always wanted to go there, so it was pretty cool getting to share that with him.

The Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders were AWESOME!

So proud our President & CEO was recognized as Ernst & Young's Entrepreneur of the Year. He and his wife are incredible leaders & helping our company become a billion dollar company. We are so thankful for their vision and leadership.



We are SO PROUD of our team! Truly blessed to get to "work" with such awesome people. We are both so grateful for these friendships.

It was Jase's naptime on our flight home, so I had to wake him up during takeoff & landing to feed him. Is he not the sweetest little angel??



Poor little fella was SO overly tired on our drive home from the airport and cried a good bit.  It broke my mom's heart & Jon was so tore up about it because we RARELY hear him cry. He fusses a little if he is hungry or overly tired, but having him on a consistent schedule means that isn't typically an issue. I knew there wasn't really any consoling him because he was just overly tired and would cry until he went to sleep. After about 30 minutes of me singing to him, he finally gave it up & went to sleep for us. I felt terrible knowing it was my fault, but he recovered really well & had an awesome day of naps the next day back at home.
 
I have some precious pictures of our sweet boy from Texas and am so thankful we got to experience this trip as a family of 3. Thankful we were able to bring my parents too, and even though they were there to help us, I know they enjoyed exploring. They love going places they've never been & it feels good to be able to pay for them for a change.
 
We left Texas with full hearts & an even stronger passion & even more of a burning purpose to share with others.
 

2 comments:

Nikki said...

LOVED every moment of SS and FINALLY getting to meet you face to face along with Big Jon and sweet Baby Jase! So honored and thrilled to be part of the team!

MommaAsh said...

We went to SS back in 2004 in Nashville & it was awesome!!! A month later my stepfather died, 2 weeks after that we found out we were pregnant, a couple weeks later I began my first year teaching & ended up horribly sick my 1st trimester (hyperemesis) & advocare fell off our priority list. So thankful God has brought it back into our lives! Hoping to attend next year!