30 Isn't That Old, Right?

Thank you to everyone for helping make my 30th birthday one of the best ever!  All the texts, cards, emails, facebook messages, and gifts made me feel special :-)  I loved how Madison assured me in their card that "30 isn't that old".

And a BIG thanks to my mom and dad for having about 30 people over for a BBQ to help me celebrate my big day.  We had a fabulous spread of grilled chicken sandwiches (with hotdogs for the kids), fruit and veggie trays, salads, chips and dip, and desserts.  The weather was beautiful, and we all had a great time just sitting around, talking, and listening to all the kids laugh and play.  Here are some pictures from the night:

A couple weeks before my birthday, we had been talking in a meeting at work about cutting your own hair (yes, we were kind of side tracked).  I shared a story about the time I tried to cut my bangs the day before the first day of my freshman year of college.  They were too long, so I got them wet, combed them down, and cut them straight across.  Well, when my bangs dried, the hair was only about 1/2" long.  I seriously looked like an idiot, so for a few weeks until they grew out, I had to slick them back.  So you can imagine why I laughed out loud when I got this card on my birthday from Bonnie... you would have thought it was custom made for me!

Anyway, here's to what I'm sure will be an awesome year!

Boise Rec Fest - Part 2

What a weekend!  It's kinda hard to believe that Boise Rec Fest is over.  It's weird to think my life might go back to normal for a little while :-)  Congrats to Brett and the rest of the team... we did it!  Here are a few more highlights from my weekend!

The park looked quite a bit different once all the exhibitor spaces were set up!

As Exhibit Director, I had the chance to go around and talk with each exhibitor about their organization.  It was neat to hear how passionate people are - from preserving land for natural habitat or recreating to skydiving to skateboarding.  They got me excited about different types of recreation... did you know that Water Ski Pro Shop teaches wakeboarding lessons?  I need to book soon because I heard they are booked solid until August!  I also bought my first pair of Reef sandals - I was told they would "change my life" :-)

Here are some other things I enjoyed during the festival:
*  I loved the energy from the people at Elements Therapeutic Massage Emerald... and I just had to take advantage of their free chair massage!

*  I took advantage of the Disc Golf workshop where we learned the different types of discs, how to grip them, and then got to practice putting.  I for the life of me can't figure out how to throw the disc correctly (or even in the right direction!).  But I'm stoked because I scored myself a free disc golf lesson from the disc golf pro who taught the workshop.

* In addition to my Reef sandals, I also ended up buying a hammock (see Part 1), a cool water bottle from Urban Pipeline (it will filter any water source except salt water), and a bamboo t-shirt from Core Concepts.  Good thing I got my escrow overage refund in the mail this weekend :-)

*  I loved the Rec Fest parking...

I was shocked at how quickly all the exhibitors moved out.  What took hours to set up took only 30 minutes to be broken down and moved out of the park.  Once everyone was moved out, we began the cleanup process and went back this morning to finish up.  All in all, I'm thrilled with how the weekend went.  Of course, there are things we'll do differently next year, but for a first time event I think we did pretty well.  If you didn't get a chance to attend, you'll have to check out the news stories posted online.  Here's one from Saturday.  And one last picture... I will sure miss my golf cart!

Boise Rec Fest - Part 1

I am definitely behind on posting because Boise Rec Fest has been consuming my life lately, but thought I would at least get a few pictures up of the last couple days and then I'll backtrack to other things (like my 30th birthday!)

After months of planning and prepping, Boise Rec Fest is finally here!  We've had a full couple of days so far.  We started on Thursday with infrastructure setup.  We had a blank slate!

We began by marking out where the food vendors and exhibitor spots would be.  You wouldn't guess, but this was quite the chore!  Our cool measuring rollers turned out to be not so cool when we realized after measuring and re-measuring and re-measuring that the two rollers differed from each other, and neither was accurate.  Thanks to Rachel from Tates Tents and Events for saving the day by bringing a nice, old fashioned tape measurer :-)  We got everything marked out, and then Tates was able to set up tents for the people who rented through them.  Here's a shot on Friday morning before any exhibitors moved in.  We had signs in each spot so people would know where their booth space was.

It has been fun to get feedback from the exhibitors today - they had so many nice things to say about our event.  They were thrilled with the turnout and all had more people stopping by their booths than expected.  They also thanked me for how smoothly everything has gone so far, especially for the volunteers that helped them get set up yesterday afternoon.  They loved the help!  It's great to see all our hard work come together and have *hopefully* everyone happy!

Since most of my work is before and after the actual event, I was able to take some time today to enjoy the festivities.  Here's a recap of some of my day:

*  My family came out to support me and to check out the event.  Lucky Hailey got grandpa to buy her an Italian Ice.  She also had fun playing golf with First Tee of Idaho.

* Kris, Madison, and Chase came out too.  It was fun watching Kris try out Zumba in one of the workshop tents.  After a little coaxing, Chase and Madison joined in too and they all had a blast.

*  I went around and talked with all (I think!) of the exhibitors to see what their booths were about and to see if there was anything I could do to help.  I decided I could have stayed in a Dreamweaver Hammock all day.  I will definitely be purchasing one of those for my deck!

*  I also met the inventor of the hackey sack (footbag) and got to watch some amazing demonstrations.

*  And I loved the new Ruggid Gear trailer - so cool!  It's a compact, lightweight, portable trailer with all the bells and whistles (including a stove, refrigerator, outdoor shower, and even built-in speakers!).  When I was tired in the afternoon from going all day, I thought maybe I could just take a nap on the bed :-)

Well, I'm exhausted and I've got another long day ahead of me tomorrow, plus clean up on Monday, so I'm off to bed.  I will be posting more pictures soon (as if this post wasn't picture overload already!).

Mystique

A couple months ago, we noticed a new restaurant next to Tucanos... Mystique.  We immediately googled Mystique to see what it was all about, and found out it was a "magical dining experience" - dinner with a magic show.  It sounded so cool, and after perusing the website, I was even more excited to try it out.  Well a couple weeks later, I heard about a gift certificate deal where you could get a $50 gift certificate for $25, so I called a bunch of people and we all got the gift certificates and made plans to have dinner on June 11th.

The whole evening really was delightful!  We ate our five-course meal in a small chamber room... all around one giant table.  We were waited on by excellent waters and waitresses, and the food was just delicious.  Once dinner was over, the lights went out and the magician appeared in the room.  For the next hour or so, he amazed us with trick after trick.  I was in the front seat at the table closest to the magician, and I for the life of me couldn't figure out how he managed those tricks.  It really was magic!  I definitely want to go back some time (they have several different magicians, so you get a different show each time!).

Table Rock

I love when the weather gets nicer.  We've had kind of a bummer spring with lots of rain and not many nice days to enjoy being outside, so when yesterday's weather was decent, we jumped at the chance to head outdoors.  Jared, Jen, Tyler, and I hiked Table Rock last night... it was a first for both Tyler and Jen.  I think of hiking Table Rock as just something you do when you live in Boise!  It was a nice night for a fun hike... and the views were amazing!  It was great to be out while everything is still so green... because I know that will change soon with the hot summer sun!

Boot Camp Buddies

Have I mentioned lately how much I like bootcamp?  I can't say that I necessarily love working out, but I really enjoy hanging out with my fellow bootcampers, and I feel great after each workout.  It's kind of funny how friendships can form as we are all getting our butts kicked together!

Last night we all went to dinner after bootcamp to wish Joe well as he gets ready to head off to the Army.  We will miss Joe!  He is always "the one to beat".  He is like a machine and can knock out our exercises in no time flat.  Good luck Joe!  And thanks everyone else for a fun evening!