SCWC 2014

Back in September, I was able to go to a book signing in Draper for author Shannon Hale. She wrote Austenland (which was out in theaters at the time - it's on DVD as of last week) and I've been a fan of that book since it first came out. She's written other stuff since then (five or six years ago?), but that's my favorite. Anyway, while I was talking to her, she gave me advice for my own writing career. She told me the best thing I could ever do is go to a writing conference.

FYI, best. advice. ever.

I came home and talked with Shane about it and researched the best ones out there. I ended up signing up for the Southern California Writers' Conference (SCWC) to be held over Valentine's/President's Day weekend 2014. I impatiently waited five months and was nervous-excited to finally be going! I flew out this past Thursday afternoon since I didn't want to get up at 4:00 AM Friday to catch a flight before the conference started.

Oh. Before I left, though, I got a cut & color because I needed it and it would help me look more professional.

Before

After

 I love my haircut! Ok, time to go to San Diego!

Kaden wanted a picture of my airplane. This was 1 of 4 I flew in the past weekend.

View at the airport. LOVE.

I didn't tell them to put "West Salt Lake," but I thought it was funny because West Salt Lake is...well, THE LAKE. haha

The theme for the weekend.

Ready for the banquet Saturday night!

The main meeting area before (almost) anyone got there. We had the workshops in smaller classrooms.

 

This author came from Ireland to speak with us. He was so, so nice and smart.

The guy farthest to the left is the director of the conference: Michael Steven Gregory. The other two are successful self-published authors. They held a Q&A panel that was really insightful.

I didn't take many pictures of the weekend because I was in workshops most of the time. The weather in San Diego was beautiful and I broke out the flip flops for the first time this year. I can't even explain how much I learned and how many amazing editors, literary agents, authors, and fellow writers I met. It was great to be somewhere where everyone understands how you think (in regard to books) and when we talked about our characters like they're actual people, everyone nodded in agreement and asked questions about them like they were actual people. It was awesome.

My one horror story from the trip:

I had arranged for Super Shuttle to pick me up at the airport Thursday and then again Monday morning at my hotel. I thought I was being so responsible to get the driving taken care of ahead of time. Well, the Super Shuttle driver dropped me off at the wrong hotel (even though he had the address right in front of him). I tried to see the silver lining (at least I didn't have my kids with me - waiting around the lobby) and called the shuttle place to explain what happened. They were apologetic (kind of) and said they would send another van. AN HOUR LATER, another shuttle pulls up.

I explained what had happened to the new driver and read the address to him twice and he repeated it back twice. And then he dropped me off at the wrong hotel.

They all had the same name, by the way, so I had no way of knowing I was at the wrong one until the front desk told me so, which was after the driver had driven off.

At this point, I was supposed to have been at my hotel TWO HOURS earlier and I was mad (and ready to cry). I called a cab and got to the right hotel quickly.

I called the shuttle place again after getting settled in and explained the situation and asked for a refund. They told me they couldn't do that because they had already processed my credit card. I let them know just what I thought of that and they said that they would file a claim for me with their complaints department. I canceled my pick up shuttle for Monday and this is how that conversation went:

Me, "I'm worried the driver won't be at the right hotel and I'll miss my flight."

Shuttle customer service rep, "But they have the address..."

Me, "THEY HAD THE ADDRESS BOTH TIMES TODAY, TOO!"

I didn't really yell, but I so wanted to.

Anyway, luckily the rest of the trip went perfectly and my taxi driver on Monday found my hotel on his first try. ;)

Valentine's Day

I was out of the state for this past Valentine's Day (more on that later), but I made sure the kids had their traditional treats.

Everything was organize and ready for Valentine's Day.

Showing my love from two states away.

 The kids also got Valentine's from mine and Shane's moms. I didn't get any pictures of the ones from my mom, because I wasn't here, but here are the highlights of Shane's mom's treats:

Lollipops!

Ari's broke, but that that didn't stop her from enjoying it.

Mmmmm....

Kaden was supposed to bring a valentine's box for his class party, but I was crazy busy with getting ready to go, so I tried everything to get him to just accept a store bought one. I actually even bought two different ones (Turbo and Ninja Turtles), but he was adamant that he needed to make it. *sigh* Alright, fine. We found an idea off of Pinterest to work with that he approved of and, an hour later, had this beauty. I made him to most of the work, although I did help a little.

It was his idea to add the pokey out things on the back to make it look more real.

What's a turtle without a shell?

He did a great job with it and I'm glad he was so proud of it when he took it to school.

Park Visit

Remember how I said that we've been going stir crazy around here? Well, on February 10th the weather was GORGEOUS, so I told the kids it was much too pretty of a day to spend inside taking naps. They didn't believe me at first, but were so excited when we pulled up to the park near our house.

Dramatic, much, Lexi?

Lexi can't go down a slide without making this face.

It was our first park visit for 2014 and it made me ecstatic for more to come!

Jared Parker

My newest nephew (yay! a boy for Kaden!) was born on February 6th at 9:50 pm. He was 7 lbs 11 oz and 20.5 inches long. Suzanna went natural because she's crazy. haha Kidding. Sort of.

I went to visit first thing Friday morning while Shane was still home so that I didn't have to worry about the kids. They aren't allowed in a newborn's room anyway, but it was nice to have baby Jared all to myself for a little bit. I went slightly picture crazy, but he's just so cute!

The first picture I got of him.

A week old in the onesie I bought for him.

Random

As I said in the previous post, it's been kinda boring around here with all the sicknesses we've had. So I'll just do a big, random post rather than multiple little ones.

Feb. 1st - Kaden lost his 2nd tooth! Almost exactly a month after the first!

Lexi tripped and slammed her face into a toy dump truck. :(

Best friends

Goofin' off

I made the kids try a fireball. The videos are hilarious, but I can't get blogger to load them.

Kaden LOVES drawing.

This is a picture he made for our friends in Wisconsin.

So, I have to take a minute and describe the picture (if only for my future reference since we mailed it off). Kaden said that ReAL Salt Lake (soccer) and the Utes football team switched games for a night, so this is Utah playing soccer against BYU. Kaden is the fan saying, "You are best," our friend Danny is next saying, "Go Utes!" and he ended with Danny's wife, Steph, saying, "I (heart) Utes!" Kaden told me that the heart means she's saying "love" not "heart." I love that he's turning into a great, creative little artist! Much better than I could do - even now.