you deserve it

My favorite college class "Sales Management" by Prof. Rhoads taught me a lot about managing business relationships and how to handle difficult situations. Prof. Rhoads also taught me to make time to celebrate the "wins" and achievements in life. My sister in law Jenny Heyman will tell you that a healthy dose of self-indulgence is a Heyman Family trait and the Heyman motto is "You Deserve It!" ("it" being a piece of chocolate cake, new shoes, furniture...etc.) . While that may be true, I initially shrugged off my professor's advice about celebrating accomplishments thinking it was for the weak minded. It wasn't until I began working after graduation that I learned Prof Rhoads is right- even the most dedicated and conservative of us should take breaks from the daily grind to celebrate and recognize our hard-earned accomplishments. I'm grateful for Prof. Rhoads' wisdom and that my company Crexendo fully believes in the "You Deserve It" slogan.

Last year my company sent Candace and I to Newport Beach and Disneyland as a result of my efforts in the previous year. This year we were treated to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico! No worries that Candace is carrying a little girl due in May, she was styin' as always.


She found relief from her baby bump by digging a small hole in the sand and finally being able to lay on her stomach!

The weather was perfect, the food was amazing, and we enjoyed activities everyday. We cruised on my CEO's yacht to see Lovers Arch and whale watch.
Another Sales Consultant from Phx and one from SLC also were invited. Here is JR and Heather, from SLC. It was nice to have another couple with us:

We took the wave runner out and I cruised with 2 sea lions for a while.


Perhaps my favorite activity was parasailing. Check out some of the views of the city from 400 feet up:



My boss on the wave runner down below:

After taking a day to golf while the wives spent some time by the pool & beach at our hotel, we were treated to an excellent dinner and presented awards for earning "President's Club" honors. Here's my boss on the left, myself, JR, Steve M the CEO, and Steve C.


With the CEO, who treated us like royalty all week long.

You know how people get crazy when its time to celebrate....well we hit the karaoke bar PRETTY hard. Here's my boss singing his best Jimmy Buffet.

Candace and I sang "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey. Who knew my Guitar Hero skills would come in handy?

I can't say enough good things about the people I work with, especially my boss and CEO.



The CEO said I could help plan where we go for next year's trip. I told them I've heard nice things about Resistencia, Argentina....(ha, where my parents are!). Candace and I had a lot of fun together and special thanks to my sister Jen who watched Reed while we were gone!

c u @ the zoo

Weather in AZ has been great. After a long weekend of work in Dallas, I took off an afternoon and we treated ourselves to the Phoenix Zoo. Reed is finally at that age where he recognizes animals and their sounds. Here you can see the giraffes in the back.



There are lots of cute animals but RooBears are the cutest.

Good family fun!

C U @ the ZOO!

diy mania.

So I guess I've fallen off the blogging bandwagon again. Good thing my amazing husband likes to blog so you have some fresh content every now and again. He's been bugging and bugging me to post about the bed I built for us (not without some help from my sweet Grandpa). When I say I built it I don't mean I upholstered it. I mean I figured out all the measurements, went to home depot, had them cut a boat load of wood for me, screwed and glued my heart out until I couldn't do anymore, my Grandpa drilled his heart out helping me put it together, covered everything in foam, batting, and fabric, staple-gunned my heart out, added some nailhead trim one-at-a-painful-time, got it in my room (no small feat), hung the headboard and placed the bedframe, and voila! Done! How's that for a run on sentence? Anyways, I've been nesting quite a bit around here so eventually I'll post real, non-instagram photos of my room and maybe some of the rest of my house if I can get it clean enough. For now, here's a little sneak peak.

Its My Turn

Candace and I take turns watching Reed in the morning on the weekend so the other can sleep in. Today is Candace's day to sleep in and I sleep in on Sundays. Watching Reed these days is a lot different than what it used to be...


A lot is going on these days to keep us busy, but nothing super eventful. Work has me traveling more (Chicago & Dallas) and working long hours. I was released from the Elders Quorum Presidency and called as the Gospel Doctrine teacher, something I'm really excited about. Oh, one exciting thing is Candace and I are headed to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico to deep sea fish and hang out with my boss and CEO. All expenses paid, how cool is that!?!

Cbug has been bitten by the "home improvement" bug. You wouldn't believe it but just a few weeks ago she went down to Home Depot, had the guy down there cut some 2x4s, and she built an extravagant BED! She did it in a weekend with the help of her grandpa Free. It has a lot of unique design details and I keep telling her she needs to write on the blog about it. She's also been painting walls, creating art for our home, and buying furniture. She and the baby girl are doing well.

RooBear is doing great. He's into watching videos on YouTube, particularly those including Elmo, garbage trucks, tractors, motorcycles, or fish! If he's done paying attention to a video, he'll put his face right in front of mine and shake his head "NO". He loves playing with his tractors, checking the mail, throwing things in the garbage, and ESPECIALLY loves talking to his Grandparents through web chats. While Cbug hosted a baby shower for her friend Chelsea, I took Roo, Tim and my nephews Nolan and Kyle fishing. I thought Reed would love it since we were actually catching fish, but he was more interested in playing at the nearby park. The closest he came to paying attention to the fish was throwing his water bottle into the pond twice and throwing my fishing pliars into the pond twice.

My little brother Taylor is waiting for his mission call. We're going to miss him TONS but at least we can continue watching his videos on YouTube.

Hope you are well! Here's a photo from our Christmas card:

Due May 2012

CurboCycles

From time to time, I have friends ask "What is CurboCycles and why do people call you that?".

Well, "Curbo" comes from a nickname my Mom gave me when I was young. My friends heard her call me that and to tease me they also called me "Curbo". It stuck. Around the age of 14, I really got into dirt bikes. I quickly learned that by thoroughly researching the market for dirt bikes and negotiating right I could buy a dirt bike, ride it for a while, and sell it for more money than I paid. By the time I was 19 I'd bought and sold a handful of ATVs, motorcyces, and jet skiis. By the time I was 29, I'd sold more than 50. Hence, "CurboCycles"!

While in UT for Christmas, I picked up a bike late Friday night and snapped a picture with RooBear before selling it in Phoenix Monday morning.

Andy Ray calls Reed "mini bike", a reference to his Dad "CurboCycles".
Speaking of mini bikes, my first motorized anything was a mini bike almost exact to the one used in Dumb and Dumber. I had some good times on that thing, like pulling the neighborhood kids around on rollerblades.
My latest "mini bike" is even MORE fun.

While at Jungle Jim's Playland in UT, Reed got to ride an ATC.


Hey, no pregnant women allowed on the ATC!

Making engine noises...bbRRRRUMM bbbrrruummmm

While at Jungle Jim's Reed and I did some "riding" together. Never too old for bumper cars! Thanks Grandpa Kelly and Grandma Denise for taking us to JJs!

"Holiest Place On Earth"

The day before Christmas I headed out to fly fish the Provo River in 25 degree weather. Yes, I love fly fishing THAT much.
I thought I was pretty hard core. I mean, few people are crazy enough to stand IN a river when its that cold. It was so cold that my fishing line would freeze to my rod every 15 minutes. No one else was on the river and I had the whole river to myself! Until I saw this guy....

A kayaker. When I saw him, I was sitting on a rock in the sun trying to warm up my hands to the point that I could feel them. I couldn't have been colder. In that moment, I saw the kayaker do the unthinkable- he flipped his kayak over.

CAN YOU IMAGINE THE COLD on your face and head? He got himself upright again, floated a little bit more, and flipped into the water AGAIN! "What is happening?" I thought to myself. "Is he trying to kill himself? Do I need to jump in and save him?"

He flipped upright again and after dunking himself a third time, he floated towards me.

"Hello!", said the crazy kayaker.
"Did you just dunk yourself?", I asked, being both physically and mentally frozen after witnessing what only could be described as suicidal.
"Yes, I did", he said.
"WHY?" I asked, knowing that within 10 minutes the water on his head/face would freeze solid.
"Merry Christmas!" he said. Then he went back, dunked himself again, and floated past me for the last time. I caught our last exchange on video.



Bear Grylls of "Man vs Wild" has nothing on this guy. Even though the fishing was good, it was too cold to continue fishing. After another 30 minutes passed by and I was still sitting on a rock in the sun trying to warm up, the kayaker approached me on a trail carrying his kayak and oar. As I thought of what to say to this cuckoo bird, he greeted me with "There is NO place holier than where we are right now!"

HAHA! What a character!

Part of why I was excited to fish despite the temperature was to break in my new Sage ONE fly rod, Lamson LiteSpeed reel, and Simms Guide jacket. I love my new gear!!!



And so do the fish!