I am so excited I get to attend the doTerra convention again this year. If you don’t know what or who doTerra is, I would be so very happy to fill you in. I loved my experience last year, all the things I learned, the friends I was able to spend time with, and the new friends I made. I have convinced Tracey to go along with me this year. You see he is not as gung-ho on the essential oils as I am (that changes day by day) but he is a science geek. Last year there was an entire day of science and this year is promising more! So Tracey and I are heading out to take on the doTerra experience and enjoy some time together in Salt Lake City.
Of course it is Monday afternoon and we have not even begun to get ready to go, so stay tuned to see what we get ourselves into!!!
Tuesday night at 8:30pm and I am doing the last load of laundry and we are attempting to pack. Never fails we are always last minute. Weather in SLC is a bit cooler than here , so what should I pack????
Well we were up before the sun this morning. We are packed and ready to go by 6am. We load up the jeep and finally get Miss C all loaded and we are off. She skates in the mornings before school so we are taking her to the rink, will watch her for a little while before heading to the airport. Tracey doesn’t usually go with us to the ice rink so he isn’t used to being up this early. Miss C fell yesterday while working on her axel and woke up this morning saying her neck hurt, so part of my reason for hanging around is to check on her. Cody is meeting us at the rink so he can drive Miss C to school after we head to the airport. Miss C is doing well on the ice, looks like her lessons went well this morning. When it is time for us to leave I shoot her a text asking if she wants her brother to go get her some breakfast or if she wants to get off the ice early and go with him. She comes off the ice to say goodbye and tell me she wants to get off now since her neck hurts. Hmmmm 🙁
Tracey and I head out to the car and transfer her school stuff from our jeep to her brother’s car. We say goodbye and thank him for helping us out, he heads back in the rink and we get in the jeep. Our good friends Robert and Michelle have given us some coupons for an off site parking lot near the airport. So I am trying to find the address on the little coupon, which is proving difficult without my glasses!
After disagreeing with the google gps, and texting Robert, we work our way through the rush hour snails pace traffic. We find the parking lot , find a parking spot and get us and our suitcases out. Just as soon as we do the shuttle is there to pick us up. The driver loads our bags and a lady’s bag that parked two cars down from us. We load in the shuttle, he makes one more stop to pick up a man and we are off to the airport. On our short drive, the lady next to me leans over and says “I see we are headed to the same place” I am a little confused but look in her direction and realize she is also carrying a “doTerra” backpack! So we have small talk on the drive. She is on the 9:45 Southwest flight, and so is my friend DJ. I tell the lady on the shuttle to look for my friend:) We are at the airport in no time and being dropped at the curb.
Tracey and I head inside to check our bags. We head toward the first/priority lanes, as we are flying first class 🙂 This time we are greeted with a smile and shown to the appropriate line. Guess I looked more like a first class person this time, maybe I should make note of what I was wearing LOL. We get our bags checked and head toward security. Just outside security the TSA agent greets us and asks “general boarding?” We say “no first class” she smiles and points to her left and tells us to stay to the right. As we round the corner the sign for first class points to the right. We make our way all the way to the TSA agent and hand her our passports and boarding passes. She scans mine and makes a comment but I am unsure of what she has just said. I take back my papers and she then scans Tracey’s to which she says “you have TSA precheck also, you know you two can go back up to that line and not have to go through all this”. So now I know what she said to me 🙂 So Tracey and I weave our way backwards through the security line and joke with the first TSA agent that we had encountered, telling her we lied we really do have TSA Pre-check. She laughs and points us in the right directions. We get up to the front of the line where our passports and boarding passes are scanned again and we are ushered towards the xray machines. We put all our stuff on the belt, not having to take off my shoes or unload my laptop is really nice. And I remembered not to wear my jeans with the bling on the pockets or a belt, as they both tend to set off the alarms. As I am waiting in line to enter the full body xray machine, a TSA agent asks if there is a reason I need to go through that one. I am not quite sure how to answer her as I don’t know what qualifies you as “needing” to go through the full body xray. I shrug my shoulders and say no and she waves me over in her direction. I just have to walk through the beeping machine, which does not beep and she thanks me and I am on my way. I walk over to the belt and retrieve my backpack , and Tracey’s briefcase, wallet, keys and watch and I wait. And I wait. And I wait. Now I am getting a bit concerned as I look back through security and I don’t see Tracey anywhere. Where could he be? Finally he is approaching me clear of security, as I tell him I have all his stuff. He in turns says “not all of it” As I show him all his things in my hands, he repeats “not all of it”. I am confused but follow him back to the belt, where he retrieves his belt and shoes. “They made you get naked?” I ask. “This was worse than regular security!” he says. OH well we are cleared, Tracey has all his “clothes” back on, and we are headed to our gate.
We find seats at our gate as I get a text from DJ saying she is at gate C-something. I let her know we are at gate A-something so we will see her in SLC. Tracey is doing a screen shot of our flight info (I cannot for the life of me make a screenshot on my phone no matter what or how many times I try) and he is sending it to his friend Jeff. Jeff works for American Airlines and usually comes to see us when we are at the airport, when he can. I suggest we get a muffin and a drink while we wait. I sit people watching and Tracey goes to get us something to eat. Tracey returns and we enjoy our blueberry muffins and water while chatting about the sites around us. Just as we finish our muffins, Jeff appears. We hug and begin chatting about life in general. Tracey and Jeff talk hunting as they were both drawn for Elk in December. Doesn’t take long for me to inch by inch ever so slyly make my way back to my seat and allow the men folk to talk. You see I listen for awhile but then all I hear is blah blah blah blah blah. LOL Love my guy but I am just not that interested in the intricacies of their upcoming hunting trip 🙂 I return to my people watching and they continue their chat.
Pretty soon they are calling our flight to begin boarding. Jeff and Tracey say their goodbyes, we exchange hugs as Jeff says he is going to sneak out a door a little further down to avoid the crowd. We board the plane planning to go 4 rows back as we are in seats 4E and 4F, but to our surprise we are in the second row. Rows on this plane begin with number 3, hmmm wonder what they did with the first two rows! As passengers are loading we are offered orange juice or water to enjoy before take off. Water for me OJ for Tracey. Once the plane is loaded, we hear the usual announcements and instructions in case of emergency, we back away from the gate. The flight attendant comes by to take our drinks and ready everything for take off. She and Tracey exchange pleasantries, Tracey being his normal friendly self. We take off and I pray. Normal for me, I always pray during take off and landing. I pray for a safe and uneventful flight, for protection for the pilot co pilot crew and passengers, and so on. And I always ask God to put his hand under the belly of the plane and hand carry us to our destination. May seem odd to others but it works for me.
Shortly after reaching cruising altitude the flight attendant returns to take our drink order. She smiles at Tracey and calls him ‘hon” while asking what she can get him to drink. Tracey orders his wine. Barely looking in my direction the flight attendant smiles slightly and asks me if I want anything to drink. I also ask for a wine as she turns and asks the next passenger for their order. Shortly after our wine arrives, the flight attendant returns with a basket of snacks. She holds the basket near Tracey and asks if he would like a snack. He thinks about it as he looks through the basket. She is smiling, making small talk with Tracey as he is deciding. He makes his pick, removes it from the basket and the flight attendant says “just one? would you like another?” Tracey shrugs and picks a second snack. The flight attendant then extends the basket in my direction “snack?” I had already decided while it was Tracey’s turn so I quickly pick mine, she withdrawals the basket and moves on to the row behind me. I look at Tracey and ask “well what makes you so special that you get two snacks?” He laughs and shrugs an I don’t know. We enjoy our wine and snacks. During the flight the flight attendant returned with the snack basket again, which we both declined, and the bottle of wine. She refills Tracey’s glass and then pours a noticeably smaller amount in my glass and then drained the bottle into Tracey’s glass, while making a joke about squeezing the bottle to get it all. It is not all that long and the trash and glasses are retrieved to prepare for landing. Not a very long flight at all. Tracey points out the “salt” lake, I didn’t even know that was an actual thing. I pray again during our landing and we are on the ground and at the gate.
We deplane and make a stop at the restrooms before heading to baggage claim. I receive a text from DJ saying she is waiting in baggage claim as she already has her bag. (she landed about 30 minutes before us). We make it to baggage claim and I spot DJ off to the side. We chat about our flights and getting the shuttle to the hotel. It takes what seems like a long time for our luggage to show up, but as we are claiming our bags DJ calls for the shuttle. We follow the instructions given DJ by the hotel only to discover we have to go inside the airport and register at some desk. Tracey goes back inside while DJ and I wait with the luggage at the curb. Wow it took a long time for Tracey to return and even after that 2 shuttles showed up that we did not get on. Finally on the shuttle, the 3 of us along with two other ladies here for the doTerra convention headed to our same hotel.
We arrive at the hotel, get all checked in and take our stuff up to our rooms. As tired as we are, there is no rest for the excited. We walk over to the Salt Palace to get registered and find out where to catch the bus for our “campus tour”. Registration is a bit different this year from last, but smooth and quick. We receive our name badges and lanyards, our event tickets that we had pre-purchased and our new doTerra backpacks with an event booklet and doTerra magazine inside. We find out where to catch our bus for the tour which is just at the end of the convention center we are at. We decide to grab a salad here at the Salt Palace and cop-a-squat in the lobby as we only have a short time before we have to be on the bus.
We load a Prevost LeBus with 75 others to head to the offices of doTerra. About 15 minutes into our almost hour drive, I was not sure if I was going to puke or get whiplash. Oh my goodness our driver needs to be fired or go back to driving school. It was a horrible miserable hateful ride. We finally arrive at doTerra and I cannot get off that bus fast enough.
Our tour of the facilities and corporate offices of doTerra was mind boggling to say the least. WOW. We saw labs where testing is done, we saw bottles being filled with oils, we saw bottles being labeled, we saw bottles being boxed and boxes upon boxes on shelves as far as the eye can see. We saw customer service hard at work, we saw break rooms, lunch rooms and conference rooms. We even saw the offices of the founding members. A beautifully stunning campus. We went up stairs and down stairs and outside and back inside. At one point there was a warning sign that the next “stop” was up 4 flights of stairs and directed us to an elevator around the corner. After peaking around the corner to see that a “flight” of stairs was very long, we turn and head toward the elevator. Tracey is still back at the stairs. He tells us he is going to take the stairs, ha DJ and I are tired so we head to the elevator and tell him we will wait at the top for him. DJ and I make small talk with one of the employees planted throughout to guide you toward the arrows while we wait for Tracey. When he finally arrives he tells us that about flight 3, he was really realizing what a bad idea it was to take the stairs.
My only complaint if you will, or suggestion would be to have the tour be more guided and less self guided. Don’t get me wrong we can follow the arrows and get where we are supposed to be, but it sure would have been nice to have knowledgeable people staged throughout to tell us a little more about what we were seeing.
Thank goodness we had a different driver on the way back and our ride was much more enjoyable. On the bus ride back Tracey has struck up conversation with a guy across the aisle from him. Surprise surprise Tracey talking to a stranger and making friends! Dave is from Canada and he and Tracey have many things in common. They talked restaurants, being chefs, being the same age, changing their life paths about every 10-12 years, and being computer geeks. I don’t think Tracey said anything to me the entire ride back 🙂
We stop our on walk back from the Salt Palace to our hotel at a local place called Squatters.
A great brewery. DJ, Tracey and I enjoy a drink and some dinner before heading back to the hotel and calling it a night.
Day 2
You wouldn’t think a one hour time difference would be that big of a deal, but we have a tough time of getting up when the alarm goes off. I guess I should rephrase that, we got up just fine, we just didn’t want to just yet LOL. Tracey and I order breakfast from room service while we get ready for the day. It arrives fairly quickly and was very tasty. I pack some snacks in my backpack and grab my jacket and we are ready to go. We ride down to the lobby in the elevator with another doTerra Wellness advocate . She tells us her team all got the Arena and she is at the Salt Palace. Her name Gina and she is from Florida. We tell her she should hang with us and she says okay. As we walk out the front door of the hotel there are two rickshaws/pedi-cabs waiting there. DJ, Tracey and I decide that will be fun. We invite Gina to go with us and she declines saying she will walk. We all but beg her to reconsider, it doesn’t cost any more for her to go with us we say. She still declines. Tracey and I load in one and DJ in the other. DJ’s driver goes after Gina as she is already walking toward the Salt Palace. We are laughing and calling her name still trying to get her to join us. At a light that has turned red, DJ catches up with us, sans Gina. DJ tells us Gina refused to get in. Our drivers race toward the Palace, first we lead than DJ leads. By the time we arrive at the Palace we are laughing hysterically. Our drivers give us business cards telling us to call them whenever we need rides. Thanks Patrick and Joseph!!! In hindsight we should have stayed behind and walked with Gina, so Gina we apologize, it was not very new friend-ly of us.
Our friend Luanne is a higher rank than we are and was granted admittance early. She has saved us all seats, THANKS LUANNE!!! Day 1 of convention is overwhelming as I am sure every day will be. We hear from many of the founding executives today. A lot of stats on what the company has done over the past year. Not exactly what you are thinking , more a report on what the company has done for others. We also hear a great presentation on sleep and why it is so so so very important to our health. An amazing report which leads to the first reveal of a new product. There are a few more reveals of new products with more to come. Mid way through the day we break for lunch. We walk all the way, following the signs, to the Showcase and Store, to discover it is closed and not the store we were looking for!! We grab rice bowls to eat and again cop-a-squat in the lobby to have our lunch. Oh the sites you see if you just look around !! We end the day with a report from Dr Nicole Parish from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. http://www.esciencecentral.org/journals/essential-oils-and-future-antibiotics-new-weapons-against-emerging-superbugs-2329-8731.1000105.php?aid=14230
take time to read it, it is very interesting.
With that day one of convention is over and Tracey got a little taste of the science he came for.
There is no time to get all the way back to the hotel before the block party, and they announced there would be food trucks at the party so we head over there. I forgot to mention that we have met two great wellness advocates Molly and Kelsey 🙂 both from Arizona. DJ and Luanne already knew them but they are new friends to us!
As we enter the gates of the block party, we see very few food trucks. And what we do see is waffle cones and mini donuts. We were really hoping for actual food as we are all pretty hungry. We find other members of our team next to the On Guard tower. As we stand around chatting and catching up, someone decides we need a group photo. We all start squishing together and figuring out who is going to hold their phone and get us all in a “selfie”. One of our group is saying to just squish together, that guy , as she points about 10 feet from us, will take our picture. When all of a sudden Tracey yells out “Canada” and we all look in the direction of the guy taking our picture. Sure enough there stands the guy Tracey met on the bus!! After Dave takes our group photos, he and Tracey take up right where they left off on the bus. It is a little chilly outside here in Salt Lake, but for us desert rats it feels great.
So we have realized that the few food trucks that are here onsite, are not offering actual dinner type food. So we all start planning where we are going to eat. Even hungry we are hanging around to at least hear the beginning of the concert that is about to start. As Colbie Caillat finishes her third song, we head towards the gate. The music was good but to be honest I really don’t know any of her stuff.
Our group leaves the block party and concert and walk together several blocks up to a restaurant we ate at last year during convention, The Blue Lemon. Kind of a foo-foo boutique place, so Tracey is less than thrilled. The line is wound around inside and out the door. We have probably been waiting in line now for about 20-30 minutes when Pam and I decide to go snag a table or two, since there are 8 of us. My soup was luke warm and the grilled cheese was only so so. The food aside, the company was great. When we are all finished and ready to leave, Pam and Ron called for Uber, most of the girls head to the train station, and Tracey and I call our new rickshaw friend Joseph. Tracey and I snuggle up for a cool sweater weather ride back to the hotel and call it a night.
Day 3
Friday morning we receive a text stating the girls are walking to the Salt Palace and will see us there. Tracey and I aren’t far behind them. We have had so much fun with our rickshaw drivers that we text Joseph for a ride. As we wait we decide to walk across the street from our hotel to a quaint coffee shop. We shoot Joseph a text asking him to pick us up at the coffee shop. Patrick, DJ’s driver from the other night, shows up just as we are crossing the street. We ask if he would like anything, and he follows us inside. Tracey gets his caramel machiatto and I , an english breakfast tea. We each order a piece of banana nut loaf, Tracey’s with chocolate chips. Patrick orders his drink and offers us money. We refuse, it is the least we can do for him picking us up all the time. Doesn’t take long and we are on our way. We have a lot of fun joking and visiting with Patrick on the short ride. We meet up with the girls in the same seats we were in the previous day, thanks again to Luanne’s early entry. The girls had also visited the coffee shop across from our hotel before they walked on over.
One of the most exciting parts of convention today was the announcement of 23 new products for the year!!!
so many of these I cannot wait to try. Today we heard from an outside research center about tests they have been able to run on human cells. We also heard from a panel of doctors. A little more science to Tracey’s liking. During our lunch break, Tracey was able to spend almost 10 minutes one on one with Dr Price from the outside research group. Tracey was very intrigued and was able to ask and get answers to some questions that were not answered in the presentation. We also had a chance to try out several of the new spa products and loved them. We visited the swag store and bought a few items. We then purchased lunch, today was rice bowls and again copped a squat in the lobby.
One of the best things about being here is making new friends and today was no different. We have met a lovely young lady, Angela, who is sitting in the row in front of us.
After the afternoon session we walked back to our hotel to get ready for our team party. The theme again this year is a glow party, I ordered and brought with me a glow stick kit with 100 pieces to make glasses, bracelets, necklaces, earrings, headbands and whatever else you can think of, some glow gel for our hair and glow in the dark lipgloss.
Our group has decided we need to grab a quick bite to eat before heading to the party so we call for the rickshaws. Patrick and Joseph show up and we load 3 in each. Tiny little Kelsey sits on our lap. Patrick and Joseph are such good sports, and laugh and joke with us, and take off racing down the street. All is well until Joseph’s chain slips off and we are unable to move. It takes a little finagling he gets it back on, but it slips off almost immediately. Joseph manages to push us across the street where Patrick is waiting. In short time, the chain is back on, and we are all on our way. The guys drop us off near the depot where the party is being held at the mall. We unload and go into California Pizza kitchen. We are not only sat right away, our waiter gets our drinks and takes our order quickly. Our drinks arrive and we take the opportunity to put the glow sticks together and start wearing what we make. The food is quick to arrive and I think we pretty much inhaled our dinner. We pay our tab and head out to the party. We received quite a few strange looks on our way, but we didn’t mind at all.
The party was hopping as we join in. The lip sync contest was in full swing. Lots of laughs,hoots, hollers and screams for the best act and Roger takes the prize.
Numbers are called and prizes given away. Music is playing and everything is glowing. We dance and sing and mingle. I think everyone had a great time.
After the party we walk to the train station and take the train in the direction of our hotel. Once off the train we just have a short walk to the hotel. We say our goodnights and Day 3 is done.
Day 4
We had set up a time to meet up in the morning and head to the convention center, but before that time arrives I receive a text from DJ saying they are leaving and would meet us there. You see Luanne had to leave early to get home so she won’t be able to get in early and save our seats. So DJ, Molly, and Kelsey decided they would grab their coffee across the street and head over to the Palace and see if they could get our same seats. Tracey and I finish getting ready and head across the street for his coffee and my tea. We texted Joseph to meet us there with his rickshaw. We get our drinks and meet Joseph in the parking lot. It is a quick ride to the Palace. The weather is beautiful. The place is hopping by the time we get there. We walk towards the same seats we have had all week and discover our friends sitting there saving our seats 🙂 They even saved a seat for our new friend Angela. so I shoot her a text and let her know.
Today we hear two very powerful and emotional speeches. The first is Imacculee Ilibagiza. What an amazing woman. Imacculee survived the genocide in Rwanda. She lived for 91 days in a 3×4 bathroom with 7 other women. When she finally came out her entire family had been killed. She spoke about forgiveness, how anger and hatred affects our health, and how she has been able to truly forgive the men who killed her family. SO very powerful and I can’t wait to read her book.
The second was Tim Ballard the founder and CEO pf Operation Underground Railroad. An organization that rescues children out of the sex slave trade. A heart breaking presentation. SO hard to wrap my mind around the idea that we even need an organization like this. doTerra has partnered with O.U.R. and year to date has donated $500,000.
Today’s lunch was pizza while sitting in the lobby people watching 🙂 but before we copped a squat we took a walk down and around the corner from the Salt Palace to check out a vendor tent.
Today we heard about some new options to enroll with doTerra, some new tools for the business side of being a wellness advocate. And final goodbyes and thank yous from the top lines. An emotional and exciting day.
We have already bought our tickets for convention next year. Want to join us? Just let me know and we will tell you how.
We walked back to the hotel and rested for a bit, before we all decided to walk back over to Squatter’s for some dinner. We were blessed with seating on the patio after a very short wait. The weather was perfect but the company was even better. What a great time we have had. After a yummy dinner and a couple of beers, we walk back to the hotel. We say our goodbyes to Kelsey as she is leaving about 4:30am for her drive back to Arizona. We set a meeting time for meeting in the lobby to head to the airport, and off to bed we go.
Day 5 and it is time to head home. We meet DJ and Molly in the lobby and call for Uber. It is a pleasant and brief ride to the airport. We all get checked in and drop off our luggage. As we all clear security we grab a table in a food court and get some snacks and coffee/tea. We sit, chat and watch some football before we have to say see ya to DJ as her flight leaves before ours. Molly, Tracey and I head to our gate to discover there is nowhere to sit. So we stand.
As we are waiting, we spot our neighbors from home. Stacy and one of her daughters are in SLC for a soccer tournament. They are trying to get on our flight. Stacy’s hubby Rick is a pilot for American so they are flying standby. She says it doesn’t look too good. Molly’s husband is a flight attendant for American, so she texts him to see if he knows Rick. Small world. Once they start boarding our plane, Tracey, Molly and I get on but our neighbors are not so lucky. Our flight was uneventful, my favorite kind. Once we land in Phoenix, Molly’s husband is there at the gate to meet her, so we are able to meet him in person. We all proceed to chat while walking to baggage claim. We loved spending our week with Molly and enjoyed meeting her hubby Cory. We are hoping to see him on our flight to Philadelphia in October.
We love our new friends, spending time with old friends, and all the knowledge we acquired this week. If you want more info we would love to share it with you.
In the meantime we are home planning our next adventure so be sure to check back soon!!!