It seems like an age has passed since I was excitedly preparing for my big trip to Utah. I've been back for quite some time, and it's taken most of that time to recover and to get some perspective and now I'm really keen to share with you all the amazing things that happened during my time in the USA. There's no WAY it will all fit into one blog post and I happen to have some time on my hands for the next few weeks so I'm going to start right at the beginning. Ready for some fun?
For weeks before I left I was busily making handmade things to take with me. A large part of Stampin' Up! culture and the fun of the events is giving and receiving 'swaps' - handmade cards, scrapbook pages or 3D items. I had two different swaps that I wanted to participate in. Swapping with people I met at the US convention and an organised swap that was planned for the Grand Vacation.
And when it was getting close to the end, I realised I wasn't going to have time to finish all the swaps I wanted to make for the US Convention. At this point, some lovely ladies came over for a night of coffee, chocolate and cardmaking and we did it!! Between 6 of us we made over 100 card fronts, all ready for me to take! It was a fairly late night but I think we had fun (?!) and the finished result looked great!
So with all of that done, we were ready to pack and go! Even before we left Sydney airport we were writing postcards to the kids at home.
At the airport shop I finally found some clip on koalas to give as gifts - they all got a cute black chevron ribbon bow tie on the plane.
The first leg of our flight was Sydney to Los Angeles.
After that first 14 hours, we changed planes bound for Salt Lake City. A little four hour hop and we were there!
We knew we were in the right place straight away!
From the screens in the airport, to the flags on all the lampposts, and every business we visited in Salt Lake had Welcome stickers on the door. This one was on the door of our hotel. If you look closely you can see my lovely husband....wondering why I'm photographing the door..................
Once we arrived at the hotel (and had a hot shower and some dinner!) we met up with Beth Stewart and her lovely sister Kate. We had a few hours in the morning to do some exploring.
We spent some time looking around the Mormon Tabernacle and its grounds. There were some amazing pieces of architecture and beautiful gardens. The streets in Salt Lake are very wide and the whole inner city was spotlessly clean and beautifully groomed. We would have loved more time to explore but Convention was calling us.......
That was the beginning! Convention here we come!
1 comment:
Looking forward to reading all about it. Would love a close up of your swaps.
Post a Comment