Vegas, Baby

Josh and I left for our weekend trip on Thursday afternoon. We stayed overnight with Alyse, Charles and Ella in Des Moines. Thanks, Anliker family!

We got up at 4 am to head for the airport since our flight left at 6:20 am. We got through security without too many problems. Our flight from Des Moines to Minneapolis encountered quite a bit of turbulence. Not a good thing! But I'm glad we were only on that plane for about an hour. It was so tiny.

We got to Minneapolis and switched planes to head for Vegas. The flight had a lot of Minnesota and Wisconsin Schwan's people on it so we got to meet a few people before we even got to the event. We got to Las Vegas and Schwan's had a shuttle waiting to take everyone to the hotel.

We stayed at the Wynn. Our room was really nice. We're just glad Schwan's picked up the tab for that! We knew it was fancy when we saw the signs on the mini-bar.



We didn't have any free time before the meeting on Friday afternoon. It was the "business" part of the weekend. They had some corporates speakers: blah, blah, blah. We had a couple hours before the Friday night banquet so we just looked around the hotel a bit.

Friday night was an awards banquet broken down into each region. Each driver was introduced and given a plaque. Not much different than the banquets we have been to in the past. They broke it down into regions because there was a 567 drivers nationwide that were in the top sales level and went on this trip. Plus their guests and the people from corporate. They estimated about 1,300 Schwan's people at this event.


Josh is in the top 567 drivers in the nation!!! I am so proud of him.


The event Friday night was over about 10 pm so we went out to see the sights a little. It was raining Friday night so I didn't take my camera out.


These pictures are of the view from our room:

We got up about 8:30 Saturday morning and headed out to sight-see. We ate breakfast at Treasure Island since our hotel only offered Champagne Breakfast and it was $40 per person.

These are pictures of the pirate ships at Treasure Island...the only things Paige wanted to see pictures of.

We just walked up and down the strip...the outsides of the buildings were far more interesting than the insides.

Caesar's Palace

The Mirage

Margaritaville

You have to have a margarita at Margaritaville

Paris Las Vegas: The Eiffel Tower and views from the top of it.

We're definitely not in Iowa anymore....outside escalators, palm trees, orange trees and people swimming outside in January. It was 68 degrees on Saturday afternoon. My spring fever is gonna come early this year!

We had to be back to the hotel by 3 to get ready for the evening celebration. We had a "Celebration Dinner"scheduled but had no idea what that would consist of. We had supper and then a little presentation including a speech by Alfred Schwan.

The fog "door" leading into the banquet hall.

Where's the cheeseburgers?


Doug Schiltz, Josh and Jeff Loken. The only 3 drivers from Humboldt Depot that made Chairman's Club. Doesn't Josh look handsome in his suit?

Josh and Alfred Schwan

See what happens when I try to take a nice picture? Goofball!!
After the dinner they had a huge party with a band that included some celebrities: We saw Donna Summer, Tom Jones, Elvis and Tina Turner but I missed getting pictures of them. I did get....

The Blues Brothers

Michael Jackson

Cher

Madonna

Ok, so they were celebrity impersonators...but it was still fun!

It's time to go home when the feather boas and glow sticks come out!

We ended up getting to bed about 2 am on Sunday morning and had to get up at 4 am to catch our flight home. You know you've been to Vegas when you got 7 hours of sleep in 3 days!

Views from the flight home:

We're so tired we can hardly open our eyes!

You know you're back in the midwest when you can see nothing but patches of farmland!

We are really glad we got to go...but are not in a big hurry to do it again anytime soon.

Countdown to Vegas

Josh and I are heading to Vegas for the weekend on Jan. 23rd.

We are going for a Schwan's award banquet since he made Chairman's Club again this year. Chairman's Club is the top sales level for Route Managers. Only 3 driver's from his Depot made Chairman's and get to go.

In the past they have had banquets in Sioux Falls, Des Moines and Jackpot Junction for all employees and guests. This year, they have done away with the local banquets.

We are heading out on Thursday afternoon to spend the night with Alyse, Charles and Ella in Des Moines. Our flight leaves at 6:25 am so they have graciously agreed to put us up for the night and drive us to the airport at 5 am. Thanks Anliker Family!

I will post pictures as soon as we get back!

Another Hohensee Christmas

We had Christmas with the family today. Everyone was finally able to get together. It's so hard to coordinate schedules when everyone is so busy. So glad we got to see everyone today!!


Grandpa got a new antenna and radio/cd player for the tractor

Grandma got a new cell phone

Dog pile on Grandpa!! Kyla (1), Ella (3), Paige (6) and Logan (5)

Alyse got some pink, battery-operated massaging slippers. Hope they are comfy!

Paige got the Horton Hears a Who DVD

Paige and Ella love each other!!

Poor Charles....napping before all the fun started.

I don't know how I managed to miss getting Brian and Sarah in any pictures. You two better watch out next time!

The Wrestling Meet

Paige had her first wrestling meet today. She got 4th...but had fun doing it. She is so big for her age that she wrestled all 2nd graders. And most of them have been wrestling since Kindergarten.

She has already decided she does not want to go out for wrestling next year...she wants a racecar instead!




Her new friend, Wesley. Wesley's parents are on Josh's Schwan's route and Josh has known him since he was born.

New Year's Day at Uncle Charlie's

We had a wonderful lunch today at Josh's Uncle Charlie's house. We had some great food, a few card games including Liverpool Rummy (which I am horrible at) and even watched the Hawkeyes in the Outback Bowl game.

Below are a few pictures from this afternoon:

Paige and her new best friend, Brian

Sarah and Brian

Aunt Connie and Uncle Bill

Rog and Ellen...this is what happens when you try to be serious and have Rog put his arm around his lovely wife!

Aunt Carole and Uncle Dean

Aunt Nae, Paige and Great-Grandma Hohensee waiting patiently for the clock to cuckoo. Paige really wants to have a clock like Uncle Charlie's.

Grandpa, Josh and Connie having lunch.
Paige and Aunt Nae coloring.

The chefs preparing lunch. Grandma, Uncle Charlie and Ellen

Charlie has the best train set! Josh, Rog, Grandma and Paige playing with the trains.

We had a great time. Thanks for hosting Charlie!

Happy New Year

Wishing everyone a happy, healthy and prosperous 2009!!

Josh's cousin Sarah and her boyfriend, Brian came over to our house for New Year's Eve this year. We enjoyed a few drinks and a lot of food. We had so much fun! Thanks for coming over!

We HAD to break out the Wii. We have all had so much fun with that darn video game system. So glad Paige got it for Christmas!! :)

We let Paige stay up until 10. I'm not sure she wanted to go to bed yet, but she didn't put up too much of a fight. The rest of us made it until 1 a.m. Whoo Hoo! I think that's the first time in a few years that we've seen the New Year come in.

Josh and Brian boxing:

Paige's Ornament

Paige made an ornament at school. One side is "Naughty"and one side is "Nice".

Brunch and Wii-ing some more

Roger, Ellen, Alyse, Charles and Ella came over for brunch today and to try out the Wii. I think everyone had a good time playing.

Josh helping Ella play with Paige. Ella always wins no matter what place she's in. In this video they are snowboarding.

Alyse and Chuck playing. Alyse is concentrating really hard!

Hohensee Christmas

The Hohensee Family Christmas was yesterday. We enjoyed lunch, bingo and even a few games of cards. It's always great for everyone to be able to get together for the holidays.



Paige-patiently waiting for Bingo to start


Rog and Uncle Charlie-the Bingo boycotters!

Paige and Ella decided to help call Bingo numbers

Abby, Josh and Sarah. These cousins sure do love each other!

Wii-ing

Paige got a Wii for X-mas, but who do you think is having more fun?

Christmas 2008

Merry Christmas from the Hohensee Family!

Getting ready to open presents...can't you just feel the excitement?

This is a typical present under our tree. Josh buys for himself and then wants me to wrap it.


Showing some love

Trying to get a good picture of these two is impossible!

The apple doesn't fall far from the tree!!

Whoo Hoo! Matching shovels! Paige was actually very excited about getting her own scoop shovel just like dad's. I did not pick these out, by the way.

The decoy present. He can tell what any present is just from the shape of the box, so I hid his DVD inside his own race shirt. Actually fooled him this year.

Getting the Step-brothers DVD



Paige wanted a Snuggie for X-mas. www.getsnuggie.com The child is OBSESSED with infomercials. She can see one once and remember it verbatim.

Santa got her a bathrobe instead!

Christmas Concert #2

Paige had her 2nd Christmas concert tonight. This one for the Catholic School. It was an awesome concert. The kids really got into it. Especially Paige. She was loud and proud!

Getting haircut before the concert.

All decked out




Below is a video of her favorite song...Celebrate!

Feliz Navidad

Paige singing along with a Christmas CD. It is her favorite song and even though she doesn't know all the words (or what Feliz Navidad means) that does not stop her from singing it......ALL THE TIME.