Colorado MK Retreat.....

I love Fall in Colorado..... and I lOVE my Mary Kay Family Reunion we call Retreat!! What a great motivational weekend with such powerful and inspiring women!!! I love, love, love it!! We arrived in Denver a day early so we could take in some of the local scenery... how beautiful! This tree had golden leaves....!!

We had some incredible classes and training from our National Sales Director, Jan Harris and 4 guest Nationals!!! What a blessing!!! =]

This year we had a great group of gals with us... listed in order are: Karen Sexton, Cynthia Lindsay, Our NSD Jan Harris, Kerry Umphrey, Gayle Higgins and of course me upfront!! =]

Our roommates are assigned to us, and these were mine.... Sr. Director Susan Janish and Director Cheryl Knight!! I am so excited to spend some QT with these amazing ladies!!! =] Susan has done the court of sharing TONS of times!!! She rocks a serious BEE hive on her jacket!!! WOW ...and Cheryl has done court of sales forever!!! I will have to take some serious notes!!!

We got to spend an afternoon of training at Jan's house, and our special corporate guest was Mary Kay Senior Vice President of Sales, Gary Jinks!!! We are so blessed to have him!!

Jan has a picture of all of her Directors hanging in her office. you can see me on the second row, second frame.... and Kerry is in the frame below me with her family and her cadillac!!!

There is a long standing tradition/superstition in MK about having your picture taken in Mary Kay's pink heart shaped bath tub... whoever did would surely become a Sales Director... so, since Mary Kay's tub isn't here.... we'll just get in Jan's =]!!!

It was 4 days of friends... great food.... incredible training..... what else could you ask for???

I am so lucky to have my great girlfriends and this wonderful business!!!

NATIONAL AMERICAN MISS PAGEANT...

Well, I realize many of you may not know about this whole thing, so, lemme tell ya how it got started! We received a letter in the mail about 6 months ago saying they were doing an open call for girls to compete for the National American Miss Indiana Teen Pageant. It peaked Caitlin's interest. I told her I was in a pageant like this in the 10th grade too. I placed 3rd. It was the only pageant I ever did. I had a blast though. Anyway, we decided to give it a shot. I took pics in of her and an interview form since she couldn't attend (cheer competition in Ohio) adn shortly thereafter, we got a letter stating she was a state finalist! So we prepared for pageant weekend which was this 4th of July weekend. =] Whew............

So, we registered on Friday for the pageant and attended orientation. Se met some new girls and seemed to have a blast! We drove home Friday night, but opted to spend the night in Indy on Saturday. The pageant consists of 4 judged categories to be considered for Miss Indiana Teen:

1-Community Service. All girls participate in an outreach program- this year they donated stuffed animals and books to a charity. We also had to list any other activities Caitlin does in her community.

2-Personal Introduction. They must present themselves on stage and give a brief intro including name, hometown, school and other interests and future aspirations. =]

3-Personal Interview. They filled out a personal resume and submitted it to a round of one on one interviews with panel judges. They were asked questions and gave answers hopefully giving judges a glimpse at their personalities and potential. Like a job interview! =] I love her suit! We got a great deal on it. It's Calvin Klien in case you were wondering-we got it at Macy's. Too cute!

4-Formal Gown. On stage presented by thier dad's or escorts, they walked the stage in thier formals. =] Gavin escorted Caitlin.

There are also other optional competitions you can enter. We entered Casual Wear and Photogenic. These are the 2 pics we entered! We took them ourselves.

This is the outfit she wore in the Casual Wear competition. It is an outfit she chose to reflect her personality. She had to write an outfit description for the MC to read and she modeled it as the description was read. I thought she did a great job!

All this weekend was a build up to the Awards ceremony on Sunday night. The new National American Miss Indiana will be crowned and the awards will be given out for the Talent, Casual Wear, Photogenic, Actress, and Spokesmodel Sections. The girls performed a stage number and then changed into their formals for another introduction on stage and the narrowing down of the girls from 81 registered in her age division to the Top 15 and then The top 5.

Here is Caitlin with a couple pageant friends. The one in the middle is Micheala Wischmeier, who is also from Columbus!

The awards started and we were elated to hear Caitlin's name for 4th runner up in the Photogenic competition! WOOHOO Top 5 is AWESOME!! Here she is receiving her trophy from the reigning 2009 Queen Jackie Gussert.

SO, the field was narrowed and CAITLINS NAME WAS CALLED FOR TOP 15!! I was in hysterics! This is our first shot at this and to be in the top 15 was a HUGE SUCCESS for us! =]

Now this gets even cooler if you can stand it!..... Each year they recognize a Ms. Congeniality and a runner up and then they give out another special award called the Spirit Award. The Spirit award is given to ONE GIRL who exemplifies excellence in sportsmanship and encouragement of others. (In Mary Kay we call this the Go-Give award.) Well, I couldn't have been more proud... they called Caitlin's name!!! Tears overwhelmed me. It is incredible, I am sure to go home with the Queen, but for me, this was even better. My daughter was recommended by her peers and the entire staff. I am so blessed to be her mom! =]

So here she is with her State Finalist Trophy, Her 4th Runner Up Photogenic Trohpy, and Her Spirit Award! My heart is so full!

This was so fun to watch and be a part of. Madee and Gavin decided to come for the overnight and the other kiddos just came up on Sunday with the mamaws! What a great weekend!

APPLEBEES DINE TO DONATE:

Hey guys! Caitlin is going to represent Columbus in the National American Miss Jr Teen Pageant next weekend! woo hoo! She is so excited and we are so proud of her. We are hosting another Dine to Donate at our local Applebees to help raise extra funds for the event. Please print this flyer and stop by today!

sorrrrrrryyyyy...

Ha Ha Ha... It appears that I have some followers on this blog. AND, those followers are a little irritated with me for not updating in so long. lol So, I will be back dating some posts in the next couple days to get you all- well, all 3 of you, caught up on our fam life! =] So, check back soon!

Daddy and his ladies....

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WINTER FORMAL...

It's winter formal time! What a night! Preston & Caitlin exchanged corsages and boutineers!
Don't the look soooooo cute? Aunt Karen helped with Caiti's hair! =] (Thanks babe!) I think it looks like a modern day Cinderella do! How bout you?

Papaw Dan hooked Caiti up with the new dress & shoes while daddy and I were out of town! They did a great job picking it out! =] After pictures, Caiti & Preston headed out to Johnny Carino's for Dinner and then off to the Dance!

This is Caiti & her boyfriend Preston and his twin brother Parker.

This is the Shelton fam- Parker, Buffy, Phil & Preston... we are missing Mr. Peyton who was with Grandma while all this was going on! lol

And of course me, Caitlin & Gavin. We were not expecting to be in any pics. We had been running all day to cheer competitions and busy errands. Oh well, I looked MUCH better when I picked them up from the dance. I picked up Caiti, Preston, Parker, Macy & Mitch! We headed to BW3's for a late night snack. It was a BLAST!

Cruising with friends....

We took a cruise with our friends Kerry and Craig as a sortof Mary Kay event. We were all about heading to some warm weather! We were on the Carnival Holiday Ship headed to Cozumel, Mexico! =]

I have been ont his ship before, but Gavin has never cruised before now. We were so excited to be on our own, woth our friends, and seeing sunsets like this!

Once on board we had our photos taken before dinner each night! All of them turned out so good. I love this pic of Gavin and I.

We had a day at sea, and then a full day in Cozumel. We went to the beach and did some shopping... I love this pic by the ships!

We had soooooo much fun and can't wait to plan our next one!