Fun Times at ANS in 2017

I figured I'd post some pictures from work since I do spend quite a bit of time there.  I work for +American Name Services and lead the marketing team.  We work hard, but try to have as much fun as possible while getting the work done.

These pictures are very random and cover a timeframe from January 2017 to present.

Lindsey, Ashley, me and Josh on a walk to the park for a break.

That one time the marketing team stuffed envelopes and sent out 700 calendars. Josh, me, Lindsey, Michael and David

A sales/marketing meeting. David was gone this day and we wanted to show him that we started the meeting on time, when he wasn't there.  We always seem to start meetings late and he is very punctual.  I sent him this picture in a text to let him know that his punctuality is what makes us late.  Me, Lindsey, Michael, Kreg, Whitney and Patti

A topless Jeep is the best way to get to a company picnic!  On our way to South Fork up Provo Canyon.  Me, Ashley, Lindsey, Michael and David

Jill and Patti at our picnic.

At the company picnic. Dani, Jen, Ritch and Stephanie

Dallin at the company picnic.

Lindsey, Ashley, Kreg, Natsumi, Nicole, Michael and David - he can never be normal for pictures...

Coworkers and I have been compiling a very tongue-in-cheek "Boss Book" for nearly 10 years.  This year we decided that it needed to be updated.  This picture adorns one of its pages.  I am contemplating life while kicked back at my boss' desk.

A normal picture would be very boring.  We used this picture to recruit new hires for the marketing team.  David, Michael, Lindsey and I

Sometimes we get dressed up and network a little.  Lindsey and I went to a red-carpet function celebrating women in business.

At the office we really like food.  Almost all activities, celebrations or really any reason we can think of, involves food.  The spread for one of our morning activities.

The one time I accidentally found myself outside David's house.

Brawn and I enjoying flavored sodas for a company-wide Friday activity.

Stephanie, Jen and Natsumi during the Friday soda activity

American Name Services rides the Sundance ZipTour

Last week, American Name Service (the company I work for) took all of us to Sundance Resort to ride the ZipTour.  This team building activity was a nice change of pace and a great adventure!

 The admin team before heading out.

 Nathan and I getting ready to go.

 Group 1 ready to leave.

Group 2 ready to go.

Riding up the chair lift.  The views from the lift were spectacular!  The leaves had just starting changing, so that was really pretty to see.

After getting checked out on the demo line, we were off.

Jen and Lindsey coming down the first line.

A gorgeous view of Utah Valley from the top.

Jill and Jerry preparing to zipline the last run.

I survived all 4 ziplines!

What an awesome and beautiful time!  Nathan and I loved it and we want to bring the kids (probably just the boys for now) up next summer and let them do it.

the view from here

happy monday. this is the view from my office today. love me some timp!

mormoms... really???

i have to write about a funny phone conversation i had at work yesterday. for those of you who don't know, i work for a company that manages name lists. people come to us when they want to send their marketing piece to people with certain criteria.

anyway, this NY guy emails me and he wants to know if we have a list of mormoms (sic) in california. i respond that yes, we have 3 different files that contain mormons in CA. i gave him the names of the 3 files, one starts with the word "mormon" and the other two start with"lds". i also sent over documents that describe who's on the list, how much it costs to rent it, etc.

he calls me a little while later and says that he is mostly interested in the file that started with "mormon" because "the other two don't sound like we can be sure that they are mormons." before i can even respond, he says that for one of the lists, he looked up their website and "there is a black man on the front of their catalog and so i am thinking that the people on this file are baptist."

i seriously almost burst out laughing!!! i explained to him that "lds" is the more correct term for the members of the religion than "mormon", so he could be sure that the other two files also contained mormons as well and not baptists....

work christmas party in vegas

random ans parties

we tend to have a lot of parties where i work, but we can come up with pretty good reasons to hold these parties...

here i am enjoying a yummy burger at our tailgating party in october. tony brought his BBQ and every friday we cook up burgers and hot dogs.


here we are having our "positive party" and eating delicious ice cream sundaes. we had to be positive at work for a certain amount of days to participate in the party...

me and jessica, with collette and jill in the background
amber and jonna (jonna is so healthy, she only ate a banana)

and finally, here we are for our thanksgiving feast last friday. nate's dad came and deep-fried a turkey out our back door. it was yummy...

here is basically everyone. malia's grandma, nate's dad and amelia are also pictured.

more pictures to are on their way. we are having our work party in vegas again and then we will be having a christmas brunch in december as well.

vegas

i was in las vegas this past monday and tuesday for work.

here are some of us out to dinner at Maggiano's (patti, jen, malia and i)

here we are in our booth (me, jen, patti, malia, and jill)


again in our booth (front: jen, malia, me, patti; behind: jill and jerry)

here are patti and i on the way home. jen and i got upgraded to first class on the way there, but only patti and i were upgraded on the way home. poor malia endured both flights in coach...

here is malia offering up some bud light from behind the bar -- and yes she is the relief society president in her ward.


this was malia's first trip to a trade show. to quote from her blog:

On Sunday I left to Vegas with my coworkers to attend a DMA show for work. Our booth was a bar/Cheers set up. I had a great time hanging out with Jen, Patti and Wendy and we had a lot of laughs. One story in particular was when a man approached our booth and asked what we did...and I froze. Luckily Wendy was crouched down eating her lunch and out of sight and whispered "list brokerage and list management", after my obvious pause and unrehearsed answer he asked, "do you work here?" We all had a good laugh at that.

nyc

late last night i returned from a work trip to new york city. although i was there for work, i had a great time and i of course found some time to shop at h&m and a place called 21st century.

monday afternoon patti and i went shopping in soho. we ate at a little restaurant/cafe for lunch and we had a celebrity sighting. actually, patti had the celebrity sighting, i only saw him from the side and back as he walked away from us. it was an actor from the show nip/tuck. i haven't ever seen it, but we saw the guy who placed the crazy plastic surgeon who ends up in jail (i only know this story line from patti, so sorry if i have some of it wrong). i just googled him and his name is joey slotnick and he plays the character merril bobolit.

we went with another list company to dinner on tuesday night to a restaurant called china grill. I am not a big chinese food fan, but it was really good. i even ate some red fish eggs while i was there. they also had this dish of fried spinach. it had a weird texture. it was crispy as you put it into your mouth, but as soon as you started chewing it melted away.

i only took 2 pictures while i was there and i am not in either of them, so i won't be posting them.

new york is a fun place to visit and if i didn't have children (don't read this the wrong way. i love my kids) i would probably like to live there for like a year or something, but it is not a place that i could stay long term.

some pics from las vegas

here are some of the pictures we took in vegas. these are courtesy of jessica. i broke our camera a few days before we left and so I only had a disposable camera to take pictures with. as soon (read, probably in 6 months) as i scan those pictures in, i will post them.

nathan and i in the limo from the airport to the Wynn. i am unertain as to why i have a disgusted look on my face.....

at the company dinner....

yes, i meant to smile like an absolute dork!

what happens in vegas....

stays in vegas.

i'm off to vegas tomorrow with the whole ANS crew. i am sure there will be lots to "not" share when i return.

the windy city

i just returned from a work trip to chicago. although we don't really get to see much of the sites, a couple of the girls and i did find a few minutes to check out some good food.

the first place we hit was Giordano's, which served us up a very yummy deep dished pizza. i think i ate over 3 pounds of cheese.

the second night, we went to Twin Anchors which is an out of the way bar. i had filet minon and the other girls had ribs. this place was awesome... great food and the atmosphere was incredible. they filmed the movie "return to me" in this bar.

jessica and jen at Giordano's

jen, me and jessica at twin anchors

i came home quite tired and had a very sick stomach, but it was fun.

tony, me, jen and jessica at a party.

Family Update

Well, I guess this would be the best way to update all to how things are going with our family. Wendy still works for American Name Services and seems to be getting along very well there. We know that she will always have a place there. Wendy is just finishing up a semester at Utah Valley State College and is excited to take the summer off. I work for the same people as Wendy, just at a different business. They have me do various things for them but the best is flying their plane and taking care of it. Hopefully this will lead to my career goals in aviation. I recently graduated from Utah Valley State College with a Bachelor's degree in Aviation Science. I'm continuing with my Masters at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University. Wendy and I both have callings at church and try to enjoy them as much as we can. The boys continue to grow so fast. Just last week, Jared got up in church during testimony meeting and bore his testimony to the whole congregation. He's a lot braver than I am. Isaac impresses us every day with his physical abilities and tender heart. They make us very proud. Amelia is also growing very fast. I can't believe that she is going to be two years old this year. It seems like it was just yesterday that she was born. She is starting to walk more. She's a little bit of a late bloomer in that department but is catching on very quickly. That's about it with our little family. We will try to keep the information up-to-date as much as we can.