Shareholders Week

       I'm going to start this post by posing a question: Have you ever gone running in a sauna? A steam room? How about both?

 WELL, WE HAVE!

               Last weekend TJ and I ran the Walmart shareholders 5k here in Bentonville.  When I saw that they were have a 5k I thought it would be fun for us to do so we got signed up.  Now, the race started at 6:30 and with the heat and humidity here I thought that 6:30 in the morning would be perfect.  Well, after TJ had signed us up he said to me "it's going to be hot as hell running at 6:30".

I said "it won't be that bad in the morning", and then I realized.

6:30 in the evening!

         It was 87 degrees that day with 97% humidity.  I hate this word but there is no other word to use... it was moist.  The course had a steep decline for the first half and then you had to double back to a steep incline.  Did I complain?  Yes.  Yes I did.  I did the Salt Lake Half Marathon in April and I can tell you that the first seven miles were way easier than the 3 miles I ran here.

          Let's back track a little.  Walmart Shareholders week was awesome!  There were amazing concerts like Tim Mcgraw, The Zac Brown Band, REO Speedwagon, Barenaked Ladies.  The Shareholders Meeting (which I was not able to go to) was MC'd by Jamie Fox and the entertainers were Enrique Iglesias, Mariah Carey, Lee Dewyze, Mary J. Blige, Josh Groban and Cheryl Crow.  Pretty unreal.  Here are some pictures from one of the concerts.

         This looks a ton smaller than it really was.  We were in the lower bowl of the Razorbacks basketball arena, so I couldn't get a full picture of the upper bowls.  That is China in front of us.  England, Brazil, Chile and a bunch of other countries were represented and they all had matching T shirts with their own cheers for their country.

                                          It was a really fun week.

Barcelona

       Here I am in Spain lovin life.  How did I get here?  Well as you know I am a buyer for my families business and one of our designers, Pronovias, is based out of Barcelona and that is where their design house is located.  Once a year they have a huge launch party and invite all of their top stores throughout the world to come and preview their next years designs and to buy for the next year.  That's how I got here.
      The picture above was taken as I was walking into their fashion show (which might I add was the most beautiful runway I have seen to date).  I love how the male model behind me is pulling a Zoolander.  Right before the photo was taken he was getting mad at a lady taking pictures, but he made sure to turn on the charm when they were taken.  Here are some photos from the Pronovias 2011 Fashion Show.

                                          This was the Finale.  I wish I had taken pictures throughout
                                         the whole show, but I was a little distracted
      
                                        Here are picture of my parents and I on the "Red Carpet"

       I took some picture of my parents where the fashion show was held.  It was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been.  I was so sad that TJ wasn't there with me.

                     Then came the real work.  The next day we went to The Arts hotel where all of the dresses were on display and we had to buy.  About four hours later and an interview given to Women's Wear Daily AKA WWD (this is the Bible in the fashion industry) we were finished and left with 26 beautiful new styles for 2011.

    With only two days left it was time for sightseeing.  Get ready for tons of pictures.

                                                          Segrada Familia.  AMAZING

                                                            The Barcelona Cathedral

                                                        Hung out with some street performers

                                                                Flamenco Dancing

After this photo was taken, we were flashed by a man.  Always a great experience to share with your parents
                                                            whether home or abroad.

On the last night we were there we found out it was St. Joans Day.  A celebration to kick off summer.  It was pretty awesome and the streets were PACKED with people doing the same thing as this video below (video coming soon).  This was just a small party.  There were even school marching bands all decked out in their gear having their own little parade down the street!  A great way to end my Barcelona buying trip.

I'm sure this was a shock

         So, when you saw our blog at the top of your list were you shocked?  It has been eight months since I blogged and I thought since we have had some big changes we should probably blog about it.  First things first, TJ got an internship with Walmart's marketing team in Bentonville Arkansas for the summer and so we packed up our stuff and headed out to the Ozarks for three months.  We had a long drive ahead of us and would be driving through states that we may not see again together so we decided to make a trip out of it. 

          We hit up the Crazy Horse Monument in South Dakota.  It was really amazing and it will be incredible when it gets finished... if it ever gets finished.  After going to see Crazy Horse we headed over to see Mount Rushmore.

          It a lot smaller that we thought it would be but it was amazing!  It was kinda surreal to be there.  There was a wedding going on at the base of the mountain while we were there... interesting.

    We stopped by the Badlands National Park.  It was so weird because you are driving through these grassy rolling hills with cows everywhere and all of a sudden it looks like you are driving through Lake Powell if it was drained.  We didn't get very good pictures but if you're ever in the area I would suggest stopping by.

                                                         TJ with a hot plastic saloon girl

                                          TJ and me with a hot plastic grandma with a huge cigar

         We then stopped by my Mission and the Visitor Center that I served in.  It was a little strange going back there and not knowing anyone but it felt so good to be back.

Now here are the Lords.  I taught and helped to get them baptized and it was the first time that TJ was able to meet them.  They took us out to an awesome BBQ place down in Lincoln.  I love them so much and it was awesome to be with them again.  We also got to see two other converts of mine while we were there.  I loved bringing TJ around and letting him see another part of who I am.

                                                           We then set off to Nauvoo

This is Sister Nelson.  Her and her husband were one of the senior couples on my mission.  They are now serving their second mission in Nauvoo.

 

                                                          We stopped by Carthage Jail.

               And then we finally made it.  Its actually really great here in Bentonville my only complaint is the humidity.  It was 88 degrees here and with the humidity it feels like 250 degrees.  It going to be really different and really fun and I will keep you updated on whats we are doing while we are here.