Costa Rica Scentsy Style

July 2012 I was at the annual Scentsy Family Reunion. Each year they announce the incentive trip for the holiday selling season at reunion. This year had changed the way I see my business forever. They announced that one of the trips we could earn was a trip to Costa Rica. It had been a dream of mine and Dan's to go to Costa Rica. In fact, we wanted to go for our 15 year anniversary but knew we weren't going to be able to afford it. Until this announcement, this was our ticket to Costa Rica and I was going to earn it. I had one of my best selling seasons and not only earned it for myself but also earned it take Dan with me all expenses paid! We were heading to Costa Rica and it was the year of our 15th anniversary.

We counted down the days and the day finally came for us to fly out. Scentsy set up the flights and ended up getting a chartered flight for a large group of us. When we got on the plane we saw the Pick Pack Play headrest covers and knew this was going to be an amazing trip!

 The first day we had a free day and decided to head to Tamarindo and learn how to surf. Neither one of us had surfed before and we couldn't wait to hit the waves. I was nervous as heck but put my fears aside and grabbed the board and went out into the ocean. I was so glad we had an instructor. Dan went out first and wiped out, then it was my turn and on my first try I rode that wave!!!

Oh man, we had a blast. 

In the middle of the week, Scentsy had a group activity so we all got on the buses and went on a river safari, saw a rodeo and visited a Hacienda. The river safari was amazing. We saw crocodiles, birds and monkey's. The views at the Hacienda were breath taking.

The sun was starting to set and

cast the most beautiful colors on the hills.

Scentsy allowed us to pick an excursion, so we decided to do the hike in the national park.

We saw wildlife, the mud pits and learned about the plant life.

We love nature and we were so glad we got to

see more of the Earth's beauty.

Standing by a suffocating tree.

We had another free day and decided to hang out at the hotel and relax. We walked down to the beach and snorkeled and got massages. It was so relaxing. The snorkeling wasn't the best but we always like to get in the water and look at the creatures in the deep blue sea.

We finished the trip with a dinner on the beach

with all the trip earners.

It was so romantic.

The sun was setting, the waves were crashing on the beach and

music was playing. 

Dinner at sunset

The caterers hadn't planned enough food for everyone so by the time we went through the line not much was left. We ended up having some nachos, but we seized the opportunity to enjoy ourselves and had a candle lite dinner on the beach. 

We just sat and enjoyed being with each other.

It was the most romantic night ever.

We were so blessed to have the opportunity to go on this trip. It is a trip that we couldn't have made happen with out my Scentsy business. We made new friends, enjoyed our time with each other and got to see another part of the world. Thank you to all my customers for helping make the holiday season the best one ever and thank you to my team for working so hard.

 It is a trip we will never forget.

Tip Toe Through the Tulips

Never underestimate the fun and adventure you can have on a simple day trip. We wanted to go to the Tulip Festival in Burlington and decided to just go for the day. The weather was going to be cold and wet but, we decided to venture out anyway. After a quick stop for some yummy doughnuts and a long drive, we made it.
The flowers where in full bloom and so pretty.

 It was wet and muddy but we just loved seeing all the flowers. The kids each picked their favorite and had to have a picture by them. 

We even managed a great family picture among the flowers.

 

Some of the flowers were so tall they were as big as Sarah!

All the rain had created huge mud puddles and the kids had fun puddle stompin'.

We had fun seeing the Tulips and we were glad we took the trip up. We hope to do this more often.

On the way home we decided to hit some Seattle spots that we hadn't seen before. First stop was the Fremont Troll. The kids sang the Grumpy Old Troll song the entire time we were there.

and they had to pick the trolls nose

When we finished at the troll we realized Gas Works Park was not far away so we drove down to walk around and play. We had a nice stroll to the top of the hill where the compass is and the
view of Seattle was amazing!

But then it happened! 

A huge hail storm came in and we got caught in the middle of it!

RUNNNNN!

Dan had to protect Sarah and carry her to the covered area.

We couldn't believe it, yet again another storm on our day out. Things like this always happen but we were safe in the covered area and had fun watching the storm. The kids hadn't ever been stuck in a hail storm like this before and couldn't believe how much it hailed.

When the storm finally passed it looked like it had snowed.

Our trip to tip toe through the tulips was a fun one, cold and wet, but fun all together.

Mele Kalikimaka Hawaii for Christmas 2012

Christmas 2012 we found a deal we couldn't pass up to take the family to Maui. I had a friend that couldn't use their timeshare week so we used that for our hotel and ended up using our credit card miles to get half of our flights for free. The timeshare was for the week of Halloween but we made it our families Christmas present and it was a trip we will never forget.

First we had to tell the kids and we thought it would be fun to have them do a scavenger hunt to figure out what the gift was. They each had a clue to follow and Ben's was a map to the Hawaiian BBQ restaurant. When they realized where we were going they were so excited.

The time finally came and we packed up to fly to Hawaii. We got up early to fly out and made sure we had enough things for the kids to play with and enough motion sickness medicine so no one would get sick on the plane. As we approached the islands the pilot made an announcement that there was trouble with the brakes and we would have to land in Honolulu because the Maui runway was not long enough to land if the plane wouldn't stop. We couldn't believe what we were hearing. We said our prayers and were thankful we landed with no problems. The airline quickly got us on a flight to Maui and although it took longer than expected we finally made it to our destination.

We had planned to go up to Haliakula to see the sun rise the next day. We got up and made our drive up the mountain. The road up is very curvy not to mention going from sea level to 10,000 ft in a matter of minutes. Those two things made many of us sick and the irony is the two that ended up throwing up are the ones who don't get car sick. After a quick stop to clean everyone up we made it to the top to see the sun welcome us for a new day. 

The first second of sunlight

It was one of the most peaceful things and moments we have ever had. Everyone was so quiet and just watched as the light came up over the horizon ending the darkness of night.

When the sun was completely up we ventured to the tip top.

Sarah had some crazy static going on with her hair while we were at the top.

We ventured back down the mountain and loved that we were able to see another of our national parks.

Once we got to the bottom we decided to make a pit stop in the town of Makawao. I had done some research and found a doughnut shop there. We love to eat doughnuts. The bakery was called Komoda Bakery and those were some really good doughnuts!

We finished our day with some fun at the beach.

Halloween was during our trip and we packed the kids costumes so they could do some trick or treating Hawaiian style. I had done some research and found that the town of Lahaina did a Children's Parade on Halloween and the shops hand out candy to all the kids. We made it a day of fun! We played some mini golf, got snow cones, did some trick or treating, walked in the parade, saw the Banyan Tree and ended the day with a movie in the theater.
It was an awesome Halloween.

When in Maui you must do the Road to Hana. The views are amazing, the thrill of the curves is crazy and the things you will see are memory makers.
It took a full day for us to drive the Road to Hana and we only made it as far as Black Sand Beach. We took our time and pulled off at some really cool sites. Right away we saw a guy with some Macaw birds and he was letting people take pictures with them. We knew this would be something fun so we pulled over and got our pictures taken.

Rachel got kissed by one of the birds.

Further down the road we stopped at the Lava cave and explored the tube. 

It was so dark in there and we were amazed at how big the tube was.

Just past the Lava Cave is Black Sand Beach. The waves were a little to rough for us to swim in it but we did a little wading and played in the sand. It was getting late so we started heading back into town.

On the way back we stopped at a couple of fruit stands and bought some Lilikoi, saw some waterfalls and went on a nature hike. 

By the time we were done it was dark and time to head to the hotel.
Everyone loved the Lilikoi!

The next day we spent the entire day at the beach and then we went to a Luau. While we were at the beach Dan took Ben and Rachel snorkeling and they saw sea turtles. James, Sarah and I had fun playing in the surf and sand. During the Luau we saw the most beautiful sunset and the kids got picked to go up on stage and learn a hula dance. The food was great, the kids had fun and they all said the guy who did the fire dance was their favorite.

The next day we slept in and went on a snorkel cruise to Molokini. We didn't know how the kids would react to being in the ocean but had hoped they would all do well. We were so happy to see that all of them wanted to get in the water and see the fish. 

The best part of the day was getting this picture of the six of us in the crater.

Our last full day in Hawaii we decided to just spend the day at the beach. Being from WA we don't have warm sand beaches and we wanted to spend as much time on the beach as we could.

Sarah ready to catch some waves or at least have me catch a few.

Dan playing in the surf with the kids.

We had a blast spending time in Maui!

The day we flew out we took the kids up to the Ioa Needle. It was a great trip and we are glad we had the opportunity to take our kids to the islands and see a part of the world they hadn't seen before.