ABC Show 2011

The ABC Show is the largest annual domestic trade show for juvenile, infant and maternity products. Every possible thing you have ever thought about purchasing for your kids (and a lot of stuff that you haven't even heard of) is at this show. Fisher Price, Graco, Chicco, Nuby, Nuk, Boppy, Bright Stars, Munchkin and The First Years are just some of the "big boys" that exhibit at this show every year.  There are tens of thousands of attendees--including everything from Exhibitors, Vendors, Retailers and Big-Box Buyers, Distributors, Sales Reps and Agents, Media, Special Services Personnel and Guests. Baby Banana Brush has had the opportunity to attend this show for the past three years, and many of our major clients found us as a result of our presence at the show. This year the show was held in Louisville, instead of the usual Las Vegas destination, so the attendance was a little bit less than usual. However, despite the lower number of international attendees and regular customers, we still feel that we had a very successful show. We placed lots of orders and we worked very hard, now we are busy with all of the follow-up that comes after attending a show of this magnitude. 

 We did have a little bit of downtime for some "monkey business" in the booth.

 We passed out LOTS of samples of our new product, The Baby Sharky Brush.

 I asked Moms if we could snap pictures of their babies using the brush whenever I could.

 Babies using and enjoying the product is truly the best marketing we could ask for.

There were MANY people who came by the booth saying, "I just saw a baby over there going to town on one of these things", or "I've seen these before, my neighbor/sister/friend's baby has one", etc.

 Our theme this year was "Sharks" but we tried to mesh it with our Banana Brush theme too. Having this big Shark cut-out was only scary for us inside the booth (just kidding). It actually made a lot of passers-by take a second look at our booth.

Here's how the booth looked at the end of set-up on our first night. We were right next to a lot of really big retailers, but the layout this year was weird, so some people had a hard time finding us. 

 Janet was our dutiful accountant and she worked very hard all week long. Getting up early, going to bed late, long hours on our feet without eating, making lots of compromises, having to keep many different clients information straight, and staying organized amid mild chaos were challenging for all of us, but Janet did a great job of managing everything.

At the end of the day, we barely had enough energy to eat dinner before crashing into bed. We thought we should do at least one notable thing while we were in Louisville, so we asked our taxi driver to take us to Churchill Downs, which is the huge racetrack where the Kentucky Derby is held each year. We expected this to be in the middle of a rural area surrounded by green, rolling hills--we were wrong. It is in the middle of two major freeways and it is surrounded by dilapidated, cramped, old-looking houses. The building itself was very pretty, and spread out over many acres. The surrounding neighborhood was shady at best. Our cab driver said the people who live there charge like $20 per car for parking and when the Derby is going on they can make about $6,000 per day. You'd think they could use some of that to touch up their peeling paint and dangling roof shingles. I guess not. 

All in all, we worked hard, had some success and bonded while we were in Kentucky last week. 

California Trip

Mom and Dad went to California to celebrate the 100th anniversary of LACC, now known as SCUHS. Dad was honored with an award and they were happy to see many old friends back at the old Santa Gertrudes ward. The real highlight of the trip was getting to hang out with Esme.

Mom and Dad dressed up for the event

and greeting former colleagues and friends.

How cute is this baby??

Seriously, she is darling.

She got to go to the beach, the zoo, and Disneyland!

Esme loves animals, but it was very hot at the zoo.

Cute family picture!

New York!

A few weeks ago Mom and I went to New Jersey to meet with the buyers of Babies R Us at the Toys R Us Corporate headquarters. It was a successful meeting, and we were blown away by the magnitude of the Toys R Us facility.

Mom agreed to stay in New Jersey for an extra day so we could spend some time in New York City. We squeezed a ton of fun into a short time--there is so much to do in NYC!

We went to the famous "Magnolia Bakery" on a friends suggestion, and had the most delicious treats. I got a key lime pie (left) and Mom got a coconut cake (right). She said it was the best 7 minute icing she had ever had in her life.

We ate just enough so that we didn't get sick.

We saw this advertisement on top of cab for "mormon.org". The broadway show "Book of Mormon" has brought a lot of attention to the church.

Times Square was wild and crazy, hence my silly face.

We went to the "Buy Buy Baby" store in Times Square and we were happy to spot the Baby Banana Brush on the shelves!

We drank a LOT of diet coke. :)

We did a LOT of walking. Commuting from back and f0rth from Jersey to the City was an ordeal. If we ever get to go back we will try to stay in the city.

The highlight of the trip was seeing "Mary Poppins" on broadway. We both loved it and we were singing the music all night. We also got to see "Sister Act" on broadway, but we both liked Mary Poppins way better. When we got home, we bought the movie and watched it with Dad, and we both decided the play was a million times better than the movie.

Breaking News!

Mom is getting a droid!

Not this kind....

but this kind!

She has officially surpassed us all in techie coolness.

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is Mom's birthday! We celebrated last night by going to see a movie and eating at one of our local restaurants. After church today Mom and Dad are going to Sun Valley for a short birthday getaway.

We all know Mom is a hard worker, but since I started working for her full-time, I have been blown away by all that she does. Mom has essentially built the Live-Right business single-handedly. She taught herself everything she knows about business (which is a lot), on her own. I'm in awe of how brave she is--never doubting or skeptical about the business. She always believes in the absolute best outcome. I always joke that she gets more done in a day than I could do in a week. Whats more impressive is that in spite of all the complications, stress, and negativity that surrounds her Mom always manages to keep her cool. She never gets too irritated or stressed even during times that the rest of us are. She is a great boss to work for, she has taught me how to do many things and she doesn't get upset if I make mistakes. Its nice to have a boss that says "I love you" at the end of the day too!

Mom is always excited to spend time with her grandkids, and its obvious that her happiest times are when she is with them. Even though she loves work, she sacrifices as much time as she possibly can when grandkids are in town because she loves the grandkids more. She will drop everything to help her kids or grandkids if they need her.

Mom and Sadie

Mom and Marissa & Mallory

Mom and Esme

Mom and Mary

Mom and Brayden

Mom and Logan

Mom and Nolan

These, among many other things, are why we love you so much Mom! We hope you have a fabulous birthday this year!

Memorial Day

Mom and I took the day off work and drove down to Salt Lake for Memorial Day. We met up with Heather's family for their annual picnic where we ate good food and played with the kids. Then we went to Nana & Papa's gravesite, which was already covered with flowers when we got there. We put little American flag windmills that Nathan had fun with. It was a nice thing to do on Memorial Day, and we have decided to make it our new family tradition.