Trip to California-Part 1

The beginning of our trip consisted of a conference we attended at Long Beach, California. We stayed in a beautiful Hyatt hotel overlooking the Queen Mary and the port of Long Beach.

This was our view from our 14th floor room.

The main intent of our attending this conference was to work at an EXPO in which our organization was featured along with the foundation we work for. The conference hosted by CFA was their annual operators' seminar in which they are featured, pampered, praised, encouraged, and thanked for their hard work that year. CFA hit 2.9 billion in sales this past year! (that's a lot of chicken, sweet tea, and waffle fries) The economy did not affect this "giving God the glory" company in the way many others did. Maybe that's why?

The speakers and special guests was a christian celebrity line up like none other:
Nicole Mullen
Rick Warren
Dave Ramsey
Anita Renfroe
Kirk Cameron
Tommy Tubervile
Frank Beamer
And of course Truett Cathy (who had just been in ICU ten days before)

The messages and moments were awesome and exhausting. We had to be up each day by 6 AM, listen in on the meetings, then work all day at the EXPO. We didn't mind, it's just remember I am 5 months pregnant. Whew!

We also enjoyed a little free time that included a visit to the Aquarium of the Pacific, a late Valentine's Day dinner, several naps, and fun time with friends from college that now live in Irvine!

C and P brought us their fun jeep to keep for the remainder of the trip so we would not have to have the expense of renting a car. . more to follow later!

More pictures from Part 1:
Yes friends, that's Kirk Cameron, and those of you that know my home will notice the picture in the background. He was signing autographs at our booth while a video was playing the background for our organization. He was there to talk about Fireproof (go rent it if you haven't seen it!)


Some additional shots of the Long Beach Harbor: