Actually this is more than a week worth of summation.

On Monday, June 23rd I rode to the Young Living Convention in Salt Lake City with two people I had never met and my Sharing Inner Health friend.

I realized as we left town, that I had left my distance glasses at home . . . that was a bit challenging, but there was nothing to do about it except try to get seats close to screens when ever possible.

The driver travels all over the country to different conventions and his family, mostly going West. He was the smoothest driver I have ever ridden with in all my travels. He also had packed lots of dried fruits and nuts that he shared all week long. Wish I had eaten more of the Gogi Berries he offered, as that might have upped my Anti-Oxidant level to fight of this cold . . .

We all became friends as the week progressed and discovered mutual interests. And when we hooked up with another friend from Colorado Springs, we discovered she knew everyone in our group. They have all been to more YL Conventions than I have starting back when they actually met Gary Young in person and talked with him years ago.

At the first gas stop, I wanted to pay for filling the tank. But our driver said no, none of us could pay for gas this trip. He had planned it long ago and just having company was payment enough. We did take him out to dinner one night, but I am thinking I will at least send him a physical thank-you card soon.

One of the Rest Stops was Solar Powered, which I found very interesting and heartening that they did this so there could be lights at night.

The 20th Annual Young Living Essential Oils Convention was packed with wonderful speakers and the new products that were introduced are amazing. Gary Young always surprises us each year with new ways of finding health.

The main focuses this year were new kits for special purposes. He created two complimentary kits of blends to help our Veterans, or anyone with PSTD. One was especially made for children and another was aimed at pets.

Then there is the new Oil that was named for the theme of the Convention: “Live Your Dream”.

But the most interesting products for some of us, was his step into the healthy food market. He is growing Eikorn that is an ancient grain with very low gluten. They have a pancake mix and spaghetti made with this grain. Plus he created a syrup that is healthy to go on it. Had a taste, and it is really good!

What seemed very counter intuitive was that the food that was served at the meals provided by the Convention was very heavy in gluten items. There were some very healthy choices, but many others that were based on wheat, like pizza.

Gary has two sons. Both are sort of miracle children. Mary Young was 53 and 56 when she had her children. That fact has amazed me more than once. the youngest is even more of a miracle. He was very sick after his birth and Gary was allowed to take him home as the Hospital could help him no more and expected him to die soon. Gary treated him with oils and he is now 9 years old. When he was 6, he was attacked by a loose dog that missed his jugular vein by about a quarter of an inch. This youngster is quite a handful.

He takes after his Dad in some ways, but seems more into being showy than inspired by helping others. He is very sure of himself and can speak well. It will be interesting to watch him grow up.

The most challenging part of the conference was I had expected to get a briefcase type bag to use all week long. We did, but it was the worst designed carry bag I have ever encountered. I am sure they will hear about it from many people. On the second day and each day afterwards we saw people using past bags, and I had wished I had brought one from home that would have been much better. There was no place to put a water bottle or oils. The pens supplied didn’t work and the place to hold a pen was too short and they fell out. The zippered areas were not well planned and it had a strange configuration for the straps, that everyone kept trying to figure out what would work best. Then it had a Velcro strip that was to hold the top flap in place, but any unbalanced use of the compartments had it slipping and not holding its shape.

OK, just had to vent a bit somewhere about that.

The other major challenge was there were 9,000 people and it was hard to get seats at some of the workshops I really wanted to attend. This is where not having my distance glasses really was challenging. I took quite a few notes and did photos of many screens with my camera. Now to get them all into the computer so I can refer to them easily.

Gary also announced that there will be a Caravan For Peace in December of 2015. They will travel from Jordan, I think, to Bethlehem and end in Jerusalem. Should be an exciting adventure. Our Colorado Springs Friend wants to be on that Caravan. She has done many of the other trips, so I believe she will make it happen.

I met some very interesting people that I want to connect with soon again. One person lives in Oregon on a farm near where my brother lives. A very interesting person who is having some digestion issues that were similar to mine in the past. I think I gave her some good suggestions, and after an hour of waiting in line together for our product orders, we really liked each other. What I didn’t know was that my order had not been processed! So I couldn’t pick it up after that long wait. But meeting her made it worth the time spent in line.

My favorite speaker, other than Gary Young, was “My Name is John, I am your Friend.” He was very motivating and interesting to listen to on the last day. Have to go back into my notes to find his full name.

I bought some brochures and books that interested me. And some tear-off information sheets that I split packages with my Sharing Inner Health friend so we could each have more variety than if we had just bought some ourselves.

The BEST part of this adventure was going to the Lavender Farm a bit south of Salt Lake City.

Here we rode in a wagon drawn by Percheron Horses, watched a Jousting match and ended with music by Crystal Gayle that was very fun and uplifting.

The lunch they served us here was the best food I had all Week long other than the Sweet Tomatoes Restaurant with everyone on Wednesday night.

At the Farm, I didn’t go to any more workshops. I spent some time with one of our non-traveling companions, then when her hip was bothering her, I wandered around and enjoyed the farm alone. Seeing the growing of so many of the plants that Gary talked about in a place of such beauty was awesome.

If Gary Young can get Wolf Berry Plants to grow in the US, I am guessing that that would be a major step towards having them in many more products. Seeing this sign and a group of the bushes on the farm was a delightful surprise.

And the distillery was really interesting to see. I drank a bottle of Juniper Water.

When they distill each oil, they release water that is infused with that herb. It was pretty strong.

Gary has preserved dozens of pieces of old farm equipment. Including of course the first distillation tanks.

He had a barn filled with covered wagons. It made one really appreciate not having to ride in them ever!

They did not look comfortable at all. No padded seats.

One of the wagons that people got to ride in was a Stage Coach very well preserved.

There was sleigh and other odd wagons in this shed. Not something that looks comfortable to be working all day riding on that red wagon.

He also has a collection of interesting animals. There were Shetland ponies, Brahma Bulls and one very raggedy looking Camel.

There was also a Reindeer herd and some Bison.

 Everywhere I looked, I saw all different sizes and shapes of bees enjoying the flowers.

My favorite ones were the big old Bumble Bees. Had trouble getting good pictures of them, as the seemed to always be on the move or had the heads stuck deep into the flowers and I got “butt” shots.

There so many types of flowers there and the bees where having a great time. The one on the right is enjoying Clary Sage.

And then there was this beautiful Black Swan swimming in the pond that had paddle boats.

It took two to paddle, and I had no idea where my other friends were, so just walked around the pond and took photos.

The Farm is home to Percheron Horses. They have a lovely new barn to live in that is airy gives them lots of space in each stall.

Gary Young who has twice been struck down so badly he was in a wheelchair, now Jousts! His sons are pretty skilled at the beginning skills that lead up to being able to Joust.

He built a full sized Jousting Arena on the Farm and that is one of the bits of entertainment we could enjoy twice that day.

Crystal Gayle and Friends ended the day with an outdoor concert. I couldn’t sit still, but wandered around listening to her music and enjoying the views.

And as I was walking up the road back to the car, having just turned off my camera, there was Gary & Mary Young riding past me. And the older son was courting a car full of young ladies just a few feet away.

And as I approached the place we had gotten a perfect parking spot, I had to take a photo of the field of Clary Sage.

The next morning, we headed back and had another perfect ride to Colorado.

Watching the upper level distributors get recognized was interesting. But I realized it would take a lot of work to get there. And as much as I love the Oils, I don’t want this to be my main focus in life. Still, I was filled with enthusiasm and ideas for how grow this business and some relate to my book writing. I want to use the web site referred to in “Discover Essential Oils For Optimum Health” in a way that all my down-line can benefit from it.

I got home, unpacked, was feeling a bit achy – 9 hours in a car after many days of sitting and standing in lines, that was to be expected. So I took a hot bath and slept like a log until 4am when I woke in a pool of sweat with a fever and a scratchy throat. I haven’t been sick in the summer since childhood and here I had just returned from a very health oriented conference. I had taken all my supplements and used oils every day. Where this came from, I have no idea. But I was really sick, like last winter. I want to be done with it quicker than last winter’s bout of this dis-ease! And am on my way to doing that.

So I have been resting, doing some work, resting, doing some work, etc. And taking hot baths and dosing myself with more Vitamin C and B than one can imagine. And I am sure I have not overdosed as they both have signs that I haven’t seen that would tell me I have taken enough.

Then on Monday I got a call from the Chamber and an email from MSAC asking if I knew anything about an Art Festival happening in Manitou Springs Memorial Park on July 26 & 27th. I did not. Did some research, time I didn’t have to spend when feeling this sick, and discovered it had been approved last October when we were all dealing with the flooding. No one on City Council had thought to do any research on the character of the applicant or consult with the Chamber or Commonwheel about how having a second Art Festival would effect Commonwheel who has been around for 39 years at that date.

I contacted a well respected promoter and he defined this organization as being run by a “Scumbag” who has many complaints against him on every count. This promoter had convinced another city to not allow him to put on a Festival in direct competition to the established one in another small town up North.

And they are letting him do it in Memorial Park where our Festival had been for many years, but City Officials had directed us away from for this year as we don’t know if the flood mitigation will hold up to a major rain on the Waldo Canyon Burn Scar. And that park has no grass, so if it rains, it will be a mud slide, and if it doesn’t it could be a dust bowl if winds come up. Not to wish anyone ill, but will be interesting if the weather turns on him that weekend.

Now I have to find time to put up posts on both of Commonwheel’s FaceBook pages explaining we are not associated with that Art Festival in any way.

I followed one link related to advertising for this event, that I can’t find again, that led to an image of an old Commonwheel poster. That seemed very rude!

And then in one of his calls for entries, it said antiques and collectibles would be allowed. Plus although it says it is juried, it also says something to the effect of “all types of crafts”, which sounds like there could be some very crafty items there. What type of Juried Art Festival is that?

I did get quite a bit of work done on our Press Releases and a good start on the 4-fold flyer today. Still, am not feeling even close to 100%, so will head to bed and hope to add some photos to this tomorrow night.

Just had to write this up before it got too much farther out in time.

I was on the Tony Laidig webinar on Tuesday, just barely could see straight, but it was very interesting. All about scanning books.

I can hardly wait to get back on track with my writing! I am so grateful I got my “How To Plan A Sustainable Event” book on Kindle before I left. And my cousin in Arizona is reviewing it with lots of helpful suggests for me to incorporate for a quick update. Plus, it is inspiring her. So hopefully that means others will be inspired by it also.

Looking forward to watching Fireworks in Manitou Springs this 4th of July.

And now going to take more Vitamin C, dose myself with oils and head to bed to wake up closer to health in the morning.