MOMcon 2015!

Months and months ago we...as in my MOPS Leadership Team started talking about possibly going to convention. I was super excited! The last time our group had gone to convention was the year before I went into a leadership role. The only snag was we...as in my family had already planned my dream vacation and the two events overlapped a teeny bit. So after rescheduling and waiting for months to find out if we were actually going to go to convention or not we finally got all the bugs worked out! So on my 35th birthday I boarded a plane with 3 lovely ladies headed for Indianapolis!

We left SeaTac on Wednesday at 11:59pm and arrived in Indy on Thursday at around 9am there time....after a plane switch in Chicago. Of course barely any sleep was had on the plane, but we were riding the excitement high at this point. It did start to wear off a bit and after a cab ride from the airport to our hotel...praise God they had a room available at 9:30 in the morning so we were able to crash for about an hour and a half before the festivities began! 

First was registration and figuring out what workshop we were going to attend. I wanted to attend this one about anger, but so did every other mom so it was sold out. Instead I attended the workshop titled Making Time For Making Love. It was delightfully entertaining and when I texted Michael my choice of workshop he was pleased as well! 

We ate dinner at a sports bar in the lobby of the hotel and then went to our first Session of MOMcon. 

Elaina, Alicia and Laci were my buddies for the trip. It was so much fun getting to know each of them a little better. We laughed until we cried and of course like all trips like this we now have our own inside jokes....#werock!

The Sessions....all 5 of them and the after party concert were all held in the Grand Ballroom of the JW Marriott. All in all there were around 3000 women that attended MOMcon. It was crazy fun! 

Here's what the hotel looked like. Super fancy and wonderful and not the least bit stuck up!

Friday was filled with more workshops...Discipline That Connects and Wild Things: The Art of Nuturing Boys. There was also 2 more Sessions in the Grand Ballroom and then us Moms got a night out on the town. Earlier that day we went to the buffet at the bar in the hotel lobby for lunch and we met a super nice lady...Peggy. She was supposed to come to MOMcon with a friend, but that didn't end up working out....so we invited her to come hang out with us. Before leaving for MOMcon we had talked about possibly doing a progressive dinner so we could try out all sorts of different food and that was our plan for the night. 

We took a cab to the first place....The Saffron Cafe....it was a Moroccan restaurant.   

Not the best lighting, but such fun memories with friends. 

We ordered three different appetizers - the mozzarella plate above, a pita plate and saffron mussels. The mussels were seriously the most amazing thing I've ever tasted in my life. I already love mussels, but the saffron cream sauce was pure heaven. I even told the server that if I was at home I would have licked the plate! 

  

After appetizers we walked over to a restaurant the bartender at the hotel recommended....Bakersfield. It was packed....good sign! We put our name on the list....because we could!!! No kids = long waits for good food are ok! To pass the time we did head over to a bar across the street and each got a drink. When they called us to let us know our table was ready we paid our tab and then headed over. This place was super cool....we got seated in an alley next to the restaurant. Since we were sharing and weren't super hungry we just ordered 4 different tacos and each took a bite and passed it along. Yes...germ freaks we did! We had planned to go out to dessert at a place called The Flying Cupcake, but they were already closed by the time we were finished with dinner. So we took a cab back to the hotel, got dessert from the restaurant there and went to the room to play Mad Libs. So. Much. Fun!

Saturday was the last day of workshops...our first Session wasn't until 9am so we didn't have to rush. I attended two more workshops that day....Happily Back in Ever After & Raising Girls. The first workshop was not all that good....I really didn't get much from it and the second workshop was so popular they actually asked that 1 person from each group choose to go and take notes. It was like Black Friday at Walmart crazy! I was so happy that I got to go, but then while I was in there I got super emotional. The first night it was Alicia's turn for a meltdown because of lack of sleep and this was my turn. The topic, plus the sleep deprivation really got to me. After the workshop I found Laci and she hugged me and I sat in a hallway crying for a bit. Seriously while I was in the Raising Girls workshop I wanted to call my Mom and simultaneously apologize for what I put her through growing up and then also pat her on the back and say thank you for being such an awesome mom! Love you mom!!! I have a lot of fear in regards to raising Ella. Most days I feel like I'm messing up and the future scares the crap out of me because I know what a crazy teenage I was with all these emotions. I did learn that I need to take all that baggage and just put it on the cross. Let Jesus carry my burdens...after all 'today has enough trouble of it's own'! 

After the last Session we went to have dinner. MOPS had arranged for food trucks to be out back and that sounded like loads of fun. We course decided to each get something different and share everything so we'd get the best experience possible. I got two different sliders, Laci got plantains, curry stuff, jerk nachos and conk frittatas, Elaina got a yummy grilled cheese sandwich with fried zucchini fries and Alicia got french fries covered in some yummy green sauce and then a chicken wrap of some sort. By this time I was so hungry I don't think I was paying attention to the names of things. The only downside to the food trucks was the wait! They only had 6 trucks for 3000 women. Bad news! A lot of people just gave up and went out for food at other places. 

  

To finish up MOMcon 2015 we had a concert in the Grand Ballroom with JJ Heller....google her you'll love her...and yes she really is that sweet in person. Followed by Matthew West. I haven't been to a concert in years and it was a blast. So awesome getting to rock out with all these other awesome moms.

We were still super hyped after the concert so we decided to hang out in the hotel bar and have a little food and some drinks. We were also creating our own game for us to play at an upcoming MOPS meeting. 

Yummy meat and cheese plate that we enjoyed. 

By the time we were finished at the bar it was 1:30am...yes Sunday morning. We had to be at the airport by 4:30am so I figured what was the point in going to sleep. I'm one of those people that taking a little nap will just make me feel worse. So I took a shower and got all ready, packed up my stuff and read my People magazines. The other 3 ladies each got a little nap in and then it was time to go. We took a cab to the airport and were on our journey home. This time we had a layover in Denver and of course we got looks since Alicia was wearing her Hawks jersey. There were plenty of Hawks fans there though so that was nice. I did sleep a little bit on the flight, but not much. 

We landed in SeaTac around 9:40am! Having been gone 4 nights and only sleeping 2 of those I'd say I look pretty chipper! Michael picked me up and we packed up for our next adventure....literally we were on the rode for the ocean 2 hours after I got home. Blog posts to follow! 

Alicia thanks for being my bedmate and not hogging the bed. Also thanks for introducing me to the Jimmy Fallon hashtag video. #whatarefriendsfor. Laci thank you for planning this trip, coordinate airline tickets, hotel reservations and all the other stuff. Also thanks for letting me cry on your shoulder. Elaina thank you for encouraging me to reach outside my comfort zone and try new things and best of all making me laugh! 

Also huge shout out to all the people that made this possible for me to go...my wonderful husband who took care of the kids, my neighbor Rachael for feeding the boys breakfast and getting them on the bus, my neighbor Rose for feeding them dinner, helping them with their homework and keeping an eye on them until Michael got home from work and of course Ga-Ga & Pa for keeping the younger two for the two weekday days. Love all of you!