Fall Family Photos - The Field

Fall Family Photos - The Barn

Cub Scout Campfire (and Selling Popcorn)

This year in an effort to maximize our limited time at home, we pre-ordered our Cub Scout popcorn, filled the wagon and went door-to-door on our street with the inventory to sell versus the traditional order form/deliver a month later method.  This cute little Cub Scout sold more than half of his wagon load that way.  His operations manager (mom) needs to order more lower priced items next year; the $25 bag of caramel chocolate and the $60 Blackhawks tin didn't sell as well as the $10 and $20 items.   Hence, me now being the owners of a Blackhawks tin of popcorn (and the other multi-packs).  Totally worth it though.  We only did a few hours of work and he earned his coveted Kylo Ren light saber "free gift."   And my teams at work have enjoyed the assorted popcorn snacks!  Hope my Indiana family knows that Blackhawks tin is coming to the holidays! 

The guys had to miss the fall campout since we had family pictures scheduled for that evening.  But no one minded.  We finished pictures at sunset and headed to Buffalo Wild Wings for family dinner.  The theme of our fall has been travel, and we were happy to have a mostly "home" weekend.

We did join the Wolf Den for a backyard campfire - complete with a smoky fire pit - of games, silly songs and skits, and snacks with the boys and their families.  Our den is such a great group of people; we really enjoy hanging out with them.   Everyone bought delicious fall treats - mostly sweets - but I brought a sunchoke spinach dip.  The sunchoke (aka Jerusalem artichoke) was from my CSA box, and the recipe from a friend.  This week was my first experience with that veggie (I think it's a vegetable at least. . . ) but it looks a lot like ginger root and cooked up like a boiled potato.  In the dip it tasted like artichoke but smooth with none of the strings of a traditional artichoke.  

 

 

 

 

Global New Partner Seminar

With my admission to the partnership this year, I've had summer and fall full of internal meetings.  August was the female tax partner/director celebration; September was the U.S. new partner/director celebration; and October was the global new partner seminar.  The global meeting rotates between Asia, Europe and Americas as host, and this was the Americas.  We met at Terranea Resort outside LA.  Ironically it was my first time to ever fly into LAX.   Internationally there were 600 new partners (125 women) from over 100 countries.  The "roll call" was one of my favorites.  Each country's flag was flashed on the screen and all of the new partners from that country stood up.   There were the countries represented by a lot of people (U.S., Canada, England, Mexico, China) and then there were places that had one.   The singletons received a lot of applause!  It was also a lot of fun to spend time with the fellow women in my new partner class.  The U.S. group got to know each other really well throughout the year, and it's great to have a network to rely upon.

 

 

 

 

Six Flags

As part of my plan to gift "experiences" instead of "stuff," I bought our family Six Flags annual passes for Christmas.  In order for them to include free parking, we had to activate them during the 2016 season, and then they will be good for the rest of 2016 and all of 2017.   We went on a drizzly October day.  We drove separately so John could head straight to the airport afterwards.   I was feeling generous and made William a hot chocolate to drink in the car on our hour drive.   Bad move Mom.   The travel mug didn't fit in his car seat cup holder very well and it spilled on the floor.  That was an expensive cup of cocoa after the car had to be detailed to attempt to get rid of the rotten milk smell (attempt, because it didn't really work. . . )    This was the first time we had been to Six Flags on our own rather than for Deloitte Day.  The lines were quite a bit longer, so I'm glad we have the passes to go several times.  We loved the new Justice League ride; very Disney's Buzz Lightyear meets LEGOLAND's Lost Kingdom Adventure.   Looking forward to trying out the water park next summer, too!



Rocket Launch

The first big Cub Scout event of the school year was the rocket launch.   William and John assembled three rockets for launching.  This was my first year to attend, and it was a lot of fun!   John's dad was also in town that weekend and got to watch a few launches before he had to head home.

 

The boys each put their first rocket on the launch pad.  They each got to stand next to the operator and launch his own rocket when it was his turn.  William's first rocket landed right next to the launch table!  His other ones (with more powerful engines) landed in the weeds and were an effort for the boys to retrieve.   It ended up being an unseasonably warm day, so once William was covered in thistles from his venture into the overgrowth to retrieve his last rocket, he shed his t-shirt for the drive home.

Palm Desert

My first ever trip to Palm Desert/Palm Springs was wonderful!  The best part was that I got to bring John on a business trip; that never happens!  Not only was it "ok" to bring a spouse; they were an integral part of the program.  This meeting was called LEAD - and it was the kick-off meeting for Deloitte's new U.S. partners and managing directors.   It was part celebration of our admission/promotion and part "what you need to know in your new role."  And our spouses deserve to celebrate, and had things they needed to learn about. . . .a consequence of being married to a CPA working in public accounting is that the governing bodies and ethics commissions care about spouses and dependents, too!  The short version is:  if I can't own it, he can't own it.

 

The hotel was decked out in our logo for the meeting.  The coolest were the posters lining the hallway to the convention center than had each of our photos.   I don't remember the number, but I think there were about 350 new partners and managing directors.  With guests, facilitators, and leadership,  we were over 700 people.

  

Our dinner the first night was at Tommy Bahama's in Palm Springs.    We were excited to meet up with K-State friends Danielle and Chad.  Danielle and I started together in September 2011.  Our little start class of two both made it to the partner/director ranks, which as you can imagine is a little unusual.   The class that started in January 2011 was 7 people - one is a partner, two are senior managers, and the others have left for a variety of other careers (law firm, brokerage firm, corporate accounting, and a farmer's wife/stay-at-home mom)! 

Our dinner the second night was our formal gala - which was an amazing dinner, but really just a chance to get dressed up and hang out with friends.    I tried my first Rent the Runway dress (and necklace) and loved it!  John looked amazing in his tuxedo, and I was very proud of his bow tie tying skills! We shared a table with the other new female tax partners.  It was fun to meet everyone's husband, too, after hearing about them over the years.

 

 

On our last night of the program, we went to the Palm Springs Polo Fields (also host to Coachella) for an exhibition match and dinner.   It was fun to watch!  There was a play-by-play announcer so you could actually tell what was happening. . .mostly.

 

 

After three nights and four days of work, we finally got to enjoy the beautiful resort!   We stayed an extra night on our own, and it was well worth it.  We hit the pool (very important on a 113 degree day), booked spa appointments and had one last dinner with a few different friends who had also stayed over.   The only low of the entire week was the last hour - when our rental car had no air conditioning on the way back to the airport.   We had to drive down the freeway with the windows down.  We left early in the morning before it really heated up!  It also meant we had to spend a few extra hours in tiny Ontario airport which didn't have many amenities.  My clever husband found us a bar with beers and nachos and a table that he could set up his laptop to stream college football for us to watch.  Another way he saves the day!  I wouldn't have wanted to spend the week with anyone else..

Wind farm near the edit to Joshua Tree National Park - a strange contrast