Convention Highlights: Riverton Tour

Wow it's been a week since Convention officially opened at the Salt Palace in Salt Lake City, Utah.   We arrived on Wednesday July 17th and took the Shuttle Express to our beautiful hotel the Little American just after 4:30pm SLC time.  It was a great trip with little or no fuss and everyone meeting up at the airport as expected. 
 

Here's Debby and Ethel waiting for the Airport Shuttle in Vancouver.

No trip to a Stampin' Up Convention would be complete without a dinner at the Olive Garden, and that's where we chose to go for our first meal in SLC.  As luck would have it we met two of our friends Diane Ison and Joni Metras while we were walking to the restaurant for supper and although we didn't join up with them, we were able to exchange phone numbers and hotel information.  What's that saying about "six degrees of separation"? So true!

Serena Marsh, Debby Evoy and Ethel DeTemple

First night Margaritas and a wonderful Olive Garden Dinner!  Let the fun begin! 

 
We had 9:30 am bus reservations for our tour of Riverton, so we were up early for breakfast on Thursday and then off to the convention center to participate in the tour.  It's hard to believe that was just a week ago!   Here are some highlights of that day:

Here we are in line-up ready to board the bus to Riverton and start the tour.  We are so excited.  From left to right my companions are Debby Evoy,  Ethel DeTemple (my downline), Serena Marsh and of course me holding up the end of the line. 

What a thrill to drive up to the front of the Riverton site.  Of course we had to have our pictures taken at the famous Stampin' Up! rock, but those will come later.

Statement of the Heart and Model

A self-guided tour map of the Atrium, Legacy Museum, Distribution Center, Demonstrator Support, Idea Room and Kitchen. 

The upper landing in the Atrium.  The lineup for the Legacy Museum spanned the entire walk about, but it was worth it to see some of the changes since last year.

It was easy to keep up with our group we just kept looking for Serena's cute hat!

Here are the banners featured on the front of this years catalogue and for the Convention - Be The Difference!  Below is the beautiful Atrium.

Why don't my bookshelves look like this?

Simple loops but very impressive wall art done in the 2012-13 In Colours.

There is just so much to see at Riverton.  Everyone was impressed and happy with the tour.  Stampin' Up! staff are simply the best and so eager to talk about their jobs and share information, that it really does give you the impression of being an extension of a big family. 

We returned to the Salt Palace and after a brief return to our hotel had an early supper at the Macaroni Grill.  Bar none I had the best Lasagna I've ever eaten.  Yum!  

Doors opened for the general session at 5:00pm and when we returned to the Salt Palace the place was abuzz with activity and people.  So many women!  We were in a general session until 7:00 where we received our beautiful silver tote bags filled with stamp sets and goodies.  We also got our wrist bands for Prize Patrol.  Once those were on the excitement just kept increasing.  My wristband was Primrose Petals. 

Here's the Salt Palace Convention Center - it held all 5800 of us Stampin Convention Attendees................. very impressive!

Once the General Session was over we were free to go to the Opening Social in the Gathering Place where we were invited to participate in a Service Project for Sick Children's Hospital; Set a World Record for most cards mailed in a single mailing; attend Momento Mall; visit the Information and Demonstrators Booths, Resource Center and the Recognition Room. We saw a lot of awesome demonstrations with new products, and I'll be sharing that information with you over the coming weeks.  Well that's it for Day One, hope you enjoyed the tour!