Utah Trip

We got to spend part of fall break up in Utah. We drove up to Provo and got there just in time for the show at the planetarium on campus. After that, we grabbed some dinner. Some of us ate at the CougarEat in the Wilkinson Center, the rest of us walked down to J-Dawgs. 

The next day we spent on campus again. We kicked the day off with a campus tour in a covered golf cart. It was absolutely pouring rain so we were very grateful to have something over our heads! After that, we ate lunch at the creamery, and then walked around to specific buildings that kids wanted to go inside. They wanted to see the inside of the music building, the engineering building, the math building, the library… and then we found ourselves at the Wilkinson Center again. We went bowling in the basement and then went up to check out the bookstore. We got some fun things there! The kids agreed with us that BYU has the best chocolate milk ever!

Another fun thing that we did was stop by Alpine Court/Glenhaven to show the kids where we used to live when we met each other. We parked the car there and then walked up to campus using the dreaded south stairs, haha! It was fun to show them what it would be like if they were a student and had to walk from their apartment and get to campus.

The kids all had so much fun and are now all interested in going to BYU. I think Lola is the most enthusiastic about it, she loved being on campus and seeing all of the students living their best lives!

Once we were done with BYU, we drove up to Robbie‘s parents house. We stopped in Salt Lake on the way to visit our old friend, Matt Dinger. We have not seen him in about 20 years so that was so much fun to catch up with him. He was Robbie’s roommate, and he was also a good friend and co-worker of mine. Honestly, without Matt Robbie and I probably would never have gotten together again after we broke up, so we really have Matt to thank! 

We then spent the night and the next day hanging out at Robbie’s parents house. It’s always so peaceful there and a great place to relax. It was good to see Robbie’s parents, as always. Then we spent a day at Lagoon and enjoyed all of the rides and haunted houses they had for Frightmares.

We had a great fall break!

Horses and Homecoming

Last Saturday Robbie and I took Lola and Fiona horseback riding. It was their first time and they absolutely loved it! My back did well during the ride, but I was definitely sore the next couple of days and thinking that maybe my back wasn’t quite ready for horseback riding after all 😆

Later that night Brody and Fiona both went to their very first homecoming. Fiona went with a friend from school and Brody went with a group from school. Brody and Hayden were voted Duke and Duchess by all of the other ninth grade students. They were pretty excited to win!

Starting Fresh

I’ve gotten so far behind on blogging that it has killed any motivation to even try to catch up. So just trust that the last year has been great for our family. Fun vacations, memorable dance competitions for me, work and volunteer trips for Robbie, fun after school activities for the kids, etc. 

One big thing that has happened was I had back surgery at the beginning of the year. I would say as of August I am pretty much pain-free and I am so thankful that I took care of those bulged discs that microdiscectomy. I feel stronger than ever, and I am so thankful to be back, teaching, weightlifting, ballroom dancing, and all of the normal day-to-day activities that I took for granted prior to my injury and surgery.

I promise to be better at posting regularly!

LIFCON 2025

LIFCON (annual LaBlast convention) was amazing! It was my first one and I really felt like it was life-changing. I came out out of there a better instructor, a better master trainer, better ballroom dancer, and I feel like a better person overall! 

It was amazing to meet all of the other master trainers. We all flew in early because the day before the convention started we had trainings and other things that we had to do with Louis. We also did a promotional photo shoot and a video shoot which took up a lot of the day. It was so much fun! And later that day, Louis invited us all back up to his hotel suite for dinner. It was a great day of learning and hanging out with the master trainers. We’ll talk about a fun and welcoming bunch of people. I felt like I had known them forever!

Richelle came with me so she and I had a lot of fun together this week as roommates. I was definitely busy with my responsibilities as master trainer, but she and I still got to spend a lot of time together. The week was filled with many LaBlast classes, ballroom technique, classes, inspirational, self improvement sessions, chances to learn from Louis firsthand, etc. 

I will say a major highlight for me was getting to be up on stage helping Louis teach a bunch of LaBlast classes. And we had one class where it was just the master trainers teaching while Louis was on the floor as a participant. Each master trainer got to lead a song of their own choosing while two master trainers were on stage behind them assisting as backup dancers. I led a tango with weights and I had so many people come up to me afterwards, telling me how much they loved my choreography and they wanted to know if they could get a video of it so they could use it in their classes. And so many of the other master trainers were very complementary of it as well. It was such a thrill!

We ended the week with a fancy gala party that included a really nice dinner. And there were several of us master trainers who went out to the hot tub that night with Louis afterwards. It was VERY late, but we knew this was our last chance to spend time together before our last LaBlast class the next morning and then everyone heading out to the airport. It was so much fun! 

I’m so thankful for the opportunities that I have in the ballroom and LaBlast world. It really fills my heart and soul with so much happiness and contentment. And I have to say, it has been a dream and goal of mine to be on stage teaching to a huge group like this (We had about 130 people, Maybe more) And I’m just so thankful it finally happened and I get the chance to do this! 

As part of our promotional photo shoot, this is one of the shots they got. Peep your girl in the back left!

Louis also made it possible for us Master Trainers to get new head shots

At the last minute, Louis pulled me aside right before his tango technique class that he was going to teach. He said he would love for me to dance with him on stage and help him demonstrate. This is us going over the figures that he wanted to show everyone. I was very grateful I was able to follow along, so I didn’t look like a total idiot in front of him😂

Gala night

Milana and Jaime

Louis and the MTs

Richelle and me

MTs right before helping Louis teach another fun-filled LaBlast class

Louis and all of the Master Trainers

Leading my very own song-tango with weights

Me with Laura-she’s like another mama to me!

Dusty! I love her so much!

Suzanne and me

Jen and me

Javier and me-he’s the best!

Lexi (Master Trainer up in Denver) and me

Bernadette and me

Louis had all of us master trainers participating in a little Dancing With the Stars style dance off. He paired us up with each other and gave us five minutes to come up with a little salsa routine. Props and costumes were provided for us. Lexi and I got second place! It really was so much fun

Me with Donna

Dana and me-love this lady!

All of us Master Trainers had jobs to do throughout the week. For the first night, Karolina and I were the welcome crew for the welcome party

I’m still dreaming about this key lime pie 

Colorado crew 

LaBlast Splash

You know those people who you meet and you feel like you’ve known them forever? And the amount of love you feel for them is unreal? Marilyn is one of those people!

Me with Bernadette 

View from our balcony 

 

Helping Louis teach a hustle with weights

Assisting Louis in teaching a Samba with weights