Premier Designs National Rally 2007

Here is my new friend Donna, from North Carolina. We were able to spend Wed. together which was fantastic! Donna and I had just signed up to tour Premier Manufacturing (where they make most of the jewelry sold through Premier) when she approached me about going there together. What a great idea! We ended up having lunch together and talking a lot about our lives! It was a great time and a great way to spend Wed! I'll definitely be looking her up next year at Rally!!! Thanks for a great time Donna! :)

These are my Premier Grandparents - Dan and Diane Duren, also from Lincoln, NE. They were a joy to meet. Dan was kind enough to give us rides to the convention center from our hotel in a nice white Expedition instead of taking the shuttle bus to and fro. He also got us water and was just a very kind man to us ladies. Diane is the one who got Teresa into Premier and then Teresa signed me up, therefore Diane is my Premier Grandmother as they call her. Its so neat having such a great "family" in Premier! Everyone is so kind to each other and they all just want to help one another out so their business can be a success too.

This is Melissa and Tess from my training group in St. Peter, MN. Both Melissa and Tess are from Le Sueur and are a great help to me in selling Premier! I roomed with these 2 crazy gals on Sat. once Teresa and Shelly left for home.

This is my Premier Mom, Teresa on the right side and Shelly, my Premier sister in the middle. Shelly just joined Premier in June and is very excited about selling such great jewelry! Teresa is from Lincoln, NE and Shelly is from St. Paul, Nebraska. You're probably wondering how I got hooked up with Teresa? My friend Julie Harder, originally from Mt. Lake is a teacher in Lincoln, NE and Julie would have jewelry shows with Teresa. Julie would always send me a book and I would order jewelry from her. Eventually Teresa and I got hooked up and the "rest is history"!

Well, I just got back from Dallas TX where Premier Designs had their National Rally from July 11 - 15th. It was a blast - an exciting way to meet other jewelers and get their ideas on selling Premier. We had great entertaininment - Joni Erickson Tada, SQuire Rushnell, Dr. Mamie McCullough, Dr. Charles Lowry and others were there to cheer us on in our ventures!

Premier is all about being based on Biblical principles. Did you know that the JC in JCPenney stands for Jesus Christ? And that Lord and Taylor, the man starting that company is named Taylor, and wanted the Lords' name in his business and be first so he named his business "Lord and Taylor". Interesting huh? Premier stresses how important it is that we as jewelers know what Andy and Joan, the founders, they stand for. They stand for Biblical principles. They stressed that they don't care who we are or what we believe, but they believe in us and they love us for the people that we are - unconditionally - the same as God loves us. Premier can never be sold to any Fortune 500 company, nor will Premier ever be sold on the internet (professionally) - it will always stay the way it is today - caring about all the jewelers.

Premier is a life changing company!

This is Martin, his grandpa and Uncle Pilone (that's a Spanish word, but please excuse the spelling of it). This was taking on Dec. 22, 2006.

Sad news

Hello everyone. Well, for those of you that know about our trip to TX over Christmas, you'll remember that Martin and Isaac got to visit Martin's Grandpa in Mexico. He wasn't doing very well at the time, and he's had his major ups and downs since then too. So much so that he's remembered who his kids were (at Christmas he had no idea who Martin was) and then going to the same stage or so that he was in over the Holidays. Well, about one month ago, the Doctor called all the kids down to Mexico and said that Grandpa wouldn't make it past 2 days. So the kids were making funeral arrangements only to have Grandpa make a complete come back. Well, we got a call yesterday from my mother in law in Texas saying that her Dad passed away yesterday at 10am. The funeral is today, Sunday July 8, 2007. Grandpa was around 95 years old I believe. The funeral is so sudden because they had everything ready to go because of the last time he was so bad. Ever since December, he's told his son taking care of him and his other kids that he just wants to go home to be with his wife. So now Grandpa got his wish.

It was a very sad day yesterday for Martin. We went to our friends house last night for their annual 4th of July picnic, and he just didn't feel right. I could see the tears in his eyes when he talked about his Grandfather, but he never let them out. I met him once too - about 6 1/2 years ago. We went down to Mexico to celebrate his birthday - it was suppose to be this big bash for him with all of his family coming from close and far to join them. We were in Mexico for about a week or so and it was fun. Now when I talk about Mexico its not the Cancun, or anything like that. We're talking way down Mexico where they have dirt streets, plumbing is hideous and people get their groceries once a day to their meals. Isaac was almost 3 at that time and I was pregnant with Josiah at the time. Isaac would come in from playing and he would be just filthy dirty, not muddy or anything, but simply dusty. It was terrible to be outside, but that's how it was. Martin hadn't seen his grandfather at that time, for about 10 years, so he was very excited to be there. And it was fun to meet all of Martin's cousins who still live in Mexico too.

So if you have a chance some time during your day, please say a prayer for Martin and his family today, or this week. Martin's uncles and aunts have been pitching in to take care of Grandpa as much as they can these last few years and now to have him gone will be sad.

Thanks for your prayers. I know Martin and his family appreciate all of them!

love to you all! ~
Michelle

Here are the boys eating one of their favorite meals - corn on the cob! Its so cute to watch Josiah chomp at his because he's missing his two top front teeth and he leaves spaces on the cob! (he he). In the picture of just Josiah above, Martin thinks he resembles his Mom's side of the family (the Gallegos) with the bone structure that he has. And then poor Bubba, I caught him in the middle of taking a bite - that wasn't the fairest to do to him.

The boys are getting so big lately - just growing by leaps and bounds. And then with being outside so much, their tan skin is really getting darker which makes me really be the lightest in the house!

For July 4th Martin decided to not get them fireworks to do, but instead buy them a little pool to mess around in in the back yard. Its approximately 6'x10' and is perfect for them to play in. We set it up yesterday morning and got the water in it right away - they couldn't wait for the water to warm up and they were in it for about an hour or so before coming in completely cold. Needless to say, they took warm showers and stayed inside the rest of the day! Hopefully today will get the water warmer and then they won't be so cold playing in it!

Hope you all had a safe 4th of July! Enjoy the sunshine!

This was taken at Pow Wow, our town's celebration. Dan Suess is the gentlemen who is in the Army Reserves and was sent to Iraq for over a year. He just came back last fall to his wife and twins - Jacob and Meredith, ages 8. We have gotten to know Dan, his wife Charlotte and their kids through Cub Scouts. Now that Dan is back home, he was Isaac and Jacobs' den leader and was very good at it. For Pow Wow this year, the town wanted to celebrate the troops, both across seas and here, and the veterans wanted to say "thank you" to those of us at home supporting them, so that's why Dan and Jacob were in the parade. They thought it would be fun to have Isaac with them, and of course Isaac said "yes" immediately!!! Dan said that at first everyone was saying Hi to Isaac and didn't even bother saying Hi to Dan and Jacob. And eventually Jacob and Isaac's arms were tired from waving at everyone! (how cute!) Isaac had a great time with Dan and Jacob!