American Mothers Incorporated National Convention

The American Mothers Incorporated National Convention was held in New York City. (Yes, I know it is was held at the end of April. But, writing about it has been on my mental list of things to do for months now . . . and I am going to check it off! I'm smiling just thinking about it.)
Note: Productivity equals fun to me--to my husband's chagrin--and checking off boxes on your to do list is the height of productivity. Thus, checking off boxes means FUN!)

Those few days were a highlight of my life. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a camera, so I am relying on others' photos of my trip, and our phone cameras.

Highlights of NYC:

Being with Brent was the best part of being in New York.We had such a wonderful time together. He is my favorite person on the planet. I really have the most amazing husband. Fun, charming, handsome, an excellent shopper (he even went to the MAC store!), adventurous, supportive . . .

Shopping. Definitely a hit. We ended up with so much stuff, we had to ship a box home. Suits for me, suits for Brent, dresses for the girls, souvenirs for the children, clothes for me, "stinky water" (cologne and perfume), shoes . . .

Friends: I made such lovely friends at the convention. The Young Mothers from the other states were delightful. Ingrid Sorensen, Utah's YMOY 2008, told me that I would be amazed at how quickly the Young Mother Class of 2010 would come together. I'm not the type that makes friends quickly (I'm good at making fun acquaintance quickly, but friends are a bit different.) But she was right, I was amazed.

The first day of the convention we met with our coordinator, Kimberly Shelton (National YMOY 2009) and had training on how to promote the 5th grade essay contest in our state.) That night we enjoyed a PJ party (I usually sleep in sweats, but was glad to find a pair of "nice" PJs from Christmas a few years past.) On Saturday, we presented our speeches on the topic,  "Motherhood: What Legacy Will I Leave?" I was worried that because I presented last (we went in alphabetical order according to state) everything in my speech would already have been said. But, the speeches were all interesting and very different from each other. You can find the speeches from the different state YMOY on the sidebar here: http://www.americanmothers.org/young-mother-of-the-year

YMOY AFTER our speeches

I also had the opportunity to spend some time with my dear friend Chante. She lives in Utah, but had a business trip in NYC. We got to spend some time as couples while her husband was out for the weekend, and Chante and I had a great Girl's Night Out. (Brent is more OTB (On The Ball) than I am and he wrote about Chante on his blog months ago: http://thousandthanks.blogspot.com/2010/05/thank-you-chante-due-to-extremely.html)

Shauna and Chante on Times Square

New York Public Library

(That's me with the lions!)
When Brent and I talked about what we would like to do in New York, I said that I'd really like to go to the Library and meet book blogger Betsey Bird. I'm a book nerd, I know. It was a very cool part of our trip. We got to see the  Winnie the Pooh and other stuffed friends that were owned by Christopher Robin and a Gutenberg Bible. The children's room was simply amazing. Betsey Bird invited us to an author's night on Thursday evening, where we got to meet David Almond (author of Skellig) and Ed Young (A Caldecott winner).

My pink shoes:
I love shoes. I always have. I found a gorgeous dress for the formal night, and then imagined high heeled pink shoes to wear with it, and then found just the ones I envisioned.

Note: When I showed my dear mother-in-law my dress and told her that I wanted bright pink high heeled shoes to wear with it, she said, "Won't that make everyone look at the shoes instead of the dress?" I simply answered, "Probably!" When I got them in the mail (from Zappos.com--an addicting website) Brent didn't like them. But, I wore them around the house to practice walking in them, and they grew on him. Fabulous, fabulous shoes! While standing in the foyer of the Waldorf, waiting my turn to enter the ballroom for the gala dinner, an Italian man walked past and talked rapidly in Italian (or what sounded like Italian), pointed to my shoes, and kissed his fingers in that Italian way of saying "Fabulous!"

The Gala Night:

Sheri Carlstrom and I had made plans to go out with our husbands, Brent and Kevin, after the the Gala. When Sheri was announced as the National Young Mother of the Year, our plans to go out blossomed. Nearly 20 of us went out to celebrate the new YMOY! First we went to the Top of the Rock. (I had so much fun announcing, "Ladies and Gentlemen, I have an announcement to make!" in my loudest voice--and remember I was a cheerleader in college, so I do have some volume--then informing the crowd that they were in the presence of the National Young Mother of the Year) It was too late go up to the actual Top, so we headed over to the Empire State Building. (But while there, someone mistook me for Tina Fey . . .definitely a highlight for me!!) At the top of the Empire State Building, Brent and I did our "lift" and made the guard very nervous. ("Uh, sir, I'm going to have to ask you to put her down. Now, sir. Yes, now, and please don't do that again, sir.") Then Kevin and Brent negotiated a ride for the thirteen remaining celebrators in a Hummer Limo. (I made a couple of announcements from the top of the sunroof.) Many of the people in the limo couldn't believe we were having so much fun--with no alcohol. We went to Central Park to see NY's YMOY Lorinda Belnap's favorite view of NYC , we sang "Momma Mia" by ABBA and "Tonight's Gonna Be a Good Night" by the Black Eyed Peas into my fabulous pink shoe microphones. (Doesn't someone have a picture of our shoe singing somewhere?)

Pictures by the limo:

The sign says: "Inspired by our mothers"

Sheri Carlstrom and Shauna Dunn

A view from inside the limo

The American Mother's Incorporated Plaque at the Waldorf:

If Brent and I  travel on Sundays, we usually try to find a church that reflects the local culture of the area. I went the the AMI devotional and decided that counted as "church." But, while Brent and I were out walking in Greenwich Village  we saw a Finnish flag and noticed that  Finnish church services were starting at that very moment. So, we went to Finnish church in New York. (Brent and I both served LDS missions in Finland and both speak Finnish.) Funny that we were able to randomly walk down the right side street and be there at the exact moment the Finnish services were starting  . . .Brent astutely commented that we couldn't have made it there at that time if we had purposefully tried to find it. We had a great Sunday just walking around, visiting Ground Zero, being together and seeing New York. On Monday we went sight seeing, shopping, and hung out with Juli (YMOY from Hawaii) and her husband Jeff. We also ate at the world famous Magnolia Bakery. (yum!) 

(Shauna with Juli Halstrom YMOY from Hawaii.)

On Tuesday Brent got to play golf at Beth Page Black, a super highlight for him. I even got brave enough to walk around NYC by myself while he was playing. We went to the wax museum. It was my first time ever. We only had an hour or so before we had to start heading to the airport, so it was something fun and touristy to do. But, the pictures are on my phone and I haven't figured out how to get them onto the computer. . . Yes! I know it was months ago.) We had fun showing the children our pictures with Johnny Depp and Hannah Montana. 

Overall, a fabulous trip!