Mertz Family

Princess & Future Heartbreaker Pictures

Wanna sneak peak at the kiddos Valentine's pictures?

Go to http://www.smilesbywire.com and enter the following:

Customer Name: Jessica Mertz

Access Code: LTPP0592109786JCP

Gabby is 1!!!

Gabby turned 1 on Tuesday...can you believe that! Where did the year go? This Saturday is her Princess party, which is going to be so much fun! I promise to take a bunch of photos and get them posted next week.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY GABBY GIRL! WE LOVE YOU!!!

January MK Order

I'm sorry I abandoned my Mary Kay duties for awhile. I know a few people need some things so I thought I better get this out to you. I will be placing an order the end of the month, so if you need anything please let me know by Monday, January 28^th. Here are a few ideas and the specials below:

Beauty Resolutions for the New Year:

1. Throw out old mascaras. This is a good idea to do once a year anyway to prevent infections, so all mascaras are 25% off!

2. Better skin. Winter weather can be very drying on skin so all Timewise products & lotions are 25% off so you can get the moisturize your skin needs!

3. Update your look. Try a new color of eye shadow or lipstick and get it 25% off!

4. Treat yourself. Pick any one item and get it 50% off!

Also remember any order over $40 receives a free gift too! Can't wait to hear from you, let me know if you have any questions.

Millionaire Mystery

Some of you were aware that I was very involved in planning our employee event celebrating our success in 2007. The party was Saturday evening and it was a complete success. Here is a quick rundown. It was a formal event with a millionaire theme, everyone was coming together for a fake will reading of a millionaire who has died. There were 20 main characters but all 100+ guests where some character. I was the Lawyer Keilly Ravish who acted as the MC much of the evening and read the will. During the night there was another 'murder' that everyone had different clues in order to solve. It was fun seeing my coworkers really dressed up, playing their character (from the french maid to the snotty ex-wife), and quizing eachother on the murder. We had a professional photographer the whole evening (I promise to post more pictures when we get them back) and had an AMAZING caterer. The evening ended with the mystery being solved and everyone getting a piece of the inheritanceView this photo   (like massages, gift certificates, or jewelry) but everything was tied to the millionaire inheritance theme. It was a BLAST! More work than I think I've personally done for any party before but definitely worth it! Here is a picture of Dan & I dressed up (yes, each employee got to bring a guest). stay tuned for more fun pictures later!!! Oh, I forgot to tell you what I inherited...a new car (a matchbox car!) and a gift certificate at a car wash/oil change place.

Cruise Pictures

I'm happy to report that I FINALLY got some cruise pictures posted for your view pleasure. Check them out!

We're Back!

I know some of you are wondering if we ever got back from our cruise. No our ship didn’t sink or we didn’t get left on a tropical island in the Caribbean, I’ve just been super busy trying to get our lives back to normal after the trip. This weekend alone I did 7 loads of laundry! But I am happy to report we are all unpacked now and our life is somewhat back to normal. So now I thought I better get an update out for those of you are interested in our trip. First off, leaving Rapid City was horrible. We ncountered a major blizzard and the interstate was closed minutes after we got on it. Thank goodness we made it to Omaha or we wouldn't have made on our trip. It should have only taken 9 hours but took us 11.5! Dan did all of the driving while I counted the accidents. We saw 12 accidents in a 53 mile stretch! Thankfully we made it to Omaha and our flight to Florida went smoothly. We were very thankful to make it to warm weather. There were 13 of us on our journey. It’s quite an adventure traveling with that many individuals. We were all excited to get to our ship and head out to sea. I’ll try to get some pictures posted later today or tomorrow but the Princess Caribbean was VERY impressive. We enjoyed everything on our ship. The shows were top notch, the food was AMAZING (I gained about 5 lbs in 7 days!), the service was impeccable. It’s hard to go from being pampered, even putting napkins on our laps, to everyday life. I must admit it was a little weird singing “I’m dreaming of a White Christmas” while we were in 80+ weather. Christmas Eve was a bit hard. I was really missing the kids and Dan got sea sick (2 days straight at sea thru the Gulf Stream was pretty rocky) and had to leave dinner to throw up. But besides that, everything was amazing. I especially enjoyed our Port stops. At  St. Marten Dan & I enjoyed a day alone. We snorkeled, took a catamaran to a separate beach, walked thru some shops, and relaxed on the beach. I haven’t laughed and had such a great day with Dan in such a long time. It was AWESOME! Our second Port stop was St. Thomas and we spent the day with Dan’s mom & dad. We went on a best of St. Thomas tour. We learned a lot about the islands history; it was a Pirate sanctuary and we went to Megan’s Bay (one of the top 10 most beautiful beaches in the world). I highly recommend seeing St. Thomas and would definitely go back. Heidi and I got a lot of shopping done on this island too. Our third Port was Princess Cays, the private island of Princess Cruise Line. We enjoyed our last stop by lying out in the sun and swimming in the ocean.  I could go on and on but I think that gives you good summary. It was wonderful and we are so thankful for Dan’s family to make it possible to go. Thank goodness for Iowa’s good corn crop! We named our trip the corn cruise…he he! Although it was great by the end of our trip we were antsy to come home and get the kids back. The kids seem like they’ve grown a couple of inches in our absence. Both seem to have learned new things too. We were so thankful for those who kept our kids and made their Christmas special! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas as well! Thanks to all of you who sent Christmas cards. I’m still sifting thru mail and enjoying them! I'd love to tell you more about our trip so if you want more information, please give me a call but that's enough for now...