I’ll be honest, I didn’t even consider going to Convention until I heard Carrie Underwood would be performing. Sure, it would be a great experience but I didn’t want to spend the money and what on earth was I going to do with my 13 month old while I was gone, anyway? Then I found out Carrie would be performing and I told my husband that for the first time, the thought of me going had actually crossed my mind.

He was supportive, as he always is, and convinced me to register, then shortly afterwards one of my closest business partners and my mother registered as well. I signed my son up for essential oils kid’s camp, booked plane tickets, and started counting down the days. It was ninety days, then forty, then twenty one, then six, and then all of a sudden we were leaving tomorrow. Time flies, y’all.

I have to tell you, going to Convention was definitely the best trip I’ve taken in a long time. I had absolutely no idea how valuable and game changing this trip would be for me, and I came home with a new vision and a notebook crammed full of notes.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing about what I learned because it’s absolutely fascinating, but the trip itself was so much fun that I have to share. I’ll keep it short and include lots of pictures; I promise.

Our first full day in Salt Lake City might have been the best because we visited the Young Living farm in Mona and all of a sudden all the training I’ve had on what sets Young Living apart and how their essential oils are the highest quality in the world really hit me. No other essential oils company in the world tests their products as rigorously or spends as much time or money to ensure that the oils we are using on our babies and pets and husbands are the purest possible–but more on that in a later post.

We were given the chance to plant Lavender, observe the distillation process, wander through fields of Goldenrod and Lavender and Fennel, and learn about the ways the oils are tested and produced. There’s something so special about going to see the actual plants that are distilled to make the exact oils I use with my family daily.

Young Living has hundreds of different single essential oils and essential oil blends and because they source the oils from their indigenous regions there are farms all over the world–this meant, of course, we didn’t get a chance to see every type of plant, but we did get to see a few.

We spent the day meandering past horses and through fields and my son had the time of his life eating dirt and exploring the plants. I am all for him getting dirty, but normally the dirt at a farm is soaked in pesticides and fertilizers so I keep him far, far away.

Fun fact: Young Living uses (organic and sustainably raised, of course) chicken and fish to fertilize their plants and essential oils are natural bug repellents so any oils that don’t quite meet their extremely high standards are then used as a pesticide. That means my son was eating some of the healthiest dirt in the whole entire world.

The next day was utter chaos as over 20,000 people converged on downtown Salt Lake City. The day after Convention, as the same 20,000 people tried to fly out of the Salt Lake City airport on the same morning, TSA told people that this year’s convention was the biggest event in SLC since the 2002 Winter Olympics–so having all those people downtown on the same day checking out the same essential oil swag at the vendor events and then going to the same stadium for the same opening ceremony was slightly chaotic. Just slightly.

But we did it. My little guy lost it towards the end because there were so many people and so much noise and far too much activity but we made it home and promptly crashed.

The next day and also the next were chocked full of workshops as Young Living distributors like me who have hustled their way to hugely successful, often multi-million dollar businesses, taught the rest of us who are working to get there too about the Young Living standards and how to use language consciously in our businesses. We learned about beauty routines using Young Living products, their new make up line, Savvy Minerals, how to interact with the team underneath us to build them up–there were 18 workshops in three days which meant a notebook full of notes and a whole lot of concentrating.

My favorite speaker of all was Eric Worre, one of the leading experts in network marketing, who wasn’t originally scheduled to speak. Two months before Convention, someone from Young Living saw him speak and decided he had to come do a workshop at Convention because his teaching is extremely relevant to the Young Living business, but Eric Worre speaks all over the world and is in huge demand so two months notice was completely crazy.

Yet somehow Young Living did it. They’re fantastic.

Of course, I can’t write about Convention without also mentioning that there was an entire expo the size of many football fields where you could literally try and test every single one of Young Living’s products.

An oil room with every single oil on display to smell and learn about. A fitness room showcasing the new supplements and the protein powders and products for joint support, muscle recovery, stamina–everything my ultra-marathon running mother needs. A tikes and tails room where we could learn about the brand new Seedlings product line just released for babies, the products for animals, the existing children’s line. There was a room for the cooking essential oils and another room teaching about the new diffuser just released and non-toxic cleaning products for the home and yet another room to educate about the work Young Living does to feed and educate children in underserved nations.

My favorite room of all was Club Red–literally a club right in the middle of Convention, complete with a flowing Ningxia Red bar, a DJ, red disco lights, and a dance floor.

My mother and I spent a lot of time there drinking endless Ningxia Red. Considering the energy we needed and the extra immune support from traveling and not sleeping enough, the many Ningxia Red slushies we consumed were a lifesaver.

Our final morning at Convention was an early one–my alarm went off at 4:30 and we prepared for an 18 hour day and a very early morning run. Mom, of course, was determined to win. After all, she is in ultra-marathon runner and a 5km color run to raise money for charity is a leisurely stroll for her.

She finished the race second and then looped around to come back for me, which I appreciated due to my jello arms. Surprisingly, my leg muscles were not tired and my breathing was no problem–but dang, my child is getting heavy and pushing his stroller made running far more difficult. At the finish line we were rewarded with fresh pancakes, real maple syrup, fresh orange juice, and a summer berry compote. Unlimited, of course, because Young Living knows how to take care of it’s people.

It was a pretty fantastic morning.

The day was full of more workshops and we spent our free evening exploring Salt Lake City. We walked up to the gorgeous capital building where we were greeted by a stunning view of the city and it reminded me why I love big cities so much. There is nothing even remotely like the picture above where we live and it’s easy to struggle with the “I wish” and “if onlys” but wishing we lived in a nicer place doesn’t make the place that we are any nicer. Being thankful does, so I’ll just dream about the places we can move in the future and be content in North Carolina for now!

Then it was a long walk down the hill back to reality where we jumped on a shuttle to head to the free Carrie Underwood show.

That’s right. Young Living treated us to a free, private Carrie Underwood concert as part of the closing ceremonies. I work for the greatest and one of the most generous companies ever, y’all.

By the way, those motorcycles you see on the right of the stage? Yes, Young Living raffled those off for charity. Sadly, we didn’t win one, but maybe next year.

Many times over the course of the week we spent in Salt Lake City we had questions about workshops or how we were going to get to the big general sessions or what my son was going to do at essential oils kid’s camp all day.

Young Living is special for many reasons, but one of those reasons is that it takes care of its people. At no point were we left alone without help because every single step of the way Young Living made things simple and quick and as efficient as possible with 20,000 people trying to do the same thing all at once. Convention left me with a new passion for what I do and a new love for the company I work for and I honestly think I have the perfect job.

The best thing about what I do is that it is accessible to anyone–moms who grew up dirt poor, college kids who want to pay off their hundreds of thousands of dollars of student debt, military couples who struggle to pay the bills, parents who want to quit the 9 to 5 job they hate, people like me who simply want to start living naturally, successful couples who simply want a change because their success was not worth the lack of passion.

All the people above were at Convention, having built their own business on the product they believe in. They are literally changing their own lives and changing other people’s lives through Young Living.

If you want to learn more, check out How to start your own Young Living business.

You could be taking this trip next year, having built your own business and changed your family’s health. This could be you, too.