Being Top 40 Under 40

February started out so amazing. Adam was honored as one of the Top 40 Under 40 by Utah Business Magazine.

He and the other honorees were were honored at a luncheon at the Grand America Hotel.

I went as the trophy wife 🙂

When it was his turn, a portion of his interview was played on the big screens.

He even got a fancy schmansy framed award.

Adam J. Grow – 37
SVP, General Manager; Rakuten Marketing

Current Role: At Rakuten Marketing, Adam Grow has been assisting with the company’s global expansion to London, Sydney, Sao Paolo, Tokyo and Singapore.

Accomplishments: Prior to Rakuten’s acquisition of MediaFORGE, Grow helped the company expand from 10 employees to 250. During the acquisition by Rakuten, Grow assisted in smoothing the transition of assets and employees. Post-acquisition, Grow has aided in the company’s recent global expansion and helped revenue grow by nearly eight times its pre-acquisition levels.

First Job: “From 16-18, I worked as a counselor at the Bennion Teton Boys Ranch, started by Utah philanthropist and professor Lowell Bennion as a place to teach young men the value of hard work. The ranch allowed boys from the ages of 12-15 to work on an active ranch for a month during the summer and also enjoy the Teton Mountains on the weekends.”

“An ethical business is one that can meet its vision while ensuring all stakeholders are treated fairly, whether it is customers, employees or other stakeholders. Transparency is key to achieving this, both internally and externally.”

This is a huge honor, and Adam more than deserves it. He’s worked so hard and accomplished great things. The interesting thing is his brother Dave was honored this year as well.

In the four years we’ve lived in this house, I’ve seen the tree covered in ice like this one other time. It happened every day for a week this month.

The next night, on Saturday, the kids and I took Adam out to our favorite Indian restaurant, Bombay House, to celebrate Adam’s award. Kids aren’t invited to the award ceremony, but we wanted to celebrate as a family as well and let the kids be part of Adam’s accomplishment.

    

On Monday, Georgia spiked a fever that lasted for four days. She felt awful. She has been begging to be potty trained since, oh, June of last year, but finding time is the key. She likes to take off her clothes and diaper and sit on my toilet. She can’t stand to wear a poopy diaper and wants to wear underwear. This week was supposed to be fairly open, so I was going to start today, but then the fever struck, and my empty week filled up all of a sudden.

It is so hard not to nibble on those toes!

I was her chair for four days. I sat in this chair underneath her for FOUR. DAYS. On the one hand, I love the snuggles from my usually very busy 2-year-old. On the other hand, I hate to see her so miserable. We watched her favorite movie, Home, on repeat all day every day to take her mind off it. Even after the fever finally broke, she wasn’t feeling well for several more days. When she wasn’t asking for Daddy hugs, “Want Daddy hugs.” she was asking for Boov hugs. Sweetness, if you can find a Boov, you can have all the hugs you want.

It was so great to see her feeling better and smiling again the next week.  Wearing her beloved too toot.

Adam took me to dinner at Valter’s for a very romantic Valentine’s Day Dinner. My doctor gave me the same advice as he did for Thanksgiving. go, enjoy all the food and the special evening, and go back to my gluten free/dairy free diet the next day, so I did. Adam has been wanting to take me there since right about the time I found out those foods make me sick. They make all their pasta fresh, and they have the best hot chocolate. It was as good as the hot chocolate at Angelina’s Salon in Paris. When Valter came to our table to wish us a happy Valentine’s Day, I told him this, and he got so excited and said, “But Angelina es mi amica!” Apparently he knows her, and maybe they swapped recipes. It wasn’t the pudding-like hot chocolate from his native Italy, but basically a melted chocolate bar served with biscotti for dipping. It was heavenly!! Anyway, the compliment earned me a kiss on the cheek from this genial gentleman.

I already wasn’t feeling well on Friday afternoon and went to bed right after I picked the kids up from school. Saturday I had to take a long nap to be able to go out for Valentine’s Day. Sunday morning during church Daisy spiked a fever and I brought her home and I took a 3-hour nap myself. Monday I spiked a fever and crashed. I was SO SICK. I had the flu. Fever, aches, chills, hallucinations, pains, migraine, horrible eye pain, I could barely stand. The fever lasted for five days, but even after the fever broke, I was still very sick. I developed a nasty cough and it felt like a gorilla was sitting on my chest. Daisy’s fever lasted for 5 days, but she acted fine. She didn’t seem to have any other symptoms, fortunately. I had to have a sitter come over all day every day because i couldn’t even take care of myself, much less the kids. I definitely couldn’t drive. I finally realized that I was hit by multiple viruses at once.

Georgia got it AGAIN because she drank out of Daisy’s cup. She came and climbed in my bed and slept on my chest. Both of us burning up with fever. This time it was shorter for her.

Then she got it AGAIN for about a day. Once again mommy was her bed. As horrible as I felt, I loved having her sleep on me. Will this ever happen again? Was this a last? I savored it just in case. I have so many lasts I’m mourning with my baby. All told I was very sick for two weeks, and even for the next week I was still very weak and tired.

In good news, the chickens started laying after a 5-month hiatus.

The girls got pretend makeup kits for Christmas, and they’ve been a big hit. Kimball was applying makeup to Georgia.

Maybe he was trying to distract from the fact that he’d colored his own face at school. This is becoming a habit that needs to end. It makes the kids at school laugh when he does it. He was tattling to me with great fervor with his face painted this way, and I stopped him in the middle of his righteous rant and said, “I’m sorry, but I just can’t take you seriously with that big, green, fake mustache on your face.”

Tattling has become a serious problem. It is constant. Stop. Stop the tattling. Stop it! Conflict resolution is a skill you need to learn, children.

Parent teacher conferences were this month, and they all got great reports. Everyone is excelling academically and socially.

Sawyer has been learning to cook more and more things. He makes fantastic scrambled eggs (which is a true skill of technique), he makes tacos start to finish, rice in the pressure cooker, sausages, and is always asking to learn new things. He is my number one helper in the kitchen. I enjoy spending that time with him.

Brinlee is as sweet, giggly and fun as ever. Her energy lights up every room. She and Daisy are such good friends. I love listening to them play in the next room. They have their spats, but they love each other.

Kimball is also a lot of fun. He wants to entertain and be funny, and we have conversations sometimes about timing, knowing your audience, and what is funny versus irritating. He’s actually really funny when he’s not trying at all. He’s got a great personality, is very friendly and is a wonderful friend and brother. He is so good at including everyone. I love his tender heart.

Caisen still marches to the beat of his own drum. He is a unique kid with his own funny quirks. He is very creative and imaginative, and is always inventing new games or stories.

Daisy is as spunky, cuddly, silly, sparkly and fun as ever. She does have a mischievous streak that comes out when she’s not getting enough hugs and attention, and that can be hard to provide with six kids who all want the same. She is extremely affectionate, and has been since she was tiny. I love this about her.

Georgia has become extremely vocal about her likes and dislikes. She likes to pretend to be a kitty and talk in her kitty voice. She is very particular about who touches her and how. “No kisses!” is her refrain. I smooth those cheeks anyway. I can’t help it! She will hug, cuddle and kiss who and when she decides.