Employee of the Month

We had a Luau today at work (way fun)
This is the email my boss wrote:

First I would like to thank everyone that worked so hard to put together the luau on Tuesday. James and Shannon spent the better part of the day in the sun smoking the chicken that was served. Ashlee made certificates, signs, and purchased a few gift cards that were given out at the luau. She also pulled all the details together and decorated the tables. Stacy footed the bill for leis, corn on the cob, and made a terrific pillow to present to Ashlee for employee of the month. Finally, Tau cooked the corn and provided the music. Kudos to everyone that went out of their way to make the luau a special event for Genesis staff! I received a lot of good feedback on the event and you can be sure we will have more opportunities for staff to get together. If you have suggestions the morale committee members are me, Ashlee, Stacy, James, and Karlie. By the way, Karlie's salad made honorable mention! Awesome!

For those of you that weren't there for the presentation, Ashlee was nominated employee of the month for working non stop to get everything purchased for the facility, and taking the time and investment to complete the library with Michelle and decorate the lobby. She has been a whirlwind for the four months making countless improvements to the facility. The nice part is that I know the staff have been very appreciative of the new radios, trailers, etc. Ashlee is responsible for most of what you see.

As a way of getting to know one another the employee of the month will be interviewed and we will find ways to share some parts of their life outside of GYC. Ashlee is married to Jake VanAllen and they have a little girl, Sophie, who is nine months old. Ashlee grew up in Riverton and was best friends with her brother. Their parents were strict and both Ashlee and her brother learned to work hard for what they earned. After high school she got around a bit, attending college at Snow, BYU Hawaii, and Gonzaga. She would love some day to obtain a Master's Degree in Communications. No surprise that one of her passions is working with flowers and plants, and both her husband and father are in the landscape business. She and Tracy have really put a lot of effort into making Genesis nice looking on the outside, taking care of the flowers and other landscaping we have added! Another dream she has, besides finishing school, is to travel with Jake on a tour of Polynesia (via Tahiti) and end up in New Zealand. She is mostly an animal lover but did lose some points with me because she did not bond with her husband's parrot, Bud. Ashlee has my utmost gratitude for pulling me through the past three months of the fiscal year. Wouldn't have made it without her!

I am extremely grateful to all of you for being such a great bunch of folks to lead. We've had so many helping hands around here you have made my job easy. I hope you know how much I appreciate it. I really want Genesis to be known as a place that gets the job done, but is very kid and worker friendly in the process. You guys rock.

Yea for loving my job!