WanYing's Brian Head Race

by WanYing

I was racing at Brian Head for two days and I did slalom and GS. GS is big turns, slalom is little turns.

I am in Sundance ski team and ski team chose to come to Brian Head to race. I've been in ski team for two years. Ski team learns how to be really fast at slalom and GS.

We learn how to edge very well and we do a lot of black diamonds. Black diamonds are pretty steep but there's double black diamonds that are even harder. We do Marmot Gultch, which is a double black.

Something I like about ski team is I get to go skiing every week.

My sister is racing, too. She's on ski team, too.

I am the one above this picture. My sister is the picture I'm writing beside.

This is Saturday and one day we are doing GS and one day we are doing slalom and today we are doing GS.

This is after the race and we are waiting to see my sister going down the hill and I was racing my brother and I won because he crashed into my other brother. I have two brothers. They were on ski team before me, then I decided to go to ski team when I was old enough.

When they crashed both of their skis popped off and their poles went flying.

This is me, my mom and dad, and my sister on the hill. We were going down really fast and it was also a jump.

This is the tubing place that we went to and this is the tubing area. We went tubing for 90 minutes and we went really fast and those tubes with the red nets on it you couldn't hit hard or else you would not be able to tube.

My brother is standing on a magic carpet and when they got to the top he would have to jump off and he would wait for us and we would go down at the same time and race each other down the hill.

This is me and I was tubing down the hill with my family.

On day 2 of racing I was racing slalom and I got 8th place and it was the final YSL Race. YSL Race is Youth Ski League. And I got a medal for it.

Here's a video of my run:

This was my sister and she was racing, too. And she's on slalom, too.

This is my sister, too. She was going off the jump that I was talking about earlier and we went really fast down the jump.

This is me with my medal - my 8th place medal. I felt great about my medal and we waited there for just the medal. We waited like a hour to get it. And it was really worth it!

Returning to Hogar de Amor

T-minus 20 days until we leave for Mexico!!!

Our time serving and forming relationships with the kids and caregivers of the Hogar de Amor Orphanage has been a life-changing highlight of every year. Jamie, Sam, and Ben are excited to return to Mexico again this year and Sasha is thrilled to come with us for the first time! We’ll be traveling with 28 members of of our church family, CenterPoint Church, April 1-8, 2017.

Hogar de Amor Orphanage in Colima, Mexico is home to about 150 children from infants to teens. The orphanage is a ministry of Grupo Amor Church and actively seeks to protect and care for vulnerable local children. The church also continues to provide a home and support for teens as they pursue post-secondary education, as well as education, counseling, and rehabilitation for parents. It’s an amazing ministry.

Our time at Hogar de Amor over the years has been life-changing. It has changed our point of view on how to effectively alleviate poverty across the world and in our own community. These trips have given us the opportunity to support and encourage an amazing group of people who care for “the least of these” with every moment of every day. As a family, we are proud and grateful to support Hogar de Amor Orphanage with our time, prayer, and finances.

We value your support for this trip. More than anything, we are ask for your prayers for us, our team, and those we visit. Please pray for good health, smooth travel, great attitudes, and that our work would be effective and encouraging for all who live at Hogar de Amor. The team will regularly post prayer requests, updates, photos, and reflections at CenterPointMexico.blogspot.com. Please follow along - you are an important member of our support team and we want to share the joys and struggles of this trip with you!

As a family, are grateful to be able to fund the cost of our airfare, room, and board for the trip. We invite you to join us in support the orphanage financially as well. If you choose to donate, your entire donation will go to Hogar de Amor by funding the projects and activities we will complete in Mexico and by directly supporting the care of the orphans. Checks can be made out to CenterPoint Church with a memo of “Mexico” and you can mail or give checks to Jamie or send them directly to CenterPoint Church. Instructions for giving electronically are found under “How Can I Help?” at the top of CenterPointMexico.blogspot.com.

Thanks for being an important part of our support team. We are grateful for your prayer and enthusiasm for this trip and for the kids and caregivers of Hogar de Amor!

Happy 6th Gotcha Day WanYing!

Today brought Pi Day, ChenXing's birthday, and a wedding. But the very best part? WanYing's 6th Gotcha Day celebration, of course!

Happy Gotcha Day to my favorite Chinesest, ski-goggle-tannedest, pie-lovingest girl. WanYing, we're so grateful that we are yours and you are ours!

One Wild Week - Qualtrics Insight Summit

In 24 hours, I got to share the products I work on with an audience of 3,500...

...attend a private concert with Elton John...

...and ski a few runs with Bode Miller!

You guessed it, it's Qualtrics Insight Summit week again!

Insight Summit is our annual Qualtrics customer and industry conference. From learning from luminaries like Michael Lewis, Clayton Christensen, and Angela Duckworth to hearing from Michael Phelps to meeting Qualtrics clients face-to-face, it's non-stop action. For me, it is a whirlwind of excitement, listening, learning, celebrities, fatigue, exhilaration, and joy.

I had the opportunity to speak on the Summit Mainstage as a part of our one-hour product update again this year and was overwhelmed by the warm response to our new products and features. Sharing the hard work of so many engineering teams with an excited audience of 3500 is quite the rush!

Steve snapped this pic from about 2/3 of the way back in the Grand Ballroom - 3500 people sure is a lot!

Reception to our announcements has been great, and I was even quoted in a couple of articles, which is fun! Check out this article on KSL Herald and this article in The Daily Herald to read more about our product announcements and see my quotes :)

Thursday evening, Summit concluded with a private concert with Elton John! It was a total blast to see such a skilled, talented, legendary pro in his element.

Partying with my peeps!

Insight Summit traditionally concludes with a ski day and Steve and I went up to Park City to show Qualtrics clients around the mountain as employee ambassadors. Skiing with clients is always a highlight of Summit, but this year Qualtrics totally upped the ante by bringing Bode Miller to the slopes!

YES! I SKIED FOUR RUNS WITH BODE MILLER!!!

It was an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Needless to say, I couldn't keep up with the best men's downhill skier of all time, but as I bid him adieu we exchanged these words:

Jamie: Thanks, that was really fun
Bode: Yeah. You're a good skier

WHAT?!? Yes, you read that correctly - unprovoked and unrequested, BODE MILLER SAID I'M A GOOD SKIER!!! I'm not sure which moment was more thrilling, addressing a crowd of 3,500 or getting a compliment from Bode Miller! And both happened within 24 hours!

Summit 2017 was amazing. Now to rest up and create more amazing products for us to demo at Summit 2018!

For some reason, Steve didn't appreciate my taking a selfie in front of this poster...

...so we'll go with this one instead :)