Look at our little girl now

Maya was one danged cute baby--right from the start. But who would have imagined that she'd someday be a high-powered, successful business woman.




Here she is with her mama and Aunt Kissy in her grandparents' home in Carmel. Their house was called the Rose Cottage and it was their living quarters while they were innkeepers at Happy Landing Inn in downtown Carmel-By-The-Sea. So Maya grew up in the motel biz and actually played desk clerk with her grandmother starting at the age of five.




In the summers I used to work for my friend Brad at his restaurant, The Sweetwater, in Jackson Hole. When Maya was 12 Brad bought The Smilin' S in Bondurant (which happens to be in the middle of nowhere in the least populated county in the least populated state in the US). It was a series of log cabins for rent overnight plus RV hook-ups and tent camping. The summer of 1994 Maya lived at the Smilin' S and rented and cleaned the cabins, plus did all the laundry. Yes, folks, Maya and I washed the motel's sheets and towels on two ringer washers and hung it all out to dry on clotheslines. Just like a couple of prairie women. Maya's got the motel biz in her veins.





Now since those days she's been busy doing many other things, including marrying Eder and having Baby Ben.





And it's clear that she loves and enjoys them both. (This is a really old pic of Ben. He's 20 times that size now!)




In 2003, shortly after the marrying and long before the birthing, they moved from Monterey to Corvallis. After a year of living in Corvallis Maya went to work at the Hilton Garden Inn, on the OSU campus (strategically located across from the football stadium). She started out at the front desk, and they quickly made her a supervisor. Then they sent her on several trainings around the country--to Dallas, and Tennessee, and Washington State. Then she became the Front End manager, and soon took on accounting responsibilities and human resources projects.

I know you are all wondering "Where is this going?" Well, let's all give a big round of applause for the Hilton Garden Inn's new Assistant General Manager, Maya Perez! You heard it here first! Straight from the mouth of her proud mom.

Well, I gotta go now and blow my nose. I get a little teary every time I brag.

Hope I didn't embarrass you too much, Maya. And thanks to everyone else for caring about our lives and taking time to read our blog,

Valori