28 Dec Sun Valley Landscaping hosts the Oscars…
At Sun Valley Landscaping, the true celebrities and stars in our company are our crew guys who work in the field and strive to be leaders in our industry. This year we decided to host an “Oscars-themed” bowling and awards banquet at The Mark to celebrate an outstanding 2015 year at Sun Valley. A red carpet was rented, a Sun Valley/Commit20 step-and-repeat was purchased, our employee and DJ, Josiah Cherry brought out the turn table, and our evening included two MC’s and a strobe light to top it off.
Before this blog post continues, it is necessary to first note the importance of our annual bowling tournament. There is only one other thing we take as seriously as landscaping and that would be the art of bowling. Our clients and friends who have visited our office location can attest to the large bowling pin trophy that is featured in our main lobby, which displays the winning teams of years past. Bowling is a subject matter of utmost importance and we even go as far as printing themed t-shirts and creating team names.
The Oscars-themed evening began with appetizers and a photo slideshow featuring company-wide pictures of 2015 accomplishments and highlights. As employees arrived they strutted down the red carpet entrance and received their own celebrity photo shoot. Our CEO, Paul Fraynd and General Manager, Ashly Neneman played the roles of MC’s for the evening and hosted the awards banquet. In the weeks prior to the event, award nominations took place and each employee was asked to submit votes for cheesy category titles. During the awards banquet, winning nominees received their cheesy award certificate and creative props that tied in with the themes of each award title.
Our cheesy award categories ranged from the lottery to Beyonce. We gave away 9 cheesy award categories including, most likely voted prom king, most likely to win the lottery but lose the ticket, class clown, most likely to win the game show Jeopardy, most likely to dance in a Beyonce music video, most likely to be a superhero, best hair, best dressed and most likely to be president one day and rule the world. A few of our category winners are featured below on the red carpet receiving their award….
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Oscars Cheesy Category Award Winners:
Most likely to win the game show jeopardy: Mikel Leader (also known as the English man or Banana Mike)
Cody Ralston is announced winner of the class clown category
Most likely to dance in a Beyonce music video, Rob Smith’s cheesy props include Chippendale cuffs and bow tie.
Most likely to be president one day and rule the world, Eric Walker is saluted by CEO, Paul Fraynd
And last but not least, best hair goes to Partner and Landscape Designer, Hugh Morton
A series of five genuine awards were presented to the top dogs of Sun Valley in addition to our fun Oscar awards. Attitude is a value we pride our company and its employees on. One of our greatest strengths is being surrounded by team players who love what they do. The Can-Do Attitude Award was presented to crew member, Rudy Ramos, who exemplifies the most positive and inspiring attitude. Our strongest leadership award was presented to crew leader, Jared Grewe, who was nominated by coworkers as the most outstanding leader by providing exceptional direction to his crews. The next two awards were based solely on data, the Hustle Award of Efficiency was presented to Mitch Decker and Leader of the Pack Award was given to Hugh Morton for top sales.
The last, but most important award that was given out at this year’s Oscars party is the “Caveman of the Year.” Before Sun Valley Natural Stone and Omaha Friendly Services joined forces, Sun Valley’s logo was a caveman, which has continued to pop up in our company culture today. The Caveman of the Year award exemplifies everything that is Sun Valley, including our culture, our employee values, our focus, our daily goals and of course, our BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goal). Our Supply Yard Manager, Jeff Hylton, was the award winner in this category as he lives out our company’s values on a daily basis by creating lasting experiences in the supply yard that put our clients and their needs first, coming to work with a positive attitude on a daily basis, providing support to all divisions among a list of other values and qualities. Jeff is always the first to step in a provide assistance, even the small matters on a daily basis. Congratulations to Manager, Jeff Hylton for being voted “Caveman of the Year!”
The awards ceremony led into our featured event for our holiday party, the annual bowling tournament. With six teams competing this year, the tournament is composed of a practice round, and two challenge rounds where the average scores are put together to determine the winning team. The Incredibowls, The Centurions, The Holy Rollers, The Limey Blokes and the Rock Slingers all fought to take home the trophy, but The Ball Busters brought their A-game and took the title home. Bowling awards were given out for the most improved bowler, the lowest score, the highest score, the winning team (highest average), and of course, the gutter award.
We are so grateful for the time spent together in and out of the office and field. At Sun Valley, “co-worker” is not a word that is used very often as we identify each other as family. Thanks to everyone for an outstanding year, here’s to making 2016 even better!
