Arizona in 40 hours

Kevin's cousin, Doug, was (finally) getting married to the lovely Rachel. They were having a beautiful wedding at a gorgeous resort in Arizona, The Wigwam Resort. We were looking forward to sunshine, swimming pools, spa treatments, a dressy and romantic evening, and a night in a hotel room with no toddlers or dogs to wake us up.

And we had 40 hours.

Friday night we joined some friends from work for Big Bad VooDoo Daddy. When was the last time we attended a concert? Before Patrick was born, probably. Snazzy clothes were necessary. See Kevin's great two-toned shoes? And I'm wearing the dress that Kevin "made me" buy. I have on knee high heeled boots with this. We felt pretty darn cool.

Three hours after we went to sleep, we got up to get ready for our 5:10am flight from SeaTac to Phoenix. Running on excitement and adrenaline, it seemed bearable.

Now this just cracked me up in Phoenix.

On the bus to get our rental car (a red Mustang!) after a lovely flight. We flew US Air, which had the most comfortable coach seats ever. Decent leg room and not too cold. Now it's 70+ degrees, sunny, at 9am! I love Arizona.

We called from the airport to beg for an early check in. She told us that they wouldn't have a King bed, but a room upgrade with two queens was available. Was this OK? I told her we could handle that if we tried very hard. She laughed, and got us in early!

Our gorgeous room. So beautiful, the beds were perfection and the room was huge! I asked Kevin which bed he was going to sleep in. He said the one with me in it.

The view from our balcony! This is the smaller courtyard pool. There was also a larger main pool with a waterslide and pool-side grill. Both were heated, had small hot tubs, and outdoor fire pits.

Hanging at the pool. That color is a Tiffany blue called "For Audrey." The name alone made me buy that color.

Kevin squeezing in a cat nap for thirty minutes. I was too hyped up to nap. So I read a book in the sunshine. Heaven.

We lounged at the spa for an hour before our various treatments. They had a co-ed pool/lounging area, with separate jacuzzis, steam rooms, and saunas. We ate lunch by the pool in our bathrobes. Kevin tried the steam room, while I took a shower with all their smelly soaps. He got his nails cleaned up and I had my hair done. Totally worth it. Plus, this was the only meal we paid for the entire weekend (aside from snacks for the room and at the airport).

My dress is a silky fabric with black, gray, and pink watercolor flowers. I got a gray cashmere shawl, sliver strappy sandles from Payless, and spanx underwear. That stuff is the bomb.

In our wedding finery by the fountain before the ceremony. The wedding was outside with a fab Lutheran pastor from Rachel's home church. About 100 guests I think. The bridesmaids had truly great dresses: black, knee-length, spaghetti straps, wrap V-neckline, lightly flaired from the waist. Four girls of different heights and sizes, and they all looked great. And one could get away with wearing them again. Really. The holy grail of bridesmaid dresses.

Kevin is wearing his black pinstripe suit from H&M with a pink on pink striped dress shirt, monocrome pink tie, and black loafers. He looked so wonderful.

After the ceremony, we had appetizers and cocktails before dinner while the bride and groom took more pictures. This is Kevin with his Dad. I don't know how we missed getting photos with Kevin's mom. She looked amazing! She spend lots of time helping Kevin's sis with her two little ones, because she's an awesome Nana like that.


The matting for their engagement photo was mirrored, so we signed it with an etching pen. Very clever.

Her color scheme was black and white with hot pink accents. Gorgous. We had table assignments, menu cards, and the tables were labled based on places special to the bride and groom.
Can you tell I'm not wearing a bra with this dress? Very brave of me, post-nursing, don't you think?
Aren't they cute? The cake tasted great. I was really full by now, or I could have eaten lots of pieces.
In between dancing (Kevin dances with me at weddings. He's the best) we drank lots of wine and chatted with everybody.

We left the party around 10:30pm. Not bad on three hours of sleep and a 2am wake up call that morning. We slept in Sunday until 7:30am, hung out at the pool, hit the brunch with the family, and then played in the pool some more until we were forced to check out. But even after checking out, we could still use the pool! Kevin and I were the only adults using the water slide. But we did let the little kids cut in front of us.
After leaving the hotel we went to Doug and Rachel's house for presents (we still need to get them one. We realized we'd forgotten that part...in Arizona around 3pm) and pizza. More family time, then back to the airport.

It's painfully obvious who lives in Arizona and who doesn't.

The trip was amazing. We missed Patrick and would love to take him back, but it was a treat to have adult time for more than a few hours. He did great with Grandma and Craig, and seemed happy to see us the following morning. Then he spent the rest of the week having a meltdown.