Arizona Vacation: We Had a Great Time Until...

Niles and I did something this weekend that we have never done since we have had children--we went away for the weekend--just the two of us. O.K.--so we did go to Arizona together last May--to finish packing and loading all our belongings. And then to drive in a caravan of two Rider trucks back to Utah--but that doesn't count!

This past weekend, Nile's firm was having their company Christmas party. Since he works for a firm with offices in Tempe and Tuscon Arizona, as well as the Salt Lake City office, the company party was in Arizona. And they paid for us to fly down and have dinner and spend the night at a resort in Sedona. We were O.K. with that!

We almost didn't get to go at all, since Atom came down with the stomach flu very early Thursday morning and then that afternoon started crying and clutching his ear. I took him to the doctor and sure enough, he had an ear infection! Poor little guy--you shouldn't have the stomach flu and an ear infection at the same time. Minnie also stayed home with a headache, sore throat, and congestion that day, too, but seemed to be improving as the day went on. I did 2 million loads of laundry (bedding, pillows, etc.) trying to make sure everything was sanitary and the germs were as contained as possible. Every time I touched Atom or anything he touched, I washed my hands thoroughly. By the end of the day, I had a rash on my hands from so much washing. We decided if everyone that was sick was significantly better and everyone that was well was still well in the morning, then we would still leave Friday morning as planned.


Nile's work group had a "team building activity" planned for Friday afternoon. That means we went to the Desert Botanical Gardens. We went to the zoo countless times while we lived in Arizona, but somehow never made it to the botanical gardens--which is about 1/2 mile up the road from the zoo. So it was fun to finally go see the botanical gardens. They have a special exhibit right now--this guy who makes blown glass sculptures that are pretty amazing. They had some of his pieces scattered throughout the gardens.

Had to pose with a Saguaro!

This is made of glass--not a real plant! The weather was perfect--clear, sunny, warm but not too hot.

After the botanical garden, we were able to squeeze in a visit with Joe & Amy. It sure was fun to see them again! We were planning to visit Fred & Marjie too but ran out of time. We thought we could maybe catch them later in the visit but that didn't work out, unfortunately.

We had called a friend in Peoria to see if we could visit out there for a little while and found out that our former ward's Family Christmas Dinner was that evening. What luck! So we were able to go out there and see a ton of our old friends all in one place. I took my camera in but I was so busy talking to friends that I forgot to take photos of any of them.

Then we headed off to Bruce & Gay's house--they had graciously agreed to put us up for the night. We had fun visiting with Gay, Matt, and Starla that evening and then visited some more with Bruce, Gay, and Starla the following morning. It was Starla's birthday and we had a delicious waffle breakfast with them. It was so great to see all of them again!

Around noon we headed off to Jeff & Jodi's house to meet them for lunch. Again, we had another happy surprise when we called them and discovered that Grandma Crane had already arrived for her Christmas visit!! So we were able to spend some unexpected time with her as well as Jeff & Jodi. We had a delicious lunch with them at a place called Crackers.

Jeff and Jodi at lunch on the outdoor patio.

Grandma and Niles. Only in Arizona can you eat outside in shirt-sleeves on December 6th! Our only complaint about this visit is that it was too short. After lunch we headed to Sedona.

We arrived in the late afternoon, as you can tell from the following photos. Our room overlooked the golf course--which we really couldn't see because of this beautiful tree planted just outside our balcony:

A little of the golf course that we could see.

Our room--I love the lighting of the setting sun.

That evening we had a very nice dinner with everyone in the company. They had dancing but most of it was fast dancing and the music was too loud. We did dance most of the slow dances--I am just not a dancer and don't feel comfortable getting up in front of a bunch of total strangers! My only other complaint was that the dining room was so cold!! Most of the women were in spaghetti strap dresses--I don't understand how they weren't all freezing--I wore my jacket most of the night and I was still cold! We stayed until we felt like it wasn't rude to leave--there wasn't much going on after dinner except for drinking and fast dancing so that part was rather boring for us. I wouldn't have minding talking to people to get to know them better, but the music was really too loud for conversation. I wish I had thought to take my camera to get some photos of the pretty decorations and some of Nile's co-workers.

All in all, we had a terrific time and were so glad we were able to go. Everything was going perfectly until--the stomach flu hit Niles fast and hard about 1:00 a.m. on Sunday. The poor guy was totally miserable for the next four hours before he finally was able to go back to sleep. I was lying awake worrying about him and feeling helpless since there wasn't much I could do for him and worrying about if I was going to get sick sometime on the way home the next day. Ugh! Not a pleasant time for either of us. We were going to attend sacrament meeting in Sedona Sunday morning but that was definitely out. We slept in as late as we could and thankfully Niles was well enough to travel. I wasn't sure he was going to make it when he was looking white as a sheet and ready to pass out just from the effort of showering and getting dressed. But somehow he did it, thankfully. So these are some photos we snapped from the car on our way out of town:

We just weren't up to stopping for photos. I decided that I better not eat anything in case I was about to get sick, which turned out to be a wise decision. We sipped on ginger ale and sprite. I didn't feel very well but wasn't sure if it was illness coming on or just the lack of sleep the night before. I had a slight headache and pain in my stomach. By the time we got to the rental car place, I had the chills but still no nausea so we just kept going, hoping for the best. I noticed that the food from the airport restaurants didn't smell even slightly appealing, despite having not eaten all day. But thankfully it wasn't until after we landed in Salt Lake City and we were off the plane that the nausea finally hit me. And I didn't get anywhere near as sick as Niles so I really can't complain.

Meanwhile, we had found out that Minnie had been struck by the flu early Sunday morning as well. We felt so bad for her and also sorry that Nile's sister, Michelle had to deal with one of our sick children. We are praying she is spared and doesn't get sick from being exposed. She did an excellent job taking care of our children all weekend. We owe her big-time!

Overall, we are still glad we went and mostly had a great time--it just didn't end on the best note and we sincerely hope that everyone we visited with didn't catch our bug. The small part of me that rebels against the unfairness in life wonders why we aren't allowed to have one weekend away in sixteen years of marriage without the stomach flu ruining it but I guess it is O.K. since if most of the people on this planet could know the details of our life, they would feel it quite unfair that we have so many more blessings than they do. We are definitely on the favorable side of life on this planet and have so much to be thankful for. And the romance in our marriage has always thrived and is in no way dependent on romantic weekend getaways. Another thing that we are extremely grateful for!