Trip to Phoenix

At the end of September, my boss very graciously offered to take Jason and I on the work trip that he earned throughout the past year.  Jason decided against coming because he'd miss too much school and homework to make it worth it.  We worked it out that the girls were able to come instead.

We stayed at the Arizona Biltmore.  It is a famous hotel in Phoenix that was built in part by Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1920's.  It is quite the fortress of a hotel.  You can tell it was built before air conditioning.  It's basically built a lot like a castle, only long instead of tall.  Long story short, the vacation was phenomenal and was so very kind of Ken and his family to allow us to tag along.

Those beds right there, so so comfortable too!

New York Life doesn't do things small.  The entire trip, things were done way over the top.  Here is the the set up for our first night buffet party. 

Ken's girls are about the same age as ours so it worked out so well.  The girls had a blast!

Main Lobby

Desserts!!

New York building made out of Legos.

Have I ever mentioned how much I enjoy original and beautiful lights?

3 of the 8 pools available.  Marilyn Monroe liked this pool the best. That tall structure in the back is a water slide.

The food was off the charts and always buffet style. I wanted to steal those little pudding cup things.  They were to die for!

This is where the orchestra pit was placed years ago. This is on the 2nd floor above the main lobby.  Just off to the side of this area is where Clark Gable once stayed.

Camel back mountain.

This house up on the hill was a wife's little getaway of one of the owners of the hotel.

The Honor dinner was the fanciest dinner.  Check out this spread!

Dessert!!  Pretty much like a pot of liquid chocolate.  So so rich, just like I like it.

Every president since Hoover has stayed at the Biltmore.  Pretty cool stuff.

I was in charge of these hooligans for a day or so while Ken and his wife flew home to see their son off on an LDS mission.   Like girls do, we headed straight to the mall! 

And to a trampoline park.

The next day, NYL carted us out to Odysea Aquarium.  Really cool place!

See the fishes in the hanging globes?

There's a crock in there somewhere.

Sloth was being slothful.

Otters!!  Otters, as my teenager would say, are life.  In other words, I love me some otters!

More pool time.  This was a different pool.  The hotel had 8 different ones to play in.

The last night we were taken to a ranch and had food and games and lots of fun.

This cute burrow cuddled right up to Allie.  She even sat down and he tried to get in her lap.  Her handler had to get after the burrow because she said that if the burrow sat in Allie's lap, it'd be about 300 pounds.  It was cute how they cuddled though.

All this stuff was free, ice truck and all.

Mexican Rodeo

The Grand Canyon.  First time I've seen it.  Pretty cool, even from far away!

Thanks doesn't even begin to cover it.  What a wonderful trip we had and so many fun memories were made!  Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Richeys!