Scottsdale

Brandon got to go to the JSConf (java script) conference in Scottsdale. I tagged along and sent the girls to Jason's. They had a great time with Shalee -- went to the zoo, among other things. I had a great time enjoying the warm weather. The neat thing about this conference was that they expected the attendees to bring their spouses/families. They had a "significant others track" that I signed up for. We flew out to Phoenix on Sunday evening and got settled in. Brandon went to classes Monday morning, while I boarded a bus to Sedona. It was a 2 hour trip out there. We stopped at a couple lookout points. They served us a nice girlie lunch at a cafe, and then they dropped us off in town for a couple hours of shopping. The girls I hung out with were as discouraged about shopping as I am. I don't think anyone on the whole bus bought a thing. Progress. Even more encouraging was the number of discussions I heard about veganism or eating healthy. Someone was reading a book about food. I had a full 2 hour conversation with a girl I sat next to about food. It got a little tiring after that long, but I'm grateful for any opportunity to teach people who want to learn. After shopping we boarded the bus and headed back to the hotel. I actually found out the day before that my grandma was in Sedona. I tried to hook up with her during our free time, but they weren't able to get away. My uncle told me she was having some dizzy spells, but perked right up when she heard I was near. Good thing I went :)

The conference held parties each night, but Brandon and I skipped them and just hung out together. That was the whole point of getting away together. Our days were pretty full, but at least we had some time in the evenings to spend together.

Tuesday they gave us 3 different options. I chose to go to Frank Lloyd Wright's Taliesin West. That was much more entertaining than Sedona, and not nearly as exhausting. I only took pictures there on my phone, but I haven't uploaded them yet. This tour was much closer and only took a couple hours. That left my whole afternoon free. Brandon came over and spent his lunch hour with me, and then I got to relax the rest of the day. Mostly just hung out by the pool. The weather was perfect. I took a jacket, but never had to use it.

Wednesday morning we had to come home. It was a short conference, but I'll take any trip I can. We had to go pick the girls up after our flight got in and then made it home later that afternoon. I even had energy to go shopping to restock our fridge.