This weekend we took a short trip to Scottsdale to spend some time with my family. We all stayed at The Phoenician in Scottsdale, AZ and it turned out to be a perfect hotel for the six of us.
Our close family friends have a condo in Scottsdale, and 3 of their 4 kids attend ASU, so we spent a lot of time with them too.
In downtown Tempe they took us on a hot, but quick hike up the "A" mountain in the middle of campus.
The weather was hot. Like, too hot.
You can really only be outside for short period of times and I'm not sure I've ever had so much water in one given weekend.
The first night, before Joel joined us, we had an amazing dinner at Olive and Ivy in Old Scottsdale.
We up with the Murphy clan to pregame before dinner. Obviously.
We've been family friends for coming on 15 years and it's so much fun to hang out with everyone as full blown adults. Kinda crazy how fast time flies.
The pools at the Phoenician were amazing and we spent the entire time in the water, or in the shade.
It's been a long time that the five (and now six) of us have had a few days of uninterrupted together time and we had honestly had so much fun just being together.
I'm pretty sure we just laughed the entire weekend.
On Friday night, the five of us had dinner at The House Brasserie before Joel flew in.
The food and service were amazing - I would totally go back the next time we visit.
I had to laugh because at some point during the dinner, someone spotted my purse on the ground and laid it over a napkin. I mean, besides being hysterically cute - talk about above and beyond service!
On Saturday, after a few games of tennis, we went to tailgate for the ASU v. Wisconsin game.
After the tailgate, we went back to Old Town Scottsdale for dinner at El Chorro (just so-so). We watched the football game from our parents room, ordered in dessert and tea, and got to bed pretty early.
The weekend was so perfect, and I just feel so lucky to have such an amazing family.
Sunday we had to part ways - after a quick visit to a cactus farm.
I'm already homesick for all of them and very, very thankful to be out of 108 degree temps!