Well, Chuck outdid himself planning our celebration for our anniversary! I felt really special and pampered! On Friday, when the kids got out of school, I drove them over to my moms for a spend the night party! I got home about 3:00 and got mine and Chuck's clothes all packed up. We hopped in the car and drove to east Scottsdale to stay at the Hyatt resort at Gainey Ranch. It's a gorgeous and peaceful resort. They have rooms in the actual hotel but they also have little one bedroom duplex apartments right on a little lake. Chuck had rented one of those for the night1 It was very peaceful and a little separate from the rest of the hotel. This place has lots of greenery and water features with bunnies hopping around and ducks waddling everywhere. Here are some photos:
This is one pool view. They actually have several pool areas that are all connected. The clock tower has a slide in it.
At this end of the pool, there's actually a little beach! The columns in the pool have water running down them.
This is a view of the living room in our "suite".
 This was the view of our bedroom walking into it with the patio just outside the door.
Could the colors in this room be any more "me"?!!!
Here's Chuck on our patio overlooking the little lake full of Koi and ducks!
Chuck and I had 7:30 dinner reservations at his 4 star restaurant there at the hotel. Again, the decor is so "me"!!! Chuck had called ahead and ordered and prepaid for our meal so we just sat back and enjoyed it! He ordered the chef's choice tasting menu... 7 courses! We didn't know what would show up at the table next! Each course was paired with wine to go with it. We were started off with champagne and then the food and wine started coming. We literally were in the restaurant for 2-1/2 hours! Well, it was an amazing experience. I tried to photograph every course because each looked like a piece of artwork but I got lost in the experience! Here I am with my favorite course. It was beef tenderloin medallions served with a few different sauces. One was a rhubarb sauce, a sweet mustard, a wine vinegar sauce, and onion jam. The onion jam and rhubarb with the beef... well, there just aren't words to say how fantastic this was. And the wine was divine!
Everything was just beyond words fantastic! However, in Chuck's effort to keep everything a surprise for me, he neglected to tell me how many courses we'd be having... each with it's own wine paired with it, that by the time I realized the magnitude of it all, I'd already drank my whole glass of champagne and been sipping on a few different wines. Well, anyone that knows me, knows I'm a total light-weight drinker. I only drink a few glass of wine a year! Needless to say, by the time I finished this 5th course, I knew I wasn't feeling so great. More alcohol than I'm used to paired with rich foods. I barely tasted the 6th course and just tasted the dessert. Got back to the room and the romance went out the window when I got sick and lost all of my dinner! :( I just can't even believe that happened thinking aobut it now! Of course, alcohol makes me really sleepy too so I fell right to sleep after I got sick! What a memory! LOL! Poor Chuck... he was so sweet about it.
I woke the next morning with him serving me coffee and fruit/pastries in bed... as a breakfast appetizer! LOL! We got up and went to breakfast. I had a delicious breakfast of beef tenderloin (again!) with scrambled eggs, asparagus, and a tomatoe cooked with cheese on top. It was so yummy!
After breakfast, we went and sat in the jacuzzi for a bit. We did have a minor "spat"... and for us, only having one minor spat while celebrating a major event, well, it's quite an accomplishment! THings with big expectations seem to get us both set up for a major blow out... this was minor and over pretty quickly... then we made up 
We dozed a little bit in the afternoon and then got a fire going in the living room. We just hung out and were totally lazy! We also walked around the property and looked at how beautifully it was designed. Near the pool, we discovered a little feeding station for the fish and OMG, I couldn't believe all these fish! They were huge and not only Koi but also some enourmous catfish!
We got all our stuff together in the afternoon after getting showered and dressed... again. We went to lunch about 3:00 and then checked out at 4:00. We immediately headed towards my mom's since I had to pick up the boys along with a babysitter because Chuck and I had a fundraiser to attend.
We left the house at about 7:00 for our fundraiser. I purchased, in a silent auction, a 3 hour painted on location session with a artist friend of mine, Jeff Del Nero. Then, I also won the auction for a piece of artwork done by his wife, Mary. It's a tryptic clay tile piece and is very cool. I also won 3 raffle items! I came home with lots of stuff!
This morning, I had to work in Max's class at church and now that we're home, I have lots of stuff to catch up on... laundry, just to mention the biggest mountain to climb! Gotta' get suitcases put away too. I have a friend coming over for coffee in the morning so I have lots to get done today. | 
