The BIG 20th Anniversary

I finally got Mike to take me some where to celebrate our marriage. Not just dinner or a movie but really going somewhere. I knew he would never go for Hawaii or some romantic beach. I figured if we were going to go somewhere it would have to be something he loved. He suggested that we could go to a professional tennis tournament in California. I was game for that. He then tried to back out and suggested we go to some place local. Unless your a snow skier , Northern Utah is not the place to go to do something fun. I finally convinced him this tennis tournament could be something fun to do. He hates to travel so the thought of airplanes, crowds, finding our way through California, hotels, etc didn't seem quite worth the hastle. He finally agreed and we purchased the tennis tickets and airline tickets. It was then up to me to find the rental, hotel, etc. Never being in this town it was hard to decide how far a hotel would be from the tournament. I finally found the closest one that was worth the money to spend. For the next few weeks the excitement grew. I was a little nervous leaving Ashley in charge of the other 4 kids but we figured she needs to learn how to be responsible. Well, I can honestly say we loved it!! The airline was on time and wonderful. I would recommend Jet Blue any day over American airline. (that's the airline we used to go to Disneyland a few months ago.) We flew into Long Beach....Talk about a small airport with little hastle. So much better than LAX. We walked across the street to get our car that we had rented. So off to Indian Wells we went. Of course we stopped for lunch before continuing our 2 hour drive. It always amazes me of the amount of traffic in California. It took a little longer to drive but we arrived in Palm Springs safe and sound. (this is where our hotel was.) We checked in and relaxed for a while and then headed to Indian Wells. What a beautiful place.

It was so fun to see these professional tennis players play. You see them on TV all the time but here they are right in front of your face.

(Fish and Rodick)

Andy Murray was practicing on the practice courts and a few times he walked right up to where I was standing. Mike had walked off to watch some other players warm up so I was by myself when Murray came close to me. He looked up but I just smiled at him. Mike asked why I didn't say hi or say hey Andy say hi Trudi. I told him I didn't want to bother him and I was afraid I would get kicked out. He just laughed. This picture proves how close he was to me. I didn't take the really close ones cuz it just seemed weird so at least I can say I smiled at him.:) We spent Thursday- Saturday there. We didn't go watch any tennis on Saturday. We packed up and headed back to the airport on Saturday. I kept saying to Mike, "I wish we could stay a couple more days. I'm not ready to go home". Home is where we went though. The only tragedy was Mildred our cat got hit and was dead on the side of the road. The kids called Thursday to say they thought it was her on the side of the road. They did a check and sure enough it was her. Ashley and Jase scooped her up in a garbage bag and put her by the fence for Mike to bury when we got home. They were a little grossed out by her eye ball that was popped out. Sorry for the graphic details. It was hard to be back home but, you gotta get back to reality some time. I hope next year we can go again and stay a little longer. Just have to say I love being with my husband. To hold hands, laugh and talk together. I can honestly say he always makes me laugh. I hope there are many more years of laughter with him.