SPOKANE...or San Diego, Oakland, Portland, Seattle...

Well….Dustin and I have been soooo excited to go to Spokane for his dad’s wedding on Valentine’s Day!!! We got things worked out and have been seeing a counselor and come to find out we just aren’t on the same page as far a communicating and listening to one another! So, with that said we both were so ecstatic to spend some much needed time out of Arizona. We decided to change our flight to Thursday night and coming home Monday just in time for our weekly session with our counselor.

Thursday night, Dustin’s kind coworker Ed drove us to the airport and off we were through check-in and security! 1st snag should have given us a clue as to how things were going to play out for our little adventure! Dustin had to go through security, get searched and then go in the x-ray machine! I wish I had taken a picture! It was hilarious! Of all people…of course Dustin was the one to get pulled aside..haha.


We got checked in and listed on a flight (since we fly standby) and waited for our flight to board. Low and behold…apparently MANY people were trying to get out of town on the same night…who would have thought! We missed our 1st flight due to it being full….so Tod tells Dustin how bout try going through Oakland….so off we went. Listed on a flight to Oakland…was surprisingly able to get on, had a stop in San Diego for a bit…got some free drinks! SCORE!!! Finally, we were in the air again…and I started feeling sick. I think I had some food poisoning…UGH! Must have been that nasty Chinese I had for lunch that day! Hoping the Monster and Vodka I had would make me feel better…but clearly didn’t!

We got to Oakland and of course….we got booted off our flight to Spokane! Since it’s about 10pm now and this airport isn’t international, there we NO MORE FLIGHTS going out! We debated getting a hotel room or sticking it out in the airport. Well, after talking to Tod and Oakland being his home base, he recommended if we get a hotel room that we don’t go outside and would be best if we put a chair against the door. After Dustin got done telling me this and finding out that hotels are about $90 a night and we only needed it for about 4 hours…I said HECK NO!!! My life is a bit more important right now than getting a good night’s sleep! Hahah. So nighty-night in a airport chair it was! Great.

By this point the last flight that was delayed about 2 hours finally had taken off…it’s about midnight and I’m soooo exhausted. Being up since 530am is just not fun when you are tired and wanting to crash in a comfy bed! I tried sleeping…while we were the only ones in this place and the security guards kept an eye on us, I still didn’t feel comfortable sleeping; of course Dustin didn’t have any trouble at all….he was snoring away just a chair away. I tried reading, walking, anything to keep me awake….finally I begged Dustin to get up and move to some more comfy chairs. It’s hard to LAY DOWN when then ALL have arms on them! So annoying! Hahah. We could a bit more comfy area, and I was somehow by the grace of God, able to fall asleep for about 1-2 hours. Of course this wasn’t GREAT sleep but it works!

We ran down to our gate, of course at the opposite end of the airport than where we are currently. We listed on a 625am flight at 425am and waited around. This flight was headed to Seattle then to Spokane. I by this time still feeling sicker than a dog with abdominal pain and bloating….running to the restroom thinking SOMETHING would happen. I didn’t care what…just as long as I felt better! Man, food poisoning is the WORST!!!! Up, down, up, down….nothing helped. Dustin ran to get some breakfast and all I wanted to do was die….anything had to make this craziness go away! I opted for a bagel even though it didn’t sound great at all. I had half of a bagel and couldn’t eat anymore! We got on our flight at 625am and Seattle bound we were….THANK GOODNESS!!! We were lucky enough to get some more free stuff and let me tell you, I was pumped full of peanuts and V8 juice for every flight! Haha.

We landed in Portland (I know…we must have stopped at EVERY city in Washington), and had about an hour wait until the plane boarded our Portland friends. While Dustin surfed and uploaded pictures to Facebook…our best friend and communication with a very low battery…since our luggage was patiently waiting for us in Spokane with the phone charger; I passed out for an hour or so….Dustin’s lap and the airplane seats, uncomfortable as they may be, was my new sleeping place! We boarded the plan and by some miracle I didn’t have to get up. Every seat was taken except the one I was laying in! I really really didn’t want to have to share…I already felt like crap.

We landed in Seattle….finally, but still not at our destination and let a nice girl sit by us….she chatted up a storm the ENTIRE way!!! Since Dustin opened his big mouth and told her she could sit with us, I made him sit in the middle! I was soooo not in a mood to entertain anyone! Haha. Our 35 minute flight from Seattle to Spokane was long and uncomfortable. I hadn’t gotten much more than 3 hours of sleep in a 30 hour period, I was sick, needed a shower and wanted to scream! We FINALLY made it to Spokane on Friday and Tod, like a good father he was, was waiting for us outside. Our bags were patiently waiting for us and off we went.

Surprised that there was NO SNOW on the ground in the entire city of Spokane! What happened…how did Arizona get 7-9 feet of snow and Spokane the city that gets on average 81 inches of snowfall a year, not get ANYTHING?? Whatever…I was really to tired and still feeling crappy to care. We made it to Tod’s adorable and HUGE house and were greeted by Dustin’s Nana, Claudine and her hubby Ron. Not really caring who these people are, no offence, but did you read up above??? I just wanted a shower and a nap. So that’s just what I did. I must have really needed that sleep because I barely got myself out of the shower and dressed and passed out on the bed. When I came to, disoriented and still sick…I made myself upstairs to find Dustin and his family going through about 1000 wedding pictures! Hahaha. Glad they enjoyed his commentary!

Tod offered me lunch…I though LUNCH!!! What the heck time is it? I thought it was like 8pm or close to it. My clocks are so off it’s not even funny! Needless to say, it was barely 1230pm! Yes Ashley, lunchtime! Hahah. I made myself a ½ sandwich and tried getting it down. No offence to Tod and his food but it just didn’t sound good. I think I finished about a half of that half sandwich. Cheri and Kaitlyn arrived and we hung out talking about girl stuff while Tod & Dustin bonded in the garage!

Apparently, there was a bachelorette party happening this night and neither Cheri nor I were interested in getting our butts off the couch for. We didn’t even know about it til the last minute. I still didn’t feel well and relaxing sounded more fun that getting wasted and coming home at 2am! Haha…but seems everyone else had a great time! I’m pretty sure I was in bed at a decent time…I think even before Tod & Ron! Haha. Tod threw together dinner for us all and it was sooo good! This made me feel lots better!

Saturday was a new day! We got up, had some of the best French Toast ever and off we went to run around with Lauren! We went to Couer D’ Alene, Idaho and I fell in love with the scenery! We visited a mall, and Lauren’s college! She told us a creepy story about a girl there and I still can’t get the images out of my head. From here we went back to Tod’s for a nice family BBQ just before his wedding on Sunday!!! Still not feeling well I tried to mingle…sorry guys that I wasn’t the most social person there!

Sunday kicked off to Dustin, Cheri and I going for a drive that I think Cheri and I wished we hadn’t signed up for! We got a wedding gift for Tod & Anne and started getting ready for the wedding! We arrived in the rain to the church and things got underway! It was so fun! The ceremony was great, so were the sweets they had at the little reception. Once the reception was over we all went all around town for a nice dinner at the Vintage’s!! Dinner was exceptional and so was the company!

Thinking it could have been the fact that maybe I was pregnant that was making me sick this whole time…so pregnancy test here I come. Low and behold it was negative. Must have just been a nasty GI bug! Great…..just what I wanted on the way home (which was a nightmare too). Monday morning we were up bright and early and off to the airport and jumped on our plane to Vegas since we decided we would have a better chance getting home through Vegas than Oakland again!

Well….we were wrong…way wrong! Keep in mind we have an appointment with our counselor at 745pm and HAVE to be there; he encouraged us to change our plans so we don’t loose any time with him! So we did! Flight after flight passed by and another flight passed by…all of which were overbooked; we couldn’t get on ANY flight! We really really needed to be home by 730pm!!! Needless to say time was running out; Dustin being the friendly person he is approached a couple who was stuck too and we ended up renting a car and DRIVING back to AZ from Vegas! Since WE rented the car I drove the ENTIRE way home….being sick and driving 3 other people in a rental car across state was NOT FUN! Our conversation with Rob & Lori was fun…but I just wanted to be home! As we came into Surprise and looked at the clock, I was sooo happy that we were going to make our appointment at 745pm…that is until Rob said it’s not 630pm…it’s 730pm…the car was displaying Nevada time!!! UGH!!!! So all this mess could have been avoided by just missing our darn meeting and coming home on Tuesday like we planned! We didn’t make our appointment and didn’t get home until after 10pm on Monday night! I still had to be up and ready for work the next day! Soooo the fun and exciting trip we THOUGHT we were going to have was the trip of no sleep, sickness, chaos and exhaustion. All in all we did have a good trip…when we were on the ground! Hahaha….thanks to Tod who let us stay with him, fed us and got us there and home; we love your Southwest privileges’!!!! Thanks for everyone who put up with me….sorry Lauren that we didn’t get to see you much! We hope to get out there soon for a “better” trip!!!

I'll upload pictures some day! hahahaha