April 4, 2011: Scottsdale, here we come!

Heaveno!

Well, my conference is over, save for one more email to send out and some final balancing of the books.  I stayed 4 nights on the Queen Mary, and honestly, it might have been the most fun venue I have ever stayed on or at.  I felt like I was on it long enough to have sailed from NY to England!  I made my first shipment drop on Tuesday of last week, and pulled away last night at 8:30 pm.  I truly fell in love with the ship, though.  Completely hand made, the Queen Mary was truly the most elegant ship of its era, and we are lucky to get to take in all that luxury at a fraction of what that level of luxury would cost today!  I think we were really spoiled, and that next year's conference at the Red Lion in Salt Lake City is just, well, not quite the QM in terms of charm.  How could it be?  I will say that the Red Lion's hotel rooms are AMAZING and really nice, but the meeting rooms are, well, your standard boxes.  Oh well, next time conference is in socal, we're coming back to the Queen Mary!

On the home front, we leave tomorrow morning for an overnight trip to Phoenix/Scottsdale area.  There is an cocktail party/event in north Scottsdale, AZ tomorrow night where the head doc from U of M Amplatz children's hospital will be meeting and greeting other U of M alum that have relocated to AZ as well as friends and family of ours.  We're really excited to connect some of our friends and family from AZ with the gals at the Minnesota Medical Foundation who will be on hand.  I'm also curious to hear from Dr. Neglia about the transplant study to see where it shows up on his radar.

We have about 6-7 people joining us as our guests, and we get to stay with our dear friends, Bob and Lynne Boschee, whom we stayed with at the lake up north over the summer as well as when we did Bella's AZ gathering.  It is always a good time for everyone as her kids and Ali get along great as well.

Also!  there is a REALLY cool online auction raising money for PUCK going on till May 10.  One of Team Bella, Laura Valetutto, lives in Germany with her husband and 17 month old daughter, Anna.  She followed Bella's journey faithfully and you may recall seeing her regular comments from "The Artful Gardener" over the summer and fall.  She and her husband, Thomas, have put some really unique-to-Germany items on there that you should check out!  I am ALL OVER the FC Bayern Munchen military style hat!  Bayern is my favorite team in Germany!  Please go bid on some items you just can't get over here, and in turn, be a part of the cure!  If nothing else, would you consider putting her blog address on your facebook wall so your friends can see it and check it out, too?  Check out her GREAT blog title!

http://www.ebthecure.blogspot.com

All you have to put in your post on FB is something like, "Please check out this unique online auction that raises money for a foundation I care about and support called PUCK.  Thanks!"

Pretty easy, right?

Thanks as always for sticking with us.  We are grateful for you.

P.S.  Ali is 7 days away from turning 5!

God night.