As Hazens travel the world, beloved Nicole always with them

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There's no such thing as being off when you're the general manager of a Major League Baseball team, but the time around Christmas and New Years is the one spot on the calendar where a GM can get as close to away from the job as possible.

Mike and Nicole Hazen tried to make the most of that precious window after he became GM of the Diamondbacks in October 2016. They took their four boys -- Charlie, John, Teddy and Sam -- on special trips. Early destinations included Aruba, Maui and Puerto Rico, and then in 2019, they traveled to London.

It became a treasured break in the calendar for the family.

The travels paused after the London trip when Nicole was diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

After a brave fight, Nicole passed away in August 2022, and when that season ended, Mike decided to take the boys away on a four-day fly-fishing trip to Montana.

"It was amazing," Hazen said. "We had a great time, and it was just the five of us, and we were in the middle of nowhere. And I just started thinking that this is something that could be very healthy for us."

Inspired by Nicole's aunt and uncle, who traveled all over the globe to places like Antarctica, Hazen decided to make their trips more exotic. And so for the holidays in 2023, he and his sons went to Argentina, Peru and Patagonia.

Starting with the fly-fishing trip, the five of them would take some of Nicole's ashes along with them on the trip and spread them in some of nature's most beautiful spots.

In that way, she is still a part of their journeys and adventures. Hazen recently gifted Nicole's mom a map of the world and a set of pushpins so she can mark each of the places where Nicole's ashes have been left.

"We're creating a map around the world of the places where we're going to spread her ashes," Hazen said. "Instead of just in one spot or keeping them, I want them to have a memory, not only of the trips we take when they get older and when they have their families, but also make it connected to Nicole. Every time we spread her ashes, one of us does a little tribute to her. It's a little moment that we have in the middle of all these trips. We try to pick the coolest place, wherever we are."

Sometime around June this year, they will start talking about where to go next. There's been some talk about an African safari, but the Hazens will talk through all the possibilities as a family before deciding.

And while he's able to get away from the office, Hazen still has his phone on these trips, and he does deal with business while away.

For instance, when the Diamondbacks shocked the baseball world by signing free agent Corbin Burnes to a six-year, $210 million contract, Hazen was in New Zealand.

One of the reasons Hazen is able to get away like that is the support he gets from managing general partner Ken Kendrick and team president/CEO Derrick Hall, who have stressed to him the importance of taking care of his family.

It was Kendrick, Hall and assistant GM Amiel Sawdaye who did a lot of the heavy lifting on the Burnes signing, while Hazen contributed to it before he left and some when he was away.

And while Hazen works to create memories for his sons that include Nicole, he's also working to make sure the Nicole Hazen Fund For Hope raises as much money as it can to help fund innovative therapies, cutting-edge research and pioneering discoveries to help find a cure for glioblastoma.

"I'm still very committed to trying to make sure that what she went through wasn't in vain," Hazen said. "That somebody, someday is going to benefit from what she went through and the money that we've raised helping to find a cure for that. We're doing what we can to try to bring some better level of care to this disease."