Oh, how we love the desert

Desert love started back when Chad and I were dating and we would go to his parents' timeshare once per year for a few days. It was so much fun! We would play tennis, ride Tandy (the good ole' tandem bike), take those little boats to dinner at that one hotel, and just enjoy the heat. Now that we have our little babes, it's so much fun to go out there every few months or at least once a year. Luckily, Chadly's sister lives in La Quinta so their home has become a grand crash pad for us - the best kind of hang out. It wasn't until this last trip where I started to think about how many cool memories the kids will have from all of the consistent years of driving the 100+ miles out there. My family used to go to Salt Lake City all throughout growing up, which provided an awesome back drop for family time in addition to hanging out with my parents' best friends. I'm thinking that's how Carter and Kota will think of the desert. Normally, when we're out there, it's for an event or large family gathering, but this time we just went to chill! No where to be, the only thing on the docket was to swim like mad men and hang with Auntie Maggie, Uncle Justin and cousin Sarah. So nice and fun!

A few awesome points from this last trip:

* The kids swimming from sun up to sun down. If we didn't pull them out of the water to eat, no food would have entered those little bodies. Sleep? No way! They were super into it.

* Maya the dog, Carter's obsession, was so protective over them! Every time they jumped off the ledge it sent her into a worried tail spin. It just got me even more excited to get a pup.

* La Whole30 was broken over the weekend on day 26 (which I was prepared for), which threw me into extreme levels of thankfulness because it showed me just how much LOVVVVVVE for the program I have. I kept everything in line mainly, but then had a few freshly made margaritas, with the only offensive ingredient being the tequila! They were amaze balls. There was also a small Ghirardelli brownie and, NOT TO BE FORGOTTEN, a ridiculously tasty Brandini vanilla milk shake. No regrets here, sista. Anyway, a cool thing beyond discovering how much more awesome Whole30 is than I had originally thought, was that I think I've narrowed down the break outs to chocolate. Kind of a cool find!

* The new cool thing for Chad and I to do when entering someone else's house: sift through what we like about their place. Gigantic hedges? Maybe we should plant some of those! Pottery Barn dishware? Obsessed! A big blanket on one of the couches just for the dog? That's going to need to happen. Sleek looking toaster oven? Me likey. It's so fun!

* Brandini, y'all. The shop we went into is their second location, right smack dab in downtown Palm Springs. It just is so cool! And those toffee products? OUT. OF. THIS. WORLD. They speak to me whenever they're in the house. "Nicole, I'm here, come eat me, who cares if chocolate will probably make you break out... who cares!" There are no words for the Brandini experience. Yummmmmmmmm.