Tales of the Traveling Tote #39 and a Giveaway

Welcome to our June 2024 edition 

of Tales of the Traveling Tote.  

We started off in Cabo for the 

solar eclipse on April 8th.  It 

was almost a total eclipse.

Miss Petit Four was vacationing 

in Cabo with us and was lucky 

enough to experience the eclipse.  

The pull of the moon affects the 

tides, and with the eclipse happening, 

the beach was completely gone and 

the water was up in the chairs 

at the restaurant we went to. 

The Office is our favorite 

spot for breakfast and we 

went there 

that morning. I 

happened to bring my package 

of ten eclipse glasses with me 

and shared them with the 

waiters!  They were so excited.

Then we went back to the house

to view the full eclipse.  

The next day I got to meet 

Linda Primmer, who was one 

of the ladies who invited me 

into the Tales of the Traveling Tote 

group!  This was the first lady of 

our group that I got to meet in 

person. It was such a thrill for me, 

that I got emotional when I 

first saw Linda. 

 Linda and I have always 

called ourselves "Soul Sister", 

because we love the same style.  

We met up with them at their 

resort and when we went to the 

desk, the person there asked if 

we were sisters!!!  We LOVED that!!!

After touring their resort, we went back 

to our home and took a tour of it.  

Then the four of us headed 

to the Waldorf Astoria 

for dinner to celebrate 

Linda and Paul's 25th 

wedding anniversary.  

Our totes were so happy to be 

there to celebrate with them.

The resort happened to have fireworks

that night right behind our backs, 

and even the waiter teased us 

that the fireworks were just to 

celebrate their anniversary. 

After a delicious dinner of 

watermelon salad, empanadas, 

and lobster they were treated 

to a delicious dessert.  

Linda and Paul were so charming 

and lovely.  We had such a great time 

meeting them and celebrating 

with them.  

We were home a week and then 

off to San Antonio to visit my 

sister Jean.  

I had loved seeing Sarah Anderson's

pictures of the shakes she enjoys, 

so I contacted her and asked if 

they had a place in San Antonio.  

They didn't, but she invited us to 

come to Austen and visit her.  

On our way, I told my sister and 

her husband I had to stop at the 

famous Buc'ees 

gas station/destination stop 

for their BBQ sandwich.  Honestyly, 

it is the best BBQ beef sandwich 

I have ever had and I have craved 

it since I had one a few years ago. 

What a month I had, now I was 

meeting in person the other lovely 

lady who encouraged me to join 

the Tales of the Traveling Tote 

group.  I was over the moon to 

meet both of them in two weeks!!! 

Sarah is such a delightful lady 

and we loved visiting her in 

her gorgeous home.  

This is my favorite picture that 

I snapped of her.  She is so elegant 

and fabulous and this picture could 

be in a magazine.  

Her home could be a museum for 

MacKenzie-Childs!!!  Everywhere 

you look is another fabulous MC 

item from furniture to lamps to 

ceramics.  

She even has a MC bathroom!!!

And her backyard is gorgeous 

too.  She is situated in such a 

pretty neighborhood with 

lovely homes.  

Miss Madi K and I had the best 

time getting to know Sarah in person. 

Truly these two weeks were dreams 

come true getting to finally meet 

two of the loveliest ladies, and 

especially since they were the two 

who invited me into the group and 

found a bag online for me so 

that I could be a part of this group. 

Thanks darling ladies.  Now I have 

a few more ladies to get to meet - 

on my bucket list!!

We are finally getting settled 

into our new home, and I will 

start posting that soon.  Whew! 

It has been a project.  

On to your favorite part and that 

is our giveaway!  We have another 

fun tote as a giveaway this time.  

Visit Emily to enter for the tote.

Pop on in and visit all of the 

other ladies in our fun group 

to see where their totes were off to.  

 Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home (you are here)

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader

Tales of the Traveling Totes #38 and A Giveaway

Welcome to our 38th edition 

of Tales of The Traveling Tote, 

where our MacKenzie-Childs 

totes take you to all kinds of 

places and on all kinds of adventures.

We spent most of January and 

most of February in Cabo, again, 

so Miss Petit Four, who stays 

down in Cabo, and I will bring 

you along with us, 

Where the weather is amazing 

this time of year and the sunrises 

and sunsets are spectacular.  

Miss Petit Four and I did a little

refreshing of our flowers in 

the kitchen as they had yellowed 

with time. 

We spent New Years by ourselves 

as we watched fireworks from 

all sides coming from resorts 

and private homes. 

We enjoyed a lot of good food 

together like this shrimp molcajete,

from one of our favorite Mexican 

restaurants, Guacamayas,

before our guests arrived. 

We entertained three separate 

groups, the first one was our 

oldest daughter and her family 

and one of her brother in law's 

family. 

With this many teenage mouths 

to feed I made three batches of 

ice cream a day to treat them.  

This was a chocolate Oreo.  

I brought down an ice cream 

machine in my biggest suitcase 

and it gets used and used. 

Click here to see the ice cream 

machine I am in love with.

We have one at home and in 

Cabo and at Lake Powell.  They 

have more than paid for themselves. 

One of our grandsons caught this 

big Dorado.  He brought the meat 

home and we made fish tacos and 

fish in a lemon sauce.  It was fun 

to see the kids want to eat it.  

We were able to freeze the rest 

and bring it home for him. 

They spent most of the day in the pool and a lot of time at the swim up bar. 

We celebrated my birthday at 

The Montage Resort at Marea 

with a cold seafood tower and 

the best lobster I have ever had. 

Our next group of friends 

arrived a few days after my birthday 

and we were off to breakfast at 

one of our favorite places, The Office. 

The Office is where you can 

take your shoes off and run 

your toes through the sand.  

Miss Petit Four got to come 

along, carrying my beach 

necessities. 

She also got to come onboard 

while I played photographer 

for one of the couples that 

wanted to parasail. 

We had dolphins swimming 

in the pool, 

and whales breaching!  

These guys are a lot of fun! 

Why not celebrate all month 

when you are born in January?!!

Our architect and his wife arrived 

the next week on her birthday.  

We celebrated by going to a couple 

of her favorite restaurants for two 

days and also going to the spa 

at Villa La Estancia resort.

Lucky Miss Petit Four got to come 

along too.  Even though it wasn't 

our architect's birthday, we gifted 

him some lobster sandals, 

since he loves lobster as much 

as we do.  His wife, the birthday 

girl, doesn't like seafood at all. 

Happy Valentine's Day and hubby 

gifted all of the rest of the 

incoming guests with heart shaped 

sunglasses and chocolates.

We ate Valentine's Dinner at 

one of our favorite Italian 

restaurants in Cabo, La Dolce. 

The women held their roses 

from hubby and wore the 

pajamas I had gifted them 

at Christmas. 

Meanwhile back in Utah, 

our oldest granddaughter 

opened her mission call for 

our church, The Church of Jesus 

Christ of Latter-Day Saints. 

She is leaving in June for 

Lima, Peru!  She will serve for 

18 months and will pay her own 

way.  She is posing here with 

her siblings and parents.  They 

were the family that were our first 

group of guests here in January. 

Our last couple joined us on 

two days later.  They are the 

couple on the left.  We attended 

Church on Sunday and experimented 

with Google Translate.  I took 7 years 

of Spanish, but have forgotten so 

much over the years.  I can speak 

enough to get us around, but 

listening to talks at church is a 

little harder.  We had great success 

with Google Translate.

We had fun every morning 

walking through the neighborhood, 

which is all hills.  One morning I 

even took them downtown, which 

is downhill all the way, but then 

uphill going back.  They all made it!

Half of us went up to 

Los Cerritos surf beach 

one day, and then while 

the most avid boogie boarders 

stayed at the beach, we went 

on to Todos Santos to the 

famed 

Hotel California.

It is a beautiful restaurant, and 

not associated with the famous 

song, but worth the drive 

for these massive nachos.

We always have to take our 

iconic photo in the pool 

with the ocean behind.

Although we entertained 

three groups and had a lot of 

fun, January and February 

had five funerals of close 

friends and family.  We were 

able to attend most of them.  

Our hearts were heavy for 

those who lost their loved ones. 

So glad Miss Petit Four and I 

could entertain you too.  

We always have lots of fun 

visitors for our 

Tales of the Traveling Tote 

posts. Now for our giveaway: 

Please visit Debbie 

and leave a comment 

to win this To Go Tote - 

how cute is this?  

And then visit our other 

Travelers to see where 

they have been off to this 

quarter.

 Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths 

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

 Patti with Miss Kenzie @ Pandora's Box  

Jenna with Miss Coquille @The Painted Apron

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply 

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Jackie and Miss Madi K @ Purple Chocolat Home (you are here)

Ricki Jill and Countess De Monet @ The Sketchy Reader