BubbaTubbs: Anniversary Getaway 2010

Eleven years with the same person!
What an accomplishment. Who does that anymore?! :)

I guess we are just "old fashioned."

This year I had grand plans for our anniversary. Petunia is almost 14 months and I thought she might be able to handle two nights away from us....and us from her. :)

I recruited Luke's mom and dad to babysit for us at our house while I surprised Luke with a two night getaway.

It was all going according to planned. (Not that I had anything planned--besides the idea of getting away for two nights with my husband.). I enlisted Luke's Assistant Principal back in August to help keep the Friday of our anniversary clear of meetings/activities so I could show up in the morning and kidnap him. I thought I was so clever until he came home one day and started talking about different activities.....one big one which happened to fall on our anniversary Friday. I slyly e-mailed his AP and asked what the heck was going on and she said she couldn't block out the day on her calendar because he looks at her calendar (so she had forgotten)....and I guess Luke has a bad habit of scheduling everything himself anyways. So, this kidnapping scheme was getting difficult to conceal.

Time to go to Plan B---which was break down and tell him.

I am glad I finally did because I couldn't decide where to go anyways. Somewhere warm, somewhere cool. Beach or no beach? Once I told him, we contemplated a few different destinations before finally choosing Indian Wells. We stayed at a resort there once before about five years ago and LOVED it. Its about 5-10 miles east of Palm Springs so its still nice and warm AND quiet.

We decided to try Priceline.com to make the sleeping accommadations because I have heard so much about the website lately. Let me just tell you that I will be using this website EVERY TIME I have to books a hotel from here on out. It was so easy. Basically I created my account, entered my destination and requested a resort for $100/night. I was so excited it accepted my offer the first time and it was for a resort that is normally around $300+/night. YAY!

A few minutes later we began to get a little greedy and wished we would of started our "bid" a little lower. Oh well, live and learn.

The resort was right across the street from the Miramonte resort we stayed at in 2005, so we knew exactly where we were going. We stayed at the Esmerelda Renaissance Resort and Spa.

I loved this hotel. We would definitely stay here again...and again...and again! It was also VERY family friendly. I bet we can get a smokin' hot deal here next summer for the family when its 110 degrees outside!

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We left the house Friday morning after the boys got on the bus and Petunia got situated with Grandma. Indian Wells is 231 miles so we were ready for the long drive.

We knew we wanted to go see a movie and decided to stop along the way in Old Pasadena to watch it and walk around for a bit. Luke was just there the day before to see an educational movie with a co-worker, so he was excited to show me a few places that were new to us.

We loved the movie: "Life As We Know It." Very cute/funnyand would watch it again.

After the movie we walked a few blocks to a cupcake shop. They had so many flavors to choose from AND they made mini versions too. That meant I could try almost every flavor without the guilt! :)

I think my favorites were the strawberry lemonade AND the caramel apple pie.

After cupcakes we headed to Indian Wells....and got stuck in traffic.

Dinner: Cheesecake Factory. Their Chicken Stuffed Tortillas and Raspberry Lemonade are my favorite things to eat!! I think we were both buzzed off the lemonade after two refills. I don't even want to know how much sugar was in there.....

Saturday morning! Up bright and early.

We went to the fitness room, which was PACKED.

Who works out on "vacation?" haha!

Then we showered and headed out to do some sightseeing, shopping, walking, eating, eating, eating, watch another movie, walking.....

Luke with his new BFF. He is a great listener.

After lunch at "Island Burgers" (which had a delicious turkey burger) we saw another movie: "Its Kind of a Funny Story."

Except for my popcorn smothered with milk duds, it kind of sucked. I would have fallen asleep if I could. A few laughs here and there but slow and depressing.

Saturday night out by the pool. HUGE pool area with two hot tubs.

Sweeeeet!

Sunday morning we stopped by a French restaurant/bakery on our way home.

We picked up two chocolate crossiants and they were A-MA-ZING! The best I have ever had. I guess it could of been because the owner was speaking French when we walked in. This is me saying "Merci beaucoup."

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Eleven things that I love about my husband:

1. He can read my mind, 99% of the time

2. He knows when its time to stop and feed his wife....before someone comes up missing or hurt.

3. He thinks its hot when I talk "Jeeps"

4. He loves my curls even though I think straight hair would be more delicious

5. He gave me a little girl who looks JUST LIKE HIM, even though he prayed she wouldn't.

6. He never calls me by my name unless he's not happy with me

7. He sends me scriptures via e-mail

8. He says he is a simple man, but he is actually quite complex

9. When he lets out a good belly laugh, it makes me laugh like a school girl

10.When he tries to pull his wrestling moves from HS/college on me...and sometimes I can slip away.