Purple Chocolat Home

Tales of the Traveling Totes 47 and a Giveaway

2026-05-15T03:30:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the 47th

Tales of the Traveling Tote,

where women who love

MacKenzie Childs and

love to travel, take their

totes all over the place.

Come explore with us!

As many of you know,

we are serving as full time

missionaries for our church,

The Church of Jesus Christ

of Latter Day Saints.

We are serving just less than

an hour from our home at

Heber Valley Camp. The

camp serves 40-50 thousand

youth each summer and

another 75,000 visitors on

the Faith Walk each summer.

We were chosen to work

on the Challenge Courses,

so we have been training

since the first week of

April to be certified

Challenge Course workers.

The camp has 125 missionary

couples. Others work as

Camp Hosts, Greeters,

Mountain Maintenance,

and Building Maintenance.

At the end of the season

we will help build two

more Challenge Courses

like the one above.

This is our home for

the summer and we will

return again for another

six months next summer.

We are at a high elevation

here so we have had to

climb the courses twice

while snowing.

(Let's just say I am not

a thrill seekers, so this

has stretched me, but I am

growing!)

Once a week we get a day

off - our Preparation Day.

We usually come home

and see the family and

get things done at home.

This week my son said

we should go visit

Ballerina Farm and do

their farm tour up in

Kamas, Utah.

They also have a store

just down the mountain

from us in Midway, Utah.

I grew up in Wisconsin

and my aunt and cousin

had dairy farms, but I

have never seen one like

this. The stalls you can

see on the left are

"waterbeds" so that

the cows don't get sores

from laying down.

The cows freely walk around

the barn and decide when

they are ready to go into

the milking stall. They

line up and it is all

automated. The manger is

a 29 year old woman and

she told us that one cow

likes to be milked 5 times

a day and another 3 times!

They also had Rhumba type

cleaners that automatically

muck the floors. It was so

fun and educational.

The grands got to pet the

new babies.

At birth the manager

decides which cows

will become meat cows

and which will be milk

cows.

I love how these kids

wore their western hats!

Another P Day we went

to visit a local cheese

place. My favorite cheese

that we bought was a

Lemon Sage Variety.

Speaking of cows, just

before we left on our

mission our daughter

who lives next door and

our son and their families

decided they wanted a milk

cow. She has wanted one

for years. Ballerina Farms

has convinced a lot of

young moms that they

want a cow!!!

Ruby is a Jersey milk cow and

is expecting. She was

very unhappy being all

alone so we also got a

Black Angus for meat.

We are renting a neighbor's

pasture for them.

And my daughter also got

these ducks and my son

got six Runner ducks.

It is turning into a menagerie!

Thanks for visiting,

now on to our giveaway!

Pop on over and visit

Ricki Jill and leave a

comment to win this

great bag.

And then

visit these other ladies to

see where they have been

off to lately!

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

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths

Patti with Miss Kenzie and Miss Taylor @ Pandora's Box

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Ricki Jill and Countess de Monet @The Bookish Dilettante

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

Tales of the Traveling Tote 46 and a Giveaway

2026-01-15T03:30:00.000-08:00

Welcome to our 46th

Tales of the Traveling Tote

where lovers of

MacKenzie Childs tell

you a few times a year

what they have been up

to and where they have been.

Miss Pansy and I had a grand

time shopping for

Valentine's Day

decor, especially at

Hobby Lobby.

We walked in and saw

this garland and the

pink velvet bow garlands

and filled our cart -

all at 40% off!!!

I left the garland on

from Christmas to

give the banister decor

some weight and I also

left the lights. Then I

topped it with the tinsel

garland and the velvet

bow garland, using

zip ties.

The only ribbon I used

was this double faced

satin ribbon in a soft

bow.

It really turned out so

Pretty In Pink!

Then I moved this

pink tree into the

entry and decorated

it with all things I

have had from the past.

Notice my beautiful

Queen of Hearts

card that I saved from

our dear Jenna. I

have so many of her

beautiful pieces of art

around my house.

Then keeping with the

pink theme,

Miss Madi K and I

traveled to Salt Lake

for the Harry Potter

exhibition, and I

did my best as

Professor Umbridge

in pink!

Miss Madi K made

it through Platform 9 3/4

just fine. We had a great

time and it was an

amazing and interactive

exhibition.

We even met up with

Snape while we were

there.

I enjoyed it so much

I went twice. This time

was with my middle son

and his wife. They

are working on potions.

But I cannot tell lies,

I loved sitting in

Umbridges office

probably the best.

The same exhibition

hall now has

The Titanic. It is

also a walk through

experience. I have

to fit it into my schedule.

The day after Christmas

we were off to

Cabo to celebrate

New Years and

my birthday.

We tried a new pizza

at Wicked Pizza -

we had seen this one

before, but hadn't been

brave enough to try it.

It is a

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Pizza and has bacon

and jalapenos on it.

We loved it so much

we had it a second night.

We had fifteen of us

there, so we did a lot

of take out. This was

our New Year's Eve from

our favorite Italian place,

La Dolce. They have

the best Gorgonzola Steak.

We have robes for

the adults in each

room, so I brought

down robes for the

kids for our iconic

pool side picture.

We also treated them

to our ice cream on

the beach at sunset.

The family was all gone

by the time it was my

birthday. We went out

for steak and lobster at

Solomon's Landing.

And it was a very

Happy Birthday.

Thanks for tagging

along for a couple of

my travels.

Now for the giveaway:

Pop on over to see

Debbie and leave a

comment to enter

to win.

Then visit our other

wonderful members

of Tales of the

Traveling Tote.

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

Debbie with Miss Aurora @ Mountain Breaths

Patti with Miss Kenzie and Miss Taylor @ Pandora's Box

Linda P with Miss Lola @ Life and Linda

Rita with Miss Luna C @ Panoply

Sarah with Miss Merri Mac @ Hyacinths for the Soul

Emily with Miss Courtney Childs@ The French Hutch

We have changed and

now will be posting

three times a year

instead of four, so

look forward to us

on May 15, 2026.

We are so excited

to have you in May

that we have two

reminders!

My Christmas Dollhouse Makeover

2025-12-03T03:30:00.000-08:00

The Christmas Dollhouse

Makeover, or shall I say

Mouse House is painted,

decorated and inhabited!

This is a Fisher Price

dollhouse that my friend

found thrifting after she

saw my Haunted Mansion

Dollhouse Makeover.

This is a less popular

house to makeover so

it was under $9! Just

look at the detail though.

Can you believe this

bay window and balcony?!!

The detail is incredible.

I spray painted it white

and then sprayed it

with glitter inside and

outside.

The darling nutcrackers

I found at Hobby Lobby.

I lightly sprayed this

garland and glued it on

above the light strip.

Adding cute little vines

and pots decorated the

other wing. Again, can

I just say how much I

adore the detail on this.

The truth is that it was

quite ugly before it all

became white. The

colors were harsh, but

now it is incredible.

Now to the side that the

grandkids love!

They were trying to play

with it before I even got

it finished, so we decided

to have it be a centerpiece

on our eating island. We

have stools on both sides,

so they can get up and

play with it.

Since I love cooking

so much, I made the

kitchen filled with

goodies and packages

and gifts ready to be

delivered.

This cute little mouse is

hiding under the stairs.

One of the attic bedrooms

has this darling mouse

getting her makeup ready.

One thing I have to

say about this house

is that the rooms are

a bit tiny for most

furniture, but we

made it work.

I added mirrors and

perfume to the bath.

I chose to do soft pinks

to go with the colors

in my own house. I love

these chairs I found

online. Stores didn't

have much anymore.

Can you believe that bow

chair and wedding dress?

This little crib came

with a tiny stuffed bear.

And finally, the formal

sitting room.

My niece found one just

like mine, but decided to

get rid of it. My daughter,

who lives next door paid

her the $10 and quickly

painted hers. Her little

daughters helped to

decorate hers too.

We just have had so much

fun with this already and

it certainly makes a fun

island decoration.