Desert Days- Ocotillo Wells

Would you believe that I never have been camping before I met my husband? It's true. I didn't grow up camping and if you would've told me when I was younger that I would be enjoying it and have a trailer, I would not have believed you.

I just don't like dirt, at all. I don't like the feeling of dirt on my hands or under my fingernails.

But, and it's a huge but, I absolutely love it now!

It's probably off-roading and camping are passions of Bradley, the love of my life. It's true what they say, you will do almost anything for your love. And those three in that photo, I would do anything for, including getting very dusty!

Now that you have a bit of backstory, we had such a great weekend with the kids and our trailer and YXZ. It was also one of those weekends that was very trying too.. Like, I wanted to pull my hair out multiple times.

As you know from my recent posts on Instagram, Riley is not sleeping. At all! We basically have a newborn on our hands. He wakes up at least 3-7 times per night and sleep is a distant, fond memory. Whelp, I always think camping and being in the fresh air and sunshine will help him sleep better!

Ha. The jokes on me because his sleep is even worse when we camp. Why, kid? Why? He went down in his pack n play and then was up every hour both nights we were there. And it isn't any better if he sleeps in our bed, then he just tosses and turns and nurses all night long.

But, that wasn't the part of this weekend that had me wanting to scream and have a tantrum on the floor. (If you think parenting is all joy-filled moments, I'm about to burst that bubble.)

Reagan was in a tent outside with her Grammy Barbie, and in the middle of our first night, they came in an Reagan has an accident and peed in her jammies. Now, Reagan has been potty trained for a long while now and has never had an accident during the night. We later realized she wasn't feeling well and I'm positive that's the reason, but at 2 am, you kinda don't care. I was exhausted from Riley and then this? Having to find a new pair of undies and clean up just isn't what you want to deal with. It didn't help that I had just got Riley to fall asleep next to me and was hoping (and praying) for a stretch of sleep longer than 20 minutes.

Alas, we were all up now and once we got Reagan cleaned and back in the tent, it took a long while for Riley to fall asleep. The next night wasn't much better, but I just kept him in our bed and knew I would nap the whole way home. (Which I did!)

The rest of our weekend, though, was pretty magical. From the beautiful, cotton-candy sunsets, to going on a few rides in our YXZ, to actually enjoying campfires. It was just what we needed after feeling the need to get away, in-plug and recharge before some busy weeks ahead.

We are home now, and Riley is napping and I have ten million loads of laundry and rocks and sand to vacuum from our floors, but what a great weekend. If you have a chance to un-plug, do it! As often as you can. I can promise you, we will.

What did you do to recharge your batteries this weekend? I'd love to hear below!

Now, for some photos!