Getting to Tamarindo, Costa Rica

Warning: Information overload. Costa Rica post 1 of 10....

We woke up Wednesday at 2:15a (yes, in the morning). We went to bed around 11:30p and slept pretty lightly, fearing we may miss the flight. Skullcandy chartered a flight for most of the company. Our international flight left at 6a so we had to be at the airport at 4a. We left our house about 3a. I was pretty emotional about leaving the boys, hoping we'd all return safely to each other.

It was so nice to come in to SLC and see the lights before 3a. It made me wish I lived in a bigger city. Driving back and forth to Utah county is really annoying.

This pic was take on my phone as we ascended to cruising altitude. The moon was very pretty.

 I've probably only been on a plane a handful of time, so its still kind of facinating to me to be up there.

The sun rising over the clouds

The cabin noise was pretty loud seeing that everyone knew each other.  I also heard in the back of the plane they were playing loud music and getting a little tipsy. The flight attendant had to ask several times for people to sit down and get out of isles so they could start the drink service. It was pretty comical. It was pretty impossible to get comfortable enough to sleep on the plane.

We landed around 11:00a. The time zone was the same so that was nice. There were about 5 other planes landing within the same 15 mins period. We had to wait on the tarmac for a little bit before we could get off. I had to go to the bathroom and was starting to feel a bit claustrophobic.

I loved the warm air! But then as we waited in line at customs it started to get sticky fast! I'd never been in a humid climate before.

There were 3-4 charter busses to take us to the resort.

Leaving the airport.

It was fall in Costa Rica, perhaps that's why it wasn't as green and jungly as I expected. The bus ride to the resort was about an hour. This is what we saw along the way...

 (cemetery)

 (skinny cows)

 (mowing the golf course-I feel like this mowing our yard!)

Bangs

PS: I got a new hair cut before the trip and accidentally got bangs cut....I meant to get some shortish side bangs, but I was in a hurry as was my hair dresser and I accidentally said, "shorter"! Anyway, there were a few tears shed after I left. Getting rid of my bangs in the first place was a challenge. I did it after I graduated high school (I didn't know they were way out of style). I actually wrote my BYU, English 115 personal narrative about the experience of getting rid of them. Having bangs reminded me of my pitiful, depressing high school life. It took a few days but they started to grow on me, (pun intended). Jon really likes them and I think I do too. Its been about a month and I am continuing to maintaining them.

Family Fun

Jon's mom had a great idea of what to do to help the boys know when we'll be back from our Costa Rica trip and hopefully not miss us too much. This is the longest we'd gone on a trip with out them. She suggested I take some pictures and she'd make an advent calendar type thing and each night would look at pics and read a message from Jon and it would be one night closer to when we get home. So one evening before the trip we were just playing and I took these pics.

Jon is such a goofball sometimes! He purposefully posed like this for the pic

Another pose, one of his favorite expressions when I want to take a pic

all of us

Funny faces

This is a reguarly held activity at our house, wrestling with dad.

Then we made blueberry scones with fruit for dinner-SOOOO good! (recipe here we also make them with chocolate chips!)

I thought this was soo cute. This is what Maryanne made with the boys. There is a little frog for each boy and they hop to a new lily pad each night.

They can look at different pictures of us and read a message.

Easter

 This year we had a nice FHE lesson on the resurrection and it was great to see how much Zac remembered and understood about the resurrection. Church was amazing and uplifting. I'm so grateful for The Plan of Salvation.

Ideally, it would be great to have Easter not be commercial at all, but that would be quite a feat. Jon didn't want to do any gifts, just candy. But I grew up with getting tons of knick knacks in my basket. I think we found a good medium this year. As the boys get older I'd love to shift the focus more fully to be on the Savior.

They boys needed new church clothes and they loved the suits.

Max tired and dazed :)

Playing with their bionicles.

My sweet handsome boys!

Easter Egg Hunt

 In trying to think of what to say for these Easter posts, I feel like such a humbug....

I don't think there are any good or effective community Easter Egg Hunts. They are all sooo crowded, and the kids hardly get anything. And with separate the ages so you have to stay for like 2 hours so each kid can be in their age time slot. If you try to combine the ages, its too easy for the other or the younger isn't quick enough. Anyway, we were happy to join some friends in our ward, the Thunell's for brunch after soccer games and the hunt. They have a nice big yard and the boys had a lot of fun.

Before the hunt

Jon always hides eggs in/on the best places!

Thinking...where else can I look?

The loot

Our friends put little toys in the eggs. I think that is what we're going to do from now on. There is WAY too much candy involved in holidays!!

Coloring Easter Eggs

In the name of tradition, I am keeping this alive...I'm getting pretty bored with it. But the boys (all of them seem to enjoy it.)

Max is starting to better understand how all this works. He had a great time!

Jon deep in thought with the creative juices.

Max so excited to see his egg changed colors!

Of course Jon's were the best. He made of fun looking "dinosaur" eggs with interesting colors and designs.

 (I don't seem to have much commentary since these are back posts and a lot has happened since then. For the sake of journaling, I really need to get on my game!)

Standby for more Easter posts. And Costa Rica pics to come!! 

Easter Door Decor

As you can probably tell, I am getting my craft fixes by making door hangings that correspond to the given season or holiday. For Easter, I thought of doing something like this door frame with ornaments but instead using eggs. I found these sequin eggs at Michaels for a dollar each. I fell in love with them. (So....yeah I admit it, I love glitz!)

I wanted to include grass and a frame that looked like a basket to incorporate other Easter-ish decor. It was a black frame so I spray painted it. I should have used a spray primer on top of sanding. After the paint dried, I was expecting this to take about an hour to make at the most...but honestly it took me half the day. I had floral grasses that I cut up and glued to the back of the frame.

Then the frame wasn't big enough to hang the eggs like I expected. So I was trying to figure out how to make them all fit and look good. After lots of variations, I ended up gluing them in the arch and wrapping wire around a nail that I put in the back of the frame on each side and then inserting the wire into the eggs to hold them in the frame. It seems sufficient. And I am pleased with how it turned out. And I really love little birds too!