Paige, the Butterfly Hunter...

Paige loves butterflies. She has always wanted to hold one like she sees on advertisements here. Today, her dream was realized! She had been following this one for a few minutes. Then it decided to attach itself to her head. The color is this vivid. I only turned the rest of the photograph black and white. I left the butterfly in it's natural color. It was beautiful.


For the next 15 minutes it climbed on her finger, her arm and flew around her like a pet. It has been the highlight of "her" adventure so far.

How do I say this...

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Happy Birthday to my Sweet One!!!

My little girl is 8! I can't believe it. Happy Birthday to you sweetie!

Here are my favorite things about her:

1. She loves getting dirty.

2. Her brothers call her to catch whatever creepy crawly thing they find, and she does it!

3. Paige loves her Father in Heaven and is quick to offer a prayer for help.

4. She misses her grandma Krepps almost as much as I do.

5. Paige has a talent for making friends wherever she goes.

6. She's a great teacher!

7. Paige is also a princess and loves fashion.

8. Paige is the most "CREATIVE" being I have ever known. I look forward to seeing what her Father in Heaven has planned for her.

Happy birthday princess.

Less Time in the Kitchen...

Most of us hope for that, right? At least the women readers do. So here is my tip for the week. I have found a few recipes that I cook back to back and they get my "back" sides out of the kitchen faster.

The first night I make Salsa Chicken {tacos}. Now I would love to give credit to whomever I got this recipe from first, but I have seen it so many times I have no idea. So here goes.

SALSA CHICKEN TACOS
Put 4-6 boneless chicken breasts into your crockpot
Dump a jar of your favorite salsa on top.
Heat on low for 6-8 hours.
30 minutes before you serve, dump a cup of sour cream into the crockpot and stir. I also add another cup of salsa to the mixture. Now put on your tortillas, top with lettuce, cheese and guacamole and your done.


CHICKEN AND RICE SOUP
The following night I use the leftovers and make a soup.
I add chicken stock, rice and a can of black beans to the leftover chicken. Yummy! (add whatever your family likes)
You can also use crushed up tortilla chips to sprinkle on top, kids love to do this.
If I feel extra domestic, I make homemade rolls with the help of my bread maker. Dinner, done!


The other back to back recipes go like this:

SPAGHETTI
Just make your regular "meat" spaghetti sauce or use this easy recipe


Then the following night have
PIZZA

No don't order out, use this recipe. I promise it's EASY and good. The main benefit is you don't have to add any toppings other than cheese. Just use the spaghetti sauce from the night before for your pizza sauce. It already has meat in it. Very good and very easy.



So with a little bit of effort, you now have 4 meals done for the month.

Yeah. Your welcome! Now what are you going to do with all that free time????

If you haven't already checked out Works for me Wednesday head on over to rocksinmydryer) to see what it's about.

Did I Mention We are Members of a Beach Club...

Well, we aren't.

Anyway, I thought I'd put up a few pictures of Saturday.


We needed to get out so what better place to head then a beautiful {free} pool. This is the "beach club" at Los Suenos. It's called the beach club, for one, because as you can see on the first picture, that's the ocean in the background. And two, because it's private for a certain area of residents within Los Suenos. We have our connections with Rusti's sister. Thanks Rusti!



This is a resident of the beach club. We have yet to name him, any ideas? Our first visit here he attacked my backpack and wouldn't let me have it. During this visit he seems to be more comfortable with us and wanted to hang with the boys in the pool.



Check out this huge, 2 foot high baby pool.



This is Aiden and I and my new hairstyle. It's so lame I know, but I've given up. In fact I'm decorating a few of Wes' hats right now to wear to church. JK.


So have I enticed anyone to visit us yet?????? It will include a complimentary day at the Los Suenos pool.

Today Has Been one of Those Days...

The hymn "there is beauty all around, when there's love at home..." does NOT apply here today. Or maybe today is an affirmation that the song is true, for when there isn't love at home, there isn't beauty all around! This little place has been riddled with tantrums, most from the "sick"kids, then a few from me. The bit of cleaning I've been able to manage to do has been trampled by the two youngest as they are determined to stomp on my progress today. Therefore we are void of love and beauty.

And all this after I read a beautiful blog this morning about a family that was able to spend a few moments with their baby before she left to be in God's hands. My early morning was filled with tears of gratitude and appreciation for these little ones that have made things so difficult now. You can read the story here) What an incredible daughter of our Heavenly Father this women is.

So how does that happen? How can I be so quick to forget my blessings? It's noon now, still not to late to repent and rescue my day. The youngest is soundly sleeping thanks to a cough and cold medicine. Aiden will be down soon. As I type he is translating a letter he wrote to me. It about sums things up. He says, "Mom, you aren't the best, BUT YOU ARE THE BEST!" Sometimes I'm not the best but most of the times I am! Here's to a better afternoon.

Our Croc Experience

I would highly recommend doing a croc tour if you are ever headed this way. Troy was too cool to go and Dallin was concerned about being on a boat so close to the deadly animals. Did you know that 5 people a year die by a crocodile attack here in CR? It's usually men from the states that stand in the water to fish. As the tour guide was explaining this, his expression was one of confusion. He couldn't understand why they would put on rubber pants and stand in the river. How silly!

So without further ado, let me introduce you to "Fidel Castro" the largest crock this side of the Tarcoles river.




Let's just say that when the tour was over both Dallin and Troy were amazed!!!

No Disneyland here...

We went to a restaurant last night that had tiki torches at the front. It had a fun atmosphire and reminded me of Disneyland or Rainforest Cafe. As we were walking in we heard what sounded like tons of birds. Dallin had commented, "Mom, do you hear all those birds?" Of course the noise from the birds was fake, just like the tree was. The mood was just too perfect to be real. "Dallin's it's like Disneyland, it's not real." I decided to take a picture of the tree anyway.

Here it is.


I guess I was wrong. It is real.

Costa Rica is very real.


We counted 16 birds. Does anyone see more than that?