Happy Birthday Anna!

I tried to post on your birthday Anna but wasn't able to get online. I spent your birthday thinking how you made my birthday so special! It's been a dream of mine for us to grow even closer as we grow older and it's great to see that come to fruition. I love you and am very proud of you!!!

So here goes, my top 5 favorite things about my sister Anna:

5. She is an awesome mother!
4. Anna, unlike me, is very detail oriented.
3. She makes a great effort to visit family.
2. I love her hair, really it's gorgeous!
1. Driving with her is an adventure!

I love you Anna!!!

{The above picture is before she had her second baby girl}

The Blessings of Water...

My dad and his wife Rosie flew in to be here for Paige's baptism. We were all ready to go. We got lucky and found a baptism dress for Paige {the day before}, had the programs printed in "Ingles" and Spanish and had all the towels and white underwear we needed. Sunday we headed out to church {they do baptisms here right after church}. Then as we were sitting in church I had this disappointing feeling. It is appropriate here to baptize in the ocean, I had brought this idea up to Paige and she was interested, however things got hectic and I didn't take it any further. So here I am, sitting in church thinking "Shawna, here you've had the chance to have a child baptized in the oceans of Costa Rica and you've missed it!" Long story, short {something I'm not used to doing} we couldn't baptize her. In case you ever need to know this, they don't have baptismal clothing at the church here in Orotina, Costa Rica. Just a tidbit of info for you. :) When Wes told me the news I was just beaming! I knew what we were going to do.
So Wes baptized his only daughter Paige in the ocean of the country that he served his mission in. It was short, sweet and a very spiritual memory for our family. Paige was a little nervous about the waves but as soon as her dad picked her up, she was fine. When Paige gets asked in primary, "Do you remember your baptism day?" She will just smile because there is no way she will forget this!
Little did we know what the water would do to us in less than 24 hours. Oh the contrasts here.

It's Been a Good Day...

Thank you for all the concern yesterday. We are doing well. I haven't been back to the houses since the flood. Wes and Rusti had a crew there yesterday clearing out furniture, mattresses and anything else that couldn't be salvaged. As I was trying to fight the mud from coming in Monday, I was picturing how many times I've seen images like this on my T.V. when living in the states. WOW! It was crazy to be fighting it and by myself. In fact Landon was still sleeping in our backroom when the water really started rising fast. I knew then I needed to get the kids out. I fell quite a few times with all the slippery mud, once Dallin saw me hit pretty hard. We got a HUGE laugh out of it and I said something like, "What, I'm not as cool as Indiana Jones?" From that point on I used the "Indiana Jones" card. Laughter does make everything easier don't you think?
I have been impressed with Wes sister. She has handled this situation well. She came in on the truck with Wes. She saved what she could and got her dogs out. Her family should be very proud!

So that is the end of that. No more posts on our flood. Tomorrow, you'll hear about our sweetie's baptism.
Our view for the next few days. I can't complain!

It Has Been a Crazy Day...

It's morning. Don't you hate when you wake up and remember how horrible the day before was? I hate that.


This is the view from my friend's condo of the front of Rusti's house. By the gate I've lodged a log, a huge 5 foot tall candle, an ironing board (that Dallin was sitting on) and this lounge chair to try and stop the water.


So yesterday my Dad and his wife Rosie came over about 1 pm to say goodbye. It began raining quite hard. When they left at 1:30 pm it was still raining hard. I let the kids go out and play in it. Oh the fun the rain brought for us. The patio became a large slip n slide. The water was even a few inches over the path steps in backyard. That's never happened. However we went in the house. At 3:30 pm I got the impression I needed to look at the backyard. When I did, I saw the water level had risen so much, it was a few inches over the last ledge and a few feet away from entering Rusti's house. From this point on I was struggling to creatively try and keep the water out of her house, her client's furniture (that was all over her porch) out of the deluge and my little ones from panicing. I'm grateful for my oldest son that was a true hero in this "trial" by water. At first just a few inches entered the house, then I saw a muddy wave come up and over the top of her driveway. From that point on it was all over!!!! The couches that I fought to lift and put on pots and pans were floating headed to the backyard. From this point I grabbed the kids and Troy and I walked them across the muddy river that used to be our street. I have a great friend that lives in a new two story condo across from our soggy house. She watched the younger 4 as Troy and I tried to make sandbags, unplug everything, pull our important things out of our own "house pond" and raise important things away from the rising water. I found Wes' missionary journal floating in our bedroom. So sad. I watched as a few of my beloved blue bins floating around my kitchen and the backyard. That's when I got the idea to float my computer out. I packed it in with a towel, put the lid on and here I am, typing away and still contected with all of you. New use for blue bins, they make a great boat!
Wes and Rusti headed off this morning to the houses to check out the damage. I'm completely sore from my muddy water battle that lasted about 5 hours. We are here safe in a multi million dollar condo over looking the ocean. Oh how I could fill pages about the contrasts in my life here in Costa Rica.


If you look in the middle of the picture you will see the top of the handrails to the pool.


This is our front door.


And this is Wes and my bedroom. It's also a storage unit for all of Rusti's decorating items.

I Was Going to Post...

I was going to post about Paige's baptism but then this happened!


We are all o.k. We are staying in a condo away from the water.

This is Wes coming in to get us out. My knight in shining (car) armor.


I'll post soon. As you can see after saving my little ones, I went
back and saved my computer. I floated it out in one of my blue bins. :)

How's It Hangin'?

TROY:
This was amazingly fun hanging upside down on a zip line.
Oh, the guts I had to build up to do this, but it was worth it.
When I’m just looking at this pic I get a kind of proud feeling;)
I was just about to take off on the last zip of the tour and the guy who was suiting me up and getting me ready said, "This is the freestyle part of the tour". Another employee got in his suit and gear and went upside down on the wire and was spinning at the same time..Im going to try it...
I did and guess what. I screwed it up. All right, its crazy enough that I went upside down, going FAST, and downhill, but I also started SPINNING!!
It was the most intense thing I have ever done in my life!
Guess what happens next!!!!
I’m getting ready to throw up as I am spinning so fast.
But just in time I landed on the canopy ledge and I'm safe at last.
In this picture I am smiling because I had such a good time and next time I go ziplining....IM DOING THAT AGAIN!!