We Have Moved...

Here is Landon sound asleep for the first few hours of our move. {Thank heavens!}


AGAIN!!!! We did know this move would be coming up and that our stay in Rusti's back house was temporary. But our deluge brought our move out date closer. It seemed like such a waste to move our stuff back into our back house digs and then move out a few weeks later.

So I need to decide how much I tell you about our move. Do I tell you that when Wes first brought me to our new place that I went bolistic, threw a tantrum and said comments like, "There is no way I'm moving our family into THIS!!!!" and "You can move into this roach infested box put I'm not!!!" {which was a complete shock to him because I'm usually so easy going} Or do I spin it and say It's a cozy home with an eco friendly design? I'm not sure which way to go.

So back to the "paradigm shift" concept. Here it is 3 weeks after our new place and I first met and I'm basicly pleased to be here. We have our own space. We have three bedrooms 1 bathroom and a bathroom under construction. Oh isn't construction fun! {said in a highly sarcastic tone} When I calmed down, a few days later, I told my sweetheart that having 2 bathrooms to 7 people was a necessity. I should have mentioned hot water, no cockroaches and a oven/stovetop that actually heated our food as a necessity. Oh well, I'll remember next time.


Here is the bathroom construction, until I made them knock out the right wall so that we didn't have to climb over the toilet to reach the tub.

The other thing that I've been thinking about as of lately is CONTENTMENT.

I have been pretty content with things in my life. I'm pleased that I have 5 healthy children. I know what a blessing that is. I was happy with our little home in Utah.
I enjoyed the yard in our quaint home in Riverside. Our place in Corona was a dream home for me and I loved it there. Then with our move back to Riverside, I got to be with my closest and dearest friends again. I have felt so content with life.

But here in beautiful Costa Rica, my world has been rocked. I decided to move here so don't I get to decide the trials I will and will not go through? Isn't that how it goes??? I didn't get the memo that it wasn't my choice! When we moved into Rusti's back house it was less than 1/4 the size of our place in Riverside, but I was content. The flood wasn't on my list of acceptable trials, but we survived and I was content. Our last move has been a little more tricky for me to keep my "content" card up in the air. I have come to the conclusion that being content isn't difficult when you are headed upwards in "temporal" things, but when you are headed downwards, {spiraling downward miles at a time} it can be tough!

Until today, I was reading about a high school just a few cities over where they are meeting outside because the school is uninhabitable. They have many problems including a septic tank that is leaking and a foundation that won't hold out much longer. Oh, and after my hissy fit over the house, Wes took me out looking for something more "North American" and we only found homes in much more of a dire state than ours. So, here I sit, content, typing away on my MAC in a place that I can't believe we could ever call home, and I'm happy. I've had another paradigm shift.


This is before we painted it. The black shading on the yellow wall is actually mold.

This is after a fresh coat of "tan" paint. No mold yet! My next job, to paint the front door red! Who doesn't like a red door?

So now I make it a game to think of ways to put a spin on things about our new place. Would you like to hear a few?

1. My electric bill will be so much smaller since we don't have water to heat.
2. I can sweep my entire house in under 5 minutes.
3. Nothing can ever get lost in my cupboards because I don't have any.
4. Nature is so close, it's really, really, really close.
5. I never need to put on a nature CD to relax, it's like the outdoors is inside.

It's interesting, these words have been going through my head all day today. "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!" A wise saying by our president Kennedy. I need to think about what I can do for this country and not be expecting this country to do things for me. Then I know we will get along so much better. We might even become the best of friends.




This is our house after it was painted.

Don't Give Up On Me...

I'm sorry that I haven't posted! We have moved and I don't have internet access yet! The flood helped to facilitate that. I have so much to tell you!!! Hopefully tomorrow.
Love to you all.

Just some wildlife...

I've been having trouble with my camera in the humidity so please excuse the quality of these photographs.

Since we have been staying in our "resort" we have seen many insects and mammals that reside along side the construction that has invaded their homes. They seem to have adapted. {I need to take lessons from them}

I thought I'd post a few.



Here is a bat. Paige found it on her balcony. When I {nature photographer extraordinaire} ventured out to photograph it, it flew at me. Instantly images of Dracula and blood sucking bats clouded my brain, I ducked and screamed a rather sissy scream. I didn't know I had it in me. Later when it was secure on a wall farther away, I got this. {I know it's blurry} If you look you can make out it's teeth and face. It looked up because the gardener came around with his noisy leaf blower. The vibrations were irritating him. Perfect timing.



This praying mantis was just feet from the bat. It was bigger than my hand out stretched. Did you know they pack quite a punch into their bite?



I also have pictures of a spider that looks like a skinny tarantula with neon yellow stripes an inch up from the bottom of it's legs. It was about 6 inches in diameter. {Spiders aren't my favorite thing} This interesting thing had caught a beetle in it's web and we got to watch it attack. It was almost poetic the way he flipped it's prey around and finished it off. I'm sure the beetle wouldn't appreciate the beauty in it.



These are beautiful, the leaf cutter ants. It is baffling to see them walking across your path. I always wait for the music to start since they seem so cartoonish. {Yeah I know that's not a word but it's what you get when I'm coming down from Dayquil!} Do you wonder what they do with the pieces of leaves? They bring them back to their home and urinate on them. Didn't you know urine mixed with leaves makes a great meal? Well, it does for them. Crazy! And please don't try that at home!!!

We need books and I have a plan!

I’ll start off with an apology for the absence of posts lately. Troy and I have been pretty sick and sitting in front of a computer and trying to create sentences that make sense is futile.

Now the purpose of my post today, we need books desperately! Can you help us? {This post does not apply to anyone who lives outside of Riverside, I don't want anyone wasting money to ship books, but thank you anyway if you thought about it! :) }

We brought quite a few but the kids have gone through them. There are a couple of book stores but the choices are minimal, they are twice the price and it’s a 5 hour round trip to get to them. So are you ready to hear my plan? Here it goes. I imagine many of you have books that your family is done with. If you donate them to us, The Banagas Batch of Books, when we are done with them we will donate them to the local schools here. Even the private school here only has about 30 books on it’s library shelves. See it’s a win, win. So if you can help us, leave a comment with the title of the books that you are donating. This way we won’t get duplicate books. Then drop them off at our old home in Riverside (14535 Harrington Rd.) You can leave them on the porch with a note attached with your name so I know whom to thank.

My sister in-law will be heading to the states at the end of July and will bring them back with her. That should give me enough time to think of a way to thank you! Besides, Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!!!! This means a lot to us.

Oh we are so excited. {All of us but Paige}

Reverence Begins with Me...

Last Sunday as I was sitting listening to the sacrament speaker and not understanding a word I started to daydream. {Don't tell my little ones} As I was staring up into space I saw the weirdest thing, BRIGHT red, blue and green feathers were floating high in the air. Instantly I recognized them, I brought them to entertain my daughter. They are her fairies. I look over with horror on my face to see Dallin picking the feathers apart and blowing them up to catch the current of the "6" fans circulating the air. {Remember we don't have air conditioning} My jaw dropped! Paige, yes I could see her doing this. Troy, maybe, but Dallin? What is going on here!?!?!? I prayed that the distracting feathers would descend quickly. But no, as soon as they got to head height, the fans would pull them up again. I'm sitting there asking myself, "Why did I insist that we sit in front?" and "Please don't let anyone else notice the plethora of feathers making the rounds!" Oh the joys of motherhood. Let's just say I didn't daydream the rest of the meeting.