I've been tagged! Thanks Christine. :)


How to play this game of tag.Post these rules on your blog:List 3 joys, 3 fears, 3 goals, 3 current obsessions/collections, 3 random surprising facts about yourself. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names. Let them know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

3 Joys:
a. Soaking up every ounce of my kid's childhood. I mean to not let time fly by without me knowing.
b. (this one is private, huh honey?)
c. Soaking (there's that word again) in a large tub with tons of bubbles, a good book and a little treat.

3 Fears:
a. Having one of my kids or neices and nephews leave to be with Heavenly Father before I go.
b. Heights (yeah I know it's not original but I have issuse with man made structures. God made Mountains I can handle)
c. Coming back to the states and wishing I was in Costa Rica.

3 Goals:
a. serve a mission with my husband
b. foster children
c. learn Spanish

3 GoalsCurrent Obsessions/Collections:
a. marketing and advertising (there is a huge need here for advertising help and I've already got 2 jobs in that field)
b. working with the Jaco community here to help children
c. cooking traditonal Costa Rican meals


3 Random surprising Facts about me:
a. I don't like to travel and don't have a desire to see the world.
b. I really enjoy working with teenagers. I think they "rock".
c. I was a summer camp counselor for a year right after high school


I tag Tonja (for being so brave as to ask me to do a photoshoot, hee, hee)
Nikki (my buddy from Utah), Kristen T. (my twin in the kid's department 2 boys, 1 girl, 2 boys)

Actividad Primaria (Primary Activity)

Last Saturday was my first Primary Activity (as the lame, non bi-lingual 1st counselor). This is the poster I made to display in the hallway at church. The afternoon was planned around ¨Service¨to Heavenly Father, family and community. I´ll just say it was quite different than the huge productions that we feel obligated to do in the states. Usually with 80 plus kids in attendance. I´d say most of the stress comes from entertaining so many children. Here we have about 15 active kids in our branch. When you take out my 5 and the president´s 3, that leaves only seven. We make up half the kids.

It was a pleasure having such an intimate group. Two of us could easily handle the little circus. We washed windows and cleaned the white boards. (Service to Heavenly Father) Then we played pictionary with phrases revolving around serving others (Service to neighbors). After that the kids colored books with service coupons (Service to family). I made these hoping they would take some ¨lame¨points away. The finale, the kids got to coat with colored sugar and paint HEART shaped cookies. That was a hit of course. Something you wouldn´t attempt if you had a 200 kids to 10 teacher ratio like many activities. It went so well and was so easy.

Until, the RAIN started. It´s difficult to describe the rain here. I´ll do my best.

It´s beautiful outside. Cotton white clouds, clean blue sky, warm and hot. You´re busy inside and a before you know it, CRACK, thunder SNAPS so loud the entire house RATTLES and you wonder if you just experienced an earthquake. The clouds are so close to the ground here that the loud VOICE of these CRASHING hot and cold clouds has nowhere to go but to our little town. Rain doesn´t start slowly, warning you to get prepared. NO. It comes down in BUCKETS. If you are caught outside without the necessary umbrella, OH WELL. I have a few pictures here but it can´t possibly do justice to the terror that enters my heart when the first BANG cracks over my head. It is quite impressive and I LOVE it. It is a reminder that I´m not as in charge of things as I think I am. That is good for me.

So as soon as our activity ended and I breathed that sigh of ¨whew, I made it¨, the rain and thunder arrived. I told the kids they could go out under the patio cover. I should have known they would all end up soaked. But they had fun. They were sliding all over the place. I think our next science lesson will be about why water molecules and tile mixed together become such a slick substance. When I asked the kids what their favorite part of the "actividad" was, they all answered, ¨sliding in the rain¨.
Dallin is actually sliding with rapid speed into poll on the left.

Troy and Dallin both showing off their different styles of "cool" in the pouring rain.
I took this of Paige and Aiden, sitting on my "nice" couch cushions on the muddy front porch in a storm. This was taken moments before their demise! We will miss them around here.


A funny story for my girlfriends
UPDATE: I had to write this post last night at an internet cafe. I was done before my honey so I decided to walk home. (I love walking) Anyway I had only been walking a few minutes when the "buckets of rain" started. I started speeding up my pace but being careful not to slip, see above paragraph. Suddenly I became aware that I was wearing a white shirt and missing an important part of the female clothing attire. Lovely!!! I had a white skirt on also. Boy did I look lovely by the time I got home. In fact after I made it past our guards (with my arms held in the most puiculiar position) I realized our front gate was locked. I couldn't get the kids to hear me because of the loud thunder so I had to scale the fortress in front of our house in this soaked condition. It was just lovely. I thought it was funny considering my above comments about the rain here. I guess I need to be more prepared. :)

This goes down as one of my top 10 most embarrasing moments. Right next to Dallin using my sweat pants to hold onto as he fell learning to inline skate. I just happened to be standing on a very busy street in Riverside talking to my girlfriend's husband. Yeah, that was fun too.

I'M COMING HOME!!!

That was not a typo!!!! I'm headed home as an "unaccompanied" adult!

I have a family event to attend. I get a whole week, all by myself!!! Oh, can I say that again? I get an entire week all by MYSELF! I'm even excited to sit in an airplane for 9 hours; did I mention all by myself?!?!?!

Living in our "cozy" quarters here, I'm looking forward to {non-echoing} space.

My second son said the strangest thing yesterday. "Mom, I kinda like living in a small house." I just smiled and thought, "How great for him." :)

This is what is on my "bucket list" for my short visit to the states:

1. Walk into a Target store, kiss the ground {don't think I'm exaggerating here} then spend the next 3 hours browsing through the glorious aisles of consumables.

2. I'm headed to In-In-Out to get a cheeseburger animal style, protein style. My mouth is watering now. Heck, maybe I'll live dangerously, forgo the protein style and eat the bun.

3. I'm going to try and spend time with some of my great friends. {I'm so lucky in this category}

4. I'm going to take a long bath every night. With bubbles.

5. I'm going to spend time with my family and smush my nieces and nephews!! {Thought I'd give fair warning}

6. I'm going to do my hair every morning and have it look good all day. No humidity, here I come!!!

7. One more food item I have to devour; a chocolate malt from Ruby's. This is my favorite treat!

8. I will go to church Sunday {3 hours only} and hear the gospel taught in English. I'm so excited about this! Especially for Relief Society {the women's meeting}.

9. Borders here I come. I'm ordering their scrumptiously yummy hot chocolate Then I'm going to sit and read and read and read as my feet tap away to the live band playing. I will do this until they throw me out.

10. I'm going to hit Old Navy, Gymboree and Gap. Whooo whooo. Honey, I'm warning you now. I need to get a six month supply of shoes, shirts, underwear, socks, our favorite toothpaste and such for 5 growing kids and 2 adults. So be prepared sweetheart. :)

I have to keep my smiling to a minimum, the kids want to come so bad!!!!


Opps! Jenny pointed out I forgot to mention "when" my plane touches ground. I shall arrive September 17th or 18th.

My "Little" Money Maker...

I have so much to post about. We had a primary activity at church, I finally got to my women's group meeting{awesome}, and I have been to a baby shower. Yahoo!!! My social calendar is filling up. Finally! :)


I decided to post about my little money makers. The boys {T and D} are trying to earn money for a wii. They have been working hard; even going as far as selling their beloved Game Cube.

I'm a business addict. Some of my favorite memories as a kid are:

1. While my sweet mother thought I was down for a nap, I would open my window and "rent" out my books to the neighborhood kids.

2. Opening a lemonade stand {with my brothers} on a busy highway while staying with our grandparents. We pulled in over $80.00 { a large fortune for a 9 year old}

3. Creating and selling a neighborhood newspaper

4. Selling baked goods to our neighborhood.
[Tip: don't sit with your brothers and eat half the merchandise}.


So Troy and Dallin have the financial bug like I acquired. Troy decided to sell cinnamon rolls to the neighborhood. Who am I to argue? I thought that I would be "helping" him make the rolls. Nope! He made sure I didn't do any of it.



Something I've learned here is that Costa Ricans love home baked goods. The only place they can get them here is the Farmer's Market. However the cookies are crunchy. They will pay for the luxury of a soft baked cookie. So, back to Troy. He made these oh so yummy rolls and sold them in our neighborhood in about 10 minutes. The most impressive part; he spoke Spanish as he went door to door.

I played the dutiful mom and acted like I wasn't nervous for them but I sure let out a sigh of relief as they bounded up our walkway with an empty tray and jingling pockets.


Before we started Troy added up the costs of his supplies. I loaned him the money to purchase them at 5% interest. (Me being the bank I need to make money) He put in the labor, deciding it was to early to hire anyone. Then when the rolls were sold he payed for his supplies, payed tithing, then put the rest away. Now he can purchase his own supplies and keep the 5% for himself. I love business!!!!

Tip for making great cinnamon rolls, turn up the heat to 400 degrees and cook a little less. This will give you the gooey on the inside flaky on the outside appeal. {Like Cinnabon} Also mix powered Hazelnut coffee creamer into the frosting. YUM!!!!

Landon watched patiently.

Can you guess who was their first sale sale???? ME. I couldn't resist.
You have to realize that this is our winter. It's hot and humid, but rainy. This is the most "winter like" it gets here. That's why were are making things like cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate.