Ava's Birthday.....

I am behind! Ava had such a great birthday. The night before her big day I decorated the house so it would be nice and festive when she woke up. I bought 30 balloons (thanks to Sharon for hiding them at her house and delivering them to me), and made the cutest cut outs of number 5's, covered them in green and purple glitter and then hung them from the ceiling. Ava wanted everything Tinkerbell and that's what she got. I think she was pretty happy with the way her special day turned out. I just keep asking myself how it is possible that my baby is 5. I wish I could rewind the time and cuddle her as a new born again, but I guess I will just go cuddle my 5 year old. She is an expert in the cuddle department, but she learned form the best :)

Giving Thanks.....

I have been thinking about making a gratitude list all month, so here it goes........

1. My testimony of The Gospel of Jesus Christ - My testimony has really undergone some remodeling this past year, but I am so thankful to have it! It is the most important thing that I will ever have. It gives me the strength to find the silver lining of even the darkest cloud. I feel so lucky to know that I am a daughter of God and that he loves me no matter what.
2. My Ava - I can't believe that I have been a Mom for 5 years. It has gone by so fast and I had no idea what I was getting myself into. BUT, even though it has been the most challenging thing I have ever done, it has brought me more JOY than I ever could have imagined. She is my compass and I love her more than I could ever express.
3. My family -I have been so blessed with two of the most amazing parents who have taught me some very valuable lesson, and two beautiful sisters who make my life fun.
4. My niece and nephews. They are special gifts in my life and I love them oh so very much. They are all so different and some of my biggest blessings.
5. Sharon and Brad - I don't know how I would make it with out them as part of my family. They have truly been gifts from God to me and have contributed greatly to the person I am today. They have made what could have been some very lonely times in my life some of the happiest memories I will have.
6. A warm safe place to live. Food to eat and clothes to wear.
7. Good Friends

My life is so blessed I could never make a sufficient list. Happy Thanksgiving!!

Mr Luka.....

Luka has always held such a special place in my heart. I just love this little guy so much. At one of Savannah's soccer games he found a diet coke in my purse. Of course I opened it right up and shared. I feel exactly this way when I drink a diet cherry coke! Happy Birthday Buddy!!!

She's 5!!!!!

Can you believe my "baby" is 5? I can't..... in some ways it feels like she was just born and other days it really does feel like another life time ago. But I guess you could say it was a whole different life 5 years ago than it is today. My big sis Katie took these adorable pictures of Ava for me this morning. I LOVE them.....






Ava is a vibrant 5 year old. She is always bursting with energy and excitement. Right now she is really into playing with her dolls and insists on taking them practically everywhere with us. She is also really into Tinker Bell and want everything to be like "Tinker". She loves the movie Marley and Me and watched it several times a week. I don't think I have seen the movie from start to finish but I have the whole thing basically memorized. Maybe one of these days I will sit down and actually watch it with her. She has developed quite the sassy mouth in the last few weeks. I am hoping she overcomes this VERY soon! I am thankful for Ava and for the joy she has brought into my life. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I could never have imagined our life would unfold in the way that it has in the past five years. I love you Ava!

My faith has been increased...... yet again.

I had a scary moment tonight. The kind that made my heart stop beating for a minute. In my house I have a a fairly large shelf that hangs on the wall and then below it is the table I have with my TV on it. It is a good sized table and in the last few weeks Ava has developed the obsession with climbing on top of it and turning on the spot lights inside the shelf. I have told her time and time again NOT TO CLIMB UP THERE! Well this evening I was sitting in the kitchen working on an assignment for school and heard several large crashes in the next room. I ran in there to find Ava buried under the shelf and my TV. She had climbed up to turn on those stupid lights again and some how managed to pull all of it down on top of her. I was expecting the worst as I started pulling it off of her, but to my complete amazement she didn't have a scratch on her. Not a single injury. She was shaken up to say the least. Even more to my amazement nothing was broken. The table my TV lives on took a few bumps and scratches and my DVD player has a big dent in the top of it, but that's all. I am so thankful nothing worse happened. We truly have angels watching over us!
To give you an idea of the size of the shelf here is a picture of it, it doesn't quite have the whole thing in it, but you can get the idea.

Loving

This song. The video isn't much, but just listen. I am loving it right now!

Funny Story!

So, I have rejoined LDS singles online.... that is a whole different saga of my life. I guess if anything it provides me with entertaining stories to tell. So today I was online and this guy initiated a conversation with me. I checked out his profile and decided I wasn't really that into him so I replied a simple "thanks but no thanks". I have come to use this phrase often. It just gets to the point in a polite way. After I said that I just closed the chat window. He then responded "Nice, just close out the window. You weren't that cute anyway, fatty!" I seriously busted up!!!!! I guess I found it so funny because he must not have thought I was too fat to say hello to. I guess I gained a few instant pounds when I decided not to be interested in him. Oh the joys of dating! Especially online where people can be extra bold with out any real accountability for the words.

Zipline right next to volcano Arenal

On Tuesady morning we got up bright and early to begin our adventure at the Arenal Volcano. It is one of the most active volcanos in the world. I was hoping to see some red lava but the very top of the volcano was covered by a cloud all day. We asked one of the locals where the best place to do a zipline was and he gave us directions to one right next to Arenal national park. We got a little lost because he told us to turn by the police station. We were looking for some kind of building but it turns out that police stations look more like bus stops around here. Once we got on the right road it was unpaved, very rocky and littered with gian potholes. We drove for about 5 miles on the this road praying the whole time not to pop any of our tires. We finally arrived and boy was it worth it! We took a sky tram up this mountain right next to the volcano and did 7 ziplines all the way back down. The ziplines took us across this jungle covered valley between to mountains and we could see the lake off to oneside. It was AWESOME!! Our guides were so much fun. They took a ton of pictures for us and even a video. It rained part of the time and we were soaking wet, but it was still a blast!
The veiw behinde us going up the tram

Sharon and I on the sky tram with Lake Arenal behinde us. It was a beautiful.

We got a little fruity drink after the sky tram ride up to the ziplines.... The volcano is behinde us. The top was always covered by a cloud. I was very sad :(

Check out those giant gloves.....

Getting ready for take off. I am suck a dork

And there I go ......

Coming in......

Me with giant beetle and crazy hair...
Sharon and I with our awesome zipline crew Marcos and Delroy

Monday in Costa Rica........

When it was official that we were coming to Costa Rica one of the first things I did was look online to see if there was a temple there. I was excited to see that there was one right in San Jose and I was excited to at least go the temple grounds and see it. When we arrived and our plans started changing due to luggage delays and finding out from Elder Robinson that the temple was located in kind of a more remote part of the city I gave up on the idea of us trying to find it because it would take up so much or our time. When we started our journey to Arenal we were pleased to see that we were on a highway and not through the city too much. About 45 minutes or so into our drive we had to take and exit and starting driving through a little town . We were driving along this road.....

And then out of now where we saw this big gold statue looking thing sticking right up into the sky. We both said out loud "what in the world is that?" and then in usison we realized that it was the angel Moroni and that temple was just right in front of us. Right there in the middle of this little run down part of the city. The picure right above is what you see standing out side the front entrance of the temple. I can't even describe to you what I felt right at that moment. I had chills. Isn't it strange that a vacation can strenghten my testimony? It was so random that we would just get of the highway right there and see the temple. I really think it was one of my favorite parts of this vacation. It was Monday so the temple was closed, but the guard in front opened the gate and let us park our car in the parking lot and walk around. It was definitely a highlight for me!

This was the veiw we saw of the temple was we were driving up to it....

Sharon and I in front of the temple....

Me at the front entrance of the temple......

Dedicated in 2000....

Arent these flowers beautiful? They were all over the temple grounds. There were some that were light blue and some that were light purple.

Right after we left the temple we took a few turns through the town and got onto a different highway.
As we were driving along a small stretch of the highway there was the most beautiful scenery and signs for a zoo so we decided to venture off our path and check it out. As we were driving along the road we noticed that there were what looked like little gardens with shops in front. I saw a few little road side restaurants so we decided to stop. When we got out became a little worried about how I was going to order in Spanish but it worked out pretty good. We order some Agua's con Frutas and Empanadas con Pollo and a fruit plate that had frech pineapple, papaya and bannans. It was quite good! Sharon liked it so much that we now have a favorite in our GPS labeled good fried food and fruit!

There were these crazy bird nest looking things haning right in front of the counter and almost right over where our table was. We were a little worried about a bird attack or getting pooped on :)

I don't know excatly why, but I just liked this picture. Our drinks were so yummy and it is a rare occasion that I enjoy fruity drinks, but I drank this down with no problem!

Empanada's con Pollos = delicioso

After we ate our delicious lunch we headed up the street to the zoo. The pathway right when you walked in was lined with Parrots just chillen on each side of the path. It was really cool.

Introducing Julie the Peacock.....
Me next to some really tall bamboo growing in the zoo

Look closely and you will see the snake....
I bought this cool bird whistle for Ava outside of the zoo. It makes the coolest sound and it is really easy to play..... I provided a little mood music for us on our drive with it :)

There were these giant spider webs with huge spiders living in them all over the zoo. I almost walked right into a few of them. They were a little freaky and I was ready to be done with the zoo when it was time because after my close calls I was becoming a little paranoid of giant spiders crawling on me.

The country side on the way to Arenal was breathtaking! I can't even do it justice with words. I have never seen anything like it. This is a picture of some feilds we thought were kinda cool. This was the veiw from the mountainside just across from them, but we actually drove right next to them about 20 minutes after we took this picture.

We drove past waterfalls...... some were actually very close to the car, like this one
Our GPS would beep and give us warning for speed bumps and upcoming attractions but we felt really concerned when this appeared: warning: dangerous bridge ahead. We had a TON of these on our journey to Arenal. Some definitely felt more dangerous than others, but mostly because they were one way. At times we had to wait our turn. This one in the picture below was interesting to cross because we had to go on a small unpaved part of the road that was quite bumpy and rocky. It was actually quite beautiful though with the river below and the waterfalls on the other side.

We finally made it to the hotel! By the time we made it there we were so tired and READY to get out of the car. A four hour car drive at 40mph is much different than a four hour car drive at 75 mph. The road was very curvy and narrow and I was so glad to have me feet on the ground again :) We got to our room and just layed down and slept for about 2 hours. After we were rested we explored the hotel then set out for some dinner. We ate at Luigis pizzeria and had a delicious shrimp calzone. It was quite tasty. This is me by the pool at our hotel. It had beautiful water falls and water slides. There was one "cold" pool and then on the other side there was the natural "hot" pool. We relaxed there after dinner.

This was the cool little bridge we had to walk over to get to the pool area. It was so beautiful :)

Me with my pina colada in the hot spring......

I got my suitcase!!! We had Delta deliver it all the way to the new hotel we were at which was perfet cause we actually got to do stuff other than waiting around for my bag to come in. I was so excited to be able to shave my pits, arms and legs and have some stuff to tame my hair a little bit. A shower never felt so good!

Elder Robinson and other happenings in Costa Rica

My sister Katie has a brother in law serving a mission in Costa Rica so I was sent with a package to deliver to him. He is serving near San Jose, the city we flew into, so it worked out perfectly. We checked 3 bags when we left salt lake city. Sharons bag, my bag and a package for Elder Robinson. The package was the only thing that arrived in Costa Rica with us last night. Sharon's bag made it to Atlanta and mine ended up in San Francisco some how. Luckily Sharon's bag arrived this afternoon, but I will hopefully be getting mine tomorrow afternoon. This has put quite a damper on our plans. I feel like we lost the whole day today dealing with our luggage issues. Luckily there is a huge mall right near where we are staying so I was able to go and get some makeup and some supplies to try and calm down the frizz that is taking over my head. I swear I looked like a lion when I woke up this morning! Humidity is not kind to my hair :)

We planned to meet Elder Robinson and his companion at 6pm tonight in a park in front of a Catholic Church in the town he is currently serving in. Luckily the man working in the gift shop at our hotel lived in that same city and plugged it into our GPS for us. It was the first place we went without getting lost one time! It was so fun to see Casey! He had the biggest smile on his face the whole time. He asked how all of Katie and Ryan's kids were doing and was so excited to hear the details I had to offer. Katie sent a special letter for him with pictures of the newest addition and I forgot to bring it. I felt so bad, but got his address and will mail it tomorrow so he should get it pretty quickly. We laughed when I gave him the box because it was a wine box. How funny to bring a missionary a wine box. :) Casey said how good it was to see some one that he knew and could speak English with. He was just glowing the whole time. He told us that one of their investigators was baptised last week in the ocean. How cool would that be?

I am thankful that we got to see Casey and feel of his spirit. I couldn't help but think how lucky his family is for his example.

We have plans to head up to Arenal to see the volcano there. It is supposed to be amazing if the clouds are not blocking the veiw of the top. It is a very active volcano so it should be interesing. I told Sharon we are going with my bag or without it. If the bag doesn't make it on the flight tomorrow I will just make due with the clothing I had in my carry on. This could be interesting, but what else can we do? I am not wasting any more of my vacation waiting around for a suitcase :)

And so the Adventure Begins!

I haven't mentioned this on my blog but Sharon and I have been planning a trip to Costa Rica for quite some time. I have the next week off school for Fall Break. So, after what I might call a hellish week (4 midterms, 3 quizzes, 2 labs, and 2 online assignments due) today was finally the day!

We left for the airport at 7 am to find out our plane was delayed an hour, could have used that extra hour of sleep :) Then flew to Denver, then Atlanta and finally landed in San Jose Costa Rica. While waiting for our baggage to arrive we hear our names called over the intercom. I was at the Currency Exchange counter trying to get us some money and when I looked over at Sharon the look on her face was priceless. Well, only one of our bags actually arrived in Costa Rica. The care package I am delivering to Katie's bother in law who is serving his mission. Seriously no luggage! It should be arriving tomorrow sometime after 12pm. So our plans to attend church with Elder Robinson are canceled :(

We finally made it out of customs and proceeded to the car rental counters to discover that the company we reserved a car with had decided to close the counter early tonight. It was frustrating to say the least. We talked to a few people and then the guys in charge of the Taxi's. I had a feeling that we should just wait a minute to make a decision. And then walks in the Hertz car rental guy. Turns out at this hour of the night we had to take a shuttle in town a little way to get the car. This is the point I became worried about what driving in Costa Rica might be like. A man on the plane told us we should have rented a 4X4 because all the pot holes cause flat tires quite often. He new of someone who got 3 in one trip! Then the car rental guy advised us it would come in handy to purchase tire and windsheild insurance with the rental. Hmmmm I might have some interesting flat tire stories to tell in the next few days. The best part of the car rental experience was when I was looking through the spanish to english book was have and told Sharon she was "muy frustrado". Maybe you just had to be there but it was pretty funny.

With the help of GPS we eventually made it to our hotel. We had more than a few wrong turns on the way and probably would have never made it without the GPS. Thank the heavens for modern technology! Our hotel is super nice, so that was very refreshing. The front desk guy helped us figure out the money situation and a few problems with our car. We are tired! I want my toiletries! Luckily I packed a few changes of clothes in my carry on. All I can say is that I will be a much happier camper when my luggage arrives!

On the bright side we have an amazing view of HOOTERS outside our hotel window :)

Then we discovered our curtains don't close all the way so Sharon came up with a solution..... a hair clip!

Um........

So, Ava actually thought she was going to wear this outfit today.  I don't think so!