Our Trip to Costa Rica

This picture is kinda funny. The last friday we were there it happened to be Mother's Day for the "Tico's" (thats what you call the Costa Rican people). Boy, they sure do love their Mothers!! Every place was decorated red and white and I got this balloon after dinner that night. My hair drenched because we got caught in a HUGE rainstorm that would put the storms here to shame. However that kind of storm is common here in the country. We were shopping in an outdoor mall without an umbrella. The power kept going out,so we just had to make a run for it!!
Spencer and I were able to go to Costa Rica together without any of our kiddos. Spencer was actually going for work, and he bought me a ticket out there to meet him. Even though at first I resisted leaving the kids, I am SO glad I went. Costa Rica is a beautiful place with super nice people. We had a blast!!

This is the first hotel we stayed at. It is close to San Jose and close to the site where Spencer was training. It is the Marriott San Jose. It is an awesome resort...very Americanized.

CROCS!!! These are the meanest, nastiest looking things. After we left San Jose to head to a beach town called Herredia. These Nasty things were just off the main Highway underneath a bridge. They were all at least 6ft long.

This is us about to join a canopy tour. That is just fancy talk for HUGE zip lines through the jungle. The middle picture is a bridge in the middle of the jungle that gets you from one zip line to another. The last picture is me on top of a platform on top of a HUGE tree!

Gotta have some action pics!! We are looking a little sweaty but it was well worth it!!

Spencer as he is heading out to catch some waves......me, catching up on some good reading and yes, I am in my whale pants!! Spencer likes to make fun, but hey I wear whats comfy these days!!

This is the next hotel that we stayed in. It is the resort Los Suenos. It is just beautiful and the resturaunts were unbelieveable.

This is me getting a massage on the beach...$50/90min, you can't beat that anywhere!! Then of course I had to try the boogie boarding now that the waves were a little tamer. We are in a new city now called Manuel Antonio. It is truly the jungle. We stayed at a little bungalo about 200 yards from the ocean, it was not much to speak of as far as lodging goes, thus no pictures! BUT, the surroundings were GREAT! There were monkeys, and huge lizards everywhere. The last pic is me in a resturaunt that is literally in the jungle, all outdoors nestled in a tree.

While we were in Manuel Antonio we were able to go river rafting. They say the best time to go is when the sun is shining and the water is brown. That means that it is has just rained and there is great fast water to ride. These were 3+ rapids so they were pretty good for first timers. This was a BLAST. I could consider taking it up as a hobby...oh yeah I live in AZ, not a good place for lots of rain! Anyway, it was really a lot of fun!

First Day of School

This summer we had a blast, and now school must begin. I was ready for the summer to end, however it is bittersweet knowing that my kids will be spending more time away from home, which is were I like them to be. It is SO hard to send them away...mostly because I know every time I do, they are growing up and getting older.

Abby, 3rd grade, Ms. Garcia's class. Abby is SO lucky to have so many people from our ward in her class. BUT on the flip side she desperatly misses Madison, who she had classes with the last 3 years!! They have managed to meet everyday at lunch and hang out!

Braiden, 1st grade, Mrs. Berkshire's class. Braiden is also SO lucky to have many kids from our ward in his class. It was SO hard for me to see my little guy growing up and going to ALL DAY school now. Packing a lunch for him still feels so weird.

Caleb, Kindergarten, Ms. Nicholas' class. I am so excieted for Caleb to be in K!! He is such a sweet boy, and even though I will miss him at home...he is only in 1/2 day so I don't miss him too long. I look forward to all the great friends he will meet. We just love his teacher also. She is SO wonderful. I look forward to 11:00 am when I get to go pick him up and bring him home!

All three of our Coronado Coyote Clan!!

Oh, yes! You guessed it! Our little Dayson is in school too. He is in his first year of preschool and boy was he excieted to get started. He had all his great friends in his class and the structure is great for him (and for me too)! He has been looking forward to this day since last year. We would drop off Caleb he would bring his backpack too hoping that someday it would be his turn too!!

End of the Summer Sleepover: Boy Night

The next night was the boys' turn to have their sleepover. We had about 12 boys hangin' out with us. They swam, had pizza, made pillowcases (our theme for these guys was a "pillow fight"), played video games and watched lots of "Tom and Jerry". We also just love being around such a great group of boys!!

There are Caleb's friends busy making pillowcases. I have found that this did not take half as long as it took the girls. I think boys just have more of a "get it done" additude. Boys will be boys!

Here are Braiden's friends making their pillowcases. These guys took a little more time, but were still a bit more interested in other things.

Time to shut off "Tom and Jerry" and hit the sack!!

End of the Summer Sleepover: Girls Night!!!

This was our 2nd annual End of the Summer Sleepover. We had about 11 girls oever and we just had SO much fun. Our theme this year included a little Mylie Cyrus' "Old Blue Jeans"!! We feel so lucky to be surrounded by such great girls!!

All the girls busy being SO VERY CREATIVE!!!

The finished product! It was so great to see the girls spending so much time creating their own style. Girls are definately more fashion concious than boys..........

It's not a party without a lot of karaoke!!

Good Night.....don't let thoughts of "The Haunting Hour" movie scare you! Thanks to the Wilcox family for the great movies!!