More From Costa Rica

Here are more pics from Costa Rica. We had an incredible time. The first two days Mark had to do a lot of work meeting with attorneys, bank, realitors, builder, etc. I pretty much just tagged along.

The last two days we mostly just played. The zip line canopy tour was a blast. We also got to play with spider monkeys in a small zoo. Another day we went down south to Tamarindo and got massages and played in the ocean. Oh, and we also had our fill of great food and drinks. If it weren't for us not having the kids with us, we would have wanted to stay for a long, long time!

9 Years!

Yes, today is our 9 year anniversary. Feels weird to be married that long already! We are in Costa Rica celebrating our anniversary and checking up on Mark's condo project. Sort of a working vacation. This is the first time we have left Journey, and I have been so nervous about leaving her for so long (6 days). So far it sounds like both Aspen and Journey are doing well, and we are missing them more than they do us :)

On one hand, the last nine years seem to have flown by, but on another, it seems like a lifetime ago that I was a 19 year old bride anxiously walking down the isle. We have grown up together and have experienced so many great times. Not to say that we haven't seen our share of hard times, but the good have out weighed the bad so many times over. We are still each other's best friends, still love to hang out at coffee shops and still love to just "be" together. We have created our own family and are loving the life that we have made. We are so thankful for our marriage and for Aspen and Journey. We feel incredibly blessed!

Updating Life

Journey and cousin Peyton at the park by our house on one of the VERY few sunny days we have had this spring!

I haven't posted for a long time, but Aspen said something the other day that I have to write down to remember! At the breakfast table Aspen said,

"Mom! Last night God talked to me inside my head! He said that I see that you have been getting a lot of spankings and even when you get lots of spankings, I still love you!"

I was surprized but said, yep that sounds like God :)

About a month ago we had a conversation about how God speaks to us, and that we don't hear him outloud but that he talks to us through our thoughts. Oh, and he did go through a couple days where he got quite a few spankings. Since he turned 3, (he's 4 now) he doesn't receive too many spankings, but there are those times......

I had a great Mother's Day yesterday. I have the best husband and kids! Mark made me breakfast, lunch and dinner and cleaned up the kitchen too :) Love that! He also got me a hanging flower basket and hooked up our sprinkler to it so that I don't have to remember to water it. I love plants, but am not so good at the watering part.....

Aspen was very sweet all day and kept telling me "happy mother's day", giving me mother's day hugs, and telling me how much he loved me. I love being a mommy.

This picture is of Aspen's ladybug. He LOVES bugs of all kinds - spiders, potato bugs, ants, beetles, flys, you name it. As I type this, we have a container of ants and another one of little tadpoles that he caught out of our gross pond. Actually, I think they may be mosquito larve (yuck!), but it's hard to say no to something that captures his attention for so long. Not even his "Larry Boy" computer game can do that! He has made friends with the 9 year old neighbor boy and often ropes him into helping him search for bugs. It's so much fun to see Aspen find something that he really loves.

I Love Saving Money!

I have been couponing and working on saving money at the grocery store for the last 4 months. The picture is from one of the shopping trips this weekend. I did so well this weekend that I thought I'd list out all the things I got.

7 5lb. bags organic flour
4 boxes diabetic snack bars

13 yoplait yogurts

2 icecream

1 large bag shredded cheese

tomatoes

6 cans green chilis

11 cans chicken stock

2 cans non-stick spray

2 Sunday newspapers

1 organic salad mix

1 4-pack tava

2 jars salsa
1 half-gallon organic milk

2 bags chips

GRAND TOTAL................ $18.72!!!

Sunscreen

We have been having crazy weather for April. Snow, hail, freezing temperatures, it feels more like winter than spring! These pictures are from about a week and a half ago when the sun acutally came out. Bad mommy forgot the sunscreen..........


Check out Journey's head. She has a total headband sunburn, complete with the dots from the crochet material! It ended up being a pretty bad burn and her whole scalp is now peeling. There is a total tan line now complete with the dots. Now she has to wear a headband......or grow hair!

Happy Birthday Aspen!

Tomorrow is Aspen's 4th birthday. I can hardly believe he is 4 already. Time has gone so fast!
So this has really been more of a birthday week. Tuesday night was Aspen's party. We celebrated it here with both sides of the family and had so much fun. Aspen got tons of toys (of course) and has been busy playing with them all week. I will post pics of the party after I download them from the camera. Last night Mark took him shopping to pick out his birthday present from us (a starwars lego spaceship), and tomorrow we are having cinnamon rolls for breakfast in honor of his birthday.
This year I am working on establishing family traditions. For birthdays, I have decided to do cinnamon rolls for breakfast and homemade icecream cakes for the birthday cake.

Aspen is such a fun kid to have around. We are constantly laughing at what he says and how he thinks. Today he told me to "take a pill, mom" (forgot the "chill" part). He is very loving and affectionate. He tells me all the time how much he loves me, how pretty he thinks I am, and that I am his "best girl". He is alternately tough and testing then sweet, funny and teasing. The other day he tried to talk me into eating a dead bug that was floating in the bathtub. He told me that he would give me 46 candies if I ate it. Can you say little Mark?!! I just laughted.
Routine is important to him and he always likes to know what the "plan" is.
He loves bugs. He finds bugs all the time, puts them in his bug catcher and then plays with them until they die. We actually considered buying him a bug farm for his birthday, but are a little too worried about them all escaping......

Well Aspen, this is for you. I love you so much and God has a great plan for your life. I can't imagine my life without you.