I am a SUCKER...

Okay, so I love shopping at Costco. I can usually make it out of there with what I need and am rarely drawn to much of the "extra" stuff. Well, today I realized just how big of a SUCKER I really am. When Spring rolls around I get Spring fever and am drawn to flowers. Costco always gets a great selection of flowers in - especially perennials! So, I went today...yep, you guessed it! I came home with perennials once again. I am a sucker for flowers. The other thing that always gets me at Costco are the Carter's sundresses for $7.49 - who can beat that price. I did control myself a bit on that one today and only picked up one dress for Kylee. I think I will avoid Costco until Spring is over! Yeah right!

FINALLY!!!

Okay, I hope that you will all forgive me for slacking and for all of the pictures. To pick only a few would not do the trip justice! Costa Rica was beatiful! Many of you have been asking for evidence of our conquering the zip lines and as you can see from the pictures below....we did it! Summaries of each group of pictures would probably bore you all to tears so let me just say this - we were very spoiled on this trip! We stayed in wonderfully nice hotels, ate fabulous food, and were surrounded by great people. It was a trip that we will always remember! Check out the zip line picture and imagine is "zipping" through the rainforest on a series of 8 ziplines. The longest was the length of 8 football fields...800 yards! It was an amazing experience! Enjoy!


View from our hotel, volcanos, beautiful birds, and crazy bus drivers that stop in the middle of the road for nutty tourists to take pictures!


San Jose Costa Rica temple, small plane ride that made us sick, dirt runway that we landed on, view from the plane and my view of the cockpit!


Waterfall the we hiked to...3/4 mile down on man made stairs, some wildlife that we say, other pretty pictures of Costa Rica scenery!


Proof - the zipline! Very unflattering outfits, beautiful views, great friends, upset tummies because we were SO nervous but wonderful memories of flying through the rainforest strapped to a piece of metal that could break at any time! Were we crazy!???! The little dot you see in the middle picture on the bottom row is my husband! Yes, we are crazy!



Our last few days in paradise, the Four Seasons Resort, the pool we swam in, the ocean we kayaked in, the white outfits for our "white beach" party, our tour guides for the trip and the monkey that lived outside our window!

I failed...

Sorry that I failed to continue with updates of the trip. The last 3 days were the most relaxing and but I still did not find time to update the blog! I will post pictures in the coming days for those who are interested!

Day 4 - Relaxing!

Sorry if you are sick of reading about our trip but blogging this is my journal. I know that we are incredibly lucky and very spoiled to be here so read on if you would like!

What a day! Tyler's day began early with a 8:03 tee time at the Four Season golf course which is rated one of the best and in the world. He said it was amazing and he actually golfed pretty well. While he was out sweating in the heat I was in our room sound asleep...I cannot remember the last time I rolled out of bed at 9:00. I ordered room service for breakfast and was off for my 90 minute message at the hotel spa. Time flew and I was drooling during the whole thing! It was so relaxing! The service at this place is amazing - it is hard to get used to being waited on so much. Tyler returned just after noon and we ate lunch by the pool before heading off on a kayaking tour around the island. It was fun but man was it a good workout. By the time we were heading back I could hardly lift my paddle. It was fun to be in the water and see the sights and marine life. We slept by the pool and returned in time to shower and get ready for dinner. We went to a Brazilian BBQ that reminded me of Tucanos. It was great and we were surrounded by great compay which made the night fun. We returned to the room with 3 other couples and the men watched the Utah State Aggie basketball game on the internet while the women played an intense game of cards on the blacony. We topped off the night with chocolate cake and ice cream and are now ready for bed. Tyler is off for another 18 holes of golf in the morning and I plan on relaxing by the pool and will get a pedicure! Tomorrow is our last full day here and I cannot believe that this trip is almost over! Crazy!

Day 4 - Spoiled!

Today has been wonderful but I am feeling really spoiled. Really, how often do people get to come to a place like this? Costa Rica is beautiful but today we took another small plane ride to Liberia and drove 1 hour to the coast where we are staying for the next few days. We are in the Four Seasons Resort which is breathtakingly beautiful! We have a view of the ocean from our room and sat and watched the monkes jump from tree to tree tonight. I cannot believe that we are actually here. We made dinner reservations at the golf club and split a ticket with 3 couples. Our bill, split 3 ways, was $164....that is $164 for each couple! The foot was amazing but WOW it was expensive. Every corner you walk around you run into someone who works at the hotel offering you a drink or a cold towel. It is hard to get used to being waited on! We survived the plane ride, the bus ride, and a very expensive dinner and are now beat. We are lucky to be here. My thoughts today have been on how spoiled I am in being "rewarded" with a trip like this. There are so much people who live in such terrible conditions and here I sit, ordering one more Pina Colada next to the pool. Well, there is today's updated! We are golfing, kayaking, and taking a trip to the spa for a massage tomorrow! Again, we are very spoiled!

Day 3 - I am tired!

Wow! What a day! We started off this morning hiking to another waterfall. It was straight down the mountain on a man made staircase and was well worth the scary hike. The water was freezing but it was fun to stand and hear the water crash at the bottom! The hike painful! It was great hiking down but you forget that when you hike down you have to hike back up. We survived and were back on the bus and headed to lunch. From another huge lunch buffet we were off to the much awaited ziplines. We took a sky tram through the rain forests to the top of the mountain where we started down on a series of ziplines. There were 8 ziplines total and they told us that we would get going as fast as 45 miles per hour. It was AMAZING! It was scary to take the initial plunge but it was worth every second of it. From the ziplines we could see the volcano and the scenery of the surrounding rainforests were breathtaking. Tyler is scared of heights and was brave enough to survive the adventure as well. It was a wonderfully tiring day and we are happy to report that we survived. We have certainly been well fed on this trip and tonight was no exception. The food has been good. We just returned from playing cards with another couple and are ready to crash! Tomorrow we board another small plane and are off the our final destination before returning home. We are lucky to be in this beautiful place.

Kylee's Cooking School

We are surprising Renee with this post! Here is a little of what her kids have been up to since she has been gone!

Kylee's Cooking School
(she talked into the camera like it was real)

Today we made....Good n' Easy Pizza (at Grandma's)

First - WASH YOUR HANDS REALLY GOOD

Put on an apron - you can take off all your clothes like I did because I did not
want to get anything on my long sleved shirt!
Make sure your hair is pulled up so it does not get in the food.

Mix the dough in the mixer. (grandma had to help)

Splatter the dough around on the pan.
Dump the sauce on and spread it around. The we dumped a handful of cheese on.Then we put some hamburger on because it was all grandma had.
(no hamburger on one end becasue Nick won't eat it....he did'nt anyway, he had a hot dog)

The we dumped more cheese on it and put it in the oven.It was yummy! (but the yeast in the crust did not rise very much Grandma says)
Grandma says the recipie comes from when she lived in Iowa.
dough....
1 pkg. yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt 2 T salad oil
2 1/2 C. flour
dissolve yeast in water with sugar.
stir in remaining dough ingredients and beat vigorously 20 strokes.
allow dough to rest 5 minutes.

Heat oven to 425

Divide dough in half or maybe use the whole thing if you like thicker crust.

On greased sheet spread dough. Cover with sauce and add toppings.

sauce....
1/2 C. chopped onion (or less if you like)
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. instant garlic
1/8 tsp. pepper

topping....
1/4 C. parmesan cheese
2 tsp. oragano
pepperoni/ hamburger/ canadian bacon or whatever you like
2 C. mozzarella cheese
green peppers/mushrooms etc. to taste!

Stayed tuned for the next "Cooking with Kylee"

Oh yeah, Austin helped clean up!

Day 2 - Interesting!

We anticipated that today would be a crazy day but the schedule was changed a bit and it was a very relaxing day. We spent time at the Marriott in San Jose this morning and took our time eating breakfast and wandering around the hotel. It was another beautiful day! The bus picked us up and drove us to the San Jose Costa Rica temple - the groundskeeper let us in the gate so we were able to see the temple and take some pictures! It sticks out like a sore thumb amoungst shacks and very run down buildings but is beautiful like all temples. From there we were off to a very small airport where we boarded a very small plane - a 20 seater to be exact. With my near vomitting experience on the bus yesterday I was smart and took some motion sickness pills. The views were amazing! The 20 minute plane ride was much better than the 5 hours it would have taken us on the bus to go the same distance. The plane landed near the Tabacon hot springs and volcano - a must see if you ever come to Costa Rica. From our hotel room we can see the lava coming out of the volcano. It is breathtaking! Our hotel room is perfect with large windows to view the volcano and our own personal hot tub. We sat in the local hot springs tonight and ate dinner at the restaurant there. We are off to bed to prepare for tomorrow - lots of hiking and ziplining! It should be fun. I am thankful they moved things around a little bit. It was wonderful to have a more low key today in preparation for a mad day tomorrow! My favorite part: the very interesting but amazing plane ride! Crazy!

DAY 1 - busy!

Today is supposed to be a day of rest and it actually really was. We took a bus ride up the mountain to see the Poas Volcano. I nearly lost my breakfast to car sickness with all the driving but it was well worth it. The volcano was beautiful and the hiking in the area was nice. It was a cool morning, light jackets for sure but no rain. The sunshine and fresh air are a great change from the crazy Utah inversion and cold weather. From the volcano we headed down the mountain a little ways to the La Paz Waterfalls & Gardens. They have all sorts of wildlife and flowers there - it was amazing! We were able to see hundreds of different flowers, butterflies, orchids, hummingbirds, snakes, frogs and the waterfalls. It was a nice hike and a great way to spend a Sunday. The weather has been perfect...warm with a little breeze. It is a lot less humid then I expected so that has been nice. We ate dinner at the hotel and it was wonderful. I spent 2 hours in the hot tub with other wives from the group and it was great to relax and chat with the other women. We board a chartered small plane to our next destination at 11:00 tomorrow morning. Tomorrow is another busy day from hiking, to a tram, to the zip line! We are also going to be able to see the Costa Rica temple which should be neat. We are excited! Stay tuned for pictures. The storage space on Tyler's computer is low but I am working on it...