Weeeerrrreee Baaaaaaaacck!! Costa Rica was wonderful! By far my most favorite memorable vacation! It started with the long plane ride there, we flew about 7 hrs with one stop in Houston. Running through the airport like maniacs trying to make sure we made it on time. The look on peoples faces were priceless when we would come barging through with our 6 bags of luggage and our 4 kids, they should all just be happy I couldn't bring my dogs too!! The WHOLE family all flew there together (minus Rach, Gio and Lottie because they came from Italy) All together we had 10 adults and 7 kids, 5 of which were babies!! After the long ride we arrived in Costa Rica and experienced our first humid night there! That was the only night we would have a/c . I think we all took up most of the rooms at the hotel and it wasn't until another guest there asked us to keep it down that we decided to go to bed. Then next morning we had our 2nd challenge (the 1st was getting there) after all 3 of our rental cars arrived we had to somehow manage to get ALL of our luggage into the cars!? Of course Rory and I had the most! After about an hour of pushing, shoving and squishing the luggage in and Chanel falling and scraping up her knee and James throwing up... we were off! What was supposed to be a 3 hr. drive turned into about a 5 hr drive up to the Arenal Volcano. We stayed at a place called Kokoro, the people there were so friendly and welcoming. And the of course it was beautiful there too, we stayed in cute little cabins. Every morning we would wake up to a thick warm fog, it was so neat. Later in the day it would clear up just enough to let a little bit of rain through, it was more like a mist, it felt so cool and refreshing. The first day we were there we went on our first jungle hike, I was completely unprepared as you will see in the picture below because all of my children and I are still wearing our Jammie's (I thought we were just going on a quick stroll through the grounds of the hotel.) The next day we went to another hotel near by, there they had the funnest pools with lots of fun little water slides around them, we got to go on a butterfly tour, a crocodile tour and in an ant house. We also went on the fastest zip line tour in Costa Rica (pictures will be posted soon hopefully). After 3 nights there we were off on another adventure, we drove down to a little town called Quepos. This drive not so long, only 3-4 hrs, but much more windy and Curtis even managed to get stuck on the side of the road once thanks to James and Chanel having to pull over to pee. This was not a good thing since the roads are VERY narrow and they usually have a drop off on one side and the people there drive CRAZY!! We had a local man lend us a tow rope to pull us out and we continued on. We arrived to the most beautiful house! It was a large house made of all concrete, full of beautiful wood work and tile throughout. The full time guests consisted of enormous katydids, beetles, cockroach looking things, moths and grasshoppers! All were BIG and scary looking! There were also tons of lizards and GECKOS! We soon learned the important roll the lizards and geckos played in the house, every time the kids would catch one I would have them let it go in the house because I knew that was at least 5 bugs less that would be crawling on me or jump out of my laundry and try to eat me! In every room of the house there were HUGE windows all with the most beautiful views of either the thick jungle, the bright blue pool or the never ending ocean. And there was no glass in the windows, they were just covered in screen, that was if you even had a window! Some of the rooms had just a huge opening, like there was a wall completely missing! Those were the rooms that were fought over the most. Rory and I were lucky enough to have the little guest house below all to ourselves and the kids. It made things much easier since our family tends to take up more room than any of the others. The house was managed by a wonderful man named Jota (pronounced hota) if I could have taken any souvenir home I wanted, it would have been him for sure. He knew so much about the land, the people, places to go and he was one of the funniest people I have ever met. My second favorite people would have been Jota's ladies... Yes, Jota had ladies. One was his mother and the other 2 were were his wife and sister, everyday Jota would say "I'm gonna go get da ladies!" and we would all get so excited, maybe that's because not only were they nice too but everyday the ladies would come and cook us breakfast, do our laundry, clean the house and then make lunch and put it in the fridge for when we were ready then they would leave and come back a few hours later and cook us a big dinner! I loved those ladies!! At night there was a guard that sat in his little chair and made sure everything was safe. And every night we would go to sleep with the sounds of the geckos chirping and the INSECTS! It was a loud continuous sound of insects! It was scary to know that pretty much everything around you was crawling with HUGE bugs but at the same time it was the neatest sound and so soothing. Every morning we would wake up to the sounds of the most beautiful birds, all full of song and they had the most vibrant amazing colors! We would also wake up to the sounds of all different kinds of animals, especially the howler monkeys... those sounds were not so beautiful, it sounded more like something dying a slow agonizing death. And all day and night we would listen the waves crashing on the shore just below us, all so fun and new to see and hear. Everything around you was alive, even if it didn't look like it, it probably was. Everyday was such a great adventure, we went new places, saw new things and ate new foods (some good and some bad). Almost every day we hiked through a new part of the jungle! JUNGLE AFTER JUNGLE WE HIKED!!! I have NEVER hiked so much in my life as I did in that week! And they weren't easy, especially because Rory would have little Rori Ana on his back and me with Ava on my belly and each of us with a bag full of sunblock, diapers, wipes, food, towels etc. etc. and we would have to be pulling James and Chanel along the whole way, begging them to take 10 or 20 more steps. Promising them treat after treat and telling them the reward in the end whether it be the beach or animals or something fun. I have to admit that I would have turned around on most of them if it weren't for Rory promising me treats and rewards too! As hard as some of them were they were always worth it in the end, even if its just to say we did it. And thanks to all the family we had with us, without their help we wouldn't have been able to do it, they made this trip so fun and memorable for us. I look forward to the day we get to go back, who knows maybe in like 40 yrs Rory and I will make that our permanent residence!?

Now we are home, back in Utah. I want so badly to walk out onto our beautiful deck and see the beautiful blue waters and green jungles and to hear the exciting sounds. Last night I wanted to turn on Ava's "nature sounds" on her swing just so I could pretend to be back. I wake up in the morning and think WHERE'S DA LADIES AT?? I have to cook my own meals, clean my own house and do my own laundry now?!? I want to feel the hot humid sun on me again, now I feel my body just being sucked dry of all its moisture and the uncomfortable cold again. It was all so exciting and fun, yet so simple and easy.

Here are some pictures in random order, it took too long to organize....

We would go to bed around 9 and wake up around 6 because the sun set and rose so early, here is Rori Ana up at 5:30 am, we weren't ready to get up so we stuck her out on the deck to run laps...

Ava loved the pool, she would kick around and get so excited she would practically go into convulsions. Jameson was in the water about 95% of the time we were there....

Rori HATED the salty water, she would make faces every time she got it in her mouth. She sure love to play in it though!

Beautiful Chanel...

Chanel decided to wear underwear on this day?

Baby Bums!!

Jameson had so much fun!

Jota assured me this snake was not poisonous, so I got as close as I could to get the picture and it got pretty mad. It had a beautiful aqua blue face.

Rori loved LOOKING at the monkeys, not so much touching them.

SO GROSS!!! James caught a gecko and it lost its tail!!!!!

What do you do when your too chicken to catch the gecko yourself? Use your babies of course....

Before the tail incident...







The sunset off our deck.

Pretty Ava...

She had her first taste of gelato!!! Mmmmmm....

After one of our many hikes... the babies fell asleep.

Ava didnt even flinch!

We had to cross a little river to get back to our cars...

It wasnt until after we turned down the boat ride that we saw the warning sign that the water was CONTAMINATED!!!!!

Chanel crying that her legs cant go any further!

Ava slept through most of the hikes.

Rory with Chanel on his shoulders, Rori on his back and a backpack attached to that. People would just stare as we walked by, you would have thought we were the freaks of nature???!

This grass hopper is just a baby!

Ava enjoyed the ocean...

Everyone surfed but me. James surfed and boogie borded so much he has blisters on his hands and belly!!

Chanel fell the most of course but always got back up!

Even Grandpa got in on the action!

I love how Rory keeps his mouth open when he concentrates...

Peek A Boo!!!

These monkeys visited us frequently, they even broke into the kitchen and stole a banana!!

This guy lived here, he would sit there and watch us swim every day.

Rori Ana's first time in the ocean!!!

I think Ava actually like the way the salt water tasted! She would try to shovel it into her mouth!

Ava's first time in the ocean!!!

An anteater!

One of the many lizards the kids caught...

Even the cows were beautiful!

A sloth!

Traffic jam. Rory thought it would be funny to ride Jr's bumper... literally.

Everywhere we drove we dove in 3's!!

The kids running around Kokoro!

Our cabin we stayed in...

The view from our front porch...

All the kids were throwing a fit here!?

A caymen crocodile!

An iguana!

The vegetation was so pretty it looked fake!

Out 3 princesses!

Rori coming down the slide... upside down!

Look at the baby!

Arenal Volcano!

Our first hike through the jungle!!

A walking palm tree!

A jaguar!!! No, just the kitty that live there at Kokoro.

~Christmas 2009~

Christmas was wonderful this year, as with every year I get to spend with my family and friends. It was busy with love, laughter, food, crazy kids and lots of people we care about. It started early for us this year... On Dec. 18-20 my mother, my aunt Lisa and I all went to the local "Mexican Store" and stocked up on all the ingredients to make homemade manudo, pasole and tamales! We kneaded, chopped, boiled, spread and shredded 3 pork butts!!! By the time I was done my right thumb was numb because I had worked through the pain and every muscle in my arms were sore!! But it was all well worth it, the food is so good and was made with lots of love! Then on Christmas eve we had our traditional fondue dinner with the Royce's and that is always fun, we then all got to open one gift. Grandma Royce made the kids some really cute little robes, all with their names on them. They haven't taken them off since! Then we were off to go see Grandma and Grandpa Earl and Jameson's dad and aunt Sara. Once again the kids got to open MORE gifts! Then we went to our very good friends the Wood's. After all that we went home, and again the kids opened another gift. It is so hard trying to teach them that presents is NOT what Christmas is all about. We had a Christmas prayer and they sang Happy Birthday to Jesus, after that James said Jesus' birthday was better than his! Ugh, obviously all the talking I had just done went right over his head. Christmas morning at 5:30 Jameson came running into our room begging us to get up because Santa had come! I made him lay back down only to have little Rori Ana wake up an hour later. Finally we gave up and all just decided to go down and see what Santa had in store for us. This is the first year where the 2 girls are close enough in age that they fought over each others presents, they fought over EVERYTHING!! One was always better than the other or cooler or bigger. It made me happy to have just my one boy because I couldn't do this with 2 boys too! I remember when I was shopping for the girls thinking should I just get 2 of everything or let them have their own things and be individuals? Well, you live and you learn! Next year its 3 of everything!! I will never do this again! I might get them 1 special little thing of their very own but for the most part they will all have the same.
Soon after opening our presents we were headed to the Royce's once again where we had Christmas breakfast and got open even MORE presents!! It was fun to sit around and enjoy our family's company. That afternoon we went to my mom's house where we gathered up the whole family to go tubing up at Soldier Hollow, all 4 of my brother's came and that doesn't happen all the time! The kids had a blast and I think we are going to try to make that a new Christmas tradition. After that we finally got to go home and just sit around and play with all of our new toys and fun things and be together, just us. We all had so much fun and I loved being around so many people we love and care about. I am so grateful for all of our family and friends.

Now I have put ALL of Christmas away, I know this is so bad but that is one of my favorite parts of Christmas. I love when all the lights and decorations are up but I also love when I take down all the clutter. Tonight we will welcome a new year. I am excited to see what this year has in store for us all! I will welcome all the surprises (good and bad) and once again I will try to be a better person and make new resolutions. We are like a fine wine, every year we seem to get better and every year we are stronger because of the obstacles we were given. This year I WILL lose the rest of my baby weight, I will try to be a better mother and have more patience with EVERYONE. I will try to give more and ask for less.
I am now busy cleaning and have already started to pack for our upcoming trip. This is going to be a great year!!

Thanks to all of you for being a part of our lives! We appreciate and love you all!!

I'm sorry I have NO time, or should I say my kids will not GIVE me the time, so I cant really write anything now. Promise I will tonight... after I'm done strangling my kids to bed. I mean, putting them to bed...

1st Place & Snow Angels...

Jameson had his first BMX race last weekend and he took 1st place!! I was so proud, I know I'm supposed to say winning doesn't matter and usually I do but, it sure is way more exciting when your baby takes first!! I even rewarded him with cotton candy?! I never let my kids eat that junk!

James is the one with the red helmet wearing black & white. It was the best picture I could get, I had all 3 girls and was yelling at the top of my lungs all while taking pictures and video taping. Not easy!

Chanel raced "Big wheels" again this year and she got a trophy or frofee as she would call it. I think its time to put her in the big games and let her race for real. We are seriously considering getting her out there.


Our little cheer leader!!

Yesterday we got a lot of snow and it hasn't stopped! Of course the kids wanted to go play in it and me being the WONDERFUL mother I am bit my tongue grit my teeth and went out and played for 2 HOURS!! I must have been in a very generous mood?! I hate the cold! Funny, so did Ava...

The older 3 LOVED it! They were like pigs in the mud.

Good ol' Jazmine even managed to get up and play for about 1 min.

Jameson

He is flexing and trying to show his teeth in this picture. Hes concentrating so hard I think he might fart!

Jameson was really on a roll yesterday! He had me cracking up all day. It started when he got home from school and I had all 3 of the girls down for a nap. I told him he had to be VERY quiet so he didn't wake them up. I went upstairs to do some laundry when all of a sudden I heard him yelling at Tweeder, so I come running down and got after him for it, reminding him again to be quiet. I went back upstairs and I heard him turn on the TV and then he jacked the volume all the way up?! Again, I come running down the stairs and I am standing behind him telling him to turn it down! He didn't look at me or anything, he didn't even budge! It wasn't until I walked up to him that I noticed he had EARPLUGS IN!!!!??? I plucked one out and he jumped so high! You could tell that he all of a sudden realized how loud he was being! I asked him why he had the earplugs in and he said he thought it would help him to be quiet, I don't think he understood that the earplugs only made it quieter for HIM, not for everyone else around.


Then I got on the phone to pay a bill, he asked what I was doing. I told him I was trying to pay a bill and I was getting very frustrated because I couldn't get a LIVE HUMAN on the line for the life of me. I told him I don't like doing this! I hate bills! Well, sometimes (a lot of the time actually) I call him Bill, its a little nickname I gave him when he was little and it stuck but, only I call him it. When I looked at him he had this very sad look on his face. I asked what was wrong? He said in a sad little voice "Do you hate this Bill?". SO SAD!!!! I hugged him and explained the difference in bills and Bill and told him I loved only 1 bill and that was him. So cute.


That night his front tooth was loose and it had been bothering him a little, I think because the other one was trying to push it out of the way. I told him it was time to take it out. For the first time ever in his history of tooth pulling he was TERRIFIED! I put him up on the counter and tied a piece of floss on it and told HIM to pull it out. He tried a few times with all of us cheering him on and telling him to pull harder and he let go of the string and said "IT WONT COME OUT!" That's when mom stepped in... I grabbed it while he was distracted and yanked. Out it came but, not without Jameson gasping in disbelief and screaming. It was soooo FUNNY. Then we were off to wrestling practice, we were in such hurry because we were running really late with the whole tooth thing. This was his first practise so I was explaining some of the rules. I told him to come to me if he needed a drink because I had his water. He said " Ok Mom, you just hand me the water through the cage and I will take a drink and hand it back through the fence holes." I was so confused at first until I realized that I had caught him not to long ago watching Ultimate Cage Fighting on TV!? I said OH NO Jameson, you are NOT cage fighting! Needless to say, he was very disappointed. This is also about the time that Rory and I realized he can no longer say his S's! AT ALL! We were laughing so hard! We kept having him recite Sally sold seashells by the seashore. Now that's comedy!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

First of all... Our Thanksgiving was wonderful! We went to my mom's house a couple of days before since she would be out of town on Thanksgiving day. It was delicious and so nice to sit around a yummy meal visiting with family. Rory and I somehow got stuck on the kids end of the table, I'm sure because most of the kids on that end were ours! It was so fun to see them all playing around, a friend of ours' little boy, Nitrous, couldn't decide what to eat first?! What a dilemma! I don't blame him it was all so good. Then on Thanksgiving day we went to Rod & Teresa's where we got to choose from 2 turkeys! One was cooked in the oven (Teresa's) and was so good and juicy! And the other was smoked (Rod's) and it had so much flavor! Both were amazing and as always dinner was fabulous! That weekend, along with most everyone else I'm sure, we put up Christmas. I buy new things every year forgetting all the stuff I ALREADY have! So this year we had an abundance of decor. Christmas it pretty much the only holiday I decorate for so I make up for all the $ I would be spending on just Christmas stuff. And as usual we still have 3 or 4 bins downstairs of stuff I probably wont even crack into. Anyway, it was so nice this year to have so many little helpers! Even little Ava got in on the action! She was laying in the middle of the living room and grabbing for any tree decoration she could and of course once we turned on the tree she was in a trance for about 45 min after. She loved all the fun lights. Rory went outside and put lights up everywhere and the kids set little stuffed animals and things all through out the house, all I had to do this year pretty much is just give direction. I barley had to lift a finger!

Our tree this year has some little random decorations but, the kids had a blast!

Jameson lost his tooth! And his other one is loose, looks like we know what he will be asking for! All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth!

Rory's sisters, his mom and I all made some really cute Christmas blocks this year. They turned out great thanks to them for the their creativity and to Rory for helping me with most of it. The Royce fam is very talented in that department!

I didn't get a chance to go around and get pictures of all the decorations but here are a few...

Kids...

Last weekend Chanel had a dance recital, she was supposed to dance the "Santa Mambo". BUT lately she has gotten a little shy about things, especially when the attention is on her. I had a STRONG feeling she was going to go up on stage and freeze. She did. She walked out there looking like a perfect little barbie baby and she took one look at the giant snowman behind her and the huge crowd in all staring at her and completely froze up. I think she did two moves the entire time, still she looked adorable and when I went backstage to get her she was very proud of herself. I told her she did a perfect job and she looked beautiful and she just said "I know."

She has been so funny lately. She says the funniest things and she catches on to more than I give her credit for! She is witty and smart and I absolutely LOVE to be with her. She is getting so BIG now, its sad. She is exactly 3 ft. 6 in. and growing FAST!! She will pass me up by the time she is 8 yrs. old I'm sure. I want to write a few things down so I don't forget...

I love when she gets shy she hides behind one of my legs and and just stares up at me with this look like "please tell them to stop looking at me and talking to me!?"

I love to sleep next to her WHEN SHES AWAKE. When she is asleep its not so fun! She kicks, farts and snores like you couldn't believe!! But if ever I am tired and I get a chance I will beg her to come up to my room with me and watch a movie while I sleep. She is the best little cuddler a mommy could ask for and without fail, every time I lay next to her I'm out. Shes like my little sleeping pill!!

Some cute words she cant say just right: Packpack (backpack), Mrs. werwain (Mrs. Larrain), Movie peter, taaayons (crayons), Ava Win (Ava Lyn), Oliher (Oliver), Dama & Dampa, dowing (going) Pome on (come on. I know she has more and I will try to write them later.

Rori Ana is also growing like a weed! We went to her 18 mo. check up today and she is now 32 inches tall, which puts her in the 66%! But she weighs in at only 23 lbs, so she is in the 36% for her weight. I don't know how because I swear she eats more than her siblings. Right now she is at the stage that drives me nuts, don't get me wrong I love her to pieces and I love being around her (for the most part) but she has a really hard time communicating and she gets SO MAD when I don't understand her gibberish?! It reminds me of the double dutch bus! She will point and say something and to her it makes perfect sense but to a stupid adult like myself, I don't know what the heck she is telling me!? So she will kick and scream until I get it right. I cant wait for her to really start talking so we can get this stage over with.

Ava Lyn is doing great! She sleeps through the night now and has for over a month. She is so laid back and patient. She hardly ever cries and when she does its a very quiet polite cry if that at all possible. She smiles at everyone and LOVE to talk to people. She is so funny, I will try my hardest for the longest time to get her to giggle and she will just smile her enormous grin but, no noise. But every now and then for the most random things she will CRACK UP!! Here are a few: When I sing Black eyed Peas, BOOM BOOM POW. When I clean her hands, when I sneeze or yawn, and when the kids are playing she thinks its pretty funny. She is still pretty small for her age, both my preemies are. She weighs in at only 11.5 lbs which sets her in the 10% and she is 23 inches long and in the 33%. The 2 older ones are GIANTS and always fall in the 90% or higher and the 2 little ones are LITTLE??!!

Jameson is getting BIG waaay too fast! I was at the doctors office when I looked over and he was all up in my face?! I couldn't figure out when he had gotten tall enough to pretty much stare me in the face? I swear he grew over night!! He is a GIANT 4 FT TALL!!???? I am only 5' 4! By the time this kid is in 1st grade he will be as tall if not taller than me?! I get so sad, I want him so badly to be a baby again. He is too smart for his own good, he is funny, and so happy! Nothing can bring this kid down! He loves school and makes new friends wherever he goes. People cant help but to love being around him, and so do I.

I love being a mom! I love all my kids. I recently had someone ask me what I thought about having kids so young. I told them how I thought I was living "the life" before, I had a new car, my own apartment, my own $, I did what I want when I wanted. That's not to say I don't miss my freedom but, I would never in a million years change the way things turned out. I used to think I was living the life and had it all. Nope, this is the life now, my kids are my joy in life. I am now living "the life", and its a meaningful life. I know what my goals are, I know where I'm headed, I know the direction I want to go and who I want to be with. Before I was just wingin' it. Just taking it day by day and never knew what was to come or where I was going. Now, I still take it day by day and I get fun and not so fun little surprises everyday with these crazy kids but, in the end I know what I want and who I want it with.

These are my peeps, who I roll with... MY HOMIES!!

And they give me all the love, happiness, joy, peace and comfort I could ever ask for!

Mom, I saw God.

Once again Jameson has had another revelation, this one is kind of funny. He came into the kitchen this morning and said "Mom I know what God looks like, I saw him last night in my dream." I said does he look like me? (joking) "NO MOM! Hes white!" That is the first time Jameson has ever said anything like that so it was kind of funny, I didn't even know that he noticed people were "different colors". Anyway... He then said "God rides down on a cloud made of sand and he has long hair" I asked him what he said and James said he didn't talk. Then he saw his sisters playing with his hot wheels so he ran out of the room and wont talk to me about it anymore!! I want to know what the rest of his dream was!?