It's a closet, not a sauna

Pretty Yellow Birds

2012-02-17T10:19:00.001-07:00

One day I heard a pretty bird song coming from the tree in front of the house. I went and looked and saw a bird to match the song. I ran for the camera, but of course the bird flew away just as I returned.

Then I heard and saw it again in about the same place and realized it must live there.

Then I found that there was another one, a pair of these pretty yellow birds live in that tree.

They are usually most active in the mornings. I can hear their beautiful songs and see them there more often early in the day.

Here is their home. I wonder if they are watching over and tending some eggs. Will they soon have some youngsters in the nest with them? Hope to see soon.

Sarchi, Aztec for Under the Volcano

2012-02-17T09:56:00.002-07:00

I blogged about the town of Sarchi some time ago. But that time we didn't visit the main town square which we did this time. This is the white stuccoed church on the main square.

Sarchi comes from an Aztec word which means, Under the Volcano.

Lots of pretty carved hardwood line the lower part of the sides of the interior. The upper parts are mostly painted white.

Hardwood vaulted ceiling with pretty glass chandeliers down the center aisle.

This town is noted for the decorative painting in the town and on the oxcarts. They even have some in the church except it is very subtle and understated compared to the colorful painting elsewhere. More chandeliers hang from the ceilings of the side parts of the chapel.

The ends of all the pews were carved hardwood. The floors were tile but not as patterned as some others. I guess they didn't want to detract from the pretty hardwood with too much pattern in the floor tiles.

This was an out of the way side door that looked like it could lead to a secret garden.

This is what is at the other end of the town square. It is a beautifully painted, over sized example of the decorative oxcarts that this region is noted for.

Close up of one of the huge wheels of the oxcart.

Decoratively painted bench in the square. These designs remind me of some of the traditional tole painting designs that would have originated in Europe.

Even the garbage can was painted in decorative designs.

Another painted bench.

Trouble!

2012-02-17T09:44:00.002-07:00

As you can see, I have been having trouble with blogger. I thought the posts I was trying to do weren't happening so I kept doing them over. They wouldn't let me add the text in the normal way I had been doing. I finally figured out how to add the text and then wanted eliminate the duplicates. But blogger warned me that if I deleted the ones I asked it to, then those pictures would be eliminated from all the postings. So I guess I'll just leave all the pictures there. I also did a post that after it was finished, the pictures weren't there, just question marks. I will try to do that one over. But everybody knows I am electronically challenged so who knows what will happen!

2012-02-16T20:41:00.000-07:00

2012-02-16T20:38:00.000-07:00

Zarcero

2012-02-16T20:11:00.002-07:00

Mountain town of Zarcero with the church facing the main square.

The main square has lots of fanciful sculpted bushes. The book called these arches Art Deco.

This one appears to be a Dinosaur.

This one looks like a bird.

This one is a vine covered gazebo with the church in the background.

This appears to be a monster of some kind, but it could be almost anything.

Faces

A painting on the ceiling of the Church interior.

Vaulted Ceiling with lots of gold trim.

Pretty gold chandelier.

Looking toward the front, this is the ceiling and painting over the altar.

Pretty tiled floor.

A very decorative sarcophagus or coffin, probably for a figure of a saint. Since it was empty, I took a picture of it.

Gothic arched side door and windows.

Mural in the square in front of the church. The mural is made from irregularly shaped ceramic tiles. This is an ox drawn cart. Below is more of the mural. The artisans were children.

Traditional Cart Workshop in Sarchi

2012-02-16T19:49:00.002-07:00

This place was really a factory where they still make traditional carts and paint them decoratively. Since I have posted pictures of the carts before, I took pictures of chairs painted in some of the traditional designs.

Pretty red painted bench.

Out back where they actually work with the wood. The big orange thing to the right was covering a water wheel that powed all the machinery.

Another bench painted with some of the birds of Costa Rica.

Laurie enjoyed trying out one of the chairs. On his lap was my purchase of the day, a really pretty T shirt with a real mola on it. Molas are the colorful multilayered fabrics worked by the Cuna Indians of the San Blas Islands, off the coast of Panama where Laurie spent some of his time as a young missionary. I'll show you a picture of it sometime later.

More examples of the decorative painting on the building. The birds with the large bills are the Toucans. There are many different kinds of Toucans. Along the sides are the tole-like designs.

I think these birds are the Quetzals, that are supposed to be some of the most beautiful birds of Costa Rica, but are also some of the most elusive.

More bird paintings on the building. I actually also bought a tiny replica of one of the carts. I got one in red especially so I could use it as a Christmas decoration.

Grecia

2012-02-16T19:00:00.002-07:00

The town of Grecia is not too far from us so we drove in that direction for an afternoon of exploring. This church is on the central square of the town. It is interesting and different than most old churches in that it is constructed from steel plates imported from Belgium in 1897. The town is called the used car capitol of Costa Rica and rightly so as the main road into town is lined with used car dealerships. But I enjoyed the church more than the car dealerships.

This is one of the decorative side doors. The books don't say why the church was constructed from steel plates, but I wonder if it is that some of the other old churches were destroyed by earthquakes and maybe they thought that the steel would withstand earthquakes better than stone.

Gothic side windows and a pretty yellow flowering tree. The guidebooks call it a barn red church so I suppose it has always been painted this color with the trim in white. I quite like the color scheme.

This is a tiny side door at the back of the church. If it has a specific function, I don't know. But you can see where the plates of steel are rivetted together.

Inside, above the main door is the pipe organ backed by stained glass windows.

The arched ceiling is made of wood, painted white. You can see the outline of the individual boards. There are a lot of pretty glass chandeliers.

Again, the interior painted white, the stained glass windows, and the glass chandeliers, pretty dark wood pews and side altars.

This is that tiny door from the inside. Again you can see the joins of the steel plates where they are rivetted together.

Rivets on the inside of one of the main doors.

Pretty tiled floor.

Inherited Paintings

2012-02-13T18:13:00.002-07:00

The lady who used to live here was an artist. I guess she couldn't get all her paintings in her suitcase when they went home because she left several for us to enjoy. I'm not sure which old cathedral this is, but I like it. Maybe some day in our travels around the country we will find it in person. How did she know I like old buildings?

How did she know I liked old barns?

These are like the oxen that I have posted before. They are what the farm people used to use to pull the painted carts full of their farm goods.

And she must have known I like old ruins. The colors on this ruined building remind me of the colors on lots of the old buildings in the Canary Islands. They like colorfully painted buildings here too.

This is for you, Katie!

2012-02-13T18:08:00.002-07:00

Remember when you were young and you said you wanted to work with metal when you grew up? Well this huge billboard reminded me of that. This looks like you working with metal!

Further photos of the Lankester Botanical Gardens

2012-02-11T16:40:00.002-07:00

This garden is looked after by the University of Costa Rica. They have a lot of exotic orchids.

Many different colors of orchids.

Beautiful yellow and pink orchid.

This is a color we are more familiar with, but very beautiful.

Small unusual red orchids.

White orchids with yellow trim.

Beautiful blossom in a lily pond.

A large beautiful blossom on a plant that resembles a Bird of Paradise.

Really interesting blossoms. I don't think I have seen anything like these before.

Bird of paradise. I didn't notice the bug until I saw the picture.

There were quite a few of these kind of blossoms that resemble the Birds of Paradise, but the plants were larger.

There were lots of bromiliads.

Bromiliads in the trees and many in the flower beds. These had interesting blossoms. They were past their prime but were still very pretty.

Another very interesting bromiliad.

Lankester Botanical Gardens

2012-02-11T16:26:00.002-07:00

A Japanese Garden within the larger preserve.

I followed along with this long legged bird while he fished in this little stream.

He seemed happy with his catch and kept at it quite a while.

We followed this moss covered path throughout the gardens.

Moss covered bricks in a little enclosure.

A cactus garden within the larger garden.

Lots of Tarzan ropes to swing on.

A cute little bower with lots of plants growing on top.

A great quaint stone wall with lots of plants growing on it.

A large tree with lots of plants growing on it.

Beautiful vines and plants growing on this tree.

Interesting looking fruit on a palm tree.

Scenes along the way up the Mountain Irazu

2012-02-11T16:11:00.002-07:00

We passed farm lands and small towns.

A field of potatoes.

More potatoes with lots of white blossoms.

The school in one of the small towns on the way.

They grow lots of crops in covered green houses.

Colorful farmhouse.

An old hotel along the way.

Cows following each other along a path. Must have known it was milking time and were going home.

This is an old resort hotel, no longer in use, probably in it's hay day when the volcano was erupting and lots of prople were coming to see the fireworks.

Patchwork farm fields.

More patchwork fields.

2 men sitting atop a load of potatoes, or could be onions. Glad they didn't notice me taking their picture, they seem intent on looking at something.

Another view of the farmlands we passed.

Another colorful building.

Volcan Irazu

2012-02-11T15:46:00.002-07:00

This volcano, not too far from San Jose, was erupting in l963 when Laurie was here on his mission. People also remember that it began erupting the day that President John F. Kennedy came to visit Costa Rica.

It spewed ash, smoke, lava, and large rocks. There was so much ash that Laurie said they wore berrets to keep it out of their hair as far away as the city of San Jose. People had to shovel it off the rooves of their houses so the weight wouldn't cause them to cave in. It is over 11,000 ft. high.

This is looking toward San Jose. You can see that we were above the clouds, but it was clear enough that we could see a long ways.

Again, looking toward San Jose which is under the cloud cover. But it was sunny and nice at the summit. We ate a picnic lunch up there and I got a bit of a sunburn.

Laurie said the 10 missionaries in Costa Rica came together up to see the volcano when he was here. Of course there were no warning signs so some of the elders decided to descend down into the volcano. The hadn't gone very far when it started belching large rocks and they quickly climbed back out. Now there is a fence around the top and this sign.

This is looking toward another volcano called Tirialba. But the road to that one is just a dirt road and there is quite a hike to get to the top of it so we didn't and probably won't go.

This is looking toward the Pacific coast.

Another looking toward the Pacific coast.

Dense cloud cover, looks like what you would see from an airplane.

There are lots of transmission towers on the top

More Animals at Zoo Ave

2012-02-07T16:34:00.002-07:00

The Jaguar was sleeping.

A very large spider and his web.

Spider Monkey

Another Spidder Monkey

A squirrel Monkey

Another Squirrel Monkey

I don't remember what type of monkeys these were.

One monkey grooming the other.

Same Monkeys

Capuchin Monkeys like we saw at Manuel Antonio

Fawn

Marmoset Monkey. He wouldn't stay still so I could get a decent picture, but I thought he was cute, very little and with little white tufts of hair on his cheeks.

We stopped for dinner on the way home. They call this comida tipica, food typical of Costa Rica. In the middle is a serving of white rice, in the little bowl to the left some black beans, above a couple of little corn tortillas, pico de gallo, fried banana above the rice, chopped up potatoes cooked with squash, two small pieces of fish, and a piece of orange to squeeze on the fish. It was all very good.

Flora at Zoo Ave

2012-02-07T16:14:00.002-07:00

This is a torch ginger, I guess because it resembles a flame at the end of a long stalk.

This one is called a camaron amarillo.

Another yellow shrimp.

Red Ginger

Interesting tiny bananas

Bamboo Gigante

Some of these bamboo stalks were 6 to 8 inches across.

Pink Ginger

This is an Orchid that was growing high up in a tree as an epiphyte. This particular one is the national flower of Costa Rica.

There are lots of these epiphytes with large leaves and vines growing in trees.

Another epiphyte with large leaves growing in a tree.

Birds at Zoo Ave

2012-02-07T15:50:00.002-07:00

Scarlet Macaws. This place is a rehabilitation zoo. These Macaws weren't in any type of enclosure. I guess they just knew this was home and they weren't leaving.

Bright green and turquoise Macaws

Golden Macaw

Mulicolored Macaw

Peacock

Collared Aracari. This bird resembles a Toucan, but the book had a picture like this one and called it a Collared Aracari

This one I don't know the name of.

This one I don't know the name of either, but there were a pair, and this one is the male. He spent the time we were watching putzing around with the nest while the female waited quietly on a branch of the tree. Notice his large yellow beak with the bulb on it.

This is the female of the pair.

This one is a crested crane.

This one is a wood stork like we saw in the wild at Manuel Antonio

Swan

Yellow Parrot

Green Parrot

Ostrich

Zoo Ave

2012-02-07T15:20:00.002-07:00

Turtles on a log. That sounds familiar, but I must be thinking of ants on a log!

More turtles, one of these seems to have sprouted leaves on his shell.

This one was called a Red Eared Turtle.

Red Eared Turtles on a Log

Large brown turtle in a hurry to get some place.

Large Iguana also in a hurry to climb up the outside of this enclosure.

This was a fairly small iguana, but he snuck up behind me ready to attack! I hurried and got out of his way.

This was a big fearsome looking Iguana

Close up of the very large Iguana

This Iguana was up in the tree stealing the bird food.

This is a close up of a crocodile. Fortunately he was in an enclosure.

Other Sights in and Around Manuel Antonio

2012-02-06T06:44:00.002-07:00

Huge bamboo plants

A Plant with very large leaves.

Park sign

Lots of drift wood and fallen coconuts.

More drift wood and fallen leaves. There are a lot of trees around this beach. This is one of the reasons this beach is so popular, shade and monkeys.

Some kind of mushroom like growth on a fallen log.

Some kind of epiphyte, could be a bromiliad high up in a tree.

Interesting tree roots.

More mushroom like growths on a fallen log.

Interesting tree shapes, some growing, some dead.

Sign telling us that these manzanillo trees on the beach are poisonous.

Some kind of a nest probably built by insects.

Manuel Antonio Beach

2012-02-06T06:28:00.001-07:00

Interesting rock formations off the coast.

More beach and rocky island.

Somebody parasailing.

They must have been parasailing from this boat as this one had been up and was now landing.

Beach, looking the other direction

Looking back at the big rock island.

This is from the first area of beach we came to. Laurie went swimming. I just stayed on shore. It was shady as there are a lot of trees. But by later in the afternoon, the shade is gone, and it is quite hot.

Looking the other direction.

Another shot of the parasailer. This was on the second stretch of beach we came to.

These weathered tree branches look like some oversized deer antlers.

Puente Cocodrile and the Road Home from Manuel Antonio

2012-02-06T06:02:00.002-07:00

This is the sign in front of one of the shops right by Puente Cocodrile. We stopped there and looked at the stuff they had for sale. Nobody seemed to be concerned about the crocodiles next door!

This is what we saw from one side of the bridge, lots of crocodiles resting on a sand bar.

They appear to be asleep, maybe that is why the people in the shops at the side of the river didn't seem to be at all worried about their neighbors.

Another shot of the crocodiles on the sand bar, lots of them!

On the other side of the bridge, there was no sand bar, but about a half a dozen larger crocodiles floating just under the surface of the water, facing up stream. We decided they were fishing, lying in wait for some unsuspecting fish to come swimming upstream.

These bigger ones appeared to be about 12 to 15 feet long, very fearsome looking. It was quite a big river and the banks seemed to be steep. I still think those crocodiles could have marched right up there if they had wanted to, but thankfully it appears they stay down in the river.

Close to home we stopped at a couple of fruit stands and bought some great fruit.

We bought mangos, platanos, tiny bananas, a pineapple, and a watermelon.

Behind the fruit stand there was a smoke house with some meat cooking.

We bought some to eat on the way home. It was good, especially the ribs. The man chopped it up with a big knife and put it in a styrofoam container for us to take with us. So that and some fruit made a great dinner.

The Road to Manuel Antonio

2012-02-05T17:34:00.002-07:00

At some point a number of years ago, they planted a lot of groves of palm trees for their oil.

We passed groves and groves of them.

A lot of them had ferns growing up the trunks, kind of like the bromiliads that grow in trees.

Plants growing on other plants are called Epiphytes.

There seem to be a lot of Epiphytes here.

More palm groves.

I didn't mean to include this picture because it isn't very good. But I am probably not smart enough to get rid of it without destroying the whole post.

More palm groves.

This is a factory where they process the palm oil.

More palm groves.

This is an interesting old airplane that has been converted into a restaurant. It is an old American cargo plane that has been used to run guns into Nicaragua.

Pasture of brahma cattle. A lot of the cattle here are this breed.

A complex of buildings that appeared never to have been finished.

Must have been intended for a hotel or a condo complex.

Parque Manuel Antonio

2012-02-05T17:06:00.002-07:00

One of the first critters we saw upon entering the park. It is somekind of a sloth, kind of hanging in a tree. They are very slow moving animals but appear to be quite big. It could be more than one cuddling together. But at least you can see that it has quite long and sharp claws. It looks like there are three claws on the paw that is visible so maybe it is a three toed sloth.

These are some large birds flying over head. They are probably some kind of vulture.

These are the capuchin monkeys found in the trees close to the beach. They say you have to be careful or they will steal your backpacks, lunches, etc. They are quite entertaining and seem to enjoy having their pictures taken.

Another capuchin monkey.

Another monkey

Another monkey. I couldn't resist taking pictures of them.

Monkeys after the coconuts.

This is a coati, a racoon like animal, and it appears that he stole a bag of fruit from somebody's lunch and is enjoying it. We saw a whole colony of these at the end of the hike at La Paz. You are not supposed to intentionally feed the animals here, in fact they tell you to take precautions so they won't steal your food.

Lizard, I don't know what type.

There were some guides there and they called these birds Woodstorks.

This looks like some kind of a hawk.

Laurie spotted this bird and the book called it a type of heron. You can see that it has long legs like the white ones.

Another lizard.

Signs

2012-02-02T13:26:00.002-07:00

This was before Halloween when we went with Angela, Brian, and Jane to get our pumpkins at the Red Barn farm down by Santaquin.

I have always liked the "Horses for Sale" sign near the Bagley's house. Do they ever really sell any horses?

Craigs, remember our trip to Loro Parque in Tenerife?

Dining on French food in Las Vegas.

More French signs in Las Vegas

The Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas

From the Truman Museum and Library in Independence Missouri.

The Nauvoo water tower.

The Branson, Missouri water tower.

O'Pa worked for Gulf Oil many years ago.

Esso was the gas station that Barbara and John Mc Phee owned in Raymond when I was a child.

These are the people who took care of O'Pee's timber land in Arkansas.

This is especially for Travis, good memories of his mission!

A sign in front of a fruit stand on Victoria Island, B.C. The fruit we bought there was delicious.

This was to show you how cheap the gas was in Canada, of course you are not deceived and know that this price is for one litre, not a gallon!

This was a poster from our Alaska cruise.

This was the name of the Cruise Line we were on for our Alaska Cruise. I had always wanted to cruise in the Mediterranean, but if I ever do, it won't be on an Italian Line. I kind of trust the Dutch a little more!

I guess you can figure out why I took the photo of this sign. Hey this font just started showing up, I kind of like it. I must have hit a key I hadn't planned on. At least it didn't make the whole thing disappear!

Dad, being cautious about the rattelsnakes. You must think I have nothing better to do today than look at old pictures on Picassa. You're right! Laurie is at the temple planning a total revamp of the landscaping and the sprinkler system. I guess he didn't realize that all those years of fixing sprinklers in Phoenix and Lindon were preparing him for his calling in the temple presidency in San Jose. But he seems to know more about sprinklers than anybody else connected with the temple here, and since it is the dry season, the plants are dying because the sprinklers aren't working right.

Laurie and the Missouri Military Academy

2012-02-02T12:47:00.002-07:00

When we took our long road trip a couple of summers ago, we visited the Missouri Military Academy where Laurie went to high school. He hadn't been back there since he graduated.

Lots of green lawns and open spaces.

Red brick buildings.

Classic columns.

A pretty campus.

He said some of the buildings are new.

Front fountain.

We didn't see many students. The ones we saw were wearing short sleeved blue shirts and military style caps.

But we can try to imaging Laurie walkiing around on this campus many years ago.

Happy Birthday Sam

2012-02-02T12:20:00.002-07:00

I think you are in front of your house all dressed up for school.

This must have been breakfast on your third birthday. Lucky you who gets waffles for breakfast with birthday candles on them! What a great Mom you have to do this for you. I'm sure you'll get something delicious for your birthday this time too. Eat a piece for us.

Blue eyed boy having fun. You look really happy.

Rockin' out!

In the car with your family. I think you were coming to see us in Utah.

Your family sent this photo when you guys lived in New Jersey. Do you remember that?

Another photo from New Jersey.

It must have been colder in New Jersey than it is in Mesa.
All bundled up!

Cute family. Hope you have a great birthday celebration.

Happy Birthday Ben

2012-02-02T11:50:00.002-07:00

I think this was when Walker was blessed. It doesn't seem that many years ago does it.

Discovering things or fishing?

Of course this isn't your style of bike, but at least it isn't pink and doesn't have flowers painted on it!

In Mesa several years ago at Thanksgiving with Katie and 2 cute boys.

I am not sure where this is. It doesn't look like your fireplace. But again with cute Katie and cute boys!

This was at the Family Reunion in Heber when we first came home from Spain.

Having fun playing in the water! I can tell Walker is loving it!

This is in front of the Tenerife opera house when you came to visit us there.

Another shot from the Canaries. Remember that restaurant? Somebody had sardines. Was it you or was it Laurie?

Another shot in the Canaries. So glad you got to come a visit us there. Hope you will come and see us here soon. Have a Happy Birthday.

Belated Birthday Wishes for Becky and Charlie

2012-02-02T11:20:00.002-07:00

I think this was when you visited O'pee that one summer? Hope you enjoyed the lobster.

Baby photo of the blue eyed boy.

I think this was at Patio of Fire.

Cute baby Charlie.

Happy Baby Charlie

Another baby photo of Charlie, I need some more recent pictures, but they are all cute.

Glamour Shots! You two haven't changed much over the years. Still as beautiful as ever.

Great photo of Becky and Richard in front of our home in Phoenix. Love the paisley tie !

Becky and Mom in front of some beautiful flowering trees. I think this was in Scotland. I loved all the old castles and interesting things we saw that summer.

You had some great dance costumes!

Cute smile. Remember the Ocean Pacific brand?

Great dance moves and makeup, on the parquet floor.

This must have been in Hawaii, you look great in leis in front of the pineapple plants.

Another cute dance outfit and curly hair. Hope Becky and Charlie had great birthdays!

Another Favorite Costa Rican Treat

2012-02-01T10:39:00.002-07:00

Lemon flavored salted peanuts! One of the other missionary couples told us they had tried the ones they found in the open market in Alajuela so we looked for them and found them there and in the open market in Cartago. Here peanuts are called manis and are usually just salted or BBQ flavor. But these lemon flavored ones are really addicting.

Laurie's New Favorite Costa Rican Drink

2012-02-01T10:30:00.002-07:00

Same brand as the Pink Grapefruit that I like but this is Mango. It is calorie free and is delicious. The only problem is that it is hard to find. We have only found it at one little Chinese grocery. I am wondering if the manufacturer has stopped making it. Too bad because it is really good. We can get mango drinks in other brands, but haven't found another one that is calorie free. There are lots of interesting fruit drink mixes here. Some of the fruits are ones you probably have never heard of. I'll post about some of them another time.

Very refreshing!

Happy Birthday Laurie

2012-02-01T09:58:00.002-07:00

What a fun summer trip that was! In front of a fancy fountain in Europe somewhere. Do any of you remember exactly where we were when this picture was taken?

Same summer. Can't remember exactly where we were for this picture either. Just know we were having fun.

I think this was at Brian's Patio of Fire several summers ago.

Along the northern California Coast. Lots of great memories for us here.

What a memorable Christmas that was!

Cutting the cake!

Hard at work!

Dressed for a ball. Remember those yellow curtains?

Fancy New Year's Party.

We did some dancing in those days.

Cameron Falls, Waterton, one of our favorite places.

Probably the biggest fish you ever caught! Thanks, Todd.

Island of Lanzarote. Glad I got to be in most of your pictures with you. Have a Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Nancy

2012-02-01T09:28:00.002-07:00

Happy Birthday Nancy! The years have gone by way too fast.

This one is dated, you must be two years old.

We all look a little younger here, don't we? Must have been exercising in our sweat suits.

On a trip to Canada when you must have been a little over 3 years old, of course in front of the Cardston Temple.

Remember the orange chairs? You guys all look so cute in your fancy clothes and pretty smiles.

And the green fireplace?

Now that was a fun trip. We were all enjoying the fruit drinks and the luau food.

Remember those cute Lanz nightgowns? Sorry, Steve, I don't know the brand name of your bathrobe. Loved that red pig from Mexico.

Happy Birthday! Eat a piece of cake for us and have a great day!

Signs

2012-01-30T16:25:00.002-07:00

Fortunately this was a short and well lit tunnel so I could see that the Pitvipers were not at home when we went through their tunnel or I may have turned back!

This is a chain of appliance stores here. They seem to like to use chickens for logos.

Must be Chinese Food.

Better leave your bike at home.

I don't know who Benny is, but this sign seemed like it belonged in the mountains further north.

Self explanatory! Actually we have felt very welcome here, like people in general like Americans.

Pura Vida! is a local expression. Literally it means pure life. But they say it for lots of things, kind of like Cool! or Sweet! or Great! You get the picture. It is just pure Costa Rican.

And Katie, this is for you!

Sunday Trip to Guapiles

2012-01-30T15:40:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning we got up early and drove to Guapiles which is a ways east of here to speak at their branch conference. We saw lots of coconut trees.

Much of the drive was through a dense rain forest.

This was a pretty flowering plant in front of a house near the church. Notice the bright blue house. Lots of the houses here are painted bright colors.

Another coconut tree.

I was hoping one would just fall off the tree so I could pick it up and try it.

More coconuts.

The mother of these twins taught the Sunday School class and invited us over to eat afterwards. These girls reminded me of Madison and Savanna, cute girls who looked alike, dark hair and pretty smiles. I think they were about 8 years old. They were in love with the puppies. If I have the relationships right, the other little girl is their cousin, her Dad is the Branch President. Their mothers are sisters and both helped cook the dinner.

A large part of their back yard was devoted to these chickens, several different varieties.

This is a picture of my plate. We had the typical rice and red beans, well seasoned and tasty; topped with chicken. This seemed to have been fried and then simmered in a really good sauce, fried platanos, and salad. The part of the salad at the top of the plate looked a little like potato salad but wasn't. I think it had artichokes in it. All was very good and they were really nice to have invited us to eat. I really wanted to take a picture of the lady frying the platanos, but didn't want to be too pushy so didn't ask. But it was a good set up--hot plates on the back covered patio where they could do a lot of the cooking and we ate out there too, very pleasant.

This was some kind of tree in their back yard. There had been a big black bird in the tree, but it flew away just as I was about to snap the picture. I have had several close pictures when the subject got away!

An Interesting River

2012-01-30T15:20:00.001-07:00

Here you see a normal looking stream of water which we saw on our drive through the Braulio Carrillo National Park. It enters on the right side of the ravine.

This is a yellow stream of water, colored by sulphur from a volcano. It enters this ravine from the left side. These two streams merge right under the bridge which crosses the ravine through which both flow.

Clear water in the back to the left, and yellow water front right.

Here the two colors show well and are getting closer and closer together.

This is closer and they are almost merging.

This is from the other side of the bridge, the waters have merged but are still distinct.

Here is the river flowing away from the bridge with the waters having merged. Guess which color swallowed up the other!

Arenal and the Hanging Bridges

2012-01-30T14:05:00.002-07:00

This is a good view of the Arenal volcano. Quite often the whole top is covered with clouds, but you can see a lot of it here. This is a fairly new volcano and first erupted in 1968 and is still somewhat active with smoke and some lava flow.

This bird is probably an egret or a crane. It was extremely tall and skinny, the neck looked unreal it was so thin. It was along the road to the Hanging Bridges near Arenal.

This is a green lizard who wanted to share one of the hanging bridges with us.

This is another type of lizard on a log near the hanging bridges of Arenal.

This is one of the Hanging Bridges we walked over. It was called the Fer de Lance Bridge. I am glad he wasn't home when we were walking across his bridge because he is one of the most venomous snakes in Costa Rica. They say about 12 people are killed each year from the poisonous fangs of the Fer de Lance. Most of these occur in the agricultural fields where they like to hang out since they eat rodents and there are supposed to be a lot of rodents in the fields. The only one we have seen was at La Paz and he was behind thick glass. These snakes are big, dark patterned and ugly, with a triangular shaped head like a rattle snake. That was one of the days I was without my camera so have no pictures from that excursion.

Laurie in front of the falls along the trail between the Hanging Bridges.

This is looking down onto one of the trees we looked at from a hanging bridge.

These are the multiple air roots of one of the trees we saw on the hike from bridge to bridge.

This is a big black bird, probably a vulture near where we ended the hike.

This is the Arenal Lake.

House of the Dreamer

2012-01-27T13:09:00.001-07:00

Years ago, a quite well known Costa Rican artist lived in this house, not too far from Orosi.

Now his son lives here, it has gotten a little run down.

It is interesting in construction with lots of carvings, and made from small pieces of wood put together in kind of a patchwork design.

It has a corrugated tin roof as do lots of houses here.

Now the man's son lives here and does woodcarving which he sells. Most of them are small and are done out of coffee wood.

This iguana is much larger than most of the others.

Front view with some carvings.

Back of the house shows the patchwork design quite well, and how it is made out of small canes of wood.

This is the river that runs next to the house.

View of the house from the river.

Orosi

2012-01-27T12:53:00.001-07:00

This is the old church in the town of Orosi in the same valley as Ujarras. They have a museum inside with lots of old religious artifacts.

Hydrangia garden between the cathedral and the museum building. Wish our hydrangias at home looked this good.

Moss covered fountain and cross in hydrangia garden.

Cemetary next to the church.

Bell tower on the church.

Houses up a steep hillside on the other side of the town.

Gates to a coffee plantation down the road from the town.

Coffee berries up close.

Coffee bushes with the shade trees on the plantation.

These are tiny coffee plants being watered and getting ready to be transplanted.

Alajuela

2012-01-27T11:27:00.001-07:00

These pictures are in the town of Alajuela which figures into Costa Rican history. You know I like old trunks, this one is in the museum in Alajuela. There was a time in the mid 1800's when an American mercinary, named William Walker, tried to take over Costa Rica and had almost succeeded.

But a young Costa Rican man named Juan Santamaria managed to torch the barracks where the mercinaries were . He was killed in the process of doing this but enough damage was done to turn the tide of the battle and the Costa Ricans won. This is a picture of a painting in the museum of him setting fire to the building. The man was nicknamed "hedgehog" because he had bushy hair and they have tried to show it in the painting. The main airport here is named after this young man and when you come to visit, you will come through the Juan Santamaria Airport.

An old cannon.

An old Spanish Colonial bench.

Another old Spanish Colonial bench, you know I like old furniture.

View from the museum building looking out on the square across the street.

Carved doors in the museum.

The cathedral facing the square across the street from the museum.

Another photo of the cathedral

Catheral interior of the painted, vaulted ceiling.

The pretty tiled floor in the Cathedral.

Ujarras and Surrounding Valley

2012-01-27T10:29:00.002-07:00

This is a little waterfall we saw above the town of Ujarras. The town is in a beautiful agricultural area and this is above, close to where you start descending into the valley. Now the computer is acting up again. It won't let me type close to the next picture! It wants me to type here or next to the very bottom picture, so this is going to be kind of mixed up!

Now it has decided that I can type here so we will talk about the photo below. This is a bird, the varity I do not know. But it was sitting peacefully in a tree as we looked down on the valley from close to where the waterfall is. Don't you think it looks like some kind of hawk?

This is another bird, the variey of which I do not know, but it is big and black, maybe some kind of a vulture. Sister Porter has a bird book and when we have been out with them, she has the book so we can identify the birds. Guess I'll have to get one of those books so we can keep track of the kinds of birds we see.

Many of the fence lines here are made of growing plants. It appears that they cut off the trunk and let it start growing again. This is a coffee plantation. The fence trees and other tall trees provide shade which they say the coffee needs. They say the soil is so fertile that even just sticks they put in the ground for a fence just start growing.

This is the ruins of another old church. This one is in the town of Ujarras. It was one of Costa Rica's oldest churches, dating back to the 17th century. As the other one in ruins, it had been destroyed by earthquakes and rebuilt several times. Now they just leave the ruins for people to visit and call it officially Las Ruinas. It is in a parklike setting and is quite picturesque.

This is one of the trees on the grounds of Las Ruinas. It is a very big tree covered in Spanish Moss which is what you see hanging all over the tree.

This is another view of Las Ruinas. They have shored it up with interior and exterior framework so that less of what remains will fall down.

This is a field of the chayote squash that I told you about before. It is a squash but they don't let the vines grow on the ground. They train them up poles then let it fan out over a netting and the squash can hang down instead of lying on the ground. I guess it would be a lot easier to harvest too.

Another view of Las Ruinas.

Cartago Open Market

2012-01-27T09:56:00.001-07:00

I chose 8 photos to show in this blog and started to tell about them, but the draft only showed 4 of the pictures. So I am starting over. I don't think there will be another post showing first 4 again, but who knows? You all know that I am electronically challenged! We have had a lot of these red and green peppers. They are really good. We have a couple of little pepper plants in our from yard, but they are a little more picante. The beets and cucumbers are good too.

The carrots here are really good. We eat a lot of them. The small round green things close to the carrots are chayote squash. They are very popular here. They are just a mild summer squash.

The orange and green things are little mandarin type oranges. They were not as sweet as I was expecting. The grapes are good as well as the papaya. Their lemons don't look like ones we are used to either, they look more like limes.

Bananas on their stalks. It's hard to know at what point to buy the bananas. I got some quite green ones once and it took 3 weeks for them to ripen enough to eat. But if you get yellow ones, they get old fast.

A lot of people were buying meat and fish. We didn't get any because we weren't going straight home. But we have since gotten a cooler and take it and blue ice in the car in case we decide to go shopping.

We have eaten quite a few dried beans, in the little bags along the front, but usually get black ones as they eat a lot of them here. As I said, the papayas are good as are the pineapple.

More fruit, all good.

We didn't buy a machete, but we did buy a little knife in a sheath and used it to cut some delicious mangos and eat them. We now keep the knife in the car for just such purposes. Don't ask me why the computer decided to change the alignment from the middle like I had for all the other pictures!

Cartago Churches

2012-01-27T09:36:00.001-07:00

Remember, I broke my camera? Well they fixed it and I got it back! These pictures are of the town of Cartago, a little northeast of here.

This is the shell of a huge old cathedral that had been damaged several times by earthquakes. They tried over the years to rebuild it, but there kept being earthquakes so they just gave up and left the ruins and the grounds.

Interior of the ruins.

More of the exterior.

This is in the same town. This is referred to as the basilica. Laurie remembers this chruch being here when he was here as a young missionary. But they have done extensive work on it since then and it looks quite different. What they have done several times over the years is put on a new exterior. There is a display in an area like a basement where you can see what it used to look like before they refinished the exterior.

Close up of some of the exterior decoration. The basilica is dedicated to a little statue of the Virgin made out of black rock. It is called La Negrita.

More Exterior decoration. Around back there is a spring of water that is supposed to have healing qualities. There is a huge display of little silver and gold charms of the body parts that people believe were healed by this water.

Beautiful Interior.

Scenes from British Columbia

2012-01-12T10:05:00.002-07:00

Water Lillies remind me of a Monet painting.

Maybe you remember this particular statue. Didn't some of you climb on it when you were little?

Totem Poles

Hydrangeas or en Espanol, Hortensias.

Provincial Capitol in Victoria

Empress Hotel in Victoria

This was a candy store called Rogers. I took the picture because the sugar factory Grandpa worked for was owned by the Rogers family of Vancouver, British Columbia.

Fun sight seeing bus in Victoria

You know I like Hollyhocks.

Home on Vancouver Island built by a 19th century coal and timber baron.

I Miss Our Garden!

2012-01-12T09:31:00.001-07:00

This all looked too good to ruin it with cooking.

But I cooked it anyways and it was delicious.

Oops, the pumpkins were from down the street, but they looked pretty.

Pretty Peppers

Summer bouquet of roses

Roses and Lavender

Geraniums and pineapple plant

Coastline from Carmel to San Francisco

2012-01-12T09:08:00.002-07:00

It was fall, in the midst of the pumpkin harvest.

Another well populated bird rock along the coast.

Pumpkins still in the fields.

Ghirardelli Square

Always a favorite place to visit.

Boats in the San Francisco harbor with a view of Aliotos, a favorite seafood restaurant.

They were advertising an upcoming Egyptian artifact exhibit near Pier 39.

Alcatraz Island

Car ferry that runs from San Francisco to the north side of the bay.

It was a beautiful day in San Francisco.

California coastline south of Carmel

2012-01-12T08:48:00.002-07:00

Whale Bay

Abalone shells. Abalones are a favorite food of the sea lions.

An old whaling station.

Coastline near the whaling bay. Of course they don't still catch and process whales here any more.

More coastline.

View of coastline.

A little further south on Highway 1 with a view of the arched bridge.

Looking down through a sea of pretty pink flowers.

Tall skinny waterfall and pretty bay with a sandy beach.

More sea and cliffs.

Old Photos from Picasa Files

2012-01-12T08:22:00.002-07:00

The first time I ever tasted artichokes was when I moved to the Monterey Penninsula. I was so fastinated that I took a bag of them to Canada for Christmas.

Lots of interesting gates in Carmel

A rustic fence with vines.

The candy shop on Main Street in Carmel

An old crow, or is it a raven?

Love the shape of the tree trunks and branches.

A cute house with a gate to a secret garden.

Another rustic gate with a flagstone path.

The old Spanish Cathedral in Carmel.

Pretty old tree.

Pebble Beach coastline and iceplant.

Bird rock off the Pebble Beach coast.

Sea lions and birds in Monterey Bay.

Cute gates make what's beyond seem more interesting.

Another interesting gate.

This is for you, Angela!

2012-01-11T10:15:00.001-07:00

This is my new favorite Costa Rican Food--sugar free pink grapefruit drink. There are lots of fruit flavored drink mixes here, some very unusual ones, but this is my current favorite.

It really hits the spot, just the right amount of tang.

Poas Volcano

2012-01-09T16:36:00.002-07:00

This volcano is just north of San Jose. It was a fun drive there, narrow, windy roads with lots to see on the way.

There is a hot sulphur lake in the middle of the caldera with steam rising off.

It was pretty and sunny while we were there. But by the time we had hiked back to the car, the clouds had gathered. Glad we got to see it on a nice day.

The smell of sulphur was in the air.

The Road to Poas

2012-01-09T16:18:00.001-07:00

This is an ox cart we met on the road to the Poas Volcano National Park.

A close up shot of the oxen.

This is a bromilead growing in the wild close to the volcano. We bought one as a house plant just a few days ago.

These are bromileads growing in the trees. There were a lot of them that grow in the trees.

This is a rain water lake that has formed in an extinct volcano. The water is a really pretty color, kind of like Lake Louise.

This is a leaf tosser bird. They are colored so they blend in with the forest floor so you don't usually spot them. They pick up these leaves that resemble magnolia leaves and toss them aside looking for bugs underneath.

Another Bromilead that I thought was really pretty.

I don't know what these are called. I just thought they were pretty.

These plants with the huge leaves are called Poor Man's Umbrellas.

This is the view from the top of the mountain.

The Neighbothood

2011-12-30T10:45:00.001-07:00

There are a lot of these little elevated cage things in front of peoples' houses. Guess what they are for? Right, they are for the garbage. Ours does not have one so we just put the garbage on the grass in bags.

This is an interesting building that juts out over the street. It is a coffee warehouse and the trucks pull up under them and coffee pours out of the little doors. I thought it was old and wasn't used any more but I did see a truck being loaded a few days ago.

Another garbage cage. Some of them are more decorative, but all are elevated.

Coffee bushes in our neighborhood.

Bird of Paradise. We had these in the back yard in Phoenix.

Another Bird of Paradise.

The Temple.

Hydrangias.

Our Home.

The Park in the middle of our street.

Countryside Near Sarchi

2011-12-27T19:18:00.000-07:00

They tell us that soon there will be lots more of the orange blossomed trees in bloom, along with some in pink and some in yellow. The terraced hillsides are planted in coffee which is an important crop grown here. There are coffee plants close to where we live. Many of them have large shade trees planted among them.

Interesting Plants and Flowers

2011-12-27T19:07:00.000-07:00

These pretty pink bananas were at the butterfly farm. They looked so good but we weren't offered a taste. They and the regular bananas all have a huge blossom at the end of the stalk. The other pictures are of pretty flowers, but I don't know what they are called.

Butterfly Farm

2011-12-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

Some of these Butterflies were mounted, but most of them were flying around in their netted enclosure. It was fun to be among them. The large one that had kind of an owlish look was bright blue on the other side of it's wings and was really pretty. There were quite a few of them. But when they lighted, they immediately closed their wings so I couldn't get a photo of the blue sides of their wings.

Sarchi Costa Rica

2011-12-27T17:36:00.001-07:00

Monday we had a little excursion with the other senior missionaries. We couldn't drive our new car because we don't yet have insurance. The govt. offices are closed all week for La Navidad. So we went with President Porter and another couple named Jarman to a town called Sarchi.

This town is famous for these painted carts. Don't ask me why the computer is changing my centered format? But the carts started out as real work carts drawn by oxen. They hauled the crops of the area such as coffee which is grown here.

The elaborated painting is a lot like the designs on tole painting. They offer a lot of little replicas to the tourists. I thought maybe I would buy one in red a use it as a Christmas decoration, kind of like the little red Scandinavian horse and candle holders.

The man showed us how they make the wheels. They are made out of a really heavy wood and rimmed with metal.

This is a close up of one of the tole type designs they use. This particular one was on the building.

Here is another example of a design.

This was a display showing how the wheels have evolved into a kind of folk art from the real working cart and wheel.

This was a huge example of a wheel, not a real one and not on a cart. We had a fun day and ate dinner in a restaurant called Le Finca--the Farm. Took lots of pictures so will show some of them at a different time.

2011-12-25T18:10:00.000-07:00

This is what Santa Claus brought us for Christmas. It is big enough for 7 passengers so come and see us and we will explore this country together.

Christmas Eve

2011-12-25T12:35:00.003-07:00

These are the senior temple missionaries we spent Christmas Eve with.

The table is set for Christmas Eve dinner. Wish you all could come.

These are the pretty flowers Santa Clause brought us.

Close up of our pink Christmas Lillies.

Nuestra Casa

2011-12-21T14:50:00.002-07:00

We managed to get some pictures posted, but it took a long time for them to load. Is that normal? Then in this space where one is supposed to write script, it was full of computer gobbldy gook. We told it to post anyways and so there is no script. I'll try to do another post of just script. The first picture is of some flowers in a vase. The gardener at the temple had pruned off these flowers and was throwing them away so I brought them home and we have enjoyed them all week. They looked really nice for quite a while but are pretty well gone now. The second is the wreath that I made and put on our front gate. The third is our potted palm Christmas tree with the poinsettias in front. The last is another shot of the vase of flowers from the temple. I had a photo of our house, but lost it when I put it on the computer like it was an icon to try that way to put pictures on the blog. I will take another one and send that if we can still do this another time. We are in the process of buying a car. It is a Toyota Prado which is the same as a Land Cruiser. It has quite a few miles on it but we had it checked out by a mechanic who said it is sound. So goodbye for now. Love to all.

2011-12-21T14:24:00.003-07:00

Happy Birthday, Jane!

2011-11-19T20:14:00.002-07:00

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

2011-11-19T19:13:00.005-07:00

December 1. Laurie and Pam are leaving for Costa Rica where we will serve in the temple as counselor to the president and assistant matron, in Spanish that would be ayudante a la directora de las obreras del templo. That sounds pretty impressive. We're getting pretty excited and Pam is nervous because her Spanish is not great But it should be a little better than it was when we went to Spain. We have just finished a week of training in the Provo Temple along with several other couples who are leaving to serve in temples all over the world. We feel pretty lucky that we will be spending 2 winters in a warm country instead of cold, dark, Finland where several of the people were going. But they were just as excited about their assignment in Finland as we are about ours in Costa Rica. Right now we are busy getting the house ready so we can leave it with Austin and room mates by packing away some of our personal stuff, and getting our things packed to take with us. We are trying to do it like all missionaries and put it all into 2-50# suitcases and a carry on. I am taking a huge purse! We will keep you posted as to our progress on getting ready and our adventures in Costa Rica.

Reflections on my Childhood

2011-05-25T20:55:00.003-06:00

These are pictures of an old building in American Fork that looks practically exactly like the Raymond Elementary School that I attended when I was a child. It was three stories tall and red brick, and was torn down years ago, but I saw this and wanted to share with all of you.

In the school in Raymond, there was a big attic that my mom used to teach music in. We would have to march up the stairs to the music room for our singing class. The roof on this building doesn't seem to be pitched as high, so I don't know if it has an attic, but the windows and the front entrance, and general size, shape, and construction are very similar.

Life at Mom and Dad's house

2011-05-21T22:05:00.000-06:00

I moved in with Mom and Dad. It was a good move, will save me money, and the frusutration of living with filthy roommates. It won't be for a terribly long time I don't think. But I DO think my being the resident tech support is my room and board fee.

Mom and Dad asked me to put these pictures on the blog. Today, the embarked on the Springtime adventure that is "Square-Foot Gardening". I know it's something that has attracted the two oldest offspring of this clan. Now it's claimed Mom and Dad. My guess is it will continue outward (from the space it started at Becky and Steve) down the line to Nancy and eventually to Angela and even me.

Here is the proof. Dad even got a sunburn from being outside so long working on it.

Also, right about the time they finished, Dad wanted to get a picture of Mt. Timpanogos. It's a pretty sight, almost any time of year, but especially so when the seasons are changing, and there is a contrast of green growth and white white snowcaps.

He insists the sky was even bluer just a minute before we could get the camera. I think it turned out pretty well even with the lost minute.

Hidden Treasure

2011-05-19T14:47:00.000-06:00

So I am cleaning out a closet full of old college papers. And I am thinking, "man, I hate de-junking." Some people like it and they feel good. Not me--it hurts. (In fact, I stopped mid-closet to vent on my blog, here). And immediately after I left the computer back to the closet to resume digging, sorting, deciding and de-junking I came across this:

I was about to toss a stack of completely unrelated old college pamphlets from the late 1990's and turned it over as it was going into the can. This was on the bottom. It is dated Sunday, September 8th, 1963.

(Don't worry; I put it in the save pile!)

I don't know why but I started balling when I saw it.
I think this guy turned out to be a pretty decent missionary, wouldn't you say?
Have any of you seen this before and does dad have a copy on display? He should keep on his his office at the MTC.

Happy Birthday Ben!

2011-02-03T17:41:00.002-07:00

We want to wish a VERY happy birthday to Ben from all the Utah Craigs!

May all your birthday dreams come true!

Pam's on Facebook!

2010-12-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

Pig's fly, and Mom's on Facebook.

Please be her friend.

The Girls Go Greek

2010-11-17T16:40:00.001-07:00

I am reposting this here. . .forgive me if you already saw it on Becky's Blog. I just really love their crazy results! We had so much fun with this :) Tell me which one is your favorite!

So Sunday afternoon Luna and StarGirl reminded me they had a "big project" due the next morning all about the Greek Gods. It was a big project, but they had a plan, and their teacher had told them they could work together as a team to make things simpler. They had talked about making a movie with their friends or videoing a commercial, but in the end they chose to each dress up like six of the gods (that would be 12 total) and make a powerpoint with some picniked up photos. They wanted to know if I would be their photographer.

I looked at the clock. It was a little after one and we had dinner at Grandma's at 5:00. That left four hours. So I felt that with those time constraints a little lecture was warranted. It went something like this: Yes, I will take your pictures. But, you should know, that creativity is much like a gas. . . it will take up as much space as you give it. And you guys have a limited time this afternoon. Since you tend to get really caught up in the creative process on picnik, you'll really have to pace yourself. So what I'm saying in a nutshell is don't go overboard.

Three hours later I was done taking their pictures.
Ummmmmm. . . sounds like mom could use a lecture.

But aren't the results fantastic?

2010-09-29T11:55:00.001-06:00

Truman loves a good peach.

Because the city transit is free within downtown we decided to go for a ride. The boys insist any time we go downtown.

Sterling was quite thrilled with the ride!

Farmers Market

2010-09-29T11:53:00.001-06:00

Then we headed to a different part of town where they have the Portland Farmer's Market. It is quite different from Saturday's Market. There are no pirates, or people playing musical instruments with flip flops, etc. There is a lot of fresh local food and much more normal people.

Mom grabbed some local cheese and artisan breads for us to snack on. We a had local cherries and peaches...YUM!

2010-09-29T11:49:00.001-06:00

(Does anyone know how to post more than 4 pictures through Picasa?)

We made sure to get some fun balloon paraphanalia while we were at Saturday's Market.

Walker was inspired by all the pirates by the fountain and asked for a Pirates hat. Yes, those are Pirates on the fountain. I am not sure what they do exactly. They never performed. I am pretty sure they are normal people during the week, you know bank tellers, cashiers, secretaries, etc. But on the weekends they are pirates by the fountain!

Very entertaining and very Portland!

Mom & Dad's visit to Vancouver

2010-09-29T11:45:00.001-06:00

I wanted to post some pictures of Mom and Dad's trip to Vancouver. We had a great time while they were here in August.

We took them to the Fort Vancouver. The boys love looking at the gardens and playing on the canons.

We also made sure to do some very Portland and visit Saturday's Market. Here we are in the Hat and Sock booth.

Pictures of our Alaskan Cruise

2010-09-03T21:11:00.000-06:00

Totem poles

Silt makes the water a beautiful turquoise color

Here's our boat

This eagle had had its beak blown off by a poacher, but it grew another one back in its rescue home.

The only picture of the whale I got

This is a bear eating a whale carcass

the train ride was my favorite excursion

There was a family of eagles that lived on top of this

Do you kids remember going for a ride on this when you were little in Victoria?

took this shot for Travis!

fiddle heads at the botanical garden

We sure loved our Alaskan Cruise trip!

Calling in all favors at this point.

2010-08-22T00:15:00.002-06:00

DON'T FORGET! CLICK HERE TO

VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN!

And vote for GoogleSuperstar, too! We're buddies.

FYI

2010-08-17T11:18:00.001-06:00

Some good deals to pass on:

Macey's Provo has discontinued (but very good) bags of pasta for $.25 each, back by the milk and eggs. Also lots of Mexican crackers and cookies for $.79 per package. We have especially enjoyed the vanilla wafer cookies.

Today's Groupon is two hours of bowling for 6 people, including shoe rental, breadsticks, soda, and pizza or tacos or enchiladas, for $25. I bought 2 and am going to use them together for a birthday party. Click here.

Totally Not Worthy of Its Own Post. . .And Yet

2010-08-10T17:47:00.000-06:00

**Disclaimer. . .surely you must know that as a SAHM one of my many daily duties involves changing diapers. That's just part of the facts of life (there's a time you gotta go and show you're growing now you know about the facts of life). This post indirectly deals with diaper changes (so deal with), but its mostly about recording a 3 year olds precocious skills. **

Recently at our house. . .

So I was sitting on the floor with diaper, wipes and rash ointment ready to change Charlie's diaper. This kid has been messy multiple times a day since we returned from CA (do you suppose he picked up some sandy virus from the seashore?) And Charlie is playing coy, not wanting to come to me, so I am repeating, "Charlie, come here! Charlie!" etc., when Sophie shows up and says:

"MOM! Why are you insisting--INSISTING--on changing this little boy's NASTY little poops?"

Ha! Where does she come up this phrasology?

I only blog about diapers on the Family blog. Lucky You!

Remember, Vote Early and Often!

2010-07-31T00:11:00.000-06:00

If you saw my last post, you know how excited I am about the Logitech Host with the Most competition.

Well... I'm pulling out all the stops. Time to blitz the World Wide Web.

Check out the TV Torture Blog.

Follow the progress on Twitter.

Join the Facebook Event.

And believe me, I'm just getting started. I'm going to get this gig if it kills me.

I want this bad

2010-07-27T01:06:00.000-06:00

And I'm perfect for it.

Quinn Cutler sent me a link on Facebook for a competition he thought I should enter. Logitech is looking for a host to move to L.A., San Francisco, or New York to host parties and show off their newest technology. Listen to the qualifications and they're looking for.

Logitech will be screening applicants based on the following skills to help Logitech introduce Logitech Revue with Google TV™: (1) the ability to coordinate and host multiple media events; (2) the ability to create and update audio, text and/or video for blog and social media posts; (3) active user of prominent social media networking platforms and tools (such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube); (4) strong interest in technology with high enthusiasm for innovative and new consumer electronics; and (5) not required, but a plus to have a background in event planning, social media, marketing, public relations, communications or journalism. Logitech may also consider social networking participation, including size of social contacts and quality of social connections and/or engagements.

GET REAL! I was MADE for this gig! Man oh man oh man oh man I hope I get it. I'd be down with any of those pads.

They pay for you to live there, and show off their new toys, and talk about it on social media, specifically facebook, YouTube, and Twitter.

I'M SO PERFECT FOR THIS. I really need to nail that application. Open to any help from the family.

The Heat Has Gone to their Brains

2010-07-18T10:09:00.001-06:00

Ummmmm. . . .it was 115 degrees outside this week. That is wrong and should not be allowed. Its so hot you can hardly even go swimming. So my kids find themselves bored inside the house wishing they were back in Utah with their cousins. To keep themselves occupied they "played" with their cousins in this picture.

Hil.Lar.Ri.Ous.

Picture Preveiw

2010-07-12T09:49:00.005-06:00

Jane got pictures taken on Saturday, and the photographer posted a few on her blog. Click here to see.

Awwwh, Shucks! I Heart My Fam

2010-07-10T23:59:00.001-06:00

Though I have literally 1,00,001 things I should be doing right now, I found myself perusing old posts on the Craig Family Blog. Such fun posts back in the early days! Such humor, fine sentiments and clever comments! I have this to say: You people are awesome. Thanks for being my family. Here's some pics from the reunion and I look forward to more good times next summer.

Oregon Coast, anyone?

Final Reunion Tee

2010-06-07T11:29:00.000-06:00

This is the design we went with.

Hope you like it.

Two Things In One!

2010-05-29T21:00:00.003-06:00

I did some alterations to Jane's family reunion shirt so it would fit her. I think it turned out pretty well, don't you?

And in a serendipitous turn of events, it also doubles as a Yoda costume!I bet you didn't know Yoda likes to eat whales.

And here's a before shot per Emily's request.

A Wish and A Game

2010-05-25T07:46:00.000-06:00

On the occasion of our sister Katie's 30th birthday (welcome to the club!) we her siblings wish to tell her 30 things we love about her in order to wish her the Happiest of Birthdays! The game comes when she (and anyone who cares to play) tries to guess who said what. There are 30 things we love about Katie, and there are 5 of us, so that makes 6 facts a piece (right Mandy?). I've listed them in random order, but grouped into 6's. Enjoy the wishes, and leave your guesses!

She manages to balance Creativity and Organization.
She is a teacher by example
She has a great sense of style
Her glass is half full
She's a great hostess
She shows faith in everything she does

I love Katie's commitment to her family and what a great mom she is to her 3 stinkin cute boys. Oh those cute muddy BOYS!
I love Katie's skills. That girl's got MAD SKILLS. She's just like Pam that way, she can do just about anything, including hitching her skirt up to ride a motorcycle with her boots on! Designing, Gardening, Sewing, Making, Cooking, Arranging, Bargain hunting, Budgeting, Working, Selling, etc, etc! This girl even likes to gut a fish, folks!
I love that girl's sense of style! Classic with an edge!. She taught me to be particular and only buy a "10" and for an sweet price, too.
I love Katie's commitment to the gospel and her determination to do things the right way. (I remember how she always got a little choked up at family testimony meeting with a sweet little tear in her eye). She is solid as a rock.
I love that when asked if she wants to feed a piranha, the answer is, "heck Yha!" She is fearless and loves the outdoors, even gutting a fish gives her a little thrill!
Last, but not least, I LOVE Katie's Laugh. Absolutely! Every time she giggles it reminds me of when she was a sweet little toe head running around in a purple swimsuit. Awh, sucks, Katie! Your down right adorable! Happy 3-0, darlin.

Her crafting fearlessness! She is never afraid to try something that the rest of us might find intimidating.

That she embarrassed her curly hair, and doesn't straighten it anymore.

Her ingenuity.

That she does science experiments with her cute boys.

That she loves cilantro as much as me.

That she pretends she doesn't like sweets.

Her love

Her kindness

Her goodness

Her faithfulness

Her style

Her family

As a child you selflessly aspired to work with "the mental."

You can MacGuyverishly take a D.I. dress from scandalous to fabulous in 60 seconds flat.

You spend quality time with your beautiful boys making magic, milk carton elephants, and grinding grain.

You have a zeal for life: always have, and it can be seen by so many others. Often times people say their favorite thing about Katie is her smile, I'd have to agree (that and her laugh).

You aren't afraid to walk out of a situation where you're uncomfortable: like quitting after your first four hours in the Aloha sweat shop, I mean floral company. But at the same time you've learned to push through situations that initially were intimidating, like walking into a restaurant at the Grand Canyon with your older sister who was too chicken and ordering late night salads that had too much Ranch dressing (but eating them anyway to prove your adolescent independence).

You always seek to fix it, improve it, leave it better than you found it, and spread your love around.

We love you Katie! We all wish that we could spend this birthday with you, but know that you are surrounded by people who love you. We hope that you can feel our love for you on this special day even though we are states away. Can't wait to see you this summer! Happy Birthday little sister (and big) we love you!

Love,

Becky

Steve

Nancy

Austin &

Angela

The Story of Orabrush

2010-05-22T16:49:00.008-06:00

We shot this Wednesday for YouTube's 5th birthday. Overly sentimental, but that's the whole idea.

Everybody is uploading videos of their "YouTube Story", and this is ours in a cheesy nutshell.

The Tummy Bug

2010-05-08T21:39:00.002-06:00

There is a dreadful tummy bug going around our house this weekend.
It started with Jacob on Thursday and today has hit Charlie and moved on tonight to Sophie.

Sophie (amid sobs, hands clenched to her belly): MOMMY! My tummy HURTS!
Me (empathetically): I know darlin'. You caught the tummy bug.
Sophie (head down, resigned, still sobbing): Okay. (sob, sob). I think it was a mosquito.

mud between the toes

2010-05-04T00:12:00.000-06:00

We enjoyed a break in the rain this weekend and did some yard work. There is something so appealing about dirt, even though it contains earth worms larger than I thought humanly possible :)

Reporter

2010-05-01T00:34:00.001-06:00

I'm a tech reporter. I can prove it. I have the business card that says so.

Frankly, this one is a lot more believable than the actor bit. But I'll take both. Thanks.

2010-04-28T22:49:00.003-06:00

The Primary Talent Show was last weekend. You can guess who I thought stole the show with the last performance. It was a SuperHero Comedy Routine. The best part was when Sam started in on his very first joke. It went like this:

Sam: "What is a SuperHero's favorite drink?"

And then, right when he is about to give his line, Sophie takes over and gives it for him, complete with her fist striking the air.
Sophie (with 3 year old enthusiasm): "Fruit Punch!"

I wish I had thought to video the whole thing, but I was too busy coaching the lines. Sam was a pro and when Sophie forgot her lines, he helped her out.

Q: How did Wonder Woman convince Superman to marry her?
A: (swinging her lasso) She roped him into it!

(mom made that one up, folks. There are no clean Wonderwoman jokes on the internet).
All the numbers were great and each kid did a great job! Thanks to my sweet Primary Presidency for putting it all together.

Acting Resume

2010-04-26T01:06:00.002-06:00

I'm an actor. I can prove it. I have the headshots and resume. See:

Who could have seen that one coming? Certainly not me.

I promise I won't go the way of some other (former) LDS actors.

Capitol Reef

2010-04-22T13:00:00.002-06:00

Capitol Reef is further north from Bryce Canyon. It used to be quite inaccessable by road until the l940's. It consists of a quite a few large rock "reef" formations.

The pioneers had a settlement here in the early days. They called it Fruita, and there were lots of orchards. They grew things like apples, pears, peaches and cherries. You could tell some of the trees were very old. Since we were there in the spring, the trees were blossoming.

Maybe this is the Capitol Reef in the distance, with a gnarled trunk in an interesting shape.

These are ancient petroglyphs. The indiginous people who lived here were called the Freemont people. I am sure they had a different name for themselves, but this is what they are know as now.

This very steep canyon had a road through it in the early days of the last century. Apparently the road was just barely wide enough for two cars to pass. But the road is not kept up at this point any more, so this is where we hiked.

Bryce Canyon

2010-04-22T12:31:00.003-06:00

Bryce Canyon is further north and at a higher altitude so there was still snow on the ground. We didn't take hikes like at Zion, but looked down over lots of interesting rock formations.

We did see some intrepid people down hiking in the snow, but we chose to look at the scenery from above and really enjoyed it.

Lots of pretty color in the rocks and amazing formations.

This one kind of looked like a cathedral with all the arched windows.

This one was a very big arch that was formed by wind and water,

Zion Park

2010-04-22T11:59:00.004-06:00

On a beautiful Friday almost 2 weeks ago, we spent the day in Zion Park. The scenery was spectacular. On the north/south road, you have to ride on their park shuttles. They don't allow private cars on the roads unless you are staying at their lodge. But the shuttles were nice and came to the various stops every few minutes and the driver would give information about what we were viewing. You could get on or off at any stop so could spend what time you wanted at each stop. This mountain was called Checkerboard Mesa. bvg

Sheer Red Cliffs. If you look closedly toward the top you will see two white clad figures of people scaling the cliff.

More Sheer Red Cliffs. Didn't see any climbers on these. But on the hikes we took we saw lots of squirrels, a couple of wild turkeys and a couple of deer, so there is some wildlife in the park.

The Patriarchs. It looks like you are seeing 3 large mountains when actually there are 4, a white one directly behind the far right one. Anyways these are called Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Moroni.

Red Butte. It was a really nice day. The sky was clear and the sun shining which added to the beauty of the spectacular scenery.

Signs of Spring

2010-04-22T11:11:00.004-06:00

White blossoms on the rhubarb! I thought I was posting about spring! Oh well , it snowed last night. Hopefully it won't last long and it will be spring again soon.

Pink magnolis blossoms on a tree at the MTC.

Popcorn popping on the Apricot Tree.

Pink Cherry blossoms up close. Some of the little pink petals are falling off making the sidewalks loool like they're covered with confetti.

Pink cherry blossom arbor.

5 no more!!!

2010-04-21T16:33:00.002-06:00

That's right folks. He's a BIG kid now. Now that' he's

He has a busy day.

School

lunch with Mom & Dad

cupcakes with classmates

Birthday Dinner

Presents

Karate

& Soccer

He is having his party this weekend at the Karate Studio. Wish you all could join us. Stay tuned for some fun pictures.

It's a closet, not a sauna

Pretty Yellow Birds

Sarchi, Aztec for Under the Volcano

Trouble!

Zarcero

Traditional Cart Workshop in Sarchi

Grecia

Inherited Paintings

This is for you, Katie!

Further photos of the Lankester Botanical Gardens

Lankester Botanical Gardens

Scenes along the way up the Mountain Irazu

Volcan Irazu

More Animals at Zoo Ave

Flora at Zoo Ave

Birds at Zoo Ave

Zoo Ave

Other Sights in and Around Manuel Antonio

Manuel Antonio Beach

Puente Cocodrile and the Road Home from Manuel Antonio

The Road to Manuel Antonio

Parque Manuel Antonio

Signs

Laurie and the Missouri Military Academy

Happy Birthday Sam

Happy Birthday Ben

Belated Birthday Wishes for Becky and Charlie

Another Favorite Costa Rican Treat

Laurie's New Favorite Costa Rican Drink

Happy Birthday Laurie

Happy Birthday Nancy

Signs

Sunday Trip to Guapiles

An Interesting River

Arenal and the Hanging Bridges

House of the Dreamer

Orosi

Alajuela

Ujarras and Surrounding Valley

Cartago Open Market

Cartago Churches

Scenes from British Columbia

I Miss Our Garden!

Coastline from Carmel to San Francisco

California coastline south of Carmel

Old Photos from Picasa Files

This is for you, Angela!

Poas Volcano

The Road to Poas

The Neighbothood

Countryside Near Sarchi

Interesting Plants and Flowers

Butterfly Farm

Sarchi Costa Rica

Christmas Eve

Nuestra Casa

Happy Birthday, Jane!

Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Reflections on my Childhood

Life at Mom and Dad's house

Hidden Treasure

Happy Birthday Ben!

Pam's on Facebook!

The Girls Go Greek

Farmers Market

Mom & Dad's visit to Vancouver

Pictures of our Alaskan Cruise

Calling in all favors at this point.

FYI

Totally Not Worthy of Its Own Post. . .And Yet

Remember, Vote Early and Often!

I want this bad

The Heat Has Gone to their Brains

Picture Preveiw

Awwwh, Shucks! I *Heart* My Fam

Final Reunion Tee

Two Things In One!

A Wish and A Game

The Story of Orabrush

The Tummy Bug

Awwwh, Shucks! I Heart My Fam