Costa Rica: The Jungle

 We went to Costa Rica!  I've been thinking about this trip for a while, and we finally made it happen.  All kids came, which isn't a given these days.  This was the first time to Costa Rica for all of us.  I asked everyone if they would rather do a Mexico trip or try something new like Costa Rica.  Everyone unanimously voted for adventure in Costa Rica!

Our trip had two parts.  The first half we spent in the jungle, second half in the beach.  This meant driving and staying in multiple places.  A first for us.  Driving in Costa Rica is an adventure all by itself.  I drove on my mission in El Salvador, and that driving definitely prepared me for Costa Rica driving.  We learned really quickly that you don't drive fast because the roads are all narrow and there are a lot of speed bumps.  By the end we all hated speed bumps.  For example, the first place we stayed at was only 75 miles from where we were, but it took 3 hours to get there.  Slow and steady.  Lots of really tight spots.  I enjoyed seeing more of the country by car, but some of the days of driving felt long.  I will give props to the kids.  Our car was not big and they all sat in the back for hours with minimal fighting.  I was impressed.  And grateful.  

The drive to the jungle involved super windy roads.  Like think of the windiest road you've been on and double it.  We stopped on the way at a waterfall/animal place.  It was super cool.  We saw lots of butterflies, monkeys, sloths, toucans (they are actually scary), jaguar, frogs, and more.  We also saw some really pretty waterfalls.  There are so many waterfalls in Costa Rica.  They're all beautiful, but by the end they kind of started looking the same.  Which sounds horrible, but true.  Also, as far as I could tell there's no such thing as a free hike to a waterfall.  They've turned all the waterfalls into a tourist destination.  The lowest we paid was $20/person.  Good thing they were pretty.

We stayed at The Lost Iguana.  Such a pretty resort.  We really enjoyed it.  Literally in the middle of the jungle.  The hanging bridges park we went to was actually just around the corner.  That's where we went our first day.  We got to hike all over and cross a whole bunch of cool, long hanging bridges.  Kate didn't think they were so cool, but she made it.  So pretty.  So humid.  

We spent some time in La Fortuna.  Did some shopping and went to a delicious restaurant.  We really liked the food and learned that when you go eat they expect you to take your time.  They won't bring you a check for like an hour or more unless you ask for it.  Kind of a nice change of pace.  

Our activity there was white water rafting.  So much fun!  Our guides were really good.  The rapids were big and fun, but we also had slow times where we could get in and swim.  It was fun to see everything from the river.

Jake got this new 360 degree camera for work and he brought it on the trip.  It was pretty funny to see him with a selfie stick.

Butterfly

Sloth

These actually dive bombed our heads.  And the way they look at you was creepy.

The view from our hotel deck. 

Never saw the volcano completely without clouds

One of the hanging bridges

Bringing the awkwardness wherever we go.  Sitting in the hot springs with the locals instead of paying $100 per person.  Win!

Zack found this random tree to stop at on the way to the beach.  We turned up this random little road to find it.  And of course had to pay.  But it was super cool!  

Winter?

 This winter hasn't felt like winter.  At all.  I can't decide if I like it or not.  It's weird to not have snow and freezing temperatures, but also nice to not have those things.  But in Utah we can't ever really enjoy a mild winter because it just means we have no water that summer.  The best thing this winter though is that, back in the fall, we decided not to buy ski passes this year.  First time in like 15 years.  We figured we would regret it when everyone was out enjoying the snow, but we were tired of the traffic, crowds, etc.  Well, best decision ever!  It's been so nice not being stressed about the lack of snow because we bought super expensive ski passes.  I'm not sure how that worked out, but I'm glad it did.

Anyway, January and February have been pretty low-key around here.  We started with a bang though visiting cousin Season in the hospital.  Such a good visit.  The next day Sage got her wisdom teeth out.  Poor thing.  I don't have wisdom teeth, so I don't understand her pain.  But it looked miserable.  After the first day she actually did really well.  We're all happy that's behind us!

Jake and I took a couple of quick trips to St George to work on the house.  Sage didn't come with us either time.  Not sure why she would rather hang out with friends than her parents...  There was just enough man-made snow to go tubing at Soldier Hollow with Jake's employees and their families.  We went real fast down the icy hill.  So fun. Greg and Tracy are heading to Montana to serve a mission, so we got to go listen to them speak in church.  It was fun to see the whole family and they did a great job.  We're excited for them, but we'll miss them!

Sage and I went shopping for prom dresses yesterday.  Started at 10:00 and didn't finish until 6:00.  Heaven help me.  But we were successful and she'll look beautiful for her junior prom.  While we were shopping Jake and Zack went to the off-road expo.  I think they got the better deal.  They left with big ideas for future trips.

Work has begun for the future pigs...

A sample of one of the many dresses.  But not the final one.

Sweethearts Dance

Every once in a while Sage gets in the mood to bake.  We all benefit from this.

Chloe and Sage.  Definitely related

And every once in a while Jake cooks.  Usually when I've declared I'm not cooking.

The title of this is, "Misery"

All The Christmas Things

 Trying to get caught up here.  December was busy but also really good.  We started the month off with the annual food drive the whole valley does here.  Each ward in our stake was in charge of collecting 160 boxes of cereal.  We needed someplace for everyone to drop their cereal off, and our barn became that place.  Which means that Jake and I became the people to take the cereal over.  Our ward came through big time.  We ended up with over 200 boxes of cereal!  They were so excited when we pulled up.  A great way to start the Christmas season.

Sage got to go to Disneyland with the cross country team.  I know there are other reasons she signed up for cross country, and she's ended up loving it, but going to Disney with the team was a big incentive for the season.  She had great fun, managed to do really well in the race, and then had to suffer the whole ride home because she was so sick and had a toothache on top of being sick.  Poor girl.

We did our annual rest home performance for Grandpa Spjute.  Jake and I were the only ones representing our family.  Sadly this has become normal.  Most of the time we end up performing for like 3 people.  Apparently this year we found the magic time because the room was full of people.  So great!

I love to take the family to some kind of concert every Christmas.  This year we went to Kurt Bestor in Park City.  It was amazing.  A small venue, so up close and personal.  I really loved it.  Hopefully this is our new Christmas tradition.

We had a Spjute Christmas Eve which is always an adventure.  Greg led off smoking brisket for everyone (hopefully we keep this tradition going), then caroling, talents, and testimonies.  This year we attempted to perform "Un Poco Loco" from the Disney movie "Coco".  We didn't quite know what we were signing up for when we picked this song.  It's hard!  We killed it, as in actually butchered it, but the family still loves us.  

Christmas Day was nice because we just opened presents and then relaxed/played new games the rest of the day.  We had to wake the kids up at 9 to finally open presents.  The magic of little kids being excited has disappeared around here.  I still love my big kids, it just makes for a different Christmas.

We headed to St George for the rest of Christmas break.  We did a good amount of jeeping, with no injuries or wrecks so that's a plus.  We tried to go bowling but struck out (ha ha) and ended up playing mini golf.  We're not very good at mini golf.  And of course a bike ride.  Kate usually hangs out with us, but not this time.  She has a new boyfriend and she was with him far more than she was with us.  I'm trying not to have hurt feelings over this.  Circle of life and all that.

We have a new tradition of going to the Sakura Steakhouse in St George around New Years.  Its so much fun to have them cook for us right at the table.  And the food is so good.  Hopefully next year we'll have reservations dialed in so we don't have to wait so long.

We (minus Kate for above reasons) did a crazy hike one day.  We hiked to the top of Mollie's Nipple (horrible name I know).  This hike is 2 miles long but in one mile I think we gained like 1700 feet of elevation.  It was intense.  The views at the top were amazing.  And now I can look at it from far away and think 'holy cow we climbed all the way to the top of that.'  An adventure for sure.

The view from the top of Mollie's Nipple

Beautiful decorations for our RS Christmas dinner

Truck full of cereal!