Farewell 2017

Guys, another year has come to an end. I'm not too sad to see 2017 go. As far as years go, it was pretty much a dumpster fire. I do appreciate any growth I had over the year, so lets break down my year-end stats.

• 1507 miles run over the course of the year, with not a single day missed! I was pretty proud of that. 
• Sadly, only 7 books read over the year. One of the books I read, Dragonfly in Amber, was over 800 pages, so between that and my school load, I didn't have a lot of time for books. Basically, my goal in 2018 is to read at least 15 books, lets see if that happens. 
• Many great places visited! Costa Rica, Costa Maya, Honduras, etc...I had a great bunch of family trips. I think that this upcoming year won't have nearly as many (tbh or any) trips outside of the state, but I am so grateful for the places I got to go to this past year! 

Now, that's not a lot to celebrate, probably, but I like celebrating the small things. I hope 2018 is much much better than 2017, and I hope that you guys all have a great new year! 

Card Makin'

It's about that time again, time for card swap. Technically it's in like, 2 weeks, but since school starts again soon, I wanted to get these done before that started. I had to make a love card and a thank you card. I liked what I ended up with, I think.

Aquarium Trip

Yesterday, my brother in law texted and asked if I could take his kiddos for the day - they just were worn out from the holidays and wanted a small break. Of course I would, what a fun time! I decided to bring along the small nephews (because Darth and my niece E-Money are the same age, so they're friends) and make a day of going to the aquarium. We started out nice and early, which was a good thing - the place was pretty packed! We started by snagging a pic in the giant shark mouth, of course. 

 We visited every land in the joint, and everyone's least favorite was the South American one - because of the heat and the yuck smells. We just grabbed a quick pic on the frogs in there.

 We ended our day in the playground, where tiny Samwise was too small to play on it, but she had a grand time sitting on the couch, eating cheerios and fruit snacks.

We had a lot of fun, and I'm glad that's what we chose to do for the day. Now that I know that I can survive with this many small fries, I look forward to our next adventure!

Trying out Dark Chocolate

On our recent trip to Costa Rica, I brought back many a chocolate bar. They just had such exotic flavors, and such delicious chocolate, I wanted to try them! So tonight, we tried one of them, Dark Chocolate Passionfruit. It wasn't too bad. I love dark chocolate, and while I had never tried passionfruit before, I definitely didn't hate it. We all tried a bit, including Gecko. You can see his reaction:

He hated hated hated it but at least we're introducing him to new things!

Happy Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all had amazing days. I had a great day of family and fun. And, I got a really great gift that I can't wait to try out.

What a sweet, sweet bike. Hope you all had some holiday love this year, with family and loved ones.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Darth and Gecko got some pajamas from their grandma. They came home in these pajamas, and honestly, Darth is the cutest thing I have ever seen. His pj's came with a small hat, and he looks so good.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Family Pictures

We got some family pictures today. I use that term loosely, because what was supposed to be professional family pictures turned into pictures taken by a niece, and weren't...great. I think I just had a different expectation of what we were doing, but oh well. Anyway, here are some favorites.

Darth and Gecko

It's been a while, but let's catch up on some pics with no stories.

They're just so much fun to be around when they're cuties. (As are all kids haha)

Casual Fellas

Well, I have made it home. I went to bed at about 9:00 the night I got home, and then woke up promptly 8 hours later, and was super awake at 5:00 AM. I took advantage of the sleeping household to clean all the bathrooms in the joint, and start some laundry as well. Then, I spent some time with the fellas, watching some Christmas movies as I caught up on work. Look how cute and casual these guys are.

Beach!

This morning, we left Monteverde. We left going down that one same road out, and unfortunately for us, they had shut that road down. So we just had to sit there on the mountain until they opened it back up again, about an hour and a half later. Oy. So we finally got out of that road and onto paved roads, and all of a sudden, the road was closed again. We then learned, down here was some sort of bike race, so they closed the road down for that. Great. Luckily for us, there was a coconut stand next to us on the road. We bought some coconuts, which they promptly opened for us with a machete and stuck a straw in to drink the sweet juice.

Y'all, coconut milk is gross. Did not like. Was not refreshed. But anyway. Finally they opened the road back up, and off we went. We stopped at this sign for a pic. 

Then we stopped in Jaco. There was a beach there, and we wanted to at least see the beach once while we were in Costa Rica, since it is a tropical, beachy place. 

 It was lovely. The water was so warm, and we stayed in as long as we could until we had to leave. Unfortunately, the hour drive back to San Juan (where our flight is leaving at 6:55 tomorrow morning) took about 3 hours due to garbage traffic. But we finally made it and are ready to go home. The trip was too short, but very awesome, and I am ready to go home. Being in foreign countries makes me so homesick so fast!

Monteverde

You guys, Monteverde is lovely. Was it hard to sleep with this wind? Yes. But, we still tried. The next morning, we set out to the "Cloud Forest". What this means is basically, the mountain we were in was so high we were pretty much even with the clouds. It was super windy still (apparently this is the windy season, I googled it) but it was lovely, it kept it from being too hot. It only took us about an hour to get to the top.

 Here's the view from the top, very nice

 This is us, with Steve, Adam's co-school-worker-guy. Unfortunately his family couldn't come, but we had a great time still.

There was a waterfall near the end of the hike, it was so lovely. We couldn't get in the water at all, but it was still nice.

After the hike, we went zip-lining, and went to the longest zip line in Latin/Central America. There was one that we went on that was 2 kilometers long! We did that one Superman style, on stomachs with arms out. It was amazing. I finished that by doing a sort of bungee-jumping thing called Mega Tarzan Jump, which you just straight up jump out of a 75-meter tall building, and just fall until your harness catches you, about 40 meters down. It was TERRIFYING but so amazing! I wish I had a picture or something of it, but alas, no phones! But it was the greatest thing ever.

Hola from Costa Rica!

You guys, I made it to Costa Rica! After my last post, when I was feeling down and depressed, I just went right to bed. I woke up the next morning, and luckily, the sickness had seemed to pass. (I should have mentioned, the kiddos had been throwing up the previous few days, so I knew it would be quick, I just didn't know it would be that quick) After laying in bed for a few minutes that morning, I had a voice...prompting...thought... that said, okay Vieve, head out to Costa. I called the airline, and they got me in a flight last night at 8:00! It was an overnight flight, I would wake up at 6:00 in Costa. I said absolutely, book me in. I spent the day running errands and doing necessary things, and then got a lift to the airport from Rory. After breezing through security (In which SLC security tried to steal my iPad maybe? I luckily barely got it back before the flight took off, I happened to try and read it before I left, and learned that they had taken it out without my permission, I have no idea why or what happened or why they didn't put it back)
But anyway! I had no luck in sleeping during the overnight flight (Despite taking Benadryl haha) but luckily, it wasn't a super long flight. I made it there around 5:30 AM, and then Husband picked me up and took me to the hotel. When we got there, I laid down for a few minutes, and ended up sleeping for a couple hours, thank goodness! But anyway.
Here we are at the first hotel in San Juan

After we were in San Juan for a couple of hours (just long enough for Husband's conference to wrap up) off we went to Monteverde. Let me tell you - it is hard to get here! There is only one road in - 20 km up a straight up hill, that isn't paved. Basically, it was about an hour of just bouncing around and trying not to die by other cars or falling off the cliff to the side. But we made it. This has got to be the windiest place I have ever been to , and the cabin we are staying in keeps none of the wind out, so wish us luck we can actually get some sleep!

Adios, Costa Rica

My finals are done. I took the last one yesterday, and I took the one that I was supposed to take today on Tuesday, so I have finished! I'm done! The reason I took it early is because today, Husband and I were leaving for Costa Rica! Husband had a paper submitted to a conference down there, and of course I was going to tag along. So I made sure all of my finals were done so that we could leave this morning. Our flight was set to leave at 8:00 this morning. Naturally, last night we went to bed at like, 9:30, since we would have to be at the airport a little after 6:00.

After going to bed, I awoke at about 11:30, feeling pretty sick. And then, it happened. I spent all dang night throwing up. I was so bummed! There was no way I could take a 9 hour flight to Costa, with how I was feeling. I was so sad, I just cried for so much of the morning. Husband Skyped me tonight when he got to Costa, and said that we could still use my ticket and fly me down tomorrow, but when I was thinking about it, I didn't feel great about it. Let's see how we feel tomorrow, and figure out what to do!

Bacon Thief!

This morning, for breakfast, we made some bacon. I was carrying Gecko in the kitchen, and picked up a piece for myself. Immediately, he took it directly out of my hands and put it in his mouth! Thief! But so cute, I had to snap a pic.

Don't worry, as you can tell, I got some of my own.

Foto Friday

Last night was Stamp & Chat, (I forgot to take pictures of the cards, can you believe it?!) and I took home some extra treats, for tiny Darth, I told him I would bring him home some since he couldn't come. Chelle had made some frosting graham crackers, which were delicious of course. Darth had one today, and just thought they were the bees knees.

Christmas Hot Cocoa

We went to the park today, despite the super chilly temperatures. We were there for not super long, but long enough that the boys were super chilly. We stopped for some hot cocoa, and then walked around Target while we drank it. Darth kept telling every person walking by that he was drinking coffee, hopefully nobody believed him! But then we saw this 'photo booth' in the Christmas section of Target, and he wanted a picture.

He looks so tiny! But he loves his hot cocoa!

Cool Cool Clothes

Now that the weather is cold, it's time to bust out the winter clothing. It's Gecko and Darth's first winters in a cold cold place (Washington just isn't the same in terms of chilliness) so they got some new stuff to wear. They look amazing.

Nobody will ever be as cool as Gecko, chilling against the couch here.

Movies are Stressful

Tiny nephew Gecko gets stressed by movies. When the action is plentiful, he is STRESSED to the max. I caught a bit of his reaction as we watched Polar Express. The part where the train goes a little too fast, its just too fast for him.

What a cutie!

A Night In Bethlehem

Tonight was our ward party, and then them was A Night in Bethlehem. They asked Husband and I to man a booth. They gave us the bakery, of course. This was one of the most stressful things I have ever had to do, so I don't know that I would have said yes in retrospect haha. But I think it turned out all right, and pretty much I am just excited to be done with it!
Here's our booth:
Husband is inside, setting up stuffs.

And then here are the treats I made, tiny brownie bites with a peppermint frosting. Yum! 

It was a cute idea, I really liked the execution. Unfortunately, being in charge of a table meant I had to miss about 90% of the activities that they had, but that's all right. It was fun to be at the bakery, "selling" my wares to people. 

It's Over!

Guys, we made it. It's the last day of November, and we have made it. Was every blog good? Oh heavens no. But did we finish? We sure did ! And now, we can go on with our lives, hopefully blogging occasionally to keep updating, but no so much that it gets as boring as it did here at the end of the month.

Silly Geese

Darth loves to get his picture taken, and of course, he never likes to just have a smile, he likes to do weirdo faces. I am always happy to oblige.

It's Coming

Friends, the end is nigh. I have felt Death's chilly hand on my neck, and I know the time is coming.

Okay that's definitely an exaggeration. But, I fear a sickness is upon us. Exhibit A: the tiny kids in my house are both coughing with runny noses. Exhibit B: Darth definitely spent all yesterday throwing up. Exhibit C: My once amazing immune system has taken a nosedive after living with these kids. After the kiddos have been sick all day, we went to Jamba Juice to get some smoothies for the sickos. Because Gecko isn't doing too bad, he was all smiles and playing while we were there.

He was so jazzed to get a smoothie too. Hopefully none of us succumb to the illness!

Back to School

Alas, today I went back to school. I was actually pretty ready for it, because after a few days at home, I'm always ready to get going and get back to real life. The week off was great, but now I only have 2 weeks left of school! That's right folks, just two weeks, and then finals, and then I am DONE for this semester! I am looking forward to this greatly, hopefully the break doesn't go by too quickly, and is a fantastic time for everyone.

Smash Face

Tonight, we were preparing dinner and grabbing some things out of the garage, and tiny Darth felt the need to trip. (I know, I know, it was an accident, but I still wanted to say that) He tripped on...I'll say himself, because I don't even know what it could be, and smacked face first into the wooden garage stairs! Ouch! He said his cheek hurt and after a few minutes, it swelled up in agreement.

He was in good spirits, and didn't let the bump get him down.

Christmas Times Can Begin!

Now that Thanksgiving is officially over, I can get ready for Christmas. So this morning, Husband set up the Christmas tree, and this afternoon I decorated it and the surrounding areas. I had a lot of help from these little Santas.

They're just too cute sometimes!

Black Friday '17

Black Friday has come again this year, and again, I have embraced it. The exciting part about this year is that my sister is home for the first Thanksgiving in about 6 years, so we finally get to do this together! We got started bright and early and hit many different places. We got all sorts of deals, and had a great day. Of course, by the time we ended, we were all exhausted, both tired from the early start and our bodies were physically so tired. What a great tradition, and one I'm glad to partake in!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy thanksgiving everyone! I kept tradition alive, and ran in the Turkey Trot this morning, getting my four miles in to earn all the food I was going to eat. I didn't do too badly, I finished in just a hair over 32 minutes, to get me third place in my age group! The weather was beautiful, and not freezing cold as it has been in years past.

After a lovely morning of Darth locking us out of our bedroom, and having to use the roof to access the room, off to the parents house for some turkey time. Dinner was crazy delicious, thanks to my dad for preparing it. Then, home to sit in a lovely food coma. I hope everyone had the amazing holiday they wanted!

Behold...the Piecaken!

The other day, I was watching one of my favorite shows, Ginormous Food. In case you haven't heard about this show (which I'm willing to wager is very likely) its a show about a guy who travels all around the country eating GIANT food. One day there was a strawberry shortcake that was 12 inches high, it was amazing. This week they had a restaurant that serves the Piecaken. Let's break it down.
3 layers
Bottom layer: Pecan Pie
Middle layer: Pumpkin Pie
Top layer: Spice Cake
Topped with: a cream cheese cinnamon frosting AND apple pie filling.
Let's get started.

Basically, I bought store bought pies, because I was not going to homemake them. I got the pecan pie, and placed it on a cake plate. I frosted the top, and then placed the pumpkin pie on top. I trimmed the edges to make everything even.

 Then, I frosted the top of the pumpkin pie, for the cake to be placed on there.

 After the spice cake was placed there, I frosted the entire thing, and put some apple pie filling on top.

Look at this amazing thing. I can't wait to try it tomorrow! 

Eh...I got nothin'

Well, it took us a solid 21 days to get here, but this is the flaw of writing every day for a month. Not a lot happens sometimes, and I just have nothing to tell you. Break is fabulous and I am staying busy quite evenly with school work and fun. Hopefully everyone is gearing up for a great holiday!

Christmas Craft

I have a friend with whom I exchange homemade gifts every year. It always stresses me out to think of it, but then I always get a good idea. For example, last year I made her a homemade candles. This year, I chose something quite different. I thought it would be a fun idea if I made her small blocks for her desk at work, to portray all the months of the year. I went and picked out all of my stuff at Wood Connections, and then my sister and I set out to make them today. I had set aside the entire day to do it, but it took waaaaay less time than that. It only took us a couple of hours, I was surprised. But I think they turned out great! 

Break!

Guys, finally, some good times. This upcoming week is my Thanksgiving break. I am so excited to not have to go to school all week! I would like to be able to say that it'll be completely school-less, but I have homework to do during the week, of course. Basically, my goal this week is to make my Christmas crafts, and finish all my homework. Wish me luck!

Rice!

Tonight we went out for Mama's birthday. We went to Hu Hot (if you haven't been, you gotta go). When we were getting to the end of the meal, Gecko was eating some rice. And by eating, I mean, doing anything but. Luckily I snapped a video of this. Enjoy!

Foto Friday

Last night, I went to the movie theater, to get a gift card. As we were there, they had some sort of Comi-Con thing, and Wonder Woman was there. Darth was SO HYPED to meet her, until we actually got up to her and then he was so dang shy and nervous, and wouldn't go up to her until I was holding him. He got to hold her sword, which was much too heavy for him, so I had to help hold it. We snapped a picture, and then when we got home, Darth was just too excited for words.

Thumbs Up from Darth

Basically, his go-to pose is the thumbs up.

Emergency!

Today, my sister was at the dentist, getting a root canal done. Whilst she was doing that, I was at my home, of course, working. My phone rang suddenly, and there was the receptionist at the dentists office, telling me that she had a negative reaction to something, and they can't get a hold of her husband. I needed to come get her right now and bring her the hospital.

Uh...what?

So I immediately sprinted to my car and definitely did like 90 miles an hour, getting from Orem to Springville, where the dentist is. I got there and sprinted in and they immediately take me back to her and I see:

Oh boy, that's a reaction, all right. I took her to the nearest ER, in Provo. Her husband met her there, so I took the kiddos home, so that they wouldn't have to worry about it. By the time they discharged her, several hours later, this is what it looked like:

So basically, she had the reaction to the cleaning stuff in her tooth, and now her face is full of air, and it just needs to come down. Man, I thought I had bad reactions at the dentist, until this happened. Hopefully she's better soon!