San Juan del Sur

This is the wonderful Bed & Breakfast that we stayed in here in San Juan del Sur. Only $50 a night and it was beautiful. This is all of us loading up to go out to the ranch with the horses.

Getting ready for breakfast. Luc was a little anxious...patiently waiting.

So many pretty little sitting areas at this house...very relaxing

Trying to capture the open atmosphere of the house. Open courtyard, hammocks...so beautiful.

Here is the view from the back of the house. Alex is enjoying some time in the pool. Still working on his tan. Abram had several jumps from the balcony into the pool before he got shut down by the adults. Trust Abe to get right on that one. The house is directly across the street from the beach so it is a fun place to be. We really enjoyed our time here. Mariah and I were saying how much "nana"would love to get her decorating hands on this place and give it the extra special touches that it needs. Just needed a woman's touch as far as the decor but the house itself was beautiful and we had a great time!

A Wonderful Week

It is hard to believe that Alex has been here with us now for for over a week. I can't even explain how wonderful it is to have us all together again. Here are a few shots of some things we have done this past week...

This is a shot of us with some wonderful friends we have made here. Eva, Joe, Niki and Luc (The Martin Family) from Canada... they decided to follow our crazy example after meeting us here last August when they were here on vacation and returned home to start making plans to live here for 6 months. They arrived again a few weeks ago and we have been hanging out with them a lot and having some great food and great conversations about our different cultures. We are all taking a trip to Nicaragua together this week. Should be another fun adventure! Pino and his son Domingo are also in this picture. Good friends as well. We all had dinner together on Sunday evening.

Alex and Mariah. I just love seeing them together again.

Me and my boy that grew into a man during the last 2 years, but he still loves to give his mom hugs so it's all good.

Here is Alex with his 3 favorite girls in the whole world. They happen to adore him as well.

Alex and Mariah just "hanging out" ....Alex is working on that tan, trying to catch up with the rest of us.

Alex is getting a little instruction from Abram as he is about to try surfing for the first time

Father and son just enjoying a little together time

This time together is so precious to me. I am treasuring everyday as I know it won't last for long. Alex is already making plans to go out east and work for the summer, and Mariah is headed back to BYU in less than 3 weeks. Oh, I wish I could just keep them all under my wing forever but I know I need to let them go. Having us all squished together on the couch for 2 days of General Conference was just pure joy for me. I savored every moment. My heart was full not only because of the spirit of conference, but because we were all together and conference weekends are very sentimental to us. None of us wanted it to end. I am so blessed. I feel so much gratitude for my children and my husband. I feel very undeserving of them, but thankfully we have a loving Heavenly Father that blesses us in spite of ourselves.

"...and we killed the fatted calf"

Our friends here decided that in honor of Alex's return, we should have a grand fiesta. In Costa Rica, that means having a pig roast....so....meet Wilbur. We actually didn't name him, since he was only with us for a short while before he became dinner and that would have traumatized poor Emma even more!

Since Lane is the father of the honored one...it was deemed appropriate that he should do the "deed". Here he is being shown exactly how to do it. Lane wanted to make sure it was as dignified as possible, so the last words the pig heard were "Gracias por la comida" (thank you for this food) We actually have video footage of the whole thing but thought it was a bit too graphic for the blog. You can order your own copy for $9.99 ha ha

I will spare you the details (since I couldn't watch, I don't have many to share) but needless to say, Lane hit the mark and here was our pig getting a little closer to becoming dinner. They had this thing from squealing to swinging in less than 20 minutes!

Sorry if you have a queasy stomach, but for all the aspiring surgeons in the family, thought you might like this picture

Just a few of the natives here watching over the innards making sure they don't burn since they are the favorite parts.....(can I just pause for a gag right now?)

These innards are cooked along with the skin, gotta get it nice and hot so as to burn all the hairs off

Our Portugese friend Joe was the grill man...we all had our jobs. He loved his apparantly!

Another shot of Joe cooking up all those parts and pieces

I preferred to stay in the house and take pictures...we had about 40 people in our little yellow house!

Just wanted to document that there was at least ONE Martinsen that actually ate the pig. (I guess a mission leaves you little choice but to not be picky about food as you can see that Alex and Elder Whitlock had no problem with the pork) I am not ashamed to say that the rest of us are just meat snobs ok. It is just hard to eat something that was snorting and squealing at you less than 2 hours before...especially when you might get a hair stuck in your teeth if decide to actually try it. No thanks. We were careful to be discreet in our disdain as to not offend our friends. As for the rest of the crowd, they thought it was the greatest thing ever! There wasn't much left of Wilbur by the end of the night.
The fiesta was a huge success and definitely a homecoming that Alex will NEVER forget!

Welcome "Home" Elder Martinsen!!

Emma captured how we were all feeling as we were waiting for the plane to arrive!

These 4 kids could not be more excited....searching the crowd to find him....

I held it together really well until we got our first glimpse of him in the crowd making his way towards us...

And.....here he is! He was just GLOWING!!

Of course mom gets the first hug....it was a good one too.

And his little sis Mariah was next in line....doesn't he look happy?

Love this picture! Why are dads always so composed??

Emma had to get her squeeze in too...all of them did of course, but I think dad was too teary eyed behind the camera to capture all the hugs.

Together again, all 7 of us. Pure Joy.

School Friends

On Friday, Lora and Emma both had friends over after school for the first time. It was very exciting for all of them....let me just say that! We had lunch, they were in and out of the pool, laughing like crazy and talking spanish the whole time of course. I loved listening to my girls try to keep up with them. They are doing great. I love that kids can make friends so easily. They don't even have to speak the same language to love each other.
These are Lora's 3 closest friends from school. Katya, Maria and Norma. They tower over Lora but they have been so sweet to her and just love her to death.

This is Kristen (pronounced Kreesten) and she is missing her two top teeth, Emma is missing her two bottom, so they are a cute pair.

I thought Emma had a good tan going until I saw this picture.
Such a fun day and so good to see that my girls are happy and making memories with friends here.

A week with Nana and Aunt Kristen

Having my mom and sister here with us last week was so much fun! This is us on a boat excursion for the afternoon where we fished, snorkled, ate, and relaxed in the sun. We saw Sting rays, an octopus, held a puffer fish...it was a great day!

Here we are hanging out at a favorite spot of ours...Bahia de los Pirates

Mariah and Lora

Just after sunset. Picture doesn't do it justice

Having a girls' night out with my mom and sister....it has been way too long

Of course my girls were included in this too....wouldn't be fun without them!
I loved being able to share part of our experience here in CR with my mom and sister. It was so fun just to be with them again. It wasn't a 5 star resort for them, but I think they enjoyed it!

Gratitude

My heart has been feeling a little heavy the last couple of days. Feeling some "after company blues"since my mom and sister left and now with the devastation in Japan, I am feeling very melancholy. It just didn't seem right as I was busy whipping up pancakes and eggs for dinner tonight that there is so much suffering going on simultaneously. It all of a sudden puts things quickly into perspective when something like this happens and you realize the absolute frailty of life.
As we gathered our kids around tonight for some reading and then family prayer, I was just so extremely grateful for my testimony of the meaning of life and for my knowledge of eternal families. My job as a mother suddenly became the most important thing in the world to me. Sometimes I forget that.
I am so blessed. I am so thankful for what I have and for what I know to be true. Life is too precious to waste any time feeling angry, being critical, saying unkind words, doing anything that detracts from having joy in our lives. Today I recommit myself to being better, loving more, and making the most of every minute of every day. We never know when the storms of life will hit our own family. Preparation starts within.