A Well Deserved Award

A well deserved award has been given.  Todd received the Firefighter of the Year award from the city he has worked for as a firefighter/paramedic over the past 18 years.  The department asked all the firefighters and officers to vote for the most deserving and Todd was chosen by his peers.  Way to go Todd!

A well deserved award for the man I love.

Celebrating Marriage

Another year of marriage has come and gone and I would be missing out on an opportunity to celebrate our marriage if I didn't take time to write up a post about our anniversary.  Todd and I have celebrated 19 years of marriage as of the this June 2012.

We celebrated this momentous event by spending the night in lovely Park City, Utah.  Have you ever visited?  It's lovely, especially in June.  We first ate a yummy dinner at Ruth's Chris restaurant and took a little tour of the beautiful Park City hotel.  Here's a lovely self-portrait of me and my wonderful hubby waiting for our dinner.

The following day, which was absolutely perfect weather, we took a stroll through old Park City.  I could spend all day there window shopping and, of course, actual shopping but Todd preferred to eat a yummy breakfast of eggs benedict and then quickly leaving before I'm able to whip out the credit card.  So, as in all successful marriages, we compromised and did a little of both.

Here's to looking forward to many, many more years of marriage.

Happy Birthday to Todd

I'm a little behind with my posts.... Happy Birthday to Todd a few weeks ago!

In all the world, there is no heart for me like yours.  In all the world, there is no love for you like mine.  ~ Maya Angelou

A Few Things.....

It's been awhile since my last post and I have a few things to share.

First, my last post is in reference to sweet Tori's 16th birthday.  She's now driving.  We decided to buy her a car.  We are now a four car family.... four cars.  I kind of think it's ridiculous that we have four cars; however, with that said I'm very grateful that we have the cars.  It sure is convenient and so very, very nice not having to run Tori to all her practices and school events.  I hope we can survive the insurance and fuel!

Second, Evan is such an amazing young man.  I don't talk enough about him and he needs to be talked about.  He has such a steady, reliable, quiet personality and a quick intelligence.... he's going places.  One other item of note with Evan - I've discovered his motivation as a teenager.  As a parent trying to encourage certain behaviors and enforce rules, it's always very nice when you discover something that motivates compliance, right?

We've always encouraged good grades because we know all the children are fully capable of earning good grades.  To encourage good grades, we have offered a monetary reward for each A earned.  This reward has never been a motivating factor for Evan.  What we discovered is that when we started making Evan pay us for his car insurance because the cost increased due to his low GPA, he suddenly improved dramatically on his grades.  His motivation is that he doesn't want to spend his money.... he's a saver.  I love it!

Finally, Todd has been cleared for full-duty at work.  It's a true blessing.  After his shoulder surgery, the doctor told us it would most likely be a year before Todd would be have the range of motion needed to return to work as a firefighter.  His surgery was the end of December and he's back to work the first of April.  Todd received a Priesthood blessing, given by members of the Mormon faith, and was blessed to have a speedy, full recovery.  I believe our prayers were answered and I am grateful.

My Funny Valentine

 “If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.”
— A.A. Milne (Winnie-the-Pooh)

It's a Wonderful Life

It's a wonderful life I lead.  I'm so very blessed to have my husband and children and so thrilled to have them all home for the holidays.  We don't get to see Spencer and Ashley very often now that they've moved and I was just overjoyed when they came to spend four days with us for Christmas. 

It's tough for a Mom to adjust to having her children leave the nest, at least for this Mom it's been tough.  I cried for days when Spencer moved out.  Having him home with us along with the addition of Ashley, his wife, was an absolute joy.

As you can see from this picture, I've got some pretty good looking kids (just ignore the silly face Spencer's making.... he's just a good looking kid).  Oh, by the way, can you see that Evan is now taller than Spencer?  Evan has grown like crazy this last year.

Sadly we're missing Todd from the picture.  Poor Todd.  Just two days before Christmas Todd had surgery on his shoulder to repair some damage done after a skiing accident dislocated his shoulder.  The accident had happened early December and it took some time to determine if he would need surgery.  Once it was discovered he needed surgery we decided to move forward as quickly as possible so he could recover more quickly and avoid taking a lot of time off from work, which resulted in surgery just two days before Christmas.  No fun.  He's been such a trooper and was involved with all our family fun but generally spent his time laying on the couch or resting, which resulted in missing him in our family picture.

Say your prayers for a quick recover for Todd.  He really struggles with not being in tip-top-shape and keeping busy.  Recovery from this injury will be a long, slow process and that's tough.  Say a little prayer for him.

On Christmas Eve we had my parents over for a Christmas Eve family dinner.  We love having them over and, of course, had to capture the moment since we don't get to have Spencer with us very often.

Here's my Pops with his two oldest grandchildren, my wonderful sons, Spencer and Evan.

Here's Mom and Dad with my three crazy, wonderful, beautiful children.

My favorite picture of all.  My sweet oldest child who said he missed me and missed my cooking.  Isn't that just the nicest thing a son can say to his Mother?

Thankful

I am so thankful.  So thankful for my husband and children.  So thankful for my parents and siblings.  So very thankful for our freedom, our home, the beautiful area we live in, the home we have, for our health, and so much more.

This Thanksgiving we spent the day at my parent's home and I sincerely appreciate their hospitality.  Four of my sisters were there and it was just so much fun to spend time with each of them and their families.  It seems that I never get enough pictures.

Me with Kayce and Alison.  Missing is Carol and Nan who were also with us.

It's always so nice to see the cousins enjoying time together.  In this picture are three of Kayce's daughters with Tori enjoying a board game. From left is Emily, Tabitha, Katy, and Tori.

It's also fun to see the men in the family together.  It seemed they were either in the living room waiting for the food to be ready or downstairs watching a football game after gorging on Thanksgiving dinner. Seems to be a tradition. :-)

My sweet Evan.  When did he get so tall?

My sweet Tori.

Tori with her cousin Emily (Kayce's daughter).

As I mentioned, we are so very thankful for each other.  After Thanksgiving, we were able to spend the day with Spencer and his wife, Ashley, visiting Temple Square in Salt Lake City.  I really missed them at Thanksgiving but I'm very thankful to spend time with them.  Next post, I'll share the pictures.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Hello Fall

I love the fall season in Utah, I love the beautiful fall scenery all over the beautiful valley we live in, and I especially love fall at Sundance Resort. 
 

Todd and I decided to take a drive to Sundance and check out their fall farmer's market a few weeks ago and take in the gorgeous mountains and fall leaves.  It was lovely.  Fall in Utah is such a beautiful time of year.

And of course it's always a wonderful time spending a Saturday with Todd.

The Big Four Oh

We had a major event happen last week.  Todd, our wonderful husband and father, reached the milestone of 40.  To celebrate the big Four Oh, I searched high and low for just the perfect gift for this big day and I think I found it.

I found a money tree.  Yes, it's true; a money tree.  What better gift for someone who's reached the 40 milestone than the gift of money.  Well... big sigh...the sad truth is the money tree only bears it's fruit just this one time.  In any case, Todd enjoyed this fun, one time only money tree.  Fun, right? 

By the way, sorry for the poor quality cell phone pictures, silly me couldn't find our camera for the big event.

Of course, in addition to the money tree and other little gifts we also had to fill the room with black balloons to make sure he remembered that he was now "officially" old.  (Actually, Todd is far from old.)

Todd is a wonderful husband and Father and we're so happy to have this day to celebrate the day of his birth.  We look forward to many, many more birthdays.

Happy Birthday hot stuff!

A Good Day

Coming Soon:  Our sweet Tori had her birthday last week and I've got some great pictures to share.  Just haven't had time to load them to the computer.  I'll share soon!

Until then, I want to share with you the good day I had with Todd.  We took the day off to go skiing, just the two of us.  It was a good day.

It was a gorgeous, sunny day (as you can see by the sun glaring on my goggles).

A good day with my honey.  That's all. 

What Is It Like? Wife of a Firefighter

Throughout our marriage I've been asked many times what it's like for me to be married to a career firefighter.  Generally my response is "no big deal" or "I'm so glad Todd loves his job" or some quick, easy response.  Most people don't want to hear an hour long response explaining what life is really like.  And I don't say that because it's bad or negative in any way, I say that because, well, it's complicated.  That's what it's like.... it's complicated.

How do I explain that for the birth of our children I had a nagging fear that he may not be there because he might be on shift and busy with a fire or emergency call?  How do I explain that constant nagging fear for his safety throughout the time he's on shift?  How do I explain what it's like to have him at work for 48 hours or 72 hours at a time?  In the reverse, how do I explain what it's like to have him home for two to three straight weeks at a time because he has vacation time off?  How do I explain that having him home for an extended period of time makes him a little stir-crazy and me a little nutty (more nutty)?

Todd loves what he does and has always loved his job, his career, his lifestyle... because it really is a lifestyle.  I love that he loves his career and finds satisfaction in what he does.  For me, I've always been independent enough that I can function well with him gone for two to three days at a time.  With that said, it's certainly not always easy.

Like the time that our young Evan, at two years of age, swallowed his older brother's medication for ADD and was extremely sick from the medication.  Having to rush him to the doctor and monitor him for 24 hours while being Mom to a nine year old, Spencer, and 14 month old, Tori, was not easy.  I really needed Todd home to help but he was in his Recruit training after being newly hired and couldn't leave the training.

Or like the time our oldest son, Spencer, got terribly bit by a German Shepherd dog, mangling his hand at age twelve and having to get him to the emergency room on my own because Todd was in Paramedic school.  Luckily, my parents and sisters were in town for a family gathering and they were able to watch my little Evan and Tori.

How about the time that I was sick with the flu, I mean really sick, and after four days of being sick Todd had to head in to work.  I was not functioning at all and had to beg a sister to come help.  Now Todd could have called in sick to work, of course he has that option, but I really hated to have him take his valuable vacation time for me so I turned to my sister instead.  (He would have taken time off for me but my independent streak is an entire new issue you don't what to hear about.)

As I'm typing all of this, I can't help but think about military families who deal with these issues on a whole other level.  So, please know, I don't share all of this to complain... why am I sharing this?  I'm sharing to give some insight into the life of being a wife to a career firefighter who lives and breathes the life and has a wife who loves him dearly for his dedication.

Wife of a Firefighter

Have I ever shared that my handsome husband is a firefighter?  I'm a firefighter's wife.  Have I explained to you, dear readers, what it's like having your loved one gone for 48 hours at a job that has the potential of danger and harm for every emergency call?  Have I explained that he loves what he does and that he feels disappointment if he misses the opportunity to respond to a blazing fire?

The city that he works for is not a large city, which means he doesn't have many opportunities to actually fight a "good fire" ... those are his words, not mine.... but he got the opportunity early Friday morning.  He was called bright and early to a blazing fire of a local church building, a building that is rich in history for our county, a building that saddened many of us to see it destroyed. 

While I know that my dear husband would make every effort to be safety conscious during his working days and his commanding officers will make every effort to also be extremely aware of safety, I can't help but worry every time he goes to work.  It's a worry that lingers in the back of my mind.  It's a worry that makes me very grateful to have him home safely after every shift ends.

He was able to take some great pictures while at the fire this last week.  While the picture above is courtesy of the local news station, a great picture of the blazing fire, this next picture was taken while he was busy at work.  This is his viewpoint from the bottom of the ladder truck.

As I mentioned, he loves what he does so when he got the call to a "good fire" he was looking forward to the opportunity to put his firefighting skills to use.  His first 24 hours on the job fighting this blaze was a great day at work for him; however, after 24 hours out in the freezing cold and very little sleep he started his next 24 hours not as thrilled to do the job.  It was a very tough couple days for him.  I'm grateful to the caring, kind businesses in our community that provided warm food for him and his crew.  And very, very grateful to have him home safely again.

I'm grateful for the brave men, including my husband, who are willing to risk their lives to keep us safe.  Love my husband dearly and pray always that he'll be safe.  I wouldn't change him for the world and grateful for who he is and his brave heart.

Costa Rica - Final Post!

Yes, believe it or not, this will be my final post on our trip to Costa Rica. Day nine is our final day in traveling Costa Rica; our true final day is day ten but we're just traveling home that day. Once again I have to say what an incredible experience this was for me and Todd and what a beautiful country. I highly recommend traveling there.

Our final day was spent seeing the sights of San Jose and the nearby city of Orosi with a side trip to visit the Bomberos. If you don't know what a Bomberos is, you'll just have read this post to find out.


















Our day started in the capital city of San Jose. A big, busy, crowded city. Our tour guide mentioned that 1/2 the population of Costa Rica lives in the city of San Jose and the surrounding cities, which I believe is around 2 million. The remaining 2 million live spread throughout the country. It really was quite crowded but still had it's own beauty. I'm standing in front of one of their theaters, built many years ago but maintained beautifully.


















This is the central park within the city. We thought this structure was cool. Spread throughout the park are a variety of metal oxen. I think I mentioned that the ox and oxcart are important symbols in Costa Rica. The ox and oxcart were an important part in building this country.

Here's one of the metal oxen. Each oxen is painted to portray various things that are important to the country. I have no idea what this oxen is supposed to portray.

Here's another metal oxen. I believe this one is portraying something to do with politics. (really have no idea).

Before I go much further with my post, I had to show a picture of the bus we traveled on throughout the country. This was a really nice bus and I shouldn't complain.. but let me tell you... it was freakin' scary to ride this bus through those narrow roads and across those narrow bridges over extremely deep chasms with rushing rivers below. Whew! Ok, I feel much better. On to more of the beautiful country of Costa Rica.





















From San Jose, we traveled to Sanchiri Lodge overlooking the gorgeous valley of Orosi. What a perfect location to end our travels. The valley of Orosi was just breathtaking. It was hard to believe that it was just a few minutes outside bustling San Jose.




















We ate lunch at Sanchiri lodge and enjoyed every minute of it. The lodge was perched on the edge of the valley and was open to the outside. The temperature was perfect, around 80 degrees, with a slight breeze and relatively low humidity. It was just a perfect day.



















This is our view during lunch.

















From the lodge we could see this strange triangle house. We asked our guide, Paul, about the house and he said this house belongs to Michael Landon's family... you know .... "Pa" from Little House on the Prairie. Michael Landon used to live in the home before he died and now his family owns the house. He didn't know if "Pa" had the house built or if it was built by a previous owner. Interesting shape for a house.

















Here we are in Orosi Valley. Next to their church is a park with this painted mural. Much of the export from Costa Rica is coffee. This mural depicts the early people of Costa Rica harvesting their crop of coffee.

















Orosi was really a beautiful little town. Surrounding the town were beautiful rolling hills with houses and small dirt roads all over the hills. This was our view from the Orosi church. The picture does not do justice to the beauty.

















I took this picture for my Dad. You can't see clearly, but there is a lone house at the top of the hill. This home and the beautiful valley made me think of Papacito and his love of Costa Rica. I imagine this house as my Dad's dream home.. maybe someday huh Pop?

















Orosi is really a small town but within the town they had this gorgeous church.
























A beautiful church and beautiful valley. I must say that in my opinion, Orosi valley was the most beautiful little town. It was a town that made me wish I had a better camera to better show off the beauty. A perfect place to end our Costa Rica travels.





Before we say farewell to Costa Rica, here's some final pictures. The entire trip, Todd was hoping to visit the Bomberos, firefighters. After returning from San Jose and Orosi, Todd and I got a taxi and took a trip to visit the local fire house in San Jose. The men there were so kind and friendly. Todd brought a couple extra shirts from his fire station hoping to exchange shirts with them. They not only exchanged shirts but gave him a great belt buckle and badge.








It was really cool to see the camaraderie between the firefighters and you could feel the brotherhood between them even being from different countries and cultures. Todd enjoyed this final adventure.
Adventure is the best way to describe this entire experience. It was fun to relive it all through my posts. I'm now done and loved reliving every minute. Adios Amigos and Amigas!

More Costa Rica ... day six

Some day I'll be done with my Costa Rica posts... but not today. I'm really enjoying the posts myself because it gives me a chance to relive the memories of this incredible trip.

Day six, we woke up bright and earlier. We were leaving beautiful Buena Vista lodge and traveling to Arenal Spring Resort, which is located at the base of a live volcano! Yikes! Before we left Buena Vista, Todd and I walked up to the sunset bar one last time to soak in the beautiful views. While up there we got lucky... no not in the way you're thinking... we got lucky and saw some gorgeous birds in the trees.


















I don't know the name of this bird but it really was beautiful. It's feathers were green, orange, black, and bright blue. After snapping a picture of this handsome fellow... a friend joined him.




















You can see the blue of it's tail feathers a little better in this picture.


















Then, wonders of wonders, two Toucans (is it proper to say two Toucans?) landed on the same tree. We were so excited about this we fumbled getting a picture of both and one flew off before we could get them both. At least we got a shot of this gorgeous creature.
















On our way to Arenal Spring hotel we stopped to visit a local school close to Buena Vista. One of the purposes for our travel to Costa Rica was to visit this school and deliver a check from donations given by everyone who was traveling along with donations we had collected from other people. This visit was really the highlight of the entire trip. The kids were so dang cute. They were all dressed in their school uniforms with the older kids dressed up to do a traditional dance for us. It was really a special experience to spend time with them.















Cute, Cute, Cute!





















The cute kids doing their dance. They all had these crisp, clean white shirts on and the girls had these beautiful long skits. The boys all had nice dark pants and had painted on mustaches and goatees. It was just dang cute and so neat to see their enthusiasm.









































See the boys with their mustaches and goatees? Cute huh?




















Aren't the kids just adorable?





















Now the fun begins. After all the dancing and clapping and smiling, the boys and girls separated and we all got to play together. It was so fun! The boys headed to the soccer field and it was the grade school Costa Rican kids against the high school American kids. The field was muddy and it was hot but that didn't slow them down. It was really fun to watch. In the end the game was tied. They were equally matched.



















I hung out with the girls and jumped rope. It was so dang fun! I haven't jumped the rope since grade school. It really wasn't pretty.



















Yes, I can get off the ground but it isn't pretty. This little girl in front of me became my little friend. She kept holding my hand and making me jump rope with her. She didn't say anything just kept smiling and making me get in the line to jump rope. Whew! It was hot but it was fun. A great, great memory.

















There was a nice big shade tree next to the road, which is where we were jumping rope. I had to take a little break and stand under the tree to catch my breath. A cute little girl came to join me.

















Then my hot husband came to join me also.

















After our fun times at the school, we headed back on the bus and drove about an hour to our final destination of the day, the Arenal Springs Resort. On our drive to the resort we drove past a beautiful lake with the Arenal volcano in the background. This picture was taken from bus! The smoke at the top is smoke from the volcanic activity... this is a live volcano and we were going to be staying at a resort only three miles away!
















A view of the volcano from out hotel.
















After settling in our rooms, we headed out again to hike to the base of the volcano. I was really a little spooked by all of this, knowing it's active, but, hey, everyone else was doing it. :-) We drove as close to the base as was allowed then began our hike. We started across this bridge and through the jungle.








This was a serious jungle. Our guide used his lucky machete to hack through the vines and foliage at one time to make a path for us. Here's my hot Tarzan husband swinging on a vine. He seriously is swinging on a vine. Don't you love his face?















So, we make it to the base of the volcano and see this sign (please ignore my strange billowing shirt) warning us that there is no trespassing. Danger! Area of High Volcanic Activity! No Trespassing! What were we doing there? I don't know. I guess enjoying the danger. At this location you can hear the rocks falling down from the top, red, hot, lava rocks that were being pushed from the top of the volcano and falling down the side.
















Our view looking away from the volcano.... beautiful.
















Our view looking up at the volcano. I wish we had a better camera for this picture. Try as I might I couldn't get a good shot showing the volcano with the red, hot, lava rocks coming out. This is the best I could get. The rocks would be squeezed out the top, like a tube of toothpaste, and come falling down the side. Some of the rocks were large as cars. It was scary to hear the rolling of the rocks but incredible at the same time!















Back safe and sound at our hotel and the end of our sixth day.