AND JUST LIKE THAT...

It’s the last day of the year.

2017 was a year of huge changes for us.
We rejoiced over Howie’s recovery and life.

We decided to do what we have been dreaming and talking about for years.
We sold our house of 29 years in two days.
We moved from a community we had been in for 35 years.

We bought a home on 2 acres.
Beautiful and quiet.
We have formed new friendships.
We have found a new normal.

2017
Wow.

I am thankful.
My goal for 2018 is to live daily in thanksgiving.

Happy New Year

MERRY CHRISTMAS

It's early in the  morning the day after Christmas and I'm sitting here in my quiet dark house.

I have loved this holiday season.
I always have loved this season.

The lights and the music and the bustle.

I love it all.

Yesterday for me was spent in the ER.
I've been a nurse for 23 years.
Of those 23 years, I have spent 19 Christmass or Christmas Eve's working.

Yesterday while I was at work, Howie took Candice and went skiing.
So different than last year when he was 1 week post Open Heart.
So different.

I thought about him all day yesterday.
I thought about all the changes this year brought to us.




















Good changes.
And I am so thankful.

We are so blessed.

Merry Christmas!

UNTIL YESTERDAY

Until yesterday I had my Fall decorations still up.

Until yesterday I had NO Christmas decorations up.

Until yesterday I had NO chocolate dipping done.

For those that know me....I try to have all of that done by the end of November.

But then........

We pulled stuff off the shelf.

Stuff that has been packed since before the move.

Things that mean so much to us.

And new things that I made to match the house we are now in.

And this tree.

Oh my goodness.

I love this tree.

It's nearly a decade old.

It was a prelit tree and gorgeous.

But after a decade of being put away and being smashed.

Not one single light worked.

So my patient sweet hubby suggested we buy a new one.

But we really love the way this one looks.

So he tore off ALL OF THE LIGHTS.

Every single one.

His poor fingers are so sore. 

It took 5 or 6 hours.

And then we strung lights on that we will take off and the end of the season.

I love this Christmas tree.

And I got my dipping done.

This is half of what is there.

I still want to make English Toffee.

But that can wait for another day.

31,565,000 HEARTBEATS

My mind has been racing over the events of a year ago.

I had just gotten to work and heard the ambulance tones go off.

CPR in progress.

Helicopter flight.

36 very tense hours of waiting.

 I was in the front of that helicopter.

Since that day.......December 6, 2016......
He's had about 31,565,000 heartbeats.
I am so very thankful for each one of them.

I am so mindful of a loving Father in Heaven that allowed him to stay with me.
I felt the presence of angels ministering to his body.
I have never prayed harder in my life for anything.
And every single prayer I had was answered.

I don't know why.
I know we are not more worthy than others who haven't had their prayers answered in such a manner, but I am so very thankful.

It made Christmas so sweet last year.

He was in the hospital for 13 days.
8 of those was before they would do bypass surgery.
They wanted his heart and brain to "cool off".

Then he had his open heart on the 14th and went home 3 days later.

His recovery is nothing less than miraculous.

And I still count the heartbeats.

THE BIG WIDE OCEAN

Today we chartered a boat that took us to an Island that is uninhabited.

It is a reserve and small groups of people are allowed at a time.

Before we got there we stopped and did some deep sea fishing.

We were able to catch 3 Mahi-mahi.

The guides told us that it is rare. Often times people never catch anything.

The ocean is huge.

Larry, Gary and Howie with their Mahi-mahi catch.

This has been an amazing experience.

I feel so small.

PURA VIDA

This is what so many of the Costa Ricans say to us.

It's used as a greeting or farewell.

It means Pure Life.

Pura Vida.

I love it.

Greetings from COSTA RICA

Yes.
I'm sitting here in a paradise!

On Monday we loaded on to a friends "bus" and we were dropped off at the airport for the long flight from Idaho Falls to Salt Lake to Los Angeles to Costa Rica.

We left Monday night at 6:30 and arrived in Costa Rica on Tuesday morning about 7:45 AM

It was a long day or should I say night, but it was all great.

We got a couple of rental cars and stopped at Walmart.

Yes, Walmart.

(we go clear to Costa Rica and go to Walmart????)

But it was an adventure as well.

We do it all wrong in the USA.
Black Friday....pashawww!
If you aren't doing Black Weekend you're just an amateur.

And the Walmart greeter had a gun.

We stopped on the way to see the Crocodiles.
Ugly little creatures.

We finally arrived about 4 hours later.
Even though distance-wise it was only about 55 miles.
Driving here is interesting.
And a little scary.

We are staying at a little....cottage????

 It is a beautiful home!
Wow!

 This is the view from the patio.
The pool looks like it goes right into the ocean.

 This is the view sitting in the living room.

 And I'm sitting on the patio.

 This is the view from the pool.
Notice Howie doing a little work on his laptop.
Grrrrrrrr.

I'm just amazed how gorgeous this house is.
If I stayed here all week long I would be in heaven.

But there are places to go and things to see!
We have plans for snorkeling, zip-lining and hiking.

I feel so incredibly blessed to be able to be here.

CRAFT DAY

The guys helped us this morning build some boxes out of some old pallets we have had.
After they finished that little honey-do they went shooting.

(It's nice having a cold garage to be able to use it as a refrigerator.)

 We made lipgloss.

 And we painted jars and made a Christmas arrangement in the wood boxes.

 Candice was "Martha Stewart" incarnate.

 Whe was showing us how she made the tree on the jar.

 We made them all a little different.

Candice's finished product.
Pretty stinking cute!

 Guen's is different and just as cute.

 Then we made bath bombs. We are waiting for them to dry overnight.

Between all the cooking and eating and crafting the kitchen has gotten quite the workout.

And I wouldn't have it any other way.

THANKSGIVING

I am so incredibly thankful this year.
Like never before.

The year has been a whirlwind.

Most of all I am thankful for the miracle of modern medicine and a loving Heavenly Father and the tender mercies of Howie’s recovery.

I am thankful for our children.
Their spouses and their children.

So thankful.

 Why sit on the couch when there is a perfectly good floor?

 Why watch TV when you can gather around and watch something hilarious on someone's phone?

Candice loved getting some one on one time with her big brother. These two have always had a special bond.

Candice used to give piggy-back rides to this kid.
Things have changed a bit.

Finally enough room for pie.

 Leftovers are the best.

This year Thanksgiving means so much more.
I'm feeling blessed beyond measure.

Whoosh! Time flies!

How is it that it is less than a week from Thanksgiving?

Winco has had a great buy on turkeys so I bought 4.
They stay great in the freezer for a very long time and I love turkey.

We will have two separate Thanksgivings this year to accomodate all the family.

This will be the first Thanksgiving in our new house.
It will be so good to start building memories here.

 Last week was nice and Fall-ish.

 Then a day later.....not so nice....

and not so Fall-ish.

The Irish Twins

Life is busy and I get behind posting pictures but wanted to share these.

I spent several days babysitting for these little monkeys...

Little "Lella" is nearly two.

 And "Lolo" is nearly 3

 They are "Irish Twins". Born 11 months apart.
Miss "Lella" was born very preterm and spent many weeks in the NICU, but she is doing so well.
It was discovered earlier this year that she has Cerebral Palsy. Of course we ache about that, but she is a sweet tender little love and I love snuggles from her.
It appears to have affected her legs, she has great movement on her hands and arms, but her legs have been affected.

But thankfully to modern miracles and medicine she should make great strides.  She does and amazing army crawl.
And just a week ago she had Botox injections in her legs. This is to keep her leg muscles from being so spastic and as time goes on the hope is that she will be able to walk.


I didn't get pictures of the two older boys. Krew nearly 10 and Kendrix nearly 8. Happy beautiful little guys that love their baby sisters.

This one is a clone of his dad.

Full of energy!

Krew is such a doting big brother. I love watching how tender he is with his sisters.

I love this family picture of them all.

I need to get the rest of my kids to get family photos done.

Maybe that will be my project when they are around for Thanksgiving.