halloween joke

a little cartoon i made for your enjoyment.

costa rica day 7

may 7, 2008
before leaving la fortuna we decided to hike to a waterfall. we got up in the morning and went and were the first ones there. we had the whole place to ourselves for a while so we played in the river downstream from the waterfall and watched the blue morpho butterfly flutter around. about an hour later the place started getting busy with visitors, and we hiked out. the hike down to the waterfall wasn't too bad, because it was all downhill, but coming out was straight up made even more difficult by carrying the kids.

after the waterfall, we all piled in the van to travel across the country to the caribbean side of costa rica where we would be staying for most of the rest of the trip. before we left we had some tentative arrangements but nothing concrete for places to stay, and dan's co-workers gave him some grief about that. they thought it was weird for us to just go down there with no real plans and wing-it...especially travelling with 6 kids.

so we asked directions on the best way to get to puerto viejo and we were told to head in a general direction and then ask for directions along the way. the roads in costa rica are poorly labeled when they are labeled at all so it made for an interesting road trip. i speak spanish as does my brother-in-law, and my sister manages ok with her knowledge of italian, but one of my favorite times was when we sent dan out to ask for directions. we were out in the countryside where they didn't speak english, and for some reason we thought it would be a good idea to send the non-spanish speaker out to ask for directions. needless to say we went a little ways further and then asked again for directions.

we were under the impression that it would take us 5 or 6 hours to get there, but it ended up taking us at least 10 hours to get to the house we were renting just outside of puerto viejo.

costa rica day 6

the next morning we had arranged to go on a little rafting trip for the morning. it was a really gentle river so we just floated along and looked at the wildlife. we saw sloths, bats, howler monkeys and even a crocodile. the funny (or not so funny) thing is that part way through our trip we stopped to swim in the river for a little while, and the kids were floating down in their life jackets and swimming and stuff. we got back in the boats to continue the trip and right around the next bend was the crocodile. also, our trusty guides decided to take our inflatable raft right up and nudge the crocodile. i could just imagine it taking a bite at our sturdy ship.

when we pulled out of the river we stopped by some peoples house where they had made us fried plantains and some cheese. it was pretty tasty. they also had some brand new little puppies that entertained the little kiddos.

later that evening dan and i left our kids with my sister and we went to find some hot springs. there are lots around, and we didn't really want to pay $50 to go so we found a reasonably priced one. it took us a while to find it with the directions given us and with the limited signs. eventually we found it, and it was fun, but basically just a big hot tub.

i had been to costa rica previously when i was in college and we went to a really cool hot springs that had beautiful plants and more natural surroundings and waterfalls and stuff, but we paid a lot more to go to that one. so i was a little dissapointed this time when it was like going to a community pool. you get what you pay for i guess. we had wanted to find some natural hot springs along the river, but weren't able to pry that information out of the locals.

more on costa rica....

so, over a year ago we went to costa rica and i never finished writing about our adventures. well, i am going to attempt to recall what happend on the rest of the trip and show a few more pictures.

so, i left off the last post about costa rica arriving in la fortuna. so we spent the night there and in the morning after a breakfast of fresh fruit and gallo pinto (rice and beans) at the hotel we headed into town. my brother in law decided he wanted to see if any stores in town sold a backpack to carry their 1 and 1/2 year old little boy. we asked at numerous stores and nobody really knew what we were talking about. so we decided to abandon the idea and head off toward volcan arenal and go for a hike (ok so really more of a walk since we had 4 kids under age 4 with us).


arenal is an active volcano, so you can see the boulders being spewed out of the top of the volcano, and hear the eruptions. we never had a clear night where we could see the volcano, but during the day we were able to have some good views. we hiked to where there was an old lava flow from about 10 years ago or something. it was cool to be able to see an active volcano.

down with ticketmaster!

so last night we bought our tickets to pearl jam in salt lake. the tickets themselves weren't cheap, but then on top of that there is a $3.00 facility charge per ticket, and an $11.60 convienience charge per ticket! ok ok so i go to check out and if i want to print the tickets at home it's an extra couple of dollars so i went with the free mail option, then there was the order processing fee of 5 bucks. holy cow. just tell me up front how much the tickets are going to be. don't tell me one price then add on an extra $15. ok so that's how i really feel. however, i am really excited to see pearl jam.

American Dork

I hate that the D is right next to the F on the keyboard because I always seem to type "american dork" for my address (you know, instead of american fork...which is way cooler than american dork). I am already a little self-conscious about living in utah county, and this key placement doesn't seem to help.

doing our part in the kingdom

so the other day (actually the other week), dan and i went snowboarding up at park city. we had stopped by the cabin to say hi to my mom, and apparently someone who had stayed at the cabin had left a whole bunch of beer. my mom kept a few for herself (you know for marinating meat...) and gave the rest to us to put in the garbage on our way out. well, we thought we would go make some friends at the ski resort, so we wrote on the box "have one on us", and "free to a loving home" and the obligatory "don't drink and drive" and decided to set out the box in the parking lot so people could feel the love after a day of skiing. well we left the box out while getting ready, but there were just people with little kids and stuff around. i decided that we shouldn't leave it by our car in case there was some sort of law against handing out alcohol to anyone and everyone who wanted to happen by. anyway...i chickened out, so we just put the box in the back of the car. after we got home, we put the box in the carport, but dan decided we better get rid of it before the weeblos come over, so he took it over to the neighbors house and gave it to them. they were appreciative. well, i guess i just want to know if we can count this as "missionary work", you know, contacting the less active/nonmembers even if it was to give them beer. maybe i'll mention it at the next ward council meeting. what do you think?

i am failing as a parent

I obviously need to get my kids into gaming more, you know, to prepare them for the future.


Are Violent Video Games Adequately Preparing Children For The Apocalypse?

fire

dan's little brother is on a mission in the detroit area. a couple of weeks ago, their apartment complex burned down. here is his letter describing what happened. i hope he doesn't care that i posted it, but i thought it was pretty good.

Elder Simpson woke me up at 3:30 am and our window glowed with orange light. As I gazed through the blinds I find drips of burning vinyl siding flying past the window. we get up and run outside, the only thing grabbed is the cell phone to call 911 and the mission president. Upon exiting we see a raging inferno high on the third floor. The fire was growing fast in the cold breeze. Molten vinyl dripped onto my shirt and a spot on my foot. we watched as soon we found our own apartment blocked by flames. We stood and prayed. and then started screaming to wake everyone up. everything was left inside. car keys, wallets, shoes. I was in pajamas and Elder Simpson only was wearing shorts and a tee-shirt. As we stood, Elder Simpson only could repeat, "Our door is on Fire! Our door is on Fire, Elder!" were called over to the side of the building by a man, where we found a woman and a man holding a baby. the woman apparently had taken her shirt off to cover the baby. Thick heavy smoke billowed out the apartment. the man calls for us to jump on his shoulders. I tell Elder Simpson "You're lighter, You go." He fearlessly climbs up the man and reaches halfway up the railing. The woman in histeria, is hesitant to hand the baby down. off to the right a window explodes and glass shoots everywhere. The smoke is only getting worse and Elder Simpson can hardly even keep his eyes open to help the baby. We are hollering to send the baby down first. The woman hands the baby to the man and he leans way over and hands the baby to Elder Simpson who soon loses his balance atop this guy. he reaches out and catches himself on the railing with his left hand, and with his right he wraps around the baby and pulls her in close. I run over to him and he lowers the baby to me. I looked as I was holding a little 7 week old crying baby named Kennedy with burns on her face. Next the mother climbs over the railing and climbs onto Elder Simpson he lowers her down and she grabs onto a little fence nearby. by the time she is down, a detroit edison truck(electric company) pulls up and grabs a ladder and helps lower the man down. the woman jumps into a police car as the officer calls for an ambulance. she was heavily burned. and taken to the burn unit in Flint. We take a stand back and watch the fire growing. the two fire truck spray the fire with everything they have and soon an enormous truck drives up. it extends hydrolic arms for stability and after a few minutes of hooking up as many fire hoses as it can it raises a large ladder with two huge soaking hoses. there is someone trapped right above our apartment and the two smaller trucks spray and block the fire around the window and the large truck extends and breaks through a window and the lady jumps onto the platform with the fire fighters. she climbs down and the ladder takes its place above the fire and begins unleashing its wrath. at a rate of 1000 gallons of water per Minute the fire now has a worthy opponent. bit by bit the fire is calmed as the staircases become waterfalls and our apartment becomes a wadding pool. at about 4:00 I call President Rawson and then Bishop Juarez. We ask for some clothes and something to eat. At this time, we are freezing and finally somebody from a neighboring complex gives us blankets of which I wrap myself up and stand upon to give my poor raw freezing feet a rest. We decide to go to the Apartment Clubhouse which has been opened to shelter the now homeless. I am hungry, malclothed, and pretty much have nothing anymore. somebody brings in some bread and cereal. the Bishop arrives as donates us his shoes and coats that appeared nearly new. another man donates some pants that were 4 sizes too big. A whole community begins awaking and pouring out their support. The American Red Cross arrives and extends some relief and gives us a voucher for some clothes and food. In time we are given a new apartment in the opposite end of the complex. The Relief Society President Sister Hagan comes and brings us some clothes and groceries. The Mission comes up and brings Desks and matresses. The fire has been out for a little while and we go the the apartment which only sustained smoke and water damage and we can ask the firemen to grab anything we need we get keys cameras clothes books; all covered with the horrible aroma of burning plastic. A few hours later as they are boarding up the apartments we run in there and have about 7 minutes to get everything else we want. I find my headlamp and begin sloshing through the dark apartment looking for everything i think salvagable. I grabb the Area Book which holds the precious records of hundreds of missionaries efforts in the Area and my journal soaked through and through. and now we return with our treasure in our brand new Chevy Malibu with a melted bumper and headlights. And that the Way it is. Love Elder Bolke

my sister-in-law posted some pictures and media links here.

new slang

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in this episode, michele attempts to play the guitar and sing the song "new slang" by the shins.  disclaimer: this is a first time recording, editing, and first thing in the morning as well.  but anyway, enjoy.