Samara Beach

Today we went to Samara Beach - wanna know what makes for a great day at the beach?

3 Mom's from Utah

Bread, PB&J, 8 packages of Pozuelo Cremas cookies, diapers, wipes, folding chairs, um, what else did we pack?


Oh yeah, 19 kids.
It looked like a school class field trip! Love it.

Kids eating dirt (mostly that was just kids under 2 years old)


Kids having a mud-ball fight, since there's no snow.


James playing hop scotch!


...and kids just getting dirty! Yeah!


I took lots of pictures, wanted to get some uploaded before I go to bed. I'll post more tomorrow!

Holiday Swim

After our Thanksgiving meal and before the desserts, kids and adults took a break in the pool, doing super soaker splashes, diving, and family races. Here Sergeant Dannan has his swimming soldiers standing at attention before he called out their diving orders.

Then Corporal Jacob joined in the fun.

My kids favorite part was when Dannan and Jacob rocket shot them through the air into the pool - You really get a lot more height when you're thrown from someone standing on the sides of the pool as opposed to when the strong Dad is in the pool. They had fun flying!

Los Hidalgos

Rachael calls these wonderful people her Costa Rican family - her Costa Rica Sister, Cindy, and her Costa Rica Mom, Hermana Hidalgo (doh, I don't know her first name!)


Cindy had two kids, I can't remember their names either, and Hermana Hidalgo is feeding my baby Lily here. It was great to have them over for the visit. Their son David, sulking on the stairs there, didn't eat anything, cause he wanted rice and beans and didn't want to try this strange food - stuffing, what's that?!?! I thought it was funny, cause we try to get our kids to eat all different kinds of food without complaint so that they will be able to eat with members on their missions without offending their hosts "Listen, you'll probably have to eat strange food on your mission, rice and beans! Learn to eat it now, you won't always be able to have chicken and gravy" I guess Costa Rican's work on that too, but they have to tell their kids the opposite thing "Listen, you'll probably eat strange food like chicken, gravy, and stuffing on your mission, so learn to eat it now - you won't always be able to have rice and beans!"

Thanksgiving Day

Thanksgiving morning, and the women are still working hard to make a special feast for all of us. Everyone was looking forward to trying many scrumptious dishes.

The kids had had a great sleepover and are ready for another one. They woke up and went swimming first thing

All the kids heading to the pool.

The kids found a little little black snake - looked like a black worm except for the tiny tongue that kept smelling the air. I couldn't see it's eyes it was so small. Cute little thing, if you can call a snake "cute"?


The men grilled up the chicken for the feast. We decided to go with chicken instead of turkey cause they got the turkeys marked up in price big time cause they know we Americans have a holiday to celebrate. So we went with chicken, cause it was less expensive.

Around 3:00 everything was ready to be served, a Thanksgiving feast in a tropical paradise next to the pool with Christmas music playing on the laptop. :)


Thank you Rachael and Melanie for all your hard work!

The toddler table, enjoying chicken, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and green beans. Save room for some pie!

The Meyers twin babies in their chairs eating some green beans, with the older kids group in the background on the pool house which is their diving board.

Hey you guys! How's the grubb?

Up next: After dinner activity (swimming of course!)

Here is a closer picture of a howler monkey...these are the litte guys that visit us often. One day a daddy howler was carrying a CUTE little baby monkey...it was SO cool to see them so close! love you all!!!!!

This is a common house gecko.
We see them often and the children LOVE to catch them!!! They are nice and cute and usually really little. The picture to the right is of the little tree frogs that jump down from the ceiling in the bathroom at night. They are cute...and fortunately harmless!

This grasshopper is about 6 inches long and it landed on Jacob's mouth day before yesterday! He smacked himself across the mouth and then proceeded to kill the LARGE grasshopper! It was amazing to see there really are grasshoppers this size!!!!!! AMAZING!