January

 January had some fun and interesting adventures.  Here is a glimpse of what we did:

Julian was ordained a Teacher in the Priesthood at our church.  Townsend and Emerson were able to be there for the ordination, I love having my family all together:)

A dead whale washed up on the beach near Astoria, OR.  We went out to see for ourselves.  It was a juvenile sperm whale, pretty big and impressive.  It looks as if it got caught up in the motor of a passing ship, there were big slash marks on its side...super sad, but also kind of cool to see up close

After we saw the whale we walked along the beach for a while and we couldn't resist the cool clouds and great scenery for this picture of Julain

Molly Shaw (on the left) got a bunch of us together to go for a hike, we explored Lacamas park. It was cold but the sun came out every once in a while and at least it wasn't raining!

The same group of ladies got together the following week to do the 10 falls hike at Silver Falls State Park. This is such a great hike in the winter because all the waterfalls are spectacular!

We picked up the twins for their birthday weekend.  We started with a yummy german dinner at Otto's and Anita's.  The food was ok but not as good as the Biergarten (which closed down recently 😞) 

After dinner we had tickets to see the magic/comedy show Penn & Teller.  It was lots of fun:)

My twins are 19!!!

Julian had a day off of school at the end of the first semester so I took him and some friends to Mt. Hood to go tubing.  It even snowed for a bit, which was pretty magical.

At the Ratskeller restaurant in Government Camp after tubing.  I think Julian had a great time with his friends, I love that he has such a great group of people to hang out with

Costa Rica

 My friend, Jody Dean, knows that I will say yes to any suggestion she makes about traveling or doing something crazy together.  So when she suggested I sign up for a yoga retreat in Costa Rica I checked  to make sure my passport was still valid and then said, "I'm in!"  I don't really practice yoga and I wouldn't say I'm necessarily good at yoga but I am ALWAYS up for an adventure:)

On the bus ride to our resort.  It took about 3 hours to get from the airport to the resort.

The bus driver stopped in the town of Nicoya so we could see this beautiful old church of San Blas.  It was built in 1644!

A cow enjoying a stroll down a busy road:)

It became cloudy and rainy as we drove to the resort.  Even though the bus ride was long we got to see so many little towns and beautiful scenery

Checking into the Bodhi Tree resort in Nosara, Costa Rica.  They gave you super cold coconut water when you check in...very refreshing.

The resort was "all inclusive" and the food was absolutely amazing!  

Our home for the week we were there, very cozy and comfortable

I love visiting new places and seeing the interesting plants and animals

We saw howler monkeys on our walk to the beach!

The beach was wonderful, the water was so warm.  It's so humid in Costa Rica that a dip in the ocean was very nice

Jody's yoga skills are amazing!

Fresh fruit smoothies...yum!

Every morning at 7:00 AM we did 1/2 hour of meditation followed by an hour of yoga "flow" What a beautiful room to practice yoga and to start my day:)

Jody and I during meditation...very Zen

Yeah, just a friendly boa hanging out in the tree by my house

We used these cute little tuk tuk cars to get into town

Walking around a fun jungle trail

Fish tacos!!!

Enjoying a banana cocoa smoothie by the pool...life is good

A fantastic sunset during the end of day restorative yoga class

This was the whole group that came for the yoga retreat.  I only knew Jody but by the end of the week I had made quite a few new friends:)

Yoga is so good for your body and mind

There were a lot of yoga classes in the afternoon that Jody went to but I wanted to explore more of Costa Rica so I spent my afternoons wandering around the jungle and shopping in the little town and going to the beach...and eating fish tacos:)

The bar at the retreat made a delicious lime mojito!

Jody and I being silly...we are good like that:)

On a big military truck heading to a zip line course

We drove for about 45 minutes up and up into the mountains

Let's do this!!!  I was scared at the beginning but then once you realize you aren't going to fall it's pretty amazing to skim the tops of the trees as you fly through the air with the condors.

Back at the resort, this place is so pretty

I spent my last day at the beach...had to soak up as much sun as possible before heading back to rainy Portland!

Goodbye Costa Rica, I will hopefully be back one day:)