The Mariposa Garden

Arizona may have its Mariposa County and the butterfly garden at the Desert Botanical Garden, but Costa Rica has "Mariposa" (butterfly) attractions around every corner. On our drive from San Jose north to Arenal, we stopped at one of the roadside Mariposa gardens and took the tour. Amazing!

Hayden tried his had at butterfly training. Jodi was amazed at the brilliance of the golden cocoons. She was sure they were imported from Egypt. Jodi was also particularly impressed when she realized that every butterfly has a proboscis (learn more about proboscis here). Note the proboscis on this one hard at work getting some nectar out of the plants.

The Ralley Tour

Because Hayden graduated from high school we are now in Costa Rica. Maybe that needs a little explanation.

When Jade was getting ready to graduate from High School a couple of years ago, we decided we would try to do "senior trips" with the graduating child as a last great hurrah. So in 2009, Jodi, Jade, Karina, and Jean went to Hawaii. Hayden wanted a little more adventure, thus Costa Rica.

So on Thursday, June 2, 2011, the day after graduation, we flew into San Jose Costa Rica with some of Hayden's best friends and a couple of their dads. Jodi is the lone female, keeping us all on track, and making sure the boys mind their p's and q's. This is a picture of the gang at our opening night hotel in San Jose. From the left you have Jordyn Ensign, Jack Hogan, Hayden, Jodi, Harley Sampson, Steve Sampson (Harley's dad), and Marc Ensign (Jordan's dad).

More Junior Prom

So here are the official photos from Hayden's Junior Prom. Seems like everyone had plenty of fun.

Josie & DJ aren't the only ones expecting

So is our family cat, Misty. Well, actually she's expected and delivered. And now we have five cute kittens.

To be honest, we've never had great luck with cats here in Paradise. Jeff & Barbie-De gave us their cat when they moved to Phoenix. He ran away like a cat-out-of-hell the first time we opened the garage door. Then there were Fin and Smudge, two kitty brothers who were great buddies with our beagle Biscut, but only lasted 3 months. Captain Jack seemed to be the perfect cat with at least 9 lives. At one point, Captain Jack disappeared for 2 weeks until Jade and Hayden found him miraculously on the road between Paradise and Hyrum at midnight. But Jack failed to return from some other adventure. The Kracken probably got to him. Then there was the kitten that Jade brought home from the Cracker Barrel. He only lasted 3 days.

Since last Fall, however, we've had Misty and Boots. Boots is aloof and not very friendly, but Misty is Jodi's dream cat. Grey-white fur and blue eyes. Her kittens are probably going to look just like her. Their eyes are just starting to open. Anyone need a kitten?

An Epic Monopoly Battle

This Sunday we hosted an epic Monopoly battle for the ages. It started off innocent enough, but before it finished, it had morphed into one of those games that the family will be talking about at New Years Eve parties long after Jodi and I are gone.

There must be a bit of "banker" in Jodi's genes. I don't know how else to explain how the team of Jodi and Alana came to own the Park Place, Broadway, Baltic, and Mediterranean properties and stacked them with houses. And she did it all with a smile and an innocent giggle. Before the end of the game, Jodi and Alana had crushed Hayden & Bryson and Luke & Jade into begging for breaks and loans. The game ended after Hayden & Bryson (represented by the Scotty Dog token) ended up landing on Broadway twice in a row.

Montezuma's Castle

If we had gone to South America for Spring Break, we may have had to deal with Montezuma's Revenge. But since we only made it to South Arizona, we had to make due with Montezuma's Castle.

North of Phoenix on your way to the Grand Canyon there are a number of really amazing ruins that are associated with the Sinagua people's who set up camp for the better part of a millennium number of centuries in that region. Neat ruins and some pretty amazing irrigation systems. Some of the irrigation systems are still being used by local farmer today.

The real reason to go to Phoenix

It's safe to say that if we didn't have family in Phoenix, we would have never got there. Jeff and Barbie-De and their cute kids were just the excuse we needed to make it to Phoenix. Karina owes a special debt to her Aunt Barbie-De who suggested she might like shopping at the Arizona Mills Mall. We also had a super time at the Barton's when they graciously hosted us at their lovely home for dinner on Monday night. We saw flowers that we hadn't seen here in Utah since last August and the grandkids had a good time pal'n around.