For the past two years, we’ve had the best thing going. See, we only have to cook dinner a few times a week, but receive a homemade meal each night of the week! The first year we swapped dinner with just Dave and Candace, but then the Jeppesens and Allens asked if they could get in on the action. Letting them join our dinner swap was the best idea ever! Not only did we only have to cook once a week for eight people (not all that hard when you’re cooking anyway) and get fed the remaining nights, but we were also able to create some long-lasting friendships.

Advantages of the dinner swap: 1) groceries are cheaper, since you only have to buy ingredients for one meal; 2) you get to try out a whole new plethora of recipes—never the same old, same old; 3) you kitchen stays clean even while you’re eating well; 4) you save a ton of time not having to cook every evening; 5) you get to socialize with your friends everyday when you go to pick up your food.

Before the Jeppesens and Dandace left for residency we got together for one last dinner group night. We didn’t make dinner (there just wasn’t time in our busy schedules for that) but we did have some great deserts.

It certainly is sad to see the demise of our little group, but Jenny and I are on the hunt for some new couples to join us this upcoming year!

After Andrea had her baby, Lucas, in March Scott and I took them a special Sunday dinner. In return we got a plate of cookies and this cute little messages below. I just wanted to put it down in a special place because it really made me smile…

“Best value in Columbus” –Kelly Jeppesen, KJ’s Food Watch

“★★★★★” –Columbus Sunday Dinner Association

“Best meal of the month.” –Dinner Group Magazine

“They deserve cookies.” –Andrea Jeppesen, Best Homes and Gardens

I think that could be said about most of the meals we’ve gotten this past year!

Life in OH-IO, Lonica Stuff | 3 Comments »

We didn’t have much time to adjust back to real life after our Costa Rica trip, as the next day was Memorial Day and we wanted to make it to our annual ward picnic.

(left: Susana Downer, Nicole Hoff and Genevieve Barns)

(right: Jamie Tresseder, Carolee Jones, Candace, and AnnDee Nadauld)

We had a good time visiting with friends.

Scott was more than willing to help grill the burgers

and talk about law school with Bryce Downer.

 

Meanwhile, the kids were having fun chasing bubbles, painting their faces, running relay races, drinking Otter Pops, and stringing necklaces.

(from left to right: Susana Downer*, Nicole Hoff*, AnnDee Nadauld*, Holly Dotson*, Rachel Larson, Lisa Hymas, Beth Johnston*, Lisa Nelson, Kristen Smith*; bottom row: Sarah Burt, Me, Ariel Silver, Jenny Allen, Kirsten Rasmussen, Candace*, Jeannette Bowen*, Carolee Jones*)

The sad part was getting together with all these ladies. Everyone with an * next to their name is moving on to bigger and better things outside of Columbus. Our ward has a major change in store and I sure will miss everyone when they go!

Life in OH-IO, Lonica Stuff | 3 Comments »

Friday we left our beloved jungle villa and headed back in Dos Equis (actually, it was a new van from the rental company, but the name still stuck) to San Jose. Paul, Robin, Sarah, Lisa, and Stevendee and family were all heading out at about 3:00 am on Saturday to catch their plane flight home.

The Columbus contingent of the family, though, wasn’t leaving till the next day. So we decided to go see Poas Volacano (about an hour drive out of San Jose). The drive up through the jungle and mountains was beautiful.

The short hike up to the top of the mountain and the volcano wasn’t too shabby either.

We were a bit disappointed to find, though, that the volcano was completely covered in fog. It was the weirdest feeling to look out and know that there should be something really incredible right in front of you, but all you could see was blurry white.

We spent some time talking to our new friend, Jason, who serves as a pilot with the marines and was in Costa Rica learning Spanish before he headed down to Argentina for service at the embassy there. It started to rain, so Scott and I decided to head back down to the gift shop/museum because we doubted that the fog would even clear up that day. Dave and Candace decided to stay behind and see if they could wait out the rain and fog.

In not too much longer, they managed to catch a site of this:

Unfortunately, they were the only ones who saw it. Scott and I missed out on the view…

They came back down the trail to let us know how cool it was and we all decided to head back up the trail to the top of the mountain to see if we could catch another glimpse. We were about half-way up the hill when it started raining—hard! At first we hid out under some tree leaves (they were really big), but that wasn’t doing the job and it didn’t seem like it was going to stop anytime soon.

Concerned for the well-being of their cameras, Dave and Scott started running back down the hill to the visitor’s center with Candace and I following. I’m afraid, at six months pregnant, I did my best to make it quickly down the hill, but I wasn’t in the best running form. I got left behind. By the time I reached the visitors center I was completely soaked! I’ve honestly never seen rain coming down so hard. I went into the restroom and literally rang the water out of my skirt and shirt.

No one else fared much better either. We spent the remainder of our time until the bus left for San Jose eating in the little café, listening to the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard, and watching in amazement as rain poured down outside.

All in all, it wasn’t quite the climax one would hope for from an otherwise amazingly great vacation. But when you consider that we were traveling at the beginning of the rainy season, it was something of a blessing to only have one day hampered by the weather and rain!

We had a great time on our trip and can’t wait until we get to spend another vacation with the Rowley family!

Costa Rica | 2 Comments »

The Rowley family never misses an opportunity to get wet, so we spent a day surfing and checking out the Jaco area.  It was a cool little town, lots of expat surf bums, nice beaches, and big waves.

Paul and all his kids ready to hit the surf.

The brothers debating whether this spot is good enough to try.

Lonica (doing pregnancy-yoga) and Sarah watching from the shade.

It’s a good thing we had such a large van to carry our longboards. 

After surfing up a storm, Paul bills a few decimals.

Lisa and Sarah soaking up some rays.

Me returning from being pounded the biggest waves of the day.

Costa Rica | 1 Comment »

Manuel Antonio is the most visited National Park in the country—and for good reason. The preserved jungles and beaches were fantastic!

We started out exploring the park with a guided tour through the jungle. Our guide would set up a really big telescope so we could see wildlife up in the trees. He would even take pictures of the animals using his telescope so we could get a “good” image.

Little did he know that we had Dave and Scott and their fancy cameras and the jungle villa, where sloths tend to hang from your roof rafters…

Costa Rica is apparently the land where ants are ginormous and can carry the largest leaves.

The hike down to the beach was very HOT (especially for a pregnant woman), so we were more than happy to be greeted by this site.

And it didn’t take long before we jumped into the waves to cool off. Honestly, how could you avoid water that looks like this? There weren’t even any big waves to get salt water in your eyes or knock your sunglasses off (like at the earlier beach on Monday)!

Lisa was pleased to find a sand crab.

Maile was more than willing to get sandy once more.

And Candace was more than willing to give her a bath and be the favorite aunt.

Scott was happy to find an outlet for his Food Network skills and spent a great deal of time extracting the coconut juice just as Alton suggested.

I was proud of my slightly strange husband.

And proud of the fact that I managed to avoid a sunburned nose—a major accomplishment for me!

Eventually, it was time to leave beach paradise and head back to town. This guy was more than willing to greet us on the way back.

Due to the high tide, we had to take the more adventurous route out of the park.

This man was more than willing to row us back to the street of souvenir shops and home—for a tip, of course!

Costa Rica | 4 Comments »