Bienvenidos a Costa Rica!

Hoy vamos a nuestro luna de miel!



I don't know if I said that right, but the sentiment is that today we started our honeymoon! We have arrived in CR, after reminding myself that Ben and I know enough Spanish to survive and the sickness passed, we dove right in. Got directions from the aeropuerta to the autobus station and successfully made it onto a local bus heading to downtown san jose. I practiced some spanish with a guy right behind us who turned out to be an ex tour guide with superb english! He helped us get off at the right stop and walked us to a hotel de mochileros: a backpacking hostel!


"You guys look like you need a hostel!" Mare greeted us at the gated door.


We declined the free honeymoon shot and, all private rooms full, opted for the quieter of two dorm rooms for an extra $1/person. $10 each for a bunk bed and shared bathroom... do you know what 10 gets you in Cambodia?


I, believe it or not, am not a card-holding member of the hostel club. Nope. Of all the 3rd-world, cheap traveling I've done I've NEVER stayed in a hostel.


It seems like a cool place though!

Other pictures: We spent our first official day of honeymoon driving through Florida (Ben plays the harmonica along with "Love me Do" with palm trees in the background) and ending up at the southernmost point of Key West.(I'magine Forest Gump saying, 'I just felt like driving.')
Key lime pie and Jean from the visitor's center to prove it!

Brett, I love you for your sweet and slightly neurotic concern for our safetly. For you and anyone else interested in knowing, yes, we BOTH still have our heads!

Moving Day!

Let's review:

-- January 9: engaged

-- Jan 12: Suz starts new job

-- Plan sealing, Suz moves out of Moms, moves into Ben's

-- April 2: Married

-- June 25: End work and begin honeymoon vacation
I'll save you the effort of thinking and just tell you THATS A LOT OF

STUFF IN A SHORT FEW MONTHS!!!!

At least we didn't have to move ourselves. And that's a big "at least".
Which reminds me that we never posted pix of our apt in the first place!

We tried hard to make this "our" place, even though Ben had picked out
all the furniture and had been living there for a long time. That
meant rearranging the furniture, adding some fun color, and making new
pieces together. It was great fun for us as an engaged couple, and
felt great to start our marriage surrounded by thongs we both loved
and had made memories with.


We'll never have another first place.

Ben with our head mover, Brandon.

The shelves we designed and made ourselves. It made the apartment more colorful and added personality. Female, anyway, with Suz's glass flowers and female vase and Lladro statues!

Ben starts our deep cleaning early by tearing off our wall quote "Home isn't home without YOU" we had placed over the hanging pictures from our reception. Sad day!

There was no good view of our bedroom, but here it is...

The B and S letters were made for us by our friend Mary, and placed on top of the nightstands we each made for ourselves. Another easy, decorative, personal touch!

Suz is pretty proud of this bathroom. Come on... it matches so well! It took weeks to pick out a shower curtain we were happy with, and we finally found one that matched the interesting towels Suz wanted. Score!

Our living room...

Suz made these letters during the one night we couldn't see each other while engaged. It's funny what the hands are capable of when the heart is sad...

Decision Made.

In the words of Amy Poehler as Angie in the famed movie Baby Mama,

"I'm just gonna do it. I'm making my decision. Decision made."

But what have Ben and I decided....?

We like each other enough to finally go on a honeymoon!

 In fact, we like each other enough to spend TWO WEEKS in Costa Rica together! Yeah, we like each other a lot :)

But this was a HARD decision to make.

Evolution of honeymoon location decision:

-Ben gets his exact date to end work in Clinton, June 25.

-Ben gets permission to start work in Lenoir three weeks later on July 16

-First thought: Go to Haiti and volunteer for a couple weeks then relax for a few days in DR.

-Ben contacts friends from Haiti for info on volunteer opportunities, gets no response.

-Susannah contacts LDS Humanitarian Services for info on Haiti volunteer projects, hears none are available.

-With less than a month before three week break, BS frantically think of other options: Alaskan cruise? Milwaukee-Petoskey roadtrip? Cap Cod? No, all those could be done with a one-week or less trip later on in the year. A three-week break really needs to be taken advantage of.

-Ireland? Too epensive.

-Cambodia or Korea? Dying to go, but doesn't make much sense to go now when we could be living in Asia soon.

-Volunteer in the Gulf? No volunteers needed.

-Well, if we have too much time to go somewhere in-country, not enough money to go somewhere really far away, and no one needs any volunteers, we may as well go somewhere where we will just have some good, old-fashioned fun.

So, as you can see, this was a looooooooooooooooooooong process! 

We stopped in to an adventure store on our last trip to Hickory to look at kayaks (it's 'bout time Ben got one) and were told that within 45 mins. some of the best whitewater kayaking could be found. Whitewater kayaking? We both like rafting and flat water kayaking, so why not take advantage of some of the best? 

So, after hearing that Costa Rica has awesome whitewater kayaking, we used that as our motivation to finally learn how and have some fun!

Ben got on the "Costa Rica Kayaking Adventure 2010" bus pretty fast because he has friends who served missions there, have been back for traveling, and made it sound amazing. So now it's becoming our...

 "Ben-and-Susannah's-Road-Trip-from-Cola-to-Miami-fly-to-Costa-Rica-for-Kayaking-Climbing-Sky-Diving-Scuba-Backpacking-Bus-to-Nicaragua-Adventure-2010"

Who votes we make t-shirts???

An entire post on grocery shopping and magazines.

I L-O-V-E to cook, and I used to really like grocery shopping. I would enter the store with no pre-conceived notions as to what I wanted, and decide on a meal based on what ingredients stood out to me. Now that I have a FAMILY to worry about and health standards to maintain, it's less of a pleasure and more of a chore. Darn! When did that happen?!

What makes this once-a-week trip more enjoyable, however, is my husband. No, he's basically no help in deciding what we eat, but he does pick out a mean juice! AND we have excellent banter. I, admitedly, take pride in providing some entertainment for the unfortunate souls waiting in line to check out.

Last week we were the poor unfortunate souls waiting in line and Ben's eye was caught on the magazine rack. No, he wasn't checking out the cover models (I don't think....). He was just checking out the covers.

"Why do all the women's magazines have other women or food on the covers? Shouldn't they have men?" -Ben

"Nah, women like to look at other women, get motivated to try one of those 10-minute abs workouts or find the best bathing suit for their shape, fail, feel bad about themselves, binge eat, then get motivated by a beautiful women all over again." -Suz

But he was right, and it is a good point. Why do all the women's magazines feature other women and food? I wouldn't mind looking at a handsome man when I'm waiting to check out at the grocery store (oh wait.. that's why I bring Ben.)

We look at and buy magazines all the time. But why? To stare at other, usually better-looking-though-unnaturally-enhanced women? Yay.

Besides, trashy magazines only really tell women how to get or keep your man. But do men really notice the subtle difference between kitten heels and flats, or highlights v. lowlights?

"Ooooh.. check out that girl. Her hairstyle really compliments that outfit. And her nails! How classy. I'm gonna get her number."

Not any guy I've ever met.

Worthwhile magazines (should) advise on how to be happy by yourself. The best nail color to boost your self-esteem, a quiz to find out if you talk too much. But if you listened to the trashy magazines you'd have a man to boost your self-esteem for you, and he'd definately tell you straight out if you talk too much.

Fitness magazines tell you how to look and feel your best so you can attract a man and intimidate other women. But if you find a good man and share a strong relationship he won't care if you have a 4-pack or 6-pack and you won't have insecurities to flaunt.

So what's the point to them?!

Well... Ben may not notice if my shoes match my handbag or a different hairstyle, but I do feel some pride when he tells me I look pretty. He isn't watching me do crunches, but he notices when I have more energy and skill to go longboarding with him. And, it took a few weeks, but he told me he likes the french manicure! And he was the one to pick out my "flashy" sunglasses.

Not that I do those things for him.

Sometimes it just plain makes you feel good to look good. It can give you a conversation topic with your sisters or girlfriends. You can escape to a completely unrealistic world. And, yeah, Ben and I get closer when I try something new with myself and he notices.

Catch-up Time

Whoa... So much has happened lately! I feel like I've been slacking on my bloggin duties because I don't have much time on the computer for this... I'm so sorry, blogging world :( Not that many of you even notice. No, I'm not being self-depricating, I'm trying to logic myself out of an invisible obligation. Stockholm Syndrome?

ANYWAY... Here's what you've missed!

 Ben and I are moving to....

by mid-July.

Next...

Mom went to China! She, my aunt, and my 80+ year old grandparents traveled around China for two weeks. She says they even all climbed the Great Wall of China, but I need proof before I believe it! She did bring back some great gifts, though.

Will, Colin, and Drew in their new outfits. The boys LOVED their

 kung-fu clothes! They even wore the shirts to school the next day!

Me and Drew. I just love the hat Mom got her! I felt like Nai-ho Kai lan wearing it!

Then Ben and I were invited to DeBordieu (pronounced Debby Doo and a bunch of other funny names by me and Ben) with the family I nanny for. We had a great time playing with the 9-mo-old and her 7-yr-old brother in the ocean and the awesome pool! I'll really miss them when we move :(

             The family I work for                                                                 Ben finally found someone to stunt with!

Me and my girl :) Doesn't she have the best smile?!?!?!?!

I love you, Ben! Thanks for being my entire world :)

THE END!

Happy Tuesday.

Here are some things to get you through the week. Especially those of you who are suddenly working the midnight shift and having a hard time adjusting to sleeping during the day, having every night pre-scheduled, and never seeing your wife. Wait... that's not just Ben, is it?

The best dance ever caught on camera.

The best commercial I've ever seen. (Ben, this is why I keep saying, "That's what I said... Spanish!" whenever you said "Spinach.")

My niece... the only one dancing.

The reason I ca. n't remember the real words to "Total Eclipse of the Heart." REALLY worth seeing

I love you, honey. This week will be over soon... Then we get to go to the beach, you get back on your normal schedule, and in a week we get to see our family. Plus, there is Mario Bros. and a neighborhood pool any time you get bored! Who could beat that?