Great Green Globs....

...of greasy grimy gopher guts. Well, maybe not so much this year. More like a miniature hot dog and..Spiderella...yes, that's right, Spiderella.
Halloween this year was gobs of fun starting on the Wednesday before with our annual Costa Carving Party, a trunk or treat shindig on Thursday night at our church, a carnival on Friday at the Performing Arts School I teach at...and then FINALLY trick or treating on the actual Hallows Eve. (just typing it all out wears me out)
I never realized one measly Halloween could be so exhausting!
Riley picked out her costume (if you know her, the moment you saw that it was Spiderella-that was a dead give away.) I forced Zoie to be a hot dog...but in all honesty it fits her personality perfectly. She would have been out of her place in a princess dress or witch hat...
Maybe next year Berns and I wont be so lame and we will dress up to...(hint hint babe, hint hint).
Here's some pictures from the activities..Berns took a video of the girls trick-or-treating that I will post later...cause they are laughable.
I've decided nothing is better than dressing up like goons and getting free candy--EXCEPT, having children that will dress up like goons and get the free candy FOR you...EX.CELL.ANT.

She's ready to go!

Spiderella...frightening eh?


My itty bitty hot dog

Cabin Fever---DISCLAIMER--Ridiculous Picture Overload

What's more fun then spending a weekend being lazy, roasting schmarshmellows, making carmel apples, riding four wheelers, skipping rocks, eating ice cream, visiting "mom-and-pop" shops, paint balling, and forgetting about every day life in general?-----Spending the weekend at a cabin of course!
Vegas lacks mountainage (yes that's a word)...well...ok, not true. There are mountains in Vegas...but they lack mountainy (another "real" word) things. They are beautiful in their own little way. The rocks are red and fun to climb in--but there is a definite lack of large pines, ferocious bears, and random lakes everywhere. So once again we mooched off our good friends and caravanned our way up the Cedar Mountain in Utah.
It was so nice spending time with friends and watching our girls enjoy every aspect of playing outdoors. Riley enjoyed decorating a miniature cabin so it would be "fancy". Zoie enjoyed getting as dirty as humanly possible as she stomped and rolled through dirt and fallen pine needles.

Boys were boys...Girls were...dorks and fun was had by all. It is now my dream to own a cabin when I "grow up"....you know, a long with the house in Durango, Brasil, and on a beach that I want.....

Faux Pumpkin Patch

Vegas lacks fields for harvesting, tiling, and seeding---therefore the "real" pumpkin patches dont exist here--HOWEVER (dramatic pause) there is something that will suffice. Pumpkin Patches on the side of the road equipped with big blow up slides and jump houses, petting zoo's, rides, and pumpkins galore. The girls loved the petting zoo...I loved the slide (i'm going back for seconds)...Berns loved laughing at the ridiculous girls in his life.
I'm a country girl--but since there is no counrty here my faux pumpkin patch will do just lovely.

Go Speed Racer

WHOA TURBO...watch out motorists- Riley and Zoie have found their callings in life...NASCAR here they come. Riley got her speed racer last Christmas and has taken it upon herself to take Zoie in it every chance she gets. It's ridiculously cute the little sisterly bonding they do.
It also looked ridiculously fun--so of course I had to try...however, my big bum didn't fit....but I made do....never mind the fact that the bottom practically scraped the cement and it putted a long at .0056 MPH when I got on it....
Watch out world-- the Costa girls are gearing up for the next Indy 500...

Updates? what are those?

Hello family, friends, and random internet browsers. I have been HORR.I.BLE. at updating the where abouts and recent shenanigans of the Costa house hold. Bare with me people...bare with me.
Yes...we are back from Brasil...and we have been for almost a month now. Brasil was wonderful as always. We enjoyed partying, eating (too much...to the tune of 6 extra pounds too much...yikes), visiting with family, laughing, relaxing, shopping....eating....some more eating...

The girls loved being pampered by all the family that was there and I loved sitting and doing nothing while everyone pampered my girls. Right when we got back I was thrown into having to pack up our rental house and move everthing into the house we bought...followed by unpacking...throwing a babyshower, a surprise birthday party, school starting, dance classes starting, etc etc etc. So, to say the least--updating was put away.

However...give me a day or so, and you'll be overloaded with too many pictures of our girls, a few of Berns and I that you probably dont really care to see, and waaaaaaay too many words written by me rambling on and on about what we've been up to...so. Dont touch that dial.

Yoga anyone?

Actors swear by it.

It's supposed to let you release all your stress and be come carefree.

It makes you pretty darn strong and flexible.

And until now--I could care less for it.

Until Ms. Riley taught the class......



I mean really now people....who WOULDNT want to do that first pose? She's awesome.

What Happens When The 16 month old turns independent...

Zoie is a beast. Haven't I said that a time or two? Our little monster has reached the "I-cant-control-a-fork-but-that-wont-stop-me-from-feeding-myself" phase.
While in Brasil, Zoie decided I was no longer allowed to feed her. Which, for the most part, would be ok. However, when it's yogurt that we are dealing with...it makes things....well....see for yourself.





at least she made somewhat of an effort with the spoon...