Weekend BlogLog - July 24th

Here is my half way mark picture - me and the bun at 20 weeks! 

My little sister came in to town for a week. On Wednesday night she came over to stay with Ricky and I. Lauren and I went to my new favorite Italian Restaurant in Alameda for some delicious pasta with cream sauce, pancetta and mushrooms -Yum!!! We then played games with Rick and enjoyed some pillow talk for awhile. 

On Friday morning I headed down to San Jose to my dad's house so we can have some traditional Oustad Family Fun. Lucky for me I don't work on Fridays any more so I got to spend the day with Lauren, Dad and Terry. We spent the day like a typical Oustad day would be spent growing up. We piled into the convertible and headed down to our all time favorite beach Twin Lakes in Santa Cruz while blaring our family favorite - the Beach Boys. 

Growing up we spent many of our days in the sand at Twin Lakes or in the water with our wetsuits, boogie boards and skim boards until the sun went down. We would then head in and eat dinner on the beach. That was my childhood and I loved every second of it.

We were cruising along, listening to our music, snapping pictures for our blogs enjoying life and sitting in traffic. All the people around us were getting a kick out of our music and all the picture taking. I know they were assuming that we were tourist who had never seen Santa Cruz before but little did they know we were just enjoying life and our favorite family activity.

We spent some time laying in the warm sun at Twin Lakes and walking along the beach. For obvious reason I didn't go in the water (there is no way my wetsuit would fit), although the waves were huge. As you can see from the picture, the waves were way above peoples heads on the shore. They even had red flags out telling people not to go in because of strong tides etc. 

After a few hours in the sun we headed to my new favorite place - Samba Acai Cafe. Acai bowls are a favorite thing to do in Santa Cruz. This new place has fancy Acai bowls with different kinds of fruit. However, I haven't been able to have a real Acai bowl since I have been pregnant because it has Guaranara in it which has lots of caffeine. I introduced my family to this new delicious treat and they loved it. The Brazilian there made me a special Acai bowl with coconut flakes, coconut milk and pineapple in place of the Guaranara. It was good. 

We then cruised down to 41st to do some shopping at the surf shops. I had been wanting to go there for a while now to get Rick's birthday present. Lucky for me and him I guess, they had just what I was looking for. Rick is now the proud owner of a new Indo Board with a big blue wave on the front of it. Finally he got a birthday present. On our way home we stopped off for some Mexican. It was a wonderful day!

On Saturday we spent the afternoon in Livermore with the rest of the family for a BBQ with Loo. It was fun to spend the day with all my brothers and sisters (except for Mariah and Justin) and the family. This time we didn't BBQ steak which is what we have been BBQ for the last 30 years or so. We branched out a little and BBQ'ed some hamburgers and Sausages. It was all delicious and a nice day to spend outside on the patio. 

Weekend BlogLog - July 4th

We decided to head up to our little cabin in Westwood for the weekend like we did last fourth of July weekend. Rick's sister and family met us there like they did last year, and this year my dad came with us. It is a good little tradition we now having going. 

There is nothing better than celebrating the fourth of July in a small town with traditions and parades! Westwood is a great place to be on a Holiday like fourth of July.

Rick and I left after work on Thursday night. Westwood is a small town in northern California in the Lassen National Forest. It takes about 5 hours or so from the bay area (which is one of the reasons we don't go up there very often). 

Friday morning we woke up and had some breakfast and played around. We went to the Subway Caves or Lava Tubes in Lassen National Park which we did last year as well. This year the little boys were "old enough" to go through without crying. They did a great job in the dark.

We also drove around to check out the area and all the different lakes close by. There are several small lakes within a 5 mile radius that are prefect for camping and backpacking. Of course all the lakes are amazingly beautiful - blue, clean water surrounded by tall green trees everywhere. 

In the afternoon we came back and ate dinner at the one and only place in town (town consists of a grocery store, pharmacy, discount store and pizzeria) Buffalo Chips. They have excellent gourmet pizza and we like to give the one local place some business when we are up visiting. We then headed back to the house and played around outside in the backyard. We played a little bocce ball and enjoyed the evening breeze and the fresh air. 

Saturday morning we ate breakfast and headed to Chester a near by town for the town parade. The parade was good but not as good as last year. Of course they tossed out candy to the little kids. I didn't get as much as I did last year, being pregnant and all this year, I wasn't able to run fast enough to get the candy before the little kids got to it all. Bummer - better luck next year! 

After the parade we headed to Lake Almanor which is in Chester and is one of the largest lakes in California. This is the one and only lake Rick and I got pulled over by the water sheriff while in our dinghy. We did not have life jackets with us while on board our "small craft", so they kicked us off the lake. Anyway, we headed to our favorite park along the waters edge. It is a beautiful grassy area with tons of trees and shade, filled with playground equipment and toys like hockey sticks, bad mitton, balls of every kind and more. This park is fully loaded with any and everything you can think of. Ricky and Jeff played around with the boys while Jessie and I enjoyed little Abby and the shade.

After we left the park we went to the Pine Shake Creamery (I think that is the name)  for some of our favorite shakes and fries. I had an orange coconut shake and Ricky had a boysenberry shake, both very delicious. We headed back to the house for a BBQ. Ricky made his famous baked potates, steak, corn on the cob, salad and watermelon. How American is that?

We then enjoy a water balloon fight in the backyard. Unfortunately the pregnant lady had to sit this one out, but I enjoyed watching everyone else get wet. Saturday night we went to Lake Almanor and watched the fireworks over the lake.

 

This picture of TJ is funny. Rick thought it would be a great idea to put a water ballon down Tj's swimsuit so that he could go and sit on his dad's lap and it would break all over him. However, Tj didn't actually make it to his dad before the water balloon break. It is breaking in this picture.

It looks like Jessie lost this battle. 

The next morning we woke up and enjoyed a big breakfast of eggs, bacon, sausage and hash browns - very delicious. We cleaned up the house a little and then headed to the park in Westwood for lunch. We then headed home.

I think...

Last week I found out one of my friends had a miscarriage. This week I found out another friend had a miscarriage. I am amazed that in my small world of friends so many have experienced similar trials of loosing a little one. It seems as if 2009 has showered down miscarriages to my small world of loved ones. 

My heart goes out to any of you who have experience a similar situation as I did in late January with our first miscarriage or in May when we thought we were having a second miscarriage (thankfully this time around it wasn't a miscarriage just a serious complication). You are in my thoughts and prayers. 

To all of you who have experience a miscarriage this is what I think... I THINK you are a strong, special and unique girl. The Lord knows you and loves you. He knows that you are strong enough to handle  the emotional and physical pains of this trial and that you can move forward in life. I THINK that Heavenly Father has lots of little spirits up there that need to come down before the world comes to an end. Heavenly Father knows that you are the perfect match for those little ones you have lost. He gave his special little spirit to you! The best thing out of this difficulty in life is going to be when you experience the joy of reuniting with your little one someday. 

Happy day to all - Life is good!