The Mister

Here are some cute pictures of the little mister. He scoots backwards, turns in circles all day but still hasn't mastered crawling forward yet. I think by the time he turns 8 months he will be on the move. He stands with his little wooden cart and holds onto his bookshelves and loves to play in his rubbery ducky bathtub.






This weekend I covered my chairs and I love them. If you can believe the old material that I had on the chairs I put on about 7 years ago. Crazy to think that I am recovering them now when I have an almost 8 month old. Rick likes them but says they don't match our house. I don't really care if they match or not, I never have been a very matchy person.

new chair



old chair

This week we got Athen a new piece of furniture and we all love it. I love it because we no longer have to keep all of his toys in a pile against the wall on the floor and he loves it because it's new and something he can climb into. The top has all of his books and the bottom has bins for all of his toys.




We finally had to take his crib bumper out of the crib. He was playing around with it and getting all caught up. It was starting to become a hazard. Now his crib looks plain and boring. However, it is pretty entertaining to watch him and all of the funny sleeping positions he has. His legs and arms are constantly hanging out of the crib.



We went to Tilden park for the first time with our play group. It was fun. Athen did not like the cows. He would turn his head into me and start screaming every time we got near them. The other animals no problem. We went on the Merry-Go-Round and had a picnic lunch and then headed to the train. I can't believe how cheap the train is -$2 a person and kids under 2 get on free. Totally worth the money. I can't wait to go back sometime.





Last night for dinner I tried a new recipe, Caribbean Jerk Orange Roughy with avocado-melon salsa and sweet red rice with coconut. I thought it was ok, Rick liked it more than I did. I didn't like the avocado like I thought I would. The fish with out the salsa was pretty good though. The salsa had avocado, cantaloupe, red onions, cilantro, lime zest and fresh lime juice. The red rice turned out good. I combined asian red rice, jasmine rice and brown sweet rice and toasted it in a skillet with butter and onions, then put it in my rice cooker with half water and half coconut milk.



The other night Rick made me some Rissoto, one of my favorite things in the world. He makes it so rich and creamy and savory. He added wild mushrooms this time around. Between the wild mushrooms, chicken broth and parmesan cheese it was full of umami flavor and very delicious. I made coconut lime orange roughy. The orange roughy was breaded with bread crumbs, coconut flakes and lime zest (and an egg of course). It was good. We baked it in the oven. We wanted the coconut and bread crumbs to brown a little better then they did so Rick said "I wish we had a blow torch in the kitchen" and I said "We do." and opened the cupboard above his head and whipped one out. He took the blow torch to the breading and toasted it up.

Tourist in your own town!

A few days after we got back from Utah Rick's sister Caitlyn and her husband came to visit us for a week. We had tons of fun with them and Athen loved their attention. We played tour guide a few times and they went off on their own a few times. It was a nice balance and didn't throw Athen off his schedule too much. On Saturday we all headed down to Santa Cruz, one of our favorite places. We went straight for some Acai bowls. We ate at Cafe Brazil which of course is delicious and David was pretty happy since he served his mission there not too long ago. We did a little shopping around and then headed to the boardwalk. We walked along the pier and saw the sea lions and then headed to the beach. Unfortunetly it wasn't much of a beach day, over cast and a little cold but still fun. The boys went skimboarding on Rick's new skim board. The girls were smart enough to stay out of the cold water on a cold day. We played games on the beach and then headed to the boardwalk. We got deep fried twinkies and oreos and went on some rides. It was a fun day/night. Athen was a pretty good little mister, considering we got home at 10:30 at night and he usually goes to be at 7:30.








Athen and I played tour guide in San Francisco one day. We headed into the city and met up with Rick for lunch at the Ferry building. We then went over to Fort Point under the Golden Gate bridge. It is a very cool fort for those of you who have never been and it is FREE. We went to Ghiradeli Square for some chocolate and ice cream, walked to the wharf and played video games in the Museum Mechanique. We then met up with Rick and hit all the different neighborhoods in the city trying to figure out where we were going to eat. We went to the Marina for Mamacitas then decided no so we headed to the Haight for Memphis Minnie's and then decided no. Kokkari in the financial district was booked for the night so we finally ended up eating in the sunset at Naan n' Curry. Naan n' Curry is always a classic although not a fancy place. We then headed to Birite for ice cream. Again Athen did pretty well for it being a long day.






It was fun to have them visit. We can't wait to have them again.


Small boy in big room!

Utah

Our trip to Utah was fun. Rick spent the day mountain biking with his BFFs and I went to the bead show with his mom. It was great. I made a bunch of jewlrey. On Saturday night we had a little birthday bbq for Ricky with some of his friends. We had steak and salmon and a red velvet cake. Athen fell asleep in the middle of the party right on the dinner table. It was pretty funny.


Our cute nieces and nephews


auntie caity got him to fall asleep right on the table


big 35

We were able to spend some time with friends while we were there. It was pretty busy running all around Utah visiting people in just a few days. We spent a day driving up to Eden to check it out and see if we would ever want to live there. It was beautiful and there is a lot to do there but it is a little town which would be a huge change from our urban life we live here. Maybe someday we will end up there.

We took Athen camping for the first time in the Manti La Sal mountains - the Bingham family campout. He didn't like it so much. The first night we put him in his play and pack and tried to bundle him up as best we could. We had to go to the DI to find a warm sleeper that would fit him (nothing in the stores this time of year). He screamed just about every hour waking everyone in camp up. I had to hop out of bed several times and feed him quickly so he wouldn't wake everyone up. It got down to the mid 30's at night which was just too cold for him so in the middle of the night we put him in between us to warm him up. It scared both of us to sleep with him. We were both worried we would roll over him so we took turns sleeping. The second night we put rocks in the fire and had hot rocks in our sleeping bag and sleep on a foam mattress rather than a blow up. We all got much more sleep and were warm all night long - gotta love those hot rocks, they work every time.





We spent the last day at the lake with a little picnic in the trees. It was fun. Hopefully Athen will do better camping next summer. It took us a while to get him back on a good sleeping schedule after spending several days feeding him all night long so he wouldn't wake everyone up.

Father's Day

I am a lucky girl. I am surrounded by great father's. I have 3 of my own, plus I am married to one. I was talking to a new friend recently and for some reason my dads came up. I said I have been blessed to have two amazing dads who love and support me. She said back to me in a very non judgmental way "Oh, so you grew up with gay fathers?" No, that is just how I refer to my dads - MY DADS! One is real and one is step but to me I grew up with two dads who both love me.

To my Dave Dad (my real dad),
I love you to pieces! I am so thankful for the relationship that we have and the time and effort we have put into it over the years to get it where it is today. We are so alike in so many ways. I am proud to be an Oustad. I have so many fond memories of my childhood and all the fun adventures we have made over the years together. I love all of our family traditions - backpacking in the Sierra's, races in the summer, twin lakes, boogie boarding & skimboarding all summer long, waterskiing several times a week, pismo beach, camping, river rafting, 4 wheeling and swimming. (I loved swimming Alcatraz with you for your 60th birthday.) I love our Sunday night phone calls and the time we get to spend together. You have taught me how to love life and enjoy the simple things in life. I still find myself in the mountains or laying on the beach whispering to myself "If I was a millionaire this is exactly where I would be and exactly what i would be doing." Thanks for teaching me the important things in life, supporting me, being there for me and loving me. I am a lucky girl to have you as my father.

love Corene



To my Scott Dad (my step dad),
I love you to pieces! You have been such an wonderful father to me over the last 25 years and I am so thankful for all you have done for me and all that you have taught me. You have been an amazing example of service and one of the most giving people I know. To this day I love to serve others because of your example - thank you. You have always treated me like a real daughter and because of this I love you as though you are a real father. I am so thankful for the close relationship that we have shared together over the years. You have always been there for me through out the years and that has meant the world to me. Thanks for all your love, support, help and talks through out the years, our relationship means the world to me. I am a lucky girl to have you as my father.

love Corene

To My Newest Dad Rick (my father in law),
I love you to pieces too! Although I didn't grow up with you in my life, I am happy you are a part of it now. You are a wonderful father and have raised an amazing son. I see a lot of Rick in you. He looks up to you and I am thankful he had such a great father in his life growing up. You did a great job raising such a loving family, I only hope our family turns out as good. I am a lucky girl to have you as the newest father in my life.



love Corene

To my sweet husband who is a new father,
I love you to pieces sugar beet! I think you are a wonderful father and I feel so blessed to have you in my life and to be the father our our sweet little Athen. I look forward to sharing our lives together as a family and raising Athen and the others together over the years. I love watching you and Athen together after work. He gets so happy to see you and play with you at night. He already knows what a great dad you are. I love the desire you have to be a great father and to teach Athen all that he needs to know to be happy in life, make the right decisions and to return to our Father in Heaven. Thanks for bringing such a wonderful spirit into our home. I look forward to watching you be the best father you can be through the years. I am a lucky girl to have you in my life and to be the father of our son. I love you.

love Corene



HAPPY FATHER'S DAY DADS! Thanks for being in my life.

Long time no see

I know. I know. I know. I have been a bad girl. Rick asked me if there was something wrong with me, why haven't I been updating the blog. Family and friends have been letting me know this is not exceptable, even people I didn't even know read my blog have been commenting. It has been busy - birthdays, father's day, 10 days in Utah, 5 days of company here. Now that every thing has settled down a little the thought of updating my blog after a month of stuff seems a little over whelming so I keep procrastinating. However, I need to catch up some time since this is my attempt at our family journal. (I just had the first two years of our blog printed out into a book by blurp and I love it. It is the coolest journal I think I own.)

Were to start? Athen had his first zoo trip in June. My mom was babysitting my niece Alyssa for the day so we decided to take the kids to the zoo. Athen is still a little young to enjoy the zoo but it was still fun for us to get out. We checked out the animals and then had a little picnic on the grass and let the kids play around for a little while. This is what Athen thought of the zoo.... a little boring.






We then got to celebrate Ricky's birthday. The BIG 35. Yep that is right Rick is officially in his mid thirties. He is an old man. Athen and I started the day off by taking a trip into the city to bring Rick a birthday cake into work. Remember that cake holder I bought for Ricky a while back, well he finally got to see the benefit of it. Ever since I met Rick I have brought him a birthday treat to work. In the past is has usually been cupcakes because those are pretty easy to transport. When I brought cupcakes in for Athen's birth everyone loved them and wanted seconds. I figured I am much better at making delicious cakes than cupcakes so I knew his co-workers would be happy to celebrate his birthday. It was a chocolate cake with caramel and pecans baked into the bottom of each layer and a whipped cream frosting with chocolate shavings.




We went out to lunch and dinner and enjoyed the day. That night he got to open his gifts as well as his father's day gifts since we were going to be out of town on father's day. He got lots of things this year and some really good stuff at that. The next day we hit the airport and headed to Utah. It was Athen's first flight. He did ok, a little crying but not too bad. More up dates to come soon.


(the one and only time he has touched his new birthday present since he's gotten it)