Our Weekly Adventures

This was a very productive, but fun week. We learned a lot, bought some new "stuff," and got outside and enjoyed the beautiful Central Coast weather (it did hit about 80 degrees one day, but pretty much stayed in the 70's the rest of the week- we LOVE it here!)

I'll start with our adventures:

We headed out to Avila Beach and walked the Bob Jones Trail with the kids on Wednesday morning (this is a 3 mile trail that leads to the ocean). It is so beautiful on the trail. I made it about half way and back which was pretty impressive for an 8 month pregnant gal! The boys, of course, geocached a bit and then we headed to Avila Barn for a picnic lunch. We've learned with our family of five that if we pack food, it saves a WHOLE lot of money. Avila Barn now serves sandwiches, but we checked out the prices and it is $9.95 per sandwich! They did look pretty good and came with a couple small sides, but our picnic basket full of goodies didn't cost near the $50 we would have shelled out at their deli and we left full and satisfied!

We then headed up to San Luis for my 34 week prenatal check up. Baby sounds great, head is down, all is well- she'll be ready to go in a little over 5 weeks! I spent a good chunk of the next morning making a master list of all the things I want to buy or do before she arrives. My wonderful husband was very open to all my ideas (including making a bunch of food ahead of time and freezing it, birth gifts for Savanna, Brad, and Ben, and steam cleaning the carpets!). We ordered everything we needed for our home birth (there are home birth kits online), and Savanna and I spent several hours on Saturday cooking up some wonderful food that will save nicely in the freezer until after Emma arrives! So far in the freezer we have:

• bean burritos and extra sides of cooked beans (Thank you Ariel for your help- you are terrific!)
• Turkey meatloaf and mini loaves
• Turkey pesto meatballs
• Almond/date/cinnamon cookies
• Almond butter fudge and carob rolls
• Walnut/Pecan "Lara" bars (kind of like nut-based granola bars)
• Veggie Burgers (I have never made veggie burgers from scratch-these turned out SO good!)

**I have seriously been neglecting my food blog, but several of these recipes came from a new site my sister introduced me to called http://www.weelicious.com/- great whole foods recipes. Most of the desserts are from some of my raw vegan books (and some of them I just made up).

We have four or five things planned to make the next two Saturdays, and then I think we'll have 3-4 weeks of grub saved to get us through the first month. All James will have to do is defrost, cook, or toss a salad- and we'll be good to go! :)

Hubby worked some overtime so I got some birth gifts too!

I have been asking for a new food processor for about 6 months. My old one started slowly melting due to over use. This is a 14 cup processor that can chop, slice, grate, and knead dough- seriously cool. I used it about 5 or 6 times just this week with all our food prep!

I have also been asking for some kind of chair or rocker for many months. All we have is a horrible futon that has been wreaking havoc on my back. James found this glider and ottoman for me and it is SO wonderful. I think I'm going live in this chair the next 5 weeks...and I'm sure I'll be using it a LOT after that as well. I love you, Babe! You are so wonderful!!

On the learning front, we had some HUGE milestones this week. Bradley has started to really read (I will post some of his readings next), AND he has learned to tie his shoes! Hey, these are BIG in my book, especially the shoe tying (Don't get me wrong the reading is super cool too, but it's impossible for me to bend down and tie his shoes these days). :) Ben is getting close too. He can do part of his shoes and just needs a little help with the bow.

We had a nice night with Savanna on Thursday (I forgot my camera, so sorry no pictures!) at the Stake Center. They had Girl's Camp Recognition where they showed us slide shows of what the girls did at camp, sang some of their camp songs, and gave out certificates for their achievements. It was fun to see all that she did- I didn't realize Girl's Camp was such a big deal. What a great opportunity for young girls to learn skills and build their testimonies and friendships.

July 13- July 18, 2010