Here are some pictures from this weekend :)

This one is my mom & me. Isn't she cute :) I think my mom has the best smile. This picture was taken behind the library in our little town. - It was a little hazy on Saturday (we got some of the bad air from the fires all over California) - but it was still beautiful!! (I'm looking pretty pregnant in this one!)


My dear husband and I outside the library as well, with a lovely tree that's getting ready for fall.

This picture was taken VERY EARLY in the morning... I had definitely not quite woken up yet -but we were dressed and ready for work because we had to take mom to the airport on the way. Again, VERY early

my thoughts

so, today I sat down to post something and then I decided that I didn't really have anything to post about... but then I realized -- I HAVE A BABY KICKING INSIDE ME - OUR BABY!!
That is definitely something to post about!! So, as I type I have been feeling baby flutters and kicks... the baby likes my bladder (apparently its directly under the uterus?) anyway, I LOVE feeling the baby move. This weekend Greg felt it move for the first time. I told him the baby was moving and had him put his hand on my belly. After a little bit his face lit up and I said, did you feel that? He definitely had! It was faint, but definitely a baby moving. What a proud daddy!

Also - mom came down to visit this weekend (YIPPEE!!!) we had a great time and we took a few pictures - some on our camera and some on hers... so we will post them when we get a chance.

So, I guess I did have a little bit to post about :)

this is awesome

i can't wait!!! i hope i can be a mom like this :)

http://cosmos.bcst.yahoo.com/ver/223/popup/index.php?cl=4274384

early pregnancy pictures

Well, we didn't upload the ultrasound pictures from yesterday yet, but let me just say, it was an awesome experience!!!!

Here are some pictures from much earlier in the pregnancy ...

the test!!!!

And me, with the test ... notice how awake I look ... it was very early!

This is in the lovely Kaiser parking lot, after our first visit - the VERY happy couple!

"There are not 100 people who hate the Catholic Church; But there are millions who hate what they believe the Catholic Church to be." -Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen

Hebrews - 11:1
Faith is the realization of what is hoped for and evidence of things not seen.

baby pictures!!

so... this post is a bit of a teaser... we have an ultrasound appointment for this afternoon, but since I am starting 21 weeks - the baby is going to be pretty big, and I realized that I hadn't put up our first two pictures yet... so, here are the first two, and I will post the pictures from today's ultrasound whenever we get them... by the way, the baby has been very very active lately - I can fell him/her kicking or elbowing or sumersaulting or lap swimming or something lots of times during the day!!! I LOVE IT!!!

You can see by the numbers at the bottom of this first picture that it was when the baby was about 8 weeks and 2 days ... Kaiser set my due date as March 4th based on its size then. For those of you who need help with ultrasound pictures - the baby is facing to the left, with its back on the right - the head is about the same size as the rest of the body - it was so cool, we could already see little arms and legs in this one.



This picture was about 4 weeks later - around 12 weeks - sorry for the wrinkled picture, but it was handled by several nieces and nephews before being scanned... The baby is on the far left of the picture with its head up top and back on the left side - its legs and arms facing toward the right - the doctor said we have a very active baby because he/she was moving all around during this one! - we could see the baby kicking and it looked like it was sucking its thumb!

Picture to accompany "Chilly Camping" post

http://gregandsarina.blogspot.com/2007/09/chilly-camping.html

So, the story from our camping trip about a month ago was in my previous post "Chilly Camping" -- Here are the pictures!!

Here's our camp site - we drove in to the Tuolumne Meadows campground - that's Yosemite National Park high country for those of you unfamiliar with the area ... we really like Tuolumne Meadows, especially in the late Summer/early Fall, its just beautiful! - So the tent is behind our Jeep on the left and then on the right is the brown metal bear box, where we store anything with a scent - food, tissues, sunblock - and then back behind that is our fire pit (where the smoke is coming from) and the picnic table. We really liked this spot.

This was at the very beginning of our hike - we saw a lovely deer just hanging out by the water :) You can see it was such a bright and clear day!

After the first part of the hike, the trail really opened up to this part of the Tuolumne River. There were brown trout swimming in the water and Greg identified it as a great place to stop to eat our lunch on the way back.

Here's one of us at the same spot, on the bridge over the river - keep in mind that I am camping and hiking and happy at 16 weeks pregnant at this point!

Later on in the hike, this was our view, as the trail got a little more dense and foresty :)

Another one of us and the gorgeous views.

I don't remember where/what this is - its somewhere in the Yosemite high country... I will ask my dear husband (aka the photographer)!! :)

adorable first cousin once removed in-law

Here's my newest first cousin once removed in-law!! Isn't he cute!! He was born 5 weeks ago today. I just love his little hand curled up by his face, and his pouty lips!! I just can't wait to meet him, and then get to introduce him to our little baby too - they should only be about six months apart!!

Anyway, this post prompted some interesting research on what to call this little guy - as he is the child of one of my dear husband's cousins. According to Wikipedia: My first cousin's child and I are first cousins once removed (one generation difference between us). So that would mean that this little guy is Greg's first cousin once removed and makes me a first cousin once removed in-law (or by marriage). He's cute, and if you know anything about my family, we pretty much call anyone who is near our age a cousin and anyone who is near our parents age an aunt/uncle - everybody is family!

Here's the very informative and very thorough link to Wikipedia's explanation of "cousin":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cousin

pizza recipe - for Emily and anyone else :)

I think that this is where I got my pizza recipe:
http://www.tammysrecipes.com/tammys_easy_pizza

I highly recommend that site!!
Enjoy!
And send any recipes you want to share my way :)
Blessings,
Sarina & baby

Trust God! Really, truly, and totally, Trust in Our Heavenly Father!

Please go here:
http://www.biblicalwomanhoodonline.com/2007/10/trusting-author-of-life.html

There you will find this:

Becky writes beautifully of their journey to family un-planning (not for younger readers).I loved her closing sentiments:
We have really learned that He is the author of life - a phrase that is batted around so much in pro-life circles but that seems to be little understood. He is the only one who can create life, and He has a perfect plan for each child He brings into the world, regardless of the circumstances of that baby's conception.In an age where everyone is seeking to plan and time and space their family size according to what they can afford or what works best in their schedule, we've truly lost sight of Who is the original Author and Creator of life.Though some think it incredulous, my husband and I have found it so freeing to entrust this aspect of our lives over to the Lord. Instead of worrying over when or how or what-if, leaving our family size in God's hands relieves us to focus on training and raising the precious children God sees fit to give us. His timing is perfect and we can rest in that!
Related: You must read this excellent post by Doug Phillips, In Memory of the Woman Who Chose Life. http://www.visionforum.com/hottopics/blogs/dwp/2007/10/3028.aspxAlthough I think we need to be speaking out strongly and loudly on the ills and evils of abortion and abortive birth control, sometimes the most compelling case we can make is to hold up a beautiful picture of the blessings of life.

pizza!

We now have no reason for delivery pizza... well we didn't have any way to get delivery pizza anyway... living where we live, there are no delivery drivers for anything - other than mail and probably heavy equipment rental :)

Recently I decided that since lots of people seem to make their own pizzas, and I am 50% Italian, and I am frugal, and I like good food, and I am always looking for interesting things to make for our meatless Friday meals... I went searching for good pizza dough recipes and good pizza sauce recipes - since I am pretty much convinced that making things from scratch is waayyyy cheaper and waayyyy more tasty in pretty much every instance... plus I love cooking, and I love my big kitchen, and I love that my dear husband truly enjoys the food I cook ...

Here was our first pizza making adventure:


I recommend not baking them on air-bake pans -- they are great for cookies but not great for pizza crust... baking the pizzas in the regular metal pans created a very good crust and we also took a little of our gift card money and got a pizza stone!


Here is me, with a bit of the house in the background, with the three pizzas from our first experiment. I baked all three right away. We ate the round one and I froze the square ones. I defrosted them about a week - two weeks later and baked them -- we think they turned out even better than the first one!

(bonus points for anyone who can spot the ladder in the background...yes my dear husband does double as an electrician in re-wiring our brand-new house! He did a wonderful job!)

i know you've all been waiting for this...

alrighty - here are a couple baby bump pictures :)
I am wearing the same outfit, I just took my sweater off for the second one :) (and emphasized the belly a bit)




You also get a pretty nice shot of my dear husband's giant tv and one of our huge walls :)

adventures in nature :)

These pictures are from mid-August. We went to Hume Lake with our friend Angie. It was a gorgeous day!!

Sarina and Angie by the lake:

We also went up to the "big trees" - the giant Sequoias - in Kings Canyon National park.
Here's us with a giant Sequoia's roots (I can't figure out how to turn this picture!!)

The trail and another big tree (as well as some smaller trees!) :) We actually stumbled into a group that was getting a ranger tour - it was a great treat!! Greg and I both enjoy ranger tours :) We are thinking that we might encourage our boys to be rangers! (You can see the very beginning of my baby bump in the picture. - More bump pictures will hopefully be posted soon.)

something besides creatures

so, I thought I should put up a post of something besides creatures :) and maybe another picture!

Luckily, I get to go on business trips with my dear husband sometimes!! Recently we have been to Northern California a few times. This picture is from a couple months ago of us up in Sacramento at the State Capital building. :) It was obviously a beautiful California day!

another suprise in a drawer...

well, we got home last night and I went to open a drawer in the dining room (we have a built-in desk area with a couple drawers) ... guess what I was greeted with -- a scorpion ... and he was definitely alive and definitely feisty! I decided that I should call my dear husband to take care of the situation - but Greg was all the way on the other side of the house in the bathroom. Hmm, I can't yell to him that far away and there was no way I was going to walk away from the drawer - possibly letting the scorpion out of sight... so I stood there until Greg came out of the bathroom and found me on "creature watch." My dear husband took care of the creature - he's such a blessing and wonderful protector!!

a different kind of visiters...

well... I have posted about "creatures" before... This week I want to make it a little more visual for you! On Friday my dear husband was outside and wasn't responding to my walkie-talkie calls so I was a bit concerned... I found him in the garage searching for a snake - which was apparently - IN OUR GARAGE! I was on the telephone with my mom when Greg was snake-hunting and during that time I found two scorpions in the kitchen and dining room... To make a long story short - Greg found the snake, and it was a gopher snake not a rattler, so he released it, and then he came inside and took care of the scorpions. Needlesstosay... we have quite the adventures with creatures around here :) We took some pictures of the snake in the garage, so I will post those soon.
Here are some pictures of previous creatures we have found on our property:

rattlesnake a few feet from the house which my dear husband chopped up in pieces and buried -



Tarantula cuddling up with the side of our house:

This thing is now FULL of piled up yellow jackets... its hung on a tree near our driveway -

come visit soon, ok? :)