My bday & Thanksgiving 2010

So I had a birthday on Nov. 15th. Ben got me some lilies, I got a bunch of cards in the mail, I got tons of Facebook bday wishes, and I got flowers from work. And I got 3 cakes: one from a ward member we had over for dinner, one my sister Kimiko made (which was very cute), and one from work. Ben and I still have yet to go out and celebrate as scheduling has been kind of hard latel.

Kimiko's cake

For Thanksgiving we went to Bakersfield to see Ben's dad and stepmom before turkey day, then headed over to Lompoc to my parents' for turkey day itself. Kimiko's family was also at my parents', so our kids got to run around together and make messes. And then we left because as of this moment, my parents, a sister and a brother are all on their way to Hawaii. Stinkers. OK, we really left because Ben had to speak in church, and it also was nice he had his bigscreen at home to watch the BYU game (although the game didn't end up being worth it).
A tired and grouchy Benny after lunch with Grandpa & Grammy Middleton


On our drive home to the Bay Area, we stopped in Morro Bay for a couple hours. It was a very nice day, not too freezing or windy. We took Benny to the aquarium and he got to feed the sea lions. Way better and cheaper than Sea World! As far as the feeding goes, that is. The rest of the aquarium, not so much.

We waited for lunch for an hour, but the view was nice. Benny is deliriously tired by now

I think this was my favorite part. Benny always wants a big sucker when we go sightseeing, and we won't let him have one. This time we decided he had earned a "big, huge sucker, please, please" so he is enjoying it here above....

...and not 2 minutes later he faceplanted on the sidewalk, leaving this much of the sucker. He cried, not because he hurt himself, but because sucker bits were all over the sidewalk. I was kinda happy about the new size though since he definitely didn't need all that candy.


Once again, Benny is overly tired and in need of a nap here

The Sunday before Thanksgiving my parents came up, even though we were going to see them 3 days later. When we found out Ben would be in the Bishopric at church, we asked my dad if he would come up and ordain Ben as a High Priest. They were in Utah at the time, and are now leaving for Hawaii, but they didn't hesitate about rearranging some plans in the middle and making the last minute trip up here to support us. We really appreciate all our parents and all they do for us.

So, I think this Thanksgiving season, I am most thankful for family. They bake you cakes. They read your blog. They answer the phone when you want to just blab. They do anything you ask them to do if you need help. They buy you 7 containers of hot chocolate and sauces you can't get in California and bring it to you. They send cards for holidays, even if they're late. They tell you things you need to hear, even if you don't want to hear them. And they always support you, even if you don't feel you deserve it.

I hope everyone is enjoying their Thanksgiving season and remembers to be grateful. No matter how much we have or don't have, everyone has something to be thankful for, something I continuously work on to remember.