It's a...

...healthy baby! That's at least what we got the first time we tried to find out what kind of baby it was. Little stinker wasn't showing off. However, a friend who used to be in the ward and who also happens to be in ultrasound school right now heard of our predicament and offered to do another one for us. It turned out to be really, really cool, much better than the grainy images we saw at the clinic we went to (which I have to return to tomorrow to finish the scan for documentation purposes). The equipment was top notch and we got some really clear pictures and a CD with several pics and video clips, much better than the computer printer paper we got from the clinic.

Oh yeah, and it's a girl, but I think you all already knew that. We can't keep a secret.

This is a very short clip that I thought was sooo cute. We happened to catch her yawning, and then sticking that thumb right back into her mouth, just like her older brother.

The Bens

Ever since Benny was born people would say he was Ben's mini me. I just never saw it. He looked too much like himself. Then we got a photo album in the mail from Ben's stepmom for his birthday. I took one look at this pic below and realized they are the same person. I wish I could have found a better picture of Benny where he looks like his dad's twin, but I can definitely see it now. Take off the hair on both and just look at the faces:

They even do the same things:

I thought this was the funniest picture I have ever seen. Both Big Ben and Benny have a thing with sucking their thumb/fingers and holding their ear. Benny has never used his foot, though. I am impressed with Big Ben's flexibility here:

Funny little boys

I just enjoy this guy. Much more so than I ever thought I would. When we first found out he was not a girl, I wondered what the heck I was going to do. I only knew hair and Barbies and Cabbage Patch dolls. I didn't know anything about dump trucks and hot wheels. But he cracks me up. We find out Monday what we're having and I would be fine with another boy, and a girl would be fun too. So we are just excited Benny gets to be a big brother.

We always check on Benny before we go to bed. This one night I peeked in and noticed he was naked and asleep. In the morning I asked him why he took all his clothes off and he matter of factly said he knew he was going to pee the bed and didn't want to get his clothes all wet! Such a thinker ha ha


Benny does not share his pillows with anyone unless there is a very good reason. This night we peeked in and saw he had carefully placed his two puppies on a pillow each and everyone was asleep.

He is such a hard worker when he wants to be. There are two things he could do all day: take out the trash and weed. This was taken a few weeks ago, but he loves to go out and help his dad with the yard. Today we had a ward service project and he went to an older lady's house and helped Ben weed for 3 hours.
He also wants to take out the trash as soon as he sees there is any garbage in it. He knows there are three bins--garbage, recycle, and green waste--and puts things in accordingly. On trash day he helps roll out the garbage cans, and brings them in on his own after they're empty. We think we're going to start an allowance type thing along with his poop chart, so he'll get quarters for pooping and doing chores etc. We'll see if he's jazzed about it at all but I appreciate his willingness to help. Now if he'd only pick up his toys....


He thinks he is such a big boy, much older than his peers:


I already posted this on Facebook but he is such a typical boy. I think my sister Kimiko calls my mom several times a week to tell her the funny things he says. Very thankful for this little monkey.

Ben's bday and more travel

Wow I didn't realize how busy our summer had been until I started updating the blog. I realize a lot of this is boring for people reading, and they don't know who most of the people are, but I have to remember this is for me to remember stuff and document our goings on. I feel bad my blog is not funny or exciting, but I don't feel bad enough to do anything about that:)

Once again, Ben's birthday fell on July 4th. He is funny and said we either had to do a small family thing with just us or invite a bunch of people as he did not know who to exclude. So he requested I do a luau. Fortunately and unfortunately, many people are busy on the 4th so we only had about 20 people and a ton of leftovers. It turned out to be a fun time with people from the ward and good food.




The next week we celebrated our anniversary and went to Cheesecake Factory in Walnut Creek, my fave. We then rushed next door to watch Transformers 3 in 3D and then rushed to Oakland for a baptism.

The next week Kimiko and I took a trip down to Lompoc to our parents' house. Our good friend Tristan was able to come up from Mexico to visit. She has been down there the past 10 years due to silly U.S. laws restricting her Mexican husband from re-entering the country. This was an exciting time as he was able to obtain his Visa once again and it was the first time they were able to all come up and visit. Tristan's family, the Rhines, were the first people we met when we moved to Lompoc. They eventually moved off to Washington, and she moved to Mexico, but they have always been a special family to us. When we first moved to Lompoc, we all kind of had a hard time and didn't know anyone. A few weeks after arriving my older brother, Kenneth, suddenly passed away. Scott Rhine was Bishop then and very supportive, and his wife, Verna immediately came over with food for our freezer so we didn't have to worry about little things like that. They took us to the beach, girls' camp, and befriended two shy preteens who really didn't want to be there.

The Rhines later inherited some inlaws from church, the Heaths. I worked for the Heaths in high school as a general assistant in their dental office. They are wonderful people and helped jumpstart my career in dental hygiene.
It was great to see all these good people who left positive marks in our memories.

Utah trip June 2011

Whew! The moment the Nishimoto reunion was over, we left the next day (Father's Day) for Utah. Poor Ben spent his Father's Day in the car, and then we (I) accidentally left the laptop at the hotel in Reno.

But we made it safe and sound to Lehi where we spent time with Ben's mom, sister and her family, and brother. We barbecued at family friends and had Cafe Rio.

We also spent some time in Provo at our good friends' the Jensens and enjoyed making s'mores in the backyard. And I got to get my teeth cleaned and visit with my old dental office in Orem.

Then on to the northern part of our trip in the Brigham City area where we visited with Grandma Christensen, Benny's great grandma and saw the Brigham temple. We attended my nephew Jared's wedding. I got to see my cousin Brooke who is having a baby boy in October and my old roommate Heather. My parents and I visited my niece Amanda who had just given birth to her first little baby boy the day before. And finally we celebrated my brother-in-law Chad's 50th birthday. And then we jumped in the car and headed back to Cali. And yay, we were able to retrieve the laptop in Reno:) And then we breathed for a little bit. Just a little.

Nishimoto reunion June 2011

We finally had our 5 year reunion on my mom's side. We don't hold it very often since a lot of people have to travel from Hawaii and it gets pricey. I was disappointed we didn't actually hold it in Hawaii as originally planned and had it in the Bay Area, but it turned out to be fun for everyone.

My siblings came out a few days early and we all (minus my brother who didn't make the reunion) went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom. We saw marine animals and shows and rode rides. I was sooo thankful to my nephew Connor for taking Benny on all the rides so I didn't have to.
Benny and Mayumi won matching puppies from a balloon dart game. I was impressed at Benny's skills as he won all by himself.

Day 1 of the reunion we all went to dinner and then gathered at the church for pictures, talents and family updates. Clockwise from top left: my mom's brother Sam's family, my mom's family, 1st cousins who attended, mom's sister (deceased) Yuriko's family, and middle is the 3 out of 7 surviving siblings including my mom. There is one more but she didn't make it.

Day 2 of reunion we met at Tilden Park in Berkelely for lunch, chatting and activities. My sister Janice made awesome shirts which Benny is modeling. He is also showing off his slug friend in one of the pictures. It was all exhausting but a lot of fun.

Spring break April 2011

It's been so long it's getting kind of blurry. But we took a coastal trip and went down to visit my parents and Ben's dad.

We went to the mission in Lompoc:

And then to Surf Beach to look for sand dollars. Ben illegally grabbed one from the restricted bird preserve just for me. It was so freezing and windy at the beach that Benny started crying so my mom took him to the car. Definitely not a beach to go lay out or swim



.

Then on to Cambria to visit Ben's dad. His stepmom stayed home in Bakersfield as she prepped for surgery a few days later.
The seals swam right by us.
Benny pretty much stayed this way forever poking anemones and picking up crabs.


More fun at the tide pools:

View from Grandpa Tom's beach house. I could get used to life at the beach:)