Oh so Thankful, Thanksgiving 2013

So this year was definitely different. I struggled a little with the lack of tradition.

Wednesday wasn't filled with a crowded kitchen as we chop food and Brina makes pie. BUT, gramma GG was staying with us and she and HeaBug had a wonderful time rolling out my dough and cutting fall themes shapes for pie crust decorations. They even made little cinnamon roll ups with the left overs. 

It didn't work out in the cards for any of my sisters, sisters in law, or nieces to join me for a pre thanksgiving late night movie. But I decided to go anyway. And my sweet friend Cakestina came with and we had a most excellent time getting popcorn wasted (have you HAD the ranch an parmasean garlic popcorn shakers?!) and chatting in the cold parking lot. Catching Fire was awesome!

I didn't make a French toast bake to have post Thanksgiving morning softball game. BUT I did whip up scones and took jam and juice for breakfast at the park.

Our regular field was under construction BUT after a few little detours, we headed to a different park and field.

A lot of our family that normally joins us for the game weren't able to make it. BUT we had super rad friends and their families play and it was at much fun! Gramma GG hit twice and had grandchildren be her designated runners!

I hardly took pictures, made a few new dishes, we ate on paper plates, I had no table and place settings, there were no name cards or flowers, regular immediate family guests weren't present, people (young folk 25 and under) left as soon as possible, we sang no songs, there was no pie herald, we didn't watch White Christmas... 

BUT, we were healthy, safe, comfortable, full, laughing, my Uncle, the patriarch of my Kamae Family was there, Gramma GG, matriarch of the Booth family was there, our bellies and hearts felt full. My older sister and cousin stayed to help get everything cleaned up. 

At the end of the day, just like at the end of everyday, I know that I could fall asleep counting my blessings. Life is good. It's changing, things are different and likely not to stop changing. We can't control what happens BUT we CAN control how we respond.

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving,

Love us B's

Family Pictures with the amazing Mia Reed

Mia Marisa Photography

Mia has taken our family pictures for 5 years in a row. It is wonderful to see my family grow through her lens. We count our lucky stars that we get to continue this tradition with her.

We take a lot of pictures as a family so when we hunker down for professional pictures, I like to do something more than ordinary. Be it a new and awesome location, a theme with what we wear, or bringing out the fancy threads. This year, we met at the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. There's a dress I bought last year to wear to a charity dinner that I didn't end up going to. I hadn't had a chance to wear it and thought it would be fun to theme our pictures around the dress.

I took HeaBug to the salon where she got her first hair trim from our beautiful friend Rose! HeaBug LOVED the VIP treatment.

I got my makeup done by Lucy Starr at the M.A.C. Store in Cerritos. I showed her the dress. I told her she was free to go as dramatic as she liked. I told her where we were doing our pictures. And I sat nice and still. She did a great job, it was definitely dramatic and it kept freaking Mr. B out as we drove up to Santa Barbara. He said it was nice but I didn't look like the regular me (that was the point) and that he likes how I look everyday. Love. That. Man.

We didn't want to have everyone ride up in their nice clothes so we rode up comfy and literally changed in the car in the parking lot. A few elements that I'd originally thought of, I forgot to execute because we were a little frazzled. The light was quickly fading and though it was sunny our whole drive north, the clouds got a little fierce once we passed Sunnylands.

Mia is magic and talent though. This was a super fun shoot.

Love her. Thanks for these.

Happy Birthday Abby and Judith!

My cute little sisters-in-law, Mr. B's younger sisters, turned 11! Crazy how time goes by that fast. My kids love playing with them and they feel like cousins because they are so close in age. The girls get a little kick out of pulling the "I'm your Aunt" card. Hardly works.

For their birthday, we all went to Joe's Crab shack and they each ate GIANT buckets of crab!

Love these two little ladies to the moon. Booth kids rock.

Totem, a Cirque Show at the Port

We have been spending so much time working that getting in that quality family time has been a bit of a struggle. BUT weeks ago I purchased tickets to go see a traveling Cirque Du Soleil show that was in San Pedro. I figured if we had tickets, we had to go.

The kids (really JT) were not looking forward to it. They had to wear nice clothes and the show didn't start until 8. They have been to see one other cirque show, O at the Bellagio.

The ushers were great and gave both kids a booster seat for their chair so that they could see better. It was an AMAZING show!! Poor HeaBug, she was so tired, at intermission she said she was just going to rest her eyes... She knocked out and missed the 2nd half! Poor thing.

It was a great family date night and the kids (really JT) were thrilled to have gone!

Taking our monkey kids to the San Diego Zoo

Months ago we decided thy we wanted to take a camping trip with our friends in the fall. That weekend fast approached and between work and family and school we just couldn't make it happen. Resigned on getting our families together still for some quality time, we headed down to San Diego to the zoo!

What a fun day, there was so much to see and we didn't even cover a third of it! It was all kinds of good fun though and afterwards we found a spot to grab a jammin' dinner!

I think anytime I include the Mabry Ohana in my blogs I talk about how cool it is that we were friends as girls and then as women and adults and how awesome it is that our families are friends. I love that we include each other in our lives. Mabry + Booth = lalalove