Thanksgiving day here in the Dean home was a blast, literally and figuratively. How could it not be when exciting things like this happen in your neighborhood?
For those of you who may not know, my mom is an amazing artist who paints windows for stores all around San Diego for the holidays. This is her busiest season so she is gone from sunrise until after dark. One of the best parts of Thanksgiving every year that I always like is that she takes the whole day off to spend with the family. After all, we all know how many things revolve around our moms. When she's not here, everything just feels different.
Her tools of her trade got a vacation too.
Despite the fact that the kids were a bit under the weather with some coughs and colds,
especially Cosette who had some sort of stomach bug
(hence this scene, with Brandon and her doing laps around the
house with him holding a barf bucket just in case...what a dad!)...
...we still managed to go out on the town and do a few things
while we waited for pure poultry perfection in the oven back at home.
Cold water doesn't effect the crazies in the family apparently....
Lani, Michiko's sister, was in town to spend Thanksgiving with us and work on her San Diego tan...
The Thanksgiving weekend festivities continued down at
Paradise Point where we visited the shark pool,
caught crabs down by the dock,
and fed the ducks bread...
at least what was left of it after Avery and Austin chowed down
(apparently we don't feed our children enough when they are eating the duck food)
and when we got bored with that, Lani, the country bumpkin of the group
(and I mean that in a good way)
showed us all a new trick...
...which quickly caught on...
...except for us "sissified city girls" (Avery and myself included) who preferred to enjoy them from a distance where they couldn't peck or poop on you.
Thanksgiving dinner back home was well worth the wait and was wonderful, full of all the delectable and scrumptious food fit for the holiday.
Jared's brother, Mike, had Thanksgiving with us too which made the day even better, especially since our table seemed a bit "empty" with Cassidy, Ammon and Scout now in Washington/Oregon (and with Corbin still gone serving in Russia).
My favorite part of the day, while we are still digesting our pumpkin and apple pies a la mode and before the bedtime escapade, is when we gather around and read off all the slips of paper that have been anonymously added to our "Thankful Turkey" all month long.
In the spirit of the Thankful turkey, here are a few things
(in no particular order as you'll soon see)
that I am especially grateful for this Thanksgiving holiday.
Jared-
who is quite possibly the world's best husband
and is an amazing father for my children.
Avery-
there is so much to say here but I'm thankful for a daughter
who makes me laugh every single day
whether she is trying to or not.
Like this day when I came out to see that
little Rambo here got dressed and did her hair all by herself.
Austin-
What can I say, I LOVE so many things about my little man.
Austin is the most happy, easy going kid and on top of that he gives me lots of hugs, snuggles and kisses that make all the hard things that come with being a mom so worth it. He and his sister make me LOVE being a mom in ways I never imagined.
Talents-
In my family alone, it's easy to look around and see all the talents that Heavenly Father has blessed those around me with. I'm thankful for those who bless me and my family by sharing their talents and I'm thankful for the chances I have to work on ones that I'm trying to develop in myself.
Cousins, cousins, cousins!!
I'm grateful for anytime that our kids can be around their cousins on both sides of the family. Now that we're in San Diego, we've been especially blessed to see more of my nieces Scout and Cosette. I LOVE that our kids are friends and can enjoy being around each other as much as they do. Quite possibly a little too much even...
(Avery hauled in pillow after pillow one morning so
Austin, Scout, Kailee and she could have a "party bed."
I LOVE Cosette's reaction here right after the kiss....
Like I said, maybe there's a little too much love sometimes.
Poor Cosette and Scout are troopers to put up with their cousin Avery's attention.
Church callings-
especially when I was in the nursery
(up until last week that is when our ward got dissolved)
and could spend two hours playing with my son, Scout and Cosette and all their little friends (and sneak mini chocolate chip cookies while I did it).
Super fun uncles-
that double as climbing structures...
and give you really stylish "Public Health Symposium" shirts
(and give you all the info on where to get the H1N1 flu shot)
Irreplaceable Aunts-
Wonderful Family Friends-
Healthy Bodies, especially EYES!-
This Thanksgiving, I'm grateful that after years and years of not being able to see on my own, I can finally SEE! I'm especially grateful that Brandon's lasik surgery last week went well...especially because I had recommended the surgeon.
Family-
This is a great one to end on since in the end, family is really what it all boils down to. I'm grateful for our family and for my relationship with them. I'm especially grateful for the knowledge that our Heavenly Father loved us so much that He gave us our families and through the Savior He provided a way for us to live with them forever.
One of the highlights of having the Oregon Bunkers come and visit was being able to celebrate 
So the morning of was kind of rushed anyway trying to make sure Jared could drive down there during his lunch break and making sure the kids were all ready and in the middle of it all I was trying to figure out 1.) what kind of cake Grandpa would like and 2.) what kind of cake I could actually pull together and have ready in two hours. Avery suggested (as she always does for some reason) that we make him a Spiderman cake. Since I wasn't exactly positive that he even liked Spiderman I decided that one thing that we know for sure that Jared's dad likes is China and so I thought Avery and I could make him the Great Wall of China. 
The result wasn't anything fancy but Avery and I sure had a fun time making it and running to the store trying to find "wall cookies." Avery even asked someone working there for "square cookies for my Grandpa's wall cake." I had written "Happy Birthday" in Chinese on it too and sure enough, when Grandpa Bunker saw it he was able to read it and tell us exactly what it said. Impressive...especially considering I wasn't sure if what I wrote in icing looked anything like the real thing.
And cute little guys like this: 
