First Thanksgiving in Santa Maria, Dog and Housesitting, and Couple Council

Thanksgiving Day, we were invited to participate in the Turkey Trot in the morning. It was an event ran by Kirsten in the block where they live. One lap around the block is half a mile. Part of the trot was you needed to set an intention by picking up a stick for each lap you would do around the block. I picked up three and so did Sarah, so between us both we ran 3 miles.

Later that day, we were invited to participate in Thanksgiving meal with the family. Sarah and David's brother, Danny and his wife Carol, were present as well as a couple from the ward, Nelly and Steven. We had turkey, ham, potatoes and gravy, and so much other food. There were a ton of pies, of which I ate the Cherry and Creme de Menthe, as well as a jello pretzel salad that Sarah and I had made for the dinner.

We had to walk off the meal that we just had eaten. And so we did and got the above pictures. All in all it was a great day.

Thanksgiving week we were asked to dog and house sit for the Diamonds. It was really nice to have some time to regroup and be away from life. We used the time to do some couple's council, we even did a Dream Big Together Couple's Council and wrote our Family Vision. We even did our best to describe our 1-year, 3-year, and 5-year plan. It was a beautiful week to do so.

We celebrated a milestone in our finances while we were at the Diamond's house, so we baked a lucious cake. We were so proud of ourselves. We ate the cake while watching Stranger Things Season 5 Volume 1.

Bela, the Diamond's dog, was the star of the show, to be honest. He is a big softie once you get to know him. And he would snuggle with us in bed, and he would take our stuff into the backyard and track in mud from outside. He almost completely ruinted like 5 toys. And Sarah convinced me to take him to the dog park and we played around with him and he chased the ball and was unconcerned by any of the other dogs in the dog park.