Last weekend we went to three Christmas parties. (We have pictures from two.) Here's our friend Mick. He's fantastic. You may know him as the voice of Disney's Kung Fu Panda. (That is, the soon-to-be released animated series on Nickelodeon, not the movie. That's Jack Black. Mick is not Jack Black.) He's pretty fancy.
We also went to the annual Rilesly's holiday party. Bo our favorite dog was there, along with some of my favorite Telepictures gals. Here we are sitting pretty:
Lucy, the hostess with the mostest even arranged an appearance by Santa. We couldn't help but snag a shot:
Maureen timed her wedding perfectly considering Benner's dad's birthday was just a couple days before. We decided to make our visit a surprise and assemble the family together for a surprise birthday bash on Sunday. Originally it was going to take place during the Narberth music fest, but it was rained out. Thankfully McSheas always has open doors for the Benners and we had the rear portion of restaurant all to ourselves.
Many hands pitched in to make the party a success. Just moments before Ray arrived, we decorated the tables with a "royal theme" for King of Narberth, Ray Benner. The tables were covered with gold cloth, candies (jewels), balloons, candles and pictures of Ray throughout the years. There was a huge birthday cake big enough to feed the entire restaurant and some more to take home.
It's always fun to get together with the Benners. Maddie, Regan and Steven are such cool kids and we enjoy hanging out with them. Ray was a good sport and wore a gaudy crown we got him, fitting for our theme. Chris, Ray, Natalie, Janet, Aunt Marge, Grandpop, Leah, Dave, Aunt Carol, Uncle George, Steve, Grandmom, Babe, Barb, Robert, Will and my parents came too!
Ray, you're an awesome dad and father in law and you're a king everyday to us!!!!!!
Oh, but time is a cruel mistress, for alas I, Benner, know the wicked 26th lash of the chronological whip! Woe is me, my age has surpassed what can rightfully be considered young, I am but an old man in waiting!
For shame! For shame!
Sorry. My 26th birthday was on May 24th, and I've had that lament pent up inside me for some time. But even though I have exited the first quarter of my life and am firmly implanted in the next, not all was bad about my birthday.
For instance, my beautiful and wonderful wife Rhianwen (who is still 25, blissfully living within quarter number one, what a whippersnapper!) organized and threw a spectacular celebration for me! She worked so hard to organize and plan the event, decorating everything just the way she knew I'd like it (like stringing up cartoon character Christmas lights, for instance) and even making sure that there would be deviled eggs for consumption (deviled eggs being one of my favorite foods).
Our good friends Greg and Dani Jong were kind enough to let Rhianwen throw the shindig in their backyard (and Dani made the deviled eggs!), where we BBQ'd, beer'd, bocce ball'd and badminton'd the night away with a handful of our closest friends here in LA. Don't believe me? Here's a slide show to prove it:
I'd like to take a moment to point out the magnificent cupcakes made for me by our dear friend Roxanne. Yes, those are Benner Bots. Yes, they are the greatest homemade cupcakes ever, in history. No, you cannot have any of your own. They're mine. Thanks, Roxanne!
All in all, it was pretty much up there with the best birthday parties I've ever had. I just want to point out to all you readers one more time that my lovely and beautiful wife is the one that made it happen for me. In fact, the best gift I got for my birthday was the love and adoration Rhianwen showered upon me for pretty much the entire week of my birthday.
And while we're at it, let's just share a story from my birthday week. Actually, my birthday day, when I was scheduled to work from 4pm to midnight. There I am, working the late shift at Trader Joe's, when suddenly a voice comes over the loudspeaker.
"MICHAEL BENNER, PLEASE COME TO THE FRONT OFFICE, NOW."
"Uh oh," I thought. "I think I'm getting detention."
When I get to the front of the store, who is standing there with a big homemade chocolate pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing? Rhianwen, that's who. She brought a cake and served it to me and all my co-workers at 11pm for my birthday. I felt so loved and special.
What a wonderfully blessed life I lead, that I get to call her wife! I guess the next 75 birthdays won't be too bad after all, as long as she's around.
Oh Fourth of July, you're the best of all patriotic holidays (sorry Veteran's and Labor days). We decided to have Sarah and Steve over to swim, along with their friends Carrie and Darrell and their kids, Leelou and Dion.
Unfortunately, we didn't get any shots out at the pool or the BBQ. Woops. But here's some ACTION photos from AFTER we were done swimming!
Darrell and Steve are WATERMELON EATING TO THE EXTREME! SO EXCITING!
Dion and Leelou play the Wii while we watch TO THE MAX!
Sarah and Steve are BEING AWESOME!!!
Moving on... Everyone told us when we moved into our apartment that it would be so great on July 4th because we were so close to the CBS lot, where they shoot off the fireworks in Studio City. Well, we didn't realize quite how close it would be.
We watched the fireworks show with Sarah and Steve from outside our apartment door (Dion and Leelou needed to head home along with their parents), and they were pretty much exploding right above our heads. It was kind of great, but also smelled like gun powder. We got some pretty cool shots of exploding fireworks. Check 'em out.
Of course, it was all a little too loud for Rhianwen and Sarah.
We're Rhi and Benner, otherwise known as Rhianwen and Mike. This blog is the place to come for breaking news about us, our friends, our jobs, our lives here in LA, what we like to eat, what we watch on TV and other extremely important stuff. Sometimes we post frequently, sometimes we don't. Feel free to stay, look around our archives (might we suggest the epic saga of our Road Trip as a good introduction to our blog?) and leave comments as you please.
